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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.

Encouraging Underserved, Intellectually-Curious Children: An Evaluation of the Higher Achievement Program in Washington, DC

Jean Grossman
Carla Herrera
Researchers evaluated the academic impact of a “Cadillac” OST program in Washington, DC. Researchers found that the program increased students’ problem-solving and reading comprehension scores after two years.

Evaluating the Impact of Moving to Opportunity in the United States

Emma Adam
Paul Hirschfield
Ronald C. Kessler
Jeffrey Kling
Stacy Tessler Lindau
Thomas W. McDade
Joshua C. Pinkston
Lisa Sanbonmatsu
Robert C. Whitaker
Helping families with young children living in high-poverty housing projects to move to lower-poverty neighborhoods improves the later-life outcomes for the children and may reduce the intergenerational persistence of poverty.

Evaluating Post-Secondary Aid: Enrollment, Persistence, and Projected Completion Effects

Researchers partnered with the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation to randomly offer scholarships to Nebraska high school graduates who applied for financial assistance. Initial results from the ongoing study indicate that scholarship offers increased college enrollment and persistence while shifting...

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’...

Understanding Borrowers' Decisions: Payday Loans in the United States

Researchers partnered with a large payday lender in Indiana to conduct an evaluation to better understand consumers’ decision-making. The results suggest that average borrowers can anticipate their probability of taking loans in the future. However, people focus too much on the present when making...