Blog

News

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.

Personality Traits and Responses to Persuasive Appeals among Voters in the United States

David Doherty
Conor M. Dowling
Gregory A. Huber
Costas Panagopoulos
Researchers used two randomized evaluations, an online survey and a field experiment, to test how personality traits affect responses to persuasive appeals to vote. They found that individuals with high levels of openness were most responsive to a range of appeals.

The Impact of a Formal Savings Intervention in Sri Lanka

Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to test the impact of a deposit collection service on the amount of savings and the source of those savings. In a follow-up evaluation, researchers introduced design tweaks to test the impact of reducing collection costs on individuals’ savings behavior...

The Impact of Subsidies on the Demand for Electrification in Rural Kenya

Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to measure the impact of offering subsidies to connect to the power grid on the demand for rural electrification in Kenya. The study finds that demand falls rapidly as connection price increases, and that supply costs are very high.

Increasing the Transparency of Environmental Regulation in India

In India, where particulate matter pollution is a pressing issue, researchers are investigating whether increased transparency about industrial firms’ pollution emissions can improve the enforcement of environmental laws and reduce pollution.

Gender Violence and School Achievement in Mozambique

Sofia Amaral
Aixa Garcia-Ramos
Sarita Ore-Quispe
In Mozambique, researchers are evaluating the GBV and schooling impacts of implementing a GBV curriculum targeted at students.

The Medium-Term Impacts of High-Achieving Charter Schools in the United States

Researchers examined results of a school admissions lottery to measure the impact of charter school education on students after six years. They found that offering a charter education resulted in improved test scores, higher college enrollment, a reduction in specific risky behaviors, and no...

The Impact of Providing Land Tax Subsidies, Local Monitoring, and Minikits on Irrigation Use in Rwanda

Maria Jones
Florence Kondylis
John Loeser
Building off of previous quasi-experimental research, researchers conducted three randomized evaluations to test the impact of providing farmers with land tax subsidies, different ways of monitoring water access and the canal’s operations and maintenance, or farming minikits on farmers' use of...