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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.

Temporary Labor Migration as Mitigation: Strategies for Managing Seasonal Famine in Bangladesh

Can monetary incentives induce rural farmers to migrate to cities and pursue seasonal labor opportunities during times of famine?

Information Campaign to Reduce Plastic Bag Consumption in Supermarkets in Mexico

Alberto Chong
Jeremy Shapiro
This evaluation measured the impact of different in-store information campaigns on the consumption of plastic shopping bags and the sale of reusable bags in grocery stores across Mexico. The information campaigns did not significantly reduce plastic bag consumption or increase the sale of the...

The Impact of Emergency Cash Assistance in a Pandemic

Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation in Colombia to assess the effects of emergency cash assistance on the well-being of households. Recipients of the UCT experienced improved financial health, food access, and psychological well-being. Colombia’s newly implemented mobile money system...

Communal Sanitation Solutions for Urban Slums in Orissa, India

Sharon Barnhardt
Judy Chevalier
Researchers are evaluating the effect of improving communal toilet facilities, and implementing innovative systems for facility maintenance, on the use of community toilets in Orissa, India.

Increasing Take-Up of the Earned Income Tax Credit

Across six randomized evaluations, researchers studied the impact of low-cost, low-touch informational interventions, or “nudges,” on take-up of the federal and state Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) in California. None of the interventions had an impact on EITC take-up, suggesting that information...

School-Based Nutrition Programs to Improve Child Health in India

Saurabh Mehta
Priya Mukherjee
Hannah Ruebeck
Gauri Kartini Shastry
Researchers conducted an evaluation to test the impact of introducing a second school-based nutrition program, and monitoring these two programs, on child nutrition and program implementation. Results showed that high intensity monitoring improved the implementation of the government’s iron and...

Improving Targeting of a Conditional Cash Transfer Program in Indonesia

Vivi Alatas
Ririn Purnamasari
Matthew Wai-Poi
Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation with the Indonesian government that compared self-targeting to automatic screening in the context of a conditional cash transfer program. Requiring households to apply for a cash transfer program in Indonesia discouraged rich households from seeking out...