Accurate poverty measurement relies on household consumption data, but such data are often inadequate, outdated or display inconsistencies over time in poorer countries. To address these data challenges, we employ survey-to-survey imputation to produce estimates for several poverty indicators...

This paper examines spillovers in the use of digital technologies from formal to informal businesses by exploring differences in geographic proximity. Using a unique set of geocoded data from the 2019 World Bank Enterprise Surveys in Zambia, the findings indicate that closer geographic proximity...

Individuals' socio-emotional skills (SES), and their perceptions of their skill levels, matter for labor market outcomes and other welfare outcomes. Men appear to have higher levels of SES than women, but this gender gap is typically documented in self-reported measures. Few studies use measures...

While the concept of social sustainability is growing in salience, there is little consensus on how to measure it. This lack of an accepted measure makes it harder to monitor progress toward sustainable development goals, honor political commitments to leave no one behind, and design effective...

In some developing countries, women's labor force participation remains persistently low. This gives rise to questions regarding what types of employment opportunities or interventions can draw women into work in such contexts. In this study in urban Djibouti, with restrictive gender norms and...

Vulnerability to climate change and water scarcity is increasing globally. How this affects individual employment outcomes is still not well understood. Using survey data collected from approximately half a million individuals across Sub-Saharan Africa over from 2005 to 2018, this paper examines...

This paper examines how women's fertility responds to increases in their earnings and household wealth, using six experiments conducted in Sub-Saharan Africa. Contrary to predictions that an increase in female earnings raises the opportunity cost of childbearing and that this will lower...

Cote d'Ivoire, the largest economy in the West African Economic and Monetary Union, was hit by COVID-19, which claimed many lives. This paper estimates COVID-19 mortality costs over time using the value of a statistical life. Using a more conservative estimate of the value of a statistical life...

This paper investigates whether the expansion of fast internet networks complements or substitutes for the development of roads to improve market access and create more and higher-skilled jobs in Africa. The paper combines the geographic locations of households and firms with the locations of...

Poverty maps are a useful tool for the targeting of social programs on areas with high concentrations of poverty. However, a static focus on poverty ignores the temporal dimension of poverty. Thus, current nonpoor households still face substantial welfare volatility and are at risk of becoming...