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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.

How Boston’s Summer Employment Program Affects Youth Criminal Justice Outcomes

Researchers evaluated whether Boston’s SYEP had an effect on the criminal justice outcomes of participants and sought to gauge the potential mechanisms driving these effects. The program reduced participants’ violent and property crime-related arraignments.

Impact of Peer Motivation on Worker Productivity in Malawi

Lasse Brune
Researchers at the Lujeri Tea Estates in Malawi evaluated the impact of exposure to more, less, or equally productive peers on tea harvester productivity. They found that increasing the productivity of a worker’s peers meaningfully increased worker productivity, measured in kilograms of tea picked...

The Impact of Demonstration Plots on Adoption of New Rice Varieties in Bangladesh

In Bangladesh, researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to test whether helping selected farmers set up demonstration plots could increase awareness in the community about a new rice variety by triggering information exchanges through new interactions. Demonstration plots comparing new versus...

Evaluating Transfer Size in a Conditional Cash Transfer Program for Seasonal Migrants in Indonesia

Melanie Morton
Joeri Smits
Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to test the impact of a cash transfer program conditional on seasonal migration and an unconditional cash transfer (UCT) program on rural households’ decisions to migrate and migration season earnings in West-Timor, Indonesia. Relative to the UCT, the...

Environmental inspections for pollution regulation enforcement in China

In collaboration with China’s National Environmental Inspection Program, researchers are evaluating the impact of reporting firms’ hourly emissions data to environmental inspectors on the likelihood of firms being inspected, local air pollution, local economic output, and health outcomes.

Balwadi Deworming in India

This study evaluated the impact of a preschool nutrition and health project that targeted anemia in the slums of Delhi, India on child health and school attendance. Results showed the program positively impacted weight-gain and school attendance, particularly for groups with high base-line rates of...

The Impact of a Multi-faceted Livelihoods Program on Low-income Households in India

In India, researchers partnered with Bandhan Konnagar to evaluate the impact of a multi-faceted livelihoods program known as the Graduation approach, which aims to encourage occupational change among people living in extreme poverty. The Graduation approach had large and positive effects on economic...