The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) is a global research center working to reduce poverty by ensuring that policy is informed by scientific evidence. Anchored by a network of more than 1,000 researchers at universities around the world, J-PAL conducts randomized impact evaluations to answer critical questions in the fight against poverty.
The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) is a global research center working to reduce poverty by ensuring that policy is informed by scientific evidence. Anchored by a network of more than 1,000 researchers at universities around the world, J-PAL conducts randomized impact evaluations to answer critical questions in the fight against poverty.
Our affiliated professors are based at over 120 universities and conduct randomized evaluations around the world to design, evaluate, and improve programs and policies aimed at reducing poverty. They set their own research agendas, raise funds to support their evaluations, and work with J-PAL staff on research, policy outreach, and training.
Our Board of Directors, which is composed of J-PAL affiliated professors and senior management, provides overall strategic guidance to J-PAL, our sector programs, and regional offices.
J-PAL recognizes that there is a lack of diversity, equity, and inclusion in the field of economics and in our field of work. Read about what actions we are taking to address this.
We host events around the world and online to share results and policy lessons from randomized evaluations, to build new partnerships between researchers and practitioners, and to train organizations on how to design and conduct randomized evaluations, and use evidence from impact evaluations.
Browse news articles about J-PAL and our affiliated professors, read our press releases and monthly global and research newsletters, and connect with us for media inquiries.
Based at leading universities around the world, our experts are economists who use randomized evaluations to answer critical questions in the fight against poverty. Connect with us for all media inquiries and we'll help you find the right person to shed insight on your story.
J-PAL is based at MIT in Cambridge, MA and has seven regional offices at leading universities in Africa, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, Middle East and North Africa, North America, South Asia, and Southeast Asia.
J-PAL is based at MIT in Cambridge, MA and has seven regional offices at leading universities in Africa, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, Middle East and North Africa, North America, South Asia, and Southeast Asia.
Our global office is based at the Department of Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It serves as the head office for our network of seven independent regional offices.
Led by affiliated professors, J-PAL sectors guide our research and policy work by conducting literature reviews; by managing research initiatives that promote the rigorous evaluation of innovative interventions by affiliates; and by summarizing findings and lessons from randomized evaluations and producing cost-effectiveness analyses to help inform relevant policy debates.
Led by affiliated professors, J-PAL sectors guide our research and policy work by conducting literature reviews; by managing research initiatives that promote the rigorous evaluation of innovative interventions by affiliates; and by summarizing findings and lessons from randomized evaluations and producing cost-effectiveness analyses to help inform relevant policy debates.
How do policies affecting private sector firms impact productivity gaps between higher-income and lower-income countries? How do firms’ own policies impact economic growth and worker welfare?
How can we identify effective policies and programs in low- and middle-income countries that provide financial assistance to low-income families, insuring against shocks and breaking poverty traps?
In this piece, originally published in American Society on Aging’s Generations, Aaron Truchil, Dawn Wiest, and Kathleen Noonan of the Camden Coalition discuss their experience finding and learning from null results.
In a critical moment for global social protection systems, policymakers from Egypt and Indonesia recently came together in Jakarta for the groundbreaking event, South-South Learning Journey.
Bracell Foundation and J-PAL LAC launched a project, “Strengthening Learning and Development in Brazilian Preschools,” to identify, implement, and evaluate promising programs focused on improving the quality of education in preschools that have the potential to be scaled up.
J-PAL affiliated researcher Marcella Alsan and coauthors Romaine Campbell, Lukas Leister, and Ayotomiwa Ojo share insights from their research on how investigator racial diversity affects clinical trial participation by Black respondents.
In 2017, Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) Peru and J-PAL Latin America and the Caribbean (J-PAL LAC) began a collaboration with the Peruvian civil association Aporta—the social impact platform of Breca, a conglomerate of Peruvian companies. The main goal was to promote the use of data and...
Regression to the mean is a statistical phenomenon where extreme outcomes tend to be followed by more moderate outcomes—closer to the mean. In the field of social policy, this could mean that individuals selected to participate in a program because of an extreme signal will naturally return back...
With the generous support of the Cotopaxi Foundation , J-PAL Latin America and the Caribbean (J-PAL LAC) just launched a project that aims to improve livelihoods in Central America. The project, “Strengthening Livelihoods in Central America Through Evidence Use,” will share evidence, strengthen...
In this post, J-PAL North America reviews the ongoing studies supported by J-PAL North America on strategies to address the opioid epidemic and calls for further research in this pressing area.