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.
As World Bank President Ajay Banga has emphasized, jobs don’t exist in isolation—they require both prepared workers and accessible opportunities. This edition of Research Insights explores both sides of this challenge, examining supply-side policies that equip workers with skills while addressing barriers that constrain labor demand.
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.
| What Are the Most Promising Avenues for Government Involvement in Job Training and Job Search? Eliana Carranza (Social Protection and Jobs Unit) and David McKenzie (Development Research Group) | |
© Dominic Chavez / World Bank | 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. Read more > |
| Unpacking the "Missing Middle": How Informality Shapes Employment in Sub-Saharan Africa Kaleb Abreha (Poverty and Inequality), Xavier Cirera (Trade, Investment, and Competitiveness Global Department), Elwyn Davies (Trade, Investment, and Competitiveness), Roberto N. Fattal-Jaef (Development Research Group), and Hibert Maemir (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. Read more > |
| Temporary Shocks with Long Lasting Impacts: Evidence from the Workforce in Brazil Ana Margarida Fernandes (Development Research Group), Joana Silva (Human Development Chief Economist Office) | |
© K Lynch / World Bank | 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. |
| Shifting Employment Patterns in Vietnam’s 62 Poorest Districts Hai-Anh H. Dang (Development Data Group), Klaus Deininger (Development Research Group), and Cuong Viet Nguyen | |
Photo: Tran Thi Hoa / World Bank | 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. Read more > |
🔂Did You Miss It? Replay:
- Policy Research Talk (28/01): “Purchasing Prosperity: The Economics of Government Procurement” by Manuel Garcia-Santana
📰News and Conferences:
- May 5-6, 2025: 1st Annual International Seminar on Trade | Joint with the Journal of International Economics, CEPR, Banque de France, and Sussex University | Washington, DC
- May 5-8, 2025: World Bank Land Conference 2025: Securing Land Tenure and Access for Climate Action | 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 14 | Cape Town, South Africa.
- July 9-11, 2025: Eleventh Conference of the Society for the Study of Economic Inequality | Washington, DC
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Ahead of the International Day of Education on January 24th, the second edition of Research Insights brings 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.
| What moves the needle in education? Identifying Cost-Effective Interventions using a Unified Metric Noam Angrist, David K. Evans, Deon Filmer (Development Research Group), Rachel Glennerster, Halsey Rogers (Education Global Department), Shwetlena Sabarwal (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. |
| Reducing developmental gaps among migrant children and adolescents in Colombia 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. |
| The ROI of preprimary education: Evidence from 57 studies across 20 countries Alaka Holla (Human Development Chief Economist Office), Magdalena Bendini (LAC Education), Lelys Dinarte-Diaz (Development Research Group), Iva Trako (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. Read more > |
| High Temperatures, Lower Test Scores: Evidence from Ethiopia Bhavya Srivastava, Kibrom Tafere (Development Research Group), A. Patrick Behrer (Development Research Group) | |
© Sarah Farhat / World Bank | 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. Read more > |
📅 Upcoming Events:
- Policy Research Talk (28/01): “Purchasing Prosperity: The Economics of Government Procurement”
📰News and Call for Papers:
- “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 The Life You Can Save.
- Conference on “Improving Well-being Measurement in Data-challenged Environments in Developing Countries for Better Evidence-based Policies” (October 2-3, Hanoi, Vietnam). Submission deadline: January 31, 2025.
- The Eleventh Conference of the Society for The Study of Economic Inequality (ECINEQ) (July 9-11, Washington DC). Submission deadline: February 15, 2025.
🔎 Looking for more resources? Explore the Roundup of Education Research from the Development Research Group and visit the Poverty, Inequality, and Human Development Team website to access a diverse number of studies on early childhood development, education/skills, health, poverty, inequality, labor, and more.
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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.
Event materials, news and call for papers below.
| Two Brids with One Stone? The Impact of MNREGA on Groundwater in India A. Patrick Behrer, Hemant Pullabhotla | |
© John Isaac / World Bank | 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. Read more > |
| Investing in Early Childhood: A Model for Scalability and Sustainability in Mozambique Marina Bassi, Bruno Besbas, Lelys Dinarte-Diaz, Saravana Ravindran, Ana Reynoso | |
© Farhat / World Bank | 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. Read more > |
| New Village Leadership, New Bureaucratic Energy: How Electoral Turnover Impacts Performance 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. Read more > |
🔂 Did You Miss It? Replay:
- Policy Research Talk (11/26): “Designing Better Green Finance: Insights for the Next Generations of Sustainable Investment”
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📰 News and Calls for Papers:
- The Market Research Society (MRS) awarded the Best Financial Services Research honor to the World Bank and Gallup for the Global Findex. "The Global Findex has been a priceless tool, helping development institutions to better understand and define and track their financial inclusion strategies," judges write.
- HUMANS Lacea Network – submission deadline December 15th, 2024
- International Seminar on Trade (ISoT) – submission deadline January 24th, 2025
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