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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.

Smoothing the Cost of Education: Micro-Savings in Ugandan Primary Schools

In Uganda, researchers tested whether a school-based savings program reduced dropout rates by enabling students and their families to save for school-related expenses. A version of the program that labeled savings for educational purposes, rather than fully committing money to educational expenses...

Digital Delivery of Humanitarian Aid to Improve Food Security of Women in Afghanistan

Michael Findley
Miguel Fajardo Steinhäuser
Researchers evaluated a program delivering digital aid payments on food security and mental well-being for vulnerable female-headed households in Afghanistan. Digital payments led to improved food security and mental well-being for beneficiaries. Digital delivery of aid was also cost-effective and...

Long-Term Effects of a Conditional Cash Transfer Program in Nicaragua

John A. Maluccio
Researchers worked with the Government of Nicaragua to evaluate the long-term impact of time-limited CCTs on education, reproductive health, and labor market outcomes. Ten years later, people whose families were offered cash transfers when they were younger children had higher labor force...

A 20-year Follow-Up to an Early Childhood Stimulation Program in Jamaica

Susan M. Chang-Lopez
Sally Grantham-McGregor
James J. Heckman
Rodrigo Pinto
Christel Vermeersch
Susan Walker
Arianna Zanolini

Mobile Money and Agricultural Investment in Mozambique

Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to test the impact of offering interest-paying mobile money saving accounts to farmers, and in some cases farmers’ friends, on their financial behavior such as agricultural investment. Providing farmers access to interest-bearing mobile savings accounts...

Creating a Toilet Habit in Kenya

Berhe Beyene
Johann Caro Burnett
Judy Chevalier
Despite expanding access to sanitary options such as community toilets, many individuals, especially in urban slums, continue to practice open defecation. One potential explanation is that open defecation has become an ingrained habit. Applying lessons from psychology and neuroscience, researchers...