Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL)

Wall Street Journal reporter Jason Zweig writes about anti-poverty research, highlighting an MIT study that showed intervention methods can be effective at alleviating poverty. Prof. Esther Duflo says that, “We are trying to promote a culture of learning that will permeate governments and NGOs and businesses to such an extent that it will become par for the course.”

Tina Rosenberg writes for The New York Times about a study by J-PAL researchers examining the effectiveness of a poverty intervention program.  Researchers found that participants in the program, “ate more, were more certain about access to food, held more assets, had more income and savings, spent more time working, and enjoyed better mental and physical health.”

A new study by MIT researchers has found that anti-poverty intervention methods can be effective, reports Carolyn Johnson for The Boston Globe. Interventions resulted in “fewer skipped meals, more income from livestock and farming, and a durable, though small, increase in how much they consume each day.”

Professor Esther Duflo has been awarded Spain's Princess of Asturias social science prize for her work studying poverty in developing countries, the Associated Press reports. The organizers of the prize said that Duflo has “profoundly changed strategies for education, health and employment in Africa, Asia and Latin America.”

Martin Sandbu writes for the Financial Times about a report published by MIT’s Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) that questioned the effectiveness of microfinancing programs in the developing world. "Microcredit access did not lead to substantial increases in income," the report found.

Trent Gillies writes for CNBC about how MIT researchers are developing wearable devices to aid the visually impaired. The research, which is funded by the Andrea Bocelli Foundation, “would help blind people, especially in cities, move around alone,” reports Gillies.

The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) has been named to Bloomberg Businessweek’s list of The 85 Most Disruptive Ideas in Our History. Bloomberg’s Mark Littman explains that J-PAL has “changed the way economists approach development issues.”

MIT Professor Abhijit Banerjee and Varad Pande of Harvard write for The New York Times about the United Nations’ forthcoming Sustainable Development Goals. The authors provide suggestions for the development of successful objectives, including outlining specific goals and limiting the number of objectives.

Shawn Donnan of the Financial Times writes about a new MIT study examining gossip. Prof. Abhijit Banerjee explains that the study shows, “your sense of who is the office gossip is generally very good and that if you want to spread information you should do it by that person.”  

In a piece for The Huffington Post about the problems associated with defining a poverty threshold, Murtaza Haider, an associate professor of management at Ryerson University, highlights Prof. Abhijit Banerjee and Prof. Esther Duflo’s book Poor Economics: A Radical Rethinking of the Way to Fight Global Poverty. 

“The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab at MIT, which evaluates development projects, studied malaria medicines sold by pharmacies in four districts where BRAC and Living Goods work in Uganda,” writes Tina Rosenberg of The New York Times. J-PAL researchers found that efforts by non-governmental organizations are reducing the counterfeit drugs in Uganda.

In this article (written in Spanish), EFE news wire reports on MIT’s new lab aimed at finding solutions to growing food and water shortages brought on by population growth and climate change. The new lab is being established thanks to a gift from alumnus Mohammed Abdul Latif Jameel.

Arab News reports on MIT’s establishment of the Abdul Latif Jameel World Water and Food Security Lab. The lab will, “focus and coordinate MIT efforts to help find sustainable solutions for the scarcity of worldwide water and food supplies,” Arab News reports.

Tech reporter Austin Hess writes about the new Abdul Latif Jameel World Water and Food Security Lab. Prof. John Lienhard, tapped to direct the lab, tells Hess that, “interest in water and food sustainability is strong.”