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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.

Financial Incentives and an Adolescent Empowerment Program to Reduce Child Marriage in Rural Bangladesh

Nina Buchmann
Shahana Nazneen
Xiao Yu Wang
Child marriage remains prevalent in many countries despite laws prohibiting the practice, leading to negative health and education outcomes for young women and their children. Researchers evaluated the impacts of an incentive program and an adolescent empowerment program on child marriage, teenage...

Weekday vs. Weekend Text-Based Parenting Support in the United States

Hans Fricke
David Song
Ben York
In Texas, researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to test the impact of text message-based parenting support delivered at different times of the week on young children’s literacy and numeracy development. They found that text messages delivered on weekends were best for supporting children...

Examining the Effects of Crop Price Insurance for Farmers in Ghana

Margaret McMillan
Researchers in Ghana introduced financial literacy training and crop price insurance to determine their impact on farmers' willingness to take out loans and make long-term investments. Results show that farmers who received the training and insurance were only slightly more likely to borrow and make...

Laser-Branding Technologies to Increase the Quality of Watermelons in Chinese Markets

Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to test the impact of different types of labels to signal product quality on sellers’ ability to develop a reputation for consistently selling high-quality watermelons in China. The more expensive laser-cut label influenced sellers to provide higher...

Information Dissemination Campaign and Voters' Behavior in the 2009 Municipal Elections in Mexico

Researchers randomly assigned voting precincts to a campaign spreading information on corruption and public expenditure one week before the 2009 municipal elections in Mexico. Providing incumbent corruption information not only decreased incumbent party support, but also decreased voter turnout and...

Increasing the Demand for Workers with a Criminal Record in the United States

Workers with criminal records face substantially lower chances of securing employment compared to similar workers without such records. Researchers evaluated the effectiveness of different approaches, including wage subsidies, crime and safety insurance, past performance reviews, criminal record...

Formal Vocational Training Schools and Employment in Mongolia

Researchers evaluated the impact of admission to one of Mongolia’s formal vocational training programs on students’ educational attainment, employment, and earnings. Admission led to higher educational attainment and employment for applicants, especially for women, and increased earnings for women.

Influences on Investments in Preventative Health Products in Kenya

Jennifer Meredith
Jonathan Robinson
Sarah Walker
Bruce Wydick
In Kenya, researchers studied whether information or price subsidies influenced demand for a simple health product which could be effective in preventing soil-transmitted helminths (STHs). While providing liquidity and targeting women can increase demand for preventative health products, price has...