RCT | VoxDev

Mismeasuring learning: Beware of psychometric test scores

High-frequency data from a large early childhood intervention in China indicates that skills develop through the emergence of qualitatively new abilities and stochastic fluctuations, rather than as higher levels of a fixed trait, challenging the prac...

Education

James Heckman Jin Zhou

Published

17.02.26

Why firms under-promote women – and how experimentation can fix it

In Bangladesh’s garment sector, firms often under-promote women because of biased beliefs and distorted learning about women’s managerial ability. However, temporary, low-risk trials can correct these beliefs and lead to sustained increases in female...

Labour Markets

Rocco Macchiavello Andreas Menzel Atonu Rabbani Christopher Woodruff

Published

05.02.26

Why waste segregation policies fail – and how training makes them work

Citizen training that builds households’ practical capability to segregate waste can deliver large, persistent and socially amplified improvements in waste management, making it a highly cost-effective climate policy in resource-constrained cities.

Energy & Environment

Swati Dhingra Stephen Machin

Published

29.01.26

Including women in commercial agriculture benefits the whole household

Formally including Ugandan women in commercial agriculture – through contract ownership or behaviour-change interventions – can increase women’s empowerment without reducing productivity, and with positive spillovers for household welfare and gender ...

Agriculture

Kate Ambler Kelly Jones Michael O’Sullivan

Published

27.01.26

Can school-based career guidance increase young women’s labour force participation?

A school-based career exploration programme in India raised female students’ aspirations and confidence by improving access to information and role models, but persistent structural constraints prevented these gains from translating into medium-term ...

Labour Markets

Ankush Asri Viola Asri Anke Hoeffler

Published

27.01.26

Learning how business is done: Management styles and labour market inclusion

Existing efforts to promote upward mobility in low-income countries focus on broadening access to education. However, evidence from Ethiopia shows that professional socialisation (learning professional norms) may be a key constraint to this mobility,...

Labour Markets

Girum Abebe Marcel Fafchamps Michael Koelle Simon Quinn Tom Schwantje

Published

15.01.26

Discrimination in football: Do players face barriers in Latin America?

Amateur football clubs in Latin America show no overall discrimination against immigrants, but treatment varies sharply by origin, with players from lower-ranked football countries facing fewer positive responses, driven largely by perceived player q...

Institutions & Political Economy

Carlos Gómez González Gwen-Jiro Clochard Helmut Dietl Juan Cruz Duhalde

Published

09.01.26

Do online marketplaces reduce gender discrimination?

Digital marketplaces have the potential to eliminate gender gaps in prices and product quality. Evidence from Pakistan shows that while digital marketplaces may reduce discrimination in prices, women continue to face higher non-economic costs that ma...

Institutions & Political Economy

Sher Afghan Asad Husnain Fateh Ahmad Hadia Majid

Published

08.01.26

Countering misinformation in the classroom

Sustained, classroom-based media literacy improved the ability of teenagers in rural India to resist misinformation. The effects are large, lasting – and even spill over to parents.

Education

Priyadarshi Amar Sumitra Badrinathan Simon Chauchard Florian Sichart

Published

07.01.26