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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.

CARES Commitment Savings for Smoking Cessation in the Philippines

Researchers evaluated the impact of a voluntary commitment savings program that allowed individuals to deposit a self-selected amount of their own money that would be forfeited if they did not quit smoking within six months. Results suggested that individuals who were offered the program were much...

Counseling and Job Placement for Young Graduate Job Seekers in France (Jeunes Diplômés)

Career counseling for young, college-educated job seekers in France helped them find work sooner, but this improvement came at the expense of jobs for those who did not receive counseling, and it did not translate into a long-term increase in employment rates.

The Effect of Village-Based Schools in Afghanistan

Dana Burde
Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation in Afghanistan to measure the impact of school proximity on the educational outcomes of young students in local villages. Results indicated that the geographic proximity of schools had a dramatic effect on children’s academic participation and...

Advertising Higher Earnings during Recruitment Processes for Community Service Providers in Uganda

Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to test the impact of expected earnings on candidates’ perception of a community health worker position in Uganda, and on the resulting size and composition of the applicant pool. Fewer socially motivated participants applied when advertised wages were...

Online Job Portals and Firm Hiring in India

Firms in low- and middle-income countries tend to hire mainly from referral networks, which may limit hiring. Online job portals can expand recruitment networks, but firms may be hesitant to hire unfamiliar candidates outside of their network. Researchers partnered with an online job portal in India...

Community Based Rangeland Management in Namibia

David Coppock
Luke Crowley
Susan Durham
Dylan Groves
Brien Norton
R. Douglas Ramsey
In Namibia, researchers measured the impact of a community-based natural resource management program on livestock assets, income, social cohesion, and land quality. Community-based rangeland management improved rangeland grazing management, community governance of the rangelands, and farmer...

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...