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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.

Improving Third-Party Audits and Regulatory Compliance in India

Researchers evaluated the impact of a reform to the pollution audit system in India, making auditors more independent, on the truthfulness of their reporting and the behavior of the firms they audited. Increasing their independence made them more likely to report the truth about industrial plants’...

Small and Medium Enterprise Financing and Mentoring Services in Emerging Markets in the Dominican Republic

Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation with a bank in the Dominican Republic to compare the impact of two distinct programs: standard accounting training versus a simplified, rule-of-thumb training that taught basic financial heuristics.

Reducing Barriers to Savings in Rural Malawi

Lasse Brune
Xavier Giné
Researchers analyzed the effect of reducing barriers to saving in rural Malawi on savings behavior, investment in agricultural inputs, and consumption. They found that farmers with access to formal savings accounts preserved greater amounts of savings throughout both the harvest and planting seasons...

Recruiting and Motivating Community Health Workers in Zambia

The Government of Zambia partnered with researchers to test the effect of two different recruitment strategies for a newly created healthcare position, the Community Health Assistant (CHA). One strategy emphasized career opportunities and the other emphasized the contributions one could make in the...

The Impact of Correcting Men's Misperceptions of Beliefs about Gender: Implications for Female Labor Participation and Time Use in India

In India, researchers are conducting a randomized evaluation to test the effects of providing men with correct information about other men’s views of women’s labor market participation.

Conditional Cash Transfers in Honduras

Researchers analyzed the effects of a small conditional cash transfer for education in Honduras on school enrollment and child labor.

Combating Misinformation using Fact-Checking via WhatsApp in South Africa

Jeremy Bowles
Kevin Croke
Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to assess how fact-checks regularly sent to participants through WhatsApp can affect their ability to discern false information, as well as their beliefs and attitudes related to topics subject to viral misinformation, particularly Covid-19. Overall, the...

Investing Cash Transfers to Raise Long-Term Living Standards in Mexico

Sebastian Martinez
Marta Rubio-Codina
Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation of the impact of the Oportunidades CCT program in Mexico on recipients’ investments decisions and long-run poverty levels. They found that the cash transfers promoted long-term increases in consumption through investment in productive activities...