In a Bloomberg piece, Dr. Kate Orkin discusses policy options for countries during the pandemic and how many arguments against cash transfers are not supported by rigorous evidence.
Dr Greg Walton and Dr Kate Orkin discuss 'wise interventions', and how social science can use this psychologically approach to understand the major problems in social life - poverty, social exclusion, child abuse, and discrimination.
In his weekly links for the Development Impact blog, David McKenzie features an MBRG measurement matters series post from Lukas Hensel on measuring income expectations using phone surveys.
Marta Grabowska features in the World Bank's Weekly Links blog with her Measures Matter post on psychometric validation for non-cognitive skills.
Thiemo Fetzer, Lukas Hensel and Cristopher Roth study how the arrival of the new coronavirus leads to an increase in economic anxieties both through inferred patterns around Google search activity and through a survey experiment in a representative sample from the US.
Online searches for recession and survivalism topics are increasing, a sign that a dramatic slowdown in growth is likely, write Thiemo Fetzer, Lukas Hensel, and Christopher Roth.
The rapid and global spread of the new coronavirus within just a few months is threatening to infect the global economy, new research by Lukas Hensel has found.
Marta Grabowska features in the World Bank's Weekly Links blog with her Measures Matter post on psychometric validation for non-cognitive skills.
Addressing information frictions by improving skills communication between work-seekers and potential employers can increase earnings and positive employment outcomes. Carranza, Garlick, Orkin and Rankin (2020) discuss how a skills assessment intervention has had positive outcomes for young work-seekers in South Africa.
Carranza, Garlick, Orkin and Rankin (2020) discuss their latest paper, showing that assessing young work-seekers’ skills can increase earnings and employment and help prospective employers too. With 67.6 million people aged 15-24 unemployed in 2019, the potential of this intervention to mitigate labour market frictions is exciting.