This paper uses a vulnerability-based approach to analyze the evolution of the middle class in Europe between 2005–08 and 2015–18. The analysis reveals that, on average, the income level needed to ensure...
Can skills-based programs promote women’s economic inclusion? This study randomizes access to a program teaching entrepreneurship skills in rural Uganda. The program covers record-keeping, identifying...
In Paraguay, poverty reduction has stalled since 2014 due to a deceleration in economic growth, which has been argued to be partly due to a series of climate-related events. Nevertheless, little is known...
This paper investigates the extent to which real-time indicators derived from internet search, cell phones, and satellites predict changes in household socioeconomic indicators across approximately 300...
Poverty maps are a useful tool for targeting social programs on areas with high concentrations of poverty. However, a static focus on poverty ignores its temporal dimension. Thus, current nonpoor households...
This paper provides the first measures of vulnerability to poverty in Latin America and the Caribbean at the household level looking at natural hazards such as floods, landslides, cyclones, earthquakes...
There is a rapidly growing literature on the link between climate change and poverty. This study reviews the existing literature on whether the poor are more exposed to climate shocks and whether they...
How do proven strategies to improve the economic conditions of ultra-poor households hold up against the increasing severity and co-incidence of economic, security, and climate shocks? Five years after...
Depuis le début de la COVID-19 en 2020, l’économie togolaise a montré des signes de résilience face aux chocs, mais les efforts visant à réduire la pauvreté ont été frustrés et la marge budgétaire épuisée...
Since the onset of COVID-19 in 2020, Togo’s economy has shown signs of resilience in the face of shocks but efforts to reduce poverty were frustrated and fiscal space depleted. Togo was able to avoid a...
Shocks and seasonality may have profound effects on poor households’ wellbeing, especially in contexts like the Sahel where livelihoods depend on rainfed agriculture and pastoralism. Understanding how...
This paper provides an empirical estimation of the distributional impact of inflation on households in South Asia. Two main channels are explored—the consumption basket channel and the income channel—for...
The 2023 Poverty Assessment provides a poverty and equity analysis of the period from 2015 to 2020, primarily drawing on data from the 2019/20 household budget survey (IOF 2020), which was conducted during...
This paper explores the social protection response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine to learn lessons on how to build the resilience of their social protection...
COVID-19 and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have had – and are continuing to have—a devasting impact on living standards. But most countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) were already struggling...
The literature on shock-responsive social protection focuses on operational features that improve the speed and reach of the response, but little is known about the optimal design of emergency social protection...
This paper examines the welfare impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, using harmonized data from 343 high-frequency phone surveys conducted in 80 economies during 2020 and 2021, representing more than 2.5...
El Salvador is marked by high vulnerability to risks and hazards, such as crime, natural disasters, and migration. Therefore, it is crucial to understand the vulnerability patterns of its population. This...
Cash transfer programs are regarded as providing effective protection against poverty and household-specific negative income shocks. Little research has been done on their performance in situations of...
Social Protection and Labor (SPL) Systems help individuals and societies manage risk and volatility and protect them from poverty through instruments that address the challenges of resilience, equity and...