The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) is a global research center working to reduce poverty by ensuring that policy is informed by scientific evidence. Anchored by a network of more than 1,100 researchers at universities around the world, J-PAL conducts randomized impact evaluations to answer critical questions in the fight against poverty.
The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) is a global research center working to reduce poverty by ensuring that policy is informed by scientific evidence. Anchored by a network of more than 1,100 researchers at universities around the world, J-PAL conducts randomized impact evaluations to answer critical questions in the fight against poverty.
Our affiliated professors are based at over 130 universities and conduct randomized evaluations around the world to design, evaluate, and improve programs and policies aimed at reducing poverty. They set their own research agendas, raise funds to support their evaluations, and work with J-PAL staff on research, policy outreach, and training.
Our Board of Directors, which is composed of J-PAL affiliated professors and senior management, provides overall strategic guidance to J-PAL, our sector programs, and regional offices.
We host events around the world and online to share results and policy lessons from randomized evaluations, to build new partnerships between researchers and practitioners, and to train organizations on how to design and conduct randomized evaluations, and use evidence from impact evaluations.
Browse news articles about J-PAL and our affiliated professors, read our press releases and monthly global and research newsletters, and connect with us for media inquiries.
Based at leading universities around the world, our experts are economists who use randomized evaluations to answer critical questions in the fight against poverty. Connect with us for all media inquiries and we'll help you find the right person to shed insight on your story.
J-PAL is based at MIT in Cambridge, MA and has seven regional offices at leading universities in Africa, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, Middle East and North Africa, North America, South Asia, and Southeast Asia.
J-PAL is based at MIT in Cambridge, MA and has seven regional offices at leading universities in Africa, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, Middle East and North Africa, North America, South Asia, and Southeast Asia.
Our global office is based at the Department of Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It serves as the head office for our network of seven independent regional offices.
Led by affiliated professors, J-PAL sectors guide our research and policy work by conducting literature reviews; by managing research initiatives that promote the rigorous evaluation of innovative interventions by affiliates; and by summarizing findings and lessons from randomized evaluations and producing cost-effectiveness analyses to help inform relevant policy debates.
Led by affiliated professors, J-PAL sectors guide our research and policy work by conducting literature reviews; by managing research initiatives that promote the rigorous evaluation of innovative interventions by affiliates; and by summarizing findings and lessons from randomized evaluations and producing cost-effectiveness analyses to help inform relevant policy debates.
How do policies affecting private sector firms impact productivity gaps between higher-income and lower-income countries? How do firms’ own policies impact economic growth and worker welfare?
How can we identify effective policies and programs in low- and middle-income countries that provide financial assistance to low-income families, insuring against shocks and breaking poverty traps?
Roland Rathelot is a Researcher at the Centre de Recherche en Economie Statistique (CREST). His areas of interest include labor economics, public economics and economics of immigration, with a particular focus on the spatial dimension. He is currently conducting randomized evaluations of counseling...
Vincent Pons is the Byron Wein Professor of Business Administration in the Harvard Business School’s Business, Government, and International Economy Unit. He studies questions in political economy and development with the goal of understanding how to make rights and services more accessible to...
Silvia Prina is a Professor of Economics at Northeastern University. Her research focuses on understanding the behavior of the poor for the purpose of uncovering potential strategies to improve their lives. Silvia studies the impact of financial access on the welfare and decision-making of the poor...
Martín Antonio Rossi is Professor of Economics at Universidad de San Andres. His research focuses on the intersection between development economics, political economy, and public economics. Past studies have examined wealth and politics, public service incentives, political effort, and labor market...
Christopher Roth is a Professor of Economics and Management at the University of Cologne. His research areas include psychology and economics, political economy, and macro-expectations.
Heather is a Professor of Economics at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Her research interests focus on health, public economics, and labor economics. Currently, Heather is studying education’s causal effects on health and fertility, as well as the effects of information and incentives...
Namrata Kala is an Assistant Professor in Applied Economics at the MIT Sloan School of Management. Her research interests are in environmental and development economics.
How do we ensure we are addressing the correct barriers to women's empowerment in Egypt? This blog unpacks why childcare might not be the right solution to supporting women's employment and increasing gender equity in Greater Cairo.
We’re incredibly excited to invite you to join ATAI and DAISI for an upcoming webinar series, Research to Action for Resilient Agriculture, exploring evidence-based agricultural technologies and practices that promote climate resilience while supporting sustainable resource use. Small-scale farmers...
Stefano Caria is an Associate Professor in Development Economics at the University of Oxford. He uses experimental and structural methods to investigate how to make labor markets work better for the poor.