Our mission is to reduce poverty by ensuring that policy is informed by scientific evidence. We do this through research, policy outreach, and training.

A Zoom screenshot of 12 people, including students and program staff
Blog

The Data, Economics, and Development Policy master’s: Learning and connecting at MIT during Covid-19

We welcomed the second cohort of the Data, Economics, and Development Policy (DEDP) master’s program to campus in January. The students will earn their master’s degree in just eight months under a hybrid online and in-person model that allows the cohort to build community at MIT while accommodating...

A hand holding a small card resting on top of a bag of rice and a bag of fruit.
Blog

The role of administrative data in improving social protection programs: A success story from Indonesia

Read about a collaboration between the Government of Indonesia and researchers to use government administrative data to evaluate some of the largest social programs in the country.

People wearing masks stand in a line.
Blog

Growth is not enough

With an abundance of important and sometimes surprising findings from studies of socioeconomic interventions in recent decades, it is clear that development in the absence of evidence-based policymaking is a fool's errand. The small details matter as much as—and sometimes more than—the economic big...

Researchers from monitor carbon in peat swamp
Blog

King Climate Action Initiative’s first round of projects: Testing and scaling climate solutions

J-PAL's King Climate Action Initiative announced the results of its first competition aimed at identifying innovative solutions at the intersection of poverty and climate change, serving as a critical first step in building a longer playbook of evidence-based and cost-effective climate change...