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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.

Impact of Peer Motivation on Worker Productivity in Malawi

Lasse Brune
Researchers at the Lujeri Tea Estates in Malawi evaluated the impact of exposure to more, less, or equally productive peers on tea harvester productivity. They found that increasing the productivity of a worker’s peers meaningfully increased worker productivity, measured in kilograms of tea picked...

Connecting Smallholder Farmers to Agricultural Value Chains in Rwanda

Ammar Kawash
Jonathan Robinson
Alan Spearot
Guanghong Xu
Researchers are evaluating the effects of providing farmers with access to maize processing services that could improve maize quality on their input decisions.

Leveraging Business Networks to Boost Women’s Entrepreneurship in Ghana

Researchers investigated the role of online networking groups (via WhatsApp) and free legal aid on improving business innovation, practices, sales, and profits among growth-oriented women-owned firms in Ghana. They found that online networking groups meaningfully encouraged business innovation...

The Impact of Unconditional Cash Transfers on Health Outcomes in Chelsea, Massachusetts

Benjamin Le Cook
The City of Chelsea implemented a cash transfer program called Chelsea Eats, which provided eligible households with up to US$400 per month for nine months. Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation on the impact of the unconditional cash transfer on health care utilization and a variety of...

Examining the Impact of Rainfall Insurance and Family Networks in Burkina Faso

Zaki Wahhaj
Researchers partnered with IPA and PlaNet Guarantee to conduct a large-scale randomized evaluation that will measure demand for rainfall insurance among both urban migrants and rural households and its impact on the economic outcomes of the latter group.

Delegating Property Tax Collection to Local Elites in the DRC

Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation during the 2018 property tax collection campaign to test the impact of delegating tax collection to local chiefs. Where local chiefs collected taxes, households were more tax compliant than where state collectors collected, mainly because chiefs had...

Balsakhi Remedial Tutoring in Vadodara and Mumbai, India

Researchers evaluated the impact of the Balsakhi Program, a remedial tutoring education intervention implemented in schools in Vadodara and Mumbai, India, on student learning. The program significantly improved student test scores in both locations.

Effect of Matching Ratios on Charitable Giving in the United States

Researchers found that matching gifts were an effective fundraising tactic, increasing the likelihood of donation and total donations, but larger match ratios did not return more donations than smaller match ratios.