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on Central and Western Asia |
| By: | Rubiana Chamarbagwala (Indiana University); Martin Ranger (Indiana University) |
| Abstract: | The severe anti-female bias in natality and child mortality that gives rise to India's missing women has been widely documented and various explanations ranging from agricultural labor demand to dowries have been offered in the literature. In general, the low demand for girls has been interpreted as a rational response to economic constraints. This paper shows the importance of culture both in determining the value of girls and in shaping parental economic constraints. We find that conservative cultural attitudes, proxied by the electoral success of religious parties, are positively correlated with anti-female bias. Moreover, higher household expenditure is negatively correlated with the number of girls. This suggests that we cannot rely on rising income levels, brought about by economic growth, to improve the demographic disadvantage faced by Indian women. Our policy recommendations therefore focus on changing attitudes of son-preference that motivate anti-female bias as much as enforcement of gender-equality legislation. |
| Keywords: | Female Disadvantage, Mortality, Son Preference, India |
| JEL: | J11 J16 O12 |
| Date: | 2006–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:inu:caeprp:2006021&r=cwa |
| By: | Bhat Ramesh; Chandra Pankaj; Mukherjee Shantanu |
| Abstract: | Gujarat State has implemented the “Chiranjeevi Yojana” to improve access to institutional delivery with an objective to reduce maternal mortality and at the same time providing financial protection to poor families. The scheme involves private providers in provision of maternity services through contracting-out and use of voucher type of mechanism. Five districts covered by this scheme have population of about 10.5 million of which 43 per cent are below poverty line having about 110,000 deliveries per annum. The scheme during first year of its implementation has covered 31,641 deliveries. Of the total 217 providers in these districts 133 (61 per cent) have been empanelled in this scheme. This paper mainly examines two things, one, the revenue distribution a private provider would have experienced if the provider was not part of the Chiranjeevi Scheme and second, does the financial package provided in the scheme provides adequate incentives to the private provider to join the scheme. Further, given the number of providers empanelled in each district, does number of providers contracted-out in the scheme make any difference in revenue distribution of private provider? We use Monte Carlo simulation method to examine these issues. The simulation results suggest that the average revenue is Rs. 1416 per delivery. This is less than what the provider is being reimbursed by the government on capitation fee basis, which is Rs. 1445 (Rs. 1795 less Rs. 350 towards reimbursement for food, transport and Dai). By joining this scheme, the provider’s additional margin on an average is 2 per cent. This is over and above the profits included in the average revenue earned if the provider was not part of the scheme. The results further suggest that revenue distribution is scattered asymmetrically indicating significant risk in revenues to the provider. By joining in the Chiranjeevi Scheme, the provider is able to reduce the overall risk in revenue. In addition to this, the increased volume of services will spread the fixed cost of the provider and increase overall profitability further. Since the provider is paid up-front advance for delivering services under the scheme, there is no transaction cost of bureaucratic delays in payments. The provider in the absence of this scheme can maximise the revenue by doing more cesarean cases. The scheme has embedded incentive to minimise the cesarian cases to maximise the revenue and this produces larger indirect benefits from health systems point of view. The study identifies other issues that need further investigation. |
| Keywords: | Contracting out, Provider Incentive, Chiranjeevi Scheme, Monte Carlo Simulation, Capitation Fee |
| Date: | 2007–01–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iim:iimawp:2007-01-01&r=cwa |
| By: | Tasso Adamopoulos; Ahmet Akyol (Economics York University) |
| Abstract: | Turkey is the only founding member of the OECD that has not converged to the US in terms of per-capita GDP since 1950: its real GDP per capita is stuck at 20% of that of the US. At a proximate level, we show that Turkey's relative stagnation over the past 50 years is due to: (1) the relative decline in its labor force participation, and (2) the relative stagnation of its TFP. We argue that the first fact is due to policies of high personal income taxation, and high social security contributions for both employees and employers. The second fact we argue is due to price support policies in agriculture, which distorted the allocation of resources in favor of agriculture, thereby delayed the process of the structural transformation. We develop a dynamic general equilibrium model with agricultural and non-agricultural sectors. The production of the non-agricultural good can take place in the market or the household sector. We show the extent to which these policies can account quantitatively for Turkey's relative stagnation |
| Keywords: | Relative Stagnation, Labor Force Participation, Income Taxes |
| JEL: | O41 J21 O52 |
| Date: | 2006–12–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:red:sed006:703&r=cwa |
| By: | Chaudhury, Nazmul; Parajuli, Dilip |
| Abstract: | Instead of mean-tested conditional cash transfer (CCT) programs, some countries have implemented gender-targeted CCTs to explicitly address intra-household disparities in human capital investments. This study focuses on addressing the direct impact of a female school stipend program in Punjab, Pakistan: Did the intervention increase female enrollment in public schools? To address this question, the authors draw on data from the provincial school censuses of 2003 and 2005. They estimate the net growth in female enrollments in grades 6-8 in stipend eligible schools. Impact evaluation analysis, including difference-and-difference (DD), triple differencing (DDD), and regression-discontinuity design (RDD) indicate a modest but statistically significant impact of the intervention. The preferred estimator derived from a combination of DDD and RDD empirical strategies suggests that the average program impact between 2003 and 2005 was an increase of six female students per school in terms of absolute change and an increase of 9 percent in female enrollment in terms of relative change. A triangulation effort is also undertaken using two rounds of a nationally representative household survey before and after the intervention. Even though the surveys are not representative at the subprovincial level, the results corroborate evidence of the impact using school census data. |
| Keywords: | Education For All,Primary Education,Tertiary Education,Gender and Education,Education Reform and Management |
| Date: | 2006–12–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:4102&r=cwa |
| By: | Arena, Marco |
| Abstract: | Insurance market activity, both as a financial intermediary and a provider of risk transfer and indemnification, may contribute to economic growth by allowing different risks to be managed more efficiently and by mobilizing domestic savings. During the past decade, there has been faster growth in insurance market activity, particularly in emerging markets given the process of liberalization and financial integration, which raises questions about its impact on economic growth. The author tests whether there is a causal relationship between insurance market activity (life and nonlife insurance) and economic growth. Using the generalized method of moments for dynamic models of panel data for 56 countries and for the 1976-2004 period, he finds robust evidence of a causal relationship between insurance market activity and economic growth. Both life and nonlife insurance have a positive and significant causal effect on economic growth. High-income countries drive the results in the case of life insurance. On the other hand, both high-income and developing countries drive the results in the case of nonlife insurance. |
| Keywords: | Insurance & Risk Mitigation,Economic Theory & Research,Banks & Banking Reform,Financial Intermediation,Non Bank Financial Institutions |
| Date: | 2006–12–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:4098&r=cwa |