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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.

Decentralized Pricing for Public Services: Evidence from Tanzania

Florian Blum
Researchers introduced a price regulation on poultry vaccines in Tanzania to evaluate the impact of reducing service providers’ discretion over prices on the number of recipients served, prices charged, and the overall welfare of beneficiaries. The price-cap reduced the average price of vaccinations...

Using Technology to Promote Electoral Participation in South Africa

Karen Ferree
Clark Gibson
Danielle Jung
Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation of the VIP:Voice, a digital election participation platform, to measure the impact of information and communications technologies on individuals’ political participation. Via the platform, researchers interacted with nearly 100,000 citizens, recruited...

Improving Student Learning through Pay-for-Performance Teacher Contracts in Rwanda

Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to test the impact of pay for performance contracts on teachers’ qualities, effort, and student learning in Rwanda. Pay for performance improved teacher effort, particularly their presence in classroom and their pedagogical effectiveness, and raised...

The Effects of Reciprocity in Voter Mobilization Calls on Voter Turnout in the United States

Albert Fang
Gregory A. Huber
Catlan Reardon
Researchers evaluated the role of reciprocity in increasing voter turnout through voter mobilization calls by varying whether an initial phone call included a plausible sign of good will by the campaign—an offer to follow up reminding them to vote.

Community-Based Forestry Management to Improve Natural Resource Management and Farming Productivity in Ethiopia

Erwin Bulte
Goytom Abraha Kahsay
Fekadu Tefera Meka
researchers are evaluating the impact of CBFM on farmers’ agricultural productivity, adoption of modern technology, rural livelihoods, and forest conservation.

Reducing Voter Registration Costs in France

Celine Braconnier
Jean-Yves Dormagen
Researchers evaluated the impact of making voter registration easier on voter participation by providing information about voter registration and home registration visits. Overall, the results suggest that information and visits can encourage greater participation, particularly among groups that...

Estimating the Human Costs of Debtor Prisons

In Egypt, a sizable portion of the prison population is incarcerated solely for failing to repay private debts, highlighting serious concerns about the social, economic, and legal consequences of debtor imprisonment. Researchers are conducting two randomized evaluations, the first tests the impact...

The impacts of recruiting committee gender composition on women’s employment outcomes in Spain

Berta Esteve-Volart
If female managers are more likely to hire women, gender-balanced hiring committees may help promote parity in the long run. Using data from public examinations to enter the Spanish judiciary, researchers found that female candidates were less likely to succeed in the public examinations when...