Blog

News

Browse news articles about J-PAL and our affiliated professors, and read our press releases and monthly global and research newsletters. For media inquiries, please email us.

Small Business Training and Loans for Aspiring Entrepreneurs in Disadvantaged Neighborhoods in France (ADIE)

Elise Huillery
Juliette Seban
Researchers evaluated whether coaching, guidance, and financial support could help young people create and sustain independent businesses. The entrepreneurship training program did not increase entrepreneurship, and participating youth were more likely to be unemployed and earn lower revenues from...

Unpacking the Links from Financial Education to Financial Behaviors in India

Fenella Carpena
Jeremy Shapiro
Bilal Zia
Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation of a video-based financial education course on participants’ financial behaviors in India to study which components of financial education programs are most effective. While the course alone had no impact on participants’ abilities to carry out financial...

Advertising Higher Earnings during Recruitment Processes for Community Service Providers in Uganda

Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to test the impact of expected earnings on candidates’ perception of a community health worker position in Uganda, and on the resulting size and composition of the applicant pool. Fewer socially motivated participants applied when advertised wages were...

Providing Sexual and Reproductive Health Advice via SMS in Uganda

This evaluation tested whether increasing access to information about sexual and reproductive health via a text message service could reduce rates of risky behavior. The new text message service did not have a measurable impact on health knowledge, but led people to perceive the risks associated...

Online Job Portals and Firm Hiring in India

Firms in low- and middle-income countries tend to hire mainly from referral networks, which may limit hiring. Online job portals can expand recruitment networks, but firms may be hesitant to hire unfamiliar candidates outside of their network. Researchers partnered with an online job portal in India...

The Impact of Social Interactions on a Household's Aspirations and Investments in Nicaragua

Renos Vakis
In Nicaragua, researchers examined the impact of interacting with motivated community leaders on aspirations, household investment, and long-term living standards. They found that social interactions with these motivated community leaders increased households’ investments in education, nutrition...

Providing Endowments to Improve Bargaining Outcomes for Microentrepreneurs in Ghana

Gisella Kagy
Lena Song
Researchers randomly provided more or less cash to garment-making firm owners in Ghana before a bargaining game to evaluate the impact of endowment on the negotiated sale price of a good. Owners of garment-making microenterprises with lower household liquidity agreed to lower sale prices during the...