Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL)

🧑💻 Meet Fredric, a PhD student in his third year at Massachusetts Institute of Technology—and an alum from the inaugural cohort of the #DEDP master’s program at MIT. Before applying to the program, he completed his MicroMasters credential in high school. His story shows how learners of all backgrounds can complete the online program and pursue a master’s degree at MIT. 📚 Read the full story: https://bit.ly/3LCz5rc

In 2023, 189 million people across the world were unemployed, and over 664 million people were employed—but still experiencing poverty. Public works programs, which provide short-term government-sponsored employment for infrastructure and community-service projects, have become a popular tactic for policymakers to attempt to alleviate poverty and reduce unemployment. In our newest Policy Insight, we reviewed thirteen randomized evaluations across twelve countries focused on the impacts of public works programs. What did this evidence review find? 🚧 Public works program participants had higher earnings and employment rates during the programs. However, increases in earnings and employment tended to disappear within a year after a program’s conclusion. 🚧 Many participants experienced lasting increases in savings or assets, even after effects on earnings and employment faded. These savings sometimes helped participants invest in durable goods or private enterprises, including self-employment. 📖 Read the Policy Insight to learn more: https://bit.ly/4fcMbcr

Last Blog of three in the series! Took me a while to get this one out… I have still so much to say! So why did I limit myself to 3-part series and now I’m struggling to fit in everything else I want to say in the last one… and of course work travel, my daughter’s summer break and life in general got in the way. But here it is finally. Putting the I in Impact - perhaps THE most important lesson that continues to define my choices. Link - https://lnkd.in/gUtxhp_i J-PAL, my home for the last sixteen years, has taught me an invaluable lesson – one that my mother also instilled: “If you don’t stand up for something, you will fall for anything”. She was of course referring to my choice of boyfriends, but this caution has stood me in good stead in my work. Working in this field for the last two decades, I am well versed with criticisms of randomised controlled trials. But isn’t it equally problematic to provide aid to unfounded programmes that don’t have a solid foundation or clear understanding of impact, potentially leading to wasted resources and missed opportunities? J-PAL’s comparative advantage is our superpower. Read on to know what and how. We, in the impact space, have been trained to focus on the path ahead, not dwell on failures but celebrate successes (so that we justifiably can advocate for action). The enormity of the developmental challenges we face can be daunting, but through writing this series, I had to pause, reflect, and openly discuss both successes and potential solutions that showed great promise but didn't deliver. I also went behind the scenes to unpack some of our programs that continue to scale as I write this, through states and beyond country lines. I hope by sharing our collective learning, we equip ourselves to tackle these large yet surmountable development challenges. Together, let's pivot and embrace this culture of reflection and continuous improvement to drive meaningful change. Test your priors. Play the Long Game. Put the I in Impact. Journal/ Lesson 1: No Silver Bullet - https://lnkd.in/gcR53MUW Journal/ Lesson 2: Play the Long Game - https://lnkd.in/gDc_DD9k

#DEDP master’s alumni pursue roles within research, policy, and implementing organizations—but their work shares a common goal of tackling poverty using evidence-based approaches. Hear about what DEDP master's alumni Tomáš Dulka, Helena Wajnman, and Chuka Dean E. have accomplished since graduating: https://lnkd.in/eEbK6PJk Learn more about their career trajectories in our alumni spotlight: https://j-p.al/8c7

📢 Aditi Namdeo, our Director of Strategic Initiatives, took part in a lively discussion on "IndiaAI: Real World AI Solutions" at the Global IndiaAI Summit hosted by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) in New Delhi on July 3-4, 2024. Namdeo emphasized the role of the government in jointly developing a socio-technical framework. She also stressed the need for AI collaborations, bringing together developers, tech giants, policymakers, donors, and evaluators under one roof. The summit is a part of the Government of India’s efforts to create and advance the responsible development, deployment, and adoption of inclusive AI systems. The panel also hosted Jayesh Ranjan, Special Chief Secretary, Government of Telangana, Sanket S Bhondve, Joint Secretary, MeitY, Alpan Raval, Chief ML Scientist, Wadhwani AI; Amrita Mahale, Head of Product, ARMAAN; Vishal Sunil, CTO of Rocket Learning; Vivek Raghavan, Co-Founder, Sarvam AI; Manu Chopra, CEO, Karya; Priya Nagpurkar, Vice President, Hybrid Cloud and AI Platform, IBM Research and Srujana Merugu, Principal Scientist, Amazon.

⚽ Yesterday was a big day for soccer worldwide. Did you know playing soccer has helped people in post-conflict settings strengthen ties between groups? Learn about Salma Mousa's research in #Iraq as we unpack the evidence ⬇️ https://bit.ly/4bIzKlM

“Hi Dr Duflo! In your Nobel speech, you said that you want to make everyone understand poverty. Do these books do that?” In a room full of authors, academics, and artists, a young boy in round green plastic spectacles asked what Nobel Laureate Esther Duflo declared the “best question of the evening.” “Children are natural social scientists,” Duflo said as she delved into her motivation for writing ‘Poor Economics for Kids,’ a series of picture books that tells the story of Nilou and her friends. These stories – the daily lives of these children – are the lived experience of millions around the world.  Developed with Cheyenne Olivier, an award-winning illustrator, Duflo gently introduces children to the multidimensional realities of poverty and inequality with empathy and a touch of magic. Adults will enjoy these books as much as the kids will! In a rich visual reimagination of the world, the authors infuse the universal feeling of childhood into a succinct exploration of global poverty. The books series break stereotypes to elegantly illustrate themes such as education, health, nutrition, and migration, among others. The books are published in English as an anthology by Juggernaut Books and in Bengali, Hindi, Kannada, Tamil, and Marathi by Pratham Books. Duflo and Olivier launched the book series in packed auditoriums in Kolkata, Bengaluru, and Delhi on the 8th, 10th, and 11th of July in a series of panel discussions, moderated by Abhijit Banerjee, Roopa Pai, and Paro Anand respectively. The questions asked by curious attendees, both adults and children, to Duflo and Olivier were stunningly expansive in their range: from using AI to combat poverty, to the artistic inspiration behind the illustrations, to the technical innovations required to publish high-quality books at a relatively low price. Children were particularly impressive with their thoughtful questions on some of the biggest issues of our times. “Making people empathize with the struggles of those experiencing poverty is a lifelong journey,” said Dr Duflo, as she mused upon the decades of research and travel that she consolidated to develop these playful – and profound –  stories. Read more about the book series in The Telegraph: https://lnkd.in/gpyKTuW9 Pictures by The French Institute / IFI (Institut français India) and J-PAL South Asia

🎓 Alumni of the #DEDP master's program at Massachusetts Institute of Technology pursue many paths to shape the future of evidence-based policymaking. Learn how two alumni, Nouf Abushehab and Brian Daza, are combining their passion for research with a commitment to alleviate poverty by pursuing PhDs: https://j-p.al/12b

We had a fantastic week hosting our annual Evaluating Social Programs training! Alongside J-PAL North America, we welcomed participants from across the globe to dive deep into how to rigorously measure social impact. Explore our other course offerings: https://bit.ly/3RPoi0v

As of 2020, approximately 2 billion people worldwide still do not have access to safely managed drinking water. In our newest Policy Insight, we reviewed the evidence from eight randomized evaluations across six countries of interventions to increase the adoption of proven point-of-use (POU) and point-of-collection (POC) clean water strategies. 💧 Key takeaway: Providing POU and POC water treatment devices and products for free increases the share of households drinking chlorinated water. However, many households still do not use chlorine regularly even when it is free. In some cases, combining subsidies with nudges can increase usage. 💧 Key takeaway: Targeting subsidies for POU products to the households most likely to use them can reduce wastage and further increase the cost-effectiveness of delivering fully-subsidized chlorine. 📖 Read the Policy Insight to learn more: https://bit.ly/3W85BI1