Essays in Impact Evaluation for Development

This dissertation assesses four distinct development interventions. The intervention assessed in chapter I aims at improving the capacity of rural Filipinos to make informed decisions about insurance. In a set of randomly selected communities an awareness campaign was conducted and we assess the effects of this campaign on insurance comprehension, perception towards and demand for insurance. We find no evidence that the intervention improved knowledge in the short term but we detect positive effects on the attitude towards insurance and on the awareness about issues related to insurance in the campaign villages. We cannot detect any effects on take-up of a health insurance product. The second chapter analyzes two interventions that aim at strengthening producer organizations of farmers in Uganda. We find some evidence that farmers adapt their labor input in aspiration of improved market access through their producer organization. Chapter IV and V both report the effect of formalization interventions conducted by microfinance institutions. The interventions try to improve the knowledge of informal entrepreneurs on the benefits of registering their income generating activities. The first formalization intervention is implemented in India and succeeds in bringing large parts of the treatment group to register their activities with official authorities. However, no significant effects on second order outcomes can be reported. The second intervention is implemented in Burkina Faso and fails to bring about substantial change in the entrepreneurs' official status