Whether social transfers should be targeted or universal is an unsolved debate that is particularly relevant for the implementation of social protection schemes in developing countries. While the limited availability of public resources encourages targeting, the difficulty in identifying the...

Wealth is an increasingly important dimension of economic well-being and is attracting rising attention in discussions of social inequality. In this paper, we compare - within and across countries - wealth outcomes, and link those to both employment-related factors and policy solutions that have...

This paper analyzes the impacts of the 1998 and 2008 financial crises on the Korean labor market. We study the historical background of the Korean Employment Insurance System and the change of labor policies from the 1998 Asian financial crisis to the current 2008 global financial crisis. While...

We examine self-reported productivity of home workers during lockdown using survey data from the UK. On average, workers report being as productive as at the beginning of the year, before the pandemic. However, this average masks substantial differences across sectors, by working from home...

Mental well-being has declined during the Covid-19 pandemic in several developed countries, and particularly in the UK. Given the resurgence of the disease in western Europe during autumn 2020 and concurrently increasing restrictions, we investigate the possible effect on well-being of a winter...

We examine reported productivity changes of workers over the course of the Covid-19 pandemic, which we validate against external metrics. On average, workers report being at least as productive as before the pandemic's onset. However, this average masks substantial heterogeneity, which is linked...

Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) was a UK government cash transfer paid directly to children aged 16-18 in post-compulsory full-time education. Using data from the Longitudinal Study of Young People in England, we find an EMA payment of £30 per week reduces teenagers' labour supply by 3...

The Work Capability Assessment governs entitlement to the Employment and Support Allowance - the social security benefit for people who are "incapable of work". It is based on rules which decide entitlement according to the combination of impairments experienced by the claimant. This paper...

This paper reviews the role of Social Protection and Labor in supporting both climate adaptation and mitigation efforts. The Climate Crisis is impacting the poor and vulnerable disproportionally, both as a consequence of climate shocks and through the distributional impacts of climate mitigation...