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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.

Branchless Banking Agents’ Profile, Limitations, and Potential for Agent Network Expansion and Improvement”

Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation in East Java, Indonesia to investigate the impact of the level and transparency of financial incentives on the take-up of these new banking services. They found that larger incentives caused an increase in take-up, but only when the incentives were not...

Increasing Financial Aspirations to Improve Financial Decision-Making and Outcomes in the Philippines

David McKenzie
Aakash Mohpal
Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to test whether encouraging entrepreneurs to raise their aspirations helped them improve their financial decisions and outcomes. The aspirations training led individuals to set higher savings goals, but most participants failed to achieve their goals.

Connecting Egyptian Women to Gender-Based Violence Resources via Social Media during Covid-19

Elizabeth Parker-Magyar
Researchers partnered with the Egyptian Center for Women’s Rights to evaluate the effect of educational social media and TV campaigns on women’s attitudes and behaviors around responding to GBV and IPV. The social media campaign increased women’s knowledge and use of resources, but had no impact on...

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.

Teacher and Student Motivation, Family Participation, and Student Achievement in Rural Udaipur, India

Stephen Ryan
In an ongoing evaluation, researchers are studying the relationship between teacher and student motivation, family participation, and student achievement in rural non-formal education (NFE) centers.

Financial Education to Promote Bank Accounts in Indonesia

Thomas Sampson
Bilal Zia
Researchers worked with Bank Rakyat Indonesia and the Microfinance Innovation Center for Resources and Alternatives to measure the impact of incentives and financial education on savings account take-up. Results indicated that the financial education program was not an effective tool for promoting...

Estimating the Impact on the Lender's Bottom Line and Borrowers' Household Welfare of Expanding the Supply of Consumer Credit to the Working Poor in South Africa

Researchers evaluated how microcredit clients in South Africa responded to changes in loan terms. They found that clients adapted both their demand and compliance based on loan terms, and were particularly sensitive to above-average interest rates.