Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) at MIT
Hirsch on France’s Commitment to Evidence
at International Conference
on Randomized Evaluation in Paris
Martin Hirsch, French High Commissioner for Active Solidarity against Poverty, kicked off a two-day “Conference on Experiments for Employment and Education Public Policies,” organized by DARES, the research arm of France’s Ministry of Labor.

The conference is part of the French government’s commitment to rigorous evaluation of social programs and development spending, and to understanding which interventions are effective in fighting poverty. In his address High Commissioner Hirsch argued that while France has devoted substantial resources J-PAL co-director Abhijit Banerjee presenting an overview of J-PAL and its work.to combating poverty there is little evidence of their effectiveness. He stressed the importance of building up a body of evidence so that resources spent on reducing poverty can be used to best effect. LEARN MORE

J-PAL co-director Abhijit Banerjee presenting an overview of J-PAL and its work.
Yemen Deworms
Politicians are translating evidence on deworming into action. Yemen launched a national campaign to eliminate schistosomes with the support of WHO and the World Bank in March (along with the WFP and UNICEF). Schools will be the major distribution point for school-aged children. The government has approached Deworm the World for support to extend the program to cover treatment for soil transmitted helminths (the other worm in deworming). The Zambian government has also pledged its support for an expansion of school-based deworming under its National Child Policy. LEARN MORE
J-PAL Researchers Explore
the New Challenges of Microfinance
What does a small business in Hyderabad look like and what would it look like if it had access to credit? What happens if micro-entrepreneurs are asked to repay monthly instead of weekly? Would offering health insurance through microfinance institutions help address risk vulnerability of borrowers? These are among the questions that J-PAL researchers are working hard at answering, as they build up evidence on how microfinance can work best for the poor.
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J-PAL Courses
With courses in the United States, France, India, and Indonesia this summer J-PAL will train over 150 practitioners in running randomized evaluations. The courses focus on how to scientifically measure the effectiveness of development programs, and are aimed at development practitioners interested in learning how to run randomized evaluations.
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New Briefcase
Check out our new briefcase on strategies to combat corruption in Indonesia!
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If you are not currently receiving J-PAL publications and updates and wish to be added (or removed) from our electronic and postal mailing lists, please contact us at povertyactionlab@mit.edu

YUNUS VISITS J-PAL

Muhammad Yunus and Mohammed Jameel visited J-PAL on June 6. Muhammad Yunus gave the commencement speech at MIT, and met with J-PAL to learn more about its research.

J-PAL IN THE PRESS
J-PAL is making economics relevant again and doing the most influential work on the critical issues of our time according to an informal survey by The New York Times. LEARN MORE
Hillary Clinton’s bid for the U.S. Presidency sparked interest in how the experience of having a woman political leader changes attitudes toward women based on a J-PAL paper. LEARN MORE
NEW PAPERS
GENDER DISCRIMINATION
Powerful Women: Does Exposure Reduce Prejudice?
by Lori Beaman, Raghabendra Chattopadhyay, Esther Duflo, Rohini Pande and Petia Topalova, 2008. READ
EDUCATION
Teacher Performance Pay: Experimental Evidence from India
by Karthik Muralidharan and Venkatesh Sundararaman.
Conditional Cash Transfers in Education: Design Features, Peer and Sibling Effects Evidence from a Randomized Experiment in Colombia
by Felipe Barrera-Osorio, Marianne Bertrand, Leigh L. Linden, and Francisco Perez-Calle, March 2008. READ
Complement or Substitute? The Effect of Technology on Student Achievement in India
by Leigh L. Linden, June 2008. READ
RURAL DEVELOPMENT
How High are Rates of Return to Fertilizer? Evidence from Field Experiments in Kenya
by Esther Duflo, Michael Kremer and Jonathan Robinson, American Economics Association Papers and Proceedings, May 2008. READ
Finding Missing Markets (and a disturbing epilogue): Evidence from an Export Crop Adoption and Marketing Intervention in Kenya
by Nava Ashraf, Xavier Giné, and Dean Karlan, January 2008. READ
HEALTH
Putting a Band Aid on a Corpse: Incentives for Nurses in the Indian Public Health Care System
by Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo, and Rachel Glennerster, forthcoming in Journal of the European Economic Association, Spring 2008.
ENVIRONMENT
Cooking Stoves, Indoor Air Pollution and Respiratory Health in Rural Orissa, India
by Esther Duflo, Rema Hanna and Michael Greenstone, forthcoming in Economic and Political Weekly, 2008.
INSURANCE
Limited Insurance within the Household: Evidence from a Field Experiment in Kenya
by Jonathan Robinson, April 2008. READ

The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) in the MIT Department of Economics is dedicated to fighting poverty by ensuring that policy decisions are based on scientific evidence. We run, promote the use of, and disseminate the results of randomized evaluations of poverty programs.