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The effects of teachers' group incentives on student achievement are examined by reviewing theoretical arguments and empirical studies published between 1990 and 2011. Studies from developing countries reported positive effects of group incentives on student test scores. However, experimental studies from developed countries reported insignificant effects. Some of the evidence appears to show a positive association between small group size of teachers and the effectiveness of group incentives. Still, it is uncertain whether the key to successful group incentives in teaching emanates from the incentive size, teacher group size, teacher intrinsic motivation, or type of incentive (rank type vs. non-rank type). Furthermore, most studies show that individual teacher incentives have positive effects unlike studies on group incentives. However, there is a lack of comparative studies of group incentives and individual incentives. We conclude that current empirical evidence has unclear policy implications and recommend additional experimental research.

Introduction: Transactional sex or material exchange for sex is associated with HIV infection among adolescent girls and young women in sub‐Saharan Africa. The motivations for engaging in transactional sex vary from the fulfilment of basic needs, to enhancing social status or for romantic reasons with the expectation that men should provide. Transactional sex is also associated with HIV risk behaviours, such as multiple sexual partners and other determinants of HIV risk, including partner violence and abuse, alcohol consumption and inconsistent condom use. Methods: We use data from a mixed‐method, cluster randomised controlled trial of the Ujana Salama cash "plus" intervention in rural Tanzania. The data are from the first and third rounds of data collection (2017–2019). The impact evaluation consisted of a parallel mixed‐methods design where the quantitative and qualitative data collection occurred simultaneously, and integration of the findings was done during the discussion. We first examine contextual factors associated with transactional sex using multivariable logistic regression models and then estimate whether the "plus" intervention reduced transactional sex among adolescent girls and young women using analysis of covariance. We used thematic content analysis for analysing qualitative transcripts. Results: The prevalence of transactional sex among unmarried adolescent girls and young women at round 3 was 26%. Findings show that increasing age is a risk factor for transactional sex (OR = 1.80; 95% CI: [1.50, 2.17]), staying in school was negatively associated with engagement in transactional sex (OR = 0.24; 95% CI: [0.14, 0.40]). The cash plus intervention showed no impacts on reducing transactional sex (β = 0.003, p = 0.905). Conclusions: The mechanisms of impact for a cash plus intervention on transactional sex are complex; economic insecurity is an important driver of transactional sex and HIV infection, but psychosocial factors and gendered social norms need consideration in intervention development. Our findings suggest that combination prevention interventions to address the structural drivers of HIV infection should focus on efforts to increase school enrolment and completion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate‐smart innovations have been receiving increasing attention in policy dialogues for their potential to transform agricultural systems and improve the well‐being and resilience of farm households. Using recent panel data from Ethiopia combined with novel historical weather data, we provide microeconomic evidence of the welfare effects of conservation agriculture (CA), a climate‐smart agricultural practice. We use a panel data endogenous switching regression model to deal with selection bias and farmer heterogeneity in CA choice. The study finds that the CA practices that play a pivotal role in addressing the exigencies of rural poverty are minimum tillage, cereal‐legume intercropping, and their combination. These practices reduce the incidence and depth of poverty in areas prone to rainfall stress, which is an indication of their risk mitigation role. In contrast, crop residue retention and its combination with minimum tillage appear not to be economically attractive CA options. The results show that CA portfolios that include minimum tillage and cereal‐legume associations can accelerate efforts to reduce rural poverty and improve climate risk management. We caution against exaggerated expectations of CA's economic benefits and a rigid recommendation of CA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper reports on an ex-ante evaluation of the nationwide scale up of two pilot cash transfer programmes in Uganda. We use panel data to estimate consumption elasticities of child health status and school enrolment. They provide the main parameters of a micro-simulation model predicting cash transfer effects on human capital accumulation and feedback effects on consumption. Quantifying year on year costs and direct and indirect benefits, we track the annual trend in rates of return. The findings indicate important gains in child health, schooling, and income growth associated with programme participation. The rates of return improve over the medium term but remain negative after 10 years. These findings underline the need to regard cash transfers as longer-term social investment instead of short-term costs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Little is known about the outcomes of food assistance targeted to food insecure people living with HIV/AIDS. Using primary data from Zambia, we estimated the impact of food assistance on the dietary diversity and consumption expenditures of households with HIV infected members receiving antiretroviral therapy. Propensity score matching estimates show that food assistance increased dietary diversity by 9.8 points (23%) mainly through the consumption of food items provided in the ration. Food assistance recipients were 20% points more likely to have acceptable food consumption and 15% points less likely to have poor food consumption than non-recipients. Food assistance also increased food consumption expenditures but had no significant impact on food purchases and total consumption expenditures. Overall, our findings demonstrate that food assistance can be an effective instrument for improving diets and enhancing the food security of people living with HIV/AIDS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effects of teachers’ group incentives on student achievement are examined by reviewing theoretical arguments and empirical studies published between 1990 and 2011. Studies from developing countries reported positive effects of group incentives on student test scores. However, experimental studies from developed countries reported insignificant effects. Some of the evidence appears to show a positive association between small group size of teachers and the effectiveness of group incentives. Still, it is uncertain whether the key to successful group incentives in teaching emanates from the incentive size, teacher group size, teacher intrinsic motivation, or type of incentive (rank type vs. non-rank type). Furthermore, most studies show that individual teacher incentives have positive effects unlike studies on group incentives. However, there is a lack of comparative studies of group incentives and individual incentives. We conclude that current empirical evidence has unclear policy implications and recommend additional experimental research. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]