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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.

Understanding the Potential of Summer Jobs Programs for Youth in Philadelphia

Researchers are conducting a randomized evaluation to test the impact of being offered a summer job through Philadelphia’s WorkReady program on outcomes related to criminal justice involvement, employment, and education.

Text message reminders decreased failure to appear in court in New York City

Researchers partnered with policymakers in New York City to evaluate the impacts of a redesigned court summons form and text message reminders on failure to appear (FTA) in court. A randomized evaluation found that text message reminders were able to reduce FTA by up to 26 percent, translating to 3...

Cash and In-kind Transfers to Increase Profits of Microenterprises in Ghana

Microenterprises often struggle to survive and grow after their initial start-up. A key issue for policymakers is understanding how to best encourage the survival and growth of resource-constrained firms by using policy tools like unrestricted cash grants and conditional transfers of materials or...

Inter-religious Soccer Leagues to Promote Social Cohesion in Post-ISIS Iraq

Researchers evaluated the impact of mixed Christian-Muslim soccer teams on social cohesion and interactions between these groups in an ISIS-affected area of Iraq. Christians who played on mixed teams demonstrated a higher likelihood of engaging with Muslim teammates after the league ended, but the...

Protecting Fisheries through Enforcement and Information Campaigns in Chile

In partnership with the Chilean National Fish Service (Sernapesca), researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to test the impact of enforcement visits to fish markets and a consumer information campaign on the illegal sale of hake fish. They found that both the information campaign and...

Improving local tax collection through technology in Ghana

David Lagakos
In partnership with Melchia Investments, a private Ghanaian technology company, researchers are conducting a pilot randomized evaluation to identify the effectiveness of a new tax collection technology in increasing property tax revenues for local governments.

Cash-for-Work Program to Improve Social Cohesion between Syrian Refugees and Host Communities in Jordan

Researchers use a large-scale RCT to evaluate a program aimed to improve cohesion between Syrian refugees and their host communities in Jordan.