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.
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.
On Global Lens, Iqbal Dhaliwal, Global Executive Director at J-PAL, tells Parikshit Luthra about the power of AI tools and how they can help improve the measurement and effectiveness of social schemes.
Amid rapid advances in artificial intelligence, Nobel Prize–winning economist Esther Duflo on Friday urged for a fundamental rethink of college education, arguing that universities should focus less on vocational training and more on equipping students to conduct themselves in an increasingly...
On Global Lens, Iqbal Dhaliwal, Global Executive Director at J-PAL, tells Parikshit Luthra about the power of AI tools and how they can help improve the measurement and effectiveness of social schemes.
In this edition of our newsletter, catch updates on Project AI Evidence, joining J-PAL at the India AI Impact Summit, and celebrate five years of the King Climate Action Initiative, and more.
Policymakers, researchers, and practitioners met at Mohammed VI Polytechnic University’s Rabat campus to discuss how scientific evidence can shape agricultural policy across Africa.
Catch up on J-PAL’s work at COP30, a forward-looking AI research agenda, and fresh stories from the Africa Evidence Effect in the December edition of our newsletter.
J-PAL North America's December newsletter features the 2025 Evidence Champions recognition, an end of year blog post, and an opinion piece on using evidence to combat poverty.
The Punjab Police has embarked on a landmark initiative, the “Mainstreaming of Women Police” project, aimed at comprehensively assessing and enhancing the role and integration of women police officers across the state. To ensure a scientific assessment of the training's impact, Punjab Police has...