The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) is a global research center working to reduce poverty by ensuring that policy is informed by scientific evidence. Anchored by a network of more than 1,000 researchers at universities around the world, J-PAL conducts randomized impact evaluations to answer critical questions in the fight against poverty.
The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) is a global research center working to reduce poverty by ensuring that policy is informed by scientific evidence. Anchored by a network of more than 1,000 researchers at universities around the world, J-PAL conducts randomized impact evaluations to answer critical questions in the fight against poverty.
Our affiliated professors are based at 97 universities and conduct randomized evaluations around the world to design, evaluate, and improve programs and policies aimed at reducing poverty. They set their own research agendas, raise funds to support their evaluations, and work with J-PAL staff on research, policy outreach, and training.
Our Board of Directors, which is composed of J-PAL affiliated professors and senior management, provides overall strategic guidance to J-PAL, our sector programs, and regional offices.
J-PAL recognizes that there is a lack of diversity, equity, and inclusion in the field of economics and in our field of work. Read about what actions we are taking to address this.
We host events around the world and online to share results and policy lessons from randomized evaluations, to build new partnerships between researchers and practitioners, and to train organizations on how to design and conduct randomized evaluations, and use evidence from impact evaluations.
Browse news articles about J-PAL and our affiliated professors, read our press releases and monthly global and research newsletters, and connect with us for media inquiries.
Based at leading universities around the world, our experts are economists who use randomized evaluations to answer critical questions in the fight against poverty. Connect with us for all media inquiries and we'll help you find the right person to shed insight on your story.
J-PAL is based at MIT in Cambridge, MA and has seven regional offices at leading universities in Africa, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, Middle East and North Africa, North America, South Asia, and Southeast Asia.
J-PAL is based at MIT in Cambridge, MA and has seven regional offices at leading universities in Africa, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, Middle East and North Africa, North America, South Asia, and Southeast Asia.
Our global office is based at the Department of Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It serves as the head office for our network of seven independent regional offices.
Led by affiliated professors, J-PAL sectors guide our research and policy work by conducting literature reviews; by managing research initiatives that promote the rigorous evaluation of innovative interventions by affiliates; and by summarizing findings and lessons from randomized evaluations and producing cost-effectiveness analyses to help inform relevant policy debates.
Led by affiliated professors, J-PAL sectors guide our research and policy work by conducting literature reviews; by managing research initiatives that promote the rigorous evaluation of innovative interventions by affiliates; and by summarizing findings and lessons from randomized evaluations and producing cost-effectiveness analyses to help inform relevant policy debates.
How do policies affecting private sector firms impact productivity gaps between higher-income and lower-income countries? How do firms’ own policies impact economic growth and worker welfare?
How can we identify effective policies and programs in low- and middle-income countries that provide financial assistance to low-income families, insuring against shocks and breaking poverty traps?
The world has made tremendous progress in getting children into schools. Not so much in making them learn. In India, which has one of the biggest school systems in the world, nearly every eligible child receives primary education. But almost half of 10-year-olds struggle to read a simple story by...
In a new working paper, J-PAL affiliated researchers Jason Kerwin and Olivier Sterck, and J-PAL alumna Nada Rostom demonstrate how standard balance tests used in randomized evaluations indicate imbalance too often.
J-PAL LAC was established in the Institute of Economics (IE) of UC Chile in 2009. Since then, J-PAL LAC’s expansion to more countries in the region has been largely thanks to our donors. Learn about some of our most recent partnerships with them.
A cadre of 5,000 Master Resource Persons (MRPs) has been working in the Indian state of Bihar to implement the Government of Bihar’s Satat Jeevikoparjan Yojana (SJY), an adaptation of the Graduation Approach.
This blog post provides an overview of the evolving policy narratives in humanitarian work, emphasizing J-PAL’s initiatives to address evidence gaps. It also highlights the establishment of a dedicated portfolio at J-PAL MENA, aimed at supporting localized actions and ensuring that humanitarian...
The need for more financing is one of the biggest barriers to small- and medium-sized enterprises’ growth. Microcredit programs can help entrepreneurs overcome financial constraints, providing access to resources to boost the growth of small businesses and alleviate poverty by increasing income...
Economists have long used qualitative methods to inform the design and help interpret the results of RCTs. To support the further integration of qualitative methods into randomized evaluations and provide more structured guidance, J-PAL has developed new research resources and training materials for...