Working paper
Digital labour platforms as shock absorbers

Sam Jones and Ivan Manhique

Digital labour platforms have grown five-fold over the last decade, enabling significant expansion in gig work worldwide. We interrogate the criticism that these platforms tend to amplify aggregate economic shocks for registered users (workers).

September 2022

Working paper
Labour market effects of digital matching platforms

Sam Jones and Kunal Sen

Can digital labour market platforms reduce search frictions in either formal or informal labour markets? We study this question using a randomized experiment embedded in a tracer study of the work transitions of graduates.

June 2022

Working paper
What drove the profitability of colonial firms?

Sam Jones and Peter Gibbon

The magnitude of returns to colonial-era investments in Africa has been addressed in an extensive literature, as have the nature and legacies of extractive colonial institutions.

June 2022

Journal article
The macroeconomic impact of COVID-19 in Mozambique

Rosário Betho, Marcia Chelengo, Sam Jones, Michael...

THIS ARTICLE IS ON EARLY VIEW | This study assesses the economic costs of COVID-19 and the state of emergency implemented by the Government of Mozambique.

February 2022

Journal article
Beyond access to basic services

Alba Llop-Gironés and Sam Jones

A wide range of evidence shows systematic differences in health status among social groups, which are associated with unequal exposure to and distribution of the social determinants of health (SDH).

October 2021

Working paper
The saga and limits of public financial management

António S. Cruz, Ines A. Ferreira, Johnny Flentø...

The paper brings out how difficult it is to make institutional reforms work, within a structure of political and economic power that may not benefit from them, even in the context of a high degree...

August 2021

Working paper
The relative neglect of agriculture in Mozambique

João Z. Carrilho, Ines A. Ferreira, Rui N. Ribeiro...

This paper explores agricultural performance of Mozambique, its institutional weaknesses, and the underlying factors that underpin an unsatisfactory performance during many decades.

August 2021

Working paper
Local governance quality and law compliance

Hanna Berkel, Christian Estmann and John Rand

Using panel data of manufacturing enterprises in Mozambique between 2012 and 2017, we investigate how changes in perceived quality of governance are related to firms’ law compliance. Controlling for firm-level unobserved heterogeneity, we look at...

July 2021

Working paper
Horizontal and intersecting inequalities in Mozambique 1997–2017

Eva-Maria Egger, Vincenzo Salvucci and Ricardo...

This study seeks to add to the research on inequality in least developed countries, namely in Mozambique, by measuring and mapping indicators of horizontal wealth inequality along geographic regions and ethnolinguistic identities.

June 2021

Working paper
Informal freelancers in the time of COVID-19

Sam Jones and Ivan Manhique

Despite the severe negative economic shock associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, evidence from many contexts points to a surge in sales on online platforms, as well as shifts in the composition of demand.

June 2021

Working paper
Remote sensing of urban cyclone impact and resilience

Peter Fisker, David Malmgren-Hansen and Thomas...

Cyclone Idai, the most devastating cyclone ever recorded in Southern Africa, caused havoc in large parts of central Mozambique, especially the port city of Beira, upon its landfall in March 2019. This study reviews and...

June 2021

Working paper
The socioeconomic impact of coal mining in Mozambique

Eva-Maria Egger, Michael Keller and Jorge Mouco

This study assesses the impact of four coal mines in Mozambique on the socioeconomic outcomes of the local population. We combine four waves of household surveys with coal mine locations data and employ a difference-in-difference...

June 2021

Working paper
The impact of COVID-19 on consumption poverty in Mozambique

Giulia Barletta, Finório Castigo, Eva-Maria Egger...

This study assesses the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the state of emergency implemented by the Government of Mozambique on household consumption poverty. To predict changes in income and the associated effects on poverty...

June 2021

Working paper
How far does the apple really fall from the tree?

Marcelo Cardona and Sam Jones

Despite the importance attributed to intergenerational educational mobility in the process of development, there remains little consensus on how mobility should be measured. This paper presents analytical and empirical evidence regarding the sensitivity of alternative...

June 2021