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.

Reducing Racial Stereotypes by Encouraging Interaction in South Africa

Researchers studied the effects of a university policy in South Africa to promote racial integration, by randomly allocating incoming students to roommates of a different race. The policy reduced negative racial stereotypes among white students, improved attitudes and behaviors towards members of...

The Impact of Exposure to Discordant Media on Political Polarization in Turkey

Ahmet Akbiyik
Jeremy Bowles
Researchers evaluated the impact of exposure to and incentives to consume discordant media on political attitudes and behaviors in Turkey. Participants changed their media consumption habits, trusted discordant media sources more, and had less polarized attitudes towards the government, but did not...

Community Service Grants to Foster Social and Economic Integration for Youth in Kazakhstan

In Kazakhstan, researchers tested whether offering youth community service grants and training impacted their level of community engagement, pro-social behavior, life skills, and labor market outcomes. Engaging youth in civic service and/or training had little to no effect on these outcomes one-year...

The Impact of Informational Interventions about Police Alternatives on Police Reliance in the United States

Meghna Baskar
Tony Cheng
Rei Mariman
Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to test the impact of providing information about police alternatives on individuals' reported likelihood of calling the police and a follow-up randomized evaluation to understand key public-safety stakeholders’ receptiveness of police alternatives. The...

The Impact of Lottery Ticket Incentives on Saving in Mexico

Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to determine whether PLS programs encouraged opening and use of bank accounts in Mexico. The lottery incentive increased the number of bank accounts opened, and accounts opened because of the PLS program were just as likely to be used as accounts opened...

Teaching Students Perspective-taking to Mitigate Social Exclusion of Refugee Children in Turkey

Researchers partnered with the Ministry of Education in Turkey to conduct a randomized evaluation of Understanding Each Other, a program which aims to foster social cohesion through perspective-taking activities that encourage students to consider others’ perspectives. They found that the program...