Evaluating Social Programs 

offered by MIT USA

Benjamin A. Olken is the Jane Berkowitz Carlton and Dennis William Carlton Professor of Microeconomics at MIT. His research focuses on the public sector in developing countries, including work on social safety nets, taxation, and governance. He has worked extensively in Indonesia for over 20 years, as well as in other contexts. Olken earned his PhD in 2004 from Harvard University. He is a Director of the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) and Scientific Director of J-PAL Southeast Asia and previously served as a Co-Chair of J-PAL's Governance Initiative. He is also the Editor of American Economic Journal: Applied Economics and the Co-Director of the NBER Development Economics Program.

Rachel Glennerster is an associate professor of economics in the Division of Social Science at the University of Chicago. She is also an affiliated professor and former Executive Director of the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL). She uses randomized trials to study democracy and accountability, health, education, microfinance, and women’s empowerment mainly in West Africa and South Asia. She has also written on strategies to stimulate innovation, promoting more equitable access to vaccines, and the response to Ebola and COVID-19 pandemics.