At the time of writing this blog, international oil prices are hovering around $100 per barrel. That’s a 30% increase since the beginning of the most recent conflict in the Middle East. While current economic effects of high energy prices and possible future scenarios are widely discussed, there seems to be less attention to how governments are responding globally.
Here are three lessons from tracking social protection and related actions over the past two months.
First, most countries are hesitating on whether to respond.
As of May 7, 2026, about 256 responses have been recorded in 104 countries. This means that about half of the countries worldwide had planned or implemented some form of government measure to mitigate the crisis effects (Figure 1).
Figure 1. Half of the countries worldwide are responding to high energy pricesSource: Gentilini et al. (2026).
Why are some…
