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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.

Countering Covid-19 Misinformation through WhatsApp in Zimbabwe

Jeremy Bowles
Shelley Liu
In this randomized evaluation in Zimbabwe, researchers studied how social media messages targeting misinformation can affect people’s beliefs about and responses toward Covid-19. The study found that these messages increased participants’ knowledge of Covid-19 information by 7 percentage points and...

Formal Rainfall Insurance for the Informally Insured in India

Mark Rosenzweig
Researchers evaluated how informal insurance within Indian sub-castes affects the demand for formal rainfall insurance, and subsequent risk-taking among households employed in agriculture. Informal insurance both increased and decreased the demand for formal rainfall insurance, depending on the...

A Multifaceted Approach to Increase Women’s Empowerment in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Researchers evaluated a multifaceted program for women experiencing extreme poverty in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a region facing protracted conflict. The intervention had positive and enduring effects on women’s consumption, employment, finances, and empowerment, and small positive impacts...

The Oregon Health Insurance Experiment in the United States

Heidi Allen
Mira Bernstein
Jonathan Gruber
Joseph P. Newhouse
Eric Schneider
Jae Song
Bill Wright
Alan Zaslavsky

Reducing Imbalanced Fertilizer Use Through ‘Rule-Of-Thumb’ Instructions in Bangladesh

Mahnaz Islam
Fertilizer use has been promoted to boost agricultural productivity and increase farmers’ yields and income. Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation among rice farmers in Bangladesh to evaluate the impact of providing leaf color charts and basic training on the quantity and timing of...