Innovations for Poverty Action

Last updated
Innovations for Poverty Action
Founded2002
Founder Dean Karlan
TypeResearch into poverty alleviation and development programs
FocusProgram Evaluation in areas such as Microfinance
Public Health
Agriculture
Education
Location
Area served
Global
Key people
 Dean Karlan, Annie Duflo
Website poverty-action.org

Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) is an American non-profit research and policy organization founded in 2002 by economist Dean Karlan. [1] Since its foundation, IPA has worked with over 400 leading academics to conduct over 900 evaluations in 52 countries. [2] The organization also manages the Poverty Probability Index.

Contents

IPA conducts randomized controlled trials (RCTs), along with other types of quantitative research, to measure the impacts of development programs in sectors including microfinance, education, health, peace and recovery, governance, agriculture, social protection, and small and medium enterprises. [3] Its partner organizations include over 400 governments, nonprofits, academic institutions, foundations, and companies.

History and mission

IPA was founded in 2002 by Dean Karlan, an economist at Yale University. [4] The organization is dedicated to finding and promoting solutions to global poverty and "bridging the gap between academia and development policy". [5] [6]

IPA is headquartered in New Haven, Connecticut, and has offices in New York, Washington, D.C., as well as offices in Africa, Asia and South America. [7] As of 2021, the organization is led by executive director Annie Duflo and has conducted 677 studies in 51 countries throughout the world. [8]

In 2017, IPA and the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab received a $16 million grant from the UK Department for International Development to research policies that promote peace and support communities in areas recovering from conflict. [9]

Funding

IPA seeks funding from both individuals and foundations. IPA has been funded by a number of foundations and other non-profits. These include the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, [10] [11] [12] Omidyar Network, Citi Foundation, Hewlett Foundation, Mulago Foundation, [13] Ford Foundation, World Bank, USAID, DFID, and others. A number of universities and think tanks have also funded IPA and its projects, including Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Stanford University.

Activities

IPA conducts controlled, randomized studies of aid programs. Their studies are conducted in much the same matter as scientific studies to determine the impact of such programs and find effective methods for reducing poverty. [7] IPA's evaluations assess interventions in the areas of small and medium enterprises, financial inclusion, peace and recovery, governance, health, education, agriculture, and social protection. [14]

As of 2017, IPA had designed and conducted more than 650 evaluations [7] in partnership with over 400 leading academics. IPA also works to ensure that decision-makers use and apply evidence by making it useful and accessible. IPA does this through collaborating with decision-makers while creating policy-relevant evidence, proactive sharing of results, and providing technical assistance to applying solutions at scale. [15]

Partners

IPA works with more than 400 nonprofit organizations, governments, academic institutions, and companies to design programs and conduct evaluations. [15] [16]

The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) is a close partner of IPA. [17] [18] The two organizations share a common mission and take similar methodological approaches to development policy evaluation. Both organizations have pioneered the use of randomized evaluations to study the effectiveness of development interventions worldwide and have collaborated extensively on field studies involving randomized evaluations. IPA and J-PAL attempt to bridge the gap between research and the policy world by creating and disseminating knowledge about what works to policymakers and practitioners around the world.

IPA has a number of other partners including the World Bank, various agencies of the United Nations, a number of national and regional governments such as the government of Sierra Leone, and a number of charities that collaborate with IPA in the design and evaluation of their programs, such as Save the Children, Population Services International, One Acre Fund, and Pratham. [19]

Research

IPA's research spans eight programs: agriculture, education, financial inclusion, governance, health, peace and recovery, small and medium enterprises, and social protection. The results of IPA studies have been published by IPA research affiliates in peer-reviewed academic journals such as Econometrica, Science, the Quarterly Journal of Economics , American Economic Review , and the Review of Financial Studies , among others. [20]

Method

IPA uses randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in its approach to anti-poverty research. RCTs are primarily known for their application in medical research to isolate the impact of a particular pharmaceutical or treatment from other factors. [21] As in these medical trials, researchers assign participants at random to different study groups. One or more groups receive a program (the "treatment groups") and another group serves as the comparison (or "control") group. Though there are critiques to the randomized approach, its use in the social sciences is growing. Critics have included notable development economists such as Angus Deaton and Daron Acemoglu. [22]

Microfinance

IPA performs many evaluations of microfinance programs and products, including microcredit, microsavings, and microinsurance. IPA is part of the Financial Access Initiative (FAI), a consortium launched with the support of a $5 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation with the goal of increasing knowledge about microfinance and communicating research lessons to a broad spectrum of policy-makers, microfinance institutions, and the public at large.

An example of IPA's research on microfinance includes examinations of the impact of group liability. Many microcredit programs are offered to groups of women who share "group liability", meaning that all members of the group are responsible for repaying the loans if one of the members defaults. Group liability has been promoted by Nobel Prize winner Muhammad Yunus as the best way to ensure high repayment rates. [23] IPA studies conducted in a variety of countries show that switching existing clients to individual liability does not increase default rates, however. Further, IPA studies demonstrate that microcredit does not have a transformative impact on poverty, but that it can give low-income households more freedom in optimizing the ways they make money, consume, and invest. [24]

Agriculture

IPA's agriculture research evaluates whether interventions aimed at increasing or protecting farm income are effective. This research has included projects that examine the impact of crop prices, [25] [26] rainfall insurance, fertilizer use, [27] and access to export markets. [28] [29]

External reviews

GiveWell review

In November 2011, charity evaluator GiveWell published a review of IPA [30] and listed it among six standout organizations [31] along with GiveDirectly, KIPP (Houston branch), Nyaya Health, Pratham, and Small Enterprise Foundation but below the two top-rated charities Against Malaria Foundation and Schistosomiasis Control Initiative.

The Life You Can Save

The advocacy and education outreach organization The Life You Can Save founded after of the release of the Peter Singer book The Life You Can Save , rates IPA as a trusted charity backed by evidence. [32]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Microcredit</span> Small loans to impoverished borrowers

Microcredit is the extension of very small loans (microloans) to impoverished borrowers who typically lack collateral, steady employment, and a verifiable credit history. It is designed to support entrepreneurship and alleviate poverty. Many recipients are illiterate, and therefore unable to complete paperwork required to get conventional loans. As of 2009 an estimated 74 million people held microloans that totaled nearly US$40 billion. Grameen Bank reports that repayment success rates are between 95 and 98 percent. The first economist who had invented the idea of microloans was The Very Reverend Jonathan Swift in the 1720s. Microcredit is part of microfinance, which provides a wider range of financial services, especially savings accounts, to the poor. Modern microcredit is generally considered to have originated with the Grameen Bank founded in Bangladesh in 1983 by their current Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus. Many traditional banks subsequently introduced microcredit despite initial misgivings. The United Nations declared 2005 the International Year of Microcredit. As of 2012, microcredit is widely used in developing countries and is presented as having "enormous potential as a tool for poverty alleviation."

The Hunger Project (THP), founded in 1977 with the stated goal of ending world hunger in 25 years, is an organization committed to the sustainable end of world hunger. It has ongoing programs in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, where it implements programs aimed at mobilizing rural grassroots communities to achieve sustainable progress in health, education, nutrition, and family income. THP is a 501(c)(3) non-profit charitable organization incorporated in the state of California.

Opportunity International is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization chartered in the United States. Through a network of 47 program and support partners, Opportunity International provides small business loans, savings, insurance and training to more than 14 million people in the developing world. It has clients in more than 20 countries and works with fundraising partners in the United States, Australia, Canada, Germany, Switzerland, Singapore, Hong Kong and the United Kingdom. Opportunity International has 501(c)(3) status as a tax-exempt charitable organization in the United States under the US Internal Revenue Code.

Conditional cash transfer (CCT) programs aim to reduce poverty by making welfare programs conditional upon the receivers' actions. The government only transfers the money to persons who meet certain criteria. These criteria may include enrolling children into public schools, getting regular check-ups at the doctor's office, receiving vaccinations, or the like. CCTs seek to help the current generation in poverty, as well as breaking the cycle of poverty for the next through the development of human capital. Conditional cash transfers could help reduce feminization of poverty.

The Financial Access Initiative (FAI) is an American consortium, established in 2006, of researchers at New York University (NYU), Yale University, Harvard University and Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) focused on finding answers to how financial sectors can better meet the needs of poor households.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Esther Duflo</span> French-American economist (born 1972)

Esther Duflo, FBA is a French-American economist currently serving as the Abdul Latif Jameel Professor of Poverty Alleviation and Development Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). In 2019, she was jointly awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences alongside Abhijit Banerjee and Michael Kremer "for their experimental approach to alleviating global poverty".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab</span> Global research center working to reduce poverty

The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) is a global research center based at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology aimed to reducing poverty by ensuring that policy is informed by rigorous, scientific evidence. J-PAL funds, provides technical support to, and disseminates the results of randomized controlled trials evaluating the efficacy of social interventions in health, education, agriculture, and a range of other fields. As of 2020, the J-PAL network consisted of 500 researchers and 400 staff, and the organization's programs had impacted over 400 million people globally. The organization has regional offices in seven countries around the world, and is headquartered near the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dean Karlan</span> American economist

Dean Karlan is an American development economist and social entrepreneur currently serving as chief economist of the United States Agency for International Development. Alongside his role at USAID, he is the Frederic Esser Nemmers Distinguished Professor of Economics and Finance at Northwestern University where, alongside Christopher Udry, he co-directs the Globe Poverty Research Lab at the Kellogg School of Management.

Jonathan Zinman is a professor of economics at Dartmouth College and a research affiliate at the New Haven-based research outfit Innovations for Poverty Action and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology-based Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab. Formerly an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Zinman is currently a visiting scholar at the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia and Fellow at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Center for Financial Research. Zinman is also a member of the Behavioral Finance Forum and a Research Advisory Board member of stickK, a web-based start-up that enables users to make commitment contracts in order to reach their personal goals.

The Consortium on Financial Systems and Poverty (CFSP) is a private economic research consortium dedicated to studying the interaction of financial systems and poverty, using a variety of economic approaches in a range of developing countries.

The Center for Effective Global Action (CEGA), earlier known as the Center of Evaluation for Global Action, is a research network based at the University of California that advances global health and development through impact evaluation and economic analysis. The Center's researchers use randomized controlled trials and other rigorous forms of evaluation to promote sustainable social and economic development around the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rachel Glennerster</span> British economist

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The impact of microcredit is the study of microcredit and its impact on poverty reduction which is a subject of much controversy. Proponents state that it reduces poverty through higher employment and higher incomes. This is expected to lead to improved nutrition and improved education of the borrowers' children. Some argue that microcredit empowers women. In the US and Canada, it is argued that microcredit helps recipients to graduate from welfare programs. Critics say that microcredit has not increased incomes, but has driven poor households into a debt trap, in some cases even leading to suicide. They add that the money from loans is often used for durable consumer goods or consumption instead of being used for productive investments, that it fails to empower women, and that it has not improved health or education.

Youth Impact is a non-governmental organization based in Gaborone, Botswana, that scales evidence-based programs in health and education. The mission is to connect youth with proven life-saving information, and Youth Impact has reached over 100,000 young people. Youth Impact currently runs two programs: Zones and Teaching at the Right Level.

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Emily Louise Breza is an American development economist currently serving as the Frederic E. Abbe Professor of Economics at Harvard University. She is a board member at the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab, and an affiliated researcher at the International Growth Centre and National Bureau of Economic Research. Breza's primary research interests are in development economics, in particular the interplay between social networks and household finance. She is the recipient of a Sloan Research Fellowship.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Evidence Action</span> American non-profit organization

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lisa Gennetian</span> American economist

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References

  1. ↑ "ImpactSpace". impactspace.com. Retrieved 2016-08-18.
  2. ↑ "Nonprofit (New Haven): Innovations for Poverty Action". idealist.org. Archived from the original on 2016-08-22. Retrieved 2016-08-18.
  3. ↑ "Unrated Profile for Innovations for Poverty Action". Charity Navigator. Archived from the original on 2016-08-26. Retrieved 2016-08-18.
  4. ↑ "The devil's in the data: Innovations for Poverty Action of New Haven evaluates programs around the globe". New Haven Register. Archived from the original on 2012-03-12.
  5. ↑ "History". Innovations for Poverty Action. Archived from the original on 2015-10-01. Retrieved 2012-08-14.
  6. ↑ "Renowned economists launch Global Poverty Research Lab". Northwestern Now. news.northwestern.edu. Retrieved 2017-12-28.
  7. 1 2 3 "New Haven organization, founded by Yale prof, tests best ways to reduce global poverty". New Haven Register. Retrieved 2017-12-28.
  8. ↑ "IPA 2020-2021 Annual Report" (PDF). Innovations for Poverty Action. Retrieved 2021-12-18.
  9. ↑ "IPA and J-PAL Announce $16 Million Grant From UK Government to Fund New Research on Solutions to Challenges in Governance, Crime and Conflict, and Peace and Recovery". ReliefWeb. Retrieved 2017-12-28.
  10. ↑ "Innovations for Poverty Action (2011 grant)". Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.[ permanent dead link ]
  11. ↑ "Innovations for Poverty Action (2010 grant)". Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.[ permanent dead link ]
  12. ↑ "Innovations for Poverty Action (2009 grant)". Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.[ permanent dead link ]
  13. ↑ "Innovations for Poverty Action (profile page)". Mulago Foundation. Archived from the original on 2012-10-25.
  14. ↑ "Sectors". Innovations for Poverty Action. 2015-08-06. Archived from the original on 2012-09-03.
  15. 1 2 "Our Partners". Innovations for Poverty Action. Archived from the original on 2016-03-18. Retrieved 2016-03-17.
  16. ↑ Lano, Christiana (9 October 2017). ""Innovations for Poverty Action" and Evidence-Based Interventions". BORGEN Magazine.
  17. ↑ "Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) (partner page with list of joint projects)". Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab. Archived from the original on 2012-06-30.
  18. ↑ "Abudl Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (partner page with list of joint projects)". Innovations for Poverty Action. Archived from the original on 2012-01-18.
  19. ↑ "Partners (multiple page navigation)". Innovations for Poverty Action. Archived from the original on 2012-08-31.
  20. ↑ "Publications". Innovations for Poverty Action. Archived from the original on 2016-03-20.
  21. ↑ Staff Reports (9 October 2017). ""Innovations for Poverty Action" and Evidence-Based Interventions". BORGEN Magazine.
  22. ↑ "AEAweb Journal Articles Display". Archived from the original on 2010-09-17. Retrieved 2010-09-08.
  23. ↑ "Group versus Individual Liability for Microfinance borrowers in the Philippines | Innovations for Poverty Action". Archived from the original on 2011-07-27. Retrieved 2010-12-09. Group vs. Individual Liability in the Philippines
  24. ↑ "Where Credit is Due | Innovations for Poverty Action". www.poverty-action.org. June 2015. Archived from the original on 2016-10-02. Retrieved 2016-09-29.
  25. ↑ Dean Karlan, Ed Kutsoati, Margaret McMillan, Chris Udry. "Crop Price Indemnified Loans for Farmers:A Pilot Experiment in Rural Ghana" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-06-28.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  26. ↑ "Project page: Examining Effects of Crop Price Insurance for Farmers in Ghana". Innovations for Poverty Action. 2015-04-22. Archived from the original on 2011-04-27.
  27. ↑ Esther Duflo; Michael Kremer; Jonathan Robinson. "Nudging Farmers to Use Fertilizer: Theory and Experimental Evidence from Kenya". Archived from the original (pdf) on 2010-03-06.
  28. ↑ Nava Ashraf; Xavier Giné; Dean Karlan. "Finding Missing Markets (and a disturbing epilogue): Evidence from an Export Crop Adoption and Marketing Intervention in Kenya" (PDF). Innovations for Poverty Action, Financial Access Initiative. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-27.
  29. ↑ "Project page: Finding Missing Markets: An Agricultural Brokerage Intervention in Kenya". Innovations for Poverty Action. 2015-04-22. Retrieved 2018-02-17.
  30. ↑ GiveWell official review of IPA Archived 2012-05-21 at the Wayback Machine
  31. ↑ GiveWell list of top-rated charities Archived 2012-12-11 at the Wayback Machine
  32. ↑ "Publications". The Life You Can Save. Archived from the original on 2015-09-24.
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