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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.

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...

Smoothing the Cost of Education: Micro-Savings in Ugandan Primary Schools

In Uganda, researchers tested whether a school-based savings program reduced dropout rates by enabling students and their families to save for school-related expenses. A version of the program that labeled savings for educational purposes, rather than fully committing money to educational expenses...

A Multifaceted Approach to Increase Women’s Empowerment in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Researchers evaluated a multifaceted program for women experiencing extreme poverty in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a region facing protracted conflict. The intervention had positive and enduring effects on women’s consumption, employment, finances, and empowerment, and small positive impacts...

Long-Term Effects of a Conditional Cash Transfer Program in Nicaragua

John A. Maluccio
Researchers worked with the Government of Nicaragua to evaluate the long-term impact of time-limited CCTs on education, reproductive health, and labor market outcomes. Ten years later, people whose families were offered cash transfers when they were younger children had higher labor force...

A 20-year Follow-Up to an Early Childhood Stimulation Program in Jamaica

Susan M. Chang-Lopez
Sally Grantham-McGregor
James J. Heckman
Rodrigo Pinto
Christel Vermeersch
Susan Walker
Arianna Zanolini

Mobile Money and Agricultural Investment in Mozambique

Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to test the impact of offering interest-paying mobile money saving accounts to farmers, and in some cases farmers’ friends, on their financial behavior such as agricultural investment. Providing farmers access to interest-bearing mobile savings accounts...