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Etang, Alvin

Poverty and Equity GP, Africa
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Poverty, High Frequency Surveys
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Poverty and Equity GP, Africa
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Last updated: February 14, 2024
Biography
Alvin Etang is an Economist in the Poverty Global Practice at the World Bank. Previously a Postdoctoral Associate at Yale University, Alvin received his Ph.D. in Economics at the University of Otago. His interest in micro-development has led him to focus on analysis of poverty and welfare outcomes. With substantial experience in the design, implementation and analysis of household surveys, Alvin has worked in many African countries. He has also taught economics courses at the undergraduate level, and has experience in designing and using economic experiments as a tool to analyze poverty issues. He has a number of scholarly publications.

Publication Search Results

Now showing 1 - 10 of 24
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Women Empowerment for Poverty and Inequality Reduction in Sudan

2020-06, Osman, Eiman, Etang, Alvin, Kirkwood, Daniel

Several key gender issues likely act as an impediment to poverty reduction and shared prosperity in Sudan. While many of these issues are common across countries in the Sub-Saharan Africa region, some of them are accentuated by the status of Sudan as a fragile state. Fragility and conflict negatively affect men and women in different ways, resulting in gender-specific disadvantages. While men are often disproportionately affected by the direct effects of conflict (for example, death and disability), women and girls are affected by a range of constraints and protection challenges that fragility and conflict pose. These issues include disrupted access to basic social services and infrastructure, lower access to productive assets, displacement, and increased exposure to gender-based violence (GBV). This study aims to examine how gender equality has evolved in Sudan during the last decade, by looking at different dimensions. These include the accumulation of endowment in all its forms (human capital [education and health] and physical capital), access to economic opportunities (labor market opportunities and access to income-generating activities), access to services (water, sanitation, and electricity), and voice/representation to make decision at all levels. The study will highlight the areas in which gender inequality persists and propose policies to reduce gender inequality in Sudan.

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Towards a More Inclusive Economy: Understanding the Barriers Sudanese Women and Youth Face in Accessing Employment Opportunities

2021-01, Etang, Alvin, Osman, Eiman, Wistrand, Jennifer

The report is organized as follows. After a brief description of the analytical framing and methodology in section two, section three presents the history and demographics of the labor market in Sudan, focusing on indicators by gender and age across the three main sectors of employment: services, agriculture, and industry. Section four examines formal institutions: the institutional setting, service delivery, and laws and regulations as they relate to economic opportunities. Section five examines informal institutions, where the social norms and networks can be a barrier to women’s and youth’s full economic participation. Section six analyzes how the market is supporting or constraining economic activity, which includes a closer look at the labor market itself and access to assets. Section seven discusses how all of these aspects are considered when it comes to the household- and individual-level decision-making that directly affects women’s and youth’s accumulation of human capital, overall agency, and, ultimately, their economic opportunities. Section eight concludes with considerations for policy and action.

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Bhutan Labor Market Assessment Report

2024-02-14, Alaref, Jumana, Martinoty, Laurine, Viollaz, Mariana, Bartl, Esther, Leite, Phillippe, Etang Ndip, Alvin

Between 2001 and 2019, Bhutan made significant economic progress with an average annual growth rate of 7 percent. This progress was accompanied by significant improvements in monetary and nonmonetary standards of living. However, recent shocks from the COVID-19 pandemic and global macroeconomic volatilities disrupted these efforts. The recovery could be further complicated by the country’s pressing structural challenges related to a lack of economic diversification away from the hydropower-led growth model, vulnerabilities to shocks, and weak productivity gains. In addition, human capital remains low. The record number of Bhutanese migrating abroad with the reopening of the country’s borders in mid-2022 is fueling further concerns by policy makers about the country’s development prospects. This report examines the labor market in Bhutan with the objective of identifying the most pressing challenges at the pandemic recovery stage and ways to mitigate them. It is hoped that the findings can be used to support the Royal Government of Bhutan (RGoB) in its implementation of its thirteenth Five-Year Plan (2024–2029).

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Beyond Income Poverty: Nonmonetary Dimensions of Poverty in Uganda

2017-06, Tsimpo, Clarence, Etang, Alvin

The proportion of Ugandan households living in poverty reduced by more than half between 1993 and 2013. Using household survey data, this paper analyzes nonmonetary dimensions of poverty in Uganda for levels and trends, to explore whether the observed reduction in monetary-based poverty are reflected in the nonmonetary indicators of poverty. The results show that Uganda's progress in reducing poverty is strongly reflected in several nonmonetary indicators of poverty. The analysis finds that the trends in many nonmonetary indicators are consistent with the trend of monetary-based measure of poverty. The paper also examines whether progress has been as fast as would be expected, given Uganda's impressive performance in reducing poverty. Overall, the evidence indicates that progress on nonmonetary poverty was consistent with expectations, and faster than what would be expected, for some indicators, based on other countries' experiences. This finding is similar to Uganda's progress on reducing monetary poverty, which is also at the expected level based on experience in other countries.

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A Proxy Means Test for Targeted Social Protection Programs in Sudan

2022-11, Etang, Alvin, Namara, Suleiman

This study seeks to support the efforts of Sudan in the targeting of the Sudan Emergency Safety Nets Project (SESNP) and any other future safety net programs in Sudan to those most in need. Sudan has faced numerous challenges for several years. Since its separation from South Sudan in 2011, the economy has experienced macroeconomic imbalances that have lasted for over a decade. In addition, the country has faced political instability, internal conflicts, and challenging climatic conditions. All of these challenges pose direct consequences to the poor. More recently, the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine crisis have only exacerbated the economic and social situation in the country. In this context, the number of poor and vulnerable is expected to have increased considerably since the last reported official poverty rate, which accounted for 61.1% of the population in 2015. In light of these events, there is a growing consensus on the need of social safety net programs in the country. The proposed program, the SESNP, is expected to provide unconditional cash and food transfers to nearly 2 million Sudanese people (i.e., about 5% of the population). To support this program in targeting beneficiaries to improve the poverty impact of the program, we develop a Proxy Mean Tests (PMT) for Sudan based on the National Household Budget and Poverty Survey (NHBPS) 2014/2015. The results indicate that the use of a PMT could considerably improve the program in reaching those most in need, while reducing expenditure towards those with adequate resources. This could improve both the poverty impact, as well as the sustainability of the program.

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Mobile Phone Panel Surveys in Developing Countries: A Practical Guide for Microdata Collection

2016-06-23, Dabalen, Andrew, Etang, Alvin, Schipper, Youdi, von Engelhardt, Johannes

Household survey data are very useful for monitoring living conditions of citizens of any country. In developing countries, a lot of this data are collected through “traditional” face-to-face household surveys. Due to the remote and dispersed nature of many populations in developing countries, but also because of the complex nature of many survey questionnaires, collection of timely welfare data has often proved expensive and logistically challenging. Yet, there is a need for faster, cheaper to collect, lighter, more nimble data collection methods to address data gaps between big household surveys. The recent proliferation of mobile phone networks has opened new possibilities. By combining baseline data from a traditional household survey with subsequent interviews of selected respondents using mobile phones, this facilitates welfare monitoring and opinion polling almost real time. The purpose of this handbook is to contribute to the development of the new field of mobile phone data collection in developing countries. The handbook documents how this innovative approach to data collection works, its advantages and challenges. The handbook draws primarily from the authors’ first-hand experiences with mobile phone surveys in Africa and also benefits from experiences elsewhere. It is intended to serve a diverse audience including those involved in collecting (representative) data using mobile phones, and those using data collected through this approach. For those who will be implementing a mobile phone panel survey, the different chapters guide them through every stage of the implementation process. For potential users of the data collected via mobile phone technology, the handbook presents a new approach to data collection which they can use for monitoring programs and facilitate almost real time decision-making. A further purpose of this book is to contribute to the debate regarding the advantages of the method as well as the challenges associated with it.

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Education, Health and Poverty in Sudan

2018-11, Etang Ndip, Alvin

Sudan’s medium-term national development policy framework is embodied in the Interim Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (IPRSP). The paper was formulated in 2012 in the context of immense political upheaval due to the separation of the North (now Sudan) and South Sudan in 2011, which resulted in substantial loss (about 75 percent) in oil revenue and Sudan’s total revenue. To this end, Sudan launched a Five-Year Development Plan (2012-2016) to serve as a growth-oriented strategy with a primary focus on sustainable development and poverty reduction in the medium term. The IPRSP aims to reduce poverty through rapid, sustainable, and shared economic growth. Developing human resources is one of the four broad pillars of the IPRSP, which recognizes the role of investment in human development to build and enhance the population capabilities through education and better health. The Government of Sudan is now preparing the full PRSP that outlines a medium- to long-term plan for poverty reduction. This aligns with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the World Bank Group’s twin goals to eliminate extreme poverty (with US1.90 dollars per day as the poverty line) and boost shared prosperity by 2030. The paper proceeds as follows. Section two presents the results of selected education outcomes, linking them with poverty. Section three focuses on the link between health outcomes and poverty in Sudan. Section four provides a summary of the main findings and policy options.

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Fuel Subsidy Reform in Sudan: An Assessment of the Direct Welfare Impact on Households

2019-06, Etang Ndip, Alvin

This paper investigates the distributional direct welfare impact on households resulting from fuel subsidy removal. Note that this analysis focuses only on the direct distributional impact. A fuller understanding of the impact of fuel subsidies removal involves analyzing the indirect impact as well. Unfortunately, analysis of the distributional effect of fuel subsidies removal or fuel price increases is heavily constrained by the lack of appropriate data in Sudan. We do not have access to the relevant input-output table that describes the number of monetary transfers between sectors of the economy, making it impossible to simulate the indirect effect of fuel price increases on prices in other sectors. Therefore, the estimated impacts in this paper should be considered as the lower bound of the potential impact, as the overall impact will be higher when indirect impacts are factored. The paper is organized as follows. Section two examines the empirical evidence on the impact of fuel subsidy removal. Section three discusses the methodology and data used in this study. Section four presents an analysis of the welfare impact of fuel subsidies removal. Section 5, the conclusion, provides some suggestions on the way forward. The results from this work would inform policy dialogue with the Government of Sudan regarding the overall economic reforms that are being considered for stabilization of the economy.

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Towards a More Inclusive Economy: Understanding the Barriers Sudanese Women and Youth Face in Accessing Employment Opportunities

2022-11, Etang, Alvin, Osman, Eiman, Wistrand, Jennifer

The provision and access to quality employment opportunities, especially for women and youth, is instrumental in achieving inclusive growth and more effective development outcomes. However, women and youth are particularly disadvantaged in the Sudanese labor market. Understanding gender- and youth-specific issues can help identify entry points for greater employment opportunities for women and youth in Sudan. They can also help shape actions for enhanced growth and sustainability. The objective of this study, which builds on mixed methods research, is to contribute to a better understanding of the current situation, challenges, and constraints that women and youth face in accessing employment opportunities. To identify and examine these challenges and constraints, the study applies a conceptual framework derived from the World Development Report 2012: Gender Equality and Development analytical framework. More specifically, the study examines the role of informal institutions, formal institutions, and markets as they relate to employment-related outcomes for women and youth in Sudan. The study analyzes how these aspects influence intra-household decision-making processes, especially as they relate to the participation of women and youth in the economic sphere. These decisions directly affect individual-level endowments and agency, including access to economic opportunities. The study documents that Sudanese customs and norms affect women’s roles in society, and young people are less likely to participate in the labor force and be employed compared to adults. The findings call for policy actions to improve access of women and youth to employment opportunities.

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Agricultural Productivity and Poverty in Rural Sudan

2020-06, Ali, Haseeb, Etang Ndip, Alvin, Touray, Sering, Fuje, Habtamu

The remainder of this paper is organized as follows. Section two describes the state of the rural population in Sudan, by first discussing the spatial distribution of poverty across the states as well as changes in poverty levels between 2009 and 2014-15. It also describes the profile of poor rural households using characteristics such as their incomes, consumption, and assets. Section three focuses on the practice of agriculture in Sudan. It documents the agriculture-specific characteristics of households, such as choice of crops, use of inputs, irrigation, plot size, and credit access. We use these characteristics to illustrate the profile of rural farmers in Sudan and identify differences between poor and non-poor farmers. Section four describes agricultural yields across Sudan and relates these measures of farm productivity to the previously described farm characteristics to identify constraints to agricultural productivity. Section five concludes with a summary of the main findings and policy recommendations.