The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) is a global research center working to reduce poverty by ensuring that policy is informed by scientific evidence. Anchored by a network of more than 1,000 researchers at universities around the world, J-PAL conducts randomized impact evaluations to answer critical questions in the fight against poverty.
The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) is a global research center working to reduce poverty by ensuring that policy is informed by scientific evidence. Anchored by a network of more than 1,000 researchers at universities around the world, J-PAL conducts randomized impact evaluations to answer critical questions in the fight against poverty.
Our affiliated professors are based at over 120 universities and conduct randomized evaluations around the world to design, evaluate, and improve programs and policies aimed at reducing poverty. They set their own research agendas, raise funds to support their evaluations, and work with J-PAL staff on research, policy outreach, and training.
Our research, policy, and training work is fundamentally better when it is informed by a broad range of perspectives.
Co-Chair, Gender
J-PAL Affiliated Professor
Professor of Economics and Public Affairs
Princeton University
Seema Jayachandran is a Professor of Economics and Public Affairs at Princeton University and Co-Chair of J-PAL's Gender sector. Her research focuses on economic issues in developing countries, including environmental conservation, gender equality, labor markets, health, and education. She is a recipient of a Sloan Research Fellowship, National Science Foundation Early Career Development Award, and the Ecological Society of America's Sustainability Science Award.
Seema is co-editor for the American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, associate editor for the Quarterly Journal of Economics, and co-director of the National Bureau of Economic Research's program in Development Economics. In addition, she writes regularly for the New York Times as a contributor to the Economic View column.
In addition to serving as Co-Chair of J-PAL's Gender sector, Seema has served as a lecturer at J-PAL training events and on the review boards of J-PAL's Gender and Economic Agency Initiative (GEA), Health Care Delivery Initiative (HCDI), and Post-Primary Education Initiative (PPE).
Prior to joining Princeton, she was a faculty member at Stanford University and at Northwestern University. She earned a PhD in economics from Harvard University, a master’s degree in physics and philosophy from the University of Oxford where she was a Marshall Scholar, and a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from MIT.