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.
J-PAL Affiliated Professor
Professor of Development and Emerging Markets
University of Zurich
David Yanagizawa-Drott is Professor of Development and Emerging Markets at the University of Zurich. His research interests include economic development and political economy, with special focus on civil conflict, health, information and mass media. He has explored issues such as the impact of hate propaganda on violence during the 1994 Rwanda Genocide, the relationship between the government and the mass media, and how price information affects the functioning of agricultural markets in developing countries. He is currently conducting randomized evaluations in Uganda that investigate innovative ways to solve part of the healthcare service delivery problem, as well as the problem of fake and substandard medicines in developing countries. David received a PhD in economics from IIES Stockholm University in 2010.