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.

July 2025 Global Monthly Newsletter

In the July edition of our newsletter, we celebrate five years of J-PAL Middle East and North Africa and their work to embed rigorous evaluation and learning in policy systems across the region, highlight how the private sector and funders can catalyze change, and share takeaways from an event...

J-PAL MENA Celebrates Five Years of Transforming Policymaking in the Region

The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab Middle East and North Africa (J-PAL MENA) at The American University in Cairo (AUC) celebrated its fifth anniversary today. This marks five years of harnessing the power of evidence to design cost-effective and large-scale policies that address poverty and...

Opinion | Esther Duflo, Nobel laureate: 'Development aid is not a waste of public money'

As international solidarity wanes, the 2018 winner of the Nobel in Economics points out that development aid is not a mere crutch, but an investment: Increasingly strong research networks, including in struggling countries, know how to assess needs and identify solutions for overcoming hardship.

June 2025 North America Newsletter

J-PAL North America's June newsletter features reflections on our work in Puerto Rico, new research results on the impact of tutor-student gender match, and a recent symposium that the Health Care Delivery Initiative participated in.

Podcast | Iqbal Dhaliwal on Building Better Aid Systems

Iqbal Singh Dhaliwal, the Global Executive Director of the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL), dives into the shifting landscape of global development as foreign aid faces cuts. He discusses how we can address the significant changes—through new coalitions and evidence-based solutions—and...

Opinion | Abhijit Banerjee, prix Nobel : «Nous, économistes du développement, n’avons pas fait un assez bon travail pour dire haut et fort l’importance de l’aide»

In a recent interview with Liberation, Nobel Prize-winning development economist Abhijit Banerjee reflects on the field of development economics and its advocacy efforts. Banerjee acknowledges that development economists have fallen short in their responsibility to effectively communicate and...

Experts Gather at UM6P to Bridge Research and Policy on Climate, Education, Jobs

The Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P) in Rabat brought together researchers, policymakers, and international experts for a major conference focused on how scientific research can help create better public policies in Morocco. Keynote speaker Esther Duflo, Nobel Prize-winning economist, MIT...

Opinion | The retreat from aid is a costly mistake

It has been easy to dismiss efforts to raise the prospects of the world’s poorest as an abject failure. The United Nations reported 712 million people living in extreme poverty in 2022, 23 million more than in 2019. However, Foreign aid was helping the world’s poorest escape misery.