Interventions in highly insecure and fragile contexts are always confronted with the latent risk of not being able to implement the program as intended. Despite its high policy relevance, little is known about the impacts of program disruption or cancellation on beneficiaries. This study uses...

The economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has sharply reduced mobility and economic activity, disrupting the lives of people around the globe. This paper presents estimates on the early impact of the crisis on labor markets in 39 countries based on high-frequency phone survey data...

Informality is a multidimensional development challenge with features that potentially differ across workers, firms, and countries. This paper first briefly summarizes the literature, discusses the multiple existing definitions of informality, and adapts the cross-country analytical framework on...

Capabilities to track fast-moving economic developments re-main limited in many regions of the developing world. This complicates prioritizing policies aimed at supporting vulnerable populations. To gain insight into the evolution of fluid events in a data scarce context, this paper explores the...

Violent conflict and instability affect men and women in heterogeneous ways, including differentiated impacts on economic, social, physical, and mental well-being. This study assesses the impact of the post-2013 conflict in South Sudan on adolescent girls and young women. The analysis uses data...

Somalia, one of the poorest countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, still faces many challenges as it remains fragile. Terrorist groups and their attacks are threatening the government and limiting its capacity to implement effective development policies. Using difference-in-difference and instrumental...

Somalia, one of the poorest countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, still faces many challenges as it remains fragile. Terrorist groups and their attacks are threatening the government and limiting its capacity to implement effective development policies. Using difference-in-difference and instrumental...

This study uses an unconditional cash grant program in South Sudan that had to be terminated due to conflict to assess the socio-economic, behavioral and psychological consequences of operational problems in development programs. We combine survey data from face-to-face interviews and data from...

Informality is a multidimensional development challenge with features that potentially differ across workers, firms, and countries. This paper first briefly summarizes the literature, discusses the multiple existing definitions of informality, and adapts the cross-country analytical framework on...