Blog

News

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.

Read India: Helping Primary School Students in India Acquire Basic Reading and Math Skills

Rukmini Banerji
Michael Walton
Researchers partnered with Pratham, an educational NGO, to evaluate the impact of their “Read India” program and its components, which include teacher training, monitoring, learning materials, and village volunteers, on educational attainment. Preliminary results suggest the program had a modest...

Empowering Female Leaders and Voters in Rajasthan, India

Researchers evaluated a voter information campaign and exploited the random assignment of reservations for women in village councils to measure the impact of information and reduced incumbent advantage on village council elections. Both interventions increased the number of candidates and drove the...

Financial Education for Indian Migrant Workers in Qatar

Ganesh Seshan
Researchers examined the impact of receiving an invitation to a savings-focused financial literacy workshop on the financial decisions of Indian migrant workers in Qatar and their wives in India. A one-time financial literacy workshop in Qatar increased migrant workers’ joint financial decision...

Introducing Financial Services to Native Amazonians in Bolivia

Ricardo Godoy
Harry Patrinos
Centering on one native Amazonian society (Tsimane’) and partnering with a Bolivian non- profit, researchers evaluated the impact of providing Tsimane’ households with lockboxes on their savings activity, consumption, and well-being. Providing lockboxes increased household financial assets but had...

The Impact of Informational Meetings on Secondary School Choice in Kenya

Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to test the impact of short informational meetings with students and parents on secondary school choice. They found that these meetings increased students’ and parents’ knowledge of the application process and led students to pick lower-cost and more...