Browsing by Author "Mvukiyehe, Eric"
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Item Open Access Do Public Works Programs Have Sustained Impacts? A Review of Experimental Studies from LMICs(The World Bank Research Observer, 2024) Bagga, Aanchal; Holmlund, Marcus; Khan, Nausheen; Mani, Subha; Mvukiyehe, Eric; Premand, PatrickAbstract Many low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) have introduced public works programs that offer temporary cash-for-work opportunities to poor individuals. We review experimental evidence on the impacts of public works programs on participants over the short and medium run, providing new insights on whether they have sustained impacts. Our findings show that public works mainly increase employment and earnings during the program. Short-term positive effects tend to fade in the medium run, except in a few cases in which large impacts on savings or investments in self-employment activities are also observed. We find evidence of improvements in psychological well-being and women's empowerment in some cases, but not systematically, and with limitations in measurement. In some contexts, public works programs also improve market wages, affecting both participants and non-participants. We conclude by outlining directions for future research.Item Open Access From Workfare to Economic and Sociopolitical Stability? Evidence from a Randomized Trial in Eastern Congo(The World Bank Economic Review, 2024) Brandily, Paul; Mvukiyehe, Eric; Smets, Lodewijk; van der Windt, Peter; Verpoorten, MarijkeAbstract Did a workfare program in Eastern Congo have a lasting impact on economic and sociopolitical outcomes? Men and women in Eastern Congo were randomly assigned to 2,674 four-month job offers, or to the job offer plus a savings incentive, hard-skills training, or both. Eighteen months after the program, labor market and savings outcomes have improved, but there is no change across 12 other economic and sociopolitical outcome families. Regarding labor market outcomes, the most intensive treatment—the job offer plus the savings incentive and hard-skills training—outperforms treatments with only one add-on. This indicates that the savings incentive and hard-skills training, when combined, can create a synergistic impact greater than the sum of their individual effects. The results are mainly driven by female beneficiaries, who start at much lower levels of labor market participation and earnings than men.Item Open Access How Do Foreign Alliances Affect Civil War Onset?(2024) Fan, YongTreated as a practical approach to deterrence, foreign alliances are believed to have a tight relationship with the onset of interstate wars. Scholars have paid substantial attention to how foreign alliances affect international security, and how domestic alliances affect domestic security. However, there could be an interaction between elements from interstate and intrastate stages, and we still lack knowledge of the mechanisms and effects. I argue in this paper that, a state can deter the rebel groups within its ally’s territory, thus decreasing the probability of civil war onset of that ally. Like nation-states, rebel groups will also assess the allies’ capability and credibility of the state they fight against to decide whether they will initiate a civil war. However, neither capability nor credibility alone can explain this dynamic. Instead, they amplify each other to prevent the onset of civil war. I find that both capability and credibility have the effect of reducing civil wars, but their effects are strong enough only when the other variable is at its higher value.