October 2019 Newsletter
Teaching at the Right Level to improve learning
Teaching at the Right Level (TaRL) is an educational approach developed by the Indian NGO Pratham that aims to build foundational skills in math and reading for all primary school aged children. Six randomized evaluations by J-PAL affiliated professors over fifteen years show that TaRL has improved learning in a wide variety of contexts. The collaborative partnership with J-PAL has helped Pratham innovate, evaluate, refine, and adapt TaRL over time—TaRL has now reached over 60 million children in India and is beginning to be scaled up in several countries across Africa. Learn more and watch the video »
Introducing new J-PAL affiliates
This summer, J-PAL welcomed three new professors to our academic network: Jie Bai at Harvard University, Joshua Blumenstock at the University of California, Berkeley, and Saumitra Jha at Stanford University. Their research interests include the relationship between firm growth and corruption, addressing violence and political polarization, and the intersection of machine learning and development economics. Meet our new affiliates »
A new platform for datasets from randomized evaluations
J-PAL and Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) recently announced the creation of the new Datahub for Field Experiments in Economics and Public Policy. In recent years, our organizations have made more than 140 datasets available from studies conducted by researchers around the world. This new joint effort brings together our two dataverses to facilitate the search and discovery of new and existing datasets from field experiments by J-PAL, IPA, and affiliated researchers. Read more »
FEATURED PUBLICATION
J-PAL Evidence Review sheds light on promising approaches to reduce and prevent homelessness
In the United States, more than 500,000 people experience homelessness on a given night, and 1.4 million people pass through emergency shelters each year. The struggle for stable housing is shaped by numerous factors, including employment opportunities, housing market dynamics, and financial stability.
A new NBER working paper from J-PAL affiliated professor William Evans (Notre Dame) and co-authors David C. Philips and Krista J. Ruffini analyzed forty randomized evaluations of homelessness interventions. J-PAL North America's Evidence Review highlights the paper's key research findings on policies that help people access and maintain stable, affordable housing. Read the review »
EVIDENCE-INFORMED DECISION-MAKING
Information and enforcement to reduce overfishing
In Chile, overfishing of Pacific hake presents a formidable environmental and economic challenge. J‑PAL affiliated professor Mushfiq Mobarak (Yale) and co-author Andres Gonzalez-Lira partnered with the Chilean National Fish Service to evaluate strategies for ensuring compliance with a seasonal fishing ban on Pacific hake. Informed by the results, the government expanded its consumer awareness campaign and adapted its enforcement tactics. Read more »
AFFILIATE SPOTLIGHT
Lisa Cameron on studying gender and economics
As a Professorial Research Fellow at the University of Melbourne, Lisa Cameron has dedicated much of her career as an empirical and behavioral economist to researching how economic issues impact women. Her recent projects include studying the barriers to female labor force participation and meeting with female migrants to learn about their experiences seeking work overseas. Read our profile »
FEATURED MULTIMEDIA
Seema Jayachandran on engaging local communities to mitigate climate change
Climate change is a global problem, and countries seeking to address it can learn from global insights on the best ways to do so without inflicting further economic hardship. In our September Data, Decisions, Public Policy (D²P²) talk, J-PAL affiliated professor Seema Jayachandran (Northwestern; Chair, J-PAL Gender sector) discussed approaches to mitigating climate change by reducing deforestation in low-income countries. Watch now »
UPCOMING COURSES
Enroll now: Measuring Health Outcomes in Field Surveys
This eight-week course focuses on the fundamentals of field-based health research using real-world case studies from India and Kenya, combined with exercises that provide practical insights on general concepts like study design, measurement, and data collection. The course began October 2, but enrollment is still open. Learn more and register »
MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS
Behavioral economics could increase Obamacare enrollment and stabilize markets
UCLA Andreson Review
A market for emissions, with incentives to cut pollution
The Hindu
How helping families relocate could increase economic mobility
The Economist
NEW RESEARCH PAPERS
Valuing Peace: The Effects of Financial Market Exposure on Votes and Political Attitudes
Saumitra Jha, Moses Shayo
Gender Gaps in Technology Diffusion
Ariel Ben Yishay, Maria Jones, Florence Kondylis, Ahmed Mushfiq Mobarak
What Do Workplace Wellness Programs Do? Evidence from the Illinois Workplace Wellness Study
Damon Jones, David Molitor, Julian Reif
An Experimental Evaluation of Three Teacher Quality Measures: Value-added, Classroom Observations, and Student Surveys
Andrew Bacher-Hicks, Mark J. Chin, Thomas J. Kane, Douglas O. Staiger
Impact of Reinforcing Agro Dealer Networks on Agricultural Productivity in Niger
Adam Mamadou, Robert Darko Osei, Isaac Osei-Akoto
FEATURED JOBS
Policy Manager, J-PAL Africa, Cape Town, South Africa
Finance and Operations Manager, J-PAL Global, Cambridge, MA, US
General Data Research Associate, J-PAL Global, Cambridge, MA, US
IT Manager, J-PAL Global, Cambridge, MA, US
Pre-Doctoral Research Fellow, J-PAL North America, Cambridge, MA, US
Post-Doctoral Research Fellow, J-PAL Southeast Asia, Jakarta, Indonesia
Explore open positions around the world »
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 180 affiliated professors at universities around the world, J-PAL draws on results from randomized impact evaluations to answer critical questions in the fight against poverty. We build partnerships with governments, NGOs, donors, and others to share this knowledge, scale up effective programs, and advance evidence-informed decision-making. J-PAL was launched at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2003 and has regional centers in Africa, Europe, Latin America & the Caribbean, North America, South Asia, and Southeast Asia.