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.
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?
Since the inaugural 2020 cohort, 66 graduates of the DEDP program have earned their master’s degrees, and the current cohort will graduate in September 2023 to join the alumni community. We caught up with a few of our alumni who are PhD students to learn about their work, goals, and journeys from...
Yuanjian Carla Li (former Senior Research Associate, 2010-12) and Arun Singh (former Research Associate, 2013-15) were among the first few research staff members at J-PAL South Asia who helped spur conversations around emissions trading in India.
The Alumni Spotlight series highlights J-PAL alumni who are making an impact across industries and around the world. Formerly a research manager at J-PAL Africa, Laura Costica ‘14 now manages monitoring, learning, and evaluation at the IKEA Foundation. She describes her journey from J-PAL to the...
Héctor Salazar Salame, J-PAL '15 and the founding Executive Director of J-PAL Southeast Asia, reflects on the multi-dimensional approach needed to advance evidence-based social policy and lessons learned from his career in development policy. He currently serves as the Country Representative of The...
The Alumni Spotlight series highlights J-PAL alumni who are making an impact across industries and around the world. Formerly a policy and training associate at J-PAL South Asia, Neha Sharma ‘12 now leads the Evaluation and Learning Unit at the Climate Investment Funds, hosted by the World Bank. She...
Transparent and accessible data can be vital for researchers in the development of evidence-informed policies. In Chile, the State opened a door for researchers to access local transparent data to work together to answer key questions. Amanda Dawes, a J-PAL Latin America and the Caribbean alumna...
This installment of our Alumni Spotlight series features Mary Ann Bates, former executive director of J-PAL North America, and currently the executive director of the State of California’s Cradle-to-Career System.
We celebrate our alumni and their many interests and achievements through an ongoing series of interviews and blog s in which alumni share their work in their own words. Marking the third year of this documentation project, we're highlighting the 34 remarkable individuals we’ve interviewed to date...