Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA)
Encyclopedia
Innovations for Poverty Action is an American non-profit organization founded in 2002 by Yale economist
Dean Karlan
. 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, governance
, agriculture
, charitable giving and community development.
, an economist at Yale University
. originally under the name Development Innovations. It is currently headquartered in New Haven, CT and has 278 employees working on projects in 30 countries.
IPA's website states its mission as follows: Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) is a nonprofit organization that creates and evaluates solutions to social and development problems, and works to scale up successful ideas through implementation and dissemination to policymakers, practitioners, investors, and donors.
The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab
(J-PAL) is a close partner of IPA. 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. A number of J-PAL Affiliates are also IPA Research Affiliates or IPA Research Network Members. Innovations for Poverty Action 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.
, World Development, American Economic Review
, Journal of Economics Perspectives, Review of Economics and Statistics
, and the Review of Financial Studies
, among others.
(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. 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
.
(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.
Some examples of IPA's research on microfinance include examinations of the impact of group liability and commitment savings. 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. IPA studies conducted in a variety of countries show that switching existing clients to individual liability does not increase default rates, however. Other studies addressing effective ways to promote savings among the poor show promise for commitment savings accounts that limit the owner's access to the funds.
Economist
An economist is a professional in the social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy...
Dean Karlan
Dean Karlan
Dean Karlan is a Professor of Economics at Yale University and a Research Fellow at the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology...
. IPA conducts randomized controlled trials (RCTs), along with other types of quantitative research
Quantitative research
In the social sciences, quantitative research refers to the systematic empirical investigation of social phenomena via statistical, mathematical or computational techniques. The objective of quantitative research is to develop and employ mathematical models, theories and/or hypotheses pertaining to...
, to measure the impacts of development programs in sectors including microfinance
Microfinance
Microfinance is the provision of financial services to low-income clients or solidarity lending groups including consumers and the self-employed, who traditionally lack access to banking and related services....
, education, health, governance
Governance
Governance is the act of governing. It relates to decisions that define expectations, grant power, or verify performance. It consists of either a separate process or part of management or leadership processes...
, agriculture
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
, charitable giving and community development.
History and Mission
IPA was founded in 2002 by Dean KarlanDean Karlan
Dean Karlan is a Professor of Economics at Yale University and a Research Fellow at the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology...
, an economist at Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
. originally under the name Development Innovations. It is currently headquartered in New Haven, CT and has 278 employees working on projects in 30 countries.
IPA's website states its mission as follows: Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) is a nonprofit organization that creates and evaluates solutions to social and development problems, and works to scale up successful ideas through implementation and dissemination to policymakers, practitioners, investors, and donors.
Activities
IPA's principal activities center on conducting impact evaluations of development interventions using a randomized controlled methodology. These evaluations, designed by academics at universities such as Columbia, Dartmouth, Harvard, London School of Economics, MIT, Northwestern University, University of California system, University of Michigan, and Yale, evaluate interventions in the areas of microfinance and enterprise, health, education, agriculture, community development, and charitable giving. The organization also undertakes activities to communicate its research findings in order to influence policymaker and donor decisions. Additionally, IPA participates in efforts to scale up interventions that its research has proven effective.Partners
IPA works with other research organizations, for-profit businesses, and nonprofit institutions to design programs and run evaluations.The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab
Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab
The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab is an academic center located at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Department of Economics which is dedicated to evaluating the impact of anti-poverty programs through randomized controlled trials similar to those used in medical research...
(J-PAL) is a close partner of IPA. 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. A number of J-PAL Affiliates are also IPA Research Affiliates or IPA Research Network Members. Innovations for Poverty Action 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.
Research
IPA's research spans six sectors: microfinance, health, agriculture, education, charitable giving and community development. The results of IPA studies have been published by IPA Research Affiliates in peer-reviewed academic journals such as Econometrica, the Quarterly Journal of EconomicsQuarterly Journal of Economics
The Quarterly Journal of Economics, or QJE, is a peer-reviewed academic journal published by the Oxford University Press and edited at Harvard University's Department of Economics. Its current editors are Robert J. Barro, Elhanan Helpman and Lawrence F. Katz...
, World Development, American Economic Review
American Economic Review
The American Economic Review is a peer-reviewed academic journal of economics publishing seven issues annually by the American Economic Association. First published in 1911, it is considered one of the most prestigious journals in the field. The current editor-in-chief is Penny Goldberg . The...
, Journal of Economics Perspectives, Review of Economics and Statistics
Review of Economics and Statistics
The Review of Economics and Statistics is a peer-reviewed scientific journal specializing in applied quantitative economics, now called econometrics. It was founded in 1917 and first published as The Review of Economic Statistics in 1919...
, and the Review of Financial Studies
Review of Financial Studies
The Review of Financial Studies is an academic journal published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Financial Studies. It was established following discussions at the 1986 Western Finance Association meetings, and the first issue was published in 1988...
, among others.
Method
IPA uses randomized controlled trialsRandomized controlled trial
A randomized controlled trial is a type of scientific experiment - a form of clinical trial - most commonly used in testing the safety and efficacy or effectiveness of healthcare services or health technologies A randomized controlled trial (RCT) is a type of scientific experiment - a form of...
(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. 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
Angus Deaton
Angus Stewart Deaton is a leading microeconomist. He was educated at Fettes College in Edinburgh, where he was a Foundation Scholar, and earned his B.A., M.A., and Ph.D...
and Daron Acemoglu
Daron Acemoglu
Kamer Daron Acemoğlu is a Turkish-American economist of Armenian origin. He is currently the Elizabeth and James Killian Professor of Economics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and winner of the 2005 John Bates Clark Medal. He is among the in the world according to IDEAS/RePEc...
.
Microfinance
IPA performs many evaluations of microfinance programs and products, including microcredit, microsavings, and microinsurance. IPA is part of the Financial Access InitiativeFinancial Access Initiative
Established in 2006, the Financial Access Initiative is an American consortium of researchers at New York University, Yale University, Harvard University and Innovations for Poverty Action focused on finding answers to how financial sectors can better meet the needs of poor households.The...
(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.
Some examples of IPA's research on microfinance include examinations of the impact of group liability and commitment savings. 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
Muhammad Yunus
Muhammad Yunus is a Bangladeshi economist and founder of the Grameen Bank, an institution that provides microcredit to help its clients establish creditworthiness and financial self-sufficiency. In 2006 Yunus and Grameen received the Nobel Peace Prize...
as the best way to ensure high repayment rates. IPA studies conducted in a variety of countries show that switching existing clients to individual liability does not increase default rates, however. Other studies addressing effective ways to promote savings among the poor show promise for commitment savings accounts that limit the owner's access to the funds.
Agriculture
A majority of poor people in the global south rely on agriculture for income. 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 price and rainfall insurance, fertilizer use , and access to export markets.See also
- Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action LabAbdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action LabThe Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab is an academic center located at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Department of Economics which is dedicated to evaluating the impact of anti-poverty programs through randomized controlled trials similar to those used in medical research...
- Financial Access InitiativeFinancial Access InitiativeEstablished in 2006, the Financial Access Initiative is an American consortium of researchers at New York University, Yale University, Harvard University and Innovations for Poverty Action focused on finding answers to how financial sectors can better meet the needs of poor households.The...
- More Than Good IntentionsMore Than Good IntentionsMore Than Good Intentions: How a New Economics is Helping to Solve Global Poverty is a non-fiction book by Yale economist Dean Karlan and field researcher Jacob Appel published in 2011. It combines insights from behavioral economics with field research from developing countries to discuss and...