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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.

Reducing emissions and air pollution from informal brick kilns: Evidence from Bangladesh

In many low- and middle-income countries, it is commonly believed that weak state and regulatory capacities limit the ability to reduce pollution and mitigate climate impact. Researchers developed a low-cost intervention to improve the energy efficiency of zigzag kilns and conducted a randomized...

Tripura leads education reform with Saharsh Utsav, pioneering emotional learning

The Tripura government has taken a significant step towards education reform with the inaugural Saharsh Utsav at Rabindra Shatabarshiki Bhawan in Agartala. Inaugurating the event, Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha emphasized the importance of emotional intelligence in education. He remarked,...

Podcast | Nobel Laureate Esther Duflo on Poverty, Inequality, and Policy

In this special episode of The India Briefing, Nobel Laureate and development economist Esther Duflo joins hosts Mukulika Banerjee and Pya Tiwari for a wide-ranging conversation on poverty, inequality, and evidence-based policymaking in India.

World’s first particulate matter trading scheme in Gujarat cut pollution by up to 30%, finds study

The world’s first-ever market for trading in particulate matter emissions—launched in Gujarat’s Surat in 2019 through partnerships with the University of Chicago, Yale University, and the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL)—has reduced pollution by 20-30% among participating industries...

Pedalling towards gender equality and empowerment

In Bihar, India and in rural Zambia, the government introduced programmes to address gender gaps in education by providing adolescent girls with bicycles for their commute to school.

Schools failing to teach students to apply math in real-world settings, study reveals

A study published in the journal Nature yesterday, Wednesday, February 5, 2025, titled Children’s Arithmetic Skills Do Not Transfer Between Applied and Academic Math, reveals that Indian teaching practices fail to equip students with the skills to apply mathematics in real-world settings.

Study in India shows kids use different math skills at work vs. school

Students can excel at mental math in marketplace jobs but struggle with formal math in the classroom, and vice versa.

STEM scholarships for girls must be a national imperative

Although India accounts for 31.7 percent of the global STEM graduates (43 percent being women), the readiness of its girls to fulfill these roles remains alarmingly low, as women in India account for just 27 percent of the STEM professionals.