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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.

Using Behavioral Economics to Help Individuals Reduce Debt in the United States

Researchers designed and piloted a program called Borrow Less Tomorrow (BoLT) that took a behavioral approach to debt reduction, combining an accelerated loan repayment schedule with peer support and reminders. Results from a sample of free tax-preparation clients in Tulsa, United States suggest a...

Providing Agricultural Inputs in the Democratic Republic of Congo

In partnership with the Ministry of Agriculture of the Democratic Republic of Congo and the World Bank, researchers are investigating how subsidizing the cost of and access to improved seeds affects smallholder farmers’ take-up of improved seeds, their short-term agricultural productivity, and...

Afghanistan Targeting the Ultra-Poor Impact Evaluation

Guadalupe Bedoya
Aidan Coville
Mohammad Isaqzadeh
Jeremy Shapiro
In Afghanistan, researchers evaluated the impact of a Targeting the Ultra Poor program on poverty reduction. The cost-effective program generated large positive impacts for women participants across key outcomes: consumption, assets, psychological well-being, total time spent working, financial...

J-PAL Behavioral Science and Crime Funding Opportunity

We're supporting randomized evaluations of projects that employ a strategy related to behavioral science and aim to reduce crime and violence. Learn more and submit a letter of interest here.

Improving Yields and Health through a High-Yielding Rice Variety (NERICA) in Sierra Leone

Improved crop varieties have the potential to produce higher yields than traditional varieties, but rural farmers often do not have the knowledge to properly grow these crops. Researchers seek to understand how providing different amounts of training on how to cultivate NERICA-3, a high-yield but...

The Effect of India's Total Sanitation Campaign on Defecation Behaviors and Child Health in Rural Madhya Pradesh, India

Benjamin Arnhold
Bertha Briceno
Sandipan Ganguly
John M. Colford Jr.
Sumeet R Patil
Alicia L. Salvatore

Peer Group Assignment and Student Achievement in the United States

Researchers evaluated the impact of creating peer groups optimized to improve the academic achievement of lower-ability first-year students at the United States Air Force Academy. Placing lower-ability students in the optimized groups, which mixed them with a relatively large number of peers with...

An Evaluation of Digital Green's Agricultural Extension Program in India

Tushi Baul
Kentaro Toyama
In partnership with Digital Green and Jeevika, researchers conducted a randomized evaluation in Bihar, India, to assess the impact of a video-based training on female farmers’ adoption of a climate-smart technique called System of Rice Intensification (SRI), and their yields and profits. Farmers...