Damien de Walque

Obesity is a major risk factor for a range of diseases. Worldwide, its prevalence has been growing, becoming a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in countries of all income levels. Join @damiendwa for insights on global health equity wrld.bg/btsX50TMF9S

My friend @varungauri - has just published his debut novel. I had the privilege of reading the manuscript. It is beautifully written and crafted; a delightful, sensitive, and funny exploration of Indian American life that explores the inner workings and non-workings of a quasi-arranged marriage.

Excited to share that starting in August, I'll be based in Brasília, continuing my role as researcher at the WB Research Group. Many thanks to the director, manager, & colleagues at @wb_research for your support. Look forward to engaging with the brilliant research community in🇧🇷

I had the distinct pleasure of chatting with @timsvengali on @vox_dev about a recent paper by @gabezt and I on how lower income countries can raise more tax revenues to fund public services. Hope you enjoy listening :)

Can online, low-cost, scalable interventions significantly reduce prejudice? Absolutely! We explored the effectiveness of perspective-taking through a documentary on Venezuelan migrants at the Colombian border and an immersive online game. Results? Both treatments increased altruism towards Venezuelans. However, on a per-minute basis, the documentary proved to be 4x more efficient than the game in boosting prosocial behavior. How? According to social psychology theory, cognitive-emotional interventions train individuals to use emotion-regulation strategies to fight their personal prejudices. Dive into the details in our upcoming paper at JDE with @MarisolEcon @wb_research @the_IDB sciencedirect.com/science/articl…

Curious about the latest research on education from the World Bank Development Research Group (DECRG)? You can find out about it here: worldbank.org/en/research/br… @wb_research

How can low- and middle-income countries build fairer and more efficient tax systems? Join us May 7 for a discussion of the ways that technology, novel data & better policy coordination are creating new possibilities to rethink taxation and development worldbank.org/en/events/2024…

Tomorrow May 7 12:30 pm ET! 3 talks on taxation and development prepared for a general audience (policy makers, tax administrators, NGOs, students, researchers etc)

My new blog post on how to collect data on social networks (with @JUNISINGH1). @wb_research blogs.worldbank.org/en/impactevalu…

On Tues May 7, my wonderful colleagues @AnneBrockmeyer @pierrebachas and I will share findings from our recent JEP papers on tax and development #10.1257/jep.38.1.81" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">aeaweb.org/issues/752#10.… Discussion by Manuela Francisco (WB Global Director) Please join us in person or online!

"Neglecting to incorporate the family into our analytical frameworks & data collection can result in, at best, an incomplete understanding of economic behaviors & outcomes, and at worst, erroneous conclusions." See my new blog on Dev Impact. blogs.worldbank.org/en/impactevalu…

How can lower income countries collect more taxes? That’s a big question on the minds of many government officials and researchers. Gabe Tourek @gabezt and I offer some answers in our new paper just out in the Journal of Econ Perspectives @aeapubs aeaweb.org/articles?id=10… 1/n

Each year 17 million people die from a non-communicable disease before age 70 and 86% of these occur in low- and middle-income countries. How can health care systems confront this challenge while also preparing for future pandemics? 📣 Tune in TOMORROW wrld.bg/mNgF50QtZk9

👏 Congrats to @oyebolaoo for her well-deserved Best Paper Award from @AEAInformation on her piece “Technology, Taxation, and Corruption: Evidence from the Introduction of Electronic Tax Filing.” Learn more about Oyebola and her work at worldbank.org/en/about/peopl…

Each year 17 million people die from a non-communicable disease before age 70 and 86% of these occur in low- and middle-income countries. How can health care systems confront this challenge while also preparing for future pandemics? 🗓️ Tune in February 6 worldbank.org/en/events/2024…

We are deeply saddened by the passing of @markushaacker, a brilliant and visionary economist whose economic analysis in support of HIV policy inspired us all. We will long remember Dr Haacker’s tenacity in pursuing the truth and challenging orthodoxy.

@damiendwa See also this @vox_dev column: voxdev.org/topic/health-e…

(5/5) (4) Our CCT treatment has no effect on a rapid math test, but the two other treatments do. This is likely due to a combination of differences in compliers and to some adverse learning effects of the parental incentives. @damiendwa

(4/5) (3) Providing weekly paper-and-pen school attendance reports filled in by teachers increases parental information about their child's absenteeism a lot in all our treatment arms.

(3/5) (2) Incentivizing children themselves (with vouchers) is at least as effective as incentivizing their parents with cash – and the goods purchased with the vouchers are not cancelled out by parents taking expenditure away from the targeted children.