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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...
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Project
A pilot study to develop and test ICT tools to improve timeliness of vaccination in Bihar
Despite a significant increase in vaccine coverage in India, more than 20% of child deaths in 2008 were caused by three vaccine-preventable diseases alone. A major underlying factor behind these deaths is lack of vaccine effectiveness, which in turn depends on the timeliness of vaccination. Factors affecting the delays in timeliness of vaccinations include: Manual...
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Project
Changing lives and livelihoods in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic in rural Bihar
The COVID-19 pandemic is both a health crisis and an economic crisis. A key response on the health front has been a lockdown and restrictions on activities to contain the spread of the virus. However, a lockdown also means an economic shutdown with a decimation of work, livelihoods and incomes for the vast majority of people. While the well-off have more staying power,...
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Project
Community health care and COVID-19 pandemic: Experimental evidence
The limited capacity of the health systems in many low-income countries, especially in rural areas, suggests that the rapid spreading of the COVID-19 virus could have huge consequences in those areas. On top of the direct impact of the virus, a growing concern is that the shift in attention and resources towards the COVID-19 pandemic might crowd-out other essential...
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Project
Tracking price dynamics during a pandemic in Kenya and Uganda
As the COVID-19 pandemic unfolds across the globe, economies face disruptions in global and national supply chains due to the pandemic itself and related government response measures. The disruptions pose a serious threat to food security. In Kenya and Uganda, policymakers are particularly worried about COVID-19 induced price spikes and supply shortages of essential...
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Project
Understanding the impact of COVID-19 in Patna's slums
This study seeks to address two related questions: First, what are the effects of COVID-19 in urban slum neighbourhoods in India? Second, how are differences in these effects related to these slums’ preexisting conditions? Our prior work on slum communities in Patna suggests that this population is particularly vulnerable to both health and economic shocks...
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...