MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

MIT poverty investigation centre opens in Chile

One of the projects is providing affordable housing

The Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) will open its new Latinamerican headquarters in Chile next Monday, Sept. 28. J-PAL is an organization that investigates poverty and is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Department of Economics.

The opening ceremony will be led by J-Pal Director Esther Duflo, Executive Director Ryan Cooper, and Director of Science Francisco Gallego.

J-PAL will work with themes relevant to the region, including education, microfinance, health, and public housing. One of its projects is evaluating the impact of “Un Techo Para Mi País” – a regional initiative starting in Chile to provide affordable housing to citizens in El Salvador, Uruguay, and Peru.

The organization uses a unique methodology to evaluate the impacts of poverty alleviation programs called Randomized Control Trials. This method measures the causal effect of the programs quantitatively.

The Lab will be a centre for academics studying regional poverty, with affiliates at universities in Río do Janeiro and Argentina, as well as local partners at Universidad de Chile and Pontífica Universidad de Católica.

J-PAL has two other international centres, the Asian headquarters in India and the European headquarters in Paris, France.

By Meera Pandit - Santiago Times