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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.

Assessing the effect of conditional cash transfers on pregnancy outcomes in France

Marc Bardou
Xavier Carcopino-Tusoli
Catherine Deneux-Tharaux
Philippe Deruelle
Muriel Doret-Dion
Astrid Eckman-Lacroix
Frédérique Falchier
Isabelle Fournel
Aurélie Godard-Marceau
Ghada Hatem-Gantzer
Laurent Laforet
Nicolas Meunier-Beillard
Mathieu Morin
Franck Perrotin
Tiphaine Raia-Barjat
Isabelle Le Ray
Thomas Schmitz
Elise Thellier
Women of lower socioeconomic status adhere to recommended prenatal care regimens at lower rates, which can have adverse effects on both maternal and newborn outcomes. Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to measure the impact a financial incentive of € 30 ($33.89) per visit per month on...

Video-Based and In-person Extension Services to Increase Agricultural Technology Adoption in Ethiopia

Adrien Bouguen
Denise Hörner
Meike Wollni
Researchers randomly evaluated the effects of a decentralized extension program and an additional video-based information campaign on farmers’ adoption of a package of integrated soil fertility management (ISFM) technologies as well as individual practices in Ethiopia. They found that both in-person...

Influencing Higher Education Choices through a Customized Digital Application Platform in the Dominican Republic

Researchers are partnering with the Government of the Dominican Republic to introduce a custom tablet application to prospective students on what tertiary education programs, scholarships, and funding options exist based on their interests and finances, as well as employment rates and earnings...

Cash Transfers and Market Access to Increase Household Welfare in Rural Liberia and Malawi

Dahyeon Jeong
Naresh Kumar
David Park
Alan Spearot
In Liberia and Malawi, researchers partnered with Innovations for Poverty Action, GiveDirectly, and USAID to evaluate the impact of an unconditional cash transfer and market access program on food security, spending, income, resilience to health shocks, intimate partner violence, and psychological...

Improving Financial Inclusion through Mobile Banking in Bangladesh

Jean Lee
Jonathan Morduch
Researchers partnered with bKash, one of the leading mobile money providers in Bangladesh, to evaluate the impact of targeted training programs on mobile banking uptake among migrant households. Training increased migrants’ and their families’ adoption of mobile banking, with women adopting the...

Countering Covid-19 Misinformation through WhatsApp in Zimbabwe

Jeremy Bowles
Shelley Liu
In this randomized evaluation in Zimbabwe, researchers studied how social media messages targeting misinformation can affect people’s beliefs about and responses toward Covid-19. The study found that these messages increased participants’ knowledge of Covid-19 information by 7 percentage points and...

The Impact of Personalized Information on Informed School Choice in Chile

Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to measure the impact of an information program on parental school choice and long-term student achievement. They found that the intervention shifted household school choices of those who were not enrolled before the intervention toward establishments...

Encouraging Teacher Attendance through Monitoring with Cameras in Rural Udaipur, India

Stephen Ryan
This study estimated the effect of financial incentives on teacher attendance on students' attendance and math and language levels. The incentives increased teacher attendance and teaching time, and student test scores rose as a result.