Economic research is essential for designing and implementing evidence-based solutions to improve job opportunities. In a recent conference organized by the World Bank and IZA, researchers from around the world presented over 30 research papers on important labor topics such as migration, gender, youth employment, and labor policies in low-income countries. Here is an illustrative sample of four innovative works presented during the conference.
Youth employment in low-income countries: What works?
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How do social networks influence a person's decision to migrate? To answer this complex question, Joshua E. Blumenstock (University of Washington) reconstructed migration trajectories for roughly one million individuals by using an extensive dataset with four years of mobile phone calls in Rwanda. The research findings conclude that people are more likely to migrate to places where they have tight social networks.
The World Bank, the Multi-donorJobs Trust Fund on Jobs, IZA and UK’s Department for International Development (/DFID), funded over 30 projects covering a wide range of research methodologies, countries, and substantive topics, supported many of the papers presented at the conference.
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