Publications

Understanding how household consumption, investment and saving decisions respond to transfer income is critical to public policy. In developing countries, saving or otherwise investing in the future is difficult for poor households which often struggle to meet basic expenses, while high debt burdens are also obstacles to saving. Poor households in rural areas of developing countries typically manage risk via informal exchanges or transfers among extended family, friends and neighbours. Motivated by the community dynamics observed in the qualitative assessment of LEAP and the unpredictable and lumpy payments made by the programme during the evaluation period, the main interest of this paper is to assess within a quantitative framework the impact of LEAP on household risk reduction strategies via reintegration in, and strengthening of, social networks and reduction of debt exposure.

Tackling inequities in children’s outcomes matters both from a moral perspective, and because of persuasive social and economic arguments. Reducing inequity in children’s outcomes requires tackling structural and social issues. The paper provides evidence about how social, economic and environmental conditions shape inequities in children’s outcomes. Building on insights generated through studies on the social determinants of health, the paper provides a framework to inform research and policy to reduce inequities in children’s outcomes, with a specific focus on low- and middle-income countries.

This paper uses regression and matching techniques to evaluate Indonesia’s Social Safety Net Scholarships Programme. The scholarships programme was developed to try to prevent large numbers of children from dropping out of school as a result of the Asian crisis. The expectation was that many families would find it difficult to keep their children in school and drop out rates would be high as they were during the 1980's recession. Drop-outs, however, have not increased markedly and enrolment rates have remained relatively steady. This paper examines the role played by the scholarship programme in producing this result.

This paper examines the successes of ten 'high-achievers' - countries with social indicators far higher than might be expected given their national wealth. Their progress in such fields as education and health offers lessons for social policy elsewhere in the developing world. Based on UNICEF-supported studies in each country, the paper shows how, in the space of fifty years, these high-achievers have made advances in health and education that took nearly 200 years in the industrialized world. It pinpoints the policies that have contributed to this success - policies that could be replicated elsewhere.