In 2002, the U.S. Department of Labor and the Small Business Administration implemented Project GATE, an experimental demonstration program designed to provide free selfemployment assistance to individuals interested in starting their own business. This paper uses data from Project GATE to examine the efficacy of public self-employment training programs in the modern U.S. economy. Our analyses show that GATE led to significant improvements in the post-training outcomes of treatment group participants who were unemployed at the time of application. Particularly, GATE had a significant positive impact on new business starts and sustainability for unemployed participants five years after random assignment. For those who were unemployed at random assignment, GATE also led to higher employment likelihood and higher total earnings five years after random assignment. GATE had no impact, however, for participants who were employed, self-employed, or out of the labor force at the time of application.

This paper reports the results of the first of a series of co-laboratories organized by Cypriot peace pioneers 30 months after the negative outcome of the referendum concerning UN General Secretary's plan for reunification of the island. The purpose of this colaboratory was to support a diverse group of disengaged and disappointed peace pioneers and activists representing Turkish and Greek communities of Cyprus develop a shared understanding of factors contributing to the perceived widening of the gap between the two divided communities in Cyprus. The co-laboratory was organized using the structured dialogic design process (SDDP) approach within the context of a rich web-based communication environment. The root causes contributing to the widening of the gap are discussed and are also compared with those identified during a similar co-laboratory employing the Interactive Management methodology 12 years earlier.

We examine an experimental‐design reemployment program implemented in Nevada during the Great Recession that required Unemployment Insurance (UI) recipients to: (1) undergo an eligibility review to confirm they were qualified for benefits and actively searching for work and, if deemed eligible, (2) receive job‐counseling services. Our results show that the program expedited participant exit from UI, produced UI savings that exceeded program costs, and improved participant employment outcomes. Analyses of program effects on the UI exit likelihood show that the program's effects are partly associated with increased participant exit up through the time when program activities were scheduled, reflecting voluntary exit of participants from UI to avoid program activities and disqualifications of participants who failed to meet eligibility requirements. In addition, the program induced substantial participant exit from UI in the period after participants fulfilled requirements and their interactions with the program had ended, suggesting that the job‐counseling services offered by the program may have helped participants to conduct more effective job searches. Our findings provide evidence that reemployment programs that combine an eligibility review with mandatory participation in job‐search services can be effective during recessions.

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We present experimental evidence on four U.S. reemployment programs targeting Unemployment Insurance (UI) recipients during the Great Recession. All programs reduced UI spells, produced UI savings that exceeded program costs, and increased employment rates. The services-referral program had the smallest effects, occurring because of voluntary participant exit from UI to avoid requirements. The two programs that reviewed participants' UI eligibility produced higher effects because they induced voluntary exits and disqualified participants not engaged in active job search or for other reasons. The program requiring participation in both the eligibility review and jobcounseling services was the most effective, indicating that services improved participants' jobsearch efforts.