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Budget credibility in Mozambique – challenges and solutionsMozambique ranks in the bottom 20 of the human development index, with nearly two-thirds of its population (18.9 million people) living below the USD...
Ricardo Santos
Research Fellow
Ricardo Santos is a UNU-WIDER Research Fellow stationed in Maputo, Mozambique, focused on the Inclusive growth in Mozambique – scaling-up research and capacity -programme and Technical Resident Advisor to the Centre of Economics and Management Studies at the Faculty of Economics of Eduardo Mondlane University.
He holds a PhD in Economics from the Institute of Development Studies (IDS), University of Sussex, a master’s degree in economics from the Nova University, Lisbon, and an MA in Development Studies from IDS. His doctoral research examined the post-conflict labour market and education sector in Timor-Leste, looking at the medium-run impact of exposure to violence and conflict on households' choices regarding education, namely inquiring on impacts over the economic incentives for education.
His previous work in the development field includes voluntary work for one year with a Portuguese NGO as Program Manager for Timor-Leste and Angola, and Deputy Executive Officer of the same NGO. In his previous position, he was Social Policy Specialist on Public Finance with UNICEF Mozambique.
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Working Paper
Informed job entryHigh youth unemployment rates and long school-to-work transition times pose a threat to low-income countries’ sustainable growth prospects. Using a randomized control trial experiment conducted in Mozambique, we find strong evidence that providing...
Working Paper
Decomposing budget credibilityBudget reliability is the first pillar of Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability (PEFA). In this study, we construct an expansion of the PEFA government response accuracy indicator and test its decomposition, with an application to the...
Journal Article
Employment mismatches drive expectational errors among Mozambican graduatesBiased beliefs about future labor-market earnings are commonplace. Based on a longitudinal survey of graduate work transitions in Mozambique, this study assesses the contribution of employment mismatches to a large positive gap between expected (ex...
Working Paper
Inequality and voting in fragile countriesThe political consequences of economic inequality have been debated in academic and policy circles for centuries. The nature of this relationship seems highly dependent on specific contexts, with empirical studies showing mixed evidence on how...
Journal Article
Africa’s lockdown dilemmaAs the COVID-19 pandemic unfolded, sub-Saharan African countries faced the dilemma of how to minimize viral transmission without adversely affecting the poor. This study proposes an index of lockdown readiness, taking into account housing conditions...
Book Chapter
Tackling intersecting inequalitiesA concern with absolute poverty, defined as a money-metric measure of the ability to meet basic subsistence needs, has occupied a central place within the international development agenda for much of its existence. Efforts in recent years to promote...
Working Paper
The impact of COVID-19 on urban informal workers in MaputoInformal self-employed traders in developing countries are vulnerable to shocks as they often lack access to social insurance or formal finance. This study investigates the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on these urban traders in the capital of...
Journal Article
Can information correct optimistic wage expectations?Forward-looking expectations are central to job search but often inaccurate. To test whether public information can help correct beliefs, we embed an experiment in a longitudinal survey of Mozambican graduates. We quantify responses of own-earning...
Working Paper
Informed participation: the effects of information treatment on panel non-responseThis paper builds on a longitudinal school-to-work transition phone survey experiment to quantify the effects on attrition of communicating with participants. Specifically, we study the impact of sending topically relevant information on job market...
Report
Inquérito à transição ensino-emprego dos finalistas do ensino técnico-profissional em MoçambiqueEste relatório documenta as principais conclusões do Inquérito à Transiçãoo Ensino-Emprego dos Finalistas do Ensino Técnico-Profissional em Moçambique. A pesquisa foi planificada e implementada por pesquisadores do United Nations University World...
Report
Survey on the school-to-work transition of technical and vocational training graduates in MozambiqueThis report documents the main conclusions of the Survey on the School-to-Work Transition of Technical and Vocational Education and Training Graduates in Mozambique. The research was planned and implemented by researchers from the United Nations...
Working Paper
Horizontal and intersecting inequalities in MozambiqueThis study seeks to add to the research on inequality in least developed countries, namely in Mozambique, by measuring and mapping indicators of horizontal wealth inequality along geographic regions and ethnolinguistic identities. Using census data...
Working Paper
The determinants of occupational sortingWe examine the link between individual characteristics and sorting into different occupations using data from university students in Mozambique. We provide a comprehensive approach combining the main determinants of occupational sorting identified in...
Journal Article
Vulnerability to natural shocksMozambique is among the most disaster-prone countries in the world. A bigger than usual, and mostly unexpected, flood occurred in the central-northern region of the country in the first few months of 2015, causing huge damage to infrastructures. In...
Working Paper
Updating great expectationsHow jobseekers set their earnings expectations is central to job search models. To study this process, we track the evolution of own-earnings forecasts over 18 months for a representative panel of university-leavers in Mozambique and estimate the...
Working Paper
The education sector in MozambiqueFrom the early days of national independence in 1975, the central aim of the educational policy in Mozambique has been to ensure that all school-age children have access to school and can remain there until they have completed their basic education...
Blog
Beyond lockdown: rebuilding the social contractContinued lockdown measures are straining the social contract between citizens and governments. As this column explains, in contexts where there are...
Working Paper
Unequal expectationsStudents’ expectations about their future wages are established in the literature as relevant determinants of the choices made for education progression and, at the university level, for the area and course to be studied. In this paper, the first...
Working Paper
Africa’s lockdown dilemmaThe primary policy response to suppress the spread of COVID-19 in high-income countries has been to lock down large sections of the population. However, there is growing unease that blindly replicating these policies might inflict irreparable damage...
Blog
Is vocational education the fast track to employment in Mozambique?
Technical and vocational education and training (TVET) is often put forward as the solution to youth unemployment — but to prove its worth, better...
Report
Inquérito de base à transição ensino-emprego dos graduados do ensino técnico-profissional em MoçambiqueA investigação aqui apresentada foi planeada e implementada por pesquisadores do United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER), do Grupo de Pesquisa em Economia do Desenvolvimento (DERG) da Universidade de...
Report
Baseline survey on the school-to-work transition of technical and vocational education graduates in MozambiqueThe research detailed herein was planned and implemented by researchers at the United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER), the Develop-ment Economics Research Group (DERG) at the University of Copenhagen...
Blog
The five criteria low income countries must have in place for lockdowns to workAs the COVID-19 virus has spread across the globe, developing countries are starting to enact many of the same policies used in China, Europe, and...
Blog
Is Mozambique prepared for a lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic?We calculated a lockdown readiness index for Mozambique and the results don’t look good. If lockdown policies are needed to halt the spread of the...
Working Paper
Misinformed, mismatched, or misled?Inaccurate expectations of future wages are found in many contexts. Yet, existing studies overwhelmingly refer to high-income countries, and there is little evidence regarding the sources of expectational errors.Based on a longitudinal survey of...
Report
Final report on the survey on the education-employment transitions of university finalistsThis report documents the main findings of the Survey of School-to-Work Transitions ofUniversity Students.The research was planned and implemented by researchers at the UnitedNations University World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU...
Report
Survey on the education-employment transitions of university finalistsThis report documents the main findings of the Survey of School-to-Work Transitions of University Students. The research was planned and implemented by researchers at the United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research...
Policy Brief
Transition to labour market by university studentsThis brief summarizes the findings and implications of a survey of the school-to-work transition by Mozambican university students. No research of this kind had previously been conducted. Over the course of a year and a half, university graduates...
Report
Relatório Final do Inquérito à Transição Ensino- Emprego dos Finalistas UniversitáriosEste relatório documenta as principais conclusões do Inquérito à Transição Ensino-Emprego dos Finalistas Universitários. A pesquisa foi planificada e implementada por pesquisadores do United Nations University World Institute for Development...
Working Paper
Vulnerability to natural shocksMozambique is among the most disaster-prone countries in the world. A bigger than usual, and mostly unexpected, flood occurred in the central-northern region of the country in the first few months of 2015, causing huge damage to infrastructures. In...
Working Paper
An analysis of school dropout in Mozambique, 2014–15The level of educational attainment in Mozambique is one of the lowest in the world and primary school completion rate is also very low, not reaching 40 per cent. Using data from the Mozambican Household Budget Survey 2014/15, we study (1) the...
Blog
Gas revenues will come and go in Mozambique – now is the time to think how to use them wisely
Mozambique is still an agriculture-based economy. Huge offshore gas fields have been discovered in the country and plans for gas projects are in the...
Blog
Poverty and inequality – twins or just siblings?
Sitting in the large conference room where we are being invited to ‘Think WIDER’ at the WIDER Development Conference this September. Surrounded by...
Report
Baseline Survey on University Students’ School-to-Employment Transition (in Portugese)O Inquérito à Transição Ensino-Emprego dos Finalistas Universitários visa dar resposta às preocupações do Governo de Moçambique e parceiros de desenvolvimento sobre o emprego jovem no país. O foco é aqui colocado na transição dos jovens, da educação...
Policy Brief
Employment expectations of university students in MozambiqueBefore now, there has been no systematic study of the transition of university students as they finish their studies and enter the labour market. This Policy Brief summarises the findings of a baseline survey of such university students, who form the...
Report
Baseline Survey on the School-to-Work Transitions of University Graduates in MozambiqueThe survey on the School-to-Work Transitions of University Graduates in Mozambique aims to respond to the concerns of the Government of Mozambique and development partners with respect to youth employment in the country. The focus is on the...
Working Paper
Simulating the effect on households’ real consumption and poverty of the increase in prices that followed the 2015–16 economic crisis in MozambiquePoverty declined substantially in Mozambique between 1996/97 and 2014/15. However, the recent economic crisis, characterized by a significant increase in domestic prices, may have dragged several households into poverty. Using consumer price index...
Report
Survey of Mozambican Manufacturing Firms 2017 (in Portuguese)Este relatório documenta as principais conclusões do Inquérito às Indústrias Manufactureiras Moçambicanas em 2017 (IIM 2017). A pesquisa foi planificada e implementada por pesquisadores do Grupo de Pesquisa em Economia do Desenvolvimento (DERG) da...
Report
Survey of Mozambican Manufacturing Firms 2017This report documents the principal findings of the 2017 Survey of Mozambican Manufacturing Firms (IIM 2017). The survey was planned and implemented by researchers from the Development Economics Research Group (DERG) at the University of Copenhagen...
Blog
What would it take for Mozambique’s growth to be inclusive?
In late November 2017 more than 100 people gathered in Maputo, Mozambique, to participate in a joint reflection on poverty and inequality in the...
Working Paper
Intersecting inequalities and the Sustainable Development GoalsConcerns about the dramatic rise in income inequality across the world and, at the same time, assessments of national progress on the Millennium Development Goals made it clear that it is the intersection of income inequality, marginalized social...
Displaying 64 of 70 results