Daily estimates of Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2)—one of a group of pollutant gases that derive from human activity, primarily combustion—can provide a useful, albeit "noisy", real-time proxy measure of how COVID-19 has affected economic activity. To examine how the crisis affects NO2 levels in...

To respond effectively to crises, policy makers need reliable, timely evidence on its negative effects and transmission channels. Despite limitations compared to face-to-face surveys, rapid response phone surveys (RRPS) are a cost-effective, flexible method to quickly fill data gaps. This note...

Consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) has been linked to a range of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), including diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease, and over 12 types of cancer (Singh, et al. 2015). Increasingly, governments around the world are taxing SSBs to curb sugar...

The Data for Policy (D4P) initiative (D4P) is a new World Bank engagement to improve National Statistical Systems (NSS) by enhancing the availability, timeliness, quality, and relevance of key data for evidence-based decision making. Working at national and regional levels, the D4P ‘package’...

For decades, policy experts’ and practitioner consensus has been growing about the crucial role quality data plays in informing policy making. This has led to investment and projects to increase quality data availability. But progress has been slow, as reflected by slow improvement in country...

Economic development is typically accompanied by the movement of labor from agriculture to the non-agricultural sector, a pattern commonly referred to as structural transformation. This note aims to better understand the ongoing structural transformation in Sub-Saharan Africa. It finds that: (i)...

The pace and success of economic growth in the developing East Asia and Pacific region (EAP) has been described as nothing short of a miracle. Education and its complementarities are often linked and credited significantly for the region's positive story on economic growth. During the early...

Changes in food prices – triggered frequently by natural disasters, macroeconomic shocks or regional market disruptions– can lead to large household welfare effects. At over 60 and 40 percent, food budget shares remain high in rural and urban Mozambique, respectively. Furthermore, nearly 70...

To embark on a sustainable pathway toward development, effective policy responses must be implemented quickly and based on evidence. This requires reliable, timely data, which is often unavailable especially in fragile settings. An innovative High Frequency Survey (HFS) infrastructure offers a...

Thanks to strong economic growth over the last two decades, poverty in Mozambique has decreased and the average household is now more likely to access basic education, health, and housing. Yet, the country is still ravaged by intense and frequent weather disasters. To determine the scale and...