Vietnam's high economic growth in the 1990s led to sharp reductions in poverty, yet over the same time period inequality increased. This increased inequality may be less worrisome if Vietnamese households experience a high degree of income mobility over time. This is because high mobility...

January 2000 - Vietnam's gains in poverty reduction between 1992 and 1998 were striking, and the country's impressive growth has been fairly broad-based. Households that have benefited most are well-educated, urban, white-collar households, while agricultural workers, ethnic minorities, and...

Data from three rounds of nationally representative health surveys in India are used to assess the impact of selective mortality on children's anthropometrics. The nutritional status of the child population was simulated under the counterfactual scenario that all children who died in the first...

The paper provides an up-to date and selective review of the literature on how social safety nets contribute to growth. The evidence is carefully chosen to show how safety nets have the potential to overcome constraints on growth linked to market failures, and is organized into 4 distinct...

This essay discusses practical issues confronted when conducting surveys as well as designing appropriate field trials. First, it looks at the challenge of ensuring transparency while maintaining confidentiality. Second, it explores the role of trust in light of asymmetric information held by...

Most impact evaluations of Conditional Cash Transfers (CCTs) and Unconditional Cash Transfers (UCTs) focus on the returns to increased human capital investments that will be reaped largely or exclusively in the future (e.g., when current children have increased productivities as adults). But the...

The Global Forum on Nutrition-Sensitive Social Protection Programs, convened by SecureNutrition and the Russian Federation, brought together 150 donors, implementers, and country leaders to identify practical ways to link the nutrition and social protection agendas. This background paper served...