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on Central and Western Asia |
| By: | M. Niaz Asadullah; Uma Kambhampati; Florencia Lopez Boo |
| Abstract: | This study documents the size and nature of “boy-girl” and “Hindu-Muslim” gaps in children’s school participation and attainments in India. Individual-level data from two successive rounds of the National Sample Survey suggest that considerable progress has been made in decreasing the Hindu-Muslim gap. Nonetheless, the gap remains sizable even after controlling for numerous socioeconomic and parental covariates, and the Muslim educational disadvantage in India today is greater than that experienced by girls and Scheduled Caste Hindu children. A gender gap still appears within as well as between communities, though it is smaller within Muslim communities. While differences in gender and other demographic and socio-economic covariates have recently become more important in explaining the Hindu-Muslim gap, those differences altogether explain only 25 percent to 45 percent of the observed schooling gap. |
| Keywords: | gender inequality, India, religion, social disparity |
| JEL: | I21 J16 Z12 |
| Date: | 2009–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:idb:wpaper:4637&r=cwa |
| By: | Chin, Aimee (University of Houston); Prakash, Nishith (Dartmouth College) |
| Abstract: | We examine the impact of political reservation for disadvantaged minority groups on poverty. To address the concern that political reservation is endogenous in the relationship between poverty and reservation, we take advantage of the state-time variation in reservation in state legislative assemblies in India that arises from national policies that cause reservations to be revised and the time lags with which the revised reservations are implemented due to the timing of state elections. Using data on sixteen major Indian states for the period 1960-1992, we find that increasing the share of seats reserved for Scheduled Tribes significantly reduces poverty while increasing the share of seats reserved for Scheduled Castes has no impact on poverty. Political reservation for Scheduled Tribes has a greater effect on rural poverty than urban poverty, and appears to benefit people near the poverty line as well as those far below it. |
| Keywords: | affirmative action, poverty, minorities, India |
| JEL: | I38 J15 J78 |
| Date: | 2009–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4391&r=cwa |
| By: | Prakash, Nishith (Dartmouth College) |
| Abstract: | The world's biggest and arguably most aggressive form of employment based affirmative action policy for minorities exists in India. This paper exploits the institutional features of federally mandated employment quota policy to examine its effect on labor market outcomes of two distinct minority groups. My main finding is that employment quota significantly in- creases the probability of acquiring a salaried job for one minority group and not the other. Their improved employment outcome is also reflected in their higher household consumption expenditure. Overall, the effects vary within each minority group by education, gender, and geographical location. |
| Keywords: | caste, employment, wage differentials, public sector, India |
| JEL: | H40 J21 J31 J45 O10 |
| Date: | 2009–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4386&r=cwa |
| By: | Gaurav Nayyar |
| Abstract: | For some observers, the dramatic growth of the services sector in India reflects rapid strides made by educated professionals. Some others see it as the expansion of an employer of last resort. Given this heterogeneity, the object of the paper is to analyze the nature of employment being created in the different sub-sectors of services, relative to the industrial sector. The nature of employment is defined to include educational requirements and quality, where the latter comprises wages, job security and social protection. Using different econometric models to analyse household survey data from India in 1993-94 and 2004-05, we find the following. First, sub-sectors of services are generally either ‘good’ or ‘bad’ employers. Second, service sub-sectors with low educational requirements have low overall quality of employment, and vice-versa. Moreover, employment expansion appears to be more in sub-sectors where educational requirements and quality of employment is low. |
| Keywords: | Services, India, Employment, Educational requirements, Wages, Contracts |
| JEL: | C21 C25 L80 O12 J30 |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oxf:wpaper:452&r=cwa |
| By: | Gaurav Nayyar |
| Abstract: | India’s development experience over the past fifty years suggests that the increasing importance of the services sector deserves analysis. The literature on structural change has emphasised changing patterns of demand as an explanation for the increasing importance of the services sector. In order to establish the significance of private final demand as an explanation for the increasing importance of the services sector in India, this paper estimates Engel curve-type relationships for six categories of services: education, health, entertainment, personal, communication and transport. In doing so, it uses Tobit and censored quantile regressions to analyse household survey data in 1993-94 and 2004-05. We find upward sloping Engel curves which implies that there is a consistent increase in the household budget share allocated to services in the aggregate and to each individual services category as total household expenditure increases. This is a powerful explanation for the increasing share of the services sector. |
| Keywords: | Services, India, Demand, Engel curves, Luxuries, Household survey data |
| JEL: | C01 C21 C24 D12 O12 |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oxf:wpaper:450&r=cwa |
| By: | Zafar, Sohail; Ahmed, Vaqar |
| Abstract: | This study investigates the external economies of scale in the manufacturing sector of Pakistan. The Return to scale is a property of the production function that indicates the relationship between proportionate change, in all inputs and resulting change in output. Returns to scale are applicable only in the long run, since all inputs are being changed. The estimated value of the coefficient of returns to scale at aggregate level is 1.017. It means that one percentage point change in all input quantities results in 1.017 percent change in output. It turns out that manufacturing sector of Pakistan is characterized by almost constant returns to scale at aggregates and disaggregate level. |
| Keywords: | Economies of Scale; Distortion; Efficiency; Pakistan; |
| JEL: | E23 R32 D51 |
| Date: | 2009–10–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:17665&r=cwa |
| By: | Erkan Erdil (TEKPOL-STPS, Science and Technology Policy Studies, Middle East Technical University); Cédric Gossart (Institut TELECOM, TELECOM & Management SudParis, ETOS/CEMANTIC) |
| Abstract: | This paper presents the results of a study investigating how sustainable development can be integrated in Turkish science and technology policies. It contributes to the elaboration of the national sustainable development strategy and to the implementation of the EU acquis. The project’s originality for Turkey lies in its methodology (a participatory approach), and in its topic since sustainable development integration has never been dealt with in Turkey. Suggestions to improve this integration include strengthening the links between S&T institutions by entrusting the State Planning Organisation with the sustainable development integration mission, and raising awareness about its win-win advantages. |
| Keywords: | Science and technology policy, Sustainable development integration, Participatory public policy, Environment, Turkey |
| Date: | 2009–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:met:stpswp:0901&r=cwa |
| By: | Ang, James |
| Abstract: | Abstract The main objective of this paper is to explore the impact of financial sector reforms, financial deepening and intellectual property protection on the accumulation of knowledge for one of the world’s largest developing countries. The findings indicate that increased intellectual property rights protection is associated with higher knowledge accumulation. While financial deepening facilitates the accumulation of ideas, the implementation of a series of financial liberalization policies is found to have a non-linear effect. The results show that financial liberalization will exert a beneficial impact on technological deepening only if the financial system is sufficiently liberalized. |
| Keywords: | financial liberalization; ideas production; endogenous growth; India. |
| JEL: | O30 E58 O53 E44 |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:17656&r=cwa |
| By: | Prema-chandra Athukorala; Hal Hill |
| Abstract: | This paper offers an analytical interpretation of Asian trade patterns since the late 1960s, in the context of three general, conditioning factors: rapid growth and structural change, host country commercial policy environments, and institutional and technological factors governing global trade and investment patterns. Highlighting the diversity of trade structures and export performance across Asia, the paper documents the successive waves of policy reforms leading to the adoption of export-oriented strategies first in Japan and the four NIEs, then the ASEAN Four, followed by China and the Indo China states, and most recently India. Particular attention is paid to the rapidly growing phenomenon of ‘international production fragmentation’, that is, the geographic separation of activities involved in producing a good (or service) across two or more countries, and its implications for both the analysis of trade flows and trade policy. Our analysis of China’s rise as a global trading giant demonstrates that the alleged fears of China ‘crowding out’ small, latecomer exporters are overstated, as is the associated notion of ‘export pessimism’. Finally, notwithstanding India’s recent rapid growth, the comparative analysis highlights the small scale of its international trade, as compared to East Asia in general and China in particular. |
| Keywords: | Asia, China, India, trade patterns, production fragmentation |
| JEL: | F10 F11 O24 |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pas:papers:2009-12&r=cwa |
| By: | Alejandro Simone; Petia Topalova |
| Abstract: | This paper examines India's experience with fiscal rules with a view to inform the design of a possible successor fiscal framework to the FRBMA. Among several proposals to strengthen the FRBMA, a framework that focuses medium-term fiscal policy on debt sustainability by the use of a medium term debt target, and annual nominal expenditure growth rules is proposed. This approach tackles the deficit bias at its core and enables countercyclical fiscal policy through automatic stabilizers. Numerical targets should be supported by structural reform measures for both revenues and expenditures, while the coverage of the fiscal rules should be expanded. |
| Keywords: | Debt sustainability , Fiscal management , Fiscal policy , Fiscal reforms , Fiscal sustainability , India , Public debt , |
| Date: | 2009–08–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:imf:imfwpa:09/175&r=cwa |
| By: | Sungu Armagan (College of Business Administration - Florida International University); Manuel Portugal Ferreira (Instituto Politécnico de Leiria); Gerardo A. Okhuysen (University of Utah); Adam D. Galinsky (Kellogg School of Management - Northwestern University) |
| Abstract: | The current research explores the impact of power on temporal commitment preference (an individual?s preference for shorter or longer time durations for agreements in decision making situations) across three countries: Portugal, Turkey, and the United States. A pilot study (N = 356) established cultural differences in uncertainty avoidance, which was expected to impact choices and behaviors involving power and temporality. The main study (N = 433) investigated the relationship between power and temporal commitment preference. Across all countries, high power individuals preferred shorter temporal commitments than low power individuals. In addition, the U.S. participants preferred longer temporal commitments than either the Portuguese or Turkish participants. We argue that differences in uncertainty avoidance help explain some of the differences in individuals? temporal commitment preferences across diverse cultural settings. Implications for practice and future directions are also discussed. |
| Keywords: | Power, Time, National culture, Uncertainty avoidance |
| JEL: | M0 M1 |
| Date: | 2009–09–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pil:wpaper:42&r=cwa |
| By: | Mishra, SK |
| Abstract: | After the notification of the University Grants Commission (Minimum Qualifications for Appointment of Teachers and other Academic Staff in Universities and Colleges and Measures for the Maintenance of Standards in Higher Education) Regulations, 2009 on September 23rd 2009, publication of research papers/articles in reputed journals has become an important factor in assessment of the academic performance of teachers in colleges and universities in India. One of the measures of reputation and academic standard (rank or importance) of a journal is the so-called ‘Impact Factor.’ This study makes a detailed analysis of Journal Impact Factors across the disciplines. It finds that if journal impact factor is used to assess the academic performance of individuals (for the purpose of selection, promotion, etc) and it is not borne in mind that due to vast differences in the nature of distribution of impact factors across the disciplines they are not justifiably comparable, a below average scholar in the one discipline (wherein the journal impact factor is negatively skewed) will rank higher and will be honored (and benefitted) more than another scholar in some other discipline (wherein the journal impact factor is positively skewed). It may be noted that in the university departments there are specializations with low impact factor journals and other specializations with very high impact factor journals. But the teachers/researchers of different specializations in the departments compete with each other for promotion. Whether the researchers with an unfortunate specialization (wherein the journal impact factor is positively skewed) receive justice on such criteria remains an open question. |
| Keywords: | Journal impact factor; University Grants Commission; regulation; India; UGC; Higher education; academic performance indicator; API; skewness |
| JEL: | A23 I23 I28 M51 |
| Date: | 2009–10–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:17712&r=cwa |
| By: | Douglas Almond; Lena Edlund; Kevin Milligan |
| Abstract: | Sex ratios at birth are above the biologically normal level in a number of Asian countries, notably India and China. Standard explanations include poverty and a cultural emphasis on male offspring. We study Asian immigrants to Canada using Census data, focussing on sex ratios across generations and religious groups. We find sex ratios to be normal at first parity, but rising with parity if there were no previous son. Since these immigrants are neither poor nor live in a society tolerant of sex discrimination/sex selection, our findings are more consistent with a preference for sons per se (and not for sons as a means to, e.g., old age support). Additionally, we uncover strong differences by religious affiliation that align with historical differences in doctrine concerning infanticide. Comparing across generations of Asian immigrants, we find fertility responds strongly to the sex composition of older children for first generation families. For the second generation, expression of son preference through the fertility channel is muted whereas sex selection seems to persist. |
| JEL: | F22 J13 J61 Z12 |
| Date: | 2009–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:15391&r=cwa |
| By: | Tausch, Arno (University of Innsbruck); Heshmati, Almas (Seoul National University) |
| Abstract: | This article analyses IMF estimates of economic growth in 180 countries (IMF, 2009), and inks the results to the "Re-orient" approach, put forward by Frank, 1998. With global economic gravitation shifting to the Indian Ocean/Pacific region, the article also analyses the role of MNC (foreign capital) penetration as the key variable of past quantitative dependency studies for contemporary economic growth and social performance. In a Schumpeterian fashion, MNC penetration reflects the power, which transnational oligopolies wield over local economies. Today, social polarization and stagnation increase as a consequence of the development model, based on high MNC penetration. |
| Keywords: | international relations and international political economy, economic development, technological change, growth |
| JEL: | F50 O10 |
| Date: | 2009–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4393&r=cwa |
| By: | Onour, Ibrahim |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates estimation of extreme risk in a number of stock markets in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries , Saudi, Kuwait, and United Arab Emirates, in addition to S& P 500 stock index, using the Generalized Pareto Distribution (GPD) model. The estimated tails parameter values for stock returns of Kuwait, Saudi, and Dubai, markets show the likelihood of significant extreme losses as well as significant extreme gains, compared to the case of more mature S&P 500 stock returns, which exhibit possibility of significant extreme losses with insignificant gain prospects. |
| Keywords: | VaR;Expected shortfall; risk;GCC stock markets |
| JEL: | C50 E00 E44 |
| Date: | 2009–06–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:17736&r=cwa |
| By: | Jelena Pavlovic; Joshua Charap |
| Abstract: | Lending practices of commercial banks in Afghanistan were analyzed using CAMEL ratings. Statistically significant correlations were found: Banks with worse ratings (a) had more lending to domestic clients and (b) paid less tax. There was no statistically significant relationship between profits and total assets or between lending/assets versus profit/assets. Interviews of senior management of 8 banks accounting for about 90 percent of the commercial banking system corroborated evidence that poorly rated banks lend to domestic clients, whereas highly rated banks do not lend. Banks that lend extensively domestically engage in extra-judicial, non-traditional contract enforcement. |
| Keywords: | Afghanistan, Islamic Republic of , Banking , Banking sector , Commercial banks , Emerging markets , Financial sector , Loans , Profits , |
| Date: | 2009–07–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:imf:imfwpa:09/150&r=cwa |
| By: | Macunovich, Diane (University of Redlands) |
| Abstract: | There are significant effects of changing demographics on economic indicators: growth in GDP especially, but also the current account balance and gross capital formation. The 15-24 age group appears to be one of the key age groups in these effects, with increases in that age group exerting strong positive effects on GDP growth, and negative effects on the CAB and GCF. There have been major shifts in the share of the population aged 15-24 during the past half century or more, many of which correspond closely to periods of institutional turmoil. The hypothesis presented in this paper is that increases in the share of the 15-24 age group lead producers to ratchet up their production expectations and take out loans to expand production capacity; but then reductions in that share – or even declining rates of increase – confound these expectations and precipitate a downward spiral of missed loan payments and even defaults and bankruptcies, putting pressure on central banks and causing foreign investors to withdraw funds and speculators to unload the local currency. This appears to have been the pattern not only during the 1996-98 crisis with the Asian Tigers, but also during the "Tequila" crisis of the early 1990s, the crises that occurred in the early 1980s among developed as well as developing nations, and the economic problems Japan has experienced since about 1990. The effect appears to be even more pronounced for the current 2008-2009 period. |
| Keywords: | age structure, currency crisis, demographic change, financial crisis |
| JEL: | J1 E3 F3 F4 |
| Date: | 2009–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4436&r=cwa |
| By: | Samar Maziad |
| Abstract: | The Central Bank of Jordan (CBJ) and its operational independence changed over time in line with the evolution of the monetary policy framework and as a result of the currency crisis in the late 1980s. The paper examines the developments of the CBJ, its independence in conducting monetary policy and the various instruments at its disposal, with special focus on the certificates of deposit (CDs) market, the main monetary policy instrument, and the treasury bill market. The paper also examines the issue of the autonomy of monetary policy in Jordan given the influence of world interest rates. Although, Jordan operates an exchange rate peg, which has been fixed to the USD since 1995, there is some room for flexibility in operating monetary policy in the short-run, where the CBJ has some autonomy in determining the spread between domestic and US interest rates. VAR and VECM results suggest that the response of the policy rate in Jordan to innovations in the US Federal Fund's rate is less than one-for-one. In the short-run, the CBJ appears to conduct monetary policy in response to domestic inflation and a measure of the domestic output gap. |
| Keywords: | Central bank autonomy , Central bank role , Central banks , Economic models , Exchange rate regimes , Jordan , Monetary policy , Monetary policy instruments , |
| Date: | 2009–09–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:imf:imfwpa:09/191&r=cwa |