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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 a Digital Credit for Small-Scale Farmers in Ghana

Researchers are evaluating the impact of an innovative mobile phone-based digital finance program on loan repayment rates, investment decisions, savings, and use of other financial services, as well as agricultural yields and profits.

Sequencing Two Early Childhood Interventions Back-to-back in India

Britta Augsburg
Jere Behrman
Monimalika Day
Sally Grantham-McGregor
Prachi Gupta
Prerna Makkar
Rashim Pal
Angus Phimister
Marta Rubio-Codina
Nisha Vernekar
Researchers evaluated the impact of immediately following up an early childhood development intervention for one-to-three-year-old children with a second intervention for three-to-six-year-olds. The early and late interventions each increased IQ and school readiness for children, although there was...

The Impact of Bid Training on Small Firm Growth in Liberia

Fei Ao
Vinayak Iyer
Golvine de Rochambeau
Researchers evaluated the impact of a bid training program on the business performance of local small and medium-sized firms. The bid training led firms to bid on and win more contracts, with the positive impacts concentrated on a quarter of firms.

Accelerating Changes in Norms about Social Distancing to Combat COVID-19

James Riddell IV
Tanya Rosenblat
Researchers are conducting a randomized evaluations to test the impact of different types of public health messaging on the practice of social distancing.

The Impact of a Peer Information Sharing Strategy to Combat the Spread of Covid-19 in Zambia

Researchers are measuring the impact of a peer information sharing strategy on people’s learning and adherence to Covid-19 health protocols. This study is part of a three-country research program in Zambia, Ghana, and the US aiming to find evidence on the most effective strategies to communicate...

Applying Behavioral Insights to Design Low-Income Insurance Policies in Pakistan

Torben Fischer
Andreas Landmann
This evaluation tested whether offering insurance policies that required enrollment at different group levels mitigated the risk of individuals who are more likely to need health insurance being more likely to purchase policies. When allowed to purchase insurance at the individual level, those most...

Improving Educational Outcomes through Online Tutoring during Schools Closures in Italy during the Covid-19 Outbreak

Researchers designed a free online tutoring program delivered by volunteer university students to test whether it could mitigate the effects of school closures during the COVID-19 outbreak. They found that the program had a positive outcome on students' learning outcomes, socio-emotional skills, and...

Energy Efficiency in Groundwater Extraction for Agriculture in Bangladesh

Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to test the impact of providing subsidies for a soil monitoring technology on the electricity used to pump groundwater to agricultural fields in rural Bangladesh. They found that the technology reduced the amount of electricity used for irrigation, but...