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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.

Election Fraud and Government Legitimacy in Afghanistan

Eli Berman
Clark Gibson
James Long
Researchers evaluated the impact of photographic monitoring technology on aggregation fraud and perceptions of government legitimacy during the 2010 parliamentary elections in Afghanistan. The announcement of a new monitoring technology reduced both theft of election materials and vote counts for...

Returns to Information and Temporary Discounts on Remittances for Guatemalan and Salvadoran Migrants in Washington DC

Kate Ambler
Diego Aycinena
Researchers evaluated two programs to explore factors that may influence the amount of remittances people send: a temporary discount on the transaction fee and the provision of information about the returns to education in their home country. While the information about education did not change...

The Impact of Employment on High-Risk Men in Liberia

Jeannie Annan
In Liberia, researchers tested the effect of an intensive agricultural training program that also provided agricultural supplies and psychosocial counseling on employment activities, income, and socio-political integration. Fourteen months after the program, participants spent more time working in...

Improving Literacy Through Cognitive Science: Evidence from the United Arab Emirates

Anett John
Malak Koura
Arabic-speaking countries perform poorly on international reading assessments. Evidence from cognitive science suggests that several features of Arabic make the language particularly difficult for beginning readers. In partnership with the Al Qasimi Foundation for Policy Research (AQF), researchers...

The Effect of Randomized School Admissions on Voter Participation in the United States

Justine Hastings
Jeremy Weinstein
Understanding the factors that influence voting behavior is a central policy issue. Often voting outcomes directly determine funding of critical public goods such as public education.

The Timing and Effectiveness of Subsidies for Agricultural Technology Adoption in Zambia

Samuel Bell
Christopher Severen
Elizabeth Walker
Technology adoption often requires investments over time. As farmers realize new information about the costs and benefits of investments, they may abandon the newly adopted technology shortly after. Researchers partnered with the non-governmental organization Shared Value Africa and Dunavant Cotton...

Energy Conservation through Text Messages and Price Increases in Japan

Takanori Ida
Makoto Tanaka
Researchers introduced two programs during peak consumption hours—text messages encouraging energy conservation for the benefit of society, or price increases—to evaluate the impact of social motivation and dynamic pricing on energy conservation. Both programs led to reductions in electricity use...