Exposure to extreme weather events and other adverse shocks has led to an increasing number of humanitarian crises in developing countries in recent years. These events cause acute suffering and compromise...
This paper validates a new set of behavioral measures for socioemotional skills across three Sub-Saharan African countries—Côte d’Ivoire, Nigeria, and Tanzania—and compares them to widely used self-reported...
Early warning systems are a cornerstone of disaster risk reduction, enabling timely alerts and protective actions that save lives and reduce damages. Yet, despite their documented cost-effectiveness and...
A long-established and widely used approach to management in government has been the transmission of information up a hierarchy, and centralized decision-making and oversight; colloquially known as ‘command...
Using a cross-section of more than 33,000 services firms in 104 low- and middle-income countries from the World Bank’s Enterprise Surveys, this paper examines whether the female labor share premium of...
This paper analyzes the welfare impacts of import bans in Nigeria, and how these are shaped by evasion. Bans were not effectively enforced, and contributed to informal trade. The imposition of bans nonetheless...
This study examines the sustainability and healthiness of Ghana's current dietary patterns and explores pathways for promoting sustainable healthy diets through agrifood policy interventions. Using secondary...
This paper provides insights into human capital investments during wartime by presenting evidence from three experiments of an online tutoring program for Ukrainian students amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine...
Improvements on excise taxes on tobacco, alcoholic beverages, and Sugar-Sweetened Beverages (SSBs) are urgently needed in Mexico to reduce preventable premature deaths. In Mexico, 125,350 people lose their...
En México se necesitan urgentemente mejoras en los impuestos selectivos al tabaco, las bebidas alcohólicas y las bebidas azucaradas para reducir las muertes prematuras evitables. En México, 125,350 personas...
This paper utilizes the unique dynamics of fiscal budgeting in countries with a large hydro-carbon sector to estimate fiscal multipliers. The main identifying assumption rests on the idea that exogenously...
Rice is a staple crop for over half the world’s population, and accurate, timely information on its planted area and production is crucial for food security and agricultural policy, particularly in developing...
This paper examines the long-term impacts of early-life drought exposure on the human capital and socioeconomic outcomes of women born in the Arab Republic of Egypt, Jordan, and Morocco across more than...
This paper examines the impact of negative precipitation shocks (droughts) on labor markets in the Middle East and North Africa region. Using Labor Force Survey data across five countries over approximately...
Accurate and timely poverty measurement is central to development policy, yet the availability of up-to-date high-quality household survey data remains limited—particularly in countries where poverty is...
This paper provides a spatial analysis of coal transition vulnerability in Indonesia. It uses a mixed-methods approach that combines quantitative data on exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity to...
This paper applies a gender lens to the distributional analysis of Peru’s fiscal system using the Commitment to Equity methodology with data from the 2019 Encuesta Nacional de Hogares. The paper examines...
This paper provides the first experimental evidence on the long-term effects of work-study programs, leveraging a randomized lottery design from a national program in Uruguay. Participation leads to a...
Many African countries are experiencing rapid urbanization. However, job creation has not kept pace, resulting in persistently high urban unemployment rates. Based on basic job search theory, the paper...
The success of climate adaptation and mitigation often depends on support from local communities. Yet, it remains unclear what strategies are most effective to inform and activate support for climate action...