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 900 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 900 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 97 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.
J-PAL recognizes that there is a lack of diversity, equity, and inclusion in the field of economics and in our field of work. Read about what actions we are taking to address this.
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?
We host events around the world and online to share results and policy lessons from randomized evaluations, build new partnerships between researchers and practitioners, and train organizations on how to design and conduct randomized evaluations.
J-PAL and Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) are pleased to announce that applications are now open for a three-day randomized evaluation design workshop as part of the Displaced Livelihoods Initiative (DLI) and ongoing work to improve humanitarian protection programs to develop projects in the...
Join J-PAL North America as we connect state and local climate leaders, government associations, and academic researchers from across the country to advance evidence for climate action. During our July convening, participants will share opportunities and develop strategies for researcher-government...
J-PAL LAC y la Universidad del Valle de Guatemala llevarán a cabo un ciclo de dos webinars. En la primera conferencia, nuestra afiliada Karen Macours (Paris School of Economics) compartirá evidencia local actualizada proveniente de evaluaciones aleatorizadas sobre nutrición y hallazgos relevantes...
As the inaugural session of J-PAL Latin America and the Caribbean's “Early Work Seminars,” this event will focus on labor markets and provide an academic forum where researchers can present their early work in randomized evaluations, and receive valuable feedback from scholars within the J-PAL LAC...
J-PAL Latinoamérica y el Caribe (LAC) y la Universidad del Valle de Guatemala (UVG) llevarán a cabo un ciclo de webinars. La segunda conferencia, “Investigación sobre desarrollo infantil temprano: Evidencia en Latinoamérica y el Caribe”, ofrecida por Claudia Macías, subdirectora ejecutiva de J-PAL...
The J-PAL Africa Evaluating Social Programs Course will provide a thorough understanding of randomized evaluations and pragmatic step-by-step training for conducting one’s own evaluation.
The J-PAL SEA Executive Education Course will provide an in-depth look at why and when randomized evaluations can be used to rigorously measure social impact, methods and considerations for the design and implementation, and how findings can inform evidence-based policies and programs.
Evaluating Social Programs (ESP) 2024 is a three-day in-person course that explores the use of monitoring and evaluation to drive sustainable social impact at scale.
State and local government leaders, leading scholars, and social service providers gathered in Cambridge to share their first-hand experiences of overcoming practical and political challenges to evaluating government programs, with a focus on crime and violence prevention, maternal and child health...
The J-PAL State and Local Innovation Initiative supports US state and local leaders in using randomized evaluations to generate new and widely applicable lessons about which programs work, which work best, and why. On Thursday, December 8th at 1:00pm Eastern, J-PAL North America hosted a webinar to...
On December 6, J-PAL and the Center for Global Development (CGD) will host an event to take stock of the evidence and impact evaluation movement and its promise for improving social policy in developing countries. Join the live stream.
At this two-day conference in Cambridge, health care experts and practitioners explored opportunities for research, innovation, and evidence-informed policymaking to address a range of national health care challenges.
Just six days away from the final vote in a sensational election, J-PAL is excited to host Dr. Donald Green to dig in to what we know about how political campaigns mobilize and persuade voters. His talk will focus particularly on how randomized evaluations have transformed the way campaigns operate.
J-PAL hosted the second talk of its lecture series at MIT, D²P²: Data. Decisions. Public Policy. Dr. Rukmini Banerji (CEO of Pratham) discussed her work with the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) and how the massive citizen-led assessment of children’s learning has led to a national debate...
J-PAL Europe is organizing a five-day course, in English, led by affiliated professors from J-PAL, that will teach participants how to measure the effects of poverty programs scientifically and help shape better policies through the use of randomized evaluations.