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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.

Reducing Parent-School Information Gaps and Improving Education Outcomes: Evidence from High-Frequency Text Messages

Samuel Berlinski
Mattias Busso
Claudia Martinez
Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to test the impact of regular informational text messages to parents on children’s academic performance. The intervention improved math grades and attendance, although it did not impact negative classroom behavior on average. These effects were generally...

Leveraging Local Governments to Support Rice Mechanization in India

Working with local government leaders and agricultural extension agents, the researcher is conducting a randomized evaluation to test the impact of promoting a mechanization technology. Uniquely, the researcher will closely track how employment shifts for women who formerly did the mechanized work.

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...

Welfare Impacts of Micro-Loans in Nigeria

In Nigeria, researchers worked with a financial service provider to evaluate the impact of digital loans on welfare. Being approved for the loans increased subjective well-being after three months, for applicants who normally would have been denied.

Direct and Indirect Effects of Malawi’s Public Works Program on Food Security

Kathleen Beegle
Emanuela Galasso
Researchers worked with the Malawi Social Action Fund to conduct a randomized evaluation of the program’s effect on food security. They found no evidence that the program improved food security, and there were some indications that the program decreased the food security of non-beneficiaries living...

Promoting High Impact Entrepreneurship in Mexico

A lack of access to finance can impede the potential for growth among small firms. To meet this finance gap and to encourage high-growth entrepreneurship, governments and multilateral agencies throughout the developing world often directly fund small and medium enterprises. Governments, however...