The SME Initiative held its fifth Working Group meeting at the MIT Sloan School of Management on September 19, 2014 in Boston, Massachusetts.

IPA Peru,  J-PAL, and LAC launched a three-week course and workshop on Experimental Impact Evaluation for policymakers of the Viceministry of Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) and Industry within Peru’s Ministry of Production.Participants worked with researchers and J-PAL and IPA staff to develop evaluation designs and presented them to the Viceministry.

In collaboration with Private Enterprise Development in Low-Income Countries (PEDL), the SME Initiative held its fourth Working Group in London, UK on December 13, 2013.The full day event brought together SME and PEDL affiliates to share innovative research designs, preliminary results, and new research papers.   Presenters included: Welcome and Overview Chris Woodruff, PEDL Lucia Sanchez, Innovations for Poverty Action   “Business Growth, Entrepreneurship and Social Interactions: Long Run Evidence on Repayment Flexibility” Rohini Pande, Harvard Kennedy School   “Inside the production function: the effect of financial contracts on growing firms’ technology use.