In 2015, the United Nations High Commission for Refugees accommodated over 15 million refugees, mostly in refugee camps in developing countries. The World Food Program provided these refugees with food aid, in cash or in kind. Refugees’ impacts on host countries are controversial and little understood. This unique study analyzes the economic impacts of refugees on host-country economies within a 10-km radius of three Congolese refugee camps in Rwanda. Simulations using Monte Carlo methods reveal that cash aid to refugees creates significant positive income spillovers to host-country businesses and households. An additional adult refugee receiving cash aid increases annual real income in the local economy by $205 to $253, significantly more than the $120–$126 in aid each refugee receives. Trade between the local economy and the rest of Rwanda increases by $49 to $55. The impacts are lower for in-kind food aid, a finding relevant to development aid generally.

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The economic impacts of COVID‐19 lockdowns on poor and vulnerable households living in rural areas of developing countries are not well understood due to a lack of detailed micro‐survey data at the household level. Utilizing weekly financial transaction data collected from households residing in a rural region of India, we estimate the impacts of India's COVID‐19 lockdown on household income, food security, welfare, and access to local loan markets. A large portion of households living in our study region is reliant on remittances from migrants to sustain their livelihoods. Our analysis reveals that in the month immediately after India's lockdown announcement, weekly household local income fell by INR 1,022 (US$ 13.5), an 88% drop compared to the long‐term average with another 63% reduction in remittance. In response to the massive loss in earnings, households substantially reduced meal portions and consumed fewer food items. Impacts were heterogeneous; households in lower income quantiles lost a higher percentage of their income and expenditures, but government food aid slightly mitigated the negative impacts. We also find an increase in the effective interest rate of local borrowing in cash and a higher demand for in‐kind loans, which are likely to have an adverse effect on households who rely on such services. The results from this paper have immediate relevance to policymakers considering additional lockdowns as the COVID‐19 pandemic resurges around the globe and to governments thinking about responses to future pandemics that may occur.

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The purpose of the evaluation was to quantify the impact of the recent policy change in West Bengal relating to the pricing of electricity from a flat rate tariff to metered tariff. The study attempted to assess its impact on the total number of hours pumped, especially in the summer season, and its distribution across use on the pump owner's own farm and sales to other farmers.