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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.

Job Search Assistance for Syrian Refugees in Jordan

Grant Gordon
Maximilian Kasy
Soha Shami
Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation that introduced an adaptive targeted treatment assignment methodology to measure the impact of providing different types of job search assistance on job search rates and labor outcomes for Syrian refugees and local jobseekers in Jordan. While none of the...

Limiting Learning Loss using Phone-based Programming during Covid-19 in Botswana

Caton Brewster
Moitshepi Matsheng
Working in Botswana, researchers rapidly evaluated a phone-based remote learning program aimed at keeping children engaged with math during the Covid-19 pandemic. Students who received weekly SMS messages and phone calls to review math exercises increased their math skills after twelve weeks, while...

De-biasing Over-Optimism about Covid-19 Risks to Limit Vulnerable Individuals' Risky Behavior in India

Researchers are evaluating the impact of providing different types of information about the health risks of Covid-19 on individuals’ risky behavior among diabetic and hypertensive individuals in Tamil Nadu, India, with special attention to de-biasing over-optimism about personal health risk.

The Medium-Term Educational Effects of Short-Term Literacy Tutoring in Chile

Verónica Cabezas
Jose Ignacio Cuesta
Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to gauge whether a short-term reading tutoring program could improve a range of student educational outcomes in the short- and medium-term (up to eight years after the program). They found that the program increased language test scores in the short term...

Delivering Clean Water to Households in India

Fiona Burlig
Amir Jina
More than two billion people around the world lack access to clean drinking water, and current approaches to increasing access have fallen short. Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to test the impact of delivering clean water directly to households on the valuation of clean water, and...

Providing Therapy and Cash Transfers to Improve Older Adult Mental Health in India

Researchers evaluated the impact of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and cash transfers on functional impairment (or difficulty performing daily tasks), depression, and food security among adults 55 and older living alone in Tamil Nadu, India. At a three-week follow-up, cash transfers improved...

Valuing Trust in Shantytowns in Peru

Markus Mobius
Tanya Rosenblat
In collaboration with PRISMA, a Peruvian NGO offering credit through village banks, researchers designed and implemented a new loan product, which required new clients to be sponsored by existing clients, to measure the relative importance of social networks and prices for borrowing in shantytowns...

The Role of Exposure, Social Networks and Marketing Messages in Households' Willingness to Pay for Malaria Prevention in Kenya

This study evaluated the impact of subsidies and two different marketing messages on the take-up of insecticide-treated bed nets by rural households. Take-up did not vary with the framing of marketing messages but was highly sensitive to changes in price. Gaining access to a highly subsidized bed...