Using a panel survey, this paper investigates how food price increases in Pakistan in 2008-2010 affect children’s school enrollment and labor. The causal identification relies on the geographical variations in food (wheat) price. The results show that the negative impacts of food price...

This paper examines the impact of the economic transition of the 1990s on living standards in Kazakhstan and suggests ways in which the social safety net can be made more effective. There are three principal conclusions. First, over a third of the population of Kazakhstan was living below a...

In 2008 the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation established a Trust Fund to be administered by the World Bank with the goal of advancing financial capability in low-and middle-income countries. This report documents the multiyear effort to develop measures of financial capability and...

This manual is designed to provide guidance to institutions, researchers, and survey firms on how to measure financial capability in middle, and low income countries using a new survey instrument that was developed and tested, from start to finish, in middle- and low-income countries. This new...

In recent years, the number of surveys on access to and use of financial services has multiplied, but little is known about whether the data generated are comparable across countries or within the same country over time. A randomized experiment in Ghana tested whether the identity of the...

Access to affordable, reliable, and safe transportation is critical in improving the welfare of individuals in developing countries. Yet, transport data are limited overall, and data that address the different patterns of use by women and men are even scarcer. A few studies have shown, however,...

Panama has made significant progress in reducing poverty in recent years, progress that compares positively to that of the rest of the Latin America and Caribbean region. This report takes stock of this progress and reflects on the constraints and opportunities that Panama faces in continuing on...