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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 Juliette Seban

Juliette Seban, J-PAL ’12, on driving forward development innovation at France’s FID

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As a former research manager at J-PAL Europe, Juliette Seban managed several randomized evaluations while pursuing a PhD in development economics. Juliette is now the executive director of France’s new Fund for Innovation in Development (FID). She reflects on her PhD experience, her work at J-PAL...
Two men, one wearing a lab coat, sit together and chat

Beyond causality: Additional benefits of RCTs for improving health care delivery

J-PAL affiliates Marcella Alsan and Amy Finkelstein highlight four key benefits of randomized evaluations that are useful for addressing pressing health policy questions, drawing from their recent Milbank Quarterly article.
A man sitting in a chair receives a Covid-19 vaccine to the arm

Navigating Indonesia’s post-pandemic era: Addressing opportunity, inequality, and growth

J-PAL SEA recently hosted a webinar aimed at providing insights into the Government of Indonesia’s policy directions and learnings from global evidence on challenges faced in different sectors. Read the key takeaways from the discussion.
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Alumni Voices: Reimagining how innovation funders measure and value gender impacts

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  • Rachna Nag Chowdhuri
Rachna Nag Chowdhuri ‘13 (former research manager at J-PAL South Asia) discusses her work at the Global Innovation Fund to reimagine how funders measure and value impact on gender equality outcomes.
A young child in a daycare setting shows an adult caretaker a yellow plastic ring toy.

Four key lessons for building scale-up partnerships

Scaling up programs that have strong evidence of effectiveness is a vital but often complicated step along the evidence-to-policy journey, and J-PAL has learned a lot about collaborating with policymakers to translate research into large-scale action. In this blog post, Iqbal Dhaliwal (Global...
Two kindergarten children stand in front of a blackboard, smiling.

Foundations for student success: Focusing on functional literacy and numeracy

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To support education systems to focus on functional literacy and numeracy, UNICEF is partnering with The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL at MIT), Pratham, and Delivery Associates.
A doctor sits at a computer looking at a chart on a clipboard

Building research partnerships to address the opioid crisis in Minnesota

Adam Sacarny (Columbia University) and Weston Merrick from the Minnesota Management and Budget share insights on the process of launching a randomized evaluation of the state’s prescription monitoring program (PMP). The ongoing study seeks to evaluate the impact of sending informational letters on...
Seema Jayachandrani sits on a wooden bench outside and smiles at the camera.

Affiliate Spotlight: Seema Jayachandran on deforestation, corruption, and the roots of gender inequality

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  • Douglas Clement
  • Anjali Nair
Seema Jayachandran (Northwestern University) discusses wide-ranging research in the developing world and insights gained into gender parity, economic growth, and pandemic impact in poor nations.