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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.

Impact of Customized Information and Mediation on Labor Court Settlement Rates in Mexico

Researchers conducted two randomized evaluations to test the impacts of providing customized information on predicted case outcomes or conciliation services on labor court settlement rates in Mexico. Both interventions nearly doubled the immediate settlement rate, but only when the plaintiff was...

The Impacts of Formal Savings Accounts in Rural Kenya

Sarah Green
Anthony Keats
Researchers examined the impact of access to banking services for the first time on households in rural Kenya. While savings account and credit usage rates were low overall because of poor service quality and low levels of trust in the institutions, access to the accounts helped some households rely...

Asset-based Microfinance in Pakistan

Faisal Bari
Kashif Malik
In Pakistan, researchers partnered with a microfinance institution to conduct a randomized evaluation to test how larger asset-based loans for purchasing business equipment, combined with flexible repayment options, affected business performance and household well-being. Business owners who received...

The Impact of Secondary Education on Economic Decision-Making in Malawi

Researchers evaluated whether randomly providing financial support for secondary education could improve economic decision-making in addition to educational outcomes for secondary school students in Malawi. Results show that the intervention improved educational outcomes and economic decision-making...

What Generates Growth in Microenterprises? Evidence from Sri Lanka

To study the employment limitation of microenterprises, researchers offered microentrepreneurs capital to incentivize them to hire workers. Results showed that a wage subsidy did not lead to lasting increases in employment sales or profits.