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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.

Price Incentives to Improve Coffee Quality in Uganda

Researchers are conducting a randomized evaluation to test whether providing traders “bonuses” for high-quality coffee affects the prices traders offer farmers for their coffee and whether this, in turn, affects farmers’ incentives to invest in the quality of their production.

The Impact of Sustained Cognitive Effort on Student Performance in India

Researchers evaluated the impact of practicing sustained cognitive activity on cognitive endurance and school performance in Lucknow, India. Students that spent additional time engaging in sustained cognitive effort received higher grades in all of their classes, improved their performance on tests...

The Impact of a Quiz-Style Information Campaign on Covid-19 Prevention in the United States

Researchers are measuring the impact of a quiz-style information campaign on people’s learning and adherence to Covid-19 health protocols. This study is part of a three-country research in the United States, Ghana, and Zambia program aiming to generate evidence on the best strategies to effectively...

The Impact of a School-Based Smoking Prevention Program in Indonesia

Justin White
Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to measure the impact of a school-based program that used a non-monetary penalty and regular monitoring to prevent adolescent tobacco use. The program reduced the probability that adolescents smoked, with effects sustained three months after the program...

HIV/AIDS Prevention Through Relative Risk Information for Teenage Girls in Kenya

To test the impact of information on teenagers’ sexual decisions, a “Relative Risk Information Campaign” was conducted in 71 schools to give students information about the distribution of HIV infection rates by age and gender groups and discuss the role of cross-generational sex in the spread of HIV...

Providing Health Insurance through Microfinance Networks in Rural Karnataka, India

Richard Hornbeck
Researchers partnered with SKS Microfinance to measure the impact of bundling a health insurance product with microloan renewals on health insurance take-up, and health care use and spending. They found that the requirement to purchase health insurance substantially reduced microcredit clients’ loan...

Union Leaders and Factory Workers’ Collective Action in Myanmar

Labor movements can improve workers’ lives but face great difficulty in getting workers to agree on common goals and take collective actions. In garment factory workers’ group discussions on minimum wage policies in Myanmar, researchers randomly included union leaders to study whether the presence...

Changing Handwashing Behavior with Edutainment in Bangladesh

Kailash Pandey
Chikako Yamauchi
Researchers conducted an evaluation to test the impact of a hand-hygiene edutainment (entertainment education) campaign on handwashing and health in Bangladesh. The campaign improved handwashing and child health but had no impact on hygiene knowledge.