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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.

Delivering Clean Water to Households in India

Fiona Burlig
Amir Jina
More than two billion people around the world lack access to clean drinking water, and current approaches to increasing access have fallen short. Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to test the impact of delivering clean water directly to households on the valuation of clean water, and...

Using Social Networks to Spread Word-of-Mouth Information Campaigns in Rural India

Researchers conducted two randomized evaluations in India in which they identified effective individuals for information sharing ("gossips") through word-of-mouth. They found that information was disseminated more widely when shared by individuals nominated by others in their community, rather than...

Scaling Evidence-Based Innovations in Education with Government Partners

Laura Poswell, Executive Director of J-PAL Africa, participated on a panel at USAID’s Global Innovation Week, a multi-day event to showcase ways USAID is partnering with others to achieve the greatest impact. The panel shared their experiences generating evidence and pathways through which their...

The Impact of Defaults and Financial Incentives on Savings Decisions on a Mobile Money Platform in Afghanistan

In partnership with a mobile network operator launching a new phone-based savings account, researchers evaluated the role of defaults and financial incentives on savings decisions. Two months after the launch of the phone-based savings account, the company’s employees randomly assigned a default...

The Impact of Gender-Targeted Cash Transfers in North Macedonia

Ingvild Almas
Alex Armand
Valerie Lechene
Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to test the impact of targeting cash transfers to women on household spending and women’s empowerment. Targeting the cash transfer to mothers increased household spending on food. Women offered the transfers also had stronger measures of empowerment...

Tutoring and Career Counseling for High School Students in France (Talens)

Son Thierry Ly
Arnaud Riegert
If disadvantaged students lack information about their educational opportunities after high-school and the academic preparation they need to succeed in top universities, they may be less likely to apply to and attend these universities. Researchers tested the impact of a program that connected...

Summer Jobs Improve Employment Outcomes for Connected Youth

Jonathan Davis
Researchers studied the impact of a summer jobs program in Chicago on crime, education, and employment. The program dramatically reduced violent-crime arrests, including in the following school year, though it did not influence schooling or formal employment, and may have increased property crime in...