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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.

Providing Financial Incentives and Behavioral Nudges to Encourage Covid-19 Vaccine Uptake in the United States

Tom Chang
Rajiv Pramanik
Samir Shah
Researchers evaluated the impact of financial incentives, public health video messages, and access to a vaccine scheduling link on Covid-19 vaccination intentions and vaccine take-up in the United States. None of the interventions led to increases in vaccine take-up after thirty days. In a...

Emergency Savings Accounts for Remittance Receivers in Mexico

Researchers partnered with CNS to investigate whether requiring clients to sign a non-binding agreement to save a predetermined amount of each remittance received could increase saving.

Effectively Targeting Anti-Poverty Programs in Indonesia

Vivi Alatas
Julia Tobias
Researchers in Indonesia compared the effectiveness of two methods of identifying the low-income households: a community method where villagers ranked households according to perceived wealth, and a proxy-means test which relied on measures of consumption and assets. The community methods of...

Text Message Reminders and Incentives to Save in Bolivia

Researchers evaluated the effectiveness of sending text message reminders to clients holding programmed savings accounts.

The Impact of Making Insurance Choices Easier in the United States

Jeffrey Kling
Eldar Shafir
Lee Vermeulen
Marian Wrobel
Researchers evaluated the effect of personalized options information on seniors' plan choices. They found that people who received personalized information were more likely to change plans, resulting in an average saving of US$100 per year. This suggests that direct information delivery can decrease...

The Role of Information and Preferences in School Choices in Romania

Robert Ainsworth
Rajeev Dehejia
Miguel Urquiola
In this randomized evaluation in Romania, researchers compared the roles of preferences and information in households’ decision-making, with regard to high school selection. Results suggest that households provided with information on school quality tend to choose schools that have a greater...

Circumcision, Information, and HIV Prevention in Malawi

Researchers evaluated an information campaign in rural Malawi to examine the impact of providing information about voluntary medical male circumcision and HIV transmission risk on beliefs and sexual behavior. The program reduced risky sexual behavior among uncircumcised men, but did not increase...