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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.

The Impact of Sanitation and Hand-Washing Promotion Campaigns on Child Health in Tanzania

Bertha Briceno
Aidan Coville
Sebastian Martinez
Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to measure the impact of sanitation and hand-washing promotion campaigns, alone and in combination, on household knowledge, behavior, and child health (diarrhea prevalence, stunting, wasting, and anemia). While the program improved hygiene and sanitation...

Cash Transfers and Management Advice for Farmers in Senegal

In Senegal, researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to study the effect of providing management advice and a one-time cash transfer on agricultural productivity and farmers’ investment in their businesses. Receiving both the cash transfer and management advice had positive impacts on yields...

Combating Corruption in Community Development in Indonesia

J-PAL affiliate Benjamin Olken (MIT) devised a method to measure corruption and used it to evaluate alternative strategies to reduce corruption on Indonesian roadbuilding projects. The evaluation tested two types of strategies: encouraging community participation and increasing the probability of...

Spousal Control and Intra-Household Decision Making in the Philippines

Researchers designed a field study to identify how information and communication affect intra-household decisions. They found that Filipino spouses who don't control the household spending and savings decisions deposit money into their own accounts in private settings and commit it to consumption...

Teacher Performance Pay in Andhra Pradesh, India

Venkatesh Sundararaman
Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh to measure the relative effectiveness of conditional versus unconditional bonuses on improving the quality of schools. Offering conditional incentives to individual teachers was a cost-effective way to improve...

Empowering Female Leaders and Voters in Rajasthan, India

Researchers evaluated a voter information campaign and exploited the random assignment of reservations for women in village councils to measure the impact of information and reduced incumbent advantage on village council elections. Both interventions increased the number of candidates and drove the...

Impacts of Flexible Loans on Borrower Behavior and Microenterprise Outcomes in Colombia

Lasse Brune
Xavier Giné
Researchers evaluated the impact of a flexible microloan product on new clients' repayment behavior, business outcomes, and client satisfaction. The results showed that the flexible loan led to some shifts in investment behavior but had no average impact on revenue or profits and led to higher...