This paper explores the effect of road rehabilitation on violent conflict using a novel, rich dataset of road rehabilitation projects in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The country received massive external...
Governments in low-income countries are increasingly integrating off-grid electricity provision into national electrification strategies, creating novel, decentralized markets for electricity. This paper...
This note is designed to be read alongside the companion policy note on electronic signatures, which explains the role of PKI in implementing cryptographically secured digital signatures within a national...
This paper estimates the differentiated economic impact of natural hazard-related disasters (the specific disasters and climate shocks studied here being floods) when they occur in conflict versus non-conflict...
The design of the power market determines how the sector can address complex economic, social, environmental, and engineering challenges to deliver sustainable and reliable electricity at least cost to...
Since 2000, China has been upgrading its infrastructure, exemplified by the expansion of the high-speed railways (HSR), while simultaneously moving up the global value chains, evidenced by the rising domestic...
Although deaths and economic losses due to extreme heat are rising globally, heatwaves remain a "hidden hazard" whose impacts are underrecognized due to measurement and valuation challenges. Cities in...
Trust lies at the foundation of all commercial and administrative transactions, which for centuries have relied upon the handwritten signature for authentication. As transactions are digitalized, the signatures...
Despite the reduction in transport costs over the past decades, the world today is still far from being a single integrated economy. Developing countries face higher transport prices than developed countries...
This paper characterizes economically optimal investments in Africa’s road network in partial and general equilibrium —based on a detailed topography of the network, road con-struction costs, frictions...
The developing world has built structures on an unprecedented scale to accommodate population growth and urbanization. The horizontal and vertical structuring of the building stock resulting from this...
Good road infrastructure decreases travel time and improves accessibility to urban areas. Improved rural-urban linkages could also affect rural employment through decreased time and travel costs. To study...
Global supply chains recently faced widespread disruptions. The COVID-19 pandemic caused major disruptions in 2021 and 2022, while in late 2023, geopolitical incidents in the Red Sea and water shortages...
Deployments of fifth generation (5G) mobile network technologies are taking off globally, with more than one billion connections reached by the end of 2022. This deployment includes 5G trials, licensing...
This paper studies the long-run welfare and productivity effects of transit improvements in the Greater Amman Municipality. The paper builds a rich quantitative spatial model that includes many aspects...
Casual observation suggests that intra-national trade costs remain high in low- and middle-income countries. Precisely estimating them is crucial for guiding policies aimed at optimizing economic efficiency...
There has been unprecedented growth in the exchange of data and information globally, opening incredible opportunities to deploy data for sustainable development. However, to maximize its value for development...
This paper uses four decades of data on Brazilian municipalities to study the separate and joint impacts of highway and electricity infrastructure access on local economic outcomes. The identification...
This paper provides one of the first estimates of elasticities of substitution across suppliers within the same product. This paper estimates these elasticities using new real-time administrative tax data...
How prevalent are empty miles in freight trucking markets, and what are the economic frictions that contribute to empty miles? This study collected estimates of empty trips, empty miles, and backhaul probabilities...