VoxDev Development Economics

How can we best incentivise bureaucrats in a formal manner that avoids concerns over corruption?

Can policymakers speed up the adoption of modern agricultural technologies through peer-to-peer learning?

To what extent do the poorest rural households in sub-Saharan Africa benefit from residential electrification investments?

Do unconditional cash transfers increase welfare in communities as a whole, even within households that do not receive them?

How can governments in developing countries best ensure widespread and effective social protection in light of the COVID-19 pandemic?

How can we best protect the most vulnerable in the developing world during the COVID-19 pandemic?

Whilst rural to urban migration can improve the allocation of labour, can it have unintended consequences on risk sharing in rural communities?

Rickshaw drivers in India who randomly received sobriety incentives as part of an experiment significantly reduced their daytime drinking

Does easing the financial stress of short-term workers by paying them earlier lead to productivity improvements?

 Many researchers have suggested that increased sleep at night translates into improved working outcomes, such as higher productivity. But while these researchers have often focused on settings where sleep quality is high, workers in many developing countries suffer from low sleep quality due to factors such as noise, heat, and mosquitoes. In this VoxDev talk, Gautam Rao and Frank Schilbach discuss an innovative experiment that targeted increased sleep among low-income workers in Chennai, India. Fascinatingly, they find that increased sleep at night did not have a positive effect on a range of outcomes including work, decision-making, and health. But can naps at work do the trick?