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Project
Herself and her children: How worse off are they? Impact of COVID-19 in rural Bihar
COVID-19 has created a perfect storm for global malnutrition. The crisis is expected to adversely affect the nutritional status of households—particularly vulnerable groups like women, children and aged—through livelihood and income losses related to government-mandated shutdowns and de-globalisation, freezing of food transfer schemes such as school feeding programs,...
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Project
Mapping urban pandemic risk hotspots and overcrowding in Rwanda
As Rwanda's COVID-19 count enters a period of relative stability due to a highly effective public health response, policymakers are turning their attention to the best way to lift social-distancing restrictions in a manner that allows businesses and social engagements to resume while simultaneously ensuring adequate public health. Key questions for the government in...
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Project
Networks, livelihoods and well-being in a pandemic: A panel study using matched husband-wife-friends data in urban India
Nearly 80% of all workers in India are daily wage earners or self-employed in the informal sector (ILO, 2018), a challenge in the path to inclusive development in the country. These workers constitute a large and particularly vulnerable section of India's population, especially in urban areas, that has no access to public safety nets and is highly susceptible to loss of...
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Project
The impacts of COVID-19 in the Amhara National Regional State
Since Ethiopia’s first case of COVID-19 on 13 March 2020, the number of confirmed cases displayed a steady but manageable increase until the end of June 2020. Nevertheless, the country has witnessed a sharp spike in the number of confirmed cases and deaths in July 2020, and it is difficult to determine which side of the peak Ethiopia is on. However, there is enough...
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Project
Harnessing the power of electronic fiscal devices
Low tax compliance is a major challenge in most developing countries, including Zambia. Many governments have adopted a Value Added Tax (VAT) to increase tax revenues and VAT is now responsible for up to a quarter of total revenues in developing countries (Keen, 2016). The key benefit of VAT is that it is self-enforcing along the supply chain. Firms have a financial...
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Project
Short and long-term impacts of the lockdown on young rural migrants from Bihar and Jharkhand
India’s national COVID-19 lockdown has had a tremendous effect on the economy. Labour migrants are among the most affected, usually employed in informal, low-paid jobs, many of them are now without work with no social protection, no assistance from previous employers, and no network to fall back to in their 'host’ states. This project will provide unique evidence on...
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Project
Zambian youth unemployment in industries without smokestacks
Zambia has high rates of unemployment and is overly dependent on mining for growth and foreign exchange. In 2018, the unemployment rate was 12.6 percent and the youth unemployment rate was 17.4 percent. With a growing population, this issue will only become worse without intervention and growth in labour-absorbing sectors of the economy. This study researches...
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Project
Coping with COVID-19 measures in informal settlements
One of the most, if not the most, at-risk groups of COVID-19 is thought to be the urban poor, living in overcrowded conditions with very limited access to public (health) infrastructure. One billion people live in such informal settlements, more than half of these in Asia, almost a fifth in India. Their ability to follow governments’ and scientists’ advise on...
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Project
The short-term effects of the COVID-19 lockdown on rural communities and self help group members
India has imposed one of the strictest lockdowns in the world and it is important to understand whether existing and new welfare schemes are being implemented effectively enough to provide support to households that lose their livelihoods, especially in rural areas. This project uses remote data collection to improve our general understanding of how households are coping...
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Project
Are households willing to adopt and pay for recycling their own waste: A study of Patna City
Indian cities generated 62 million tonnes of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) annually and it is projected that by 2031 they will generate 165 million tons of waste annually (Planning Commission Report, 2014). The task of managing these mammoth quantities of waste rests solely with the Municipalities. Municipalities, however, lack the capability to sustainably manage such large...
Project
Female politicians and economic growth: Evidence from state elections in India
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TS7YtrR2yjU&feature=emb_logo The project studies close elections between men and women for election to India's state legislative assemblies. It finds significantly higher growth in economic activity in constituencies that elect women. Given average GDP growth in India of about 7% per year (during the study period), the researchers...