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

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LEVER Partner Spotlight: Ricardo Basurto-Dávila on the County of San Diego’s research priorities and culture of learning

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In this Partner Spotlight series, J-PAL North America and Results for America highlight the government leaders and decision-makers who are harnessing data, evaluation, and evidence to advance economic mobility via our Leveraging Evaluation and Evidence for Equitable Recovery (LEVER) programming...
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Rigorously evaluating cash transfer programs in the United States: Considerations, challenges, and future research questions

In September 2023, researchers conducting randomized evaluations of cash transfer programs in the United States gathered at Duke University to discuss their ongoing and completed research projects. In this post, we highlight key takeaways from these conversations.
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.
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Researching racial equity: The value of centering lived experience in the research process

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In part four of J-PAL North America’s researching racial equity blog series, we sit down with Anthony Barrows, Managing partner and founder of the Center for Behavioral Design and Social Justice, to understand how to center lived experiences throughout the research process and in impact evaluations.
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How anticipating benefit loss shapes family choices

In this post, J-PAL staff sit down with Manasi and Rebecca to discuss the results from their randomized evaluation on the effects of anticipating social safety net benefits on family choices.
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Affiliate spotlight: An interview with Amy Finkelstein on how randomized evaluations provide key insights for her new book on health insurance reform

Amy Finkelstein, co-scientific director of J-PAL North America, co-authored the book We’ve Got You Covered with Liran Einav, which examines the health care system in the United States and proposes how it should be redesigned. In this post, J-PAL staff sat down with Amy to discuss how randomized...
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Understanding the role and importance of spillover effects

A new J-PAL evidence wrap-up highlights three randomized evaluations that consider the spillover effects of three health care interventions. In this post, we discuss what spillover effects are, a summary of the highlighted studies highlighted, and the benefits to policymakers in considering...
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Behind the Economics Transformation Project: Get to know our Instructional Designers

The Economics Transformation Project (ETP) is a student-informed pathway program that aims to create a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive field of economics for scholars from backgrounds historically underrepresented in the field. In this interview, our Instructional Designers share how their...