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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.

Decreasing Mobile Money Vendor Misconduct through Information Sharing in Ghana

In Ghana, researchers evaluated the impact of providing vendors and consumers with information on official mobile money charges and options for recourse for consumers to report being overcharged. The program led to a decrease in misconduct, which in turn facilitated an increase in market activity...

Mask Up! Testing strategies to increase mask use in Kenya

Aleksandra Jakubowski
Michael Walker
Although conflicting recommendations have been issued, recent evidence suggests that face masks may significantly reduce the spread of SARS-CoV-2. However, questions remain on how to effectively promote mask adoption. Research are conducting a randomized evaluation to evaluate the impact of free...

Impacts and Challenges of a Teacher Training Program in Nepal

Julie Schaffner
Uttam Sharma
Training teachers to improve teacher quality and student learning is a common strategy taken by policymakers. In Nepal, researchers conducted a randomized evaluation of a government teacher training program for math and science teachers to evaluate the impact on student learning in secondary schools...

Offering Amenities to Increase Health Care Demand in Mexico

Researchers conducted an evaluation to test the impact of offering a high-amenity diagnostic consultation for cataracts at different prices on uptake of an underutilized service—cataract surgery—in Mexico. Lower prices for the high-amenity consultation increased exposure to amenities, which...

Applying Behavioral Insights to Design Low-Income Insurance Policies in Pakistan

Torben Fischer
Andreas Landmann
This evaluation tested whether offering insurance policies that required enrollment at different group levels mitigated the risk of individuals who are more likely to need health insurance being more likely to purchase policies. When allowed to purchase insurance at the individual level, those most...

Improving Educational Outcomes through Online Tutoring during Schools Closures in Italy during the Covid-19 Outbreak

Researchers designed a free online tutoring program delivered by volunteer university students to test whether it could mitigate the effects of school closures during the COVID-19 outbreak. They found that the program had a positive outcome on students' learning outcomes, socio-emotional skills, and...

Saving Incentives for Low and Middle Income Families: Evidence From a Field Experiment with HR Block

Researchers tested the influence of the (randomly chosen) rate at which clients were told contributions to their Individual Retirement Arrangements (IRAs) would be matched on the amount contributed to their retirement savings accounts. They found higher matching rates significantly increased IRA...