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

Map showing the Western Balkans

How can insights from rigorous evidence inform policymaking in the Western Balkans?

This post highlights how rigorous impact evaluations can contribute to this broader reflection, including by examining interventions from neighboring countries outside the region facing similar challenges, such as migrant and refugee inclusion in Bulgaria and Turkey.
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...
Two kindergarten children stand in front of a blackboard, smiling.

Foundations for student success: Focusing on functional literacy and numeracy

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To support education systems to focus on functional literacy and numeracy, UNICEF is partnering with The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL at MIT), Pratham, and Delivery Associates.
A young girl wearing headphones sits in front of a laptop with notebooks beside her

Q&A with affiliate Michela Carlana on an online tutoring program to address Covid-19-induced educational inequalities

Following the shift to online instruction across Italian schools in March 2020, J-PAL affiliates Michela Carlana (Harvard University) and Eliana La Ferrara (Bocconi University) rapidly launched an online tutoring program to help students from disadvantaged backgrounds who were lagging behind during...
A woman wearing academic dress sits in front of a laptop and smiles at the photographer.

Pursuing evidence-based policymaking during crisis

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In this blog post, members of a research-practice partnership with the Puerto Rico Department of Education reflect on their strategies to improve education outcomes and to persevere during the Covid-19 pandemic.
A Bridge Kenya teacher provides feedback during pupil practice.

Navigating publication bias as an education provider

By
  • Timothy Sullivan
When a body of academic literature points to an effective new approach to generate meaningful learning gains for pupils, practitioners take notice. But this may not be the complete story. Timothy Sullivan, Director of Learning Innovation at education provider NewGlobe, shares insights from recent...
People wearing masks stand in a line.

Growth is not enough

With an abundance of important and sometimes surprising findings from studies of socioeconomic interventions in recent decades, it is clear that development in the absence of evidence-based policymaking is a fool's errand. The small details matter as much as—and sometimes more than—the economic big...
Teacher with child

¿Qué hemos aprendido de la evaluación rigurosa de políticas sociales en Europa?

Los investigadores afiliados a la red de J-PAL han conducido más de ochenta evaluaciones aleatorizadas de programas y políticas sociales, algunas de estas aún en curso, en veinte países de Europa, con un enfoque particular en los ámbitos educativo y laboral.