New resilience materials, comprising the state of the agenda in LAC, the application of measurement tools in Sudan, feedback from famine-affected Somalis, and our climate change colleagues’ ‘unbreakable’ book.
Study on Shock-Responsive Social Protection in Latin America and the Caribbean: Theoretical framework and literature review, Rodolfo Beazley, Ana Solórzano and Kokoevi Sossouvi, December 2016, Oxford Policy Management
Resilience Analysis in Sudan 2009, Food & Agriculture Organization, 2016
Facing famine: Somali experiences in the famine of 2011, Daniel Maxwell, Nisar Majid, Guhad Adan, Khalif Abdirahman and Jeeyon Janet Kim, December 2016, Food Policy Volume 65 Pages 63-73
Unbreakable: Building the Resilience of the Poor in the Face of Natural Disasters, Stephane Hallegatte, Adrien Vogt-Schilb, Mook Bangalore and Julie Rozenberg, 2017, World Bank Climate Change and Development Series
A look at Africa with a structural lens, including its transformation pathway and marked seasonal nature of food price dynamics.
On the Structural Transformation of Rural Africa, Christopher B. Barrett, Luc Christiaensen, Megan Sheahan and Abebe Shimeles, January 2017, prepared for African Economic Research Consortium’s Biannual Research Workshop
Food price seasonality in Africa: Measurement and extent, Christopher L. Gilbert, Luc Christiaensen and Jonathan Kaminski, Food Policy, in press.
Fresh urban materials exploring Africa’s urbanization trajectory, the morphology of its cities through satellite images, and examining India’s census classification of ‘urban’ towns (de-facto rural).
Understanding India’s Urban Frontier: What Is behind the Emergence of Census Towns in India?, Partha Mukhopadhyay, Marie-Hélène Zérah, Gopa Samanta and Augustin Maria, December 2016, World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 7923
Bolstering Urbanization Efforts: Africa’s approach to the New Urban Agenda, Peter Griffiths, January 2017, Brookings Institute
The Morphology of African Cities, Sarah E. Antos, Somik V. Lall and Nancy Lozano-Gracia, World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 7911
An intriguing paper on households behavioral responses to conditions, the effects of cash on ECD in Nepal, and the effects of child care subsidies in Turkey.
Conditionality as Targeting? Participation and Distributional Effects of Conditional Cash Transfers, Carlos Rodríguez-Castelán, January 2017, World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 7940
The Role of Information and Cash Transfers on Early Childhood Development: Evidence from Nepal, Michael Levere, Gayatri Acharya and Prashant Bharadwaj, December 2016, World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 7931
Building an Ex Ante Simulation Model for Estimating the Capacity Impact, Benefit Incidence, and Cost Effectiveness of Child Care Subsidies: An Application Using Provider-Level Data from Turkey, Meltem A. Aran, Ana Maria Munoz-Boudet and Nazlı Aktakke, December 2016, World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 7917
The US takes the delivery of social assistance to the next level, i.e., piloting the use of SNAP voucher benefits on Amazon and other online platforms.
USDA Announces Retailer Volunteers for SNAP Online Purchasing Pilot, 5th January 2016
Some interesting labor-related readings, including the relationship between benefit duration and work search efforts, a reflection on changing migration directions, and results from an 8-year experiment in Sri Lanka to turn self-employed into employers.
Benefit Duration and Job Search Effort: Evidence from a Natural Experiment, Andreas Lichter, IZA Discussion Paper No. 10264
The other side of the migration coin: what happens now that traditional sending countries have become important destinations?, Mauro Testaverde, December 2016, labor mobility CoP blog.
Labor drops: experimental evidence on the return to additional labor in microenterprises, Suresh de Mel David McKenzie Christopher Woodruf, December 2016, World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 7924
Two case studies on taxes, redistribution and social protection from El Salvador and Ethiopia
The Impact of Taxes and Social Spending on Inequality and Poverty in El Salvador, Margarita Beneke, Nora Lustig, José Andrés Oliva, January 2017, Center for Global Development Working Paper 446
Linking taxation and social protection: Evidence on redistribution and poverty reduction in Ethiopia, Kalle Hirvonen, Giulia Mascagni and Keetie Roelen, January 2017, International Center for Tax and Development Working Paper 61
A couple of papers on donors and aid, including their impact on poverty reduction and a review of DFID’s support to cash transfers
Does Aid Availability Affect Effectiveness in Reducing Poverty? A Review Article, Francois Bourguignon and Jean-Philippe Platteau, February 2017, World Development Volume 90 Pages 6 – 16
The effects of DFID’s cash transfer programmes on poverty and vulnerability: An Impact Review, Alison Evans, January 2017, Independent Commission for Aid Impact
Links I liked – the concept of ‘community currencies’ as exchange means (courtesy of Nithin Umapathi) and 2016 being one of the best years for development
Community currencies Grassroots economics blog.
Why 2016 was actually one of the best years on record, Annie Duflo and Jeffrey Mosenkis, 30th December 2016, The Washington Post