Welcome to Research Insights, a knowledge space dedicated to collecting, condensing, and communicating policy-relevant findings from our team's research. Each edition offers concise and accessible summaries of the most impactful studies, ensuring that policymakers, practitioners, and stakeholders stay informed about the latest developments and evidence in the field. Our goal is to bridge the gap between complex research and practical application, fostering informed decision-making and effective policy design.
Check the latest edition (March) below:
Welcome to the first edition of Research Insights – a space to bring you closer to our team’s cutting-edge studies and insights.
In this issue, explore how India’s public works program, MNREGA, successfully reduced groundwater depletion, how a large-scale preschool construction initiative in Mozambique is boosting enrollment and educational outcomes, and how electoral turnover is improving service delivery in Indonesian villages.
These three studies span very different topics in development, but together they highlight the importance of strengthening capacities and civil engagement at subnational levels to achieve meaningful impact at scale.
Established in 2005, India’s MNREGA program is the largest public works program in the world. Its primary goal is the provision of rural employment, but it also has important secondary objectives such as the building of rural infrastructure. This research highlights how surface water infrastructure funded by MNREGA significantly improved groundwater recharge, particularly in states with robust implementation. By enhancing groundwater availability, MNREGA not only boosted irrigation during the dry season but also enabled farmers to shift to higher-value crops and increase their revenues. These findings highlight that public works programs can successfully achieve critical secondary objectives like reducing groundwater depletion while they ameliorate rural poverty and unemployment.
In rural Mozambique, a large-scale preschool construction program, which included hiring local instructors and offering parenting education, had positive impacts on beneficiary communities. Children living in these communities were significantly more likely to be enrolled in preschool, progress to primary school, and report higher cognitive and socio-emotional skills, compared to children in non-beneficiary areas. For rural and underserved communities where access to early childhood education remains a challenge, this study shows that strategically placed schools, coupled with community-based solutions, can improve enrollment rates and educational outcomes at scale.
Samuel Bazzi, Masyhur Hilny, Benjamin Marx, Mahvish Shaukat, Andreas Stegmann
? Nugroho Nurdikiawan Sunjoyo / World Bank
Local authorities manage services that impact people’s daily lives, such as water access, garbage collection, and street lighting. Evidence from over 500 villages across Indonesia shows that turnover in local elections reshapes the bureaucracy by inducing staff reshuffling (hiring, demotions, and reallocations) and by reducing the prevalence of nepotistic networks. Bureaucrats under new leadership exert more effort and interact with citizens more frequently, leading to better alignment of citizen-bureaucrat beliefs and higher levels of service delivery. By analyzing the role of electoral turnover in strengthening local governance, this research shows the pathway through which citizen engagement can improve accountability in service provision.
Ahead of the International Day of Education on January 24th, the second edition of Research Insightsbrings you a curated selection of studies addressing critical areas of education policy, with evidence spanning both global and country levels.
On the global front, a large-scale review of over 200 educational interventions across 52 countries identifies cost-effective strategies to boost learning outcomes, while a meta-analysis of studies from 20 countries highlights the exceptional returns on investment in preprimary education.
At the country level, evidence from Colombia illustrates how school enrollment can dramatically reduce cognitive disparities among migrant children, while findings from Ethiopia reveal how climate change, through rising temperatures, poses a significant challenge to student performance.
The evidence provided in these studies emphasizes the importance of investing in early education, designing cost-effective strategies, integrating migrant communities, and supporting those affected by climate change to ensure all children reach their full potential.
Noam Angrist, David K. Evans, Deon Filmer (Development Research Group), Rachel Glennerster, Halsey Rogers (Education Global Department), (Education Global Department)
? Maria Fleischmann / World Bank
With limited budgets, policymakers in low- and middle-income countries face tough choices about how to improve education outcomes. This review compares the impact of over 200 educational interventions across 52 countries on the Learning-Adjusted Years of Schooling (LAYS), a unified metric for measuring education access and quality. Interventions like targeting instruction to students' learning levels and structured pedagogy approaches can be up to ten times more cost-effective than traditional methods. Information campaigns on education returns and health interventions (e.g. deworming pills) are also top performers. This study highlights high-potential interventions and shows the value of using a unified metric to guide policymakers in making data-driven, cost-effective investments in education.
Tatiana Hiller, Andrés Moya, Sandra V. Rozo (Development Research Group)
? Charlotte Kesl / World Bank
Limited access to essential services, such as schooling, significantly hampers the development of migrant children and adolescents. Drawing on a novel longitudinal dataset of Venezuelan migrants aged 5 to 17 in the host city of Medellin, this study reveals substantial delays in physical and cognitive development compared to their local peers. Among various interventions, school enrollment has the most profound impact, reducing cognitive disparities by more than half. The findings highlight the critical role of public services and regularization programs in addressing developmental gaps, particularly in education, and offer valuable insights for designing inclusive policies to support displaced children.
(Human Development Chief Economist Office), (LAC Education), Lelys Dinarte-Diaz (Development Research Group), (DIME)
? Matluba Mukhamedova / World Bank
This meta-analysis highlights the transformative potential of preprimary education. Programs that expand access significantly increase participation, particularly among disadvantaged children, while boosting cognitive and socioemotional skills. In low- and middle-income contexts, their impact goes beyond the primary years. An economic analysis reveals that even under conservative assumptions, the benefit-to-cost ratios for these programs range from 3.5 to 103.5, underscoring their value as a smart investment. Thus, an increase in spending on preprimary education coverage and quality may improve the overall efficiency of education spending, particularly if it targets children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds.
Climate change is not just an environmental issue—it’s a learning crisis. Using data from over 2 million test-takers in Ethiopia, this study shows that high temperatures during the school year significantly reduce students’ performance in national university entrance exams. Students in cooler regions, who are less acclimated to heat, are more affected than their counterparts in hotter regions. The impact on female students is smaller, possibly due to higher resilience or greater effort under high-stakes conditions. The findings emphasize the urgent need for climate adaptation measures in education, such as improving ventilation and investing in cooling technologies in schools to mitigate the detrimental effects of rising temperatures on learning outcomes.
“Generosity is not only an expression of empathy but an investment in building a cohesive global community where everyone can thrive.”Michael Woolcock (Development Research Group) on the rationale of giving for .
Conference on “Improving Well-being Measurement in Data-challenged Environments in Developing Countries for Better Evidence-based Policies” (October 2-3, Hanoi, Vietnam).
On the supply side, research on job training and search assistance highlights interventions that link job training to market demand, help workers credibly signal skills, and support job seekers in exploring opportunities beyond their immediate surroundings.
On the demand side, interventions that promote structural transformation can generate more and better jobs. In Sub-Saharan Africa, the dominance of small, informal firms limits productivity and formal job creation —underscoring the importance of reducing formalization costs and market distortions that prevent firms from growing. Meanwhile, in Vietnam’s poorest districts, efforts to expand nonfarm employment reveal the importance of connecting rural workers to markets and credit.
Macroeconomic stability is also essential. Research on Brazil’s economy following the 2008 financial crisis shows how job losses and wage reductions can persist for years, emphasizing the need for stronger income support and employment policies.
Together, these studies offer practical insights to support jobseekers, foster firm growth, and build resilience against economic shocks—critical steps toward ensuring a future with more and better jobs.
Government-led job training and job search assistance programs often have limited impact on overall employment levels, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. This study highlights innovative strategies where government interventions can play a meaningful role. Linking job training to market demand—by focusing on high-demand skills or using results-based funding models—has shown promise in improving employment outcomes. For job search, interventions that encourage jobseekers to explore new locations, provide targeted information to update labor market beliefs, and help them credibly signal skills through certifications have demonstrated potential. Job training and search policies are most effective when paired with broader demand-side strategies that foster job creation by increasing firm productivity and promoting economic growth.
(Poverty and Inequality), (Trade, Investment, and Competitiveness Global Department), (Trade, Investment, and Competitiveness), Roberto N. Fattal-Jaef (Development Research Group), and (Development Economics Indicators)
? Dominic Chavez / World Bank
In Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ghana, and Rwanda, the manufacturing sector is dominated by small informal firms and characterized by a scarcity of medium-sized formal firms (a phenomenon known as the ‘missing middle’). This structure leads to lower aggregate productivity and fewer opportunities for formal job creation. This study finds that the missing middle does not occur as a result of the size of firms that enter the market, but rather because of the inability of incumbent informal firms to grow. Policies that reduce the costs of formalization and strengthen enforcement are key but not sufficient. They need to go hand in hand with measures that reduce existing entry barriers and distortions that prevent firms from growing.
Nearly a decade after the 2008–2009 Global Financial Crisis hit Brazil, employment levels in the country had not fully recovered, and wages remained persistently lower. Firms facing severe foreign demand shocks due to that crisis responded by not renewing fixed-term contracts and reducing working hours and wages for incumbent workers. Low-skilled workers were disproportionately affected, deepening long-term inequality. While assistance programs such as unemployment insurance and cash transfers as well as the prevalence of informality in local labor markets provide some buffer, they could not fully mitigate these effects. This study highlights the enduring impacts of transitory shocks on labor markets, showing how firm scarring drives worker scarring, and underscores the need for more robust income support and strategies to address both firm and job scarring.
In Vietnam’s poorest and most remote areas, where agricultural productivity is limited, increasing nonfarm self-employment and wage job opportunities is critical for income growth. The 30A Program, a multifaceted poverty alleviation initiative targeting Vietnam’s 62 poorest districts, shifted rural employment patterns by improving access to microcredit and formal loans, enabling transitions from farm to nonfarm self-employment. Marginal improvements in rural infrastructure—a component of the 30A program—may have supported this shift by better connecting rural areas to local markets. While the program did not achieve its intended impacts on income and poverty levels, this study underscores the importance of identifying and addressing rural constraints—such as credit access and infrastructure—through targeted, context-specific interventions.
June 11-12, 2025:9th Urbanization and Development Conference | Jointly organized by the World Bank, George Washington University, the International Growth Centre, and the City of Cape Town | Preregister by March 14 | Cape Town, South Africa.
When women participate in the workforce, they create jobs, drive innovation, and strengthen economies. Yet, across the world, women continue to face barriers that limit their employment and economic potential.
With International Women’s Day serving as a reminder of the progress made —and the challenges that remain— in advancing gender equality and women's economic empowerment, this edition of Research Insights highlights new evidence on how to expand women’s access to economic opportunities.
In Uganda, a skills-based training program helped women strengthen their businesses and build financial resilience. In Djibouti, a public works program successfully brought more women into the workforce, though sustaining these gains remains a challenge. Macroeconomic research shows why such efforts are so important—an analysis of economies in the Middle East and North Africa shows closing gender employment gaps could boost GDP per capita by 50%. Good policies require good data, and this month we also highlight research that shows how refining approaches to measuring employment can help uncover hidden female labor force participation.
This work is part of the body of research underpinning the World Bank’s new Center for Research on Women and Jobs, a research initiative led by our team in collaboration with the Bank's regional Gender Innovation Labs and other key partners to coordinate policy research efforts on women and jobs.
Megan Lang (Development Research Group), Julia Seither
? World Bank
A randomized evaluation of a skills-based program in rural Uganda finds that women who participated were 17% more likely to generate income from their own businesses 18 months later. The program, which didn’t involve any capital or cash support, covered modules on business planning, record-keeping, and soft skills like perseverance and confidence. Trained women reinvested heavily in their enterprises and demonstrated greater financial resilience, maintaining stable revenues during the COVID-19 lockdown while others faced losses. These findings underscore the effectiveness of skills-based programs as an effective strategy for enhancing women’s economic participation and ability to withstand financial shocks.
Florencia Devoto, Emanuela Galasso (Development Research Group), Kathleen Beegle (Development Research Group), (Social Protection and Labor Department)
? Dominic Chavez / World Bank
In urban Djibouti, a public works program designed to facilitate women’s access to employment led to a 77% take-up rate among eligible women. The program’s design—featuring job proximity, relatively high wages compared to self-employment opportunities, and flexible work arrangements—contributed to its success, as it accommodated women with household responsibilities. However, after the program ended, most participants did not transition to other jobs, and few actively searched for work. This underscores the need for policies that extend beyond short-term employment by expanding access to sustained job opportunities, addressing structural labor market constraints, and creating an enabling environment for women’s workforce participation.
Standard household surveys often underestimate employment, particularly for women and youth in informal work. A survey experiment in El Salvador found that including a module with a list of activities increased reported employment for women by 8.1 percentage points. The list of examples enabled women to better identify informal activities, like preparing food or helping in a family-owned business, as work. In low- and middle-income countries, where informal work is nt and employment gaps between women and men are significant, refining labor data collection is essential to designing and targeting interventions that help women and youth access better job opportunities.
Federico Fiuratti, Steven Pennings (Development Research Group), and (Middle East and North Africa Region)
? Arne Hoel / World Bank
The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is one of the regions with the largest gender employment gaps. Growth model simulations suggest that closing these gaps could significantly boost GDP per capita, with long-term gains averaging 50% across the region. However, these gains vary widely at the country level, from less than 10% in Qatar to over 80% in Yemen. In the medium term, gains are expected to be smaller due to slow physical capital adjustment, though they are still quantitatively significant. This study underscores the importance of reforms to facilitate female employment to accelerate economic growth in MENA, particularly in countries with the largest gender gaps.
? News:
Sandra Rozo, Senior Economist at the Poverty, Inequality, and Human Development team at DECRG, received the for her impactful research on forced migration in Colombia and the broader region. Her work has significantly advanced the understanding of migration’s social, economic, and political effects, influencing public policy design and implementation. For an overview of her research on this topic, read Sandra’s recently published VoxDevLit on
Co-edited by (IFC), and Sergio Schmukler (DECRG), the new report ‘Financing Firm Growth’ analyzes how capital market financing are powering investment and employment growth in low- and middle-income countries. Access the , explore the , or replay the .
Events and Conferences:
March 27, 2025: | IFC HQ Auditorium | 11:00AM – 12:15PM ET | Watch via
May 5-6, 2025: | Joint with the Journal of International Economics, CEPR, Banque de France, and Sussex University | Washington, DC
June 11-12, 2025:9th Urbanization and Development Conference | Jointly organized by the World Bank, George Washington University, the International Growth Centre, and the City of Cape Town | Preregister by March 21 | Cape Town, South Africa.
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