The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) is a global research center working to reduce poverty by ensuring that policy is informed by scientific evidence. Anchored by a network of more than 900 researchers at universities around the world, J-PAL conducts randomized impact evaluations to answer critical questions in the fight against poverty.
The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) is a global research center working to reduce poverty by ensuring that policy is informed by scientific evidence. Anchored by a network of more than 1,000 researchers at universities around the world, J-PAL conducts randomized impact evaluations to answer critical questions in the fight against poverty.
Our affiliated professors are based at over 120 universities and conduct randomized evaluations around the world to design, evaluate, and improve programs and policies aimed at reducing poverty. They set their own research agendas, raise funds to support their evaluations, and work with J-PAL staff on research, policy outreach, and training.
Our Board of Directors, which is composed of J-PAL affiliated professors and senior management, provides overall strategic guidance to J-PAL, our sector programs, and regional offices.
J-PAL recognizes that there is a lack of diversity, equity, and inclusion in the field of economics and in our field of work. Read about what actions we are taking to address this.
We host events around the world and online to share results and policy lessons from randomized evaluations, to build new partnerships between researchers and practitioners, and to train organizations on how to design and conduct randomized evaluations, and use evidence from impact evaluations.
Browse news articles about J-PAL and our affiliated professors, read our press releases and monthly global and research newsletters, and connect with us for media inquiries.
Based at leading universities around the world, our experts are economists who use randomized evaluations to answer critical questions in the fight against poverty. Connect with us for all media inquiries and we'll help you find the right person to shed insight on your story.
J-PAL is based at MIT in Cambridge, MA and has seven regional offices at leading universities in Africa, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, Middle East and North Africa, North America, South Asia, and Southeast Asia.
J-PAL is based at MIT in Cambridge, MA and has seven regional offices at leading universities in Africa, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, Middle East and North Africa, North America, South Asia, and Southeast Asia.
Our global office is based at the Department of Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It serves as the head office for our network of seven independent regional offices.
Led by affiliated professors, J-PAL sectors guide our research and policy work by conducting literature reviews; by managing research initiatives that promote the rigorous evaluation of innovative interventions by affiliates; and by summarizing findings and lessons from randomized evaluations and producing cost-effectiveness analyses to help inform relevant policy debates.
Led by affiliated professors, J-PAL sectors guide our research and policy work by conducting literature reviews; by managing research initiatives that promote the rigorous evaluation of innovative interventions by affiliates; and by summarizing findings and lessons from randomized evaluations and producing cost-effectiveness analyses to help inform relevant policy debates.
How do policies affecting private sector firms impact productivity gaps between higher-income and lower-income countries? How do firms’ own policies impact economic growth and worker welfare?
How can we identify effective policies and programs in low- and middle-income countries that provide financial assistance to low-income families, insuring against shocks and breaking poverty traps?
We host events around the world and online to share results and policy lessons from randomized evaluations, build new partnerships between researchers and practitioners, and train organizations on how to design and conduct randomized evaluations.
Applications are now open for a four-day randomized evaluation design workshop as part of the Displaced Livelihoods Initiative (DLI) and the Humanitarian Protection Initiative (HPI) to develop projects in the Sub-Saharan Africa organised by J-PAL and Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA).
As part of the "Development Methodologies" Chair held by Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo, a summer school for African researchers, project leaders and other partners will be organised from July 7 to 11, 2025 in Dakar, on the campus of the African Center for Higher Studies in Management (CESAG).
Organized on Zoom, the summer school will present innovative approaches for development through plenary sessions conducted by renowned academic researchers, and will improve the capacity of participants in the design, implementation and use of impact evaluations of social programs.
The economic damage of Covid-19 represents the largest economic shock the world has experienced in decades. In Indonesia, the Covid-19 pandemic has caused significant economic disruption, with adverse impact on jobs and livelihoods, especially among the most vulnerable segments of society. This...
Held live over Zoom, this four-day training will equip participants with the resources and knowledge to engage with impact evaluations of social programs. The interactive course provides an in-depth look at why and when randomized evaluations can be used to rigorously measure social impact, methods...
This Covid Dialogues webinar will share policy-relevant evidence on online learning, parental engagement, and girls’ education to address education access, quality, and equity challenges resulting from and exacerbated by Covid-19.
In low- and middle-income countries, regular program monitoring for improving public service delivery and the beneficiary experience is often constrained by slow, indirect processes such as periodic government surveys as well as unrepresentative, sporadic data from government dashboards and...
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, tax revenues are equivalent to just 7.5% of GDP , standing in stark contrast to higher-income countries in which tax revenues generate billions of dollars for essential government services. These challenges of domestic resource mobilization are complex and...
On May 25, 2021, the chairman of Morocco’s Special Commission for the Development Model presented the report on the New Development Model to His Majesty King Mohammed VI. The mandate of the Commission was to analyze the Kingdom's current development path and to outline a new development model...
How can states strengthen formal systems of justice provision and build citizen trust in the state? And how can informal dispute resolution systems complement or undermine these efforts? The third webinar in the Governance, Crime, and Conflict Initiative’s (GCCI) series will discuss randomized...