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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 Women’s Labor and Welfare Outcomes through Microfinance in Uganda

Researchers in rural Western Uganda tested whether a microfinance program can help women borrowers switch out of subsistence agriculture to other labor activities, such as entrepreneurship or small-scale trading. While microloans helped women switch into service-based jobs including small-scale...

Innovative Finance for Technology Adoption in Western Kenya

Researchers randomly evaluated whether well-timed access to credit would allow maize farmers in Kenya to make better use of storage and sell their output at higher prices. The loan offers allowed farmers to store more maize and earn higher revenues, with larger revenue impacts for farmers granted...

Savings Accounts to Smooth Consumption for Low-Income Microentrepreneurs in Chile

Felipe Kast
Researchers examined the effects of free savings account access on savings account use, indebtedness, consumption, and well-being. Easy access to savings accounts reduced participants’ reliance on borrowing, helped them manage fluctuations in income, and increased their self-reported well-being.

Gender-specific managerial training program and firm productivity in Colombia

Researchers are evaluating the impact of providing a gender-specific managerial training program on career advancement prospects for women and workplace productivity.

Understanding the Connection Between Party Affiliation, Partisanship, and Political Beliefs in the United States

Gregory A. Huber
Ebonya Washington
Researchers from Yale University conducted a randomized evaluation to examine the effects of political party identification on political attitudes and opinions. Participants in the study who received a printed letter indicating that they must register with a political party to vote in an upcoming...

The Impact of Credit Scores on Lending in Colombia

Researchers used a randomized evaluation to measure the impact of introducing credit scores on lending to small enterprises in Colombia. The adoption of credit scores increased productivity in the loan approval process and improved credit allocation.

Increasing Women’s Local Political Participation Through Top-Down and Bottom-Up Training in Indonesia

A researcher evaluated the impact of empowerment training for female citizens and training for male council chairs on women's participation in neighborhood associations, known as rukun tetangga (RT) in Malang, East Java, Indonesia.

Financial Education vs. Access to Finance Among Filipino Migrants

Paolo Abarcar
International remittances are an important financial tool for many developing countries, and many organizations offer financial products or financial education services to help families manage the remittances they receive. Researchers provided families with financial products and financial education...