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

Two men work on a solar panel used for lighting village homes in Sri Lanka

Earth Day 2021: Evaluating the state of evidence in climate action and poverty alleviation

Earth Day presents an opportunity for citizens, policymakers, and the private sector alike to take stock of the state of our planet and our progress in fighting climate change. This Earth Day, we must also acknowledge climate change's disproportionate impact on people experiencing poverty. To...
Poll workers wear personal protective gear outside of election sites in Indonesia in 2020.

Generating evidence-based insights for good governance during and after Covid-19

How to achieve good governance—as measured by accountability, government effectiveness, and control of corruption—is a question that has been at the heart of J-PAL’s Governance Initiative (GI) since its inception in 2011. In response, GI funds rigorous experimental research projects tackling a...
A smiling girl holds a piece of paper.

Shifting social and gender norms for improved development outcomes: A recap from the Global Evidence for Egypt Spotlight Webinar

While Egypt has made some progress towards gender equality and girls’ and women's empowerment, traditional gender roles and power dynamics continue to persist. Egypt has one of the highest gender gaps in the world, ranking 134th out of 153 countries in the World Economic Forum’s 2020 Global Gender...
A woman sits at a desk with a notepad and laptop computer.

Breaking down the gender gap in the DEDP MicroMasters Program

Despite the MicroMasters' broad access and reduced barriers to entry, women enroll in the program at half the rate of men. Conditional on enrolling, women are also less likely to complete the MicroMasters program than men. The difference in enrollment prompted us to take a deeper look into where...
A woman wearing academic dress sits in front of a laptop and smiles at the photographer.

Pursuing evidence-based policymaking during crisis

By
In this blog post, members of a research-practice partnership with the Puerto Rico Department of Education reflect on their strategies to improve education outcomes and to persevere during the Covid-19 pandemic.
A Bridge Kenya teacher provides feedback during pupil practice.

Navigating publication bias as an education provider

By
  • Timothy Sullivan
When a body of academic literature points to an effective new approach to generate meaningful learning gains for pupils, practitioners take notice. But this may not be the complete story. Timothy Sullivan, Director of Learning Innovation at education provider NewGlobe, shares insights from recent...
A Zoom screenshot of 12 people, including students and program staff

The Data, Economics, and Development Policy master’s: Learning and connecting at MIT during Covid-19

We welcomed the second cohort of the Data, Economics, and Development Policy (DEDP) master’s program to campus in January. The students will earn their master’s degree in just eight months under a hybrid online and in-person model that allows the cohort to build community at MIT while accommodating...
People wait in line to make a transaction

Creating learning opportunities all along the bureaucratic ladder

By
  • Siddarth Pandit
Siddarth Pandit explains how Creating Learning Opportunities for Public Officials (C-LOP), hosted by J-PAL South Asia, seeks to transform the Indian state’s execution capacity by helping government organizations and officials acquire and improve upon the requisite skills to be successful in their...