03. Journals

3,120 items available

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https://hdl.handle.net/10986/2210

These are journal articles published in World Bank journals as well as externally by World Bank authors.

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Now showing 1 - 6 of 6

Public Child Care Provision: Unraveling the Consequences of Implementation Variations for Women’s Time Allocation
(Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the World Bank, 2024-02-06) Mata, Catherine
From analysis of the effects of a national childcare policy on women’s time allocation in Costa Rica, it is found that childcare services are associated with increased female labor force participation, greater educational enrollment, and reduced unpaid care work. However, a comparison of two implementing agencies indicates that the overall effects vary by agency. One agency’s services yield positive outcomes, such as increased labor force participation, reduced unpaid care work, and increased educational attendance; the other agency’s results are less favorable, particularly for part-time childcare users. These findings highlight the challenges governments face when scaling up interventions, as different implementing agencies may modify program criteria, serve distinct populations, and offer varying services. While policies can be effective on a smaller scale, impacts may differ when they are scaled up. Understanding these variations can help governments adapt policies and reallocate resources to achieve their intended goals.
Job Loss and Household Labor Supply Adjustments in Developing Countries: Evidence from Argentina
(Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the World Bank, 2024-01-17) Ciaschi, Matias; Guido Neidhofer
Using longitudinal data for Argentina, this paper estimates the labor supply reaction of spouses and children, as well as the interactions between them, following the job loss of their husband or father. The findings show that job loss by the household head has a positive and significant impact on the labor supply of other household members. However, it increases the likelihood of spouses to switch to informal and downgraded employment, and of children to drop out from education. While effects are stronger among vulnerable households, coverage of social security does not provide enough support in coping with unemployment shocks. Mothers’ labor participation, however, may allow their daughters to continue their education.
Digital Training for Micro-Entrepreneurs: Experimental Evidence from Guatemala
(Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the World Bank, 2023-09-22) Estefan, Alejandro; Improta, Martina; Ordoñez, Romina; Winters, Paul
Previous literature shows minor impacts of in-person business training in developing countries, but few papers study the effectiveness of digital training. A research partnership with a multinational company operating in the food sector of Guatemala enables the randomized evaluation of a digital training program involving the franchise store owners of one of its retail chains. The training program combined a mobile app offering access to reproducible video capsules and virtual one-on-one consulting meetings. The results of the randomized evaluation reveal significant impacts on knowledge, business practices, sales, and profits. An examination of the mechanisms underlying these results reveals that consulting meetings are crucial in inducing engagement with the app’s content. Program flexibility, internet access, and initial sales are also crucial determinants of training effectiveness.
The Rise in Women’s Labor-Force Participation in Mexico: Supply vs. Demand Factors
(Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the World Bank, 2023-09-07) Bhalotra, Sonia; Fernández, Manuel
This study estimates the relative importance of alternative supply and demand mechanisms in explaining the rise of female labor-force participation (FLFP) over the last 55 years in Mexico. The growth of FLFP in Mexico between 1960 and 2015 followed an S-shaped, with a considerable acceleration during the 1990s. Using descriptive decomposition methods and a shift-share design, the study shows that, put together, supply and demand factors can account for most of the rise of FLFP over the entire period, led by increases in women’s education, declining fertility, and shifts in the occupational structure of the workforce. However, there is unexplained variation in the 1990s, when FLFP spiked.
Hard and Soft Skills in Vocational Training: Experimental Evidence from Colombia
(Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the World Bank, 2023-03-13) Barrera-Osorio, Felipe; Kugler, Adriana; Silliman, Mikko
This paper studies the effects of an oversubscribed job-training program on skills and labor-market outcomes using both survey and administrative data. Overall, vocational training improves labor-market outcomes, particularly by increasing formal employment. A second round of randomization evaluates how applicants to otherwise similar job-training programs are affected by the extent that hard versus soft skills are emphasized in the curriculum. Admission to a vocational program that emphasizes technical relative to social skills generates greater short-term benefits, but these relative benefits quickly disappear, putting participants in the technical training on equal footing with their peers from the soft-skill training in under a year. Results from an additional randomization suggest that offering financial support for transportation and food increases the effectiveness of the program. The program fails to improve the soft skills or broader labor-market outcomes of women.
Labor Market Experience and Falling Earnings Inequality in Brazil: 1995–2012
(Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the World Bank, 2021-03-25) Ferreira, Francisco H G; Firpo, Sergio P; Messina, Julián
The Gini coefficient of labor earnings in Brazil fell by nearly a fifth between 1995 and 2012, from 0.50 to 0.41. The decline in other measures of earnings inequality was even larger, with the 90-10 percentile ratio falling by almost 40 percent. Applying micro-econometric decomposition techniques, this study parses out the proximate determinants of this substantial reduction in earnings inequality. Although a falling education premium did play a role, in line with received wisdom, this study finds that a reduction in the returns to labor market experience was a much more important factor driving lower wage disparities. It accounted for 53 percent of the observed decline in the Gini index during the period. Reductions in horizontal inequalities – the gender, race, regional and urban-rural wage gaps, conditional on human capital and institutional variables – also contributed. Two main factors operated against the decline: a greater disparity in wage premia to different sectors of economic activity, and the “paradox of progress”: the mechanical inequality-increasing effect of a more educated labor force when returns to education are convex.