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.

Competitive School Grants to Improve Student Learning in Senegal

Oswald Koussihouede
Nathalie Lahire
Corina Mommaerts
Researchers partnered with the Senegalese government to evaluate the impact of a decentralized school grants program on student learning. The program improved test scores overall and for girls in younger grades. The impact was stronger in schools that invested more in human resource training rather...

Welfare Impacts of Micro-Loans in Nigeria

In Nigeria, researchers worked with a financial service provider to evaluate the impact of digital loans on welfare. Being approved for the loans increased subjective well-being after three months, for applicants who normally would have been denied.

Providing Information and Application Assistance to Improve Social Pension Enrollment in India

Sarika Gupta
The researcher evaluated the impact of providing eligible women with program information and various levels of application assistance for the Delhi Widow Pension Scheme on program knowledge, application completion, and enrollment. Offering more involved application assistance increased average...

The Impact of Informational Mailings on SNAP Enrollment in the United States

Researchers studied the impact of providing outreach and assistance to households that are likely eligible for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), previously known as food stamps, on enrollment in the program.

Messaging Strategies to Promote Safe Water and Hygiene in Bangladesh

Kaniz Jannat
David Levine
Thomas Polley
Leanne Unicomb
Researchers tested whether sharing messages that appealed to negative emotions, like shame or disgust, increased households’ hand washing behavior and willingness to pay for water chlorination in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Negative messaging had no impact on chlorination levels or willingness to pay, but...

Improving Consumer Choices on Health Insurance Marketplaces in the United States

Researchers studied the impact of providing personalized and generic information about potential savings via letters and e-mails on enrollee health plan choices.

Video-Mediated Agricultural Extension to Increase Technology Adoption Among Farmers in Ethiopia

Gashaw Abate
Simrin Makhija
David J. Spielman
Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to test the impact of a video-mediated extension approach on the uptake of technologies recommended by the Ethiopian Ministry of Agriculture. The video-mediated instruction increased uptake through improved access to extension and farmer knowledge but...

Randomized Evaluation of the Nurse Family Partnership in South Carolina

Farah Allouch
Samuel Ayers
Alyna Chien
Rebecca A. Gourevitch
Michele R. Hacker
Michelle Woodford Martin
Nicolas Perreault
Slawa Rokicki
Chloe Zera
Annetta Zhou
Researchers are evaluating the impact of an intensive nurse home visiting program for low-income mothers on pregnancy and birth outcomes, child health and development, and future life-courses for the family. The program had no effect on adverse birth outcomes or prenatal outcomes such as health care...