Access to and utilization of health services are concerns in poor countries. If implemented correctly, health insurance systems may help solve this challenge. However it is difficult to determine whether joining an insurance scheme improves medical care-seeking behaviors because of selection and...

Deficient birth outcomes entail greater mortality risks and higher probabilities of poor future health. This study examines the effect of the World Health Organization’s prenatal care recommendations for developing countries. It accounts for the endogenous nature of prenatal care decisions by...

This article analyses the impact of indoor air pollution on boys' and girls' health, and the validity of various mitigation strategies using a panel of Peruvian children younger than six years old. It controls for unobserved child heterogeneity and important confounding variables established in...

Healthcare financing through social health insurance has become a very important tool in providing access to and utilization of health services in most developing countries such as Ghana. Ghana’s National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) is a promising tool for policymakers. Yet since its...

To many, reducing water losses is seen as key to more sustainable water management. The arguments to reduce water losses are compelling, but reducing water losses has turned out to be challenging. This paper applies a panel data analysis with fixed effects to determine the major drivers of...

Aid is good for the poor. This paper uses detailed aid data spanning 60 developing countries over the past two decades to show that social aid significantly and directly benefits the poorest in society, while economic aid increases the income of the poor through growth. This new and unequivocal...

This paper uses the gravity model to analyze whether the varying export performance of Croatian counties can be explained by their proximity to border gates, ports, and other county-specific characteristics. The analysis finds that longer distances to border gates increase trade frictions...

Extension services are a keystone of information diffusion in agriculture. This paper exploits a large randomized controlled trial to track diffusion of a new technique in the classic Training and Visit (T&V) extension model, relative to a more direct training model. In both control and...

Market integration is key to ensuring sufficient and stable food supplies. This paper assesses the impediments to market integration in Central and Eastern Africa for three food staples: maize, rice, and sorghum. The paper uses a large database on monthly consumer prices for 150 towns in 13...