Harvard University

Year Up Young Adult Job Training Program

Year Up / Social Policy Research Associates / Harvard · United States · 2018 · Education

Effect: Quarterly earnings: +$1,000/quarter (+30%) at 3-year follow-up; annual earnings advantage: ~$4,500; employment rate: +11 pp; effect sustained through year 5 in extended follow-up

Clean Cookstove Adoption in Rural India

University of Chicago / Harvard / IPA · India (Orissa state) · 2016 · Public Health

Effect: Stove adoption high initially but usage fell to 50% after 1 year and 25% after 4 years; no significant improvement in health outcomes detected

Workplace Wellness Programs — Illinois RCT

University of Illinois / Harvard / National Bureau of Economic Research · University of Illinois, USA · 2016 · Public Health

Effect: Healthcare spending: no significant difference (p>0.05 across all 38 outcomes pre-specified). Exercise: significantly higher self-reported exercise in treatment group. Weight, blood pressure, cholesterol, smoking: no significant difference. Absenteeism: no significant difference. Job performance: no significant difference. Tenure: no significant difference. The one positive finding — exercise — did not translate to any measurable health outcome.

Boston Charter School Lottery Studies

MIT (Joshua Angrist, Parag Pathak) / Harvard (Susan Dynarski) · Boston, Massachusetts, USA · 2009 · Education

Effect: Boston charter middle schools produced gains of approximately 0.4 SD per year in math and 0.2 SD per year in reading — among the largest effects observed in K-12 education research. High school effects were similar in magnitude. Lottery winners were significantly more likely to enroll in 4-year colleges (74% vs. 56% for losers) and to persist.

Boston Public Pre-K Program

Harvard Graduate School of Education (Weiland, Yoshikawa) · Boston, Massachusetts, USA · 2009 · Early Childhood

Effect: Language composite: +0.32 SD; mathematics: +0.33 SD; executive function: +0.45 SD — among the largest pre-K effects documented in the US literature; gains more than doubled those found in typical Head Start evaluations

Oregon Medicaid Lottery

Harvard University / MIT / NBER · Oregon, USA · 2008 · Public Health

Effect: Physical health: no significant effects on blood pressure, cholesterol, or diabetes management at 2 years. Mental health: significantly lower rate of positive depression screening (−9.2 pp). Financial security: significantly lower catastrophic medical expenses (−25%), lower medical debt, lower probability of borrowing money for medical care. Healthcare use: significantly higher (primary care, hospitalizations, prescriptions).

Harlem Children's Zone — Promise Academy Charter Schools

Harvard University / Harlem Children's Zone · New York City, USA · 2004 · Education

Effect: Middle school HCZ: math scores closed Black-white achievement gap entirely (+.23 SD effect per year); English/ELA: smaller but significant gains (+.047 SD/year); elementary school: similar math gains. Key finding: lottery analysis suggested community programs outside school showed limited independent effect — it was the school that drove gains

Kenya Insecticide-Treated Bednet Distribution

IPA / Harvard / MIT · Western Kenya · 2003 · International Development

Effect: Free distribution: 99% take-up; subsidized (10 cents): 75%; near-market price: 25%; usage among recipients did not differ significantly by price paid; no 'free makes you value it less' effect found

Mexico Seguro Popular — Health Insurance Coverage Expansion

Harvard School of Public Health / Mexican Ministry of Health · Mexico · 2002 · Public Health

Effect: Catastrophic health expenditure: −23% reduction in treatment municipalities at 10 months; coverage rates rose substantially; outpatient care utilization increased; no significant effect found on mortality or child health in the short follow-up window — consistent with Mexico Oregon Medicaid parallels

Boston Ceasefire — Group Violence Intervention

Boston Police Department / Harvard Kennedy School · Boston, MA, USA · 1996 · Public Safety

Effect: Youth homicides: −63% in 24 months (from 3.8 to 1.4 per 100,000); gun assault incidents: −25%; effect attributable to intervention not broader national trend through synthetic control analysis

Tennessee STAR — Student/Teacher Achievement Ratio

Tennessee Department of Education / SBER / Vanderbilt / Harvard · Tennessee, USA · 1985 · Education

Effect: Test scores: small-class students scored 4–8 percentile points higher than regular-class students; effects largest for minority students (+10 pp) and low-income students (+8 pp). Persistence: test score advantage visible through 8th grade (4–5 years after returning to regular classes). Long-term: Chetty et al. (2011) found STAR students had 1.6% higher earnings in adulthood; college attendance rates 2.7 pp higher; probability of home ownership 4.6 pp higher.

Cambridge-Somerville Youth Study

Harvard University (Richard Clark Cabot) — followed up by Joan McCord · Cambridge & Somerville, Massachusetts, USA · 1939 · Public Safety

Effect: Treated men were *more* likely than controls to have committed multiple crimes (relative risk ~1.4), to have died younger, to be diagnosed with serious mental illness, alcoholism, or stress-related illness, and to report job dissatisfaction. On essentially every outcome examined, the treatment arm did worse.