Publication – Page 2

Unlikely tools for unlikely times: 9 things to consider before using IVR as a research tool

In 2016, INC ran an interview titled “This CEO runs a billion-dollar company with no offices or email.” The interview profiled Matt Mullenweg, the CEO of Automattic, which runs WordPress. WordPress…

It’s all in the when: improving online engagement of COVID-19 self-assessments

Imagine for a moment, what life would have been like in the early 1400s if emoticons were available. Instead of having to write out a message to share that your…

Remotely different: a tale of research during COVID

When you hear the word remote, it probably signals an access challenge. It creates the visual image of a rural or distant area, far off from the general population, possibly…

Driving behavior change in the face of COVID: is increasing access to reliable information effective?

A decision alone is not enough, it must be an informed one. To achieve highly impactful decisions, one must have access to quality information, shared through the right reliable channels,…

What to look at when approaching family planning initiatives: family planning programs have become to public health what dating applications are to modern day romance – essential.

Imagine relationships in a world without the internet, smartphones, or Google. Our minds immediately go to a world of old movies where carrier pigeons were the messengers of love! In…

Meeting the mark: testing communication campaigns using the Low-cost Message Testing Guide

Precision is the tell of extraordinary marksmanship. However, it is preceded by numerous missed shots, form adjustment, choice of weapon, and the strength of character to keep shooting better. Precision,…

A Partnership to teach: training the next generation of behavioral scientists with the MIT Governance Lab

In recent years, behavioral sciences, or ways to better understand determinants of human behavior, have emerged as a leading innovation across disciplines and sectors. These novel methods and data allow…

Pick and Choose: using A/B testing to refine campaign messages

Deciding which message works for a given audience should be considered an extreme sport given all the context, nuances, and innuendo you have to sift through to make that choice.…

When the measure is broken the solution is wrong: a project on intimate partner violence in Nairobi shows why choosing the right measure matters.

Measures enable us to estimate behavior change due to a particular intervention. In research settings, reliable and valid measures are a prerequisite to answer research questions and draw conclusions about…

When the measure is broken the solution is wrong: building measures that are contextually relevant in India.

It is impossible to say whether or not an intervention works if we cannot measure it effectively. Measures enable us to estimate behavior change due to a particular intervention. If…

Speaking Truth: how focus group discussions enrich communication campaigns

Conversations have an interesting effect on your mood, your thought process, and even your behavior. If the discussions are engaging enough, you might offer your own words of wisdom and…

Five priority health areas for the next Nigeria government: how behavioral economics can help achieve them

Health is the base of every prosperous, economically productive nation yet it was not a prominent feature in the conversation leading up to the recent presidential election in Nigeria. Now,…

The Process is the Outcome: testing whether gendered processes create cultural distance for women in the workplace.

Women’s day often brings with it a resurgence of disheartening statistics such as only 1% of venture capital in Africa has gone to female founders, women fill less than 20% of US…

Can TV teach children comprehension?

The things we believe about something, whether true or untrue, define our approach towards it. In Europe, for example, the tomato was considered poisonous in the 1700s as it was…

Impact is an Inclusive Goal: Research participants have the answers, you just need to listen

Nobel Prize for pioneering work in developing a theory of radioactivity in 1903. It wasn’t until 1920 that she realized her own work was poisoning her and not until 1925…

Impact is an Inclusive Goal: working with pre-prints to increase access to research

Whether it is increasing access to reliable information in the wake of a pandemic or ensuring more farmers use agricultural insurance, our ultimate aim is to make people’s lives better in real and…

Assembly Line of Success: from the low-hanging fruit to long-term social change

Imagine waking up one morning with a burning desire to bring about social change in the developing world (for some of us, all over again). How many ways can you…

BeScights: Experience from three years of applied behavioral science in India

Report BeScights: Experience from three years of applied behavioral science in India Download PDF PARTNERDishaColLab 23SECTORGrowth and ExpansionPROJECT TYPEField ExperimentsBEHAVIORAL THEMEPerspective| Perception OVERVIEW Understanding Behavioral Science BeScIGHTS is a…

One size does not fit all: how our cross cultural research agenda is making room for truly generalizable results

An academic paper is often judged by how well it has understood the field it is studying and its contribution towards advancing said field. By that standard behavioral economics literature…

The sausage is in the making: how we’re refining research methods for higher quality data

We have all been through it at some point in our academic lives. Palpable tension, and just a sprinkle [or five] of panic when the exam invigilator barks “15 minutes…

Mapping out methods: bringing structure to the study of behavior

Say you have a problem procrastinating. You would like to change this as you end up doing most things at the last moment. First, you’d have to figure out why…

The engagement toolbox: four major engagement models to think about before any project

Milestones are a matter of perspective. For parents, five years is critical in the development of a child. It forms the foundation of your child’s learning, physical and emotional growth.…

5 reflections to strengthen civic engagement: context is king

Our determination to set up behavioral labs in non-WEIRD countries was driven by the idea that changing the context would change the results. This idea, supported by our equally curious…

Stress may increase choice of sooner outcomes, but not temporal discounting

To live or not to leave: the tension between meeting basic needs and social distancing

Introduction For wealthy people from wealthy countries, it may not always be easy, though usually quite feasible to be socially distant: Just stay home as much as possible, maybe read…

Using sermons to study religions’ influence on political behavior.

International optimism: correlates and consequences of dispositional optimism across 61 countries.

Stress and Temporal Discounting: Do Domains Matter?

Recent work in behavioral economics has asked whether stress affects economic choice. Here we focus on the effects of stress on temporal discounting, for which previous studies have produced inconsistent…

Measuring Self-Efficacy, Executive Function and Temporal Discounting in Kenya

Developing countries have low adherence to medical regimens like water chlorination or antenatal and postnatal care, contributing to high infant and child mortality rates. We hypothesize that high levels of…

Risky Choices and Solidarity: Why Experimental Design Matters

Negative income shocks can either be the consequence of risky choices or random events. A growing literature analyzes the role of responsibility for neediness for informal financial support of individuals…

Peace of Mind: Health Insurance Reduces Stress and Cortisol Levels

We show that the provision of health insurance reduces levels of self-reported stress and the stress hormone cortisol using a randomized controlled trial among informal workers in Nairobi, Kenya. The…

Self-Efficacy as a Driver of Civic Participation in Uganda

We find that exposure to a self-efficacy intervention can motivate informationseeking action for environmental causes. Self-efficacy has been shown to be a powerful driver of behavior in a variety of…

Does Voluntary Risk Taking Affect Solidarity? Experimental Evidence from Kenya

In this study we experimentally investigate whether solidarity, which is a crucial base for informal insurance arrangements in developing countries, is sensitive to the extent to which individuals can influence…

Imperfect Monitoring and Informal Risk Sharing: The Role of Social Ties

This paper examines whether social ties sustain informal insurance when there is imperfect monitoring of effort. I use a laboratory experiment, implemented with residents of slums in Nairobi, Kenya, that…

Risky Environments, Hidden Knowledge and Preferences for Contract Flexibility

Contract flexibility can be expedient for economic exchange in environments with high ambiguity and risk, but may also encourage opportunistic behavior. We run a modified investment game, including the choice…

Can Positive Psychology Improve Psychological Wellbeing and Economic Decision-Making?

We conduct a randomized experiment to evaluate the effect of a light-touch psychological intervention on psychological wellbeing and economic decision-making in a developing- country setting. Numerous psychological studies suggest that…

Workfare, Wellbeing and Consumption: Evidence from a Field Experiment with Kenya’s Urban Poor

Workfare and vouchers are often used in social welfare systems, but little empirical evidence exists on their impact on wellbeing. We conducted a randomized experiment in Kenya, and tested two…

The Short-Term Impact of Unconditional Cash Transfers to the Poor: Experimental Evidence from Kenya

We use a randomized controlled trial to study the response of poor households in rural Kenya to unconditional cash transfers from the NGO GiveDirectly. The transfers differ from other programs…

Evaluating the impacts of WorkShop access for small-scale craftsmen in Kenya

How do we inspire innovation and growth in the informal manufacturing industry in the developing world? We investigate relieving both physical capital and human capital constraints among informal woodworkers in…

The Impact of Recipient Choice on Aid Effectiveness

This study compares the impact of several common development programs (agricultural extension, subsidized agricultural inputs and poultry transfers) to cash transfers equal to the cost of each program. Prior to…

Deterrence and Legitimacy in Anti-Corruption Policy making

In our framed laboratory experiment, two Public Officials, A and B, make consecutive decisions regarding embezzlement from separate funds. Official B observes Official A’s decisions before making his/her own. We…

Value for money? Community Targeting in Vote-Buying and Politician Accountability

Community targeting of vote payments — defined as the saturation of entire neighborhoods with cash prior to elections — is widespread in the developing world. In this paper, we utilize…