npj Climate Action special series on Behavioral Insights for Climate Action, 2025 - Available here.
with Jorge Luis Castañeda Núñez, Samantha de Martino, Michelle Dugas and Sayan Kundu
De facto exclusion of vulnerable populations from markets for energy-efficient technologies can result in multiple barriers to access. For example, exclusion can lead to limited knowledge about available products, an inability to distinguish high-quality from low-quality devices, and limited options for financing, making products seem unobtainable. However, behaviorally informed interventions can offer promising solutions in such contexts, even where exclusion is the result of structural causes. This paper uses a randomized control trial to consider the potential of such interventions for refugees in Uganda in the context of certified solar markets. We evaluate a behaviorally-informed information and savings session embedded in Village Savings and Lending Association (VSLA) meetings, finding evidence for increased pursuit of certified solar products in the treatment group two months later. Results manifest through the barriers described, with increased knowledge, trust in solar companies, financial inclusion through savings group support, and aspirations mediating effects.
Pre-PhD:
Journal of Developing Areas, 2016 - Available here.
There are several types of savings device, both formal and informal, available for households in Cotonou, Benin. Different savings mechanisms have very different features; some are more flexible whilst others act as commitment devices to ensure sufficient saving. There is evidence in the literature for a demand for both such devices, though each have their shortcomings. For example, a high degree of device flexibility may result in low overall saving whilst membership of commitment savings products may be difficult to sustain in the face of shocks. In this paper we consider the membership sustainability of savings devices with different levels of flexibility. The devices chosen are those most widely used in Benin's largest city, Cotonou. Our sample covers both formal and informal saving: the formal device considered is a bank account whilst tontiniers and roscas are the informal savings products studied. Using survey data for the years 2004 and 2006, we analyze the stability over time of the use of each device in the face of health and funeral shocks. We estimate the impact of these shocks on the probability of membership in the second wave of the survey given use of this particular device in the first wave, controlling for individual and device-specific characteristics. Our analysis helps us to isolate threats to the sustainability of membership rather than using panel regressions to simply measure the determinants of membership over time. We conclude that devices that offer flexibility to their clients are more resilient in the face of unexpected shocks. Rosca membership appears to be the most affected by negative income shocks for this reason. Furthermore, shocks that can be anticipated may increase the membership sustainability of more flexible devices since members may seek to put more money aside to prepare for such occurrences. Our results indicate that device flexibility can aid the sustained use of savings mechanisms in developing country contexts. A move from informal to more flexible formal devices could benefit individuals with a very varied income stream by allowing them to smooth their income in the face of shocks and to accumulate more savings in the long term through sustained membership.
Working Papers
Behavioral Solutions for the Clean Cooking Transition: Linking Energy-Efficient Cooking Habits and the Transition to Modern Stoves
World Bank Policy Working Paper Series, forthcoming 2025
with Jorge Luis Castañeda Núñez, Samantha de Martino, Michelle Dugas and Sayan Kundu
Despite the numerous potential benefits of the transition to cleaner cooking technologies, burning polluting fuels on traditional cookstoves is still common amongst a third of the world’s population. The adoption of modern stoves is not the only barrier to this transition, since households with access to cleaner technologies also commonly use traditional cookstoves alongside these. One reason for this ‘stove stacking’ is that modern cooking technologies are often considered incompatible with established household cooking practices. As well as being ‘normal’, such practices may be ‘habitual’, making them difficult as well as potentially unappealing to change. This paper asks whether behavioral insights can help to better align household cooking practices with the capabilities of modern stoves, using a group session implemented as a randomized control trial in peri-urban Rwanda. Based on a behavioral model of the clean cooking transition, the intervention introduces participants to a new cooking habit (pre-soaking beans before cooking them), targeting participant attitudes, norms and perceived behavioral control, as well as using contextual cues to encourage repetition of the behavior over time. Results point to the successful formation of a new energy-efficient cooking habit and to lower cook times on traditional stoves on days in which beans are cooked. Importantly, the intervention also had a positive effect on attitudes about the suitability of modern stoves for bean cooking, and increased participants’ aspirations and expectations to purchase these devices.
Work in Progress
The Economic and Distributional Impacts of Deforestation Policies: Winners and Losers in Brazil's Priority Municipalities - PDF here
This paper explores the economic consequences of deforestation policies on households, with a focus on distributional outcomes. In the context of the Priority Municipalities policy in Brazil, it asks whether increased regulation and enforcement, and the resulting reduction in deforestation, affected employment and income in households situated in targeted areas. The identification strategy exploits the assignment mechanism for priority status to first estimate the average economic effects of the policy using an differences-in-differences specification. It then uses a "changes-in-changes" analysis from Athey and Imbens (2006) to examine effects at different parts of the distribution. In line with previous work on this topic, which considers effects at the municipality level, the study finds no evidence of economic impacts on average for municipalities in the sample. However, the changes-in-changes analysis suggests heterogeneous impacts at different parts of the income distribution, especially for those employed in agriculture. In particular, it appears that the lack of impact on average obscures regressive effects for this sector, consistent with a substitution from labor-intensive to more capital-intensive agricultural production.
Cash Transfers for Drought Resilience? Designing Social Protection to Foster Preparation, Coping and Adaptive Capacity in Mozambique - PDF forthcoming pending World Bank approval
As the impacts of climate change are felt increasingly around the world, the need for effective social protection mechanisms to support vulnerable populations is growing. Research to support the design of such programs is of great importance, since the full range of impacts of a changing climate are still unknown. This paper offers the first robust empirical evidence for the effectiveness of social protection designed to support drought-vulnerable communities in Mozambique. The study evaluates the impact of timely unconditional cash transfers on the preparation, coping and adaptation behaviors of recipients, using payment delays in some of the sample to identify effects. In the short term, receiving an on-time payment allowed households to save - both in cash and in kind - and to diversify their income streams, resulting in fewer damaging coping strategies during hard times. Income diversification persisted in the medium term, with a greater move to off-farm business and wage employment amongst treated households, and greater perceived resilience to droughts. However, the paper identifies ways in which transfer impacts on adaptive capacity may have been limited: such as low opportunity for investment or income diversification in rural areas. It also argues that the mode of payment delivery may have curtailed program impacts for those who received timely payments, whilst also causing harm to those paid with delay.
Policy Reports
De Martino, S.; Sousa Lourenco, J.; Coony, J.; Elven, S. 2021. Cleaner Cookstoves, Greener Lives : Behavioral Diagnostics Note - MG Ethanol Clean Cooking Climate Finance Program (English). eMBeD brief Washington, D.C. : World Bank Group. Available here
World Bank Group, 2020. Socio-Emotional Skills for Labor Market Outcomes in the Turkish Cypriot Community. Available here
Elven S., Krishnan L., 2018. Estimating historical CGIAR research investments. Available here