J-PAL North America News: Advancing rigorous research on racial equity

In May 2023 we announced the launch of the J-PAL North America Racial Equity Advisory Committee to inform how to fund research related to racial equity, how to identify the researchers positioned to do this work, and how to support those researchers. As the Scientific Advisor to the committee, I’ve benefited greatly from working with a group of insightful and dedicated collaborators, both on our committee and among the staff at J-PAL. We’ve learned a lot about the challenges and great potential in this area. I look forward to building on this momentum in our next phase of work. 

Since J-PAL North America’s formal commitment to furthering research related to racial equity in 2023, we have made several strides. The establishment of the advisory committee—composed of scholars from a diversity of backgrounds and disciplines—has been central. As a committee, we have been tackling important questions, such as: How do we define racial equity within research? How do we conduct ethical randomized evaluations related to racial equity? What support and information do researchers need to do this work well? What collaborations and connections are needed to diversify J-PAL’s researcher network and encourage a wider set of research agendas? While we continue to seek answers to these questions, we have made progress on provisional definitions and framings, on setting the parameters of our initial efforts, and on concrete and tangible goals for the near future.

In the next few months, we are looking forward to several notable opportunities to involve more scholars interested in questions of racial equity and advance research related to racial equity. In our upcoming Spring and Fall Request for Proposals, we will solicit proposals that aim to address racial equity in the research questions and study design. In the meantime—with support from J-PAL North America staff—the committee will conduct a literature review on the scientific value of randomized evaluations in investigating and addressing the causes and consequences of racism in North America. We hope to provide an overview of existing studies, identify important insights from disciplines outside of economics, and spur new work to fill gaps in the literature.

I invite you to join us in our effort to center racial equity in economics research by exploring our seven-part blog series on researching racial equity or getting in touch. The Spring RFP, for researchers in the J-PAL network, will open in two weeks, on April 10. We particularly welcome proposals that incorporate research questions involving racial equity. I encourage you to reach out to Noreen Giga, Senior Research Manager at J-PAL North America, or myself in the meantime with any questions. 

Damon Jones | Associate Professor, University of Chicago | Scientific Advisor and Chair, J-PAL North America Racial Equity Advisory Committee

Read more:

• Building capacity for research and practice: In the last blog post in our seven-part series on researching racial equity, Damon Jones (UChicago) and J-PAL staff reflect on the recent efforts by J-PAL North America to prioritize research addressing racial equity.
• The LA Homelessness Evaluation Network: J-PAL North America recently launched a new project to increase the capacity of Los Angeles-based homeless service providers and government agencies to generate and use evidence to inform decision making. Read about lessons learned in our latest blog post.
• Centering parents’ emotions in randomized evaluations of cash transfers: On the J-PAL blog, Lisa Gennetian (Duke University) and Sarah Halpern-Meekin (University of Wisconsin-Madison), discuss how the ongoing Baby's First Years evaluation has prioritized centering parents to measure program impact.
• J-PAL’s annual Evaluating Social Programs course: Our annual Evaluating Social Programs course equips participants with the resources and knowledge to design, use, and interpret evidence from impact evaluations of social programs. Apply today for the week-long course hosted in Cambridge at MIT!