In Brazil, legalising outsourcing of security to specialised firms reduced hiring frictions, boosting formal jobs for young men, but came at a large and lasting cost to older guards in previously well-paid jobs.

Digital cash transfers can be delivered even in active conflict settings like Sudan and can significantly protect vulnerable households – especially in the most insecure areas – from worsening food insecurity, though their impacts vary by context and household characteristics.

Developing countries face the joint challenges of reducing poverty and adapting to a changing climate, while in some cases also needing to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. From 1990 to 2015, the global extreme-poverty rate (as measured by the $2.14 per day benchmark) fell steadily, but in recent years this progress has slowed, and in some instances reversed (World Bank 2020). Currently, 60% of the world’s population lives in a place where a hotter year causes lower GDP growth, and by 2100, 75% will (Acevedo et al. 2017). Therefore, even if the ambitious global target of limiting...

In Brazil, legalising outsourcing of security to specialised firms reduced hiring frictions, boosting formal jobs for young men, but came at a large and lasting cost to older guards in previously well-paid jobs.

Digital cash transfers can be delivered even in active conflict settings like Sudan and can significantly protect vulnerable households – especially in the most insecure areas – from worsening food insecurity, though their impacts vary by context and household characteristics.

Can AI take off in Africa? Rose Mutiso joins us to discuss the need for an energy and digital infrastructure revolution on the continent, and how to make it happen.

Free school meals are one of the most effective education policies in the world, improving attendance, reducing dropouts, and increasing graduation rates.

International migration is one of the most powerful tools available for poverty reduction and economic development. This review synthesises rigorous quantitative evidence on the impact of migration on...

Mines pollute their surroundings, including water flows. In Africa, new evidence shows that plants and crops are less healthy downstream of mining sites, with the largest impacts in fertile, densely v...

Over the last four decades, many developing countries initiated reforms that have lowered barriers to trade. Yet despite these reforms, developing countries still remain far less open than developed ones, both because of tariffs that remain high but also weak contract and regulatory enforcement, inadequate transport infrastructure, search frictions, and a plethora of other distortions that are more severe in the developing world. This survey summarises a broad set of empirical work that explores the impact of international trade in developing countries characterised by weak institutions,...

Global poverty trends look radically different depending on the poverty line used. A new measure that doesn’t depend on ‘lines’ – the average time needed to earn a dollar – shows that global poverty…

Mines pollute their surroundings, including water flows. In Africa, new evidence shows that plants and crops are less healthy downstream of mining sites, with the largest impacts in fertile, densely v...

How did society change during the industrial revolution? Are there lessons we can learn for the AI revolution?

Service-led growth can be a viable development strategy for the developing world; however, its fruits might disproportionately benefit the rich

As women become scarcer in India, some of the social and economic conditions that sustain strong son preference begin to weaken, pointing to a ‘self-correcting’ mechanism within the missing women crisis.