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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.

Small Business Training and Loans for Aspiring Entrepreneurs in Disadvantaged Neighborhoods in France (ADIE)

Elise Huillery
Juliette Seban
Researchers evaluated whether coaching, guidance, and financial support could help young people create and sustain independent businesses. The entrepreneurship training program did not increase entrepreneurship, and participating youth were more likely to be unemployed and earn lower revenues from...

Unpacking the Links from Financial Education to Financial Behaviors in India

Fenella Carpena
Jeremy Shapiro
Bilal Zia
Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation of a video-based financial education course on participants’ financial behaviors in India to study which components of financial education programs are most effective. While the course alone had no impact on participants’ abilities to carry out financial...

Providing Sexual and Reproductive Health Advice via SMS in Uganda

This evaluation tested whether increasing access to information about sexual and reproductive health via a text message service could reduce rates of risky behavior. The new text message service did not have a measurable impact on health knowledge, but led people to perceive the risks associated...

The Impact of Social Interactions on a Household's Aspirations and Investments in Nicaragua

In Nicaragua, researchers examined the impact of interacting with motivated community leaders on aspirations, household investment, and long-term living standards. They found that social interactions with these motivated community leaders increased households’ investments in education, nutrition...

Technology Adoption and Diffusion through Social Networks Among Coffee Farmers in Rwanda

In Rwanda, researchers worked with TechnoServe to evaluate the impact of an agronomy training program on trained farmers’ knowledge and use of best practices in coffee-growing, along with spillovers on untrained farmers. The agricultural trainings expanded trained farmers’ social networks, improved...

The Impact of Poverty Reduction on Child Health, Nutrition, and Sleep in the United States

Nathan Fox
Sarah Halpern-Meekin
Emma Hart
Alicia Kunin-Batson
Katherine Magnuson
Kimberly Noble
Jessica Sperber
Hiro Yoshikawa
To understand the causal impact of poverty reduction on children’s health, nutrition, sleep, and healthcare utilization, among other outcomes, researchers randomly assigned new mothers to receive an unconditional cash transfer of $333 (high-cash group) or $20 per month (low-cash group) in the Baby’s...

Adoption of Insecticide Treated Bednets among Poor Households in Orissa, India

Brian Blackburn
Joanne Yoong
Researchers found that providing microloans to purchase ITNs increased ownership and use. However, the impact of these microloans on health was mixed, likely due to insufficient coverage and low usage rates of bednets.