J-PAL's response to Covid-19
J-PAL is working with researchers, policymakers, and funders to identify and scale effective solutions to challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Read how we've taken measures to ensure the safety of our community.
Resources
For policymakers, funders, and partners
For researchers
The latest
Evidence for pandemic response and recovery
Evidence from randomized evaluations can provide crucial insights into how to design effective policies to mitigate and recover from the impact of Covid-19.
Increasing adherence with Covid-19 public health guidelines
- Evaluations: Randomized evaluations related to Covid-19 and health
- Evidence wrap-ups: What do we know so far?
- Policy insights: Designing information campaigns to increase adoption of healthy behaviors
- Webinar recordings: Insights from behavioral economics for adherence to COVID-19 recommendations and improving service delivery during the current crisis
- Evaluations: Select randomized evaluations on non-Covid topics with implications/insights relevant for Covid-19 public health guideline adherence:
- The Entertaining Way to Behavioral Change: Fighting HIV with MTV (Banerjee et al. 2019)
- Using Gossips to Spread Information: Theory and Evidence from Two Randomized Controlled Trials (Banerjee et al. 2021)
- Designing Effective Celebrity Messaging: Results from a Nationwide Twitter Experiment Promoting Vaccination in India (Alatas et al. 2020)
Helping students catch up in school
- Evaluations: Randomized evaluations related to Covid-19 and education
- Evidence reviews: Meta-analysis of tutoring programs and lessons from the pandemic in North America
- Evidence wrap-ups: Ideas to improve educational outcomes during and after the Covid-19 outbreak
- Articles: A Better Education for All During—and After—the COVID-19 Pandemic (SSIR)
- Blogs:
- Facing an educational Covid earthquake: An example of scaling up and innovating in Chile
- Foundational learning first: a joint statement on education in the time of COVID-19
- Foundations for student success: Focusing on functional literacy and numeracy (See the FLN hub)
- Mitigating global learning losses: lessons from the pandemic
- Q&A with affiliate Michela Carlana on an online tutoring program to address Covid-19-induced educational inequalities
- Reflections from seven years of research in J-PAL’s Post-Primary Education Initiative
- Webinar recordings: Addressing Education Challenges during Covid-19
Recovering from job loss and business closures
- Evaluations: Randomized evaluations related to Covid-19, labor markets, and firms
- Op-eds: Cushioning the poor from the Covid-19 shock (Project Syndicate)
- Blogs:
- The challenges of childcare during the pandemic and its impact on women’s work.
- Mapping the impact of COVID-19 on firms in LMICs: A snapshot from ongoing surveys
- Working remotely or remotely working? Best practices in working from home post Covid-19
- Too complicated, too confusing: why more small businesses aren’t applying for coronavirus relief loans, and what we can do to reach them
- Webinar recordings:
- Survey results:
- Evaluations: Select randomized evaluations on non-Covid topics with implications/insights relevant for adapting to and recovering from the impact of Covid-19 on work and firms:
- Evaluating the Impact of Working from Home on Productivity and Work-Life Balance in China (Bloom et al. 2015)
- Increasing Employment and Earnings through a Skills Development Program for Youth in Côte d'Ivoire (Bertrand et al. 2021)
- The Impact of Exporting: Evidence from a Randomized Experiment in Egypt (Atkin, Osman, and Khandelwal 2017)
Using social protection systems to combat Covid-19-induced poverty
- Evaluations: Randomized evaluations related to Covid-19 and finance and social protection.
- Op-eds: Cushioning the poor from the Covid-19 shock (Project Syndicate)
- Blogs:
- The role of a (digital) universal basic income in supporting pandemic resilience
- Indonesians are turning to digital financial services during the Covid-19 pandemic
- How digital financial services and e-commerce can help curb the impact of Covid-19 on people's livelihoods
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Strengthening Indonesia’s social protection in the Covid-19 era: Strategy and lessons from evidence
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Strengthening social assistance and health response to Covid-19 in India
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Preparing for shocks through Universal Basic Income: Evidence from Kenya
- Evidence to policy case studies:
- Policy insights: Strategies to increase health insurance enrollment
- Webinar recordings:
Mitigating pollution to reduce stress on respiratory health
- Evaluations: Randomized evaluations related to Covid-19 and climate
- Op-eds: If we can vaccinate the world, we can beat the climate crisis (The Guardian)
- Policy insights: Biomass cookstoves to reduce indoor air pollution and fuel use
- Evaluations: Select randomized evaluations on non-Covid topics with implications/insights relevant for mitigating air pollution:
- The Impact of an Emissions Trading Scheme on Economic Growth and Air Quality in India (Greenstone et al., ongoing)
- Truth-Telling in Third Party Audits (Duflo et al. 2013)
- Environmental inspections for pollution regulation enforcement in China (Almond and Zhang, ongoing)
- Providing information on wood heating to decrease indoor air pollution in France (Abdel Sater et al. 2021)
Addressing increased risk of gender-based violence
- Evaluations: Randomized evaluations related to Covid-19 and gender
- Op-eds: End the Pandemic of Violence Against Women (Project Syndicate)
- Blogs:
- Policy insights: The impacts of economic interventions on intimate partner violence
- Webinar recordings:
Regional response
J-PAL's regional offices are leveraging their strong partnerships with governments and their research infrastructure to develop solutions to the short- and long-term challenges posed by the pandemic. Learn more about our regional work: