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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.

Social Pressure and Voter Turnout in the United States

Christopher Larimer
To study the effect of increased social pressure on turnout, researchers sent households one of four randomly selected mailings eleven days before Michigan’s August 2006 primary election. All four mailings increased turnout, but informing households of their neighbors’ past voting records raised...

Voluntary Counseling and Testing to Reduce Risky Sexual Behaviors and Increase Schooling Investments in Malawi

Erick Gong
Berk Özler
Researchers introduced a Voluntary HIV Counseling and Testing (VCT) program to young females in Malawi to determine whether the program affects risky sexual behavior and school performance. They found no overall effect of VCT on risk of sexually transmitted infections or achievement test scores...

Relationship Banking in India

Researchers evaluated whether the intensity of personalized interaction between borrowers and loan officers in India influenced borrowers’ repayment behavior. They found that clients with personal relationship managers at the bank had better repayment behavior but were not more satisfied with their...

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 Disbursing Microfinance Loans via Mobile Money Accounts in Uganda

Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to test disbursing microfinance loans through digital accounts on business outcomes in Uganda. Women who received their loan through a digital account experienced higher business capital and profits compared to those who received their loans via cash.

The Value of Postsecondary Credentials in the Labor Market in the United States

Amira Abulafi
Claudia Goldin
Noam Yuchtman
For-profit (and often online) universities account for nearly half of all postsecondary growth over the last decade, yet relatively little is known about how employers value and compare these education types. To test this, researchers randomly submitted resumes with different characteristics and...

Welfare Benefits of Decentralized Solar Energy for the Rural Poor in India

To evaluate the demand for solar electricity, researchers randomly offered solar microgrid connections at different prices to households in rural areas of Bihar, India. Demand for microgrids was highly variable and low when they were offered at market price, likely because there were several other...