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?
Arun Chandrasekhar is a Professor in the Economics Department at Stanford University. His research focuses on development, social networks, and econometrics.
Clément Imbert is a Professor of Economics at Sciences Po Paris (on leave from the University of Warwick). He received a PhD from the Paris School of Economics in 2012 and was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Oxford and Nuffield College until 2015.
Sara Heller is an Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Michigan. She studies policy interventions aimed at reducing crime and improving life outcomes of low-income youth.
Matthew Notowidigdo is a Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and Scientific Director of J-PAL North America. His research broadly focuses on labor and health economics. He studies the causes and economic consequences of unemployment duration and insurance, as...
Thomas Le Barbanchon is a Professor of Economics at Bocconi University. His research focuses on the impact of policies aimed at reducing unemployment and discrimination in the labor market.
Taha Barwahwala is a Senior Research Associate at J-PAL South Asia where he is exploring the effectiveness of advanced analytics and machine learning methods applied on administrative data to bolster the taxation capacity in the state of Punjab, India.
Melissa S. Kearney is the Neil Moskowitz Professor of Economics at the University of Maryland. Kearney's research focuses on issues of social policy, poverty, and inequality and her work examines the effect of government programs and economic conditions on the behaviors and outcomes of economically...
Researchers evaluated whether providing low-stakes diagnostic tests and feedback to teachers led to improved student learning outcomes in India. They found that teachers in intervention schools exerted more effort when observed in the classroom but students in these schools performed no better on independently-administered tests than students in schools that did not receive the program.
Researchers evaluated the impact of access to a package of free dental services on employment levels for urban residents of Santiago, Chile. Results found that participants with access to these services had better dental health, and that self-esteem and short-term employment increased among women, particularly those who had previously been missing front teeth or with lower levels of self-esteem.
Researchers evaluated whether an alternative teacher incentive scheme, providing rewards based on the performance of all students, could help reduce dropout and improve student math learning. Introducing the pay-for-percentile incentive scheme reduced overall student dropout rates. However, these reductions were driven almost entirely by students at intervention schools with math textbooks. Among schools with math books, the incentive scheme also improved the math achievement for higher performing students.
Alessia Mortara is Policy Manager at J-PAL Africa. She manages J-PAL Africa’s policy team in building partnerships with governments, donors, and civil society organizations to promote the use of evidence in decision-making as well as supporting the scale-up of successful interventions.
Yuen Ho is a Senior Policy Associate at J-PAL Global, where she supports the Political Economy and Governance sector, including the Governance Initiative, and serves as regional liaison to the Africa office.