The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) is a global research center working to reduce poverty by ensuring that policy is informed by scientific evidence. Anchored by a network of more than 1,000 researchers at universities around the world, J-PAL conducts randomized impact evaluations to answer critical questions in the fight against poverty.
The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) is a global research center working to reduce poverty by ensuring that policy is informed by scientific evidence. Anchored by a network of more than 1,000 researchers at universities around the world, J-PAL conducts randomized impact evaluations to answer critical questions in the fight against poverty.
Our affiliated professors are based at over 120 universities and conduct randomized evaluations around the world to design, evaluate, and improve programs and policies aimed at reducing poverty. They set their own research agendas, raise funds to support their evaluations, and work with J-PAL staff on research, policy outreach, and training.
Our Board of Directors, which is composed of J-PAL affiliated professors and senior management, provides overall strategic guidance to J-PAL, our sector programs, and regional offices.
J-PAL recognizes that there is a lack of diversity, equity, and inclusion in the field of economics and in our field of work. Read about what actions we are taking to address this.
We host events around the world and online to share results and policy lessons from randomized evaluations, to build new partnerships between researchers and practitioners, and to train organizations on how to design and conduct randomized evaluations, and use evidence from impact evaluations.
Browse news articles about J-PAL and our affiliated professors, read our press releases and monthly global and research newsletters, and connect with us for media inquiries.
Based at leading universities around the world, our experts are economists who use randomized evaluations to answer critical questions in the fight against poverty. Connect with us for all media inquiries and we'll help you find the right person to shed insight on your story.
J-PAL is based at MIT in Cambridge, MA and has seven regional offices at leading universities in Africa, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, Middle East and North Africa, North America, South Asia, and Southeast Asia.
J-PAL is based at MIT in Cambridge, MA and has seven regional offices at leading universities in Africa, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, Middle East and North Africa, North America, South Asia, and Southeast Asia.
Our global office is based at the Department of Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It serves as the head office for our network of seven independent regional offices.
Led by affiliated professors, J-PAL sectors guide our research and policy work by conducting literature reviews; by managing research initiatives that promote the rigorous evaluation of innovative interventions by affiliates; and by summarizing findings and lessons from randomized evaluations and producing cost-effectiveness analyses to help inform relevant policy debates.
Led by affiliated professors, J-PAL sectors guide our research and policy work by conducting literature reviews; by managing research initiatives that promote the rigorous evaluation of innovative interventions by affiliates; and by summarizing findings and lessons from randomized evaluations and producing cost-effectiveness analyses to help inform relevant policy debates.
How do policies affecting private sector firms impact productivity gaps between higher-income and lower-income countries? How do firms’ own policies impact economic growth and worker welfare?
How can we identify effective policies and programs in low- and middle-income countries that provide financial assistance to low-income families, insuring against shocks and breaking poverty traps?
This project aims to study the impact of a large one-time cash transfer to families with children who are currently homeless and engaged in emergency homeless services. The project will evaluate how such a cash transfer impacts future homelessness and housing...
The Housing Solutions Lab at NYU Furman Center seeks to provide technical assistance, peer learning opportunities, and research and evaluation support to a set of 4-5 public housing authorities (PHAs) with the aim of developing rigorous direct rental...
Promoting housing stability for the millions of households facing eviction annually is a critical policy objective, and a key question is how to target limited emergency assistance funds. This project evaluates an eviction prevention program in Pierce County...
This study will evaluate intensive financial assistance to prevent homelessness. The Wilson Sheehan Lab for Economic Opportunities (LEO) and Mary’s Place, the largest provider of emergency shelter to families in Seattle, will assess a new homelessness...
Family Promise of West Michigan, Family Promise of Spokane, and the Lord’s Place, located in West Palm Beach, are three nonprofit organizations dedicated to fighting homelessness in their local communities. As part of this mission, these organizations...
While congregate shelters remain the predominant form of interim housing available for single adults experiencing homelessness, several public and private service providers in California are experimenting with an interim housing model: tiny home communities...
A growing body of research finds that residential evictions are associated with negative social, economic, and health consequences for households and communities (Slee and Desmond 2021; Leifheit et al. 2021; Hatch and Yun 2021; Ghimire et al. 2021; Desmond...
Harris County leads the nation in evictions – which disproportionately affect households of color and, some evidence suggests, negatively influence health, education, and generational wealth. Harris County’s statistics do not include “informal evictions,”...
More than half a million prisoners are released from state and federal prisons each year. Formerly incarcerated people are nearly ten times more likely to experience homelessness than the general population, and the risk is highest in the first two years after...
Rapid Re-Housing (RRH) is a program designed to help people transition from homelessness to stable housing. RRH offers a combination of temporary benefits that typically last between 6 and 24 months, such as housing identification assistance, rental subsidies...
We will evaluate the effectiveness of direct cash payments as a supplement to rapid rehousing services for preventing homelessness and aiding the transition to longer-term housing stability. Working with two Bay Area providers of rapid rehousing, we will...
Federal rental assistance programs are one of the largest and most effective anti-poverty programs in the US, lifting over three million people out of poverty every year. The largest rental assistance program, the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program, has been...
Through this proposal, national partners, Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago, Point Source Youth, and J-PAL invited researcher, Dr. Michael Cassidy; lead community-based organization, Larkin Street Youth Services; and young adult partners with lived...
Public health measures instituted in response to the novel coronavirus in March 2020 have resulted in unprecedented increases in unemployment. This mass unemployment will leave many already rent-burdened Chicagoans unable to pay for housing. While the closure...
This evaluation will build on existing evaluations of lotteried housing assistance during COVID19 in King Co. (WA) and Chicago (IL) to study the impact of temporary housing assistance in Los Angeles (CA) and Harris County (TX) for low-income households...
This project evaluates two interventions aimed at reducing failure to appear (FTA) rates among people likely to be experiencing homelessness. First, we will test if direct outreach by the Shasta County Superior Court, via text message, can increase court...
Our project will evaluate whether mitigating risk for landlords can improve housing stability and access to high-opportunity neighborhoods for people with low incomes and poor credit, a criminal record, or a recent eviction. To do so, we will use a randomized...
Bernalillo County, New Mexico (Albuquerque) residents consistently experience eviction at a rate (4.5%) nearly twice the national average (2.3%) and higher than the state overall (3.2%). In response, New Mexico Legal Aid (NMLA), which provides free, direct...
Approximately 3,000 families apply for short-term financial assistance through the Homelessness Prevention Call Center (HPCC) in Chicago each year. As little as $1,000 can prevent some households from entering the shelter system and save them from associated...
Evictions, both informal and court-ordered, are one of the most common pathways to homelessness, but proven interventions to interrupt this pathway are few. Two of three rigorous studies completed in this area show that providing a lawyer to a defendant in...
This project will examine the effect of receiving permanent supportive housing services on housing, health, labor market, and criminal justice outcomes for individuals who repeatedly interact with the criminal justice system. The FUSE (Frequent Users Systems...
This project will be the largest randomized control trial of homelessness prevention services to date and will compare two different approaches to homelessness prevention. We will use a lottery to measure the effectiveness of (1) a combined program of...
Santa Clara County’s Office for Supportive Housing (OSH) is introducing a Rapid Re-Housing program (RRH) for single adults in cooperation with HomeFirst, a local non-profit provider. To measure the program’s success and make decisions about scaling the program...
Promoting housing stability for the millions of households facing eviction annually is a critical policy objective, and a key question is how to target limited emergency assistance funds. This project evaluates an eviction prevention program in Pierce County...