The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) is a global research center working to reduce poverty by ensuring that policy is informed by scientific evidence. Anchored by a network of more than 900 researchers at universities around the world, J-PAL conducts randomized impact evaluations to answer critical questions in the fight against poverty.
The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) is a global research center working to reduce poverty by ensuring that policy is informed by scientific evidence. Anchored by a network of more than 1,100 researchers at universities around the world, J-PAL conducts randomized impact evaluations to answer critical questions in the fight against poverty.
Our affiliated professors are based at over 130 universities and conduct randomized evaluations around the world to design, evaluate, and improve programs and policies aimed at reducing poverty. They set their own research agendas, raise funds to support their evaluations, and work with J-PAL staff on research, policy outreach, and training.
Our Board of Directors, which is composed of J-PAL affiliated professors and senior management, provides overall strategic guidance to J-PAL, our sector programs, and regional offices.
We host events around the world and online to share results and policy lessons from randomized evaluations, to build new partnerships between researchers and practitioners, and to train organizations on how to design and conduct randomized evaluations, and use evidence from impact evaluations.
Browse news articles about J-PAL and our affiliated professors, read our press releases and monthly global and research newsletters, and connect with us for media inquiries.
Based at leading universities around the world, our experts are economists who use randomized evaluations to answer critical questions in the fight against poverty. Connect with us for all media inquiries and we'll help you find the right person to shed insight on your story.
J-PAL is based at MIT in Cambridge, MA and has seven regional offices at leading universities in Africa, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, Middle East and North Africa, North America, South Asia, and Southeast Asia.
J-PAL is based at MIT in Cambridge, MA and has seven regional offices at leading universities in Africa, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, Middle East and North Africa, North America, South Asia, and Southeast Asia.
Our global office is based at the Department of Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It serves as the head office for our network of seven independent regional offices.
Led by affiliated professors, J-PAL sectors guide our research and policy work by conducting literature reviews; by managing research initiatives that promote the rigorous evaluation of innovative interventions by affiliates; and by summarizing findings and lessons from randomized evaluations and producing cost-effectiveness analyses to help inform relevant policy debates.
Led by affiliated professors, J-PAL sectors guide our research and policy work by conducting literature reviews; by managing research initiatives that promote the rigorous evaluation of innovative interventions by affiliates; and by summarizing findings and lessons from randomized evaluations and producing cost-effectiveness analyses to help inform relevant policy debates.
How do policies affecting private sector firms impact productivity gaps between higher-income and lower-income countries? How do firms’ own policies impact economic growth and worker welfare?
How can we identify effective policies and programs in low- and middle-income countries that provide financial assistance to low-income families, insuring against shocks and breaking poverty traps?
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.
Northwestern University economist and J-PAL affiliate Dean Karlan highlighted that the Graduation approach delivered results even in one of the world's most challenging environments, Somalia noting that the results fall in the upper end of the spectrum for what the program typically delivers, and...
J-PAL's co-founder Abhijit Banerjee says teaching children, not curriculum, is key to faster global education progress, at the Yashraj Bharati Samman, 2026.
Typically, a society’s population remains stable if women have about 2.1 children each. By that metric, the word has a big problem. In developed countries the total fertility rate is well below that figure. So what are the economic consequences of that shortfall? Soumaya Keynes speaks to Melissa...
O J-PAL América Latina e Caribe (LAC) apresenta um resumo das conquistas do escritório no primeiro trimestre de 2026. Encontre as últimas atualizações sobre pesquisas, iniciativas, cursos, eventos, recursos e muito mais relevantes para políticas públicas.
J-PAL affiliate Monica Lambon-Quayefio, Associate Professor at the Department of Economics, University of Ghana, said unlocking the potential of TVET required a deliberate, well-resourced, and inclusive ecosystem to prepare the youth for the modern economy during the webinar on the theme "Youth...
In this episode of VoxDevTalks, Craig McIntosh discusses a recent J-PAL policy insight that takes stock of the evidence from randomised controlled trials on credit, subsidies, and cash transfers for smallholder farmers, arriving at conclusions that challenge some of agriculture's most persistent...
J-PAL North America's April newsletter shares exciting new media from Chelsea Eats—a Covid-19 era cash transfer program in Massachusetts, updates on our Evidence Matters webinar series, and a call for applications to Research Staff Training.
At the IFED 2026 conference on April 15, 2026, researchers and education leaders from Puerto Rico presented new findings on the impact of computer-assisted learning (CAL) in public schools. Findings presented at the Puerto Rico International Future of Education (IFED) Conference 2026 highlight how...