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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.

Handwashing and Behavior Change in Bangladesh

Dayea Oh
Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to test the impact of an edutainment intervention at schools and the provision of handwashing resources at home on handwashing at school and at home. These findings suggest that encouraging behavior change in one setting may crowd out like behavior in...

Impacts of Subsidized Entrepreneurship Training in the United States

Subsidizing entrepreneurship training in the United States did not improve access to training services or promoted employment among groups affected by discrimination.

The Impact of Job Networks on Women's Recruitment in Malawi

Researchers introduced a recruitment drive for a firm in Malawi to evaluate the impact of referral-based hiring on women’s employment at the company. Results from the randomized evaluation indicate that men systematically referred fewer women, and women’s referral of other qualified women was not...

Channeling Remittances to Education in El Salvador

Kate Ambler
Diego Aycinena
Researchers found that subsidizing Salvadoran migrants’ remittances for education increased spending on education and attendance at private schools for their female relatives in El Salvador.

Partisan Mail and Voter Turnout in the United States

Matthew Green
Through a randomized evaluation, researchers examined the effects of partisan mail campaigns on voter turnout in state and municipal elections in Connecticut and New Jersey. Results indicate that partisan direct mail campaigns do little to stimulate voter turnout.

Powering Small Retailers: The Adoption of Solar Energy under Different Pricing Schemes in Kenya

Kenya, East Africa's largest economy, is struggling with an ageing energy infrastructure and low connectivity to the power grid. William Jack and affiliate Tavneet Suri (MIT) study the impact of off-grid solar power on small retailers in Nairobi.

Delegating Property Tax Collection to Local Elites in the DRC

Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation during the 2018 property tax collection campaign to test the impact of delegating tax collection to local chiefs. Where local chiefs collected taxes, households were more tax compliant than where state collectors collected, mainly because chiefs had...

Improving the Effectiveness of Vouchers for Free Family Planning after Childbirth in Kenya

Allison Ettenger
Faith Muigai
Claire Watt Rothschild
In partnership with Jacaranda Health, researchers evaluated a family planning program that provided pregnant women with varying combinations of vouchers for free modern contraception and reminders of the importance of family planning. While none of the combinations increased self-reported use of...