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human population --- Social groups --- socioeconomic organization --- living standards --- Social legislation --- Social services --- social structure --- Social change --- Politique sociale --- Belgium

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This paper assesses the impact of social assistance benefits on household welfare in Moldova. Ignoring standard issues of impact evaluations such as selection bias, behavioral responses, unobserved heterogeneity and endogeneity, an incidence analysis suggests that increased spending on social assistance enhances the probability of moving out of poverty and reduces the probability of moving into poverty. However, double difference estimates (based on a mimicked randomized experiment) and parametric estimates (based on panel data) indicate that social benefits have not contributed to improve household welfare or reduce poverty. Double difference estimates point to a negative impact on welfare. Parametric estimates do not yield any consistent significant impact on welfare or poverty. The author concludes that the growth in population coverage and expenditure on cash benefits that characterized social assistance policies in recent years has not resulted in a significant improvement in welfare, all other factors being equal.

Cash benefits --- Financial crisis --- Household welfare --- Incidence analysis --- Living standards --- Poverty --- Poverty Reduction --- Poverty reduction --- Rural Development --- Rural Poverty Reduction --- Safety Nets and Transfers --- Services and Transfers to Poor --- Social assistance --- Social benefits --- Social Protections and Labor --- Unemployment

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This paper examines the causes and dynamics of the shift in the gender composition of migration, and more particularly, in the access of women to migration opportunities and decision making. The context of the analysis is Albania, a natural laboratory for studying migration developments given that out-migration was practically eliminated from the end of World War II to the end of the 1980s. The authors use micro-level data from the Albania 2005 Living Standards Measurement Study including migration histories for family members since migration began. Based on discrete-time hazard models, the analysis shows an impressive expansion of female participation in international migration. Female migration, which is shown to be strongly associated with education, wealth, and social capital, appears responsive to economic incentives and constraints. Yet, using unique data on the dependency of female migration to the household demographic structure as well as the sensitivity of female migration to household-level shocks, the authors show that it is the households themselves that are the decision-making agents behind this economic calculus and there is little to suggest that increased female migration signals the emergence of female agency.

Anthropology --- Communities & Human Settlements --- Culture & Development --- Family members --- Health, Nutrition and Population --- Human Migrations and Resettlements --- Human Rights --- International migrant --- International Migration --- Law and Development --- Living Standards --- Policy Research --- Policy Research Working Paper --- Population Policies --- Progress --- Social Development --- Traditional societies --- Unmarried women --- Voluntary and Involuntary Resettlement --- War

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Using household level data from Bangladesh, this paper examines the differences in the rates of return to household attributes over the entire welfare distribution. The empirical evidence uncovers substantial differences in returns between an integrated region contiguous to the country's main growth centers, and a less integrated region cut-off from those centers by major rivers. The evidence suggests that households with better observed and unobserved attributes (such as education and ability) are concentrated in the integrated region where returns are higher. Within each region, mobility of workers seems to equalize returns at the lower half of the distribution. The natural border created by the rivers appears to hinder migration, causing returns differences between the regions to persist. To reduce regional inequality in welfare in Bangladesh, the results highlight the need for improving connectivity between the regions, and for investing in portable assets of the poor (such as human capital).

Communities & Human Settlements --- Debt Markets --- Developing countries --- Finance and Financial Sector Development --- Health, Nutrition and Population --- Household level --- Housing and Human Habitats --- Human capital --- Important policy --- Living standards --- Migration --- Policy Research --- Policy Research Working Paper --- Population Policies --- Poverty Lines --- Poverty Reduction --- Progress --- Rural Development --- Rural Poverty Reduction --- Urban Development

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Using household level data from Bangladesh, this paper examines the differences in the rates of return to household attributes over the entire welfare distribution. The empirical evidence uncovers substantial differences in returns between an integrated region contiguous to the country's main growth centers, and a less integrated region cut-off from those centers by major rivers. The evidence suggests that households with better observed and unobserved attributes (such as education and ability) are concentrated in the integrated region where returns are higher. Within each region, mobility of workers seems to equalize returns at the lower half of the distribution. The natural border created by the rivers appears to hinder migration, causing returns differences between the regions to persist. To reduce regional inequality in welfare in Bangladesh, the results highlight the need for improving connectivity between the regions, and for investing in portable assets of the poor (such as human capital).

Communities & Human Settlements --- Debt Markets --- Developing countries --- Finance and Financial Sector Development --- Health, Nutrition and Population --- Household level --- Housing and Human Habitats --- Human capital --- Important policy --- Living standards --- Migration --- Policy Research --- Policy Research Working Paper --- Population Policies --- Poverty Lines --- Poverty Reduction --- Progress --- Rural Development --- Rural Poverty Reduction --- Urban Development