Blog

News

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.

Using Behavioral Economics to Help Individuals Reduce Debt in the United States

Researchers designed and piloted a program called Borrow Less Tomorrow (BoLT) that took a behavioral approach to debt reduction, combining an accelerated loan repayment schedule with peer support and reminders. Results from a sample of free tax-preparation clients in Tulsa, United States suggest a...

Transport Subsidies and Job Matchmaking in South Africa

In sub-Saharan Africa, youth unemployment is expected to reach 50 percent by 2025. One reason for high unemployment among this group is that youth may live geographically far from where many jobs are located, making traveling to search for employment difficult and expensive. Researchers conducted a...

Changing Behavior and Nutrition through Health Education in China: Evidence from three randomized evaluations

Renfu Luo
Alexis Medina
Scott Rozelle
Yaojiang Shi
Linxiu Zhang
Huiping Zhang
Health education campaigns are often seen as a way to promote healthy behaviors and encourage the adoption of inexpensive life-saving and life-improving technologies. Researchers evaluated three health education campaigns for parents that aimed to reduce iron-deficiency anemia among primary school...

Countering Covid-19 Misinformation through WhatsApp in Zimbabwe

In this randomized evaluation in Zimbabwe, researchers studied how social media messages targeting misinformation can affect people’s beliefs about and responses toward Covid-19. The study found that these messages increased participants’ knowledge of Covid-19 information by 7 percentage points and...

Mobile Money Usage and Expectations of Violence in Afghanistan

Joshua Blumenstock
Researchers evaluated the relationship between mobile money usage and violence in Afghanistan. Results suggest that access to a mobile salary payment system increased mobile money usage, but expectations of violence significantly decreased usage and increased cash savings instead.

The Impact of Personalized Information on Informed School Choice in Chile

Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to measure the impact of an information program on parental school choice and long-term student achievement. They found that the intervention shifted household school choices of those who were not enrolled before the intervention toward establishments...

Peer Pressure and Educational Investments in the United States

Researchers offered high school students the opportunity to sign up for free access to an online SAT preparatory course. Some students were told that their decision to sign up would be public, and others were told that their decision would be kept private. In non-honors classes, sign-up rates were...