The effects of poverty in childhood can last a lifetime. Research shows that children living in poverty have lower levels of health and wellbeing, attain lower levels of education, have lower levels of occupational attainment and are more likely to be poor in adulthood. In this report, we focus...

Large-scale debt forbearance is a key policy tool during crises, yet targeting is challenging due to information asymmetries. Using transaction-level data from a Portuguese bank during COVID-19, we find that financially fragile households are more likely to enter forbearance, irrespective of...

Infrastructure improvement is one of the driving forces behind growth and structural changes in the village economy. This study aims to determine the impact of improvements in rural infrastructure, particularly connecting roads between villages, on the direction of changes in the main income...

We analyze the effect of adverse health shocks on households' expenditure shares in different good categories using a fixed-effects approach and a structural approach based on microeconomic theory. We find that, on average, households substitute health and food expenditure in response to adverse...

Using a life-cycle model of household consumption and investment under family transitions, we investigate the long-run financial outcomes of divorces. We find divorce leads to a reduction in wealth, and the loss is larger for higher-educated women. Earlier fertility and a smaller parenthood...

Holt and Vinopal (2023) provides evidence of an income-based gap in time spent waiting for services on the typical day in the United States. The gap was estimated at the extensive margin, unconditional intensive margin, and intensive margin conditional on some waiting time. The analysis was...

Digital skills are increasingly essential for full participation in modern life. Yet many low-income families face a dual digital divide: limited access to technology and limited ability to use it effectively. These gaps can undermine adults' ability to support their children's education,...

Foreign remittances have become a crucial component of the Nepalese economy. This study investigates the impact of remittances on household consumption patterns in rural Nepal using data from the World Bank's Nepal Household Risk and Vulnerability (NHRV) Survey Panel, covering the period from...

In this paper, we utilize the 2019/20 Uganda National Household Survey data to answer three related questions: (i) To what extent did out-of-pocket payments (OOPs) for health care services exceed the threshold for household financial catastrophe amidst COVID-19? (ii) What is the impoverishing...

The paper analyses the relationship between human capital formation and income growth in Burkina Faso using data from household surveys conducted in 2009 and 2018. By combining estimates from multiple linear regressions of the impact of human capital variables on income with variance...

We analyse how unexpected income changes and aggregate conditions influence income expectations, their uncertainty, and expectation errors. We use a uniquely rich longitudinal Dutch survey collecting detailed information on the distribution of household income expectations. Our results show that...

Microfinance aims to promote financial inclusion among underprivileged individuals, particularly through progressive microcredit, which enables borrowers to access increasing loan amounts over time. This study examines the conditions under which progressive microcredit positively impacts both...

Little is known about the extent and drivers of information flow within couples and whether spouses hold aligned expectations about the same outcomes. To provide new evidence, we conduct an online survey of 2,200 middle-aged married couples in the U.S. Our focus is on expectations about Social...

Amidst the global ascent of financial technologies (FinTech), Argentina presents a critical case for examining how these platforms shape debt relations among marginalized households. Employing a mixed-methods approach, this article draws on quantitative data from the Central Bank of the Republic...

This paper examines how individuals respond financially to severe health shocks by analyzing early withdrawals from retirement savings following the initiation of cancer treatment (chemotherapy). Using comprehensive administrative data from Australia that link health, tax, and demographic...

This paper studies families' capacity to pay for college in the United States, focusing on changes over time and differences by race and socioeconomic status. I use data from the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS) to document changes over time in the Expected Family Contribution...

This article examines the relationship between human capital accumulation, household income, and shared prosperity using 2005-2018 household surveys in Cameroon, Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, and Uganda. Human capital is found to be positively and significantly correlated with household wellbeing in...

This paper examines trends in household financial strain across Europe from 2006 to 2022, a period marked by three major economic shocks: the 2008 financial crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the ongoing cost-of-living crisis. Using a subjective measure of welfare, financial strain, we analyse...

We analyze the optimal nonlinear income tax schedule for taxpayers with multiple incomes and multiple unobserved characteristics. We identify smoothness assumptions and extensions of the single crossing conditions that enable the characterization of the optimum through variational calculus. Both...

Digital skills are increasingly essential for full participation in modern life. Yet many low-income families face a dual digital divide: limited access to technology and limited ability to use it effectively. These gaps can undermine adults' ability to support their children's education,...

This paper estimates the impact of natural events on the economic vulnerability of Peruvian households, with a focus on the role of frequency and severity. We combine detailed, high-frequency administrative data from emergency records at the district level provided by the National Institute of...

We first review research about income and earnings volatility and second provide new UK evidence about the latter using high quality administrative record data. The USA stands out as a high volatility country relative to the UK and other high-income countries, but volatility levels have remained...

Purpose - Health shocks are among the factors that have impeded households from experiencing better welfare. To mitigate the consequences of these shocks, individuals have sought to enrol in a formal insurance scheme or borrow from banks. This study estimates the effects of health shocks on...