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

A man walks through arid land carrying buckets filled with small plants

The Evidence Effect: Evidence for action in conflict and crisis

The people in urgent need of humanitarian assistance are among those hardest hit by cuts to foreign aid. With humanitarian funding at historic lows, many essential services are being scaled back or suspended altogether, leading to preventable deaths and putting millions more lives at risk. Restoring...
Workers in a ptivate garment factory

The Evidence Effect: What we’ve learned working with the private sector for inclusive growth

The private sector is a fundamental force for driving global prosperity. For corporations and investors, there’s enormous opportunity in low- and middle-income countries’ growing markets and talent. What’s less clear is how to partner most effectively for maximum impact: How can multinationals...
VO secretary and members endorsing a beneficiary enterprise plan

Lessons from the field: How last-mile agents are delivering the largest government-led scale-up of the Graduation Approach

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.
Participants at South South Learning Journey event

Building effective social protection programs through government and researcher partnerships: Reflections from a MENA-SEA South-South Learning Journey

In a critical moment for global social protection systems, policymakers from Egypt and Indonesia recently came together in Jakarta for the groundbreaking event, South-South Learning Journey.
A woman working in a leather textile shop.

Expanding access to financing for SMEs

Access to finance is critical for firms to grow, innovate, and create jobs that help workers escape poverty. However, small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) worldwide are often underserved by financial institutions. In this blog, we explore early findings on SME financing for policymakers...
A craft store employee in Cianjur, West Java.

Using alternative data and artificial intelligence to expand financial inclusion: Evidence-based insights

Firms using innovative credit-scoring (ICS) have emerged to help banks and peer-to-peer lenders predict potential borrowers’ likelihood to repay a loan. In contrast to traditional credit scoring models that use credit history, ICS uses artificial intelligence to evaluate data unrelated to a borrower...
SJY graduated households

Graduation approach: Updated insights and best practices at scale

Recently, J-PAL updated its Policy Insight on the Graduation approach, in addition to a guide outlining key lessons from the large-scale adaptation of the graduation program, Satat Jeevikoparjan Yojana (SJY) by the State Government of Bihar in India.
A group of five women stand in front of a historical fort.

Affiliate Spotlight: Simone Schaner on lessons learned from advancing evidence-based policy

Simone Schaner is an associate professor (research) of economics at the University of Southern California and co-chair of the Inclusive Financial Innovation Initiative. Simone’s interests revolve around decision-making processes within households, especially related to financial access, health care...