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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.

Graduating the Ultra-Poor in Ethiopia

Nathanael Goldberg
Researchers present results from six randomized control trials of an integrated approach to improve livelihoods among the very poor. The impact on the poor households lasted at least a year after all implementation ended.

The Role of Extrinsic and Intrinsic Motivations for Tax Compliance in Germany

Researchers partnered with a Protestant church district in metropolitan Bavaria, Germany, to conduct a field experiment to reveal taxpayers’ motivations to comply with a local church tax. Researchers found that simplifying the tax notification, highlighting the possibility of tax enforcement, and...

The Impact of a Credit-Building Loan Product and Credit Counseling on Low-Income Borrowers in the United States

Jeremy Burke
Kata Mihaly
Credit-building loan products (CBLs) have begun to proliferate in the U.S. marketplace, but there is little evidence on the effects of these products on consumers and lenders. IPA and RAND worked with researchers to evaluate the impacts of a CBL offered at a credit union in Missouri, both alone and...

Targeting Foundational Skills to Improve Learning at Scale in Zambia

Andreas de Barros
Theresa Lubozha
Researchers studied Zambia's Teaching at the Right Level program, delivered by government teachers nationwide, using a pre-registered cluster-randomized trial and an event study covering 4.4 million exam scores. After two years, the program improved children’s foundational literacy and numeracy...

The Effect of Social Pressure on Individuals' Financial Decisions in Central Malawi

Researchers evaluated the effect of social pressure to share income on farmers’ spending decisions by varying whether income from large cash prizes was received in a public or private setting. Receiving prize money in a public setting induced individuals to spend one-third more of their money in the...

Generating Skilled Self-Employment in Uganda

Sebastian Martinez
Researchers used a randomized evaluation to measure the impact of a government program that gave groups of young people US$400 per person in return for a proposal to start a skilled trade. Recipients invested the cash and significantly increased their incomes for several years. However, nine years...

Conducting a Social Marketing Campaign to Increase the Uptake of Mental Health Care by Ukrainian Refugees in Germany

Andreas Ette
Yagan Hazard
Alexander Moldavski
Artur Obminski
Nicolas Ruesch
Katharina Spiess
Researchers evaluated the impact of a social media messaging campaign on mental health help-seeking behavior among Ukrainian refugees in Germany. Social media was an effective means to reach refugees with mental health needs, and videos featuring a relatable patient led to more hotline calls than...

Empowering Female Migrant Workers to Access Quality Overseas Placement Services in Indonesia

Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to test the impact of providing information about the quality of migration agencies to potential migrants on migration choices and welfare. Information reduced the rate of migration in the short term, which lowered workers’ use of low-quality agencies...