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All Outputs (66)

Peer-to-peer enforcement among businesses to assure electricity payment in Nigeria: a lab-in-the-field experiment (2025)
Preprint / Working Paper
Roy, P., Tres Vilanova, M., Zarazua, M. N., Olajide, A., Animashaun, N., Adigun, H., & Thomas, R. (2025). Peer-to-peer enforcement among businesses to assure electricity payment in Nigeria: a lab-in-the-field experiment

Since its privatisation in 2013, the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) has been constrained by persistent inefficiencies, corruption and liquidity challenges. Micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) have faced high operational costs fro... Read More about Peer-to-peer enforcement among businesses to assure electricity payment in Nigeria: a lab-in-the-field experiment.

From the bottom 40 to inequality lines: Sharing prosperity globally and domestically (2024)
Preprint / Working Paper
Niño-Zarazúa, M., Lopez-Noval, B., Roope, L., & Tarp, F. From the bottom 40 to inequality lines: Sharing prosperity globally and domestically. Helsinki

Abstract: A major of focus of global development policy is the aim to achieve and sustain income growth of the bottom 40% (B40) of the population at a rate higher than the national average. We propose an alternative approach to assessing shared prosp... Read More about From the bottom 40 to inequality lines: Sharing prosperity globally and domestically.

The Lifespan Disparity Dataset: An open repository on inequality and polarization in length of life (1950–2021) (2024)
Journal Article
Jordá, V., Niño-Zarazúa, M., & Tejería-Martínez, M. (2024). The Lifespan Disparity Dataset: An open repository on inequality and polarization in length of life (1950–2021). Scientific Data, 11(650), https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-024-03426-6

Monitoring health is key for identifying priorities in public health planning and improving healthcare services. Life expectancy has conventionally been regarded as a valuable indicator to compare the health status of different populations. However,... Read More about The Lifespan Disparity Dataset: An open repository on inequality and polarization in length of life (1950–2021).

Social exclusion concepts, measurement, and a global estimate (2024)
Journal Article
Cuesta, J., López-Noval, B., & Niño-Zarazú, M. (2024). Social exclusion concepts, measurement, and a global estimate. PLoS ONE, 19(2), Article e0298085. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0298085

Multiple estimates exist of global monetary and multidimensional poverty, but populations at risk of social exclusion still lack a worldwide estimate. This paper fills this gap by providing the first estimates of the share and number of populations a... Read More about Social exclusion concepts, measurement, and a global estimate.

Informalidad y reforma de pensiones en Bolivia: el caso de la Renta Dignidad (2023)
Journal Article
Canelas, C., & Niño-Zarazúa, M. (2023). Informalidad y reforma de pensiones en Bolivia: el caso de la Renta Dignidad. Revista Propuestas para el Desarrollo, 7, 141-173

La forma en que los programas de protección social afectan las opciones laborales es una cuestión que ha estado en el centro de la investigación en la economía laboral durante décadas. Recientemente se observa una escasa literatura que se ha centrado... Read More about Informalidad y reforma de pensiones en Bolivia: el caso de la Renta Dignidad.

Global income polarization: Relative and absolute perspectives (2023)
Preprint / Working Paper
Jordá, V., Niño-Zarazúa, M., Roope, L., & Tarp, F. Global income polarization: Relative and absolute perspectives. Helsinki

This paper presents the first global and regional estimates of polarization and bipolarization spanning the period 1960–2020. The study relies on group data to implement a flexible parametric model to obtain the global income distribution and polariz... Read More about Global income polarization: Relative and absolute perspectives.

An open database on inequality and polarization in length of life (1950–2021) (2023)
Preprint / Working Paper
Jordá, V., Niño-Zarazúa, M., & Tejería, M. An open database on inequality and polarization in length of life (1950–2021). Helsinki

However, this measure is simply the mean of the distribution of the length of life and, as such, neglects individual disparities in health outcomes. Tracking the evolution of lifespan inequality is essential to promoting social justice and equity by... Read More about An open database on inequality and polarization in length of life (1950–2021).

Aid's impact on social protection in low- and middle-income countries (2023)
Preprint / Working Paper
Niño-Zarazúa, M., & Santillán Hernández, A. Aid's impact on social protection in low- and middle-income countries. Helsinki

This study conducts an international comparative analysis of the recent evolution of social protection systems in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), and Asia-Pacific (APAC) regions, paying particular attention to the rol... Read More about Aid's impact on social protection in low- and middle-income countries.

Income Inequality and Redistribution in sub-Saharan Africa (2023)
Journal Article
Niño-Zarazúa, M., Scaturro, F., Jordá, V., & Tarp, F. (2023). Income Inequality and Redistribution in sub-Saharan Africa. Journal of African Economies, 32(supplt 2), ii296-ii319. https://doi.org/10.1093/jae/ejac053

A strand of the political economy literature emphasizes the effect of income inequality on growth and poverty, which materialises through redistribution. The theoretical expectation postulated by standard economic theory is that high inequality would... Read More about Income Inequality and Redistribution in sub-Saharan Africa.

The Rise of Social Protection in the Global South: The Role of Foreign Aid (2022)
Report
Niño-Zarazúa, M., Horigoshi, A., Santillán Hernández, A., & Ernesto, T. (2022). The Rise of Social Protection in the Global South: The Role of Foreign Aid

More than half of the world’s population has no access to social safety nets or social insurance. What is international development aid doing to address this? This study demonstrates that, while international aid has contributed to the expansion of s... Read More about The Rise of Social Protection in the Global South: The Role of Foreign Aid.

Income Inequality and Redistribution in Sub-Saharan Africa (2022)
Preprint / Working Paper
Niño-Zarazúa, M., Scaturro, F., Jordá, V., & Tarp, F. Income Inequality and Redistribution in Sub-Saharan Africa. Nairobi, Kenya

The theoretical expectation postulated by standard economic theory is that high inequality would lead to higher redistribution via the collective action of the median voter. In this paper, we adopt an instrumental variable approach to test the median... Read More about Income Inequality and Redistribution in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Social protection and the informal economy: What do we know? (2022)
Preprint / Working Paper
Canelas, C., & Niño-Zarazúa, M. Social protection and the informal economy: What do we know?. Bangkok

This paper takes stock of the literature that examines how the recent expansion of contributory and non-contributory social protection programmes in low- and middle-income countries in Asia and the Pacific, Latin America and Africa has influenced the... Read More about Social protection and the informal economy: What do we know?.

Active Labour Market Policies in Asia and the Pacific. A review of the literature (2022)
Preprint / Working Paper
Niño-Zarazúa, M., & Torm, N. Active Labour Market Policies in Asia and the Pacific. A review of the literature. Bangkok

This paper reviews the evidence on the effectiveness of active labour market programmes in low- and middle-income countries with high informality, highlighting examples of interventions that have been implemented in combination with other policies in... Read More about Active Labour Market Policies in Asia and the Pacific. A review of the literature.

Social Exclusion. Concepts, Measurement, and a Global Estimate (2022)
Preprint / Working Paper
Cuesta, J., López-Noval, B., & Niño-Zarazúa, M. (2022). Social Exclusion. Concepts, Measurement, and a Global Estimate. Washington, D.C

There are multiple estimates of global monetary and multidimensional poverty, but there are still no estimates of
populations at risk of social exclusion worldwide. This
paper fills this gap by estimating the share and number of
populations at ris... Read More about Social Exclusion. Concepts, Measurement, and a Global Estimate.

Informality and Pension Reforms in Bolivia: The Case of Renta Dignidad (2022)
Journal Article
Canelas, C., & Niño-Zarazúa, M. (2022). Informality and Pension Reforms in Bolivia: The Case of Renta Dignidad. The Journal of Development Studies, 58(7), 1436-1458. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220388.2022.2061856

How social protection programmes affect work choices is a question that has been at the centre of labour economics research for decades. More recently, a scant literature has focused on the effects of social protection on work choices and informal em... Read More about Informality and Pension Reforms in Bolivia: The Case of Renta Dignidad.