The World Bank launched the Rapid Web based Survey on the Impact of the Conflict (RWSIC) on June 9, 2021, covering key topics such as access to basic services, labor outcomes, mental health, and coping strategies. The survey was conducted over Facebook, using targeted advertisements based on...

Global peace has significantly declined over the past 15 years, with the 2023 Global Peace Index highlighting a notable erosion of peace since 2008, affecting 95 out of 163 countries. The impacts of conflict disproportionately affect the poorest and most vulnerable groups, threatening to roll...

This paper examines the effect of weather shocks on violent crime using disaggregated data from Brazilian municipalities over the period 1991-2015. I document that adverse weather shocks in the form of droughts lead to a significant increase in violent crime, with the effect appearing to persist...

This paper investigates how persistent changes in trust caused by the Great Recession have affected how governments and citizens across Europe responded to the next global crisis: the COVID-19 pandemic. We show that increases in individualism and mistrust towards institutions caused by...

This paper explores the relationship between household exposure to riots and social capital in urban India using a panel dataset collected by the authors in the state of Maharashtra. The analysis applies a random-effect model with lagged covariates to estimate the exogenous effect of riots on...

Conflict is either caused by, or brings about, drastic changes in the underlying social relationships between members of a community involved in the conflict. The conflict literature has taken note, and a growing number of studies attempt to determine the relationship between conflict and social...

Internet surveys may never replace in-person surveys as a gold standard, but they remain important tools for rapid, remote, and low-cost data collection. The West Bank and Gaza Poverty and Equity team had a unique opportunity to compare a Facebook survey with an in-person survey covering...