The Evidence Effect: Evaluating Innovation in Development and Why it Matters

On June 27, 2025, just ahead of the UN’s Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development in Seville, J-PAL Europe will host a high-level half-day event in Paris to affirm the critical role of scientific evidence in shaping effective development policy. Bringing together leading voices from European aid agencies, foundations, academia, the media, and civil society, the event will celebrate shared commitments to smarter, evidence-informed investment in global development at a time when delivering impact is more urgent than ever.

Chaired by J-PAL co-founders and Nobel Laureates Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo, the event will spotlight examples of how rigorous research has improved education, health, livelihoods, and climate resilience for the world’s most vulnerable. With key contributions from French and European partners, including the Fund for Innovation in Development, the discussions will highlight how to scale what works and how evidence can guide more effective use of finite development financing.

A short sequence of presentations and panel discussions will focus on how scientific research can help us continue to use development funding to uncover and scale promising innovations that will allow us to save lives, promote access to better educational and employment opportunities, promote more effective governance and alleviate the burden of climate change for the world’s most vulnerable.

The event will be followed by a reception. 

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Confirmed speakers:

Abhijit Banerjee (MIT, J-PAL Co-Founder and Director)
Esther Duflo (MIT, J-PAL Co-Founder and Director)
Dean Karlan (Northwestern University, former Chief Economist at USAID)
Thomas Melonio (Chief Economist and Executive Director of Innovation, Strategy and Research, AFD) 

More speakers to be announced soon.