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

A man holds up his physical ID card.

Can digital IDs transform service delivery in sub-Saharan Africa? Reflections from Tavneet Suri

Digital IDs have the potential to transform the delivery of social protection programs and other government services in sub-Saharan Africa through better targeting and reduced leakages. In this podcast, Tavneet Suri, professor of Applied Economics at MIT Sloan School of Management and co-chair of J...
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Resources for measuring precise and accurate outcomes in randomized evaluations

The repository is a collection of resources that introduce the measurement issues, tools, and innovations in a specific topic or question type. It is a companion piece to our Introduction to measurement and indicators and Survey design pages, compiling resources that discuss and provide guidance on...
Train pulls in to London Road station while man walks on platform in heavy snow

Energy poverty in Europe: Using evidence to address an urgent challenge

The impacts of Covid-19, coupled with the war in Ukraine, have made households in Europe more susceptible to energy poverty, particularly as people are bracing themselves for the cold winter months to come. Yet, income losses during the pandemic and rising energy prices in response to European...
Family sitting on a bench smiling at the camera.

BAE Incubator partner series, part four: Hamilton Families on giving families agency

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In part four of our Bay Area Evaluation Incubator partner series, Chris Constantine, Director of Data & Evaluation of Hamilton Families reflects on their experiences as an Incubator partner.
Someone is scrolling a webpage on a laptop.

Increasing your visibility as a researcher

A strong online presence can be an important tool for building a network. It has the potential to increase your credibility, visibility, and enhance your reputation as a knowledgeable researcher in an international setting. This is the first post in a two-part series compiling resources for early...
Image of the Shasta County Superior Court building

Building research partnerships to address failures to appear for court in Shasta County, part two

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Emily Owens (University of California, Irvine) and Shawn Watts (Shasta County Superior Court) discuss their evaluation on strategies to reduce failure to appear rates and their researcher-practitioner partnership.
Women wearing colorful clothes carry goods in baskets on their heads in a market in Accra, Ghana.

Gender norms and women's work: Reflecting on current evidence and policy opportunities

While the challenges women face in entering and remaining in the labor market are not new, they have worsened in the wake of the pandemic. One of the barriers to women’s economic empowerment and labor market participation is restrictive gender norms relating to the acceptability of women working...
Prime Minister Sánchez speaking with Abhijit Banerjee on a stage.

Creating a policy lab for evaluating social inclusion policy in Spain

Together with a team of Spanish and international researchers coordinated by the Centro de Estudios Monetarios y Financieros, J-PAL Europe is partnering with the Spanish Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration to launch a Policy Lab focused on bringing evidence to the core of social...