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?
In this spotlight, we speak with Arinze Nwokolo, Assistant Professor at the Lagos Business School in Nigeria. Arinze’s primary research interests focus on development, behavioral, and organizational economics as well as public policy, political economy, and finance.
This post is part of our ongoing series showcasing the work and perspectives of economists from the African continent who are leading randomized evaluations. In this spotlight, we speak with Jaah Mkupete, a lecturer of economics at the University of Dar es Salaam.
In 2019, representatives from the Western Cape Government’s Department of the Premier's Office attended J-PAL Africa’s Evaluating Social Programs (ESP) course in Cape Town to learn more about how evidence from randomized evaluations can inform program design and implementation. During ESP...
On October 10, J-PAL in partnership with University Mohammed VI Polytechnic launched the UM6P-J-PAL Agricultural Lab for Africa. Chaired by Tavneet Suri (MIT, J-PAL Agriculture sector Co-Chair), the lab will be hosted at University Mohammed VI Polytechnic (UM6P) in Rabat, Morocco, with the goal of...
Through our African Scholars Program, we hope to help create more opportunities for African researchers to advance the research agenda on the continent through randomized evaluations. In this spotlight, we speak with Robertson Khataza of the Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources...
In this spotlight, we speak with Nneka Esther Osadolor, a PhD candidate in economics at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. Nneka’s primary research interests are broadly in development economics and applied microeconomics, including labor markets, financial inclusion, poverty, inequality, and gender...
As J-PAL celebrates its 20th anniversary, Edward Asiedu shares his experiences as part of the J-PAL network and sheds light on the impactful work he has accomplished in Ghana. In this blog post, he will take you through the journey that led him to this field and share the perspective of an African...
A growing number of crime and violence prevention programs are drawing on psychosocial techniques to help shift people’s behaviors and attitudes, offering a potentially low-cost alternative to more traditional security sector strategies. In particular, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) has been...