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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.

The Impact of Candidates’ Political Connections on Voters' Expressed Support in Pakistan

Ali Cheema
Asad Liaqat
Farooq Naseer
Jacob N. Shapiro
Researchers evaluated the impact of randomly varied information about candidates’ political connections on voters' beliefs and self-expressed support in the context of a 2015 local election in Sargodha, a district in rural Pakistan. Providing information on candidates’ connectedness increased voters...

The Impact of Information Campaigns on Voter Polarization in Turkey

The researcher evaluated an opposition party’s door-to-door information campaign regarding increases in executive power or executive performance to determine the impact of widespread, non-state-authorized information on voter partisanship. In neighborhoods with majority opposition supporters...

The Impact of Government-run Remedial Education Programs on Student Learning in Ghana

Building on previous research, researchers in this study evaluated the impact of several targeted instruction programs on the learning outcomes of primary school students in Ghana’s public schools. Researchers found significant improvements in numeracy and literacy on average; of the four...

Decreasing Mobile Money Vendor Misconduct through Information Sharing in Ghana

In Ghana, researchers evaluated the impact of providing vendors and consumers with information on official mobile money charges and options for recourse for consumers to report being overcharged. The program led to a decrease in misconduct, which in turn facilitated an increase in market activity...

Visualization of Future Benefits to Increase Preventive Health Investment, Savings, and Labor Supply in Kenya

Anett John
Researchers evaluated the impact of light-touch psychological interventions on health and economic outcomes, with a particular focus on the chlorination of drinking water. After 12 weeks, visualization increased objectively measured chlorination; it also reduced diarrhea episodes among children and...

The Impacts of Computer-Based Individualized Instruction on Math Learning in India

Andreas de Barros
Alejandro Ganimian
In partnership with an education assessment firm, researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to isolate the impact of computer-based individualized instruction in India. After nine months, lower-performing students in grades six to eight learned 22 percent of a standard deviation more in math if...

Incentives to Learn: A Merit-Based Girls' Scholarship Program in Kenya

Approximately 85 percent of primary school age children in western Kenya are enrolled in school, but only about one-third of students finish primary school. This project was introduced in part to assist families of high-achieving girls to cover the cost of school fees, supplies, and activities.

Community Driven Development in Sierra Leone

Researchers studied the impact of a community driven development program in Sierra Leone in the short and long-run and contrasted it with a technocratic approach to delegate the management of development projects to high skill individuals. In the short term, the CDD program increased the stock of...