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How smallholder farmers in Zambia are adapting to droughts

Evidence from over 6,600 farm households in Zambia finds that droughts reduce yields of maize, beans, and groundnuts while prompting smallholders to diversify crops, adopt resilient seed varieties, and expand cultivated area. This suggests that well-...

Agriculture

Martin Paul Jr. Tabe-Ojong Emmanuel Tolani Ernest L. Molua

Published

06.05.26

How Rwanda used industrial policy to slow the spread of COVID-19

Rwandan industrial policy, which licensed and supported textile manufacturers to produce high-quality masks during the COVID-19 pandemic, successfully reduced mask prices, increased mask uptake, and slowed the spread of COVID-19. The intervention ave...

Macroeconomics & Growth

Kieran Byrne Florence Kondylis John Loeser Denis Mukama

Published

30.04.26

Understanding China’s huge expansion of health insurance

A government-endorsed supplemental insurance scheme in China expanded coverage for hundreds of millions of people, but also crowded out private insurance purchases, suggesting that enrolment growth alone overstates the true gains in risk protection.

Health

Hui Ding Xintong Wang Xian Xu

Published

28.04.26

Women in India valued longer maternity leave, but it cost them jobs

Expanding paid maternity leave in India from 12 to 26 weeks led employers to cut women's employment by up to 10% and favour men for promotions, while leaving wages unchanged. Women greatly valued longer leaves such that the policy was broadly cost-be...

Labour Markets

Pulak Ghosh Stephanie Hao Lisa Ho Garima Sharma Shreya Tandon

Published

21.04.26

How coca eradication undermined development in Colombia

Destroying illicit crops at the source is meant to weaken criminal economies and create space for development. Evidence from Colombia's aerial glyphosate programme tells a different story: eradication triggered income shocks that pulled children out ...

Institutions & Political Economy

Daniela Horta Sáenz Anderson Tami-Patiño

Published

23.04.26

The cocaine shock that spread through global trade

Cocaine moves through the same global trade networks as legal goods, with violence rising where criminal groups fight over ports and other chokepoints.

Institutions & Political Economy

Gianmarco Daniele Adam Soliman Juan F. Vargas

Published

23.04.26

Why shadow banks beat traditional lenders in some markets but not others

In India, shadow banks do not compete with traditional banks through a single mechanism – fintech lenders use superior data technology to reach underserved borrowers in unsecured markets, while non-fintech shadow banks exploit lighter regulatory cons...

Finance

Kim Fe Cramer Pulak Ghosh Nirupama Kulkarni Nishant Vats

Published

09.04.26

How does cheap access to foreign technology impact the informal sector?

In Mexico, reducing tariffs on imported inputs helped workers move from informal to formal employment, particularly benefiting skilled workers who are most complementary to foreign technology.

Labour Markets

Pamela Bombarda Maria Bas

Published

16.04.26

How private management improved public hospitals in Brazil

Outsourcing the management of public hospitals in Brazil to private operators increased hospital output and productivity without harming quality or equity, expanding access and reducing mortality, with the gains depending critically on the managerial...

Health

Maíra Coube Luiz Felipe Fontes Rudi Rocha

Published

31.03.26