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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.

Community Driven Development in the Philippines

Amanda Beatty
Ariel BenYishay
Elisabeth King
Aniceto Orbeta
Community-based approaches to development, also called community-driven development (CDD), seek to empower local communities to identify and implement the projects they most need. Researchers evaluated the impact of a national community-driven development program in the Philippines on governance...

The Impact of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy on Low-Income Individuals in Rural Ghana

Nathan Barker
Angela Ofori-Atta
Researchers worked with Innovations for Poverty Action and the University of Ghana Medical School to design, implement, and conduct a randomized evaluation of the impacts of a group CBT curriculum on low-income individuals in rural Ghana. CBT improved participants’ mental and physical well-being...

Can Transportation Subsidies Reduce Failures to Appear in Criminal Court?

Rebecca Brough
Matthew Freedman
Daniel E. Ho
Researchers partnered with local agencies in King County, Washington to evaluate the impact of providing transit subsidies on rates of FTA in court. While the study was disrupted due to Covid-19, the pilot results indicated that transit subsidies had little effect on reducing FTA.

Textbooks and Test Scores in Kenya

Sylvie Moulin
Researchers evaluated the impact of a program that provided additional textbooks to primary schools in Kenya on students, teachers, and overall learning. This study found no evidence that textbook provision increased average test scores, or that it reduced either grade repetition or dropout rates.

Savings Accounts for Village Micro-Entrepreneurs in Kenya

Jonathan Robinson
Researchers offered market vendors and bicycle taxi drivers in rural Kenya the opportunity to open a savings account at no cost. The formal savings accounts increased savings, productive investments, and expenditure levels among female micro-entrepreneurs, but not among males.

Community-Based Monitoring of Primary Healthcare Providers in Uganda

Researchers conducted two randomized evaluations in the health sector in Uganda to evaluate whether community monitoring could impact public health worker performance and subsequent health utilization and outcomes. They found community monitoring, when combined with information on health provider...

Willingness and Ability to Pay for the Kosim Clean Water Filter in Ghana

Researchers in Ghana are attempting to measure households' demand for simple ceramic water filters by offering the filter at different price levels through door-to-door sales. They will also explore whether different household characteristics, such as education, income, and health, affect a...

The Impact of Making Insurance Choices Easier in the United States

Jeffrey Kling
Eldar Shafir
Lee Vermeulen
Marian Wrobel
Researchers evaluated the effect of personalized options information on seniors' plan choices. They found that people who received personalized information were more likely to change plans, resulting in an average saving of US$100 per year. This suggests that direct information delivery can decrease...