Stefan Dercon

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine the impact of shocks on household living standards, study the correlates of participation in groups and formal and informal networks, and discuss the relationship of networks with access to other forms of capital.

Abstract: We study two interventions for underemployed youth across five Ethiopian sites: a $300 grant to spur self-employment, and a job offer to an industrial firm. Despite significant impacts on occupational choice, income, and health in the first year, after five years we see nearly complete convergence across all groups and outcomes. Shortrun increases in productivity and earnings from the grant dissipate as recipients exit their micro-enterprises. Adverse effects of factory work on health found after one year also appear to be temporary. These results suggest that one-time and one-dimensional interventions may struggle to overcome barriers to wage- or self- employment.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors harnessed lessons from finance, political science, economics, psychology, and the natural sciences to show how countries and their partners can be far better prepared to deal with disasters.

TL;DR: In this article, a 15-year longitudinal data set from Ethiopia is used to explore what keeps some people persistently poor, even in the context of relative high growth, and find that chronic poverty is associated with several initial characteristics: lack of physical assets, education, and "remoteness" in terms of distance to towns or poor roads.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that rural poverty alleviation has to be firmly put in the context of rural-urban interactions, and the broader contexts of trade, growth and poverty reduction.