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

Caregivers and children at a community center where Acompáñame a Crecer is implemented in Guatemala.

Using existing data to generate better questions

For governments, evidence-informed policymaking does not always start with the results of an impact evaluation. Sometimes it starts with a more immediate question: what can we learn from the information and experience we already have?
Small group of teachers in training activities in Santiago, Chile. July 21, 2017

Guiding College Students’ AI use Improves Learning: Experimental Evidence from Chile

By
  • Sebastian Gallegos
Generative artificial intelligence (AI) has spread through higher education at extraordinary speed. Today, tools such as ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Claude, and Microsoft Copilot are common study companions for university students worldwide. In Latin America, approximately 92 percent of students...
A group of J-PAL LAC staff and trainees pose in a group on grass

J-PAL LAC’s government partnerships: Córdoba and the path toward a culture of evidence use

By
Integrating evidence into public sector decision-making is a practical challenge. It requires technical capacity, usable data, and management routines that make it possible to prioritize, learn, and adjust policies in a sustained way. In this context, the Ministry of Economy and Public Management of...
Women sit dressed in business casual clothing and applauding in an auditorium

Moving from convenings to classroom change in partner preschool networks

High-quality early childhood education is essential. Randomized evaluations show that simple, low-cost activities, like reading, singing, and playing, can boost children’s cognitive, language, social, and motor skills. How can we deliver high-quality preschool education at scale?
Colleagues stand in a line in front of a projector smiling.

K-CAI at COP30: How evidence is powering climate solutions

In Belém, Brazil, where the Amazon rivers converge and forests help regulate the earth’s temperature, COP30 last month was a unique summit and call to action. Climate change is not just an environmental crisis—it is a development crisis. Low-income people in low- and middle-income countries are...
Rural entrepreneurs selling their products

Empowering rural entrepreneurs in Chile: Insights from the Trafkintunkimun program evaluation

By
Can business training programs help rural microentrepreneurs thrive? A new evaluation of Trafkintunkimun, a rural entrepreneurship training program in southern Chile, finds that participants improved their business practices and household incomes. Gains were strongest for women and for entrepreneurs...
Preschool in Brazil

Quality early childhood education: The role of teacher training

With nearly all Brazilian children aged 4 and 5 now enrolled in preschool, new questions are emerging about how to ensure quality in this stage of education. According to Brazil’s National Institute for Educational Studies and Research, 93 percent of children in this age group attend preschool...
Public officials from OEFA. Credit: María Paz Monge | J-PAL LAC.

J-PAL LAC government partnerships: Pathways to evidence

In Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), government-led social programs hold the highest potential to drive meaningful change. The J-PAL LAC office partners with governments across the region, working to expand the use of rigorous evidence in shaping public policy. Along the way, we’ve gathered...