Research Projects

With Ceretti V and Knippenberg E (World Bank)

In a field experiment supported by the Afghan government, we study how an environmentally-focused public works program can build community resilience against droughts. We further investigate how female-friendly programming can improve women's participation in the program to foster female economic inclusion.

Keywords: Sustainable Development, Public Works, Social Norms, Female Economic Empowerment, Field Experiment, Afghanistan.

With  Chakravarty S, Haddock S (World Bank), and Morton M (Chicago)

We use a field experiment to investigate how empowering savings groups with external loan funds, advanced economic networks, and on-demand skill training helps women and men in Afghanistan to grow their businesses.

Keywords: Business Skills, Loans, Micro-Enterprises, Savings Groups, Female Economic Empowerment, Field Experiment, Afghanistan.

With Chakravarty S, Das S (World Bank), Morton M (Chicago)

In this intervention, we provide three consecutive cash transfers to ultra-poor families in Afghanistan before, during, and after the lean season. Among other outcomes, we particularly study the confidence of participants in government units, private banks, and the Taliban.

Keywords: Disaster Relief, Food Security, Trust, Institutions, Fragile States, Field Experiment, Afghanistan.

With Adoho F, Chakravarty S (World Bank), Korkoyah DT (USAID), Lundberg M, and Tasneem A (World Bank)

We offer two popular employment interventions to young Liberian women: a jobs skill (JS) training program and business development services (BDS). Based on reassignment of participants from the oversubscribed JS into the BDS track, we compare the labor market outcomes of JS and BDS participants in ligtht of their initial track-preferences.

Keywords: Skills Training, Entrepreneurship, Female Economic Empowerment, Field Experiment, Liberia.

With Chakravarty S, Lundberg M (World Bank), and Nikolov P (New York, Binghamton)

Lack of skills is arguably one of the most important determinants for high levels of unemployment and poverty. Targeting youth unemployment, the Nepal Employment Fund provides vocational training and job placement services to particularly disadvantaged young Nepalese. Using a “fuzzy” regression discontinuity design, we examine the employment effects of the program. More

Keywords: Skills Training, Self-Employment, Youth, Female Economic Empowerment, Regression Discontinuity, Nepal.

With Wagener A (Hannover)

Agricultural subsidies may kick-start economic development in poor rural areas by altering risk-attitudes and credit contraints to investment. We apply quasi-experimental methods to understand whether a price guarantee scheme had an impact on investment portfolios, production, types of labor supply, and income growth of small-scale rice farmers in relatively poor Northeastern Thailand. More

Keywords: Sustainable Development, Counter-Cyclical Subsidies, Decoupling, Rural Development, Machine Learning, Thailand.

With Wagener A (Hannover) and Vollmer S (Göttingen)

Many households in developing countries spend substantial amounts on lottery tickets but hold upwardly biased beliefs on the prospects of winning. In a randomized information intervention, we inform households in rural Thailand on the actual probability distribution of the Thai Government Lottery and assess the effects of the intervention on gambling behavior. More

Keywords: Information Intervention, Nudging, Probability Perception, Field Experiment, Thailand.

With Steinert JI (Oxford), Filipiak U (Göttingen), Movsisyan A, Cluver L (Oxford), Shenderovich Y (Cambridge)

Saving promotion interventions have gained momentum in international development in recent years. Using a sample of 24 randomized trials, our meta-analysis investigates whether saving promotion can effectively increase savings, consumption, and future-oriented investments in Sub-Saharan Africa. We investigate which program components (behavioral, financial education, or supply of saving infrastructure) look most promising in altering outcomes. More

Keywords: Savings, Financial Inclusion, Meta-Analysis, Sub-Saharan Africa.