We examine the factors behind Afghanistan's persistent underdevelopment. Drawing on various theories of development traps operating at the demographic, economic and institutional levels, we seek to assess whether and to what extent their functioning affects Afghanistan's development. To capture...

We study the response of daily household spending to the unexpected component of the COVID-19 pandemic, which we label as pandemic shock. Based on daily forecasts of the number of fatalities, we construct the surprise component as the difference between the actual and the expected number of...

We study the response of daily household spending to the unexpected component of the COVID-19 pandemic, which we label as pandemic shock. Based on daily forecasts of the number of fatalities, we construct the surprise component as the difference between the actual and the expected number of...

Remittance inflows from overseas workers are an important source of foreign funding for developing and emerging economies. The literature is in- conclusive about the cyclical nature of remittance inflows. To the extent remittances are procyclical they pose a challenge to monetary policy: a...

Remittance inflows from overseas workers are an important source of foreign funding for developing and emerging economies. The literature is in- conclusive about the cyclical nature of remittance inflows. To the extent remittances are procyclical they pose a challenge to monetary policy: a...