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Browse news articles about J-PAL and our affiliated professors, and read our press releases and monthly global and research newsletters. For media inquiries, please email us.

Assessing the Impact of Microcredit in Ethiopia

Jaikishan Desai
Kristin Johnson
Researchers analyzed the introduction of microcredit programs in parts of rural Ethiopia to evaluate the effect of improved credit access on economic and social outcomes. They found that introducing microcredit programs increased the frequency of borrowing and amount borrowed by rural households in...

Improving Student Learning through Classroom Technology Adoption in Pakistan

Waqas Halim
Umar Saif
Researchers partnered with the Government of Pakistan to conduct two parallel randomized evaluations to test the impact of providing supplemental teaching materials on the quality of student learning and teachers’ effectiveness. Overall, the eLearn Classroom intervention improved student achievement...

The Oregon Health Insurance Experiment in the United States

Heidi Allen
Mira Bernstein
Jonathan Gruber
Joseph P. Newhouse
Eric Schneider
Jae Song
Bill Wright
Alan Zaslavsky
In a series of evaluations, researchers took advantage of a lottery that gave low-income uninsured adults the chance to apply for Medicaid in the United States to examine the impact of health insurance on these outcomes over the first two years.

The Impact of Delayed Wage Payments on Spending and Investment in Malawi

Lasse Brune
Qingxiao Li
Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to test the impact of paying workers on a weekly basis or in one lump sum, as well as of receiving payments in contexts with greater temptation to spend, on their spending and investment decisions. Workers assigned to receive lump-sum wages were more...

Leveraging Local Governments to Support Rice Mechanization in India

Working with local government leaders and agricultural extension agents, the researcher is conducting a randomized evaluation to test the impact of promoting a mechanization technology. Uniquely, the researcher will closely track how employment shifts for women who formerly did the mechanized work.

The Impact of Farmer-to-Farmer Training on Agricultural Productivity in Uganda

Jeremie Gignoux
Rick Kamugisha
Jane Kugonza
Margaret Najjingo Mangheni
Researchers evaluated the impact of a farmer-to-farmer training program on Ugandan farmers’ knowledge and use of improved dairy farming practices, as well as dairy production and revenues. Overall, the farmer-to-farmer training program improved farmers’ knowledge, productivity and revenues.

Improving Women’s Labor and Welfare Outcomes through Microfinance in Uganda

Researchers in rural Western Uganda tested whether a microfinance program can help women borrowers switch out of subsistence agriculture to other labor activities, such as entrepreneurship or small-scale trading. While microloans helped women switch into service-based jobs including small-scale...