The quest for status is a powerful motivator, but does it affect inequality? This paper presents a novel lab experiment that was designed and conducted to identify the relationship between inequality, status signaling, debt, and conspicuous consumption. It reports three main findings: First,...

Under what conditions can new technologies enhance the well-being of poor communities? The study designs an alternative evaluation framework (AEF) that applies Amartya Sen's capability approach to the study of information and communications technologies (ICTs) in order to place people's...

This paper studies gender education gaps among indigenous and nonindigenous groups in Bolivia. Using the National Census of Population and Housing 2012 and an estimation method analogous to difference-in-differences, the paper finds that the intersection of gender and indigenous identity confers...

Indigenous peoples in Latin American and the Caribbean (LAC) are 10 to 25 percent less likely to have access to piped water and 26 percent less likely to have access to improved sanitation solutions than the region's non-indigenous population. Historically, Indigenous peoples have been...

The Inspection Panel was created in 1993 by the Board of Executive Directors of the World Bank to receive complaints submitted by people suffering harm allegedly caused by World Bank projects. This experience provides important lessons for both the Bank and for the global development community...

For almost a decade now, the World Bank's Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) has been supporting efforts to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD ), in the global fight against climate change. A key component of this work has been to ensure the full and...

It is known that Muslim women in Nigeria have significantly worse nutritional status than their Christian counterparts. The paper first shows that this difference is explained by covariates including geographic location, ethnicity, household wealth, and women's education. However, on accounting...

Kiribati is among the first few countries in the world to have undertaken a national census of children's early health and development. This report presents data collected for 7,194 children aged 3 to 5 years across 21 of the country's islands. Data were collected on children's health and...

This paper provides novel evidence on status goods, using a series of field experiments with an Indonesian bank that markets platinum credit cards to high-income customers. In a first experiment, the paper shows that demand for the platinum card greatly exceeds demand for a nondescript control...

In the last decades, Brazil experienced a historical decline in its wage inequality level, particularly in the first decade of the 21^st century. This paper reviews the literature that attempted to explain the observed pattern. It considers mechanisms related to the supply and demand for labor,...