Development economics
Other research areas
KIZAZI KIJACHO ("The Next Generation")
PROJECT MANAGER: INGVILD ALMÅS
PROJECT PERIOD: 01.09.2021-31.08.2025
Poor developmental outcomes for children under five can last a lifetime and perpetuate an inter-generational cycle of poverty and marginalization. The need for action is widely recognized, but it is not yet matched by a requisite understanding of the process of and barriers to improving child development at scale in low-and middle-income country (LMIC) settings. To address this challenge, this project uses novel longitudinal and experimental data from a nationally-representative sample in Tanzania to yield actionable evidence for policy makers, donors and practitioners about the design of cost effective, scalable, sustainable, integrated ECD parenting programs, from the prenatal period until the child’s 3rd year of life – the “first 1,000 days.
Intra-household resource allocation and targeted transfers
PROJECT MANAGER: INGVILD ALMÅS
PROJECT PERIOD: 01.09.2021-31.08.2025
Many welfare programs around the world target women with cash transfers rather than men. Examples are the many conditional cash transfer schemes around the world. The main arguments used for such targeting is that transfers to women/mothers strengthen the position of mothers as well as children, in the society, and thus such targeting promotes child development. But despite the large flows of money targeting women using these arguments, we have little empirical evidence on the effect of such targeting. This ambitious research project will aim to provide research evidence on the effect of gender targeting. The project will develop and use novel survey design and economic experiments, both in the "lab" and in the field, to study the effect of gender targeting on female empowerment and child development.
Child care for childhood and business development
Project manager: Kjetil Bjorvatn
Project Period: 2018 - 2021
Can supporting pre-school education improve educational outcomes for the children and business development for the mothers? These are the two key research questions in our project.
New approaches to measuring inequality: From household decisions to global Comparisons
Project manager: INGVILD ALMÅS
Project Period: 2016 - 2020
The traditional approach to measuring economic inequality consists of selecting a measure of real income and representing its distribution using the Lorenz curve or a summary scalar index, such as the Gini. Real income is typically constructed by adjusting nominal income for purchasing power. The agenda for this project is to extend the traditional approach in three directions.
temperature, Behavior and economic choices
Project manager: Ingvild Almås
We will do an experiment which aim is to study the causal effect of temperature on individual decision-making. Through a series of lab modules, we will study the causal effect of temperature on standard economic choices and cognitive performance. In particular, we will be testing the effect of temperature variation on productivity, cognitive ability, pro-social behaviour, trust, trustworthiness, cooperation, destruction, time preferences and risk preferences.