In many countries safety nets consist predominantly of universal subsidies on food and fuel. A key question for policy makers willing to shift to targeted safety nets is under what conditions middle-class citizens would be supportive of redistributive programs. Results from a behavioral...

Despite significant progress in closing the gender gap in education, there is a significant disparity between male and female labor participation rates in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). Among men aged 15 to 64 years, 65.7 percent participate in the labor force compared to only 41 percent of...

Despite a slight increase in female labor participation between 2012 and 2013, employment rates in Serbia stood at 40.1 percent for women in 2013, almost 15 percentage points below employment rates for men (at 54.9 percent). International evidence shows that support for childcare and eldercare...

This note examines the provision of childcare and eldercare in FYR Macedonia with an emphasis on the availability, price, and quality of care, and suggests policy priorities that address the identified challenges. The analysis in this note is based on a study aimed at exploring childcare and...

This note examines the provision of childcare and eldercare in Kosovo with an emphasis on the availability, price, and quality of care, and suggests policy priorities that address the identified challenges. The analysis in this note is based on a study aimed at exploring childcare and eldercare...

The Russian Federation's population has been declining since 1992, but recently the decline appears to be over. Although fertility has risen since the 2007 introduction of the family policy package, which focused on stimulating second and higher-order births, total fertility rates still remain...

This note aims to contribute to the debate, paying attention not only to changes in the Bolsa Familia program itself, but also by simulating the impact that general spending and tax reforms will have on the well-being of Brazilian families, whether they are poor or not. This last point is...

The objective of this policy note is to develop a set of actionable recommendations for tackling poverty and social exclusion in Poland based on evidence. In recent years, the World Bank has deepened its engagement in Poland around issues of social inclusion, through work on effective labor...

This note discusses policy options for managing the employment impacts of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) crisis aimed at relief and restructuring. The note pays attention to the labor market and institutional context of most low and middle-income countries where informality is large and where...

Summary How do international policies on aid, trade, and factor movements affect the international distribution of income? We calculate the impact by world decile of the actual level of aid flows and the effect on income of merchandise trade restrictions by high-income countries. We find that...