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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.

Improving Price Negotiations and Profits through SMS-based Agricultural Information for Farmers in India

Researchers partnered with Thomson-Reuters to evaluate whether receiving information through SMS messages generated economic benefits for farmers in India. Results showed no effect of the intervention on prices, crop losses, or cultivation practices. However, increased access to information seems to...

The Impact of Entrepreneurship Training Using Imagery Techniques in Colombia

Researchers are designing and evaluating a soft skills training program that incorporates imagery for entrepreneurs who have experienced violence or other traumatic or challenging life circumstances in Bogotá, Colombia.

Improving tax compliance through enforcement campaigns in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Augustin Bergeron
In partnership with the Kasai Central Provincial Tax Ministry in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the researcher conducted a randomized evaluation to identify the direct and indirect effects of varying levels of enforcement on firms’ tax compliance and their likelihood to pay bribes.

Guidance and Information for Improved Education Decisions in Ghana

Researchers in Ghana conducted a randomized evaluation to test whether a program informing students and parents about the secondary school choice process and school quality helped students make more strategic decisions about which schools to attend, and whether these choices led to better...

The Role of Protest Experience and Social Networks in Protest Movements in Hong Kong

Davide Cantoni
Y. Jane Zhang
In Hong Kong, researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to test the impact of indirectly incentivizing protest participation on sustained participation in a political movement and to identify the role social networks play in protest turnout. Indirectly incentivizing participants to attend a...

Encouraging Paid Sick Leave among Female Garment Workers in Bangladesh

Manufacturing jobs can improve women’s economic empowerment, but health issues or caretaking often drive women out of the labor force. In partnership with a large garment Banladeshi manufactory firm, researchers are conducting a randomized evaluation to test the impact of text messages about paid...

Cash and Compliance with Social Distancing in Ghana

The researchers aim to understand the role that digital cash transfers can play as a policy tool both to increase household resilience during the pandemic and to stem the spread of the disease by increasing adherence to social distancing in Ghana.

Offering Cash and In-Kind Transfers to Grow and Sustain Microenterprises in Sri Lanka

Researchers provided small one-time grants to microenterprises in Sri Lanka to measure the impact of the additional capital on business profits two and five years later. They found that cash and in-kind grants increased business profits for male owners in the short and long term, but did not lead to...