Female politicians in India expand reproductive healthcare, but spousal conflict over number of sons can turn contraceptive gains into domestic violence.

Face-to-face counselling for Nepali adolescents improved mental well-being, but translating these gains into better schooling outcomes proved elusive.

Governments commonly use school infrastructure to implement programmes targeting child health, but additional programmes can overwhelm administrative capacity and crowd out the delivery of existing programmes.

Democratically elected leaders are less likely to impose socially inefficient regulations or engage in rent-seeking and, hence, enhance firm productivity

Allowing old-regime agents to remain in power during democratic transitions facilitates elite capture, which lowers public good provision