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The COVID-19 pandemic has led to steep drops in employment, income, and access to markets, pushing tens of millions of people in low- and middle-income countries into poverty. Social protection programming has emerged as a critical response to the social and economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic. Many of these programs are social assistance measures, which provide benefits to individuals even if they have not previously paid contributions to the program. Before the pandemic, cash-based social assistance has been shown to successfully reduce poverty and enhance well-being along a number of dimensions, across many different countries. But what is known about the extent to which cash transfers have mitigated the worst social, economic, and health impacts of the pandemic? And who has benefitted the most from such assistance?
This webinar collates the current evidence on cash during the pandemic across a range of outcomes including food security and nutrition, livelihood support, health behaviors, and inequalities. It does so by highlighting rigorous impact evaluations of cash-based programs from countries across Latin America and Africa including cash transfers and public works programs.
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Speakers
- Dan Stein is the Chief Economist at IDinsight. He is responsible for setting and maintaining technical standards throughout the organization, developing exciting new projects and partnerships, and helping manage its team of technical specialists. Prior to IDinsight, Dan was an Economist at the World Bank, where he specialized in agriculture and forestry impact evaluations. Dan holds a PhD in Economics from the London School of Economics, where he researched agricultural micro-insurance. Study: Cash transfers and COVID-19: Experiences from Kiryandongo Refugee Settlement, Uganda
- Kibrom Tafere is an Economist in the Sustainability and Infrastructure Team of the Development Research Group at the World Bank. His research focuses on the welfare effects of environmental shocks, access to infrastructure and conflict; social safety nets, food security and agricultural productivity; and human capital development. His research covers a range of middle-income and developing countries including Brazil, Ethiopia, India, and Uganda. He holds a PhD in Applied Economics from Cornell University. Study: COVID-19 and Food Security in Ethiopia. Do Social Protection Programs Protect?
- Naercio Aquino Menezes Filho is a Full Professor (IFB Chair) and Coordinator of the Insper Public Policy Center, Associate Professor at FEA-USP, columnist for Valor Econômico newspaper and consultant for Fundação Itaú Social. He holds a PhD in Economics from University College London, has supervised several doctoral theses, dissertations, projects, and monographs. He has published articles in international journals such as Review of Economics and Statistics, Economic Journal, Journal of International Economics, and Public Choice. He has been a consultant on several projects for the IDB and World Bank. Study: Reducing Poverty and Inequality during
the Coronavirus Outbreak: The Emergency Aid Transfers in Brazil
- Pablo Querubín is an Assistant Professor of Politics and Economics at New York University. He is also a Research Associate at the NBER and a member of EGAP. His broad research interests lie in the Political Economy of Development. Study: The Impact of Emergency Cash Assistance in a Pandemic: Experimental Evidence from Colombia
- Ana Serrano (moderator) is the Policy and Partnerships Manager at IPA Colombia. Ana works on the development of new research projects in the IPA Colombia office. Prior to assuming her position at IPA, Ana worked as a Research Manager at the University of Chicago's Poverty Lab, leading a portfolio of research projects related to access to post secondary education and youth employment. Ana holds an MPP from the Harris School of Public Policy at the University of Chicago and a Bachelor's degree in Political Science from the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana.
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