This Note systematizes the economic evaluation of Jobs Investment Projects. It explains the limitations of past approaches that have regarded jobs only as a by-product of growth. It focuses on market failures that create a gap between the social and private return on investments and reduce the...

Jobs need to be at the heart of economic development policies in Zambia. Recognizing the role of jobs in making Zambia a more equal middle-income country, the Government of Zambia has prioritized job creation in its Vision 2030 and National Strategy on Job Creation and Industrialization by...

Jobs need to be at the heart of economic development policies in Zambia. Recognizing the role of jobs in making Zambia a more equal middle-income country, the Government of Zambia has prioritized job creation in its Vision 2030 and National Strategy on Job Creation and Industrialization by...

This paper solves and estimates a stochastic model of optimal inter-temporal behavior to assess how changes in the design of the unemployment benefits and pension systems in Brazil could affect savings rates, the share of time that individuals spend outside of the formal sector, and retirement...

It is almost certain that the world economy is entering a recession of historic proportions; how bad things get will depend on how governments manage the Covid-19 pandemic. At the core of the problem lies a very difficult choice: whether to "flatten the curve" of the epidemic or whether to...

This paper examines the determinants of labor market transitions into and out of self-employment (own-account work and employer), using panel data from 12 developing countries in multiple regions. Despite cross-country heterogeneity, a few consistent patterns emerge. Entering the labor market...

In reforming unemployment benefit systems, the policy debate should be on the appropriate level of benefits, the subsidies needed for people who cannot contribute enough, and how to finance the subsidies, rather than on whether unemployment insurance or individual unemployment savings accounts...