How can different kinds of policy help refugees and other displaced populations find work? This project focuses on three interventions designed to improve formal employment outcomes for Syrian refugees and local jobseekers in Jordan. Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike 2.0 UK: England & Wales; http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/uk/

The CSAE's Kate Orkin has won the ESRC award for Outstanding Public Policy Impact 2023. Stefan Dercon talks to Kate about the work behind the cash grant programme in South Africa during the Covid-19 pandemic that reached an extra 26.2 million people. Stefan Dercon is the CSAE Director and Professor of Economic Policy, University of Oxford, and Kate Orkin is the Associate Professor of Economics and Public Policy, University of Oxford.

Online job adverts show that the demand for AI related skills has grown rapidly in countries around the world since 2015. This project examines the demand for AI skills in India's service sector, using a new dataset of online job adverts. Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike 2.0 UK: England & Wales; http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/uk/

Billions of dollars are spent annually on humanitarian support to households in crisis. Researchers discuss a large-scale evaluation that tests the impact of anticipatory cash transfers in response to floods in Bangladesh. Humanitarian workers carry out incredible lifesaving work every day on the front line of crisis response to assist those in the greatest need. Yet repeatedly, despite the fact that billions of dollars are spent annually on humanitarian support to households in crisis, there...

Education systems need to withstand shocks that routinely close schools. Researchers discuss results from randomised trials evaluating the provision of education in emergency settings across 5 countries. Shocks such as weather, natural disasters, disease, and conflict frequently disrupt schooling. Education systems need to build resilience and be able to continue to provide education during these shocks. Following on from Youth Impact's work on distance education during the Covid-19 pandemic...

Dr Greg Walton and Dr Kate Orkin discuss 'wise interventions', and how social science can use this psychologically approach to understand the major problems in social life - poverty, social exclusion, child abuse, and discrimination. One of the key goals of social science is to understand and address the major problems in social life –poverty, social exclusion, child abuse, and discrimination. Different lenses offer different tools. In this podcast, Dr Greg Walton and Dr Kate Orkin discuss a...

Dr Greg Walton and Dr Kate Orkin discuss 'wise interventions', and how social science can use this psychologically approach to understand the major problems in social life - poverty, social exclusion, child abuse, and discrimination. One of the key goals of social science is to understand and address the major problems in social life –poverty, social exclusion, child abuse, and discrimination. Different lenses offer different tools. In this podcast, Dr Greg Walton and Dr Kate Orkin discuss a...

How do we change a corrupt norm? This project looks to address this question through a policy intervention, working with the Ghana Police Service, to try to change the behaviour of the traffic police through an innovative ethics training programme. One of the important factors that drive successful organisation is the behaviour of the people within that organisation. In many places, corruption has become a norm - a way of life - something that is generally accepted as a behavioural standard,...

Can Africa learn from the Chinese urbanisation project? In the next 30 years, African cities need to make zoom for roughly 500 million more citizens, roughly tripling the current urban population. This offers great opportunities for growth and prosperity, but also significant challenges for public policy. China is the only other place in the world to have experienced a similar urbanisation challenge. This project seeks to understand how the successes and limitations of China’s experience...

Can Africa learn from the Chinese urbanisation project? In the next 30 years, African cities need to make zoom for roughly 500 million more citizens, roughly tripling the current urban population. This offers great opportunities for growth and prosperity, but also significant challenges for public policy. China is the only other place in the world to have experienced a similar urbanisation challenge. This project seeks to understand how the successes and limitations of China’s experience...

A discussion about some of the first experimental evidence on distance education during the covid-19 pandemic in Botswana. The conversation goes under the hood of the randomised control trials to discuss some critical implementation lessons and research insights that don’t always make it into the final academic paper, and what is next on the horizon. The Botswana paper is available here (School’s Out: Experimental Evidence on Limiting Learning Loss Using “Low-Tech” in a Pandemic) and was...

A discussion about some of the first experimental evidence on distance education during the covid-19 pandemic in Botswana. The conversation goes under the hood of the randomised control trials to discuss some critical implementation lessons and research insights that don’t always make it into the final academic paper, and what is next on the horizon. The Botswana paper is available here (School’s Out: Experimental Evidence on Limiting Learning Loss Using “Low-Tech” in a Pandemic) and was...

Standard microcredit contracts seem to have modest if any effects on the performance of small firms and no effects on household consumption. Could we construct a better design product to improve on the standard contract? Researchers discuss their project in Pakistan which explores if alternative contracts do better, and what the effects of offering larger financial products are. You can also find out more about the project on the CSAE website:...

Standard microcredit contracts seem to have modest if any effects on the performance of small firms and no effects on household consumption. Could we construct a better design product to improve on the standard contract? Researchers discuss their project in Pakistan which explores if alternative contracts do better, and what the effects of offering larger financial products are. You can also find out more about the project on the CSAE website:...