Hiring do-gooders or go-getters: Attracting talent to improve public service delivery in Zambia In an experiment conducted with the Ministry of Health, workers recruited via career incentive ads proved more effective at delivering health services Public Economics Oriana Bandiera Julia Tobias Nava Ashraf Published 13.10.17
A better way to train small business owners: Using psychology to teach personal initiative A new personal initiative training programme outperformed traditional business training in increasing profits for informal firms in Togo Firms Markus Goldstein David McKenzie Published 12.10.17
Forest conservation in Uganda: Using financial incentives to avert climate change Payments for ecosystem services programmes for landowners reduce deforestation, presenting a cost-effective approach to cutting CO2 emissions Energy & Environment Seema Jayachandran Published 28.09.17
Mentorship helps Kenyan microenterprises profit Entrepreneurs with mentors enjoy an increase in profits and manage supplier costs better. Mentorship is also more cost effective than business classes. Firms Wyatt Brooks Kevin Donovan Terrence Johnson Published 19.09.17
Enhancing the benefits of formalisation under a new status in Benin Providing information and assistance to informal firms increases formalisation, but the cost of the intervention is likely prohibitively high Firms Najy Benhassine David McKenzie Victor Pouliquen Massimiliano Santini Published 12.09.17
Strengthening women’s professional aspirations through job training: Evidence from Nigeria Beyond employment and earnings, job training can increase aspirations among women who lack the confidence to see themselves as successful Labour Markets Alaka Holla Published 31.08.17
Increasing crop insurance adoption among smallholder farmers with pay-at-harvest premium payment The cost of insurance comes before the benefit. For crop insurance, pay-at-harvest premiums remove this gap, and can increase demand substantially. Agriculture Lorenzo Casaburi Jack Willis Published 22.08.17
Generating SMEs through a business plan competition in Nigeria An experiment in Nigeria suggests that business plan competitions can effectively identify entrepreneurs capable of utilising capital to spur growth Firms David McKenzie Published 07.08.17
Interfirm relationships and business performance in China Regular meetings between the managers of young firms in Nanchang, China increased revenue and improved a broad range of performance measures Firms Jing Cai Adam Szeidl Published 02.08.17
