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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.

Incentives, Selection and Productivity in Labor Markets in Malawi

Researchers evaluated the effect of randomly offering varied wages to bean-sorting workers in rural Malawi. While offering higher wages caused workers to increase their productivity, it did not attract more productive workers.

Cash Transfers’ Effects on Food Consumption in Mexico

Carlos Chiapa
Silvia Prina
Irvin Rojas
Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to test the impact of the anti-poverty cash transfer program, PROSPERA, on food consumption for families living in poverty in Mexico. Households consumed enough food both before and after receiving the cash transfer.

Opower: Evaluating the Impact of Home Energy Reports on Energy Conservation in the United States

Researchers studied the short- and long-run effects of these reports on electricity use and found that reports reduced energy consumption by about 2 percent across twelve utilities. The reports had the strongest effect in the short-run, but the program had enduring effects among households that were...

Text Messages as Reminders for Antiretroviral Medication Adherence in Kenya

Researchers introduced text message reminders to evaluate their effect on Kenyan patients taking their antiretrovirals consistently and not skipping doses. Patients who received weekly text messages were more likely to take their medicine 90 percent of the time and were less likely to skip doses for...

Boosting Academic Performance through Individualized Tutoring in Chicago Public High Schools

Roseanna Ander
Philip J. Cook
Kenneth Dodge
George Farkas
Harold Pollack
Laurence Steinberg
In Chicago, researchers evaluated an intensive two-on-one math tutoring program for 9th and 10th grade male students in public schools to assess the effectiveness of individualized instruction. Students who were randomly assigned to tutoring scored higher on math exams, earned better grades in math...

Student Incentive Structures in Malawi

Hyuncheol Kim
Hyuk Harry Son
Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to test the impact of two different performance-based incentives on students’ test scores, motivation, and behavior in Malawi. They find that tournament-style incentives that rewarded the top performers among a large group lowered test scores and student...

The Effects of Student Coaching in the United States

Rachel Baker
Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to test the effectiveness of providing individualized coaching to university students on their persistence in university courses. Students who were assigned to a coach were more likely to persist in university.