"South African households live in an environment characterized by risks, and many face a significant probability of experiencing economic losses that threaten their daily subsistence. Using household panel data that include directly solicited information on economic shocks and employing...

"South African households live in an environment characterized by risks, and many face a significant probability of experiencing economic losses that threaten their daily subsistence. Using household panel data that include directly solicited information on economic shocks and employing...

Using a longitudinal survey from rural Guatemala, we examine the effect of an early childhood nutritional intervention on adult educational outcomes. An intent-to-treat model yields substantial effects of an experimental intervention that provided highly nutritious food supplements to children,...

It is often assumed that early life circumstances, in particular before age two, are important for later human capital development. Using experimental variation in the timing of benefits from a conditional cash transfer program, we test the hypothesis that intervention starting in utero and...

La estructura y selección de temas de la presente publicación responde, en su mayor parte, a un diagnóstico de crecimiento para Guatemala realizado en 2007, donde se identificaron un conjunto de factores que afectan las posibilidades de desarrollo del país. A lo largo de estas páginas hay...

Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) programs have become the anti-poverty program of choice in many developing countries. Numerous evaluations, often based on rigorous experimental designs, leave little doubt that such programs can increase enrollment and grades attained--in the short term. But...

The effects of early life circumstances on cognitive skill formation are important for later human capital development, labor market outcomes and well-being. In this paper, we test the hypothesis that the first 1,000 days are the critical window for both cognitive skill formation and physical...

Longitudinal household data can have considerable advantages over much more widely used cross-sectional data. The collection of longitudinal data, however, may be difficult and expensive. One problem that has concerned many analysts is that sample attrition may make the interpretation of...

"This paper proposes and implements a methodology for a detailed, comparative analysis of the level and structure of costs for three similar poverty alleviation programs in Latin America: the Programa Nacional de Educación, Salud y Alimentación (PROGRESA) in Mexico, the Programa de Asignación...

This paper explores the relationship between group membership and trust. Specifically, the authors examine (1) the importance of trust in the decision to join groups, (2) the subsequent ability of groups to generate trust, and (3) the influence of group membership and trust on a measure of...