Using friendship data from Facebook, we study the effects of three aspects of social capital on household financial behavior. We find that the most important measure of social capital in explaining stock market and saving participation is Economic Connectedness, defined as the fraction of one's...

Financial inclusion plays an important role in giving households greater access to borrowing opportunities, which in turn can be used to improve human capital accumulation, socioeconomic status, and long-run economic development. One way to enhance households' access to and usage of the...

Based on the comparison of detailed micro-data (EU-SILC), official figures on recipients and expenditure as well as potential entitlements simulated with the tax/benefit microsimulation model EUROMOD, the paper estimates the size of non-take-up of monetary social assistance benefits in Austria...

This study offers a comprehensive picture of the rural economy in Bangladesh during the first three months of the lockdown period in comparison with the pre-COVID-19 situation. Using a nationally representative sample (of 2,312 rural households from 62 villages in 56 districts) known as the...

Forward-looking poverty analyses are essential for targeting and implementing poverty prevention interventions. In the presence of uncertainty and risk, the current poverty status of households is not a good indicator of whether they will be poor in the future. This paper examines consumption...

The COVID-19 pandemic saw an unprecedented expansion of federal emergency rental assistance (ERA). Using applications to ERA lotteries in four cities linked to survey and administrative data, we assess its impacts on housing stability, financial security, and mental health. We find that...

Evaluations of group savings and lending programs have largely focused on average impacts, rather than distributional impacts -- finding modest effects on long-term economic well-being. In this paper, we exploit the randomized roll-out of a self-help group lending program in rural Bihar, India...