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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 Effect of Behavioral Nudges via Mailed Letters on Subsidized Health Insurance Take-up

This study examined the impact of an administrative simplification and a series of behavioral nudges (all via letters sent by mail) on enrollment in subsidized health insurance plans. The administrative simplification, which provided a streamlined path to enrollment, had the largest effect on...

Biased Beliefs and the Dynamic Role of Information in College Choice in Chile

Researchers are conducting a randomized evaluation in Chile to study the impact of altering high school students’ beliefs about the returns of college degrees on their decisions to invest in college preparation and which program they choose.

The Impact of Bid Training on Small Firm Growth in Liberia

Vinayak Iyer
Golvine de Rochambeau
Ridhi Soni
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.

Energy Efficiency in Groundwater Extraction for Agriculture in Bangladesh

Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to test the impact of providing subsidies for a soil monitoring technology on the electricity used to pump groundwater to agricultural fields in rural Bangladesh. They found that the technology reduced the amount of electricity used for irrigation, but...

Business Education for Microcredit Clients in Peru

Researchers worked in Peru to measure the marginal impact of adding business training to a group lending program. The results of this study found business training slightly improved business practices, but had no impact on key business outcomes such as revenue and profit.

Emergency Savings Accounts for Remittance Receivers in Mexico

Researchers partnered with CNS to investigate whether requiring clients to sign a non-binding agreement to save a predetermined amount of each remittance received could increase saving.

Effectively Targeting Anti-Poverty Programs in Indonesia

Vivi Alatas
Julia Tobias
Researchers in Indonesia compared the effectiveness of two methods of identifying the low-income households: a community method where villagers ranked households according to perceived wealth, and a proxy-means test which relied on measures of consumption and assets. The community methods of...