World Bank Blogs

Blog posts from my time at the World Bank (2008-2023), covering topics on education, learning poverty, human capital, and development economics.

By Channel

• Education for Global Development: 14 posts
• Let's Talk Development: 8 posts
• Voices: 1 posts
• Data Blog: 3 posts
• All About Finance: 1 posts
• Latin America and Caribbean: 2 posts

All Posts

2023

• School closures and longer-term implications of COVID-19 for inter-generational mobility
  Let's Talk Development | 2023-04-20
  In the absence of remedial measures, learning losses are likely to significantly reduce intergenerational mobility in a wide range of countries.
  with Alexandru Cojocaru, Veronica Montalva, Ambar Narayan
• Why hasn’t the pandemic sparked more concern for learning losses in Latin America? The perils of an invisible crisis
  Education for Global Development | 2023-04-20
  There is now overwhelming evidence that children’s learning plummeted during the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly in Latin America. Surprisingly, we found that there has been little public outcry in...
  with Gabriel Demombynes, Yi Ning Wong

2022

• The global education crisis – even more severe than previously estimated
  Education for Global Development | 2022-01-04
  The State of the Global Education Crisis: A Path to Recovery report (produced jointly by UNESCO, UNICEF, and the World Bank), we sounded the alarm: this generation of students now risks losing $17 ...
  with Ellinore Carroll, Jessica Bergmann, Matt Brossard, Gwang- Chol Chang, Borhene Chakroun, Marie-Helene Cloutier, Suguru Mizunoya, Nicolas Reuge, Halsey Rogers

2021

• Five lessons from remote learning during COVID-19
  Education for Global Development | 2021-11-18
  Five lessons from remote learning during COVID-19
  with Amer Hasan, Cristóbal Cobo, Alison Gilberto, Alberto Munoz-Najar, Maryam Akmal
• Will every child be able to read by 2030?
  Let's Talk Development | 2021-05-03
  Will every child be able to read by 2030?
  with Diana Goldemberg, Silvia Montoya, Reema Nayar, Halsey Rogers, Jaime Saavedra, Brian Stacy
• Building Back Better After COVID-19: The Importance of Tracking Learning Inequality
  Education for Global Development | 2021-03-31
  As school systems reopen after extended closures due to COVID-19, it will be critical to meet students where they are and to monitor changes in the learning distribution among the poor, given that ...
  with Silvia Montoya
• How the SDG 4.1.1 Framework and Learning Poverty Can Help Countries Focus Their Education Policy Response to COVID-19
  Education for Global Development | 2021-02-25
  Most governments and development partners are working on identifying, protecting, and supporting learning of the most vulnerable members of the COVID-19 generation.
  with Silvia Montoya
• Múltiplas exposições a avaliações de aprendizagem: um mosaico fotográfico do Brasil
  Education for Global Development | 2021-01-04 | PT
  A mensuração da aprendizagem é parte fundamental de uma política educacional baseada em evidências. Neste contexto, as escolhas de medidas importam. E muito.
  with Diana Goldemberg, Andre Loureiro
• Multiple exposures to learning assessments: A photo mosaic from Brazil
  Education for Global Development | 2021-01-04
  Measuring learning is a key part of evidence-based education policy, and the choices of measures matter.
  with Diana Goldemberg, Andre Loureiro

2020

• How could COVID-19 hinder progress with Learning Poverty? Some initial simulations
  Education for Global Development | 2020-12-15
  Even before COVID-19 forced a massive closure of schools around the globe, the world was in the middle of a learning crisis that threatened efforts to build human capital—the skills and know-how ne...
• Learning for All: Within-country learning inequality
  Education for Global Development | 2020-11-12
  Efforts to equalize learning across groups are essential but not sufficient. We must also scale programs and interventions that tackle inequality of similar students within schools and demographic ...
  with Diana Goldemberg
• 全民学习：国内各地的学习效果存在差异
  Voices | 2020-11-12 | ZH
  努力实现各组别学生学习均等化很有必要，但还不够。我们也必须推广相关方案和干预措施，以应对来自同一所学校和同一个人群的类似学生之间存在的差异。在这方面，我们拥有很多工具，但需要面向我们的孩子使用这些工具。
  with Diana Goldemberg
• Aprendizagem para todos: Indo além de uma pontuação média
  Education for Global Development | 2020-10-22 | PT
  Antes da COVID-19, o mundo já estava em uma crise de aprendizado.
  with Diana Goldemberg
• Learning for All: Beyond an Average Score
  Education for Global Development | 2020-10-22
  Learning losses due to the pandemic will likely be large. We are only starting to grasp how learning inequalities may play out. Looking at historical data, can we find patterns that can help us bet...
  with Diana Goldemberg
• Learning losses due to COVID19 could add up to $10 trillion
  Education for Global Development | 2020-09-10
  COVID-related school closures are forcing countries even further off-track to achieving their learning goals. The students currently in school stand to lose $10 trillion in labor earnings over thei...
  with Amer Hasan, Koen Geven, Diana Goldemberg, Syedah Aroob Iqbal
• New release of WBOPENDATA Stata module
  Data Blog | 2020-04-24
  The wbopendata Stata module has been updated to Version 16.2.1. The module can now be installed or updated directly from Stata's Statistical Software Components (SSC) repository.
• We should avoid flattening the curve in education – Possible scenarios for learning loss during the school lockdowns
  Education for Global Development | 2020-04-13
  Social distancing is a necessary strategy to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). With 1.5 billion children out of school in 175 countries (as of April 10), there are more and mor...
  with Syedah Aroob Iqbal, Koen Geven, Amer Hasan, Harry A. Patrinos
• Мы должны избегать сглаживания кривой обучаемости – какими могут быть потери в процессе обучения во время закрытия школ
  Education for Global Development | 2020-04-13 | RU
  Необходимой стратегией сокращения распространения нового коронавируса (COVID-19) было социальное дистанцирование, что заставило большинство стран закрыть свои школы.
  with Syedah Aroob Iqbal, Koen Geven, Amer Hasan, Harry A. Patrinos

2019

• Going municipal: Targeting deprivation with new evidence in Croatia
  Let's Talk Development | 2019-06-05
  with Paul Corral, Jonathan Karver, Reena Badiani-Magnusson

2018

• April 2018 global poverty update from the World Bank
  Let's Talk Development | 2018-04-30
  In April, PovcalNet revised the World Bank’s global and regional poverty estimates from 1981 to 2013. The next major update of global and regional poverty estimates is scheduled for October 2018, w...
  with Christoph Lakner, Daniel Gerszon Mahler, Espen Beer Prydz

2017

• Feeding the craving for precision on global poverty
  Let's Talk Development | 2017-12-07
  Online pundits, hurried journalists and policymakers love precision. They crave numbers. Preferably exact numbers; ranges suggest uncertainty and make them anxious. As a result,  they will love the...
  with Francisco Ferreira, Christoph Lakner

2016

• How equitable is access to finance in Turkey? Evidence from the latest Global FINDEX
  All About Finance | 2016-05-09
  Access to finance is an important tool against poverty since it allows for the smoothing of consumption. The equality of access amongst different groups in the society is also crucial in terms of c...
  with Osman Kaan Inan, Judy Yang
• How persistent is poverty in the short run?
  Let's Talk Development | 2016-02-24
  Poverty is often measured using repeated cross-sectional surveys that provide a snapshot of the poverty status of a given household at a particular point in time. Such designs call for interviewing...
  with William Seitz
• Is Poverty Seasonal?
  Let's Talk Development | 2016-02-18
  Many countries measure poverty using annualized survey data generated on the basis of a one-time “snapshot” of household consumption. Such designs gather information for a single period of referenc...
  with William Seitz

2014

• Inequality at the very very very top: What does the Forbes Billionaires database tell us?
  Let's Talk Development | 2014-10-09
  Thinking about inequality is back in fashion! In its November 2013 outlook, the World Economic Forum called rising inequality the second biggest risk for 2014-15. The 2014 English translation of Fr...
  with Minh Cong Nguyen, Kimberly Bolch
• Wbopendata Stata Module Upgrade
  Data Blog | 2014-07-08
  The wbopendata Stata module has been updated to Version 13. The module can now be installed or updated directly from Stata's Statistical Software Components (SSC) repository. To install or update y...

2013

• New Stata module released
  Data Blog | 2013-02-06
  A new Stata module wbopendata has been released. The module can be installed or updated directly from within Stata using Statistical Software Components (SSC) repository.The new features of this re...

2012

• Mulheres latino-americanas fomentam a prosperidade da região
  Latin America and Caribbean | 2012-09-19 | PT
  Also available in English, Spanish   As mulheres estão se tornando progressivamente as parceiras mais importantes no desenvolvimento da América Latina. Mães, estudantes, profissionais atuantes, mul...
  with Louise Cord
• Latin American women driving region’s prosperity
  Latin America and Caribbean | 2012-09-12
  Also available in Portuguese, Spanish Women are increasingly becoming Latin America's critical development partners. Moms, students, working professionals, women from all walks of life, are a drivi...
  with Louise Cord

Data sourced from World Bank Blogs. Last updated: 2026-02-17.