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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.

Designing Contracts for Healthcare Providers in India

Katherine Donato
Manoj Mohanan
Yulya Truskinovsky
Researchers evaluated two types of reward contracts—one that rewarded providers for increased use of inputs and one that rewarded providers for improved health outputs—among rural obstetric care providers in India. They found that both contracts reduced post-partum hemorrhage by 20-23 percent.

Impact of Digital Financial Education and Information Provision on Gender-Based Violence in Colombia

Mathew Bird
Lina Cardona
Pablo Lavado
In Colombia, researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to test the impact of a messaging-based program via WhatsApp focused on financial education, couples’ communication, and information provision on financial capability, women’s empowerment, and intimate partner violence.

Linking Weather Index Insurance and Credit to Improve Agricultural Productivity in Rural Ethiopia

Shukri Ahmed
Alexandros Sarris
Researchers combined subsidized weather index insurance with input loans for fertilizer and modern seed use for smallholder farmers in rural Ethiopia to investigate the impact of these products on demand for insurance and resulting shifts in agricultural technology use and crop yields. Results...

Improving Economic and Psychological Well-being through Unconditional Cash Transfer in Kenya

Charlotte Ringdal
Jeremy Shapiro
Xiao Yu Wang
In Rarieda, Kenya, researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to measure the impact of GiveDirectly’s UCT program on poor rural households’ economic and psychological well-being. Results demonstrated that the program had significant welfare-improving impacts, both economically and psychologically...

The Effects of Youth Employment: Evidence from New York City Summer Youth Employment Program Lotteries

Alexander Gelber
Adam Isen
Numerous summer jobs programs in the United States seek to support the employment of young people facing barriers to employment and opportunity. Researchers studied the impact of the New York City Summer Youth Employment Program (which used a lottery to determine participation) on youth earnings...

The Economic, Health, and Psychological Effects of Health Insurance and Unconditional Cash Transfers in Kenya

Justin Abraham
Chaning Jang
Researchers evaluated the effects of a free health insurance policy and UCTs of the same value on the economic, health, and psychological outcomes of informal workers in Kenya. Participants who received health insurance self-reported reduced stress and had lower cortisol levels; UCTs led to fewer...

Delegating Property Tax Collection to Local Elites in the DRC

Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation during the 2018 property tax collection campaign to test the impact of delegating tax collection to local chiefs. Where local chiefs collected taxes, households were more tax compliant than where state collectors collected, mainly because chiefs had...