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Browse news articles about J-PAL and our affiliated professors, and read our press releases and monthly global and research newsletters. For media inquiries, please email us.

Addressing Menstrual Stigma and Hygiene to Improve Education and Psychosocial Well-Being among Adolescent Girls in Madagascar

Julieta Vera
Duncan Webb
Researchers evaluated the impact of a program addressing constraints related to hygiene infrastructure and access to sanitary products while addressing social stigma around menstruation, on girls’ learning and psychosocial well-being in Madagascar. The program led to improvements in academic...

The Impact of Light-touch Employer-led Interventions on Attitudes Around Women's Work in India

Researchers evaluated the impact of two light-touch interventions (an orientation video for families, and a guided conversation between women and their families) on gender norms related to women’s work and increase labor force participation. Researchers did not find meaningful changes in support of...

Improving Financial Inclusion through Mobile Banking in Bangladesh

Researchers partnered with bKash, one of the leading mobile money providers in Bangladesh, to evaluate the impact of targeted training programs on mobile banking uptake among migrant households. Training increased migrants’ and their families’ adoption of mobile banking, with women adopting the...

The Impact of Poverty Reduction Among New Mothers on Child Brain Development in the United States

Molly A. Costanzo
Nathan Fox
Sarah Halpern-Meekin
Katherine Magnuson
Kimberly Noble
Sonya V. Troller-Renfree
Hirokazu Yoshikawa
Researchers evaluated the impact of poverty reduction via an unconditional cash transfer to mothers on child neurodevelopment. Children in families that received a $333 monthly transfer displayed different brain activity patterns than children whose mothers received only $20 a month.

Matching Small Firms with Apprentice Workers in Ghana

Researchers evaluated the effects of a national apprenticeship training program on the firms that received apprentices. Firms that received apprentices increased their profits as well as employment.

Teacher Incentives Based on Students' Test Scores in Kenya

In partnership with International Child Support, researchers designed and evaluated an incentives program that provided salary bonuses to teachers in Kenya based on the performance of their school as a whole on annual district exams. While results show that the incentives program led to an increase...

CARES Commitment Savings for Smoking Cessation in the Philippines

Researchers evaluated the impact of a voluntary commitment savings program that allowed individuals to deposit a self-selected amount of their own money that would be forfeited if they did not quit smoking within six months. Results suggested that individuals who were offered the program were much...