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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 School-based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy on High School Dropout Rates in Mexico

Ciro Avitabile
Janina Cuevas
Rafael de Hoyos
In Mexico, researchers evaluated a math tutoring intervention and a cognitive behavioral therapy-based (CBT) program that aimed to encourage students to slow their decision-making processes and to improve academic readiness for secondary school students at risk of dropping out. The study found mixed...

The Impact of Candidates’ Political Connections on Voters' Expressed Support in Pakistan

Researchers evaluated the impact of randomly varied information about candidates’ political connections on voter’s beliefs and self-expressed support in the context of a 2015 local election in Sargodha, a district in rural Pakistan. Providing information on candidates’ connectedness increased voter...

The Impact of Government-run Remedial Education Programs on Student Learning in Ghana

Building on previous research, researchers in this study evaluated the impact of several targeted instruction programs on the learning outcomes of primary school students in Ghana’s public schools. Researchers found significant improvements in numeracy and literacy on average; of the four...

The Impact of Citizen Monitoring on the 2019 Mayoral Elections in Colombia

Natalia Garbiras-Diaz
Mateo Montenegro
Researchers evaluated the impact of encouraging citizen monitoring on the 2019 mayoral elections in Colombia. The intervention resulted in higher reports from citizens and a reduction in observed irregularities in the election.

Community Driven Development in the Philippines

Amanda Beatty
Ariel BenYishay
Elisabeth King
Aniceto Orbeta
Community-based approaches to development, also called community-driven development (CDD), seek to empower local communities to identify and implement the projects they most need. Researchers evaluated the impact of a national community-driven development program in the Philippines on governance...

The Impact of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy on Low-Income Individuals in Rural Ghana

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) may be an effective mental health approach for people living in poverty, who are especially vulnerable to mental distress and face unique demands on their mental “bandwidth.” Researchers worked with Innovations for Poverty Action and the University of Ghana Medical...

Balwadi Deworming in India

Charu Puri Sharma
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...