The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL)

PDF version

Our mission is to reduce poverty by ensuring that policy is informed by scientific evidence. We do this through research, policy outreach, and training.

Two women use computers as part of job training program

Affiliate

Roland Rathelot

Roland Rathelot (University of Warwick) studies the impacts of job counseling, discrimination against ethnic minorities, and residential segregation on employment. In our latest affiliate Q&A, Roland explains how his time as a civil servant in France influenced his interest in helping to solve France's chronically high unemployment rate.

Group of J-PAL directors, staff, and government officials hold MoU

News

J-PAL South Asia launches partnership with Government of Punjab, India

In May, the State Government of Punjab, India and J-PAL South Asia signed a Memorandum of Understanding to support the government in taking an evidence-informed approach to its poverty alleviation efforts.

Young men in the Becoming a Man program in Chicago

Publication

Practicing Choices, Preventing Crime

The latest J-PAL Bulletin analyzes results from three randomized evaluations of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) programs in the United States and Liberia. Researchers found that CBT helped young men become more focused on the future, reducing criminal and violent behavior and increasing graduation rates when delivered in school.

Two women hold infants

News

Addressing the generalizability puzzle

How can policymakers draw on the available evidence, both from their local context and from the global base of impact evaluations in other locations, to make the most informed decision about which programs to support? Mary Ann Bates and Rachel Glennerster set out a practical generalizability framework that policymakers can use to decide if, for example, an incentive program that boosted immunization rates in India makes sense in their context.

841 ongoing and completed randomized evaluations in 80 countries