Research
Research
See my CV on Google Drive (pdf)
“Tackling psychosocial and capital constraints to alleviate poverty” with Thomas Bossuroy, Markus Goldstein, Bassirou Karimou, Dean Karlan, Harounan Kazianga, William Parienté, Patrick Premand, Catherine C. Thomas, Christopher Udry and Julia Vaillant. Nature, 2022.
“Agricultural input subsidies, credit constraints and expectations of future transfers, evidence from Haiti” with Jeremie Gignoux, Karen Macours, and Daniel Stein. American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 2022. 2021 Working Paper.
"The Fading Treatment Effects of a Multi‑Faceted Asset‑Transfer Program in Ethiopia” with Nathan Barker, Dean Karlan, and Christopher Udry.
American Economic Review: Insights, June 2024. 2023 Working Paper.
Economic inclusion
Promoting Productive Inclusion and Resilience in National Safety Nets: A Four-Country Evaluation in the Sahel with Thomas Bossuroy, Markus Goldstein, Dean Karlan, Harounan Kazianga, William Parienté, Patrick Premand, Christopher Udry, Julia Vaillant (JPAL Summary), and (4!) associated country-level papers, working paper in progress
Multi-faceted "graduation" programs have been evaluated many times, but each study tells us what one program did in one place. What do we learn when 4 countries are run as one? With national safety net agencies in Burkina Faso, Mauritania, Niger and Senegal, we built four randomized trials around a common program and a common survey, so the same treatment variants are measured the same way in about 50 sites. That lets us ask how much the effect of the same program really moves from place to place, and how far a result from one setting should be expected to carry.
Intrahousehold resource allocation and child outcomes in polygamous households in a large-scale economic inclusion program (Niger) with Patrick Premand and Pascale Schnitzer, draft available upon request
One-third of children in Niger grow up in polygamous households, yet social protection programs typically designate a single recipient, by default the senior wife. We randomly assigned which co-wife received a national cash transfer and economic inclusion program in 802 polygamous households, and surveyed both wives separately five years later. Targeting the junior wife instead of the senior wife narrows gaps between co-wives in productive activities and decision-making, with no loss in household consumption, income, or assets. Children's outcomes point to a tradeoff between mothers' productive investments and investment in young children, while schooling and food security are decided at the household level.
Economic inclusion for adults living with disabilities in Grand Anse Haiti, with Pascal Jaupart and Ailo Manigat, baseline report available upon request
This project evaluates how best to support the economic inclusion of adults living with disabilities in Haiti's Grand'Anse department, where people with disabilities face barriers including limited access to capital, inaccessibility, and stigma. Working alongside the World Bank's Productive Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities Project (ProPIPed), implemented with Fonkoze, we use a randomized controlled trial to compare three approaches: cash transfers alone, cash transfers plus a capital grant, and a full graduation-style package that adds coaching and skills training. We measure impacts on income, productive work, and mental well-being to inform disability-inclusive programming in Haiti and similar settings.
Maternal and child health
Cash transfers and maternal and child health in Haiti, with Pascal Jaupart, Damien de Walque, Ailo Manigat and Aditi Kharb, draft available upon request
Most of what we know about cash transfers comes from stable countries. In fragile states, uncertainty can discourage investment, thin markets limit what cash can buy, and weak institutions may not deliver complementary services. We study Klere Chimen, Haiti's first sustained government safety net, which paid poor households in Grand'Anse about USD 36 a month. Cash still "worked": eligible households spent more on food and were far less likely to see a member migrate away. But child growth, health outcomes, and productive assets did not change. Women borrowed more only where the program also set up savings groups.
Household visits for maternal and child health in Afghanistan, with Thomas Bossuroy and Maria Virginia Ceretti, midline analysis in progress
Can home-visit coaching improve maternal and child health in Warduj, Afghanistan? We randomize coaching visits on nutrition, maternal care, and immunization across 70 villages, covering 0%, 20%, or 80% of households. We ask three questions: (1) Does coaching change mothers' knowledge, behaviours, and wellbeing?, (2) Do those gains spread to uncoached neighbours as coverage rises?, (3) Does it matter whether the coach is a woman or a man?
Sahel productive inclusion:
Bossuroy, Thomas; Karlan, Dean; Kazianga, Harounan; Parienté, William; Premand, Patrick; Udry, Chris; Vaillant, Julia; Wright, Kelsey. Impact des Mesures d’Inclusion Productive Yokk Koom Koom au Sénégal (French). SASPP Technical Paper Washington, D.C. : World Bank Group. http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/099758003052512855
Bossuroy, Thomas; Karlan, Dean; Kazianga, Harounan; Parienté, William; Premand, Patrick; Udry, Chris; Vaillant, Julia; Wright, Kelsey. Impact des mesures d’inclusion productives du programme « Tekavoul » en Mauritanie (French). SASPP Technical Paper Washington, D.C. : World Bank Group. http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/099053025143532845