News

Researchers are conducting a randomized evaluation to test the impact of a nursing skills training program targeting female youth based in Assiut and Sohag, Egypt, on employment outcomes on the treated group and more importantly, their local social network.

Researchers evaluated the impact of additional investments in agriculture on income for subsistence farmers. In rural Mali, giving some farmers unrestricted cash grants led to significantly higher productivity and profits, suggesting farmers would invest more in their farms if they had more capital.

In the context of a recent government policy that reduced costs of formalization, researchers provided information on the formal entry process through workshops and personalized visits to determine the impacts of information on firms’ decision to formalize.

Distributing water cisterns in northeast Brazil led to fewer requests for private benefits from local politicians and fewer votes for incumbent mayors, who typically have more resources to engage in clientelism. Researchers and J-PAL's Latin America & Caribbean office are now working with the...

Youth unemployment—an acute problem in Sub-Saharan Africa—can have long-term negative implications, both on individuals’ quality of life and on broader socio-economic development outcomes. A lack of necessary skills is often cited as contributing to high unemployment, and there is little evidence on...

In Ethiopia, researchers tested whether linking microcredit and family planning services could increase contraceptive use more than either program in isolation. Neither the linked program nor the isolated programs had any detectable impact on contraceptive awareness, use, or intention to use.

Researchers evaluated the impacts of a $68 million infrastructure investment program in Mexico on urban residents’ access to infrastructure, property values, private investment, moving rates, and community cohesion. The study found that access to infrastructure and property values improved in...

Researchers used Chicago’s school choice program, which uses a random lottery to allocate slots in elementary schools, to evaluate how the opportunity to attend a higher-quality school impacts academic achievement. They found that lottery winners are more likely to attend higher-performing schools...