Blog

News

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.

Agricultural Market Reforms and Technology Adoption in Senegal

Many smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa do not use basic agricultural technologies to improve crop quality. In the Senegal River Valley, researchers tested whether receiving advance information on a market reform—introducing quality labels for onions and selling by weight—would lead to...

Land Leases to Semi-Nomadic Herders in Peri-Urban Areas of Mongolia

Herders may change their herding practices to better sustain the land if they own rights to it, which could also translate into bigger and healthier animals, and more income for the herders. In this study, carried out near two cities in Mongolia, researchers evaluated the impact of private property...

Rules of Thumb: Providing Timely Financial Management Advice at Scale in India

Researchers evaluated the impact of providing easy-to-remember and easy-to-adopt rules of thumb to microentrepreneurs in India in order to help improve their businesses performance.

Incentivizing Households to Save Energy in Hanoi, Vietnam

Jorge Lemus
Guillermo Marshall
Chi Ta
Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation during the summer months of 2023 to test the impact of using contracts or contests to encourage energy savings and assess their cost-effectiveness. Researchers found that contests and contracts achieved similar levels of energy savings. However, contests...

Leveraging the Parents and Children Together (PACT) Program for Increased Parental Engagement in the United States

Researchers evaluated the impact of providing small behavioral tools, including a goal-setting website, text message reminders, and social rewards, to parents to encourage their participation in the Parents And Children Together (PACT) program. These behavioral tools more than doubled parents’...

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...

Leveraging Technology to Incentivize Student Effort in India

Using a technology-based math curriculum, researchers evaluated the impact of different incentive types—rewarding continuous effort in the classroom versus rewarding test performance—on student learning. Results indicate that effort-based incentives can be a more effective and cost-effective way of...