This paper examines the possibility of environmental "development traps," or "brown poverty traps," caused by interactions between the impacts of climate change and increasing returns in the development of "clean-technology" sectors. A simple specification is used in which the economy can...

Although female labor force participation in the Islamic Republic of Iran is among the lowest in the world, there is a lack of studies on the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the country's female labor force participation. This paper finds that female labor force participation decreased...

This paper examines the evolution of the gender employment gap post COVID-19 in the Egyptian manufacturing sector, using a unique firm-level data set. The findings show that the COVID-19 shock led to a slight improvement in the gender employment gap, both in absolute and relative terms, driven...

About 20,000 early childhood development centers provided day care for and prepared for primary school more than 1 million children aged three to seven (roughly 20 percent of children in that age group) in Kenya in 1995. The number of child care facilities reached 23,690 by the end of 1999. The...

This paper studies the growth effects of externalities associated with intergenerational health transmission, health persistence, and women's occupational constraints-- with particular emphasis on the role of access to infrastructure. The first part provides a review of the evidence on these...

This paper reviews empirical findings from economic analyses of the role of gender equality and women's empowerment in reducing poverty and stimulating growth. Going beyond the large literature documenting the impact of female education on a range of development outcomes, the paper presents...

By reducing the costs of environmental protection, technological change is important for promoting green growth. This entails both the creation of new technologies and more widespread deployment of existing green technologies. This paper reviews the literature on environmentally friendly...

Energy-efficient products generally offer a win-win proposition, because they pay for themselves. End users can reduce their energy costs, and power utilities can avoid costly investments in extra generation capacity. Moreover, energy efficiency can contribute to mitigating global warming. This...

Using a partially constructed panel database of 48 Sub-Saharan African countries from 2000 to 2013, this paper analyzes the structure of housing finance in Africa, its determinants, and its impact on inclusive growth. The findings show that market capitalization and urbanization are key positive...

This paper discusses short-run and long-run effects of "green stimulus" efforts, and compares these effects with "non-green" fiscal stimuli. Green stimulus is defined here as short-run fiscal stimuli that also serve a "green" or environmental purpose in a situation of "crisis" characterized by...