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 1,100 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 1,100 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 130 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?
Vivian Bronsoler is a Senior Manager for Mexico and Central America and joined J-PAL LAC in 2014. Based in Mexico, she works on the promotion of scientific evidence to inform policy in Mexico and Central America by building partnerships with policymakers, providing technical assistance, and...
Pascaline Dupas is a Professor of Economics and Public Affairs at Princeton University and Co-Scientific Director of J-PAL Africa. Pascaline joined the Princeton faculty in July 2023. She was previously the Kleinheinz Family Professor of International Studies at Stanford University, where she spent...
J-PAL North America's May newsletter features research on scaling and replicating summer jobs programs, a blog post on a research-practice partnership that seeks to improve education in Puerto Rico, and our new webpage on K-12 tutoring.
J-PAL South Asia’s CareerTalk aims to engage with a diverse cohort of college and university students interested in learning more about the development sector in India and employment opportunities at J-PAL South Asia. This webinar will be conducted on 17 July 2021 at 3:00–4:00 pm IST.
Seema Jayachandran (Northwestern University) discusses wide-ranging research in the developing world and insights gained into gender parity, economic growth, and pandemic impact in poor nations.
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...
Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to test whether giving vocational trainees richer information about potential jobs improved their employment outcomes. Researchers provide suggestive evidence that with the information, trainees made better decisions on whether to continue the training: those who saw the program as a poor fit for their job ambitions dropped out, while those who valued the training’s job opportunities stayed.
Researchers evaluated the impact of a program addressing constraints related to hygiene infrastructure and access to sanitary products while addressing social stigma around menstruation, on girls’ learning and psychosocial well-being in Madagascar. The program led to improvements in academic learning outcomes and anxiety. Reduction in stigma and improvements in observed hygiene behaviors were larger in schools with peer leaders who were identified, trained, and coached to address these harmful social norms.
Adam Sacarny (Columbia University) and Weston Merrick from the Minnesota Management and Budget share insights on the process of launching a randomized evaluation of the state’s prescription monitoring program (PMP). The ongoing study seeks to evaluate the impact of sending informational letters on...
Juan Carlos Cisneros is a Policy Intern at J-PAL Global where he works on the Environment, Energy, and Climate Change sector and supports the King Climate Action Initiative (K-CAI).
Adrien Rose is a Policy Intern at J-PAL Global where he works with the Environment, Energy and Climate Change sector supporting the King Climate Action Initiative (K-CAI). He
To support education systems to focus on functional literacy and numeracy, UNICEF is partnering with The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL at MIT), Pratham , and Delivery Associates .
A new large-scale randomized evaluation has found that messages delivered by physicians increased knowledge about Covid-19 and use of preventative health measures, like mask-wearing and social distancing, regardless of recipients’ race or political beliefs. This research shows that information...