Francois Gerard, University of London, Queen Mary

Mitigating the consequences of job-loss in low-income countries: Experimental evidence from Ethiopia

Abstract

We present the results of an ongoing experiment aiming to study the impacts of expanding job-displacement insurance in LMICs. A large garment factory in the Hawassa Industrial Park (Ethiopia) laid off about 2,000 female workers in August 2022. As is common in LMICs, these workers are eligible for a modest lump-sum severance pay but no unemployment insurance. In this project, we evaluate the impacts of providing (i) a monthly “income support” scheme, which pays 60 percent of the worker’s wage for 6 months, irrespective of reemployment status; and (ii) a single lump-sum payment of the same present value. Through high-frequency surveys, we study impacts on consumption, employment, income, migration, etc over the 10 months after layoff.

Francois Gerard is a Reader (Associate Professor) in the School of Economics and Finance at Queen Mary, University of London

His primary research interests are at the intersection of Public Economics and Development Economics.

He received his PhD in Economics from UC Berkeley, was an Assistant Professor at Columbia University, before moving to Queen Mary in 2019.

He is a Research Affiliate of the CEPR, a Research Associate of the IFS, and a Research Affiliate of the IGC. He is also an Associate Editor at the Journal of the European Economic Association.

You can read more about Francois Gerard here

CEBI contact: Asger Lau Andersen