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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.

The Impact of Peer Messaging to Combat the Spread of Covid-19 in Zambia

Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation in Zambia to test the impact of a peer-based information campaign, consisting of SMS messages and small cash incentives, on people’s adherence to Covid-19 health protocols. Participants forwarded public health SMSs when they were encouraged to do so, yet...

Radio Advertisements to Increase Electoral Competition in the United States

Costas Panagopoulos
Researchers examined the effect of radio advertisements on electoral competition through a randomized evaluation and found that radio advertisements that stated the names of both incumbents and challengers, reminded listeners about the date of the upcoming election, and encouraged them to vote...

Incentives, Selection and Productivity in Labor Markets in Malawi

Researchers evaluated the effect of randomly offering varied wages to bean-sorting workers in rural Malawi. While offering higher wages caused workers to increase their productivity, it did not attract more productive workers.

Changing Behavior and Nutrition through Health Education in China: Evidence from three randomized evaluations

Renfu Luo
Alexis Medina
Scott Rozelle
Yaojiang Shi
Linxiu Zhang
Huiping Zhang
Health education campaigns are often seen as a way to promote healthy behaviors and encourage the adoption of inexpensive life-saving and life-improving technologies. Researchers evaluated three health education campaigns for parents that aimed to reduce iron-deficiency anemia among primary school...

Mobile Money Usage and Expectations of Violence in Afghanistan

Joshua Blumenstock
Researchers evaluated the relationship between mobile money usage and violence in Afghanistan. Results suggest that access to a mobile salary payment system increased mobile money usage, but expectations of violence significantly decreased usage and increased cash savings instead.

The Impact of Poverty Reduction on Child Health, Nutrition, and Sleep in the United States

Nathan Fox
Sarah Halpern-Meekin
Emma Hart
Alicia Kunin-Batson
Katherine Magnuson
Kimberly Noble
Jessica Sperber
Hiro Yoshikawa
To understand the causal impact of poverty reduction on children’s health, nutrition, sleep, and healthcare utilization, among other outcomes, researchers randomly assigned new mothers to receive an unconditional cash transfer of $333 (high-cash group) or $20 per month (low-cash group) in the Baby’s...

Peer Pressure and Educational Investments in the United States

Researchers offered high school students the opportunity to sign up for free access to an online SAT preparatory course. Some students were told that their decision to sign up would be public, and others were told that their decision would be kept private. In non-honors classes, sign-up rates were...