Blog

News

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.

Scaling Evidence-Based Innovations in Education with Government Partners

Laura Poswell, Executive Director of J-PAL Africa, participated on a panel at USAID’s Global Innovation Week, a multi-day event to showcase ways USAID is partnering with others to achieve the greatest impact. The panel shared their experiences generating evidence and pathways through which their...

Early Childhood Development at Scale through Home Health Visits

Researchers in Bangladesh conducted a randomized evaluation to test the impact of integrating light-touch ECD support into an existing national child health program on early childhood development outcomes. Children who received the ECD support showed improvements in cognitive, language, and physical...

Government Mobile Salary Payments for Teachers in Afghanistan

Joshua Blumenstock
In partnership with the Ministry of Education of Afghanistan, researchers are conducting a randomized evaluation to study whether mobile salary payments (MSPs) improve learning by increasing teacher attendance and morale.

Commitment Contracts for Smoking Cessation in the United States

This study will examine whether a combination of positive and negative commitment devices can induce long-term smoking cessation in smokers from a low-to-moderate income background in Connecticut.

Participatory Development and Social Preferences: Experimental Evidence from Bangladesh

Researchers are conducting a lab-in-the-field study to measure the impact of a community-driven development program in Bangladesh on participants’ preferences and values about fairness, equity, civic engagement, and participatory decision-making.

Saving for Multiple Goals with Lockboxes in Malawi

Valentina Brailovskaya
Jonathan Robinson
In Malawi, researchers offered micro-entrepreneurs either single or multiple lockboxes to evaluate the impact of the boxes on savings and other business and financial outcomes. Individuals offered multiple lockboxes saved more than those offered a single lockbox, suggesting that providing lockboxes...

A Universal Program to Raise the Well-being of Rural Communities in Uganda

Many programs that aim to help people in poverty are tailored to specific households. But often, entire communities can be living in poverty. Researchers partnered with the NGO Raising the Village to conduct a randomized evaluation of a universal livelihoods program in Uganda that offered a bundle...