This study assesses how pandemic-related job losses and social protection impacted food security in South Africa using five waves of data from the NIDS-CRAM survey of 794 individuals. Job loss increased food insecurity by 5.2% (14%), consistent across five methods and lasting for 12 months....

In developing countries, women live longer than ever and make up the majority of older people. Many play central roles in their families and communities well into advanced ages, both as income earners and as unpaid carers of grandchildren, spouses, and even their own parents. Older women’s...

Sample S is the 2024 refreshment sample of the SOEP-Core. We applied a stratified two-stage cluster sampling design to draw a sample of anchor persons from the German population register. The sample adds 5,314 new households to the panel. Potential selectivity in participation is corrected by...

Road infrastructure boosts economic opportunities and thus contributes to poverty alleviation. This paper investigates the causal impact of paved primary roads on poverty and income mobility in Ecuador, with particular attention to the mechanisms through which these effects materialize....

Childhood immunisation coverage in New Zealand has fallen since 2016, with the decline accelerating during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using administrative data from Stats NZ's Integrated Data Infrastructure, we examine determinants of immunisation uptake and how these have changed over time. We find...

This study empirically investigates the impact of climate change on the incidence of noncommunicable diseases among older population in India. Using demographic and health surveys from 2019-2021 linked with georeferenced meteorological data at local levels, and a specification that controls for...

While Viet Nam has been remarkably successful in poverty reduction, the country is faced with various challenges ranging from uneven pockets of poverty, regional inequality, low labour productivity, and high informality rates, to a fast-ageing society. We offer an updated overview of the social...

Poverty remains a formidable development challenge in many developing countries. The Sustainable Development Goals aim to eradicate poverty, reduce inequality, and eliminate discrimination, ensuring that no one is left behind. To design effective policies, it is essential to understand the...

Climate-related extreme weather events are increasingly displacing communities across Southern Africa, with negative implications for social cohesion, livelihoods, and community resilience. Understanding how displacement erodes social cohesion is important for developing strategies for restoring...

Inclusive insurance plays a critical role in reducing household vulnerability in developing countries such as Indonesia. This study investigates the factors influencing inclusive insurance participation across regencies in the Special Region of Yogyakarta Province using multinomial logistic...

The Philippines aspires to become a predominantly middle-class society by 2040. Significant strides have been achieved in the reduction of extreme poverty. However, the COVID-19 pandemic exposed the fragility of recent gains and the vulnerability of many households to economic shocks. This study...

The start of a human's life can be characterized by two lotteries: that of your genes (nature) and the family you were born into (nurture). These set in motion a trajectory, from birth onward, in health and human capital. Leveraging three longitudinal social-science data sets, we systematically...

This paper investigates child poverty in Germany through a multidimensional lens, combining Sen’s Capability Approach and Bourdieu’s Capital Theory to develop a adapted Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) for children above 11 and youth aged 17. Drawing on data from the German...

Sample R is a refreshment sample of the SOEP-Core. We apply a stratified two-stage sampling design to draw a sample of anchor persons from the population register. We oversample former lignite mining regions (brown coal) all over Germany as well as the younger part of the general population aged...

Since it became the first new sovereign state of the 21st century on May 20, 2002, the Government of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste has demonstrated commendable leadership in rebuilding the country's economy with reasonably steady degrees of poverty reduction. The nation's unwavering...

This study investigates the determinants of women empowerment among refugee women living in Nairobi, Kenya. First, the study constructs an index to examine empowerment drivers using data from the Refugee and Host Household Survey (RHHS) 2021. A fractional logit regression model was employed in...

This working paper examines Tanzania's social protection system amidst growing humanitarian crises driven by climate change, health epidemics, and regional conflicts. It explores the social protection needs experienced in humanitarian settings, the challenges in implementation and expansion of...

This paper uses a vulnerability-based approach to analyze the evolution of the middle class in Europe between 2005-08 and 2015-18. The analysis reveals that, on average, the income level needed to ensure a low probability of falling into poverty-also understood as the vulnerability...

This paper examines the dynamics of poverty in Bhutan between 2017 and 2022, utilizing cross-sectional data from the Bhutan Living Standards Surveys. The paper constructs synthetic panels and estimates poverty transition probabilities. Three main findings emerge. First, poverty turnover in...

Workers have the right to take up any job offer in their country of citizenship but not to rent out that right. This paper shows that relaxing this restriction using a two-sided competitive market in work permits can provide a basic income guarantee for workers in migration-destination...