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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.

Consumer information to reduce counterfeit agricultural goods in Kenya

Eric Hsu
Anne Wacera Wambugu
In Kenya, researchers assessed the impact of training farmers to verify seed quality on their seed purchasing decisions and productivity, and the responses of seed markets to these changes. Trained farmers became better able to detect seed quality, more selective about where they bought seeds, and...

Giving effective information to fight COVID-19

Sergio Bautista
Martin Lajous
Researchers are conducting a randomized evaluation to test the impact of public health messages on hand washing and compliance with government mandated guidelines in Mexico.

Providing Job Search Information to Improve Job Seekers' Employment and Earnings in Germany

Steffen Altmann
Florian Zimmermann
Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to test the impact of providing recently unemployed individuals informational brochures about job search strategies that motivated an active search on their labor market outcomes. Providing informational brochures improved the employment and earnings of...

The Impact of Loans on the Survival and Performance of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Colombia

In Colombia, researchers are evaluating the economic impact of providing stimulus loans to SMEs, distributed via the government’s COVID-19 relief program (“Unidos por Colombia”), on SME survival, profits, and employment.

The Effect of Matching on Worker Skills versus Preferences on Firm-Worker Matches in South Africa

Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to improve the quality of job matches in South Africa. They matched applicants to entry-level vacancies using different types of information: workers’ preferences for job types; communication and socio-emotional skills; or grades and work experience.

Deposit Collectors in the Philippines

Researchers evaluated the impact of a door-to-door deposit-collecting service, which regularly collected funds from clients’ homes to be deposited at a local bank, on clients’ savings. Results demonstrated that clients who lived farther from a bank were more likely to take up the service, and...

Teacher Performance Pay in Andhra Pradesh, India

Venkatesh Sundararaman
Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh to measure the relative effectiveness of conditional versus unconditional bonuses on improving the quality of schools. Offering conditional incentives to individual teachers was a cost-effective way to improve...