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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.

The Impact of Reducing Tax Rates and Strengthening Enforcement on Revenue Collection in the DRC

In partnership with the Provincial Government of Kasaï-Central in the Democratic Republic of Congo, researchers conducted a randomized evaluation during the 2018 property tax collection campaign to test the impact of lower property tax rates and stronger tax enforcement on revenue collection...

The Impact of Daily Quizzing on Student Achievement in Kenya

Researchers are partnering with Bridge International Academies to evaluate the impact of daily quizzing on students’ learning outcomes in Kenya.

Using Text Messages to Prevent the Spread of Covid-19 in India

Girija Bahety
Dev Patel
James Potter
Researchers tested whether reminders delivered via text message improved knowledge and adoption of social distancing and handwashing. They found no evidence that individuals changed their self-reported behaviors; this finding may highlight limited effectiveness of SMS-based information campaigns...

Demand for Manufacturing Training Services in Bangladesh

Researchers are partnering with the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ) to identify barriers to a wider market for consulting and training in Bangladesh by offering high-quality manufacturing training services at randomly-assigned price points and covering different topics. They find...

The Effectiveness of Financial Disclosure in the United Kingdom

Paul D. Adams
Stefan Hunt
Redis Zaliauskas
Researchers partnered with financial providers in the United Kingdom to evaluate the effectiveness of various disclosure designs aimed at supporting consumers’ financial decisions across savings products. Although most disclosures increased the number of consumers that switched to higher-yielding...

Direct Democracy and Local Public Goods in Indonesia

To examine these issues, researchers randomly assigned 49 villages in Indonesia to choose local infrastructure projects through either a direct election or a representative-based meeting. Choosing local infrastructure projects by direct election, rather than through representatives, had a small...

The Role of Incentives in the Distribution of Public Goods in Zambia

In Lusaka, Zambia, researchers compared the effect of financial and non-financial reward schemes on sales of female condoms. They found that non-financial incentives were more effective than financial rewards at motivating hair stylists to sell female condoms to their customers.

Improving Third-Party Audits and Regulatory Compliance in India

Researchers evaluated the impact of a reform to the pollution audit system in India, making auditors more independent, on the truthfulness of their reporting and the behavior of the firms they audited. Increasing their independence made them more likely to report the truth about industrial plants’...