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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 Offering Pay-as-you-go Car Insurance on Covering Drivers in California

Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to test the impact of introducing a pay-as-you-go car insurance contract, which reduces minimum purchase requirements, to uninsured drivers in California. Applicants who were offered this type of insurance were nearly twice as likely to purchase car...

The Impact of Secondary School Exam Preparatory Courses on Student Education and Labor in Tanzania Among Out-of-School Youth

James Ward Khakshi
Researchers are conducting a randomized evaluation to test the impact of offering stipends for exit exam preparatory courses on students’ exam completion and subsequent education, labor market, and marital outcomes.

Cash Transfers’ Effects on Food Consumption in Mexico

Carlos Chiapa
Silvia Prina
Irvin Rojas
Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to test the impact of the anti-poverty cash transfer program, PROSPERA, on food consumption for families living in poverty in Mexico. Households consumed enough food both before and after receiving the cash transfer.

Text Messages as Reminders for Antiretroviral Medication Adherence in Kenya

Researchers introduced text message reminders to evaluate their effect on Kenyan patients taking their antiretrovirals consistently and not skipping doses. Patients who received weekly text messages were more likely to take their medicine 90 percent of the time and were less likely to skip doses for...

Student Incentive Structures in Malawi

Hyuncheol Kim
Hyuk Harry Son
Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to test the impact of two different performance-based incentives on students’ test scores, motivation, and behavior in Malawi. They find that tournament-style incentives that rewarded the top performers among a large group lowered test scores and student...

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...

Encouraging Voters to Pay Attention to Local Development Issues

Researchers evaluated the impact of sharing information via street theater on voters' preferences. The study found that some types of information increased voter turnout, and some voters changed their preferences.