When it comes to mental health, do social protection programs matter more in times of crisis Using panel data from the Philippines around the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, this study compares depression rates among beneficiaries of an existing conditional cash transfer program to those of...

This report documents the progress that Pakistan has made so far in improving its systems for delivering social protection to its people. The government has increasingly relied on data and technology to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the program. BISP UCT (Kafaalat),the country's...

Fiscal incidence analysis helps in understanding who contributes to and benefits from the fiscal system, and assessing the impact of fiscal policies in reducing poverty and inequality. Traditionally, the incidence of fiscal policy is assessed for households along the income distribution. In an...

This study examines the impact of farm input subsidies, food and cash transfers, and irrigation investments on the dietary diversity, food consumption scores, and coping strategy index in Malawi. Despite the potential for synergies to address a range of vulnerabilities affecting food...

We study how the frequency of government transfer payments affects spending behavior. Our empirical approach uses transaction-level data on income and spending and exploits quasi-random delays in the receipt of unemployment insurance (UI) benefits. Spending drops by about half of the loss in...

Against the backdrop of demographic transition in India, the study highlights the necessity of integrating the elderly population as a critical factor in formula-based intergovernmental fiscal transfers. The demographic transition, characterized by an increasing elderly population, imposes...