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News, ideas, and analysis from J-PAL staff and affiliated professors. Subscribe to our newsletter to receive monthly email updates.

Young child crawling

Behind the scenes with researchers from the Baby’s First Years study

Baby’s First Years (BFY), a J-PAL North America-funded study, recently published results showing that monthly cash support impacts infant brain activity. In an interview with J-PAL staff, J-PAL affiliated professor Lisa Gennetian (Duke University) and researcher Kimberly Noble (Teachers College...
Parents help their young baby take her first steps.

Strengthening randomized evaluations with qualitative research: Baby’s First Years household measurement

By
  • Sarah Halpern-Meekin
  • Jill Hoiting
In this post, researchers from the Baby's First Years study describe what we can gain from triangulating with qualitative and quantitative data on household rosters and how it should encourage us to be cautious in interpreting our results.
Laura Feeney and Vincent Quan

Get to know J-PAL North America’s co-executive directors

Laura Feeney and Vincent Quan discuss their backgrounds before coming to J-PAL North America, how they plan to work together as co-executive directors, and their top priorities in 2022.
A mother and her newborn baby lay in bed together.

Strengthening randomized evaluations with qualitative research: Baby’s First Years mothers' experiences

By
  • Sarah Halpern-Meekin
  • Katherine Magnuson
In this post, the researchers on the Baby's First Years study reflect on the value of qualitative research in both providing a deeper understanding of each participant’s background and context and painting a fuller picture of mothers’ experiences in the study.
A folder labeled "Medical Bills" and marked "past due"

Exploring the benefits of rigorous evidence with the team behind the evaluation of RIP Medical Debt

By
Allison Sesso (Executive Director of RIP Medical Debt) and Wes Yin (UCLA) discuss the ongoing randomized evaluation of RIP Medical Debt’s model for buying and relieving medical debt.
Marcella Alsan leans against a short wall, facing the viewer.

Affiliate Spotlight: Marcella Alsan on her recent MacArthur Fellowship award and researching racial disparities in health

Marcella Alsan, economist, physician, and Co-Chair of J-PAL’s US Health Care Delivery Initiative, was recently selected as a recipient of a 2021 MacArthur Fellowship, in recognition of her work “investigating the role that legacies of discrimination and resulting mistrust play in perpetuating racial...
People in suits stand on the steps of a large building

Leveraging learning agendas to catalyze policy relevant research: Three takeaways from federal and local approaches

This August, the White House Office of Management and Budget previewed the roll out of a government-wide learning agenda to bring together vital questions raised across government agencies. On the precipice of this exciting initiative, we reflect on the critical role that learning agendas can play...
Three people sit facing each other at a table.

Documenting systemic patterns of employment discrimination in the United States

By
Researchers recently released results from a J-PAL North America funded study that documents systemic patterns of employment discrimination within large companies in the United States. In an interview with J-PAL staff, the research team shares reflections on their study, including how the randomized...