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Project
Improving the effectiveness of formal housing delivery in Tanzania
A key policy instrument to improve Africa's stock of urban housing is the provision of surveyed, titled, and serviced de-novo plots in greenfield areas, on which residents build houses. These plots, known as "de novo" are advocated to solve coordination problems in contexts with weak institutions and rapid, haphazard, and unorganized growth (Romer 2012; Angel 2012; Bryan et...
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Project
The impact of COVID-19 on Ethiopia’s industrial parks: A rapid review
Over the past decade, the government of Ethiopia has pursued a strategy of labour-intensive industrialisation through export-oriented light manufacturing. The strategy is predicated on the use of low-cost labour as a source of competitive advantage within global value chains. For this purpose, the government has encouraged large-scale foreign direct investment (FDI) in the...
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Project
Policy options for Government of Myanmar to provide economic support to households in response to COVID-19
Myanmar has already experienced significant economic impacts as a result of COVID-19, due to both domestic and international effects. Some areas of the economy have been particularly badly affected, such as tourism, manufacturing, and remittances. Going forward, there remains a high level of uncertainty about the development of the pandemic in Myanmar and around the world,...
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Project
Improving state capacity to target extreme poverty: An evaluation of a randomised intervention in Bangladesh
Scarce resources for social transfers and public services tend to be misallocated where they are needed the most – in developing countries. To improve the allocation, most existing impact evaluations have focused on monitoring, incentives and accountability; and they have largely ignored that local government representatives responsible for selecting beneficiaries of...
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Project
Technology and local tax capacity: Evidence from Ghana
This project emerged as a follow-up to the extensive census of local tax capacity conducted in collaboration with the Ministry of Local Government and the head of Local Government Services in 2018. One major finding that stood out was that most local governments lack technological support in the creation of property registries, the valuation of properties, and the...
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Project
Measuring the economic situation in Ghana in real time during COVID-19
In response to the worldwide spread of COVID-19, the government of Ghana had to take unprecedented policy measures. Because of the rapid spread of the virus, policymakers are required to adjust their goals frequently, reflecting changing circumstances and private sector's responses to policies. This project aimed at providing real-time information to policymakers in Ghana...
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Project
Fostering trust in state authorities during the COVID-19 pandemic: Evidence from Liberia
The lack of trust in the government inhibited the responses to the Ebola epidemics in West Africa (2014-16) and the DRC (2018-present), and the current COVID-19 pandemic. With poor health infrastructure and mistrust in state institutions, Liberia is one of the most vulnerable countries in the world to infectious diseases like COVID-19. The experience with epidemics and...
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Project
Preparation of COVID-19 response and recovery plan for the UN (Sierra Leone) country team
Based on ongoing data collection to track the impact of the COVID-19 on lives and livelihood in Sierra Leone, it is clear that the pandemic has affected almost every sector of the economy and has threatened to reverse most of the gains made over the years. In view of this, the UN Country team in Sierra Leone, requested the IGC Sierra Leone country team to prepare a...
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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
COVID-19 impact on Rwanda's coffee sector
The COVID-19 pandemic has precipitated a global economic downturn, disrupting most dimensions of human life. This is seen particularly in international trade. Control measures, implemented to stem the spread of infection, have come at a sharp economic cost across the world. The firms most affected are those that rely on human contact. This includes the hospitality...
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...