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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.

Applying Behavioral Insights to Improve Tax Enforcement in Poland

Nina Mazar
Roberto Claudio Sormani
In partnership with the Polish Tax Office, researchers conducted a nation-wide randomized evaluation to test the impact of sending tax enforcement letters with behavioral messages on tax compliance among delinquent taxpayers. The results indicate that behavioral letters significantly improved tax...

Prescribing Food as Medicine among Individuals Experiencing Diabetes and Food Insecurity in the United States

John Bulger
John Cawley
Joseph Doyle
Andrea Feinberg
Diabetes is one of the most prevalent diseases in the United States and is closely linked to food insecurity. Researchers evaluated the impact of an intensive food-as-medicine program that provides fresh food and diabetes education on health and health care utilization for individuals experiencing...

Street Police Patrolling Effects To Reduce Crime Against Women in Public Spaces in India

Sofia Amaral
Girija Borker
Anjani Kumar
In partnership with the Hyderabad City Police (HCP), researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to test the impact of a police patrolling program aimed at improving women’s safety on the frequency of sexual harassment and women’s freedom to move around in public spaces. The presence of uniformed...

Information Campaigns to Increase Mobile Banking Adoption in Ghana

In Ghana, researchers worked with a bank that provides services to low-income customers with limited access to mainstream banking to evaluate the impact of sending pre-recorded informational voice calls and text messages on the adoption of mobile banking. Clients that received messages encouraging...

The Impact of Daily Quizzing on Student Achievement in Kenya

Researchers are partnering with Bridge International Academies to evaluate the impact of daily quizzing on students’ learning outcomes in Kenya.

The Impact of Contraceptive Subsidies for Individuals in the United States

Jennifer Barber
Lea Bart
Vanessa Dalton
Daniel Eisenberg
Paula Fomby
Vanessa Lang
Alexa Prettyman
In this randomized evaluation, researchers partnered with Planned Parenthood of Michigan to give vouchers for contraception to evaluate the impact of contraceptive costs on method choice. Those who received the vouchers were more likely to buy contraceptives and buy more expensive methods than those...

Using Text Messages to Prevent the Spread of Covid-19 in India

Girija Bahety
Dev Patel
James Potter
Researchers tested whether reminders delivered via text message improved knowledge and adoption of social distancing and handwashing. They found no evidence that individuals changed their self-reported behaviors; this finding may highlight limited effectiveness of SMS-based information campaigns...

Impacts of Conditional Cash Transfer Programs on Voting in Honduras

In this randomized evaluation in Honduras, researchers assessed how the national Programa de Asignación Familiar (Family Allowance Program) CCT program, which provided a combination of transfers to households and transfers to support public goods, influenced voting in local and national elections...