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?
REC Limited (formerly Rural Electrification Corporation Limited), a public infrastructure finance company under the Ministry of Power, Government of India, and J-PAL South Asia are partnering to create an annual, data-based assessment of 79 public and private power distribution companies across the...
Read how J-PAL Africa and the Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator have partnered over the last three years to design, test, and scale job search tools to address South Africa's youth unemployment problem.
GEA has completed its second full funding round, supporting nineteen research teams to produce evidence that addresses critical knowledge gaps on what works to support women’s economic agency. Read about the funded projects.
In the November 2021 Newsletter, we highlight ideas around how climate finance can support evidence generation, three key lessons on informing policy with evidence in Africa, and evidence for medical debt relief.
In the second installment of the IFII blog series, we discuss the importance of applying a gender lens to measuring impact and share practical considerations for measuring empowerment.
Researchers evaluated the impact of financial incentives, public health video messages, and access to a vaccine scheduling link on Covid-19 vaccination intentions and vaccine take-up in the United States. None of the interventions led to increases in vaccine take-up after thirty days. In a subsequent study, researchers found that personal reminder messages led to increases in booster vaccination rates while monetary incentives had no additional impact.
By running a Facebook public health campaign, researchers found that social media messaging from doctors and nurses reduced holiday travel and subsequent Covid-19 infection rates. This suggests that social media campaigns may be an impactful and cost-effective way to slow the spread of Covid-19 and enact behavior change.
Diarrhea is a leading cause of death in children under the age of 5, but adding small amounts of chlorine into water can treat water and prevent a large number of these deaths. Providing free dispensers for chlorine to treat water reduced under-five mortality. Children living in villages with dilute chlorine solution dispensers were 63 percent less likely to die relative to the comparison group.
James Turitto ‘20 (former senior research manager at J-PAL Global) details his mission to document methane emissions in Europe and lobby policymakers to strengthen regulations. He reflects on the critical role of measuring and exposing industrial methane leaks and how skills learned at J-PAL help...
At J-PAL Southeast Asia, J-PAL affiliated researchers collaborate with government agencies, private firms, NGOs, and other development partners to answer pressing policy questions in various sectors.
J-PAL Southeast Asia (SEA) is a regional office of the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL), a global network of researchers who use randomized evaluations to answer critical policy questions in the fight against poverty.
In the September 2021 Newsletter, we highlight studies regarding various strategies to combat Covid-19, an introduction to some of our new affiliates, and takeaways from the IPCC's report on climate change.
Identifying high-potential microentrepreneurs in low-income countries remains a challenge due to lack of verifiable information. Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to test the value of community knowledge in identifying high-potential microentrepreneurs.