C. Journal articles published externally
2,064 items available
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These are journal articles by World Bank authors published externally.
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Publication
Violence and Newborn Health: Estimates for Colombia
(John Wiley and Sons, Ltd., 2021-10-15)This paper examines the relationship between maternal exposure to violence during pregnancy and newborn birthweight. The identification strategy exploits variation in the timing of exposure and in the geographic location of expectant mothers across Colombian municipalities. Exposure to violence in early pregnancy had a large negative impact on birthweight, primarily for boys, and the effect was mitigated by their mothers' education. Girls' birthweight was affected mainly by shocks in later stages of gestation. Furthermore, their mothers were more likely to engage in potentially harmful behaviors during the pregnancy. This evidence exposes the importance of parental responses in shaping the effect of exposure to violence on newborn health. -
Publication
Long-term Well-being Among Survivors of the Rwandan and Cambodian Genocides
(Taylor and Francis, 2021-05-17)This paper adds to the thin empirical literature estimating the long-term effects of exposure to conflict from in utero to adolescence on adult well-being. The effects through adolescence of the two worst genocides in recent history—those occurring in Rwanda (1994) and Cambodia (1975–79)—are examined. The Rwandan genocide is shown to have produced long-term health outcomes among women exposed to the conflict during adolescence. A further contribution is the analysis of gendered effects during adolescence, which is enabled by the availability of data on men’s height for Rwanda. The long-term effects are confirmed for men, however this appears to be the consequence of exposure during adolescence later than for women, a result that is consistent with the biological literature on the differential timing of the onset of puberty by gender. No significant effects are detected in the case of the Cambodian genocide and we discuss some issues that may influence this result. Although more research and better data are needed, our results are suggestive of adolescent-specific effects of the Rwandan genocide, which may be comparable or larger than those previously found for younger children. -
Publication
Trust to Pay? Tax Morale and Trust in Africa
(Taylor and Francis, 2021-02-14)Although low tax morale hits developing countries hardest, little is known about its determinants in those countries. This paper examines the impact of trust in public institutions and the neighbourhood on individual tax morale in four African countries. First, the paper provides theoretical foundations of such a relationship. Further, the paper uses the World Value Survey to estimate the effects of trust in public institutions and the neighbourhood on individual tax morale. The identification strategy employs the instrumental variables method and relies on historical data on the slave trade and the literature on the cultural heritage of trust. The paper finds that trust in public institutions and the neighbourhood are associated with tax morale in Algeria, Ghana, Morocco, and Nigeria. The findings are robust to an alternative identification strategy, additional controls, and a falsification test. -
Publication
Engaging Men to Transform Inequitable Gender Attitudes and Prevent Intimate Partner Violence: A Cluster Randomised Controlled Trial in North and South Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo
(BMJ Global Health, 2020-05-27)Globally, one in three women worldwide report experiencing intimate partner violence (IPV) in their lifetime. The study objective was to understand the effectiveness of Engaging Men through Accountable Practice (EMAP), a group-based discussion series which sought to transform gender relations in communities, on intimate partner violence (IPV), gender inequitable attitudes and related outcomes. Interventions engaging men have the potential to change gender attitudes and behaviours in conflict-affected areas. However, while EMAP led to changes in gender attitudes and behaviours related to perpetration of IPV, the study showed no overall reduction of women’s experience of IPV. Further research is needed to understand how working with men may lead to long-term and meaningful changes in IPV and related gender equitable attitudes and behaviours in conflict areas. -
Publication
Relative Measures of Genocide Mortality: Benefits and Methodological Considerations of Using Siblings' Survival Data
(Taylor and Francis, 2019-12-31)When studying events such as the 1994 Genocide in Rwanda, for many researchers the first order question seems to be to find the best available data and methods to estimate the death toll, i.e. to provide a number of deaths in absolute terms. This makes sense since the staggering number of victims over a very short period is one of the most shocking – and defining – features of such an historical event. This short note argues that while looking for an absolute death toll number is certainly an important and worthwhile research exercise, analyzing relative mortality numbers also provides valuable insights that might not be available when focusing on absolute numbers. By relative mortality I mean comparing mortality across different population segments such as by gender, by age group or socioeconomic categories (e.g. education levels, urban/rural background). Specifically, I will use the examples of the Khmer Rouge Period in Cambodia (1975-1978) and the 1994 Genocide in Rwanda to illustrate this argument and will rely on earlier studies to show how the sibling mortality schedule – a module collecting information about the date of birth, the sex and if relevant the date of death of all siblings of the respondent – contained in most of the well-known and commonly used Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) can be exploited to obtain reasonable and useful estimates of relative mortality. -
Publication
Leaving, Staying or Coming Back? Migration Decisions During the Northern Mali Conflict
(Taylor and Francis, 2019-10)This paper uses a unique data set to analyse the migration dynamics of refugees, returnees and, internally displaced people from the Northern Mali conflict. Individuals were interviewed monthly using mobile phones. Our results cast light on the characteristics of these three groups before and after displacement. In addition, we test how employment and security were related to migration status, as well as the willingness to go back home. Individuals who were employed while displaced were less willing to go back to the North, while those who owned a gun were more likely to plan to go back. Additional indicators of personal safety played a lesser role. -
Publication
Entertainment, Education, and Attitudes Toward Domestic Violence
(American Economic Association, 2019-05)We study attitudes towards domestic violence in a sample of young women and men exposed to the edutainment TV series MTV Shuga 3, which features a sub-plot on this theme, and in a sample that was not. We measure viewers' memory of the characters and identification with them. Eight months after the show, male viewers of Shuga report improved attitudes and are 21 percent less likely to justify violence than men in the control group. Attitudes improve among women and men who remember the characters associated with the violence plot, though not among those who identify with the characters. -
Publication
Walking the Line: Brokering Humanitarian Identities in Conflict Research
(Taylor and Francis, 2019)Increasingly, academic research in conflict-affected contexts relies on support from humanitarian organizations. Humanitarian organizations constitute sites of study in and of themselves; they partner with academics to roll out surveys or randomized program interventions; and they frequently facilitate security, logistics and transportation for independent researchers. We use a research partnership between IRC, the World Bank, and academic researchers in the UK, the US and eastern DR Congo, to explore the effects of humanitarian affiliation on conflict field research. In investigating when, how and under what conditions humanitarian identities are adopted by researchers (and how these affiliations shape research dynamics) we identify three paradoxes. First, “wearing humanitarian clothes” to facilitate research logistics can both facilitate and constrain access. Second, humanitarian affiliations invoked by researchers to ensure security and protection in volatile research sites can undermine the “insider” status of local staff. Finally, working through humanitarian organizations allows local and international researchers to benefit from the protections and privileges afforded to humanitarian employees without providing any of the services on which privileged access rests. In this article, we map out decisions faced by local and international researchers concerning when to adopt and discard humanitarian identities, and the fraught logistical, ethical and methodological consequences of these decisions. -
Publication
The Child Health Effects of Terrorism: Evidence from the Boko Haram Insurgency in Nigeria
(Taylor and Francis, 2018-08-25)This study examines the effect of terrorism on height-for-age z-scores, weight-for-age z-scores, weight-for-height z-scores, stunting, and wasting. Using the Boko Haram Insurgency, it compares outcomes in Boko Haram high-active and low-active areas. A difference-in-difference and regression model identifies the extensive and intensive margin effects respectively. The study uses data from the Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey and the Global Terrorism Database. The results suggest that the Boko Haram Insurgency reduces weight-for-age and weight-for-height z-scores and increases the probability of wasting. The evidence suggests that policies targeting healthcare services may mitigate the long-term impacts of the Boko Haram Insurgency on human capital production. -
Publication
Who Should Be at the Top of Bottom-Up Development? A Case-Study of the National Rural Livelihoods Mission in Rajasthan, India
(Taylor and Francis, 2018-05-31)It is widely acknowledged that top-down support is essential for bottom-up participatory projects to be effectively implemented at scale. However, which level of government, national or sub-national, should be given the responsibility to implement such projects is an open question, with wide variations in practice. This paper analyses qualitative and quantitative data from a natural experiment of a large participatory project in the state of Rajasthan in India comparing central management and state-level management. We find that locally managed facilitators formed groups that were more likely to engage in collective action and be politically active, with higher savings and greater access to subsidized loans.