J-PAL Europe : Research

Impact assessments

In recent years, several impact assessments have been completed. Their results have been communicated, notably on the following themes:

• Lessons learned from an active citizenship and civic education program in three countries;
• Effects of an education program, “Understanding Each Other“, which teaches students perspective-taking to alleviate the social exclusion of refugee students;
• Effects of raising awareness of particle pollution linked to wood heating;
• A public business suggestion service, “La Bonne Boîte“, in partnership with France Travail;
• Parental involvement and school dropout prevention;
• Effects of the CréaJeunes business start-up support scheme, in partnership with the Association for the right to economic initiative;
• Diversity and equal opportunity within a distribution company;
• Effects of contractualized autonomy income.

Other projects, led by PSE researchers affiliated to J-PAL, are currently underway in France, Madagascar, Senegal and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Research initiatives

Since 2019, J-PAL Europe has launched three research initiatives. In particular, they aim to promote the development of evidence-based public policies to address the lack of evidence on sensitive topics.

These initiatives are designed to:

• fund randomized controlled evaluations;
• identify promising programs for evaluation;
• train decision-makers, project managers and researchers in impact assessment;
• disseminate research results.

Disseminating research findings

To disseminate the findings and policy implications of its research, J-PAL Europe works closely with decision-makers in governments, international organizations and civil society.

It has developed partnerships with ministries such as France’s Ministry of National Education and Youth, as part of its Innovations, Data and Experimentation in Education program; Spain’s Ministry of Social Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, through its Policy Laboratory; and Luxembourg’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It also works with research institutes such as the Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research as part of its development policy impact analysis unit.

J-PAL has also taken part in a number of conferences organized by international organizations, including the European Commission, the OECD, the World Bank and United Nations agencies.