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?
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.
In an op-ed for MIT News, J-PAL Policy Associate Mera Cronbaugh and Senior Policy Associate Laina Sonterblum discuss the launch of J-PAL North America's new evaluation incubators: the Housing Stability Evaluation Incubator and State and Local Evaluation Incubator.
J-PAL affiliate Tavneet Suri and J-PAL Africa Project Director Nidhi Parekh co-wrote an opinions article about the outcomes of a J-PAL-funded study evaluating the long-term benefits of universal basic income (UBI) programs during COVID.
J-PAL North America's July newsletter features our Economics Transformation Project blog series and new research results on a STEM pipeline program and the Nurse-Family Partnership program.
The Hindustan Times summarized a meeting between Nobel Lauret and J-PAL founder Abhijit Banerjee and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal. The two discussed how to reduce pollution and generate employment in the city through innovation-based industries.
A J-PAL-funded study in Botswana found that mobile phones were a cheaper and more effective way to mitigate school-closure-related learning loss in children.
The Indian Express covered Nobel Prize winner and J-PAL affiliate Michael Kremer's TN Srinivasan Memorial Lecture at the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER). Kremer discussed the importance of randomized control trials in creating good public policy and the need to improve the...
In the July newsletter, we discuss how to use J-PAL's Dataverse, the lessons that can be learned from a math achievement program in Puerto Rico, and feature an affiliate spotlight of Sandip Sukhtankar.
J-PAL affiliated researchers Brian Jacob's and Julian Jamison's studies on the effects of unconditional cash transfers in the US are cited in an article by Vox seeking to explain why recent cash transfer research in the US tends to show insignificant results.