Our mission is to reduce poverty by ensuring that policy is informed by scientific evidence. We do this through research, policy outreach, and training.
In Uganda, researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to test the effectiveness of a program in which landowners were paid to not cut forest trees on their property. During the study period, landowners who were offered contracts to conserve forest cleared 4 percent of forested land, compared to 9 percent in villages where the program was not offered, delaying 3000 metric tons of carbon dioxide per village from being released into the atmosphere.
Marco Gonzalez-Navarro studies the impact of economic vulnerability on citizens’ willingness to engage in clientelism with local politicians. In our interview, he describes early influences on his research interests and how a book about behavioral economics saved an evaluation in Brazil from derailment.
J-PAL Director Esther Duflo teamed up with psychologists and the education NGO Pratham to evaluate an education intervention based on cognitive science for preschool children in Delhi, India.
The estimated impacts of charter schools have varied widely. In Massachusetts, students who won lotteries for charter schools located in urban areas often did substantially better than students who lost, while students who won lotteries for charter schools in nonurban areas fared, on average, about the same or somewhat worse compared to those who lost. A common feature of the charter schools with the most positive effects has been the adoption of a “No Excuses” educational approach.
Did you know that J-PAL and our partners recruit for hundreds of positions at universities, research centers, and nonprofit organizations around the world? Search our Careers page by sector, country, & job type: j-p.al/2utTZR4 2 days 23 hours ago.
For our Spanish speaking followers: The Spanish version of our free online course on Evaluating Social Programs will start soon. Enroll now! https://www.edx.org/course/evaluacion-de-impacto-de-programas-mitx-jpal101spax-0#! 1 week 22 hours ago.
J-PAL Executive Director @RunningREs on the technology paradox in education: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUHpxvx27LM 1 week 3 days ago.
Why was attendance monitoring for teachers in India more effective than for health workers? A new piece in Vox Dev breaks it down: http://voxdev.org/topic/health-education/implementation-ups-and-downs-monitoring-attendance-improve-public-services-poor-india 1 week 6 days ago.
Every child deserves an education. See how schoolchildren are using technology to learn in India: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b84u7m2FVPk 2 weeks 6 hours ago.
July 2017 Research Newsletter
J-PAL affiliates have new papers out now on randomized evalautions of electricity pricing, teaching math skills to preschoolers, and more.
State Police, MIT sign MoU
J-PAL South Asia signed a memorandum of understanding with the Madhya Pradesh Police in an effort to to make community policing more effective.
