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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.

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...

The Impact of Targeted Teaching on Secondary School Learning Outcomes in India

Researchers evaluated a secondary school readiness program, Utkarsh, that provided targeted instruction to students in Odisha, India.

The Impact of Disclosing Soft Skills Certificates at Recruitment on Labor Market Outcomes in Uganda

Aisha Nansamba
In Uganda, researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to test the impact of providing a soft skills certificate to both employers and job seekers during job interviews on matching in the labor market. The certificates caused workers to increase their expectations of finding the right job, while...

Combating Misinformation using Fact-Checking via WhatsApp in South Africa

Jeremy Bowles
Kevin Croke
Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to assess how fact-checks regularly sent to participants through WhatsApp can affect their ability to discern false information, as well as their beliefs and attitudes related to topics subject to viral misinformation, particularly Covid-19. Overall, the...

Providing Entrepreneurship Training and Cash Business Grants to Venezuelan Migrants in Peru

In Peru, researchers are delivering cash grants and business training to Venezuelan migrant entrepreneurs and assessing the impacts on the short- and long-term success of enterprises as well as migrants’ food security, health, and income.

Afghanistan Targeting the Ultra-Poor Impact Evaluation

Guadalupe Bedoya
Aidan Coville
Mohammad Isaqzadeh
Jeremy Shapiro
In Afghanistan, researchers evaluated the impact of a Targeting the Ultra Poor program on poverty reduction. The cost-effective program generated large positive impacts for women participants across key outcomes: consumption, assets, psychological well-being, total time spent working, financial...

Textbooks and Test Scores in Kenya

Sylvie Moulin
Researchers evaluated the impact of a program that provided additional textbooks to primary schools in Kenya on students, teachers, and overall learning. This study found no evidence that textbook provision increased average test scores, or that it reduced either grade repetition or dropout rates.