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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.

Teacher Performance Pay in Andhra Pradesh, India

Venkatesh Sundararaman
Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh to measure the relative effectiveness of conditional versus unconditional bonuses on improving the quality of schools. Offering conditional incentives to individual teachers was a cost-effective way to improve...

School Grants and Parents' Education Spending in India

Pramila Krishnan
Venkatesh Sundararaman
Researchers studied how a school grant program affected learning outcomes and household spending. After the first year of the grant program, students in treatment schools performed significantly better than those in comparison schools, but by the end of the second year, there was no detectable...

The Impact of Drought-Tolerant Rice on Local Labor Markets in India

Researchers are testing the impact that stress-tolerant seeds, which have better yields than conventional varieties under weather shocks, affect landless laborers.

The Impact of an Agricultural Training Program on Technology Use in Bangladesh

Maria Jones
Florence Kondylis
Daniel Stein
Despite recent economic growth in Bangladesh, food insecurity remains widespread. Researchers evaluated the impact of an agricultural training program for farmer groups on technology adoption in rural Bangladesh, and investigated what drives adoption and who is affected by the training, both...

Replacing an inefficient policy of free agricultural electricity in India

In partnership with the Government of Punjab, researchers are conducting a randomized evaluation of the Direct Benefit Transfers for Electricity program that creates a monetary incentive for farmers who are able to reduce consumption below a specified electricity allocation.

The Impact of Debt Relief in India and the Philippines

Researchers evaluated whether offering market vendors cash grants to pay off existing debt and financial training influenced future borrowing behavior. While market vendors were less likely to borrow and borrowed in smaller amounts in the short-term, most returned to debt within six weeks.

The Impact of Mask Distribution and Promotion on Mask Uptake and Covid-19 in Bangladesh

Jason Abaluck
Jade Benjamin-Chung
Neeti Zaman Bintee
Emily Crawford
Muhammad Maqsud Hossain
Ellen Bates Jefferys
Alamgir Kabir
Laura H Kwong
Shadman Rahman
Shabib Raihan
Hasan Mahmud Reza
Ashley Styczynski
Peter J. Winch
Researchers partnered with Innovations for Poverty Action and Bangladeshi policymakers to test various strategies to increase mask-wearing and assess the impact of community mask wearing on SARS-CoV-2 infection rates. They found that a four-part intervention tripled mask usage and increased physical...