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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.

Improving the Targeting of Preventive Health Subsidies through Vouchers in Western Kenya

In Western Kenya, researchers compared three different approaches to subsidizing dilute chlorine solution to treat drinking water: a partial subsidy, a twelve month supply of free chlorine through monthly vouchers, and a twelve month supply of free chlorine hand-delivered. Safe water rates were much...

Demand for Information on Environmental Health Risk, Mode of Delivery, and Behavioral Change: Evidence from Sonargaon, Bangladesh

In Bangladesh, researchers evaluated the impact of different selling schemes on demand for water testing, and the impact of test results on switching to a safer well. Although group test sales and well safety placards increased substantially the likelihood that households switched to a possibly...

The Impact of Childcare Subsidies and Employment Services on Women's Labor Force Participation in Egypt

In collaboration with Egypt’s Ministry of Social Solidarity (MoSS), researchers are conducting a randomized evaluation to test the impact of providing women with childcare subsidies and employment services on their employment and empowerment outcomes, as well as their children’s cognitive and...

The Impact of a Text-based Campaign on Intimate Partner Violence in Peru

Javiera Romero
In partnership with the Ministry of Women and Vulnerable Populations of Peru, researchers are evaluating a text-based campaign designed to help men regulate their emotions and reduce perpetration of IPV during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Attracting Talented Workers by Reducing Application Costs in Ethiopia

Girum Abebe
Esteban Ortiz-Ospina
Researchers partnered with an employer in Addis Ababa to assess the impact of a small monetary incentive to apply for a job or a higher wage offer on the quality of applicants to a vacancy for a clerical position. Both of these changes increased the quality of applicants by similar amounts.

The Impact of Meritocratic Promotions and Pay Progression on Health Care Workers' Productivity in Sierra Leone

Philipp Kastrau
Researchers tested the impact of a meritocratic promotion system and beliefs about pay progression on the productivity of Community Health Workers in Sierra Leone. A combination of meritocracy and the promise of a steep salary increase after promotion led workers to make more health care visits...

Valuing Trust in Shantytowns in Peru

Markus Mobius
Tanya Rosenblat
Adam Szeidl
In collaboration with PRISMA, a Peruvian NGO offering credit through village banks, researchers designed and implemented a new loan product, which required new clients to be sponsored by existing clients, to measure the relative importance of social networks and prices for borrowing in shantytowns...

The Role of Exposure, Social Networks and Marketing Messages in Households' Willingness to Pay for Malaria Prevention in Kenya

This study evaluated the impact of subsidies and two different marketing messages on the take-up of insecticide-treated bed nets by rural households. Take-up did not vary with the framing of marketing messages but was highly sensitive to changes in price. Gaining access to a highly subsidized bed...