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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.

Expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit for Workers without Dependent Children in the United States

Kali Aloisi
Gilda Azurdia
Adam Isen
Cynthia Miller
Caroline Schultz
MDRC partnered with NYC Opportunity, the NYC Human Resources Administration and Food Bank for NYC to design, implement, and evaluate the program. MDRC researchers found that three years of Paycheck Plus in New York City increased income, employment, tax credit receipt, and payment of child support...

Teaching Patience in Classrooms for Improved Student Decision-Making and Behavior in Turkey

Seda Ertac
Researchers introduced an educational program focused on teaching patience to evaluate the impact on students’ decision-making and willingness to wait for a future reward over the present. Students assigned to the program demonstrated more patient decision-making, which persisted almost three years...

Sahel Women’s Empowerment and Demographic Dividend Project Niger: Safe Spaces and Future Husband Clubs

Researchers are partnering with the Government of Niger to evaluate the impact of empowerment clubs providing adolescents girls with life skills trainings; gender norms clubs designed to change gender-related norms among young men; or both clubs implemented in the same villages on gender norms and...

Motivating Bureaucrats through Performance Recognition in Nigeria

Varun Gauri
Nina Mazar
Karima Salem
Researchers introduced a performance recognition system for employees to improve record keeping in clinics in Ekiti and Niger, Nigeria. They found that the performance recognition improved record keeping in Ekiti but not in Niger. Researchers suggested that important institutional, managerial and...

Replacing an inefficient policy of free agricultural electricity in India

In partnership with the Government of Punjab, researchers are conducting a randomized evaluation of the Direct Benefit Transfers for Electricity program that creates a monetary incentive for farmers who are able to reduce consumption below a specified electricity allocation.

The Impact of Bid Training on Small Firm Growth in Liberia

Fei Ao
Vinayak Iyer
Golvine de Rochambeau
Researchers evaluated the impact of a bid training program on the business performance of local small and medium-sized firms. The bid training led firms to bid on and win more contracts, with the positive impacts concentrated on a quarter of firms.

Accelerating Changes in Norms about Social Distancing to Combat COVID-19

James Riddell IV
Tanya Rosenblat
Researchers are conducting a randomized evaluations to test the impact of different types of public health messaging on the practice of social distancing.

The Impact of a Peer Information Sharing Strategy to Combat the Spread of Covid-19 in Zambia

Researchers are measuring the impact of a peer information sharing strategy on people’s learning and adherence to Covid-19 health protocols. This study is part of a three-country research program in Zambia, Ghana, and the US aiming to find evidence on the most effective strategies to communicate...