Decentralising the monitoring of public sector workers is cost-effective, but as central state capacity increases this advantage disappears

Weak rule of law institutions distort establishments’ decisions and magnify financial frictions, contributing to substantial productivity losses

Women choose lower quality colleges, travel for a longer time, and spend more money on commuting, relative to men, to feel safer

Evidence from the garment industry in Bangladesh shows that it is not obvious that policymakers should try to limit the role of referrals in job...

Financial incentives to community health promoters attract more applicants at the expense of crowding out pro-social preferences

Affording tenants in India property rights on the land they farmed exacerbated son preference, resulting in fewer girls surviving to the age of one

Psychosocial factors matter for financial behaviour. A financial literacy and parenting programme substantially improves families’ financial lives.

Lower informality does not necessarily translate to higher total factor productivity or improved welfare

New bridges generated a 19% internal rate of return by mitigating the loss of wage income due to floods and inducing spillovers on farm productivity