JDC Literature Review
The JDC literature review highlights recent publications, academic scholarship, and thought leadership on issues relating to forced displacement. Our intention is to stimulate discussion, encourage the exchange of ideas, and support a ‘Community of Practice’.
The freedom to choose: Theory and quasi-experimental evidence on cash transfer restrictions
This paper studies the effect of cash transfer restrictions on the welfare of recipients in the Kalobeyei refugee settlement in Kenya, a context in which restrictions matter because cash transfers are extra-marginal (they are greater than the amount a household would...
Cash-like vouchers improve psychological well-being of vulnerable and displaced persons fleeing armed conflict
This paper assesses the effectiveness of the United Nations’ Rapid Response to Movements of Population (RRMP) program, the largest humanitarian assistance program targeting vulnerable displaced, returnee and host households in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo....
The impact of cash transfers on Syrian refugee children in Lebanon
This paper evaluates the impact of a large-scale multi-purpose cash (MPC) transfer program on a sample of Syrian refugee children in Lebanon. Lebanon hosts an estimated 1.5 million Syrian refugees, over half of whom are children 18 years and younger. Since 2017, UNHCR...
The impact of cash transfers on Syrian refugees in Lebanon: Evidence from a multidimensional regression discontinuity design
This paper examines the impact of multipurpose cash assistance (MPC) provided to Syrian refugee households in Lebanon. Approximately 1.5 million Syrian refugees lived in Lebanon in 2018, of whom almost a million were registered with the United Nations High...
Children on the move: Progressive redistribution of humanitarian cash transfers among refugees
This paper examines the causal effects of the Emergency Social Safety Net (ESSN) program, which was launched in November 2016 and currently supports around 1.7 million refugees in Turkey. The analysis is based on a pre-assistance baseline survey (PAB) undertaken by...
Multi-purpose cash transfers and health among vulnerable Syrian refugees in Lebanon: a prospective cohort study
This paper evaluates the impact of multipurpose cash transfers (MPCs) on health-seeking behavior, health service utilization, and health expenditures by Syrian refugees in Lebanon. At the beginning of 2020, there were nearly 1 million registered refugees in Lebanon,...
The short-lived effects of unconditional cash transfers to refugees
This paper examines the effect of two large-scale cash transfer programs on the welfare of Syrian refugee households in Lebanon. Lebanon hosts approximately 1.5 million Syrian refugees. The authors quantify the effect of the multipurpose cash assistance program, which...
Does Aid Reduce Anti-refugee Violence? Evidence from Syrian Refugees in Lebanon
Lebanon, a country with a population of 4.5 million, has received more than a million refugees since the outbreak of the Syrian civil war in 2011. Most Syrian refugees live in individual accommodation in Lebanese towns. This paper examines the effect of aid to...
An Adaptive Targeted Field Experiment: Job Search Assistance for Refugees in Jordan
The Government of Jordan estimates that around 1.3 million Syrian refugees have arrived in the country since the beginning of the Syrian crisis, of whom 660,000 have registered with UNHCR. This paper estimates the effect of a program to assist Syrian refugees and...
Life out of the Shadows: Impacts of Amnesties in the Lives of Refugees
This paper estimates the causal effects on wellbeing of a regularization program offered to half a million undocumented Venezuelan migrants in Colombia. Colombia hosts almost two million Venezuelans displaced abroad. The Permiso Especial de Permanencia (PEP) grants...