Research

Triple difference designs have become increasingly popular in empirical economics. The advantage of a triple difference design is that, within treatment group, it allows for another subgroup of the population -- potentially less impacted by the treatment -- to serve as a control for the subgroup of interest. While literature on difference-in-differences has discussed heterogeneity in treatment effects between treated and control groups or over time, little attention has been given to the implications of heterogeneity in treatment effects between subgroups. In this paper, I show that interpretation of the usual triple difference parameter of interest, the difference in average treatment effects on the treated between subgroups, may be affected by this kind of heterogeneity. I propose a new parameter of interest, the causal difference in average treatment effects on the treated, which makes causal comparisons between subgroups. I discuss assumptions for identification and derive the semiparametric efficiency bounds for this parameter. I then propose doubly-robust, efficient estimators for this parameter. I use a simulation study to highlight the desirable finite-sample properties of these estimators, as well as to show the difference between this parameter and the usual triple difference parameter of interest. An empirical application shows the importance of considering treatment effect heterogeneity in practical applications.

This paper investigates the impact of mainstreaming special education students into general education classrooms. It specifically focuses on how mainstreaming is associated with classroom composition changes and how this matters for inferring other relevant outcomes such as absence, well-being, and academic performance. We use Danish registry data which allows us to map students to classrooms and follow them over time. Using a difference-in-difference design, we demonstrate that mainstreaming special education students induces school switching among peers, and students switch especially towards private schools. Additionally, we consider the impact of mainstreaming on peers' academic and socioemotional wellbeing in all schools and in isolated schools were switching is limited. We also conduct bounding exercises on attrition to private schools. We conclude that it is important to consider school switching when trying to understand the impacts of mainstreaming students. More generally, the results of this paper suggest that general equilibrium effects are likely large with regard to sorting when trying to mainstream special education students.

The COVID-19 pandemic placed new constraints and prices on commuting to work around the world. However, traditional methods of measuring household welfare (and, accordingly, poverty and inequality) based on expenditures or consumption have not taken into consider the implications of these changes. We propose a new method to impute transportation cost equivalents for household consumption or expenditure aggregates. First, we outline the theory showing significant mis-measurement of welfare for households who are able to shift into remote work during the pandemic. We show that taking transportation costs into account has important implications for evaluating the impacts of the pandemic.

Refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) often struggle to integrate the labor market. This literature review brings together two strands of research to inform the design of successful job interventions in this context: the evidence on how forced displacement impacts those forcibly displaced in their economic lives and the existing knowledge on jobs interventions for refugees and IDPs.

Digital financial services (DFSs) may lower certain costs of accessing finance, but they bring new costs, including difficulties accessing mobile networks. Mobile phone towers are more unequally distributed than traditional banks, though mobile phone use is near universal. The results suggest that old inequalities may constrain the promise of new digital technologies.

We use survey data collected in 2017 to examine self-reports of depression, anxiety, chronic fatigue, and pain among domestic migrants, returned U.S. migrants, and non-migrants. Compared to domestic migrants, U.S. migrants are positively selected but these characteristics are not protective for them.

This paper quantifies the labor market outcomes of people with disabilities (PwD) in Indonesia and compares them to people without disabilities. It distinguishes between medically-diagnosed disabilities and lived-experience disabilities to understand differences in access to diagnosis. This paper finds compelling evidence that, where a wage penalty exists, a substantial part is unexplained by observable characteristics.

World Development Report 2023 proposes an integrated framework to maximize the development impacts of cross-border movements on both destination and origin countries and on migrants and refugees themselves. The framework it offers, drawn from labor economics and international law, rests on a “match and motive” matrix that focuses on two factors: how closely migrants’ skills and attributes match the needs of destination countries and what motives underlie their movements. This approach enables policy makers to distinguish between different types of movements and to design migration policies for each. International cooperation will be critical to the effective management of migration.

The Southern African Customs Union (SACU) is the most unequal region in the world. While there has been some progress in recent years, inequality has remained almost stagnant in the most unequal countries. Using an innovative framework, this report provides a systematic and comprehensive analysis of inequality in the region.

Despite decades marked by progress, deep underlying challenges remain in Namibia, undermining the prospects for further advancement. Namibia has been in recession since 2016 and public finances have continued to deteriorate.

A decade of rapid economic growth has supported upward mobility and the expansion of the middle class in the Philippines. While the Philippines’ record of economic growth has been sound, many East Asian countries have performed better, resulting in higher levels of economic mobility and more rapid middle-class expansion.

International migration for temporary employment is a critical component of South Asia’s development path, from both the jobs and remittance flows perspectives. This report focuses on Bangladesh, Nepal, and Pakistan - three countries in the region sharing similar characteristics, opportunities, and challenges.

This program document presents a first US40 million dollars Economic Recovery Development Policy Loan to the Kingdom of Eswatini. The Poverty and Social Impact Analysis of this operation (Annex 4) confirms that most reforms supported by this operation will benefit the poor and vulnerable.

Not only are physical banks out of reach, people also face barriers to using digital financial services.

As economies have reopened following the Covid-19 lockdowns, spending has increased sharply in many Western economies. Some believe we are seeing the release of “pent up” demand as households spend savings built up earlier in the pandemic. But new evidence gives reason to doubt this hypothesis.

Some countries measure well-being, including inequalities in well-being, by consumption. But when people no longer travel to work or eat in restaurants because of COVID, the assumed relationship between spending and well-being – already loose, because of the poverty penalty – breaks down.

The COVID-19 pandemic opens up new questions for the inclusion of people with disabilities, at work and in crisis response and recovery. My recently published journal paper highlights the experiences of people with various types of disabilities in the workplace, as well as the importance of access to healthcare.

The latest World Economic Outlook projects China and India to grow as economic forces, with China’s economy becoming larger than the rest of the G7 combined by 2025. Big shifts among smaller economies are also expected as Vietnam, Bangladesh and Ethiopia emerge as new drivers of global growth and investment.

Remittances to countries like Mexico, Pakistan and Vietnam are keeping pace with 2019's record levels or in some cases rising, despite spring forecasts of a 20% decline.

It is nearly impossible to hear about digital financial services (DFS) without also hearing about big data. These kind of datasets have many applications in DFS, and at least 24 African fintechs use data analytics as a key part of their services.

In June 2018, co-founding investors and endorsers became signatories to the 10 Guidelines for “Investing in Responsible Digital Financial Services”. These Investor Guidelines directly respond to the increased opportunities and evolving risks emerging in digital financial services, and they range from fostering a proportionate legal and regulatory framework to preventing over-indebtedness, as well as managing risks.

Many rural and peri-urban smallholder farmers and agribusinesses struggle to access financial institutions, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa. Only 23% of adults in Sub-Saharan Africa were able to save in order to start, operate, or expand a farm or other business, and only 30% of adults living in rural areas had any financial account.

The Heyden Observatory, formerly the Georgetown College Observatory, built in 1843, still stands above the campus of Georgetown University in Washington, DC.

Founded in 1841 as part of a nascent worldwide network of Jesuit-run astronomical observatories, the Georgetown College Observatory of Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. has been home to more than 125 years of astronomical research, from Father Curley’s calculations of the latitude and longitude of D.C. to Father McNally’s award-winning solar eclipse photography.