|
on Central and Western Asia |
| By: | Wassmann, Reiner; Hosen, Yasukazu; Sumfleth, Kay |
| Abstract: | Rice is grown on more than 140 million hectares worldwide and is the most heavily consumed staple food on earth. Ninety percent of the world's rice is produced and consumed in Asia, and 90 percent of rice land is—at least temporarily—flooded. The unique semiaquatic nature of the rice plant allows it to grow productively in places no other crop could exist, but it is also the reason for its emissions of the major greenhouse gas (GHG), methane. Methane emissions from rice fields are determined mainly by water regime and organic inputs, but they are also influenced by soil type, weather, tillage management, residues, fertilizers, and rice cultivar. Flooding of the soil is a prerequisite for sustained emissions of methane. Recent assessments of methane emissions from irrigated rice cultivation estimate global emissions for the year 2000 at a level corresponding to 625 million metric tons (mt) of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e). Midseason drainage (a common irrigation practice adopted in major rice growing regions of China and Japan) and intermittent irrigation (common in northwest India) greatly reduce methane emissions. Similarly, rice environments with an insecure supply of water, namely rainfed rice, have a lower emission potential than irrigated rice. Organic inputs stimulate methane emissions as long as fields remain flooded. Therefore, organic inputs should be applied to aerobic soil in an effort to reduce methane emission. In addition to management factors, methane emissions are also affected by soil parameters and climate. |
| Keywords: | Climate change, rice, Agricultural research, |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:2020br:16(3)&r=cwa |
| By: | Mohammad Shafiqul Islam (Shahjalal University of Science & Technology (SUST)); Mohammad Woli Ullah (Shahjalal University of Science & Technology (SUST)) |
| Abstract: | Health is a basic requirement to improve the quality of life. A national economic and social development depends on the state of health. A large number of Bangladesh’s people, particularly in rural areas, remained with no or little access to health care facilities. The lack of participation in health service is a problem that has many dimensions and complexities. Education has a significant effect on participation in health services and administrative factors could play a significant role in increasing the people’s participation in Bangladesh’s health sector. But the present health policy is not people oriented. It mainly emphasizes the construction of Thana Health Complexes (THCs) and Union Health and Family Welfare Centers (UHFWCs) without giving much attention to their utilization and delivery services. The study reveals that financial and technical support is very helpful to ensure health service among village people. However, the Government allocates only 5 percent of the budget to the health sector, while it allocates 13 percent for defense. The paper shows that the Government’s allocation and technical support (medical equipments) are not sufficient in the rural health complex and that the people’s participation is far from being satisfactory. The paper concludes with a variety of recommendations. |
| Keywords: | Bangladesh, health, participation, rural health |
| Date: | 2009–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bnr:wpaper:7&r=cwa |
| By: | Cong S. Pham (Deakin University) |
| Abstract: | In an influential paper, Schott (2004) makes two empirical observations about U.S. imports. (1) The United States is increasingly sourcing the same product (however narrowly defined) from both developed and developing countries. That is, ‘across-product specialization’ has been decreasing. (2) The unit values of these multiple-sourced products are positively and significantly correlated with the capital and skill abundance of exporters and with the capital-labor ratios used by exporters. That is, endowments-driven ‘within-product specialization’ has been increasing. We show that both these observations extend to the imports of Brazil, India and Japan. However, our main finding is that observation (1) is largely driven by two factors. First, China is the dominant low-wage exporter of multiple-sourced products. Second, the most developed countries remain the primary exporters of multiple-sourced products. The U.S. case is the most extreme of our four importers: When China is deleted from the U.S. import data there is no trend in across-product specialization and rich exporters are increasing their trade share of multiple-sourced products. Since deleting China has no theoretical justification, these results must be viewed not as a contradiction of Schott’s work but as a way of deepening our understanding of his empirical results. |
| Keywords: | China, Heckscher-Ohlin Model, International Trade, Multiple Sourcing and Product Specialization |
| JEL: | F11 F2 |
| Date: | 2007–12–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dkn:econwp:eco_2007_14&r=cwa |
| By: | Hartmut Egger; Gabriel Felbermayr |
| Abstract: | In this paper we set up a simple theoretical framework to study the possible source country effects of skilled labor emigration. We show that for given technologies, labor market integration necessarily lowers GDP per capita in a poor source country of emigration, because it distorts the education decision of individuals. As pointed out by our analysis, a negative source country effect also materializes if all agents face identical emigration probabilities, irrespective of their education levels. This is in sharp contrast to the case of exogenous skill supply. Allowing for human capital spillovers, we further show that with social returns to schooling there may be a counteracting positive source country effect if the prospect of emigration stimulates the incentives to acquire education. Since, in general, the source country effects are not clear, we calibrate our model for four major source countries - Mexico, Turkey, Morocco, and the Philippines - and show that an increase in emigration rates beyond those observed in the year 2000 is very likely to lower GDP per capita in poor economies. |
| Keywords: | Emigration; endogenous skill formation; source country effects |
| JEL: | F22 J24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hoh:hohdip:308&r=cwa |
| By: | Gabriel Felbermayr; Benjamin Jung; Farid Toubal |
| Abstract: | Influential empirical work by Rauch and Trindade (REStat, 2002) finds that Chinese ethnic networks of the magnitude observed in Southeast Asia increase bilateral trade by at least 60%. We argue that this estimate is upward biased due to omitted variable bias. Moreover, it is partly related to a preference effect rather than to enforcement and/or the availability of information. Applying a theory-based gravity model to ethnicity data for 1980 and 1990, and focusing on pure network effects, we find that the Chinese network leads to a more modest amount of trade creation of about 15%. Using new data on bilateral stocks of migrants from the World Bank for the year of 2000, we extend the analysis to all potential ethnic networks. We find, i.a., evidence for a Polish, a Turkish, a Mexican, or an Indian network. While confirming the existence of a Chinese network, its trade creating potential is dwarfed by other ethnic networks. |
| Keywords: | Gravity model, international trade,network effects, international migration. regression |
| JEL: | F22 F12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hoh:hohdip:306&r=cwa |
| By: | Md. Joynal Abdin (Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI)) |
| Abstract: | One of the main economic reasons behind regional trade blocks is to allow their regional members to benefit from economic cooperation and comparative advantages. In 1980, Bangladesh had suggested a regional cooperative body of South Asian leaders, which then led to the establishment of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) in 1985, the adoption of the SAARC Preferential Trading Arrangement (SAPTA) in 1993, and the agreement on the South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) in 2004. This paper focuses on a review of the progress made with SAFTA, what Bangladesh’s prospects are in SAFTA, and how SAFTA can be made more active. It provides the historical background about the various initiatives within South Asia, reviews the actual trade data, and reviews the main trade restrictions within SAFTA. It also provides a set of recommendations based on this analysis. |
| Keywords: | Bangladesh, trade, SAFTA, regional trade blocks |
| Date: | 2009–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bnr:wpaper:6&r=cwa |
| By: | Seckin Sunal (Department of Economics, Yildiz Technical University) |
| Abstract: | Use of computable general equilibrium (CGE) models in analyzing development policies has long been a popular approach. The first models about economic policy issues of developing countries can be dated as far as 1960’s. Since then, a wide span of modelling techniques, model specifications and a variety of subjects have extensively been cherished by economists. In this study a comparison is made between development-oriented CGE models that have been built before and after 1990. The periodization is formed according to the differences observed in CGE models in terms of model specifications, modelling approaches, issues analyzed and techniques used. Due to limitations on accession to publications that belong to the period before 1990, data and findings from former surveys are utilized. Models that belong to the period after 1990 are selected by a random methed. A table that summarizes these models is given at the appendix. |
| Keywords: | Computable General Equilibrium Models, Developing Countries, Model Comparison |
| JEL: | C68 D58 O12 |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:yil:wpaper:0012&r=cwa |
| By: | Simon Teitel |
| Abstract: | Colombian manufacturing exporting firms survey results are analyzed highlighting innovation, promotion, and learning, as well as the influence of factors such as: size, ownership, output objectives, destination of exports, competition and pricing, export incentives, and firm configuration, in their export performance. |
| Keywords: | Manufacturing exports, learning, Colombia, export incentives, preferences, industrialization, import substitution, innovation, international trade, industrial organization. |
| JEL: | D21 D24 D40 F10 F13 L10 L52 O10 O14 O24 |
| Date: | 2008–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:icr:wpicer:23-2008&r=cwa |
| By: | Michael Landesmann (The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, wiiw); Robert Stehrer (The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, wiiw) |
| Abstract: | This paper focuses on the increasing role played by lower- and medium-income countries in the global economy. In particular we look at the role of outsourcing in the process of trade integration of these countries. Further we discuss the impact of these integration patterns upon labour markets with a focus on the position of different skill groups of workers. The paper provides descriptive evidence on the changes in trade patterns over the past decades, distinguishing between product types (primary, processed, parts and final goods) and the sectoral structure (i.e. industry groups according to skill intensity). The paper reveals that there is an upward pressure in the skill content of exports to the EU in particular from low- and medium-income economies. The observed changes in skill content and in the shares of imports by these economies particularly for processed inputs and parts production are interpreted in a catching-up framework combined with outsourcing: High-income countries lose market shares mainly in processed inputs and parts but less so in final goods. With respect to country groups, especially the new EU member states account for a higher share of imports in EU Northern economies together with the fact that these countries shifted their export structure towards parts. EU Southern countries are more strongly present in processed inputs whereas the Rest of the World countries tend to shift exports towards final goods imports. This confirms the hypothesis that geographic proximity is important for outsourcing activities. |
| Keywords: | international integration, outsourcing, labor market |
| JEL: | F14 F15 F16 |
| Date: | 2009–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wii:rpaper:rr:353&r=cwa |
| By: | Sheila Mammen (Department of Resource Economics, University of Massachusetts Amherst); Frances C. Lawrence (School of Human Ecology, Louisiana State University); Peter St. Marie (Department of Resource Economics, University of Massachusetts Amherst); Ann A. Berry (University of Tennessee Knoxville); Suzanne Enzian Knight (Family Resource Management, University of New Hampshire Durham) |
| Abstract: | The differences between rural low-income mothers who were participants and non-participants in the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) were examined. One-third of the 224 eligible mothers in a multi-state study did not claim the tax credit. Non-participants were more likely to be Hispanic, less educated, with larger families, borrowing money from family, and living in more rural counties. Participating mothers, on the other hand, were more food secure, perceived their household income as being adequate, reported recent improvements in their economic situation, were satisfied with life, and lived in states with a state EITC. Analysis of qualitative data revealed that rural mothers had many misconceptions about the EITC. These findings contribute to family and economic professionals’ understanding of why rural low-income families do not participate in the tax credit and assist in formulating policies and education/outreach efforts that would increase their participation |
| Keywords: | EITC non-participants, EITC participants, rural low-income mothers, state EITC, rural low-income families |
| JEL: | I38 J16 J18 |
| Date: | 2009–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dre:wpaper:2009-1&r=cwa |
| By: | Swallow, Brent M.; van Noordwijk, Meine |
| Abstract: | Many opportunities exist for mitigating greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions through better management of trees and soils. There is potential for both direct mitigation through better management of carbon in agricultural landscapes and indirect mitigation through reduced pressure on carbon stored in forests, peatlands, and wetlands. Effectively harnessing these opportunities will take bold action in climate change negotiations. |
| Keywords: | Climate change, |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:2020br:16(4)&r=cwa |