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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.

Prepaid Electricity Meters to Decrease Electricity Use and Recover Utility Revenue in South Africa

Grant Smith
Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation in Cape Town, South Africa to measure the effect of prepaid meters on households’ electricity use and utility revenue. They found that prepaid meters led households to reduce their electricity consumption, but helped the utility company recover more...

Nudging Good Politicians in the Philippines

Nico Ravanilla
Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to test the impact of an all-expense-paid three-day leadership training workshop on incentivizing honest and competent youth to run for a village youth council.

Comparing Cash and Voucher Transfers in a Humanitarian Context: Evidence from the Democratic Republic of Congo

Researchers tested the relative effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of an unconditional cash transfer and a voucher program on household consumption and well-being in a camp for internally displaced persons in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Both programs increased food security and asset...

Sending Reminders to Improve Tax Filing Decisions Among Low-Income Individuals in the United States

John Guyton
Patrick Langetieg
Mark Payne
Brenda Schafer
Michael Sebastiani
This study examines how reminders to file taxes affect tax filing decisions among low-income individuals who did not appear on a filed tax return. The results of two randomized evaluations demonstrate that one-time reminders increase tax filing—both to claim tax refunds as well as to voluntarily pay...

The Demand for Status Goods in Indonesia

Working with a large bank in Indonesia that markets platinum credit cards to high-income customers, researchers designed a series of randomized evaluations to understand the demand for status goods. Overall, researchers found that a substantial part of the demand for the platinum card is explained...

Testing Alternative Job Evaluation Schemes to Improve Civil Servant Work Performance in China

Employers often rely on subjective performance evaluations by supervisors to gauge the performance of workers–particularly in the public sector, where civil servants’ work performance is hard to measure. However, relying on the opinions of local supervisors could cause subordinates to prioritize...