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

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Better policies to support entrepreneurs and create more jobs: A new focus on adaptation and scale

J-PAL’s Jobs and Opportunity Initiative (JOI) is expanding its scope to test promising strategies to help meet the jobs challenge through entrepreneurship and firm growth.
Adam Osman presents in front of a J-PAL MENA banner

Affiliate Spotlight: Adam Osman

Adam Osman is an Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Co-Scientific Director at J-PAL Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Adam’s work using randomized evaluations to test theories about improving the lives of the poor serves to fill the gap in...
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Nurturing the next generation of Indonesian development economists

J-PAL Southeast Asia is building a cadre of local researchers and policy practitioners in development economics and strengthening the use of rigorous evidence in policymaking.
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Samantha Carter, J-PAL ‘20, on bringing innovative ideas to life

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As a former senior policy associate at J-PAL Global, Samantha Carter played a leading role in managing J-PAL’s government scale-up initiative and the finance sector within the policy team. Now a research and operations manager at Precision Development (PxD), she works to take innovative ideas out of...
Headshot of Juliette Seban

Juliette Seban, J-PAL ’12, on driving forward development innovation at France’s FID

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As a former research manager at J-PAL Europe, Juliette Seban managed several randomized evaluations while pursuing a PhD in development economics. Juliette is now the executive director of France’s new Fund for Innovation in Development (FID). She reflects on her PhD experience, her work at J-PAL...
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Beyond causality: Additional benefits of RCTs for improving health care delivery

J-PAL affiliates Marcella Alsan and Amy Finkelstein highlight four key benefits of randomized evaluations that are useful for addressing pressing health policy questions, drawing from their recent Milbank Quarterly article.
A man sitting in a chair receives a Covid-19 vaccine to the arm

Navigating Indonesia’s post-pandemic era: Addressing opportunity, inequality, and growth

J-PAL SEA recently hosted a webinar aimed at providing insights into the Government of Indonesia’s policy directions and learnings from global evidence on challenges faced in different sectors. Read the key takeaways from the discussion.
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Alumni Voices: Reimagining how innovation funders measure and value gender impacts

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  • Rachna Nag Chowdhuri
Rachna Nag Chowdhuri ‘13 (former research manager at J-PAL South Asia) discusses her work at the Global Innovation Fund to reimagine how funders measure and value impact on gender equality outcomes.