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?
Crystal Yang is the Bennett Boskey Professor of Law at the Harvard Law School. She is also a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), where she is Co-Director of the Crime Working Group. Her current research includes empirical projects on racial bias in the criminal...
Tania Barham is an Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Colorado Boulder. She also serves as the Director of the Health and Society program at the Institute of Behavioral Science.
Jacobus Cilliers is an Associate Teaching Professor at Georgetown University. His research focus is on improving the quality of education in developing countries.
Tarun Jain is the Reserve Bank of India Chair in Finance and Economics at the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Ahmedabad. He also currently holds the position of Reserve Bank of India Chair in Finance and Economics at IIM Ahmedabad.
Amma Panin is an Assistant Professor of Economics at the Université Catholique de Louvain. She studies how risk and uncertainty shape economic decision-making. Panin has a particular interest in understanding how contemporary religious institutions evolve to provide substitutes to insurance and...
Sabrin Beg is an Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Delaware. Her research focuses on development, economic history, political economy, and applied microeconomics, specifically in developing countries.
Anant Sudarshan an Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Warwick and a Senior Fellow at the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago (EPIC). His research spans several aspects of energy and environment policy, including the design of environmental regulation, reducing air...
Gaurav Chiplunkar is an Assistant Professor at the Darden Business School, University of Virginia. His research studies the causes and consequences of labor market frictions in low-income countries, with a particular emphasis on the barriers faced by women and youth.
Andreas Stegmann is an Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Münster. His research interests include political economy and development economics. Andreas is also affiliated with the Centre for Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE).
Susan W. Parker serves as a Professor of Public Policy at the University of Maryland. She is also the Associate Director of the Maryland Population Research Center. Susan’s research centers on education and health, particularly the evaluation of public policies in developing countries.
Cristine Pinto is a Professor of Economics and Management at the Insper Institute of Teaching and Research in Brazil. She conducts research in theoretical econometrics, economics of education, and development economics.
Eric Mvukiyehe is an Assistant Professor at Duke University. His academic and policy research includes (i) poverty reduction and labor market frictions; (ii) employment, violence, and social stability; (iii) political economy of conflict and peacekeeping interventions; (iv) state capacity and local...