Building Evidence on Forced Displacement

Are there links between violent attacks of the Islamic extremist group Boko Haram, forced migration, and the empowerment of women in host communities? According to this study’s findings, there are positive effects of distant attacks on the economic well-being of women, their use of modern contraceptive methods, and rejection of traditional gender views. However, the findings also show increased risks of women experiencing domestic violence. 

Economists and poverty specialists have long neglected the measuring of poverty among the forcibly displaced, including refugees and internally displaced persons. This study reviews the evolution, prospects, and findings of the poverty measurement literature on the forcibly displaced and discusses the main data and measurement challenges and outlines the efforts of humanitarian and development organizations to close the measurement gap.

Conflict crises can severely limit the capacity to monitor inflation as lack of resources, loss of access to markets, or disturbances in ground operations impact data gathering. Using surveys from the World Food Programme gathered in 25 fragile and conflict-affected countries, new price monitoring capabilities developed by Building the Evidence on Forced Displacement has transformed research in this area.

To illustrate the type of information that can assist UNHCR and camp administrators in preparing for a potential pandemic, this study examines the series of simulations of the spread of COVID-19 disease in refugee camps. The research used a demo set of data from the Za’atari refugee camp in Jordan. This paper has not been peer reviewed.

This review of the literature on forced displacement in economics research surveys 49 empirical studies that estimate the impact of forced displacement on host communities, including impact on wages, employment, household well-being, and labor markets.

Imputation methods developed by Building the Evidence on Forced Displacement have been critical in improving estimations. By combining UNHCR surveys and administrative data, this paper tests the performance of cross-survey imputation methods to estimate poverty for a sample of refugees in Chad.

This study uses existing data sources and complements them with new data to understand the socioeconomic characteristics of Afghan returnees, and the drivers of the decision to return.

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Humanitarian organizations operate under increasing budget constraints and demands for efficiency.  This study shows the optimization of targeted coverage achieved by using the Receiver Operating Characteristic mechanism, which can increase a program’s overall efficiency.

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In this study, the drivers that impact the choice between living under conflict and the decision to flee is modeled. 

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A stronger conceptual and practical understanding of social cohesion in the context of forced displacement is urgently needed, as evidenced by this study. This review also includes reflections on the current portfolio of WBG forced displacement projects.

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A non-technical introduction to the economics of forced displacement, this paper argues that the modeling of utility, choice, risk, and information in a short-term setting is critical to addressing forced displacement. 

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Even as there is no strong evidence of the negative economic impact of hosting refugees, there are strong perceptions among host communities that refugees bring economic harm. This paper will measure the anti-refugee sentiment and explore its predictors among a population that the literature suggests could be economically harmed by the influx of refugees—namely low-skilled poor who mainly work in informal sectors.