WORLD Policy Analysis Center

Studies by Outcome

By merging our global policy data with outcomes data from household surveys, we can better understand how policy changes lead to impact, even under conditions of imperfect implementation. To date, we have examined the impacts of laws and policies on a range of outcomes, including:

Infant mortality
- Introducing tuition-free primary education for young mothers contributes to fewer infant and neonatal deaths
- Longer legislated paid maternity leaves for mothers contributes to reduced infant mortality
Children’s preventive health needs
- Working in a job that allows for schedule adjustments is associated with a decrease in parents’ likelihood of not being able to meet their child’s preventive care needs of 40%
Nutrition
- Longer paid maternity leave leads to increased prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding as well as an increase in the duration of breastfeeding
- Longer paid maternity leave leads to decreased rate of childhood diarrhea
- Availability of tuition-free lower-secondary for mothers leads to reduced wasting for their children
- Passing a domestic violence law led to a reduction in wasting among children under age 2
- Increasing the minimum wage reduces stunting and failure in young children
- Higher minimum wages are associated with reduced underweight in women
Education
- Countries with constitutional guarantees of education have, on average, higher levels of primary and secondary school enrollment rates
- Setting a minimum age to work of 15 or older is associated with higher secondary school enrolment for both girls and boys
Child marriage
- Introducing both protective child marriage laws and tuition-free secondary education lowers the risk of early marriage and early childbirth
- Eliminating primary school tuition fees can lead to lower rates of child marriage
- Introducing tuition-free secondary education leads to larger reductions in child marriage than tuition-free primary education
Family planning
- Tuition-free primary education reduces women's unmet need for family planning
Antenatal care
- Introducing tuition-free secondary education leads to increased number of antenatal care visits
Changes in norms and values:
- Introducing tuition-free secondary policy reduces the probability of IPV being perceived as justified
- Providing policy incentives for fathers’ paid parental leave leads to more gender egalitarian attitudes for both men and women
- Passing improved child marriage laws contributed to more men and women recognizing domestic violence as unacceptable and reduced the risk of women experiencing physical and sexual abuse
- Introducing tuition-free primary education improved gender equality in household decision-making