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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 Family Planning Impacts of Equipping Women for Better, Male-Dominated Jobs in Senegal

Marie Christelle Mabeu
Jonathan de Quidt
Céline Zipfel
I n Senegal, researchers are testing whether encouraging women to join vocational training through scholarships and supportive information from past participants and their families can shape women’s work and family aspirations, their employment decisions, and their families’ perspectives on women’s...

The Impact of Encouragement and Assistance on Benefits Take-Up in the United States

Most eligible workers who receive the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), a cash transfer program geared toward low-income workers with dependents, receive the credit as an annual lump sum payment, even though they are eligible to receive the credit in the form of monthly disbursements throughout the...

Sending Text Messages to Parents to Improve Student Achievement in Middle and High Schools in the United States

A randomized evaluation of the text alert program showed that the intervention reduced course failures, increased class attendance and improved in-class exam scores. The effects are larger for students with below-average GPAs and students in high school, and positive effects persist into the second...

Contesting Criminal Gang Governance in Medellin: The Impacts of Intensive Municipal Governance and Community Organization on Gang Control and Governing of Neighborhoods

Gustavo Duncan
Benjamin Lessing
In partnership with the City of Medellín, researchers randomly introduced a program that intensified government outreach to gang-controlled neighborhoods. The study found no evidence that the city’s intervention reduced gang rule.

Using Cell Phones to Monitor the Delivery of Government Payments to Farmers in India

Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to test the impact of a cell phone-based monitoring system on the delivery of government-issued payments for farmers in Telangana, India. The system significantly improved the likelihood of farmers ever receiving their payments as well as receiving them...

Diffusing New Seeds through Social Networks in Indian Village Economies

The researcher conducted a randomization in rural Odisha in India, by comparing adoption of a new seed variety through farmer-to-farmer networks in one half as benchmarked by door-to-door sales of the same seed. Trading between farmers leads to substantial under-adoption of agricultural technology...

The Indirect Effects of a Campaign Against Electoral Violence in Nigeria

Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation in Nigeria to determine whether a campaign against electoral violence could spread through social networks to affect the perceptions and behaviors not only of the individuals targeted by the campaign but also others to whom they have social ties. The...

Guidance and Information for Improved Education Decisions in Ghana

Researchers in Ghana conducted a randomized evaluation to test whether a program informing students and parents about the secondary school choice process and school quality helped students make more strategic decisions about which schools to attend, and whether these choices led to better...