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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.

Text Messages and Reminders to Save in Ecuador

Working with a microfinance institution in Ecuador, researchers investigated whether providing timely reminders to save via text message can help people save more.

A Multifaceted Approach to Increase Women’s Empowerment in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Researchers evaluated a multifaceted program for women experiencing extreme poverty in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a region facing protracted conflict. The intervention had positive and enduring effects on women’s consumption, employment, finances, and empowerment, and small positive impacts...

School-Based Financial Education for Improved Financial Decision-Making and Academic Performance among Youth in Ghana

In southern and eastern Ghana, researchers evaluated two youth financial literacy programs to test their impact on savings, labor, academic performance, and financial decision-making. One program integrated financial and social education, while the second only offered financial education. Both...

Governance and the Effectiveness of Public Health Subsidies in Ghana, Kenya, and Uganda

Heavily subsidizing essential health products like insecticide-treated bed nets has the potential to substantially decrease child mortality in sub-Saharan Africa, but there is widespread concern that poor governance and limited accountability among health workers undermines the effectiveness of...

Culture and Incentives: Does Performance Pay Impact Productivity, Work Quality, or Firm Profitability in Ghana?

In Ghana, researchers evaluated the impact of performance pay on worker productivity. They found that neither individual nor group incentives impacted productivity, work quality, or firm profitability.

Marketing Rainfall Insurance in India

Sarthak Gaurav
Jeremy Tobacman
Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to test the impact of providing financial literacy education alongside various marketing strategies to small-scale farmers in Gujarat, India, on their demand for rainfall index insurance. Financial education had a significant effect on adoption of...

The Role of the VAT for Tax Enforcement

The Value Added Tax (VAT) system, which generates a paper trail on transactions between firms, facilitated tax enforcement by spreading the impact of enforcement measures up the production chain in a study with over 400,000 firms in Chile.