We explore how Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) can help to fill a large infrastructure financing gap in developing countries by indirectly mobilizing resources from other entities. The analysis focuses on more than 6,500 transactions in 2005-2020 to developing and emerging markets from the...

This study explores the evolution of inequality in Latin America during the COVID-19 pandemic using primary data available from household and employment surveys collected in 2020. Inequality increased on average by 2 percent between 2019 and 2020, twice the average annual growth in the...

Does the growth of creative industries within a city yield both agglomeration effects (Marshallian externalities) as well as spillovers to the rest of the economy (Jacobian externalities, related to the novel combinations that can occur in cities with diversifted economic activities)? Most of...

Financial inclusion is strikingly low in emerging economies. In only a few years, financial technologies (fintech) have led to a dramatic expansion in the number of non-traditional credit intermediaries, but the macroeconomic and credit-market implications of this rapid growth of fintech are not...

Empirical analyses that rely on micro-level panel data have found that exporters are generally less pollutant than non-exporters. While alternative explanations have been proposed, firm level data has not been used to examine the role of destination markets behind the relationship between...

This study explores the presence of gender bias in public grants for science and technology (S&T) activities known as the Matilda effect in STEM disciplines (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) in Argentina. The empirical analysis is based on the Scientific and Technological...

This paper describes a policy experiment implemented in Costa Rica to increase learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. The experiment provided parents of preschool students with text messages to support their children's learning at home. After 15 weeks of intervention, the cognitive skills of...

We explore how government fragmentation affects public education provision by examining the case of Chile, which created 11 municipalities between 1994 and 2004. Using territories that sought, but failed to, achieve independence as controls, we find that schools in newly created municipalities,...

Decarbonizing road transport through electrification, public transport, and walking and biking can increase productivity and reduce expenses thanks to reduced traffic and energy efficiency gains. However, governments face losing fuel and vehicle tax revenue. We develop a method to assess options...

This paper documents the effects of an intervention on knowledge sharing, in which information embedded in efficient private organizations is used to improve bureaucratic procedures of public agencies. In particular, it analyzes the impact of the Knowledge for Results (K4R) program on the...