Week of May 11, 2015

1. Ultra-Poor: A RCT involving more than 10,000 households in six countries reports improvements in livelihoods for participants in a "graduation model" poverty intervention. While the programs didn't show effects in all contexts, cost-benefit analysis suggests promising returns on investment. Nature and Science

2. Savings:  When participants in a study in India received compensation directly to a personal account, they reported higher rates of savings and consumption (regardless of gender) than peers receiving cash. However, when account holders were switched to cash payments, savings and consumption activity reverted to their original patterns. VoxEU

3. Social Networks:  A new working paper from Angelucci et al. uses data from the Progresa evaluations to assess the degree to which family and social networks insure each other and provide funding for investment. They find that for every dollar received from Progresa, by a member of the network, food expenditures rise by .60 to .70 cents and investments in children also rise. J-PAL

4. Financial Inclusion: FAI affiliates David Roodman and Daniel Rozas question whether the newest Global Findex data is overstating growth in the rate of financial inclusion and what this means for policy-makers. NextBillion

5. Household Money Management: "The central conflict of domestic life right now isn't men versus women or mothers versus fathers; it's the family against money." The Atlantic