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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.

Identity in Charitable Giving in the United States

Katherine Milkman
A large charitable organization in the United States conducted a series of direct mail appeals for donations using different identity primes in 2009-2010. Researchers found that priming a potential donor’s identity as either a previous donor to charity or as a member of their local community...

Expanding Financial Access Via Credit Cards: Evidence from Mexico

Sara G. Castellanos
Diego J. Jiménez Hernández
Researchers leveraged data from a randomized evaluation conducted by a large bank in Mexico to test the impact of varying credit card contract terms on loan default, card cancellation rates, and bank revenue for first-time formal sector borrowers. Variations in the interest rate and minimum payment...

The Effect of Financial Incentives on Elementary School Test Scores in the United States

Researchers studied whether financial incentives offered to elementary school students could increase standardized test scores. Students who were eligible to win gift certificates had higher math scores and read more.

The Effect of Free Contraception on Fertility in Burkina Faso

Adriana Lleras-Muney
Pauline Rossi
Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation among households in rural Burkina Faso to examine whether countries in sub-Saharan Africa are experiencing a slower shift in fertility levels due to lack of access to contraception or households wanting large families. Providing married women with access...

The Impact of Feedback on University Student Performance in Spain

Ghazala Azmat
Antonio Cabrales
Nagore Iriberri
Researchers shared information on students’ relative academic standing among university students in Spain to evaluate the impact of this information on student performance and satisfaction. Providing students with information on their relative standing led to a short-term decrease in academic...