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.
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.
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?
In this three-part series, J-PAL South Asia Executive Director Shobhini Mukerji reflects on the lessons learnt from these experiences as she builds her What-Not-Do-List to realise J-PAL’s goal of a poverty-free world.
Michael Rosholm received a PhD in Economics from the University of Aarhus, Denmark for his thesis "Transitions in the Labor Market." Since 2006 he has been a Professor at the Business and Social Sciences School at Aarhus University, and the Research Director of the Centre for Research in Integration...
Jonathan Robinson is a Professor of Economics at the University of California, Santa Cruz. His research is primarily focused in sub-Saharan Africa, and includes studies of how individuals cope with risk, a project to understand why farmers do not adopt potentially profitable agricultural...
Martín Antonio Rossi is Professor of Economics at Universidad de San Andres. His research focuses on the intersection between development economics, political economy, and public economics. Past studies have examined wealth and politics, public service incentives, political effort, and labor market...
James Robinson is a University Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago and the Reverend Dr. Richard L. Pearson Professor of Global Conflict Studies. His research focuses on political economy, comparative politics, and economic and political development. He has conducted fieldwork...
Diana Moreira is an Assistant Professor at the University of California, Davis. Diana is a faculty affiliate at NBER Political Economy and Development Economics Programs and at two development economics research centers (BREAD and CEGA). She has previously worked in the World Bank in Washington, D.C...
Sendhil Mullainathan is a Professor with Dual Appointment in Economics and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) at MIT and Co-Chair of J-PAL's Partnership for AI Evidence. His current research uses machine learning to understand complex problems in human behavior, social policy, and...
Karthik Muralidharan is the Tata Chancellor’s Professor of Economics at the University of California, San Diego. His research focuses on improving education and health in developing countries. He has studied the impact of performance-pay for teachers, the impact of contract teachers, and the impact...
Paul Niehaus is an Associate Professor in the Department of Economics at UC San Diego. He is Chancellor's Associates Endowed Chair in Economics at UC San Diego and an affiliate of BREAD, CEGA, J-PAL, and the NBER. His research examines the design, implementation, and impact of anti-poverty programs...
Christopher Neilson is a Professor of Economics and Global Affairs at Yale University. He is an applied microeconomist and studies public policy and education markets. His recent research focuses on the impact of consumer knowledge and beliefs on choices and how policy interventions can generate...
Eric Mvukiyehe is an Assistant Professor at Duke University. His academic and policy research includes (i) poverty reduction and labor market frictions; (ii) employment, violence, and social stability; (iii) political economy of conflict and peacekeeping interventions; (iv) state capacity and local...
Yusuf Neggers is an Assistant Professor of Public Policy at the University of Michigan. His research focuses on state capacity and the delivery of public services. He has researched topics including bureaucratic diversity, electoral politics, and public works in India and Indonesia.