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Exploratory Research Grant Projects

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The Economist's Guide to Processing and Analysing Historical and Future Climate Data

High resolution datasets providing accurate measurements of weather around the globe are key inputs into many, if not most, economic analyses of climate change. These data have expanded our understanding of the impacts of climate change on a broad set of highly vulnerable economic and social outcomes.

Research Project
9 Apr 2025

Flood Risk and Differential Firm Investment: Evidence from Dakar, Senegal

In many urban communities in low- and middle-income countries, the start of the rainy season is not a welcome relief, but instead a source of persistent problems. Heavy rainfall, coupled with insufficient drainage and minimal urban planning results in regular, seasonal flooding of homes and businesses (Rentscheler et al. (2023)). In urban and suburban Dakar, rising floodwaters pose a multitude of challenges for people living in these areas by restricting movement, increasing the risk of disease, and causing death (C40 CFF (2021)).

Research Project
18 Dec 2024

Enabling electric vehicle adoption with innovative financing and infrastructure

This project proposes a field experiment in which the researchers create variation in financial contract form and access to charging infrastructure to evaluate the barriers to electric two-wheelers adoption in Kenya.

Research Project
29 Oct 2024

Encouraging adoption of energy efficiency improvements among SMEs: Evidence from a randomized control trial in Ethiopi

In this proposed study, the research team focuses on small and medium enterprises in Ethiopia and investigates the effect of lifting knowledge and information barriers in increasing adoption of energy efficiency measures.

Research Project
29 Oct 2024

Renewable Energy for the Growth of Enterprises in Africa: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial

In this project, the research team proposes investigating how to shift the energy use behavior of micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in Tanzania by distributing affordable solar boilers and measuring their impact on charcoal consumption and its corresponding effects on deforestation and CO2 emission, PM2.5 concentration, and profitability of enterprises.

Research Project
29 Oct 2024

Constraints to the adoption of renewable energy technologies by SMEs in Sierra Leone

This project aims at understanding barriers to the uptake of renewable energy technologies among SMEs in Sierra Leone.

Research Project
29 Oct 2024

Firms' willingness to compete and consumers' willingness to search in urban areas in low-income countries

In this project, the research team studies how firms compete and how consumers respond to price changes. The study takes place in Mwanza, Tanzania’s second-largest city and focuses on small, urban firms selling maize flour, an important staple food in this region.  

 

Research Project
29 Oct 2024

Market-based Information to Predict Small Firms’ Marginal Returns to Capital and Other Business Support Services

This project leverages a randomised control trial in a large-scale business support program in Ghana to explore whether the networks of entrepreneurs who own small firm, including peers and other stakeholders such as suppliers, can help predict entrepreneurs' marginal returns to the program and future business performance.

Research Project
29 Oct 2024

Bridging the Gender Gap in Credit Access by Small Businesses in Low-Income Countries: The Transformative Impact of Digital Lending

This project investigates the impact of digital lending on reducing the gender gap in the credit markets and the performance of small businesses in Kisumu City, Kenya.

Research Project
28 Oct 2024

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