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.
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?
Dive into J-PAL affiliates' research in education in this issue of the newsletter. Learn how J-PAL Africa is helping scale up an education program in Zambia, read up on the research on school enrollment and attendance, and more.
In Mexico, researchers evaluated the impact of PROGRESA, a national conditional cash transfer program, on marriages and divorces. Researchers found that, in the short-term, the program did not affect the number of marriages but increased the number of divorces and separations.
The UK Department for International Development (DFID) announced today that Rachel Glennerster, Executive Director of the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL), has been appointed Chief Economist of DFID.
J-PAL welcomes five new affiliates, Executive Director Rachel Glennerster announces her appointment as Chief Economist at DFID, and more in the latest newsletter.
This month's newsletter announces the blended master's degree combining online learning with a semester at MIT, shares a blog series on increasing girls' school participation, and more.
Jens Ludwig is the Edwin A. and Betty L. Bergman Distinguished Service Professor in the School of Social Service Administration, director of the University of Chicago Crime Lab, and co-director of the University of Chicago Urban Education Lab.
In partnership with the Government of Jharkhand, researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to study the impact of unconditional, framed cash transfers to pregnant women and lactating mothers on child health.
USAID's Development Innovation Ventures (DIV) program announced funding for J-PAL Africa, Pratham, and UNICEF/Zambia to work with the Zambian Ministry of General Education in a nationwide rollout of the Teaching at the Right Level (TaRL) Program.
Using data from a previous randomized evaluation in rural India that tested the effect of asset transfers to low-income households on overall consumption, researchers analyzed whether an increase in household wealth led to changes in energy use. While households consumed significantly more energy after the asset transfer, they did not reduce their use of dirty fuels.
USAID’s Development for Innovation Ventures (DIV) has announced Zambia’s Teaching at the Right Level (TARL) Programme as one of its 18 new investments. Among other partners, J-PAL, Pratham, Innovations for Poverty Action, and and UNICEF/Zambia will support the work hand in hand with the Zambian...
Researchers evaluated whether Boston’s SYEP had an effect on the criminal justice outcomes of participants and sought to gauge the potential mechanisms driving these effects. The program reduced participants’ violent and property crime-related arraignments.