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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.

Training and Capital for Microentrepreneurs in Chile

Claudia Martinez
Esteban Puentes
Jaime Ruiz-Tagle
Researchers partnered with the Chilean Ministry of Social Development to evaluate a micro-entrepreneur training and cash transfer program in Chile. They examined the effects of business training and cash transfers on individual employment and income. The program increased total employment, income...

Providing Endowments to Improve Bargaining Outcomes for Microentrepreneurs in Ghana

Gisella Kagy
Lena Song
Researchers randomly provided more or less cash to garment-making firm owners in Ghana before a bargaining game to evaluate the impact of endowment on the negotiated sale price of a good. Owners of garment-making microenterprises with lower household liquidity agreed to lower sale prices during the...

Testing for Peer Screening and Enforcement in Microlending: Evidence from South Africa

In South Africa, researchers evaluated whether people have enough information to identify reliable borrowers among their peers and if they can help enforce loan repayment. They found that when given incentives, peers were not effective at screening for creditworthiness, but they were effective at...

Positive Psychology for Psychological Well-Being and Decision-Making in Kenya

In Kenya, researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to test the impact of a light-touch positive psychology intervention on psychological well-being and economic decision-making for low-income populations. The intervention had a positive impact on gratitude; however, it had no significant...