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News, ideas, and analysis from J-PAL staff and affiliated professors. Subscribe to our newsletter to receive monthly email updates.

Headshot of Amy Finkelstein, wearing black shirt, in front of wooden door

Affiliate spotlight: An interview with Amy Finkelstein on how randomized evaluations provide key insights for her new book on health insurance reform

Amy Finkelstein, co-scientific director of J-PAL North America, co-authored the book We’ve Got You Covered with Liran Einav, which examines the health care system in the United States and proposes how it should be redesigned. In this post, J-PAL staff sat down with Amy to discuss how randomized...
Doctor speaking to parent and child

Understanding the role and importance of spillover effects

A new J-PAL evidence wrap-up highlights three randomized evaluations that consider the spillover effects of three health care interventions. In this post, we discuss what spillover effects are, a summary of the highlighted studies highlighted, and the benefits to policymakers in considering...
Students at event held in Universidad Catolica Chile

Inspiring students to explore development careers in Chile and Guatemala

While many tend to associate economics primarily with careers in investments and banking, development economics offers an alternative avenue that may be worth exploring. To help broaden this general perception, J-PAL Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) recently held two events at partner...
Laptop computer open to J-PAL's Evaluatying Social Programs webpage

Growing a global community for impact evaluation: J-PAL’s online courses

This is the third blog in a series illustrating stories of how J-PAL’s training courses have built new policy and research partnerships and strengthened existing ones to advance evidence-informed decision-making. The first blog in the series highlights two meaningful examples from J-PAL’s Evaluating...
Man and woman look at laptop

So, you got a null result. Now what?

While a null result is likely not what you were hoping for, and while null results can (unfortunately) be more difficult to publish, they can spur just as important insights and policy implications as significant results. However, to learn from a null result, it is necessary to understand the why...
A headshot of Nneka Osadolor.

African Scholar Spotlight: Nneka Osadolor

In this spotlight, we speak with Nneka Esther Osadolor, a PhD candidate in economics at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. Nneka’s primary research interests are broadly in development economics and applied microeconomics, including labor markets, financial inclusion, poverty, inequality, and gender...
Zeqi Yasin interviewing a respondent for an evaluation in Indonesia.

20 for 20: Fostering ethical research practices through collaboration

By
  • Mohammad Zeqi Yasin
This is the fourth post of J-PAL’s 20 for 20: Partner Voices blog series, where we showcase stories of results and impact with our partners to celebrate our twentieth anniversary. Read on to learn about Mohammad Zeqi Yasin’s, head of research at the Research Institute of Socioeconomic Development...
A group of students sit at desks with computers.

Integrating tech in post-pandemic classrooms: Insights from teachers

As part of our work in the education sector, J-PAL Southeast Asia (J-PAL SEA) initiated a study with J-PAL affiliated professors and coauthors to evaluate the impact of a teaching method that integrates technology and interactive student-centered teaching to improve students’ math outcomes. As part...