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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.

Designing Contracts for Healthcare Providers in India

Katherine Donato
Manoj Mohanan
Yulya Truskinovsky
Researchers evaluated two types of reward contracts—one that rewarded providers for increased use of inputs and one that rewarded providers for improved health outputs—among rural obstetric care providers in India. They found that both contracts reduced post-partum hemorrhage by 20-23 percent.

Linking Weather Index Insurance and Credit to Improve Agricultural Productivity in Rural Ethiopia

Shukri Ahmed
Alexandros Sarris
Researchers combined subsidized weather index insurance with input loans for fertilizer and modern seed use for smallholder farmers in rural Ethiopia to investigate the impact of these products on demand for insurance and resulting shifts in agricultural technology use and crop yields. Results...

Improving Economic and Psychological Well-being through Unconditional Cash Transfer in Kenya

Charlotte Ringdal
Jeremy Shapiro
Xiao Yu Wang
In Rarieda, Kenya, researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to measure the impact of GiveDirectly’s UCT program on poor rural households’ economic and psychological well-being. Results demonstrated that the program had significant welfare-improving impacts, both economically and psychologically...

The Effects of Youth Employment: Evidence from New York City Summer Youth Employment Program Lotteries

Alexander Gelber
Adam Isen
Numerous summer jobs programs in the United States seek to support the employment of young people facing barriers to employment and opportunity. Researchers studied the impact of the New York City Summer Youth Employment Program (which used a lottery to determine participation) on youth earnings...

The Effect of Text Message Reminders on Failure to Appear in Court in the Rural United States

Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to test the impact of text message reminders on rates of failure to appear in court (FTA) among people who are unhoused and housed in rural Shasta County, California. The reminders reduced FTA rates for the housed population, but did not impact FTA rates...

Impact of Financial Control on Women's Labor Supply and Gender Norms in India

Researchers worked with local banks and the state government of Madhya Pradesh to provide women with their own bank accounts, training on how to use them, and direct deposit of wages earned through the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) to measure the impact of...

Incentivizing Households to Save Energy in Hanoi, Vietnam

Jorge Lemus
Guillermo Marshall
Chi Ta
Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation during the summer months of 2023 to test the impact of using contracts or contests to encourage energy savings and assess their cost-effectiveness. Researchers found that contests and contracts achieved similar levels of energy savings. However, contests...