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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.

Graduating the Ultra-Poor in Ethiopia

Nathanael Goldberg
Researchers present results from six randomized control trials of an integrated approach to improve livelihoods among the very poor. The impact on the poor households lasted at least a year after all implementation ended.

The Role of Extrinsic and Intrinsic Motivations for Tax Compliance in Germany

Researchers partnered with a Protestant church district in metropolitan Bavaria, Germany, to conduct a field experiment to reveal taxpayers’ motivations to comply with a local church tax. Researchers found that simplifying the tax notification, highlighting the possibility of tax enforcement, and...

The Impact of a Credit-Building Loan Product and Credit Counseling on Low-Income Borrowers in the United States

Jeremy Burke
Kata Mihaly
Credit-building loan products (CBLs) have begun to proliferate in the U.S. marketplace, but there is little evidence on the effects of these products on consumers and lenders. IPA and RAND worked with researchers to evaluate the impacts of a CBL offered at a credit union in Missouri, both alone and...

The Effect of Social Pressure on Individuals' Financial Decisions in Central Malawi

Researchers evaluated the effect of social pressure to share income on farmers’ spending decisions by varying whether income from large cash prizes was received in a public or private setting. Receiving prize money in a public setting induced individuals to spend one-third more of their money in the...

Generating Skilled Self-Employment in Uganda

Nathan Fiala
Sebastian Martinez
Researchers used a randomized evaluation to measure the impact of a government program that gave groups of young people US$400 per person in return for a proposal to start a skilled trade. Recipients invested the cash and significantly increased their incomes for several years. However, nine years...

Using Technology to Improve Direct Benefit Transfer in India

Eric Dodge
Charity Troyer Moore
Can using technological innovations for monitoring improve the administrative implementation of social protection programs? In partnership with the Ministry of Rural Development in two states in India, researchers conducted a randomized evaluation of a new internet- and mobile-based management and...

The Economic, Health, and Psychological Effects of Health Insurance and Unconditional Cash Transfers in Kenya

Justin Abraham
Matthieu Chemin
Chaning Jang
Researchers evaluated the effects of a free health insurance policy and UCTs of the same value on the economic, health, and psychological outcomes of informal workers in Kenya. Participants who received health insurance self-reported reduced stress and had lower cortisol levels; UCTs led to fewer...