October 2025 LAC Quarterly Newsletter
Growing Futures
After two and a half years working in Guatemala, J-PAL LAC, in alliance with the Universidad del Valle (UVG), is expanding past its Programa and Sondeo y Arranque (Exploration and Launch Program), and evolving into a new phase of work focused on strengthening the evidence to policy ecosystem in Guatemala and Central America beyond Early Childhood Development (ECD).
The Exploration and Launch Program yielded important government partnerships, technically assisted and built capacities across the public and private sector (400 public servants), including leading ECD nonprofits (20) and multilateral organizations (3); as well as set up key research projects (3) that seek to respond to gaps in the literature regarding early childhood stimulation and nutrition. In response to strong demand from local partners and recognizing the multidimensional nature of the challenges facing Guatemalan families, J-PAL LAC and UVG are preparing to launch a follow-up initiative, Growing Futures.
Rooted in the conviction that investing in early childhood is the most effective and immediate way to break intergenerational cycles of poverty, the initiative will bring together: (i) technical capacity-building, (ii) research, and (iii) public policy influence to generate rigorous evidence and scale solutions that improve the lives of not only infants, but their families as well.
By integrating early childhood development with social protection, health, education, and livelihoods, Growing Futures will generate locally relevant evidence, strengthen the design and effectiveness of social programs, and inform public policy, thereby amplifying the impact of interventions that seek to improve the well-being of Guatemalan families.
Looking ahead, Growing Futures will continue collaborating with the Ministry of Education to rigorously test and scale cost-effective solutions to expand access to early stimulation and education programs for infants nationwide. We will also deepen our partnership with the Ministry of Social Development by working on the redesign of social programs and the introduction of evidence-based innovations to conditional cash transfer initiatives such as Beca Artesano and Bolsa Social.
In parallel, we will support the inter-ministerial effort Mano a Mano, a flagship national strategy for poverty reduction, and strengthen collaboration with the Secretariat of Food and Nutritional Security (SESAN) by co-designing a data administration strategy to enable real-time progress tracking, rigorous evaluation of interventions, and the evidence-informed scaling of strategies to combat malnutrition and stunting.
Learn more about Growing Futures »
How research informed Mexico’s efforts to support women facing violence
In Mexico, 70% of women over 15 have faced some form of violence. To help strengthen its response, Mexico City’s Women’s Secretariat (SEMUJERES) partnered with J-PAL LAC and researchers Gustavo Bobonis (University of Toronto) and Manisha Shah (UC Berkeley) to jointly explore how rigorous evidence could inform and enrich existing strategies.
These included linking benefits to the minimum wage, embedding empowerment surveys, improving support services, and piloting a men’s engagement initiative. What began during the pandemic has evolved into a broader transformation in how SEMUJERES addresses gender-based violence. Read the case study »
Advancing preschool quality in Brazil
J-PAL LAC, Bracell Foundation, Itaú Social, and state and municipal education departments in Bahia and São Paulo launched the Pathways to Preschool project through in-person seminars in Camaçari, Feira de Santana, and Bauru. These sessions, targeted to preschool directors and coordinators, discussed the Brazilian preschool curriculum, shared good practices and presented experts on topics such as teacher training, quality, and equity. There will be one more event in Guarulhos during the month of November. Learn more about the project »
A round table on security with policymakers in Chile
In partnership with the UC Chile Public Policy Center, J-PAL LAC co-hosted a roundtable event with representatives from government — including the Secretary of Crime Prevention, Carolina Leitao, and Rocío Faundez, director of the National Youth Reintegration Service — plus NGOs and academia working in public security. J-PAL-invited researcher Micaela Sviatshi (Princeton) shared evidence on school- and prison-based interventions to prevent involvement in crime, followed by a discussion on the challenges of using evidence to shape security policy.
Evidence on labor market policies and implications for Brazil: Informality
In October 2025, J-PAL LAC’s Jobs and Opportunities Initiative (JOI) Brazil initiative and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) launched the fourth publication in the series Evidence on Labor Market Policies and Implications for Brazil, focusing on informality.
The publication brings together studies from different countries and analyzes policies aimed at reducing informality, translating academic knowledge into inputs for public debate and policy design.
The findings highlight the effectiveness of interventions that combine financial incentives, bureaucratic simplification, and personalized support for informal entrepreneurs, while pointing out the limited impact of generic actions. Read the publication and learn more about the JOI Brasil initiative »
EVIDENCE IN LAC
Does giving advice reduce teacher sorting?
A study by Nicolas Ajzenman (McGill University), Gregory Elacqua (Inter-American Development Bank), Macarena Kutscher (Universidad del Desarrollo–Chile), Carolina Mendez Vargas (Inter-American Development Bank), and Sonia Suarez (Inter-American Development Bank) explores whether advising can influence teachers’ decisions.
Using Peru’s nationwide teacher selection process, the researchers prompted teachers to advise peers on how to choose schools for greater educational impact. The exercise increased teachers’ own likelihood of applying to and being assigned to hard-to-staff schools in disadvantaged areas. The findings highlight self-persuasion through giving advice as a cost-effective tool to reduce teacher sorting and advance educational equity. Read the working paper »
What drives discrimination against women in elections—bias or beliefs?
A study by Amanda de Albuquerque (Rede A Ponte), Frederico Finan (University of California, Berkeley), Anubhav Jha (Ashoka University), Laura Karpuska (Insper Institute of Education and Research and University of Rochester), and Francesco Trebbi (University of California, Berkeley & NBER) develops a method to disentangle taste-based and statistical discrimination in political behavior.
They combine a structural model of voting with a large-scale, micro-targeted electoral experiment in Brazilian municipal elections aimed at boosting female candidate vote share. The results uncover significant levels of both kinds of discrimination, and show that counterfactual campaign strategies could reduce both. Read the working paper »
Do work-study programs in school have lasting effects?
A study by Mery Ferrando (Tilburg University), Noemi Katzkowicz (Universidad de la República), Thomas Le Barbanchon (Bocconi University), and Diego Ubfal (World Bank) investigates whether working while in school leads to long-term labor market gains.
Through a lottery design in Uruguay, the authors find that participation yields a persistent 11% increase in formal earnings seven years after the completion of the program. Long-term effects are significantly larger for men, while remaining positive also for women. They show the program is cost-effective, exceeding many job training programs and comparable to early childhood investments. Read the working paper »
MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS
São Paulo precisa avaliar o uso de plataformas de aprendizagem
Da informalidade à economia digital: os desafios do trabalho no Brasil I André Mancha
Directora del Centro de América Latina de la U. de Tsinghua visitó la U. de Chile
Bahia recebe seminários do Projeto Caminhos da Pré-Escola para fortalecer a qualidade e a equidade na educação infantil
Sempi e Instituto GENi encerram etapa da formação “Fortalece Elas” com aula sobre gestão de dados para políticas públicas