CSAE Research Podcasts

Can we measure whether countries are on track to halve poverty incidence between 2015 and 2030? This research proposes a framework for modelling projections of multidimensional poverty. It uses recently published repeated observations of multidimensional poverty, based on time-consistent indicators, for 75 countries.

Researchers discuss using field experiments with ongoing cases to analyse sources of dysfunction in Mexico's largest labour court. 

Can student progression test scores improve as a result of a custom-designed school leadership training programme? This episode discusses a custom-made training program for school leaders in Malawi's primary schools. Speakers Salman Asim, World Bank; Ravinder Casley Gera, World Bank; Donna Harris, University of Oxford; Grace Milner, Ministry of Education (Malawi).

What is the role of international trade in economic development? Using a rich micro-level dataset from Turkey on a wide range of firms, researchers discuss strong assortative matching of skills in the firms' production networks. What is the role of international trade in economic development? Researchers discuss evidence of strong skill matching in Turkish firms' production networks.

Researchers discuss the business and price effects of a cash transfer programme delivered to 400,000 refugees in Kenya each month in the form of digital money for buying food at licensed shops. There is mounting empirical evidence around the positive and persistent effects of cash-based assistance on direct recipients but there is limited research on the indirect effects of cash-based assistance on local businesses. This project examines the business and price effects of a cash transfer programme delivered to 400,000 refugees in Kenya. The programme had large impacts on prices and businesses, which can be explained by the presence of market imperfections in the camp.

Researchers examine how an established social assistance system - not originally designed to support informal workers - can be re-purposed to provide emergency relief to support workers and their household in South Africa. The COVID-19 pandemic presented a particular challenge to countries with high levels of labour market informality. Informal workers and their households were especially vulnerable to the negative economic consequences of the pandemic and associated lockdown measures, while the very fact of their informality made it difficult for governments to quickly provide targeted economic relief. Using South Africa as a case study, this project examines how an established social assistance system - not originally designed to support informal workers - can be re-purposed to provide emergency relief to these workers and their households.

Winner of the Frisch Medal 2024, this project examines the impact of a one-time cash transfers to over 10,500 poor households across villages in rural Kenya, on the individual households but also the community at large. How large economic stimuli generate individual and aggregate responses is a central question in economics but has not been studied experimentally. Working with the NGO GiveDirectly, this project examined the impact of a one-time cash transfers of about USD 1000 to over 10,500 poor households across 653 randomised villages in rural Kenya, on the individual households but also the community at large. The research paper produced from this project was published in Econometrica and won the Frisch Medal Award 2024. Speakers: Dennis Egger, Associate Professor in the Department of Economics at the University of Oxford, and Stefan Dercon, CSAE Director and Professor of Economic Policy at the Blavatnik School of Government and the Department of Economics, University of Oxford.

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.

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.