Kazakhstan's cities are hubs of economic opportunity and prosperity. But despite the government's ambitious targets, the pace of urbanization remains slow. This study focuses on two key constraints: (i) the very high cost of living in Kazakhstan's cities, and (ii) the near absence of a rental...

More than 20 percent of children under the age of 5 in Tajikistan are stunted. A large literature finds that stunting and undernutrition in early childhood are commonly the result of several contributing environmental, food, hygiene, and health-related factors. However, quantifying these...

The aging challenge in Moldova is pressing. The average age is rising at a much more rapid rate in Moldova than in neighboring countries, and the size of the population is shrinking. The demographic trends are driven by three factors: low fertility, high net emigration, and low life expectancy....

This paper studies gender discrimination in hiring through an experiment that randomly assigned fictitious resumes to job advertisements in Uzbekistan. The experiment focused on positions commonly advertised in the local context, such as accountants, office managers, information technology...

Can mass public health messages change behavior during a crisis? This paper assesses the impact of a COVID-19 focused text-messaging campaign launched in May 2020 with the Ministry of Health and Social Protection of Tajikistan to encourage compliance with risk reduction measures. The initiative...

Kazakhstan's cities are hubs of economic opportunity and prosperity. But despite the Government’s ambitious targets, the pace of urbanization remains slow. This study focuses on two key constraints: (i) the very high cost-of-living in Kazakhstan’s cities, and (ii) the near absence of a...

We use data from the Ethiopia Rural Household Survey and the Ethiopian Central Statistics Agency to demonstrate a set of techniques for estimating optimal investment allocation in smallholder farming. The approaches treat farming tasks, constraints, and investments as a portfolio problem,...

In this paper, I explore the reactions of financial amrket participants to news relating to the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS), a body that regulates aspects of global diamond production and trade.  I use an event study approach with data on the returns for shares of leading...

In this paper, I use an event study approach to investigate the claim that conflict minerals legislation in the United States (US) led to a ban on some mining exports from the Democratic Republc of the Congo (DRC), and that the passage of US regulation caused a ban on both production and trade...

In this paper, I explore the reactions of financial market participants to news relating to the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS), a body that regulates aspects of global diamond production and trade. I use an event study approach with data on the returns for shares of leading global...