|
on Central and Western Asia |
| By: | Das, Jishnu; Zajonc, Tristan |
| Abstract: | This paper uses student answers to publicly released questions from an international testing agency together with statistical methods from Item Response Theory to place secondary students from two Indian states -Orissa and Rajasthan -on a worldwide distribution of mathematics achievement. These two states fall below 43 of the 51 countries for which data exist. The bottom 5 percent of children rank higher than the bottom 5 percent in only three countries-South Africa, Ghana and Saudi Arabia. But not all students test poorly. Inequality in the test-score distribution for both states is next only to South Africa in the worldwide ranking exercise. Consequently, and to the extent that these two states can represent India, the two statements"for every ten top performers in the United States there are four in India"and"for every ten low performers in the United States there are two hundred in India"are both consistent with the data. The combination of India's size and large variance in achievement give both the perceptions that India is shining even as Bharat, the vernacular for India, is drowning. Comparable estimates of inequalities in learning are the building blocks for substantive research on the correlates of earnings inequality in India and other low-income countries; the methods proposed here allow for independent testing exercises to build up such data by linking scores to internationally comparable tests. |
| Keywords: | Secondary Education,Educational Sciences,Teaching and Learning,Primary Education,Tertiary Education |
| Date: | 2008–06–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:4644&r=cwa |
| By: | Tolentino, Paz Estrella (School of Management and Organizational Psychology Birkbeck, University of London) |
| Abstract: | The current study examines the relationships between several home country-specific macroeconomic factors and the level of the outward FDI of China and India using multiple time-series data from 1982 to 2006 and from 1980 to 2006, respectively. With the use of a vector autoregressive model assessing the causal relationships of the endogenous variables, the empirical research proves that Chinese national characteristics associated with income per capita, openness of the economy to international trade, interest rate, human capital, technological capability, exchange rate and exchange rate volatility do not Granger cause the level of outward FDI of China. By contrast, the national technological capability of India Granger causes their level of outward FDI. The level of outward FDI of China does not Granger cause any of the home country-specific macroeconomic factors considered, while the level of outward FDI of India Granger causes their national interest rate. |
| Keywords: | outward FDI, home country, FDI determinants, China, India, MNCs, VAR model, foreign direct investment, multinational corporations |
| JEL: | F23 C32 C51 |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:unumer:2008049&r=cwa |
| By: | Amin, Mohammad; Mattoo, Aaditya |
| Abstract: | Using panel data for the fourteen major states of India over the 1980-2000 period, the authors estimate the effect of human capital endowment on the performance of the state economies. They find that greater availability of skilled workers had a positive and significant impact on output in the service sectors. They do not find any such effect for the manufacturing sectors. The paper shows that the differential effect on services and manufacturing arises because service sectors are more skill intensive. |
| Keywords: | Economic Theory&Research,Transport Economics Policy&Planning,E-Business,Achieving Shared Growth,Access to Finance |
| Date: | 2008–03–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:4576&r=cwa |
| By: | HALICIOGLU, Ferda |
| Abstract: | This study is concerned with the foreign direct investments flows from and out of Turkey in terms of regional and sectoral distributions during the period of 2000-2007. It is noted that Turkey imports substantial amount of foreign direct investment from the European continent. The majority of the foreign direct investments flows into Turkey is placed in services sector whilst Turkish capital seems to be invested in industry and services sectors. The main factors of attracting the foreign direct investments flows into Turkey for the period of 2000-2006 are analyzed as well as their implications for the period of 2007-2011. It is forecasted that Turkey will receive, on average, 20 billion US dollar worth foreign direct investment during the period of 2007-2011 per year. |
| Keywords: | FDI; Forecasting; Turkey |
| JEL: | F00 F14 F21 |
| Date: | 2008–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:10404&r=cwa |
| By: | Niosi, Jorge (Department of Management and Technology, University of Québec at Montréal); Tschang, F. Ted (School of Business, Singapore Management University) |
| Abstract: | China and India are emerging as major new entrants in the international software industry. Both are rapidly learning through outsourcing with multinational enterprises from advanced nations. Yet, their paths to this dynamic sector are very different. Chinese software firms have focused on their domestic market by working with foreign MNCs, while they move cautiously abroad. Indian firms, despite already being large, continue to expand overseas as well as to climb the value chain. We show that a macro perspective on the global movement of work can be gained by utilizing concepts from different approaches to the MNC. At the same time, the innovation systems perspective is necessary to explain the foundations of the industry. The paper provides hypotheses and performs an initial validation of them. It concludes that the internationalization and learning processes are somewhat different in the Chinese and Indian MNCs, and provides explanations for the different patterns. |
| Keywords: | outsourcing, software industry, industrial development, MNCs, MNEs, multinational enterprise, China, India |
| JEL: | L23 L24 O14 O32 P45 |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:unumer:2008050&r=cwa |
| By: | Pandey Ajay |
| Abstract: | This paper examines hedging effectiveness of futures contract on a financial asset and commodities in Indian markets. In an emerging market context like India, the growth of capital and commodity futures market would depend on effectiveness of derivatives in managing risk. For managing risk, understanding optimal hedge ratio is critical for devising effective hedging strategy. We estimate dynamic and constant hedge ratio for S&P CNX Nifty index futures, Gold futures and Soybean futures. Various models (OLS, VAR, and VECM) are used to estimate constant hedge ratio. To estimate dynamic hedge ratios, we use VAR-MGARCH. We compare in-sample and out-of-sample performance of these models in reducing portfolio risk. It is found that in most of the cases, VAR-MGARCH model estimates of time varying hedge ratio provide highest variance reduction as compared to hedges based on constant hedge ratio. Our results are consistent with findings of Myers (1991), Baillie and Myers (1991), Park and Switzer (1995a,b), Lypny and Powella (1998), Kavussanos and Nomikos (2000), Yang (2001), and Floros and Vougas (2006). |
| Keywords: | Hedging Effectiveness,Hedge ratio,Bivariate GARCH, S&P CNX Nifty index and futures, Commodity futures |
| Date: | 2008–06–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iim:iimawp:2008-06-01&r=cwa |
| By: | Banerjee, Abhijit V.; Banerji, Rukmini; Duflo, Esther; Glennerster, Rachel; Khemani, Stuti |
| Abstract: | Participation of beneficiaries in the monitoring of public services is increasingly seen as key to improving their efficiency. In India, the current government flagship program on universal primary education organizes community members, specifically locally elected leaders and parents of children enrolled in public schools, into committees and gives these powers over resource allocation, monitoring and management of school performance. However, in a baseline survey this paper finds that people were not aware of the existence of these committees and their potential for improving education. The paper evaluates three different interventions to encourage beneficiaries'participation: providing information, training community members in a new testing tool, and training and organizing volunteers to hold remedial reading camps for illiterate children. The authors find that these interventions had no impact on community involvement in public schools, and no impact on teacher effort or learning outcomes in those schools. However, the intervention that trained volunteers to teach children to read had large impact on activity outside public schools -- local youths volunteered to be trained, and children who attended these camps substantially improved their reading skills. These results suggest that citizens face substantial constraints in participating to improve the public education system, even when they care about education and are willing to do something to improve it. |
| Keywords: | Primary Education,Education For All,Teaching and Learning,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Tertiary Education |
| Date: | 2008–03–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:4584&r=cwa |
| By: | Abhijit Banerjee; Rukmini Banerji; Esther Duflo; Rachel Glennerster; Stuti Khemani |
| Abstract: | Participation of beneficiaries in the monitoring of public services is increasingly seen as a key to improving their efficiency. In India, the current government flagship program on universal primary education organizes both locally elected leaders and parents of children enrolled in public schools into committees and gives these groups powers over resource allocation, and monitoring and management of school performance. However, in a baseline survey we found that people were not aware of the existence of these committees and their potential for improving education. This paper evaluates three different interventions to encourage beneficiaries' participation through these committees: providing information, training community members in a new testing tool, and training and organizing volunteers to hold remedial reading camps for illiterate children. We find that these interventions had no impact on community involvement in public schools, and no impact on teacher effort or learning outcomes in those schools. However, we do find that the intervention that trained volunteers to teach children to read had a large impact on activity outside public schools -- local youths volunteered to be trained to teach, and children who attended these camps substantially improved their reading skills. These results suggest that citizens face substantial constraints in participating to improve the public education system, even when they care about education and are willing to do something to improve it. |
| JEL: | I21 O12 |
| Date: | 2008–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:14311&r=cwa |
| By: | Sulman Hafeez , Siddiqui; Hassan Mujtaba Nawaz, Saleem |
| Abstract: | The recent structural shift of global economy from manufacturing to services sector coupled with the pressure on economies to liberalize their services trade under GATS has brought the theorist and policy makers in services-dominated economies to devise appropriate theoretical and policy response to align their services-dominated economies with their industry, trade, and economic growth and development objectives. The emphasis on industry-led economic growth and development policy under both mercantilist and export-oriented approach has earned little success in developing countries like Pakistan due to lack of R&D base and lack of capital while the approach being highly intensive in both of these factors. Services today contribute more than 50% to the GDP in Pakistan and 44 percent to employment. The inter-sectoral linkages of services with industry imply strong existing and potential spillover effects for value added activities in these sectors. This paper through an extensive review of literature and empirical evidence from Pakistan examines the potential of services-led industrial, trade and growth policy for Pakistan to achieve objectives of value addition and diversification of production, competitiveness, employment, poverty alleviation, sustainable economic growth and development, and stability of external accounts. The proposed alignments in the overall economic growth and development policy, industrial policy and trade policy in line with the global trends and structural dynamics of services sector in Pakistan are discussed. |
| Keywords: | Economic growth; industrial policy; Services Sector; Service-led Industrialization |
| JEL: | L8 L52 E61 |
| Date: | 2008–06–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:10330&r=cwa |
| By: | Tattara, Giuseppe; Campagnol, Desirée |
| Abstract: | This article deals with the restructuring of the production process at the Monti textile group. The Group has delocalized a significant part of its textile production in two plants in Cekia and has opened a new plant in India. The Cekia plants send their product to Italy to be finished, while the Indian plant is vertically integrated and aims at the new emerging markets. This new strategy had deep effects on the level of employment in the Treviso province, where the Italian main plant is located. The emergency has been faced by the use of several labor market in-struments: contratti di solidarietà, cassa integrazione guadagni and liste di mobilità that have allowed a gradual exit of some workers towards retirement and have provided room for a qualifica-tion and re-employment of the majority of redundant workers. This experiment proves interesting and is the result of workers’ stiff opposition to massive firings, of the trade unions’ action and of the willigness of the Monti Group. |
| Keywords: | occupazione; controversie di lavoro; contratto di solidarietà; catena del valore; internazionalizzazione; Gruppo Tessile Monti; Veneto |
| JEL: | J65 J21 J68 |
| Date: | 2008–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:10357&r=cwa |
| By: | Das, Maitreyi Bordia |
| Abstract: | This paper uses data from the 61st Round of the National Sample Survey to understand the employment outcomes of Dalit and Muslim men in India. It uses a conceptual framework developed for the US labor market that states that ethnic minorities skirt discrimination in the primary labor market to build successful self-employed ventures in the form of ethnic enclaves or ethnic labor markets. The paper uses entry into self-employment for educated minority groups as a proxy for minority enclaves. Based on multinomial logistic regression, the analysis finds that the minority enclave hypothesis does not hold for Dalits but it does overwhelmingly for Muslims. The interaction of Dalit and Muslim status with post-primary education in urban areas demonstrates that post-primary education confers almost a disadvantage for minority men: it does not seem to affect their allocation either to salaried work or to non-farm self-employment but does increase their likelihood of opting out of the labor force - and if they cannot afford to drop out, they join the casual labor market. Due to the complexity of these results and the fact that there are no earnings data for self-employment, it is difficult to say whether self-employment is a choice or compulsion and whether builders of minority enclaves fare better than those in the primary market. |
| Keywords: | Labor Markets,Labor Policies,Population Policies,Educational Policy and Planning,Access to Finance |
| Date: | 2008–06–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:4653&r=cwa |
| By: | Fehr, Ernst; Hoff, Karla; Kshetramade, Mayuresh |
| Abstract: | In a wide variety of settings, spiteful preferences would constitute an obstacle to cooperation, trade, and thus economic development. This paper shows that spiteful preferences - the desire to reduce another's material payoff for the mere purpose of increasing one's relative payoff - are surprisingly widespread in experiments conducted in one of the least developed regions in India (Uttar Pradesh). In a one-shot trust game, the authors find that a large majority of subjects punish cooperative behavior although such punishment clearly increases inequality and decreases the payoffs of both subjects. In experiments to study coordination and to measure social preferences, the findings reveal empirical patterns suggesting that the willingness to reduce another's material payoff - either for the sake of achieving more equality or for the sake of being ahead - is stronger among individuals belonging to high castes than among those belonging to low castes. Because extreme social hierarchies are typically accompanied by a culture that stresses status-seeking, it is plausible that the observed social preference patterns are at least partly shaped by this culture. Thus, an exciting question for future research is the extent to which different institutions and cultures produce preferences that are conducive or detrimental to economic development. |
| Keywords: | Economic Theory&Research,Access to Finance,Debt Markets,Bankruptcy and Resolution of Financial Distress,Gender and Social Development |
| Date: | 2008–05–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:4619&r=cwa |
| By: | Hasnain, Zahid |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the relationship between devolution, accountability, and service delivery in Pakistan. It examines the degree of accessibility of local policy-makers and the level of competition in local elections, the expenditure patterns of local governments to gauge their sector priorities, and the extent to which local governments are focused on patronage or the provision of targeted benefits to a few as opposed to providing public goods. The main findings of the paper are three-fold. First, the accessibility of policy-makers to citizens in Pakistan is unequivocally greater after devolution, and local government elections are, with some notable exceptions, as competitive as national and provincial elections. Second, local government sector priorities are heavily tilted toward the provision of physical infrastructure - specifically, roads, water and sanitation, and rural electrification - at the expense of education and health. Third, this sector prioritization is in part a dutiful response to the relatively greater citizen demands for physical infrastructure; in part a reflection of the local government electoral structure that gives primacy to village and neighborhood-specific issues, and in part a reaction to provincial initiatives in education and health that have taken the political space away from local governments in the social sectors, thereby encouraging them to focus more toward physical infrastructure. |
| Keywords: | E-Government,Public Sector Corruption&Anticorruption Measures,E-Government,Public Sector Economics&Finance,Transport Economics Policy&Planning |
| Date: | 2008–04–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:4610&r=cwa |
| By: | Athreye, Suma (UNU-MERIT, Brunel Business School, Brunel University); Godley, Andrew (Department of Management, University of Reading Business School) |
| Abstract: | Internationalisation is a useful strategy to gain firm specific advantages during periods of technological discontinuity. The pharmaceutical industry offers us two such episodes as examples: when the antibiotics revolution was beginning and when the possibilities of genetic routes to new drug discovery were realised. This paper compares the strategies adopted by laggard U.S. firms scrambling to gain capabilities in antibiotics, and Indian firms equally eager to acquire positions in new biotechnology based drugs and shows that both groups used internationalisation strategies to gain technological advantages and build up their firm specific advantages. |
| Keywords: | Technological leapfrogging, Internationalisation Strategies, Indian Pharmaceutical industry, Antibiotics revolution, US Pharmaceuticals |
| JEL: | F23 L22 L25 L65 N80 O33 |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:unumer:2008051&r=cwa |
| By: | Jennifer Hunt; Marjolaine Gauthier-Loiselle |
| Abstract: | We measure the extent to which skilled immigrants increase innovation in the United States by exploring individual patenting behavior as well as state-level determinants of patenting. The 2003 National Survey of College Graduates shows that immigrants patent at double the native rate, and that this is entirely accounted for by their disproportionately holding degrees in science and engineering. These data imply that a one percentage point rise in the share of immigrant college graduates in the population increases patents per capita by 6%. This could be an overestimate of immigration's benefit if immigrant inventors crowd out native inventors, or an underestimate if immigrants have positive spill-overs on inventors. Using a 1950-2000 state panel, we show that natives are not crowded out by immigrants, and that immigrants do have positive spill-overs, resulting in an increase in patents per capita of about 15% in response to a one percentage point increase in immigrant college graduates. We isolate the causal effect by instrumenting the change in the share of skilled immigrants in a state with the initial share of immigrant high school dropouts from Europe, China and India. In both data sets, the positive impacts of immigrant post-college graduates and scientists and engineers are larger than for immigrant college graduates. |
| JEL: | J61 O31 |
| Date: | 2008–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:14312&r=cwa |