2026 January Global Monthly Newsletter
Project AI Evidence: A new J-PAL initiative
AI has the potential to improve how governments and social programs serve people—but we know relatively little about what actually works in practice. Project AI Evidence (PAIE) will rigorously evaluate AI tools in real-world settings and scale those that deliver meaningful results.
PAIE has already funded eight evaluations exploring ways that AI can help governments, schools, health clinics, and community-based organizations reach people in need and reduce poverty. In the coming year, PAIE will fund new research, share guidance for policymakers on effective uses of AI, and train decision-makers to use and assess AI tools responsibly. Read more »
Join J-PAL’s AI for Social Good: Impact That Works event at the India AI Impact Summit
🗓️ February 17
Join us in New Delhi for the AI Impact Summit, where we will host a full-day research and policy seminar in collaboration with the Indian government. The seminar will feature leading researchers, tech company representatives, policymakers, and partners discussing how AI can drive inclusive and measurable impact worldwide.
The day will include presentations on the latest evidence in AI for social impact, panel discussions, and fireside chats across topics including climate and agriculture, education, governance and taxation, health, and labor. Register for the Summit »
Reflecting on five years of the King Climate Action Initiative
J-PAL’s $25 million King Climate Action Initiative (K-CAI) launched five years ago in collaboration with King Philanthropies. Since then, it has transformed promising ideas into proven, scalable solutions, like pioneering emissions trading markets that cut industrial pollution in India and giving governments actionable advice for implementing land conservation programs in Latin America.
After five years and over 180 partnerships with governments, NGOs, and the private sector, our K-CAI team reflects on how evidence‑driven climate policy can deliver meaningful benefits for both people and the planet—and sets its sights on what’s ahead. Read more »
EVIDENCE-INFORMED DECISION-MAKING
New case study: Digitizing social services to reach the right people and reduce poverty
📍Indonesia
Policy issue: Indonesia’s food assistance program, Rastra, was designed to provide families in need with subsidized rice to prevent hunger and reduce poverty. But J-PAL researchers found that the rice wasn't always reaching people most in need: Some wealthier households received subsidized rice they didn't need, while eligible households received less rice than their monthly allotment, and at a lower quality.
Evaluation: In 2017, the government of Indonesia leveraged its long-term partnership with J-PAL affiliated researchers and J-PAL Southeast Asia to evaluate whether switching from subsidized rice to electronic food vouchers could address these challenges. The evaluation, supported by J‑PAL’s Governance Initiative, included 105 districts across the country, encompassing one-fifth of Indonesia’s population.
Results: The evaluation showed that the reform improved targeting, increased the amount of assistance that eligible households received, and reduced poverty by about 20 percent among the poorest households at a lower cost than the previous system. Households also gained the power of choice, with flexibility to decide where to shop and what to buy—accessing better quality rice and other nutritious food like eggs.
Research in action: Informed by these results, the government expanded the e-voucher program and provided households with a larger subsidy and more flexibility in what they can spend it on. As of 2024, 18.8 million households were participating in the program. With support from J-PAL, the government of Indonesia has continued to evolve its food assistance programs and monitor the impacts of program changes.
Research by: Abhijit Banerjee (MIT; Director, J-PAL; Scientific Director, J-PAL Europe), Rema Hanna (Harvard University; Scientific Director, J-PAL Southeast Asia; Co-Chair, J-PAL’s Social Protection Sector), Ben Olken (MIT; Director, J-PAL; Scientific Director, J-PAL Southeast Asia; Co-Chair, J-PAL’s Social Protection Sector), Elan Satriawan (Universitas Gadjah Mada), Sudarno Sumarto (Senior Research Fellow, SMERU Research Institute)
FEATURED BLOGS
Partnering with the City of Cape Town for smarter, more equitable public utilities
Cape Town's Water, Air, and Energy (WAE) Lab, part of J-PAL’s worldwide Air and Water Labs, is a partnership between the city government and J-PAL Africa that is uncovering insights from the city's administrative data to enable them to proactively respond to crises and provide residents with access to reliable energy, clean air, and safe water.
In a new blog post, the WAE Lab team shares how this collaboration is transforming the city’s data into a tool for continuous learning—and creating a model for other city governments. Read more »
AI in the classroom: Unlocking potential and avoiding pitfalls
Randomized evaluations show that AI has the potential to help children learn by analyzing student data, personalizing lessons, providing richer feedback to students, and helping scale proven programs, among other opportunities. But safeguards are needed to ensure AI tools don’t overburden teachers or compromise students’ education and safety. In the latest post in our AI for social good blog series, we summarize the evidence on AI in schools and share questions for which more research is urgently needed. Read more »
Lessons from six years of J-PAL's African Scholars Program
The African Scholars Program emerged from the need to provide research funding and support for researchers in the region to generate more local evidence. Since 2019, the program has supported more than 100 researchers based in or from Africa with mentorship, visibility, and funding to carry out randomized evaluations, strengthening Africa’s research ecosystem. In this blog, we highlight the program’s learnings and J‑PAL Africa’s vision for expanding opportunities and evidence generation across the continent. Read more »
J-PAL North America’s 2025 year in review
Last year, J-PAL North America funded over thirty new research projects, supported researchers and partners, launched the Initiative for Effective US Crime Policy, and elevated programs worth investing in. In a new blog post, Laura Feeney (Executive Director) and Vincent Quan (Director of Strategic Partnerships and Innovation) reflect on a successful 2025 and share what they are excited for in the new year. Read more »
Recently, J-PAL North America honored two individuals who have made extraordinary contributions to evidence-informed policymaking in the region: 2025 Evidence Champions Owen Garrick (Dean of Clinical Trials, Mayo Clinic) and J-PAL affiliated professor Damon Jones (University of Chicago). Read more about Owen’s efforts to implement bold, actionable, evidence-driven health care solutions, and Damon’s work to make racial equity research more rigorous and inclusive.
FEATURED EVALUATION SUMMARY
The effect of free contraception on women’s birth rates
📍Burkina Faso
Policy issue: Birth rates have declined globally, but the shift has been slower in many countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Is this primarily due to lack of access to contraception or do other factors play a role?
Evaluation: Researchers collaborated with the national Ministry of Health of Burkina Faso to conduct a randomized evaluation to measure the impact of providing free contraception on birth rates in rural areas.
Results: Access to free contraception did not lower women’s birth rates. Offering free contraception also did not affect birth rates when combined with information to correct misconceptions about child mortality rates; or exposure to a diversity of views about family size, modern contraception, and the importance of beliefs that encourage having more children.
Researchers concluded that while access to reproductive health services is a human right, it is no silver bullet; birth rates are largely shaped by underlying economic factors. Policies that foster economic development will likely affect women's decisions about having children, in addition to family planning access. Read more »
Research by: Pascaline Dupas (Princeton University; Scientific Director, J-PAL Africa), Seema Jayachandran (Princeton University; Co-Chair, J-PAL’s Gender Sector), Adriana Lleras-Muney (UCLA), Pauline Rossi (Ecole-Polytechnique)
FEATURED RESEARCHER
Economic research is not just about mastering technical tools, it's about curiosity, persistence, and the desire to generate evidence that can shape better policies for our societies.”
Gildas Magbondé on improving employment outcomes and learning in schools
In our latest African Scholar Spotlight, Gildas Magbondé from the University of Cape Town reflects on how growing up in rural Benin drew him to development economics and impact evaluation. He shares insights from his J-PAL-funded research in Benin, including a randomized evaluation to improve youth employment outcomes, and an exploratory study on teacher oversight to strengthen learning in primary schools. Read more »
WELCOMING OUR NEW AFFILIATED PROFESSORS
In summer 2025, we welcomed 29 talented researchers to the J-PAL network. We feature a few of them here each month.
Giorgia Barboni
University of Warwick
Felipe Barrera-Osorio
Vanderbilt University
Dennis Egger
University of Oxford
📺 FEATURED MULTIMEDIA
WATCH: Abhijit Banerjee at the World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE)
At the WISE conference in Qatar in late November, Abhijit Banerjee (MIT; Director, J-PAL; Scientific Director, J-PAL Europe) gave remarks on the changing landscape of education policy and the use of AI and other new technologies to boost children’s learning. In his speech, he drew on decades of experience in the field to reflect on progress on getting children into classrooms, how technology has changed the field of education, and what the future may hold for global learning. Watch the keynote »
FEATURED TRAINING
Advance your skills in data and applied economics
🗓️ Courses begin January 20
This spring, deepen your understanding of data-driven policy and global development with three online graduate-level courses in MIT and J-PAL’s Data, Economics, and Design of Policy (DEDP) MicroMasters program.
- Data Analysis for Social Scientists takes learners from foundational statistics to modern econometric techniques, data visualization, and experimental design—using real-world examples and the R programming language.
- The Challenges of Global Poverty examines the root causes of poverty and explores cutting-edge interventions across sectors like health, education, and finance.
- Energy Economics and Policy examines energy and environmental markets, focusing on industries such as oil, natural gas, electricity, and coal. Students will learn how economics and policy tools can influence climate change and development.
Courses are taught by MIT faculty and are free to audit, with the option to pay for a certificate. Learners who complete the full credential (five courses) can apply to MIT’s residential master’s DEDP program, one of several pathway universities, or ADEPT partners. Enroll today »
🗞️ MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS
A new lens on humanity
MIT News
Reform jobs scheme, but build on its gains [Opinion]
Hindustan Times
Using evidence to combat poverty, one community at a time [Opinion]
Governing
📄 NEW RESEARCH PAPERS
Messaging Teachers to Boost Student EdTech Use
Roberto Araya, Julian Cristia, Lisseth Escalante, Raissa Fabregas, Carolina Méndez, Gera Ríos
Wage Subsidies to Promote Female Hiring: Evidence from Pakistan
Maurizio Bussolo, Jean Lee, Mahreen Mahmud, Nayantara Sarma, Anaise Williams
Dynamic Complementarity in Elementary Schools: Experimental Estimates from Ecuador
Pedro Carneiro, Yyannú Cruz-Aguayo, Rafael Hernández-Pachón, Norbert Schady
Can Informal Health Providers Help Reach the Last Mile? Experimental Evidence on Malaria Control from Nigeria
Pedro Carneiro, Yoonjei Michell Dong, Sanghmitra Guatam, Marcus Holmlund, Costas Meghir, Edit Velenyi