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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.

Using Mobile Phones to Connect Politicians and Voters in Pakistan

In Pakistan, researchers are evaluating the impact of using mobile phones to directly connect politicians with voters and give voters the opportunity to provide real-time feedback to their elected representatives.

Mobile Phone Data Compared to Household Surveys to Evaluate the Impact of Cash Transfers in Togo

Emily Aiken
Suzanne Bellue
In Togo, researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to test the effect of cash grants on people's welfare and if using mobile phone data in impact evaluations yielded the same results as survey data. They found that the cash grant program increased food security, mental health, and self-perceived...

Evaluating the Impact of a Tech-Based Early Childhood Vocabulary Program in the United States

Ariel Kalil
Susan Mayer
Rohen Shah
Researchers evaluated the impact of a vocabulary improvement “edutainment” program for young children, Big Word Club, on children’s receptive vocabulary. Researchers found that the Big Word Club increased students’ knowledge and retention of words included in the program without detracting from...

Job Training and Matching to Increase Youth Employment in Egypt

Kevin Hempel
Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to determine the impact of job matching, job training, and counseling programs on youth employment in Egypt. The job training programs improved labor market outcomes such as employment, particularly for women. However, the intervention did not have a...

Diffusion of Agricultural Information within Social Networks: Evidence on Gender Inequalities from Mali

Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation in Mali to study the role of giving information to different people within a network in the spread of that information. People who were social and more closely connected to those who were trained had more information. Female farmers were less likely to...

Job Search Assistance for Syrian Refugees in Jordan

Grant Gordon
Maximilian Kasy
Soha Shami
Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation that introduced an adaptive targeted treatment assignment methodology to measure the impact of providing different types of job search assistance on job search rates and labor outcomes for Syrian refugees and local jobseekers in Jordan. While none of the...

Encouraging Technology Adoption in Agriculture through Recommendations and In-Kind Transfers to Smallholder Farmers in Mexico

Carolina Corral
Xavier Giné
In Mexico, researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to test the effect of providing plot-specific or general soil quality analyses and input recommendations, agricultural extension services, and flexible or inflexible in-kind grants on smallholder farmers’ adoption and knowledge of improved...