Center for Effective Global Action
March 2014 - Impact Note
IMPACT

Advances in Family Planning
 
This month, the Behavioral Economics in Reproductive Health Initiative (BERI) convened a research workshop with practitioners from PSI, BRAC, FHI360, and Pathfinder. Participants integrated insights from psychology and economics into ongoing family planning programs, designing new approaches to address health care provider bias, adolescent risk perception, and problems with intra-household bargaining. 

  

Designed to Deliver: Toward Demand-driven Innovation

 

The Development Impact Lab (DIL), a CEGA initiative, held its first State of the Science Conference on March 7th at Georgetown University, in partnership with USAID and gui2de. Over 200 development practitioners, donors, and academics attended the conference, which highlighted novel techniques for understanding consumers at the base of the economic pyramid. CEGA affiliate Pascaline Dupas presented experimental methods to elicit consumer willingness to pay, while Jana CEO Nathan Eagle discussed the promise of mobile data analytics. Conference materials are available on the event page.

UPCOMING
 
Evidence to Action 2014: 
Building Markets for Small Scale Farmers
 
CEGA will hold its 5th annual Evidence to Action Symposium at the Berkeley Art Museum on Thursday, May 1st. The half-day event, co-sponsored by J-PALwill feature emerging evidence on the role of markets in the adoption of agricultural technologies by African and South Asian farmers. The agenda includes Andrew Youn, founder of One Acre Fund, and Umesh Singh of the International Rice Research Institute. This event is free and open to the public; registration is required. 
 
The Tyranny of Experts: William Easterly 
 
On April 11th, William Easterly will visit Berkeley to discuss his new book, The Tyranny of Experts: Economists, Dictators, and the Forgotten Rights of the Poor. Easterly is Professor of Economics at New York University, Co-Director of the NYU Development Research Institute, and author of the bestselling book, The White Man's Burden. The event is hosted by CEGA and the Blum Center
PEOPLE

New Faculty Affiliates Join CEGA
 
CEGA's faculty network has expanded to include four new affiliates with expertise in computer science, economics, and public policy: Joshua Blumenstock (University of Washington), Arun Chandrasekhar (Stanford University), Marcel Fafchamps (Stanford University), and Noam Yuchtman (UC Berkeley) are all enthusiastically welcomed.

 

CEGA Welcomes EASST Visiting Scholar 

Alebel Bayrau Weldesilassie, a research fellow at thEthiopian Development Research Institute (EDRI), is completing a sabbatical at UC Berkeley this Spring through the East Africa Social Science Translation (EASST) collaborative. Alebel heads the Poverty and Sectoral Research Directorate at EDRI, teaches at Addis Ababa University's School of Economics, and holds an affiliation with the International Growth Center in Ethiopia. While at Berkeley, Alebel is working with CEGA affiliate Jonathan Robinson at the intersection of psychology and economics, to evaluate a savings reminder program for taxi drivers in Addis Ababa.
EVIDENCE
 
Monitoring School Attendance: CCTs vs. UCTs
 
Conditional cash transfers (CCTs) are a common tool for increasing primary school attendance among low-income households, but how does the conditionality actually affect schooling decisions? CEGA affiliate Leonardo Bursztyn and co-author Lucas C. Coffman have conducted a four-arm randomized evaluation of families participating in Brazil's Bolsa Escola, to explore the extent to which parent-child conflict over the value of education affects decision-making. Households were offered either conditional or unconditional cash transfers, along with options for monitoring children's school attendance. Parents were willing to forego larger cash payments to keep the conditionality on the transfers, but were no longer willing to forego payments for the conditionality when also offered detailed information about their children's classroom attendance. The findings suggest that the monitoring provided by CCTs is valued by parents, and highlight a need for improved methods, such as text messaging, to reduce information gaps between children and their parents. See the project summary and academic publication for more details. 
 
ACADEMICS

Pacific Conference for Development Economics (PacDev) 2014
 

This year marked the 11th annual Pacific Development Conference. Co-hosted by CEGA and the UCLA Luskin School of Public Policy. The conference drew over 200 attendees, including 80 presenters who shared research papers on topics of agriculture, technology, finance, governance, education, health, and more. Sendhil Mullainathan captured the audience with his plenary talk on behavioral economics- the psychological effects of scarcity, and its relation to poverty. Select papers from the conference are available on the event website. 

 

Ted at Ted(x) Berkeley

 

CEGA Faculty Director Ted Miguel spoke on climate, conflict, and African development at the annual TED(x) Berkeley conference held Saturday, February 8th. Over 1,700 attended the full day of presentations by leaders and visionaries called upon to "rethink", "redefine", and "recreate". Ted's talk has been highlighted as an "Editor's Pick" on the official TED(x) website. View the video

 
Development Seminar Streamed Live to UCLA

As part of CEGA's mission to promote rigorous research, a weekly development seminar organized the Berkeley Economics department is now streamed live to UC Los Angeles.
 
OPPORTUNITIES

Research Transparency Workshop
 
Join CEGA Faculty Director Ted Miguel and other prominent instructors for a week-long workshop on emerging tools and strategies to increase the reliability, reproducibility, and validity of research findings. Apply by April 2nd on the ICPSR Web Portal.

CEGA's Global Impact Network (GIN) is Hiring!
 
CEGA is recruiting three full-time positions to support the Global Impact Network (GIN): two Senior Program Associates, and a Program Coordinator. Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis, though candidates are encouraged to apply by April 15th. Visit cega.berkeley.edu/opportunities for information and application instructions.

Summer Internship Opportunities


CEGA is recruiting two full-time interns for Summer 2014, focusing on research, website development and graphic design. Visit cega.berkeley.edu/opportunities for information and application instructions.
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