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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.

Changing Politicians' Responsiveness through the Provision of Voter Information in Pakistan

Asad Liaqat
Uninformed elected leaders or voters can negatively affect political accountability, such as decision-making on what and how public services are delivered to citizens. The researcher partnered with the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz party in Lahore to evaluate the demand and responsiveness of local...

The Impact of a WhatsApp-based Intervention on Financial Resiliency and Intimate Partner Violence in Colombia

Matthew Bird
Lina Cardona-Sosa
Pablo Lavado
Researchers are evaluating the effectiveness of an interactive WhatsApp-based couples communication, financial education, and COVID-19 information program in promoting low-income households' financial resiliency and reducing IPV rates in Colombia. Research is ongoing; results forthcoming.

The Impact of Demonstration Plots on Adoption of New Rice Varieties in Bangladesh

In Bangladesh, researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to test whether helping selected farmers set up demonstration plots could increase awareness in the community about a new rice variety by triggering information exchanges through new interactions. Demonstration plots comparing new versus...

Evaluating Transfer Size in a Conditional Cash Transfer Program for Seasonal Migrants in Indonesia

Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to test the impact of a cash transfer program conditional on seasonal migration and an unconditional cash transfer (UCT) program on rural households’ decisions to migrate and migration season earnings in West-Timor, Indonesia. Relative to the UCT, the...

Hiring Additional Instructors in Childcare Centers in India Improved Learning and Nutrition

Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu on the impact of adding an additional education-focused worker in early childhood development centers on students’ learning and health outcomes. The program increased the time spent on pre-school education, boosting...

Impacts of Nonpartisan Political Information on Electoral Accountability in Mexico

Leveraging the increasingly widespread use of social media, researchers conducted a large-scale randomized evaluation to test the direct and indirect impact on electoral accountability of a nonpartisan information campaign delivered via Facebook ads during the 2018 Mexican municipal elections...

Combating Corruption in Community Development in Indonesia

J-PAL affiliate Benjamin Olken (MIT) devised a method to measure corruption and used it to evaluate alternative strategies to reduce corruption on Indonesian roadbuilding projects. The evaluation tested two types of strategies: encouraging community participation and increasing the probability of...