"This study examines the effect of a safety-net program on households' well-being and work activities during an economic downturn. It considers (1) how rural Nicaraguan households without the Red de Protección Social (RPS) program fared over the period 2000–02, and (2) whether households...

This paper discusses issues relating to the domestic pricing of petroleum in oil-producing countries. It finds that in most major oil-exporting countries, government policies keep domestic prices below free-market levels, resulting in implicit subsidies that equaled 3.0 percent of GDP, on...