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Browse news articles about J-PAL and our affiliated professors, and read our press releases and monthly global and research newsletters. For media inquiries, please email us.

Peer Group Assignment and Student Achievement in the United States

Researchers evaluated the impact of creating peer groups optimized to improve the academic achievement of lower-ability first-year students at the United States Air Force Academy. Placing lower-ability students in the optimized groups, which mixed them with a relatively large number of peers with...

The Effect of Financial Incentives on Elementary School Test Scores in the United States

Researchers studied whether financial incentives offered to elementary school students could increase standardized test scores. Students who were eligible to win gift certificates had higher math scores and read more.

The Impacts of Gender Norms and Women's Relationship Status on Career Ambitions in the United States

Researchers evaluate whether single women exhibit these tendencies in an elite US MBA program by testing whether students reported different ambitions privately and publicly, or if their responses varied when the audience was largely male. Researchers found that when they expected their answers to...

The Impact of Reframing Large Debt Burdens into Smaller Goals on Reducing Debt in the United States

Jeremy Burke
Researchers have partnered with a non-profit debt management provider and IPA to evaluate whether reframing difficult, long-lasting tasks, such as paying off large debts, into more easily-attainable “sub-goals” can help borrowers accomplish their goals of debt repayment and increase client retention...

J-PAL Behavioral Science and Crime Funding Opportunity

We're supporting randomized evaluations of projects that employ a strategy related to behavioral science and aim to reduce crime and violence. Learn more and submit a letter of interest here.

Information and Gender Differences in University Economics Courses and Majors in the United States

Daniel Halim
Elizabeth T. Powers
Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to test the impact of providing information to students on their decision to pursue courses and majors in economics at a public university in the United States. The intervention increased male students' likelihood of studying additional economics courses...

Encouraging Underserved, Intellectually-Curious Children: An Evaluation of the Higher Achievement Program in Washington, DC

Jean Grossman
Carla Herrera
Researchers evaluated the academic impact of a “Cadillac” OST program in Washington, DC. Researchers found that the program increased students’ problem-solving and reading comprehension scores after two years.