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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 Brick Manufacturing in Bangladesh to Promote Clean Air and Better Health

Shoeb Ahmed
Debashish Biswas
Moogdho Mahzab
Sameer Maithel
Mahbubur Rahman
M. Rofi Uddin
Researchers evaluated the impact of trainings for brick kiln owners and operators on air pollution, CO2 emissions, and kiln profitability.

Finding Missing Markets: An Agricultural Brokerage Intervention in Kenya

Researchers evaluated whether a package of services, designed to help link smallholder farmers to commercial banks, retail farm suppliers, transportation services, and exporters, could help small farmers in Kenya adopt, finance, and market export crops, and thus make more income. One year after the...

Small Individual Loans and Mental Health in South Africa

This evaluation examined the direct impact of providing small consumer loans to marginally creditworthy individuals in South Africa on their credit access, investment, and well-being, as well as the profitability of these loans for lenders. Results found approving loans for marginally creditworthy...

Counseling the Unemployed in France (OPP/CVE)

An intensive counseling program for job seekers at risk of long-term unemployment in France helped them find work sooner than the standard low-intensity counseling program, and the counseling was more effective when provided by a public agency than by private contractors.

Improving the Design of Conditional Transfer Programs in Colombia

Researchers in Bogotá, Colombia, evaluated whether changing the timing and type of CCTs could lead to greater impact on educational attainment. All CCT variations had similarly positive impacts on school attendance, but transfers conditional on continued education had a greater impact on secondary...

The Impact of Risk Information on Adolescent Sexual Behavior and Knowledge in Cameroon

Elise Huillery
Juliette Seban
In Cameroon, researchers evaluated the impact of various HIV prevention interventions delivered through schools on girls and young women’s exposure to risk. The interventions decreased the incidence of pregnancy (a marker for unprotected sex) in the following nine to twelve months by over 25 percent...

The Impact of Alternative Fundraising Schemes on Charitable Giving in Germany

Steffen Huck
Andrew Shephard
Researchers partnered with the Munich Opera House to conduct a randomized evaluation measuring the impact of a large-scale mail fundraising scheme on the frequency and amount of donations. While neither the presence of a lead donor nor differences in matching schemes affected the response rate to...

The Effect of Free Contraception on Fertility in Burkina Faso

Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation among households in rural Burkina Faso to examine whether countries in sub-Saharan Africa are experiencing a slower shift in fertility levels due to lack of access to contraception or households wanting large families. Providing married women with access...