The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab

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

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Blog

Letter from the Global Executive Director: J-PAL's response to COVID-19

J-PAL Global Executive Director Iqbal Dhaliwal outlines the actions J-PAL is taking to slow the spread of COVID-19 and ensure the safety of our staff.

Inaugural cohort of the DEDP program

News

MIT launches master's in data, economics, and development policy, led by Nobel laureates

MIT launches master’s in data, economics, and development policy, led by Nobel laureates. The first cohort of 22 students from 14 countries share a common ambition: harnessing data to help others.

2019 Nobel laureates in Economics

Blog

Recapping Nobel Week 2019

Our co-founders Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo, with longtime J-PAL affiliate Michael Kremer, were awarded the 2019 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences on December 10, 2019. In the week leading up to the award ceremony, the laureates delivered lectures on their award-winning research and...

News

Can We Have Prosperity Without Growth?

An article in The New Yorker describes how the critique of economic growth, once a fringe position, is gaining widespread attention in the face of the climate crisis.

J-PAL affiliated researchers have 1000 ongoing and completed randomized evaluations in 83 countries

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At J-PAL, our absolute priority is the safety of our staff, students, researchers, partners, and research participants. Our Global Executive Director Iqbal Dhaliwal outlined the measures we are taking to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic in a letter to affiliates and staff: https://j-p.al/covid19

March 18th
How do you know if your organization is achieving its intended impact? Join us in Cambridge, MA, USA for a five-day in-person course that equips participants with resources and knowledge to engage with impact evaluations of social programs. The course provides an in-depth look at why and when randomized evaluations can be used to rigorously measure social impact, methods and considerations for their design and implementation, and how findings can inform evidence-based policies and programs. Lectures and case studies use real-world examples to prepare participants to apply learning at their home organizations. The course covers both the technical design and pragmatic considerations of measuring impact with a randomized evaluation. Applications will be accepted until April 17, 2020. However, we encourage candidates to apply at their earliest convenience, as space is limited and applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. Apply today! https://j-p.al/2020ESP

February 24th
February 19th
What can we learn from randomized evaluations about ways to strengthen the Egyptian education system to better reach marginalized children and youth? Please join us via livestream on Sunday 2/23 from 5-7pm EET (10am ET) for a lecture by J-PAL affiliate Sule Alan on "Strengthening the Egyptian Education System to Better Reach Marginalized Children and Youth: What We Can Learn from Randomized Evaluations." This seminar will feature representatives from the Egyptian Ministry of Education, the civil society sector, and Sule Alan, and will draw from the related global evidence to provide insights into how Egypt can strengthen its education system to ultimately improve learning outcomes among all students, particularly those from marginalized backgrounds. Register for the live webcast of the seminar: https://www.povertyactionlab.org/event/global-evidence-egypt-spotlight-seminar-education

February 18th
**Registration for Evaluating Social Programs 2020 in Cambridge, MA is now open!** Are your organization’s programs achieving their intended impact? From June 8-12, join us for a five-day, in-person training at MIT to learn why and when randomized evaluations can be used to rigorously measure social impact, how evaluations are designed in real-world settings, and how evaluation results can drive evidence-based decision-making. Taught by J-PAL affiliated professors and senior staff, the training is tailored to the needs of policymakers, practitioners, and researchers from NGOs, governments, and foundations from the US and around the world. Learn more and apply: https://j-p.al/execed2020

February 11th

How to keep students engaged in online learning

Transitioning from a classroom to an online video conference is challenging for everyone involved—teachers must make extra effort to engage students effectively, and students in turn have to make an...

2 days 7 hours ago

Best practices for conducting phone surveys

The protection of staff and respondents who participate in our research is of highest priority for J-PAL. As of March 17, J-PAL has therefore suspended all research activities that contribute to in...

1 week 1 day ago

Letter from the Global Executive Director: J-PAL's response to COVID-19

J-PAL Global Executive Director Iqbal Dhaliwal outlines the actions J-PAL is taking to slow the spread of COVID-19 and ensure the safety of our staff.

1 week 4 days ago

Voices from the field: Enumerator spotlight

J-PAL affiliates have now conducted over 1,000 randomized evaluations in 84 countries, scaling up a Nobel Prize-winning approach to poverty alleviation research. To celebrate this milestone, we’re...

2 weeks 1 day ago

Affiliate Spotlight: Karthik Muralidharan

Karthik Muralidharan is the Tata Chancellor’s Professor of Economics at the University of California, San Diego and also serves as a J-PAL Board member and co-chair of the Education sector. A...

2 weeks 1 day ago