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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.

Educational Incentives for Parents and Children in India

A common strategy for increasing school attendance is to offer cash rewards or other incentives to households, usually to the parents, when their children attend or perform well in school. In Gurgaon, India, researchers tested whether giving education incentives to parents or children influenced the...

The Impact of Employment and Cash Transfers on Psychosocial Wellbeing in Bangladesh

Erin Kelley
Fatima Zahra
Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to test the impact of employment on refugee psychosocial well-being in Bangladesh. The study found that employment generated significant psychosocial value beyond that from cash transfers alone.

Impact of Home Computers on the Academic Achievement of Low-Income Children in the United States

Jonathan Robinson
Researchers analyzed the impact of a program that provided students in California with a home computer on students’ academic achievement. The program had no effect (either positive or negative) on any educational outcome, including grades, standardized test scores, and attendance.

Gender, Marital Status, and Labor Market Discrimination in Egypt

Caroline Krafft
Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to assess employer discrimination by randomizing applicants' self-described gender and marital status on resumes submitted to prospective employers.

Using Deliberative Electoral Strategies to Overcome Clientelism in Benin

Town hall meetings in Benin reduced the ability of the most popular presidential candidate in that village to garner political support using clientelist tactics, and still appear to be effective for motivating people to attend the polls.

The Effect of School Choice on Student Outcomes in the United States

Julie Berry Cullen
Steven Levitt
School choice programs offer students more opportunities to attend schools with higher achievement and graduation levels. In partnership with the Chicago Public Schools, researchers examined the effects of a school choice program on several traditional student achievement outcomes. They used a...

Selective Trials for Agricultural Technology Adoption and Experimentation in Kenya

Catlan Reardon
Erik Snowberg
Researchers are investigating how important these differences are when it comes to increasing the use of irrigation pumps in western Kenya, and whether subsidies for experimentation can be targeted based on certain skills or traits to more effectively increase technology adoption.