The paper provides evidence on the number and volume of financial transactions undertaken by agents (local businesses that double as more convenient, lower cost alternatives to formal branches) of the largest microfinance institution operating in the Democratic Republic of Congo. More important...

This paper contributes to better understanding firms' discriminatory behavior in the presence of gender-based legal discrimination and its linkages with labor market outcomes for women in a developing country setting. Using data collected through the World Bank Enterprise Surveys in the...

The adoption of the value-added tax the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2012 led to price increases that are thought to adversely affect the welfare of most Congolese households. To date, research has not yet examined the poverty and distributional impacts of this tax reform. Using data from the...

How should resource-dependent countries respond (fiscally) to resource price volatility? This paper studies what determines revenue allocation between a "spend today" strategy and a "save now-spend tomorrow" approach in the context of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). It uses a...

The high level of exports and their product and market concentration exposes the Democratic Republic of Congo to the economic fluctuations of the country's trade partners. This paper uses the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development trade data set to analyze the Democratic Republic of...

This literature review summarizes the link between psychological well-being and entrepreneurial outcomes for small and medium-size enterprises in fragile, conflict, and violence-affected contexts. It identifies potentially promising, scalable psychosocial training interventions, based on...

This paper uses three waves of longitudinal data to examine the impact of expanding access to preschool services in rural areas of Indonesia on two cohorts of children. One cohort was children aged 4 at the start of the project and was immediately eligible for project-provided services when they...

When deciding who should receive welfare benefits with the aim to increase household well-being, it is necessary to understand the effects of the distribution of power within the households at which the aid is directed. Two primary household models have been used to study intra-household...

Improving governance is central to improving results in human development. It is clear that money is not enough: improved outcomes from service delivery require better governance, including mechanisms for holding service providers accountable and appropriate incentives for performance. There is...

This paper uses unique data collected in rural Pakistan to assess the extent to which consanguinity, which is widespread in North Africa, Central and West Asia, and most parts of South Asia, is linked to child cognitive ability and nutritional status. As economic benefits of marrying cousins may...