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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.

Community Engagement’s Impact on Healthcare Utilization and Health Insurance Enrollment in Ghana

Stephen Duku
Christine Fenenga
Wendy Janssens
Edward Nketiah-Amponsah
Researchers in Ghana evaluated the impact of community-led assessments on health insurance enrollment as well as healthcare and health insurance quality. The community engagement intervention improved the medical quality of healthcare, reduced community members’ chances of getting sick, and...

Reducing Anemia Through Iron Fortification of Grain in Udaipur, India

Researchers in Udaipur, India, evaluated the impact of a village-level iron fortification program on the physical health of local families in 134 villages. Despite high take-up rates at the beginning of the study, overall take-up rates fell by the end of the evaluation. Results showed a significant...

Facilitating Youth's Access to Apprenticeships in Tulle (France), and Encouraging Youth to Complete Them

Researchers evaluated the effect of personalized counseling to French youth on finding an apprenticeship, completing it, and securing longer-term employment. Personalized counseling encouraged more youth to start a pre-apprenticeship training program, but did not improve take-up into apprenticeship...

Property Tax Experiment in Punjab, Pakistan: Testing the Role of Wages, Incentives and Audit on Tax Inspectors' Behavior

Researchers conducted a two-year randomized evaluation of incentive schemes for tax officials in Punjab, Pakistan that found performance pay significantly increased tax revenues without harming taxpayer satisfaction.

Household Risk Strategies and Conditional Cash Transfers in Nicaragua

Patrick Premand
Renos Vakis
Researchers tested the effect of a basic CCT program, as well as two complementary interventions, on households’ vulnerability to irregular weather patterns. Providing households with vocational training or capital grants to generate non-agricultural income helps improve consumption and resilience...

Chess Training and Skills Development for Primary School Students in Bangladesh

Researchers in rural Bangladesh introduced a thirty-hour chess training program for grade 5 students to evaluate the impact of chess training on cognitive and non-cognitive outcomes, such as math scores, risk taking, patience, attention, and creativity. While the chess program had an unclear effect...