Research

Click the following link to see my Google Scholar page.

Recent working papers:

1. “The Hidden Costs of Violence: How Crime Shapes Women’s Labor Market Outcomes in Latin America” (January, 2026). Joint with Ana Maria Tribin Uribe and Andrea Velásquez. Forthcoming in IMF Special Issue. [Working paper with Reproducibility package].

Peer-reviewed journal articles: 

1. “Policies for Aspirations. And Opportunities” World Development (2026), 200: 107279. Joint with Anna Fruttero, Noël Muller, and Óscar Calvo-González. [Final publication; Working paper].

2. “Disaster Risk Preparedness of Households in the Caribbean” International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction (2024), 115: 104956. Joint with Boaz Anglade, Emilia Cucagna, and Anna Luisa Paffhausen. [Final publication; Working paper with Reproducibility package].

3. “Government Unconditional Cash Transfers and Safe Transitions to Adulthood in Malawi” World Development (2024), 175: 106483 . Joint with Monica Lambon-Quayefioa, Amber Peterman, Sudhanshu Handa, Adria Molotsky, Frank Otchere, Peter Mvula, Maxton Tsoka, Gustavo Angeles, Kelly Kilburn, and Annamaria Milazzo. [Final publication]

4. “Behavioral Insights on Cash Transfers to Families” Behavioral Science & Policy (2021), 7 (1): 71-92. Joint with Lisa A. Gennetian, J. Lawrence Aber, and Eldar Shafir. [Final publication]

5. “Cash transfers, Micro-entrepreneurial Activity, and Child Work: Evidence from Malawi and Zambia” World Bank Economic Review (2020), 34 (3): 670-697. Joint with Valeria Groppo and Sudhanshu Handa. [Final publication]

6. “No Lost Generation: Supporting the School Participation of Displaced Syrian Children in Lebanon” Journal of Development Studies (2019), 55 (sup1): 107-127. Joint with Mitchell Morey and David Seidenfeld. [Final publication]

7. “A Model of Poverty and Poverty-Related Stressors: A Qualitative Study in Ghana, Malawi, and Tanzania” BMJ Open (2019), 9: e027047. Joint with Brian J. Hall, Melissa Garabiles, Audrey Pereira, Leah Prencipe, and Tia Palermo. [Final publication]

8. “Government of Malawi’s Unconditional Cash Transfer Improves Youth Mental Health” Social Science and Medicine (2019), 225: 108-119. Joint with Gustavo Angeles, Sudhanshu Handa, Kelly Kilburn, Annamaria Milazzo, and Amber Peterman. [Final publication]

9. “Child Schooling and Child Work in the Presence of a Partial Education Subsidy” Journal of Human Resources (2019), 54 (2): 503-531 . Joint with Jed Friedman, Eeshani Kandpal, and Furio C. Rosati. [Final publication: preprint]

10. “Cash Transfers, Early Marriage and Fertility in Malawi and Zambia” Studies in Family Planning (2018), 49(4): 295-317 . Joint with Fidelia Dake, Luisa Natali, Gustavo Angeles, Sudhanshu Handa, and Amber Peterman. [Final publication]

11. “Effects of Public Policy on Child Labor: Current Knowledge, Gaps, and Implications for Program Design” World Development (2018), 110: 104-123. Joint with Ana C. Dammert, Eric Mvukiyehe, and Furio C. Rosati. [Final publication]

12. “The Role of Productive Activities in the Lives of Adolescents: Photovoice Evidence from Malawi” Children and Youth Services Review (2018), 86: 246-255. Joint with Sudhanshu Handa and Susannah Zietz. [Final publication]

13. “Women’s Economic Capacity and Children’s Human Capital Accumulation” Journal of Population Economics (2018), 31(2): 453-481. Joint with Patrick Premand, Furio C. Rosati, and Renos Vakis. [Final publication]

14.  “Poverty and Perceived Stress: Evidence from Two Unconditional Cash Transfer Programs in Zambia” Social Science and Medicine (2017), 177, 110-117. Joint with Lisa Hjelm, Sudhanshu Handa, and Tia Palermo. [Final publication]

15. “Cash Transfers and Child Labor” World Bank Research Observer (2014), 29 (2), 202-234. Joint with Furio C. Rosati. [Final publication] 

16. “Does Promoting School Attendance Reduce Child Labor? Evidence from Burkina Faso’s Bright Project” Economics of Education Review (2014), 39 (C), 78-96. Joint with Furio C. Rosati. [Final publication: gated; Working paper: identical to final publication except for layout]

17. “Income Shocks and Adolescent Mental Health” Journal of Human Resources (2013), 48 (2), 370-403. Joint with Sarah Baird and Berk Özler. [Final publication]

18. “Assessing Sector-wide Programs with Statistical Impact Evaluation: A Methodological Proposal” World Development (2009), 37 (2), 513-520. Joint with Chris Elbers and Jan Willem Gunning. [Final publication: gated]

Chapters in books and other articles: 

1. “Impact Evaluation in Settings of Fragility and Humanitarian Emergency” Joint with Shivit Bakrania, Nikola Balvin, and Silvio Daidone. UNICEF Innocenti Discussion Paper (2021). [Final publication]

2. “Poverty and Distributional Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Chile. IMF Selected Issues Paper (2021). Joint with Trinidad Saavedra. [Final publication]

3. “Beyond Internal Validity: Towards a Broader Understanding of Credibility in Development Policy Research” World Development (2020), 127. ‘Perspective article’, co-authored on behalf of the Transfer Project. [Final publication]

4. “Social Protection in Contexts of Fragility and Forced Displacement: Introduction to a Special Issue” Journal of Development Studies (2019), 55 (sup1): 1-6. Joint with Tilman Brück, Jose Cuesta, Ugo Gentilini, and Amber Peterman. [Final publication]

5. "Using Cash Transfers to Support Displaced Children" invited submission for UNDP International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth - Policy in Focus [Final publication: preview]

6. “Girl Power: Cash Transfers and Adolescent Welfare. Evidence from a Cluster-Randomized Experiment in Malawi” in S. Edwards, S. Johnson, and D. N. Weil (editors), NBER African Successes, Volume II: Human Capital, University of Chicago Press (2016). Joint with Sarah Baird, Ephraim Chirwa, and Berk Özler. [Final publication: gated; Working paper: identical to final publication except for layout]

Permanent working papers:

1. “Cash Transfers, Public Works, and Child Activities: Mixed-method Evidence from the United Republic of Tanzania” Joint with Margaret W. Gichane, Valeria Groppo, and Stephanie Simmons. [Permanent working paper]

2. “Eliminating Child Labour in El Salvador through Economic Empowerment and Social Inclusion.” Joint with Irina Kovrova and Furio C. Rosati. [Permanent working paper]

3. “Selective Schools and Education Decisions: Evidence from Malawi” [Permanent working paper]

My dissertation:

“Keeping Kids in School: Cash Transfers and Selective Education in Malawi” (link to VU university repository, public), Tinbergen Institute Dissertation, 2011.