Blog

News

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

Three people looking at a computer screen

Regression to the mean: What it is and why it matters for impact evaluations

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...
An aerial shot of a village.

New resource: Incorporating remote sensing data into randomized evaluations

A growing number of economists are incorporating remotely sensed (RS) data—satellite data in particular—into their studies. For randomized evaluations, remote data collection offers alluring possibilities: lower data collection costs, a longer time series of data both before and after an...

The next decade of RCT research: What can we learn from recent innovations in methods?

From Teaching at the Right Level to the multifaceted Graduation approach, J-PAL’s affiliated researcher network has helped to evaluate a diverse range of innovative interventions aimed at reducing poverty over the past twenty years.
Two women wearing headscarves use a drill to upcycle a piece of wood furniture.

New Humanitarian Protection Initiative will help reduce harm to people affected by conflict

By
Today, the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) and Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) launch the Humanitarian Protection Initiative (HPI). The core of this initiative is a research fund dedicated to generating rigorous evidence to inform policies and programs that protect conflict...
three children play on the ground while two seated adults watch

Not as easy as A, B, C, 1, 2, 3: Emphasizing transparency in measuring holistic skills

Characteristics like creativity or motivation can be crucial components of a successful education, yet there is relatively little knowledge or consensus on how to effectively measure them. The Learning for All Initiative (LAI) recently published a literature review and guide on how researchers...
Four people talking over a table

Researching racial equity: Building capacity for research and practice

Noreen Giga, Racial Equity Project Lead, and Damon Jones, J-PAL affiliated professor (University of Chicago) and Scientific Advisor for J-PAL North America’s Racial Equity Project, reflect on J-PAL North America’s work to advance rigorous research on racial equity to date and discuss priorities for...

Celebrating a decade of the AEA RCT Registry

The AEA RCT Registry serves as a central repository for information on planned, ongoing, completed, or withdrawn randomized trials in the social sciences. We're celebrating it's tenth anniversary by using the wealth of data (updated every month in the AEA Registry Dataverse) from ten years of...
J-PAL staff (left-to-right) Jatnna Amador, Laina Sonterblum, and Cordelia Kwon sit at a table while J-PAL North America Co-Scientific Director Matt Notowidgdo stands at a podium next to a slide show that reads “Using inclusive and asset-based communication in research.”

Researching racial equity: Integrating inclusive and asset-based communication throughout the research cycle

In part five of J-PAL North America’s researching racial equity blog series, we recapitulate our workshop on inclusive and asset-based communication in research, recently delivered at the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management’s (APPAM) 2023 annual conference.