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Using longitudinal data on more than 2,000 Russian families spanning the period between 2007 and 2010, this paper estimates the impact of the 2009 global financial crisis on food expenditures, health care expenditures, and doctor visits in Russia. The primary estimation strategy adopted is the semi-parametric difference-in-difference with propensity score matching technique. The analysis finds that household health and nutritional behavior indicators do not vary statistically between households that were crisis-affected and households that were not affected by the crisis. However, the analysis finds that crisis-affected poor families curtailed their out-of-pocket health expenditures during and after the crisis more than poor families that were not affected by the crisis did. In addition, crisis-affected vulnerable groups changed their health behavior. In particular, households with low educational attainment of household heads and households with more elderly people changed their health and nutrition behavior response when affected by the crisis. The results are invariant to the propensity score matching techniques and parametric fixed effects estimation models.

Coping strategy --- Crisis --- Health --- Health Monitoring & Evaluation --- Health Systems Development & Reform --- Income shocks --- Macroeconomics and Economic Growth --- Population Policies --- Regional Economic Development --- Rural Poverty Reduction --- Social Development

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It is widely accepted that the costs of underpricing energy are large, whether in advanced or developing countries. This paper explores how large these costs can be by focussing on the size of the external effects that energy subsidies in particular generate in two important sectors-transport and agriculture-in two countries in the Middle East and North Africa, the Arab Republic of Egypt (transport) and the Republic of Yemen (agriculture). The focus is mainly on the costs associated with congestion and pollution, as well as the impact of underpriced energy for depletion of scarce water resources, including through crop selection. Quantifying the size of external effects in developing countries has received relatively little analytical attention, although there is a significant body of literature for developed countries. By building on earlier research, as well as employing the United Nations For FITS model, the paper provides indicative estimates of the external costs of energy subsidies, as manifested in congestion and pollution. The estimates using simulations indicate that these costs could be materially reduced by elimination or reduction of energy subsidies. The paper also describes the impact of energy subsidies on water consumption in a region where water resources are particularly limited. The findings provide further evidence of the adverse and significant consequences of subsidizing energy.

Climate Change Economics --- Climate Change Mitigation and Green House Gases --- Congestion --- Energy Production and Transportation --- Energy Subsidies --- Health Effects of Energy Subsidies --- Pollution --- Transport and Environment --- Transport Economics Policy and Planning