“The government expects a presentation of the findings in nine days,” we heard over a video call from one of our in-country staff members in Mexico City. He was referring to the results of the RECOVR (Research for Effective COVID-19 Response) survey, an effort we started in April in order to put IPA’s expertise at policymakers’ disposal to support them in their pandemic response.
June 17, 2020
June 11, 2020
How do we ensure that people who already live hand to mouth aren’t starving during lockdown? Should we even lock down? Should we reopen businesses—and how? How do we do distance learning well? Are cash transfers helping people stay home? Who needs cash transfers the most?
February 28, 2019
(Editor's note: The title of this post has been updated.)
IPA pursues many strategies to move evidence to policy impact, but one that engenders particularly meaningful partnerships is to work from within governments, whether through embedding staff within government offices or facilitating the institutionalization of an “evidence unit” within a ministry. For example:
Media Coverage
January 28, 2019
The Chicago Booth Review features IPA research by our founder Dean Karlan, Sendhil Mullainathan, and Benjamin N. Roth on loan forgiveness while highlighting why so many people struggle to escape debt.
Media Coverage
January 04, 2019
In an interview with Freakonomics, IPA founder Dean Karlan and James Choi discuss their work (completed with fellow researcher Gharad Bryan) on an IPA evaluation of a Christian health and livelihood training program in the Philippines. The study tested two versions of the program, one with and one without a religious messaging component.
Media Coverage
January 04, 2019
The Daily Guardian reports on the launch of a graduation program in the Western Visayas region of the Philippines. The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), the Asian Development Bank (ADB), and BRAC, have partnered on the program which will be evaluated in an IPA randomized controlled trial.
Media Coverage
July 24, 2018
The Manilla Bulletin reports on the new "Research O'Clock" partnership between IPA and the Philippines Department of Education, which will serve as a forum for engaging the education sector and sharing the latest evidence for effective learning.
Silvia Prina
April 17, 2018
By Alejandra Martinez and Danielle Moore
Media Coverage
March 01, 2018
In an op-ed in the New York Times, David Leonhardt discusses the findings of IPA's evaluation of a Christian business training program in the Philippines. Leonhardt explores the results' implications with project researcher and IPA founder Dean Karlan, who concludes that the "findings are 'cautiously positive' for the power of religion."
Media Coverage
February 26, 2018
The Indian Express covers IPA's research on ways to help entrepreneurs in developing countries escape the cycle of short-term, high-interest borrowing. The study, conducted in India and the Philippines, evaluated the effects of offering money and lessons in finance to market vendors who were carrying significant debt. Researchers found that most vendors fell back into debt within six weeks, and that the intervention had no observable long-term effects. Further research is needed on barriers to saving among small-scale entrepreneurs and the functions that short-term lending serves.
Media Coverage
February 26, 2018
The Economist reports on IPA's evaluation of a Christian business training program in the Philippines. Researchers evaluated the program for the poor, which provided health and business training, both with and without the religious messaging component. The evaluation showed that only the version with the religious component raised incomes and increased expressions of religious belief. However, it also reduced paritcipants' perception of their relative economic status in their community.
Media Coverage
October 30, 2017
The preliminary results of an IPA study on the effectiveness of an employment program for students in the Philippines were covered by the Business Mirror (Philippines).
Announcement
August 15, 2017
The Peace & Recovery (P&R) Program at Innovations for Poverty Action is launching its first request for proposals, through an Expression of Interest (EOI) Form available now. Expressions of Interest are due on September 15, 2017.
The P&R Program is designed to support field experiments and related research in several broad areas:
Media Coverage
October 31, 2016
Researchers who conducted randomized controlled studies in several countries began to question the effects of micro lending in raising the economic fortunes of the poor. While the loans increased business starts for those without business to begin with, for those already in business the impact has not been encouraging.
Media Coverage
October 05, 2016
For the 2.5 billion people who live on less than $2 per day, shocks such as illness, crop failures, livestock deaths, farming-equipment breakdowns and even wedding or funeral expenses can be enough to tip them, their families, or even an entire community below the poverty line. A major challenge for international development efforts is determining which financial tools provide durable buffers against such setbacks.
