EGC in the News

In China, highly educated people are more likely to move away from areas with poor air quality. Reducing pollution could substantially increase GDP there and in other countries, according to a new study co-authored by Mushfiq Mobarak.

Early childhood interventions can have long-lasting effects on people's lives. What does economics tell us about how to improve them? Orazio Attanasio discusses an integrated approach to researching childhood development.

Pinelopi Koujianou Goldberg writes that by exacerbating a pre-existing "learning crisis," the COVID-19 pandemic has undermined many developing countries' long-term economic prospects. Even in the face of today's fiscal constraints, immediate action to improve educational outcomes has become an urgent priority.

Research by Mushfiq Mobarak and co-authors titled "Migration and Informal Insurance" examines whether new migration opportunities for rural households change the nature and extent of informal risk-sharing. The findings suggest it is important to take into account spillover effects when designing social protection programmes.

Gender disparities in social and economic outcomes, already larger in the developing world than in rich countries, have been exacerbated by the pandemic, according to Yale SOM’s Mushfiq Mobarak and his co-authors. They write that policy action is badly needed to address the compounding of existing inequalities and protect the most vulnerable women.

What are the prospects for "Green Pathways out of Poverty" when the costs of growth fall hardest on the poor? Director of the Yale Economic Growth Center and professor of Economics Rohini Pande notes, “the ones who are affected the most … are the ones with the least power.”

New research by Michael Peters on the effects that the absence of outside professional management has on India’s businesses & economy

Rohini Pande shares insights from a study in urban Delhi, India with Abhijit Banerjee, Nils Enevoldsen, and Michael Walton that evaluated the extent to which public disclosure of performance could motivate local politicians to spend on infrastructure.

"Population pyramids" may explain some of the dramatic differences in Covid19 death rates in lower/higher income countries. Siddhartha Mukherjee quotes Mushfiq Mobarak in a New Yorker article.

In recommending ways India could draw more women into the labor force, The Economist cites research by Rohini Pande, Charity Troyer Moore, Erica Field, Natalia Rigol, and Simone Schaner

Economic growth in India is not leading to commensurate gains in child nutrition. Research by economists Seema Jayachandran and Rohini Pande is showing links between stunting & social standing.

Poor electricity access in developing countries may be consequence of society treating electricity as a right rather than a commodity. Nicholas Ryan and co-authors suggest reforms.

Penny Goldberg and co-authors Marie Hyland and Simeon Djankov provide the first global picture of gender discrimination by the law as it affects women’s economic opportunities.

The idea that mask norms are hard to change but stable once achieved is not correct: the data in Bangladesh indicates that norms can change rapidly in both directions, write Jason Abaluck and Ahmed Mushfiq Mobarak.

Rohini Pande shares her perspective on powerful interventions that can strengthen women wanting to work — and change social norms.

The Yale South Asian Studies Council and the Yale Economic Growth Center co-hosted a panel discussion titled “Aid, Power, and Plague: Lessons from History and Practice on Foreign Aid Responses.” Experts discussed how knowledge of the history of foreign aid development can inform contemporary policy.

Despite decades of progress in addressing gender discrimination, women across the globe face persistent legal barriers to participating in the economy on an equal basis with men, according to a study co-authored by Yale economist Pinelopi Goldberg.

Nepal’s new federal institutions are up against a formidable set of disasters: the COVID-19 pandemic and severe floods, along with the imminent lean season. The federal, provincial, and local levels of government need to coordinate to rise to these challenges. A large-scale survey of provincial and local government officials suggests that a data-driven approach to allocating funds can help.

Mushfiq Mobarak describes the arc of his research on scalable, evidence-based policy responses to the deprivations of poverty. This year, Mobarak and his team repurposed their existing research infrastructure to respond to the COVID crisis—building ties in Bangladesh that could be valuable long after the pandemic passes.

Penny Goldberg explains that the Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated a trend that was already underway, and argues that now more important than ever, developing countries must seek alternatives to export-led growth.

In Spanish: José Antonio Espín-Sánchez discusses the responsibility of financial institutions and universities to divest in fossil fuels. This comes after an open letter signed by economists.

The team has improved and expanded a program that uses artificial intelligence software to forecast floods in South Asia, enabling governments to issue earlier and more accurate warnings that can potentially save lives.

Rich countries should keep their doors open to migrants from poorer ones – for not only moral reasons, but in their own self-interest. Penny Goldberg lays out the reasons why.

Penny Goldberg discusses the key findings from the World Banks's new "Women, Business and the Law" database, which tracks inequality in legislation throughout the duration of a woman's working life, from the time she can enter the labor force through retirement.

Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh with symptoms of the novel coronavirus are not coming forward to get tested because they fear being separated from their families and held in isolation - one of many reasons it's difficult to know the true spread of the disease, according to a report by Ahmed Mushfiq Mobarak.

Social distancing can save a large number of lives in high-income countries because practically any economic cost is worth bearing, but in lower-income countries, the benefits diminish, according to a study by Mushfiq Mobarak and Zachary Barnett-Howell.

If the Government of India distributes COVID emergency cash payouts using only its digital banking program PMJDY, a majority of poor women may be excluded, according to research by Rohini Pande

Rural-to-urban migration can improve the allocation of labour, but can it have unintended consequences on risk-sharing in rural communities? Costas Meghir explains in an interview.

What are the policy options when info channels are weak and the cost of social distancing may be going hungry? Ahmed Mushfiq Mobarak explores the role of research and policy in Bangladesh and other developing countries for Yale Insights.

Economist Yukiko Fukagawa, M.A. '95 Yale International and Development Economics program, now Waseda University, gives her thoughts on South Korea's Moon Jae-in administration.

A champion in the fight against COVID-19 is data-driven technology enabling governments to track the infected, contact them, & quarantine them early, says Penny Goldberg.

Members of the Yale community react to news of the return of Pinelopi Koujianou Goldberg to the Economics Department this Fall, and Penny gives her first public comments on her departure from the World Bank.

The time to plan large-scale summer learning programs is now. Column by Fabrizio Zilibotti.

Macroeconomic policy may help today, but it will be no panacea. The wealth of nations is determined by technology, human capital, institutions, and social cohesion. A column by Fabrizio Zilibotti.

In the face of major challenges e.g. Japan's Typhoon Hagibis and now #COVID19, governments may need to defy fiscal conservatives and act quickly. Koichi Hamada, Yale Department of Economics / EGC Professor Emeritus, in Project Syndicate:

In India, giving poor, rural women control financial control over their own wages had a surprising range of effects. Rohini Pande and Charity Troyer Moore describe their research.

New research by EGC faculty Orazio Attanasio, Costas Meghir shows how encouraging poor families to make learning materials and involve their toddlers in household activities can improve cognitive and socio-emotional skills.

Poor women in socially restrictive households in India were more likely to take up jobs if their wages were deposited into their bank accounts and they were trained in digital banking, according to new research by Rohini Pande and coauthors.

The new EGC director talks about challenging restrictive social norms, harnessing digital technology to increase women’s access to health care and employment in India — and economics as an agent of social justice.