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Although the concept of randomized assignment to control for extraneous factors reaches back hundreds of years, the first empirical use appears to have been in an 1835 trial of homeopathic medicine. Throughout the 19th century, there was primarily a growing awareness of the need for careful comparison groups, albeit often without the realization that randomization could be a particularly clean method to achieve that goal. In the second and more crucial phase of this history, four separate but related disciplines introduced randomized control trials within a few years of one another in the 1920s: agricultural science, clinical medicine, educational psychology, and social policy (specifically political science). Randomized control trials brought more rigor to fields that were in the process of expanding their purviews and focusing more on causal relationships. In the third phase, the 1950s through the 1970s saw a surge of interest in more applied randomized experiments in economics and elsewhere, in the lab and especially in the field.

Field Experiment --- Lab Experiment --- Randomization --- RCT --- Selection Bias

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We show self control and self image are malleable in adults, and that investments in them reduce crime and violence. We recruited criminally-engaged Liberian men and randomized half to eight weeks of group cognitive behavioral therapy, teaching self control skills and a noncriminal self-image. We also randomized $200 grants. Cash raised incomes and reduced crime in the short-run but effects dissipated within a year. Therapy increased self control and noncriminal values, and acts of crime and violence fell 20--50%. Therapy's impacts lasted at least a year when followed by cash, likely because cash reinforced behavioral changes via prolonged practice.

Zonder onderwerpscode: economie

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Mental health, well-being and lasting economic outcomes are intimately connected. However, in geographies marked by fragility, conflict and violence, entrepreneurs of small and medium-size experience chronic stress and poor mental health on a regular basis. This paper describes the incremental effects of a five-week group cognitive behavioral training program-over and above the effect of receiving cash grants-on reducing depression and anxiety, as well as improving well-being among small and medium-size enterprise entrepreneurs in conflict-affected parts of Pakistan. Entrepreneurs in the treatment group received the intervention as well as cash grants, whereas those in the control group received only cash grants. The study, which was conducted with 235 entrepreneurs, found that cognitive behavioral training leads to significant improvements in mental health outcomes in the short run. Three months after the intervention, analysis of pooled data across two follow-up rounds (at five weeks and three months after) show that entrepreneurs in the treatment group experience statistically significant (at the 10 percent level) reduction in the intensity and prevalence of depression and anxiety symptoms (measured by the Patient Health Questionnaire Anxiety and Depression Scale) and higher levels of well-being (measured by the five-item World Health Organization Well-being Index) compared with the control group. Entrepreneurs in the treatment arm experienced a substantial decline in the odds of experiencing depression and anxiety compared with those in the control group (odds ratio of 0.46 for the treatment group relative to the control group), although the results are statistically significant only when the data are pooled. The effect was marked for those experiencing mild/moderate levels of depression and anxiety, indicating the clinical value of such low-touch early interventions. An endline survey is planned at 18 months to assess the longer-term impacts of the intervention on mental health and well-being as well as its impact on business performance.

Anxiety --- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy --- Conflict --- Depression --- Education --- Educational Sciences --- Entrepreneurship --- Fragility --- Health Care Services Industry --- Industry --- Law and Development --- Marketing --- Mental Health --- Private Sector Development Law --- Private Sector Economics --- Randomized Field Experiments --- Stress --- Uncertainty --- Violence --- Well-Being

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COVID-19 was a major shock to youth entrepreneurs and their businesses in Kenya. This paper studies the causal impact of grants-worth two months of baseline business revenue-and business development services as potential mitigation measures. Using multiple rounds of phone surveys up to seven months from the start of the pandemic, the analysis finds that youth who are assigned business grants or a combination of grants and business development services are significantly more likely to maintain a business, earn more revenue and profits, retain employees, and report higher confidence and satisfaction with life. There are no corresponding effects of business development services alone, although the follow-up period is extremely short for training effects to materialize. These results suggest that cash infusion for young entrepreneurs in times of an aggregate shock can be instrumental in moderating its immediate harmful impacts.

Business Development Services --- Business Grant --- Business Training --- Coronavirus --- Covid-19 --- Disease Control and Prevention --- Enterprise Development and Reform --- Entrepreneurship --- Health, Nutrition and Population --- Pandemic Response --- Private Sector Development --- Youth Entrepreneurs