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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.

The Impact of Candidates’ Political Connections on Voters' Expressed Support in Pakistan

Ali Cheema
Asad Liaqat
Farooq Naseer
Jacob N. Shapiro
Researchers evaluated the impact of randomly varied information about candidates’ political connections on voters' beliefs and self-expressed support in the context of a 2015 local election in Sargodha, a district in rural Pakistan. Providing information on candidates’ connectedness increased voters...

What is the Impact of Housing Microfinance and Construction Quality Support? A Rigorous Impact Evaluation

Researchers are conducting a randomized evaluation to test the impact of providing microloans for housing to the underprivileged in the Menia governorate on the improvement of families' well-being.

The Impact of Government-run Remedial Education Programs on Student Learning in Ghana

Building on previous research, researchers in this study evaluated the impact of several targeted instruction programs on the learning outcomes of primary school students in Ghana’s public schools. Researchers found significant improvements in numeracy and literacy on average; of the four...

Changing Handwashing Behavior with Edutainment in Bangladesh

Kailash Pandey
Chikako Yamauchi
Researchers conducted an evaluation to test the impact of a hand-hygiene edutainment (entertainment education) campaign on handwashing and health in Bangladesh. The campaign improved handwashing and child health but had no impact on hygiene knowledge.

Characterizing Firm-Level Discrimination in the United States

Researchers studied hiring discrimination among major employers in the United States by sending fictional resumes, with varying demographic information, to determine whether certain characteristics would lead to different follow-up contact rates. Employers were less likely to contact resumes with...

Increasing Financial Aspirations to Improve Financial Decision-Making and Outcomes in the Philippines

David McKenzie
Aakash Mohpal
Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to test whether encouraging entrepreneurs to raise their aspirations helped them improve their financial decisions and outcomes. The aspirations training led individuals to set higher savings goals, but most participants failed to achieve their goals.

Teachers’ traditional beliefs about gender negatively impact the academic performance of girls in Turkey

To better understand gender inequalities in academic achievement, choice of occupation, and labor market outcomes, researchers studied the effect of teachers’ beliefs about gender roles on student achievement in Istanbul, Turkey. Girls who were taught by teachers with traditional gender views had...

Peer Effects, Alcohol, and College Roommates in the United States

Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to measure the impact of having a roommate who drank alcohol frequently before college on college students' grade point averages (GPAs). Results show that, while female students' GPAs were not affected by their roommate's drinking prior to college, male...