The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the International Economic Association (IEA) are pleased to announce the three (3) best papers for the 2024 ADB–IEA Innovative Policy Research Award. The award-winning papers were selected from over 150 papers covering a wide range of economic topics. Each award-winning paper will receive a $7,000 grant financed by ADB. The prize will be formally awarded at the ADB-IEA award session of the 2024 ADB Annual Meeting in May 2024. To acknowledge research excellence, the announcement also includes honorable mentions of seven (7) high-quality papers.

Three Award-Winning Papers:

Building Resilient Education Systems: Evidence from Large-Scale Randomized Trials in Five Countries by Noam Angrist (University Of Oxford & Youth Impact); Micheal Ainomugisha (Building Tomorrow); Claire Cullen (University Of Oxford & Youth Impact); Rene Marlon Panti (Innovations for Poverty Action);  Shwetlena Sabarwal, (World Bank); Tim Sullivan (NewGlobe); Sai Pramod Bathena (Alokit); Peter Bergman (The University of Texas at Austin); Colin Crossley (Youth Impact); Thato Letsomo (Youth Impact); and Moitshepi Matsheng (Youth Impact)

School Attendance Information or Conditional Cash Transfer? Evidence from a Randomized Field Experiment in Rural Bangladesh by Abu Shonchoy (Florida International University); Tomoki Fujii (Singapore Management University); Christine Ho (Singapore Management University); and Rohan Ray (National University of Singapore)

Public WASH Programs, Long-Run Child Development, and Intergenerational Mobility: New Evidence from Rural China by Dongqin Wang (The Chinese University of Hong Kong); and Eddy (Weijian) Zou (London School of Economics and Institute for Fiscal Studies)

Honorable Mentions:

Global Gains from a Green Energy Transition: Evidence on Coal-Fired Power and Air Quality Dissatisfaction by Azhar Hussain (London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)); and Timothy Besley (LSE)

The Double-Edged Sword:  Unintended Consequences of SME Promotion Policy by Athiphat Muthitacharoen (Chulalongkorn University);  Archawa Paweenawat (Puey Ungphakorn Institute for Economic Research (PIER)); and  Krislert Samphantharak (University of California San Diego and PIER)

Access to Information, Technology Adoption and Productivity: Large-Scale Evidence from Agriculture in India by Apoorv Gupta (Dartmouth College); Jacopo Ponticelli (Northwestern University - Kellogg School of Management, NBER & CEPR); and Andrea Tesei (Queen Mary University of London, CEPR, CEP (LSE) & CESifo)

Sacrifice for the Greater Good: Welfare and Distributional Impacts of Flood Detention Basins in China by Yuxiao Hu (LSE); Runhong Ma (LSE); and Yifan Wang (LSE)

Early Childhood Human Capital Formation at Scale by Saravana Ravindran (Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore); Johannes M. Bos (American Institutes for Research (AIR)); Abu S. Shonchoy (Florida International University); Akib Khan (Uppsala University)

Long-term Impacts of Growth and Development Monitoring: Evidence from Routine Health Examinations in Early Childhood by Meiping (Aggie) Sun (Fordham University); Yinhe Liang, (Central University of Finance and Economics (CUFE)); and Xiaobo Peng (CUFE)

The long-term impact of in-utero exposure to natural disasters: Evidence from the 2010 Pakistan flood by Rida Ali Khan (KDI School of Public Policy and Management)