|
on Development |
| By: | Olivier Bargain (University College Dublin); Prudence Kwenda (University College Dublin) |
| Abstract: | This paper provides new evidence on the wage gap between informal and formal salary workers in South Africa, Brazil and Mexico. We use rich datasets that allow us to define informality in a relatively comparable fashion across countries. We compute precise wage differentials by accounting for taxes paid in the formal sector. For each country, we analyze how the sectoral wage gap varies within groups, between groups and over time. To account for unobserved heterogeneity, we use large (unbalanced) panels to estimate fixed effects models at the mean and at di¤erent points of the wage distribution. We find that unobserved heterogeneity explains a large part of the (conditional) wage gap. The remaining informal sector wage penalty is large in the lower part of the distribution but almost disappears at the top. The penalty primarily concerns young workers and is found to be procyclical. We carefully investigate the robustness of these results and discuss their policy implications as well as regularities across countries. |
| Keywords: | wage gap, informal sector, quantile regression, fixed effects model, selection |
| JEL: | J21 J23 J24 J31 C14 O17 |
| Date: | 2009–05–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ucn:wpaper:200905&r=dev |
| By: | Andrew Hodge; Sriram Shankar; D.S. Prasada Rao; Alan Duhs (School of Economics, The University of Queensland) |
| Abstract: | Corruption is a widespread phenomenon, but relatively little is confidently known about its macroeconomic consequences. This paper explicitly models the transmission channels through which corruption indirectly affects growth. Results suggest that corruption hinders growth through its adverse effects on investment in physical capital, human capital, and political instability. Concurrently, corruption is found to foster growth by reducing government consumption and, less robustly, increasing trade openness. Overall, a total negative effect of corruption on growth is estimated from these channels. These effects are found to be robust to modifications in model specification, sample coverage, and estimation techniques as well as tests for model exhaustiveness. Moreover, the results appear supportive of the notion that the negative effect of corruption on growth is diminished in economies with low governance levels or a high degree of regulation. No one-size-fits-all policy response appears supportable. |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qld:uq2004:392&r=dev |
| By: | Valentina Calderón (Harris School of Public Policy, University of Chicago); Ana María Ibáñez (Department of Economics, Universidad de los Andes) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the labor market effects of migration-related supply shocks. We exploit forced migration caused by the Colombian conflict as a natural experiment to examine the impact of exogenous labor supply shifts on labor outcomes. While migration flows are exogenously produced by conflict dynamics, location decisions might be positively correlated with demand shocks. An instrumental variables strategy allows us to correct for the possible attenuation bias generated by internally displaced populations locating in dynamic labor markets. Our results suggest that these immigration flows produce large negative impacts on the wages and employment opportunities of all workers, and are particularly large for low skill workers. |
| Keywords: | Migration, Labor Markets, Developing Countries |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mcn:rwpapr:14&r=dev |
| By: | Stephen Dobson; Carlyn Ramlogan |
| Abstract: | Conventional economic thinking says corruption and income inequality are positively related. In contrast, this study finds that lower corruption is associated with higher income inequality. The finding of a trade-off is not unexpected in the context of Latin America, for two reasons. First, Latin America has a large informal sector and corruption-reducing polices impose a transaction cost on this sector whose members are among the poorest. Second, redistributive measures, promoted by corrupt elements in society, are often cut back with institutional reform and this serves to worsen inequality. The results imply that corruption-reducing policies aimed at lowering inequality may be misguided. |
| Keywords: | corruption, Latin America, income inequality, instrumental variables, panel data. |
| JEL: | O15 O54 |
| Date: | 2009–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbs:wpaper:2009/4&r=dev |
| By: | Servaas van der Berg (Department of Economics, University of Stellenbosch) |
| Abstract: | This paper presents the findings of a study undertaken for the South African National Treasury regarding the expenditure incidence of social spending in South Africa in 2006, and also regarding changes in incidence in the period following democratisation. Concentration ratios and concentration curves show that there have been considerable shifts in social spending incidence in the period 1995 (the year after democracy) and 2006, the most recent observation. In particular, social spending grants have become a major tool of targeting resources to the poor. Although the poor now get considerably more of social spending than their population share, the very skew underlying income distribution means that the post-fiscal situation still is one with great inequality. Moreover, evidence is presented that spending efficiency for social spending is low, thus there is only a tenuous link between social spending and social outcomes. Thus great shifts in social spending have had a limited impact on poverty and inequality in South Africa. |
| Keywords: | Fiscal incidence, Social spending, Poverty, Inequality, South Africa |
| JEL: | H50 D63 I31 I32 |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sza:wpaper:wpapers82&r=dev |
| By: | Pierre de Villiers (Department of Economics, University of Stellenbosch) |
| Abstract: | In this analysis the expenditure (subsidy) on higher education institutions (HEIs) in South Africa is compared for 2000 and 2006. The analysis was done with headcounts of students as well as with full-time equivalent student numbers. A second method was followed where a distinction was made between the number of students enrolled in the social sciences and those enrolled in the natural sciences. It is found that Subsidies of the African, coloured and Indian students in general deteriorated slightly compared to the subsidy levels of whites. However, with the calculations for contact full-time equivalent students according to field of study it was found that either the other racial groups’ relative situation improved over time or they received higher subsidies than the white group. |
| Keywords: | Government subsidies, National government expenditure, Education |
| JEL: | H2 H5 I2 |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sza:wpaper:wpapers85&r=dev |
| By: | Araújo, Bruno Cesar (affiliation not available); Bogliacino, Francesco (Universidad EAFIT); Vivarelli, Marco (Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore) |
| Abstract: | Brazil was characterised by a marked process of trade liberalisation in the 1990s, resulting in a dramatic increase in the volumes of exports and imports since the year 2000. Over the same period, the relative demand for skilled labour has increased substantially. To investigate whether these two simultaneous phenomena are linked is the purpose of this paper. More in particular, this study focuses on the impact of trade openness and technology transfer on the relative demand for skilled labour in Brazilian manufacturing firms, using a unique panel database (resulting from merging three different statistical sources) of Brazilian manufacturing firms over the period 1997-2005. Descriptive statistics show that the increase in the relative demand for skilled labour was mainly driven by the within-industry variation, supporting the hypothesis that technology (and in particular technological transfer from richer countries) may have played a role in determining the skill-upgrading of Brazilian manufacturing firms. The econometric results further support this hypothesis. Indeed, the estimations show that domestic capital is a complement of the skilled workers and that imported capital goods clearly act as a skill-enhancing component of trade. Hence, our results support the view that embodied technological change through the importation of capital goods has involved a clear skill-biased impact in Brazilian manufacturing. |
| Keywords: | skill-enhancing trade, skill-bias, panel data, Brazil |
| JEL: | O33 O54 F16 |
| Date: | 2009–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4213&r=dev |
| By: | Chen, Yuanyuan (Shanghai University of Finance and Economics); Feng, Shuaizhang (Princeton University) |
| Abstract: | Using nationally representative data in China, we find substantial positive partial correlations of both parents' education with one's wage. In addition, returns to father's education are higher in more monopsonistic and less meritocratic labor markets, including non-coastal regions, the state-owned sector, and the early periods of the reform era. The opposite is, however, true with respect to mother's education. Overall, the empirical evidence is consistent with the story that father's education mainly indicates family connections useful for locating a better-paying first job, while mother's education primarily captures unmeasured ability. |
| Keywords: | parental education, wages, family connections, unmeasured ability |
| JEL: | J30 J62 |
| Date: | 2009–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4218&r=dev |
| By: | Rovelli, Riccardo (University of Bologna); Zaiceva, Anzelika (IZA and University of Bologna) |
| Abstract: | The transition process has had different distributional impacts across different interest groups and countries. These have led to differences in the support for transition. In this paper, we study support attitudes for both the economic and political transition using data from the New Barometer Surveys for 14 transition economies from 1991 to 2004. We document that the overall support is low and heterogeneous across countries and individuals. Support attitudes are lower among the old, less skilled, unemployed, poor, and those living in the CIS countries. There seems to be an increasing trend in the support for the economic transition in most countries. Our findings are robust to changes in the definition and measurement of the dependent variable. We also find evidence that transition-related hardship, opinions on the speed of reforms, political preferences and preferences towards redistribution, ideology and social capital matter. Finally, we show that individual preferences for secure jobs, the role of state and trust in politicians as well as better institutions, in particular, the quality of governance, seem to contribute mostly to explaining the lower levels of the support in the CIS countries. |
| Keywords: | political economy, transition, subjective attitudes |
| JEL: | O57 A13 P26 P36 |
| Date: | 2009–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4224&r=dev |
| By: | David Roodman; Jonathan Morduch |
| Abstract: | The most-noted studies on the impact of microcredit on households are based on a survey fielded in Bangladesh in the 1990s. Contradictions among them have produced lasting controversy and confusion. Pitt and Khandker (PK, 1998) apply a quasi-experimental design to 1991–92 data; they conclude that microcredit raises household consumption, especially when lent to women. Khandker (2005) applies panel methods using a 1999 resurvey; he concurs and extrapolates to conclude that microcredit helps the extremely poor even more than the moderately poor. But using simpler estimators than PK, Morduch (1999) finds no impact on the level of consumption in the 1991–92 data, even as he questions PK’s identifying assumptions. He does find evidence that microcredit reduces consumption volatility. Partly because of the sophistication of PK’s Maximum Likelihood estimator, the conflicting results were never directly confronted and reconciled. We end the impasse. A replication exercise shows that all these studies’ evidence for impact is weak. As for PK’s headline results, we obtain opposite signs. But we do not conclude that lending to women does harm. Rather, all three studies appear to fail in expunging endogeneity. We conclude that for non-experimental methods to retain a place in the program evaluator’s portfolio, the quality of the claimed natural experiments must be high and demonstrated. |
| Keywords: | microcredit; impact evaluation; Grameen Bank; Bangladesh; replication; mixed-process models |
| JEL: | C21 C23 C24 C25 O12 O16 |
| Date: | 2009–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cgd:wpaper:174&r=dev |
| By: | Bergh, Andreas (Department of Economics, Lund University); Nilsson, Therese (Department of Economics, Lund University) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the relation between three dimensions of globalization (economic, social and political) and life expectancy using a panel of 92 countries over the period 1970-2005. Using different estimation techniques and sample groupings we find a very robust positive effect from economic globalization on life expectancy, even when controlling for income, nutritional intake, literacy, number of physicians and several other factors. The result also holds when the sample is restricted to low income countries only. For political and social globalization we find no robust effects. |
| Keywords: | Globalization; health; life expectancy; development |
| JEL: | F02 H51 I10 |
| Date: | 2009–06–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:lunewp:2009_009&r=dev |
| By: | Jonasson, Erik (Department of Economics, Lund University) |
| Abstract: | Informal economic activity across countries has been studied thoroughly in the empirical literature, but little research addresses sources of variation in informality on the sub-national level. This paper analyzes reasons for regional variation in informal employment. It develops a theoretical model, which predicts that worker skill endowment, quality of local governance, and social norms are important determinants of the degree of informal employment in a city. The empirical application draws on data from Brazil, where 45 percent of the urban labor force are employed informally. The degree of such employment, however, varies substantially across regions, with some cities having 20 percent or less informal employment and others having 80 percent or more. The empirical evaluation supports the predictions of the model and shows that informal employment is lower in regions with better governance and stronger social norms for compliance with tax and labor regulation. The analysis also supports the notion of a "skill threshold" for successful entry into the formal sector. Endogeneity concerns are raised and assessed along with other robustness checks of the empirical results. |
| Keywords: | informal employment; social norms; government effectiveness; Latin America; Brazil |
| JEL: | J21 J24 O17 R23 |
| Date: | 2009–04–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:lunewp:2009_010&r=dev |
| By: | Berggren, Niclas (The Ratio Institute); Bergh, Andreas (Department of Economics, Lund University); Bjørnskov, Christian (Aarhus School of Business) |
| Abstract: | Both institutional quality and institutional stability have been argued to stimulate economic growth. But to improve institutional quality, a country must endure a period of institutional change, which implies at least a little and possibly a lot of institutional instability. We investigate the growth effects of institutional quality and instability, using the political risk index from the ICRG in a cross-country study of 132 countries, measuring instability as the coefficient of variation. Using the aggregate index, we find evidence that institutional quality is positively linked to growth. While institutional instability is negatively related to growth in the baseline case, there are indications that the effect can be positive in rich countries, suggesting that institutional reform is not necessarily costly even during a transition period. Sensitivity analysis, e.g., decomposing the political risk index by using both its constituting components and the results of a principal components analysis, using other measures of institutional quality and excluding outliers, confirm the general results, with qualifications. |
| Keywords: | Institutions; Instability; Growth; Transaction costs; Uncertainty |
| JEL: | B52 D80 O11 O17 O43 |
| Date: | 2009–06–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:lunewp:2009_008&r=dev |
| By: | Gerhard Glomm (Department of Economics, Indiana University, Bloomington); Juergen Jung (Department of Economics, Towson University); Changmin Lee (Department of Economics, Indiana University, Bloomington); Chung Tran (School of Economics, University of New South Wales) |
| Abstract: | In many emerging economies pension programs of public sector workers are more generous than pension programs of private sector workers. In this paper we investigate public pension reforms that improve efficiency and welfare by reallocating government resources from non-productive public pensions to productive public education and infrastructure investments. We argue that the opportunity costs of running generous public pension schemes for civil servants are potentially large in emerging economies that often suffer from low public investments in education and infrastructure. In addition, we quantitfy the savings distortions as well as the tax distortions from running a generous public pension program. Calculating transitions to the post-reform steady state, we find that welfare losses for the generation born before the reform are offset by welfare gains by the generations born after the reform. |
| Keywords: | Social Security Reform; Generous Public Sector Pensions; Capital Accumulation; Public Education and Infrastructure Investments |
| JEL: | E62 H41 H55 |
| Date: | 2009–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:swe:wpaper:2009-10&r=dev |
| By: | B L Kumar |
| Abstract: | The introduction of the Target Free Approach (TFA) has been a major policy shift in the health and family welfare programme of India. This study reviewed the process of change in the implementation of new policy and its impact on the quality of health care and reproductive and child health services. In this study both quantitative as well as qualitative data were collected and analysed, which included Focus Group Discussions of users and providers of health and family welfare services. [WP No. 143]. |
| Keywords: | health, family welfare, India, care, reproductive, quantitative, qualitative, data, family welfare, Target free approach, gujarat, policy, fertility, demographers, research methodology |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ess:wpaper:id:2074&r=dev |
| By: | Hippu Salk Kristle Nathan |
| Abstract: | The popularly known Human Development Index (HDI) is obtained through linear averaging (LA) of indices in three dimensions- health, education and standard of living. This paper questions the appropriateness of LA method and proposes an alternative measure, which is the inverse of the Euclidian distance from the ideal, known as Displaced Ideal (DI) method. The paper shows the advantages of the DI method. The authors strongly propose that the DI method be considered over the LA method in the construction of HDI. [IGIDR WP no. 2008-001] |
| Keywords: | human development index (HDI); linear averaging(LA) method; displaced ideal (DI) method; Euclidian distance; ideal point; uniform development . |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ess:wpaper:id:2069&r=dev |
| By: | Mehtabul Azam |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the differences in welfare, as measured by per capita expenditure (PCE), between social groups in rural India across the entire welfare distribution. The paper establishes that the disadvantage suffered by two historically disadvantaged groups – Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) – is underestimated when the comparison group is Non-SCs/STs rather than general category (mostly higher castes). The ST households are the most disadvantaged followed by the SC and the Other Backward Caste households with respect to general category households, and the disadvantage exists across the entire distribution. Better covariates and better returns to those covariates contribute to the advantage of the general category households. The findings suggest that the policies to raise the human capital and strengthening the other productive assets of the SC and the ST households must remain a focus of attention besides promoting a more active labor market in rural India.[IZA DP No. 3973] |
| Keywords: | India; social groups; inequality; quantile regression decomposit |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ess:wpaper:id:2047&r=dev |
| By: | R.Kavita Rao |
| Abstract: | The paper contours of a feasible design of VAT in India. It also takes on board the various alternatives proposed. It looks at the issues that need resolution and the options available for resolving the same and provides estimates of the rates of tax that would ensure that the regime is revenue neutral. It also illustrates the differential impact across states, under one configuration and works with the assumption that there is only one rate of tax under the new regime. [NIPFP WP No. 57] |
| Keywords: | goods and services tax; India; Indirect tax; VAT; empowered committee; State Finance Ministers; environmental issues; non-rebatable excises; inter-state transactions; tax evasion; TINXSYS; C-form; transport; intra-community transport of goods; ancillary services; taxpayers; Revenue Neutral Rates; tobacco products; multi - utility vehicles; electrical duty; entertainment tax; Private Final Consumption Expenditure; GDP; Estimates; Consumption expenditure; Excisable Goods; CenVAT; Union Government. |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ess:wpaper:id:2055&r=dev |
| By: | Sarah Edwards |
| Abstract: | This report is intended as a wake-up call to anyone who thinks the developing world debt crisis has been resolved. In fact, it assesses fears of a new debt crisis, more serious than before, spreading to nearly 40 countries. 38 of the 43 countries that the World Bank calculates are most vulnerable to the economic crisis already required substantial debt cancellation before the current crisis, in order to meet the needs of their people. As their situation considerably worsens, many more countries could join them. The solution lies in far-reaching reforms of the global economy which would ensure more responsible, sustainable and just lending whilst also reducing the dependence of developing countries on international capital |
| Keywords: | international debt, international capital, global economy, global economic reforms, World Bank, developing country debt, IMF, International Monetary Fund, international finance, Economics |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ess:wpaper:id:2044&r=dev |
| By: | Renu Addlakha |
| Abstract: | Throughout the ages the disabled have been looked down upon with disdain, almost as if they were sub-human. While today there is a general recognition of the need to enhance educational and employment opportunities for persons with disabilities in order to promote economic self-reliance and independent living, their sexual needs, dreams and aspirations are more or less rendered invisible. Sexual and reproductive rights are considered irrelevant for persons with disabilities in India. Using qualitative data, this paper discusses notions of sexual identity among urban Indian youth through case studies of college students in Delhi. Gender emerges as a key analytical category in perceptions of sexuality among young men and women with visual and locomotor disabilities. The paper does not make claims to capturing the complex reality of ‘disabled sexuality’ in India, but highlights some key issues in a hither-to largely under-researched domain. [CWDS] |
| Keywords: | Gender Subjectivity; Sexual Identity; disability; sexuality; dependence |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ess:wpaper:id:2075&r=dev |
| By: | Sunny Jose |
| Abstract: | The paper is an attempt to review critically the association between women’s paid work and empowerment in India. As a prelude, the author seek to assess the extent of women’s participation in paid work during the last three decades (section two), and offer a glimpse into the nature and quality of women’s work in India (section three). A discussion on the probable causes underlying women’s participation in paid work becomes necessary (section four) so as to assess and contextualise the empowering potentials of women’s paid work (section five). An attempt will also be made to reflect on the issues arising from the assessment with a view to suggest, if necessary, possible directions for further work (section six).[CWDS OP] |
| Keywords: | Women’s Paid Work; empowerment; India; economic activities; NSSO; workforce; urban; NREP; TRSEM: JRY; RLEGP; EAS |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ess:wpaper:id:2064&r=dev |
| By: | Bardasi, Elena; Wodon, Quentin |
| Abstract: | This paper provides a new definition of'time poverty'as working long hours and having no choice to do otherwise. An individual is time poor if he/she is working long hours and is also monetary poor, or would fall into monetary poverty if he/she were to reduce his/her working hours below a given time poverty line. Thus being time poor results from the combination of two conditions. First, the individual does not have enough time for rest and leisure once all working hours (whether spent in the labor market or doing household chores such as cooking, and fetching water and wood) are accounted for. Second, the individual cannot reduce his/her working time without either increasing the level of poverty of his/her household (if the household is already poor) or leading his/her household to fall into monetary poverty due to the loss in income or consumption associated with the reduction in working time (if the household is not originally poor). The paper applies the concepts of the traditional poverty literature to the analysis of time poverty and presents a case study using data for Guinea in 2002-03. Both univariate and multivariate results suggest that women are significantly more likely to be time poor than men. |
| Keywords: | Rural Poverty Reduction,Population Policies,Achieving Shared Growth,Scientific Research&Science Parks |
| Date: | 2009–06–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:4961&r=dev |
| By: | Okuyama, Yasuhide; Sahin, Sebnem |
| Abstract: | This paper aims to estimate the global aggregate of disaster impacts during 1960 to 2007 using Social Accounting Matrix (SAM) methodology. The authors selected 184 major disasters in terms of the size of economic damages, based on the data available from the International Emergency Disasters and MunichRe (NatCat) databases for natural catastrophes. They estimate the losses and total impacts including the higher-order effects of these disasters using social accounting matrices constructed for this study. Although the aggregate damages based on the data amount to US$742 billion, the aggregate losses and total impacts are estimated at US$360 billion and US$678 billion, respectively. The results show a growing trend of economic impacts over time in absolute value. However, once the data and estimates are normalized using global gross domestic product, the historical trend of total impacts becomes statistically insignificant. The visual observation confirms the inverted ‘U’ curve distribution between total impact and income level, while statistical analyses indicate negative linear relationships between them for climatological, geophysical, and especially hydrological events. |
| Keywords: | Natural Disasters,Hazard Risk Management,Disaster Management,Economic Theory&Research,Pollution Management&Control |
| Date: | 2009–06–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:4963&r=dev |
| By: | Gauri, Varun |
| Abstract: | Little evidence is available on whether changing global rules so as to promote human rights can enhance development outcomes. The Convention on the Rights of the Child was almost universally ratified by the mid-1990s, but it is unclear whether treaty ratification was associated with better or wider protection of children’s rights. This paper uses an instrumental variable approach to investigate whether treaty ratification was associated with stronger effort at the country level on child survival, and particularly with higher rates of immunization coverage. The paper finds that ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child was correlated with a subsequent increase in immunization rates, but only in upper middle and high-income countries. Treaties can promote development outcomes, but require institutional support to do so. |
| Keywords: | Population Policies,Labor Policies,Treaties,Human Rights,Children and Youth |
| Date: | 2009–06–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:4964&r=dev |
| By: | Gibson, John; McKenzie, David |
| Abstract: | A unique survey which tracks worldwide the best and brightest academic performers from three Pacific countries is used to assess the extent of emigration and return migration among the very highly skilled, and to analyze, at the microeconomic level, the determinants of these migration choices. Although the estimates indicate that the income gains from migration are very large, not everyone migrates and many return. Within this group of highly skilled individuals, the emigration decision is found to be most strongly associated with preference variables such as risk aversion, patience, and choice of subjects in secondary school, and not strongly linked to either liquidity constraints or the gain in income to be had from migrating. Likewise, the decision to return is strongly linked to family and lifestyle reasons, rather than to the income opportunities in different countries. Overall the data show a relatively limited role for income maximization in distinguishing migration propensities among the very highly skilled, and point to the need to pay more attention to other components of the utility maximization decision. |
| Keywords: | Tertiary Education,Population Policies,Secondary Education,,Human Migrations&Resettlements |
| Date: | 2009–06–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:4965&r=dev |
| By: | Roberto Mazzoleni (Hofstra University, Department of Economics); Luciano Martins Costa Póvoa (Curso de Ciencias Economicas, Universidade Federal de Goiás) |
| Abstract: | This paper presents an historical analysis of the role of intellectual property rights and the accumulations of technological capabilities in Brazil. The aircraft, pharmaceutical and oil industries are analyzed in detail. While Brazil was then among the pioneers worldwide in recognizing the social value of inventive activities and the importance of protecting and rewarding the work of inventors, both the industrialization of the country and the development of technological capabilities have lagged significantly behind the creation of patent laws. Key reasons for this include the weak incentives for innovation in industries that grew behind the walls of protectionist policies and the second-order significance of IPR in the sectors where the accumulation of technological capabilities was a direct focus of other policy instruments. Este artigo apresenta uma análise histórica sobre o papel das leis de patentes na acumulação de capacidades tecnológicas da indústria brasileira. Em particular, são analisadas as indústrias aeronáutica, farmacêutica e de extração de petróleo. Embora o Brasil tenha sido um dos primeiros países a conceder patentes a inventores, tanto o processo de industrialização quanto o desenvolvimento de capacidades tecnológicas ficaram atrasados em relação à criação das primeiras leis de patentes. Entre as principais razões para este atraso estão os fracos incentivos para a inovação durante o período de substituição de importação e o papel apenas secundário das patentes em setores em que a acumulação de capacidades tecnológicas foi foco de outros instrumentos de política industrial. |
| Date: | 2009–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ufb:wpaper:002&r=dev |
| By: | Aditi Roy (SMU) |
| Abstract: | Estimating the causal impact of child work on the contemporaneous health of a child has proven quite challenging given non-random selection into the labor market and the inability to find strong and valid instruments. Our data, the Indonesian Family Life Survey is no different. Recognizing the lack of a credible instrument, we instead pursue a different strategy based on the methodology of Altonji et al. (JPE, 2005). This method assesses the robustness of the impact of child work estimated under the assumption of random selection (i.e., selection into child work on observable attributes only) to varying degrees of non-random selection (i.e., selection into child labor on unobservable attributes). If the estimated effect is found to be extremely sensitive to selection on unobservables, then one should be wary about inferring an adverse causal effect of child work. In addition, the nature of the selection process is identified using parametric assumptions. The results are striking, suggesting positive selection of children into work when we consider underweight and high weight status as dependent variables. This indicates that there is both healthy worker selection effect as well as unhealthy worker selection effect. There is however negative selection into work for the children belonging to the intermediate weight range. This heterogeneity in the selection process across the distribution has not been previously identified in the literature. Moreover, we also find evidence suggesting a heterogeneous impact of child work on health once we allow for a modest amount of selection on unobservables. Specifically, we find evidence of a negative causal effect of work on healthier children, but evidence of beneficial impact of work on the least healthy children. |
| Keywords: | Child work; health; selection on unobservables; Indonesia. |
| JEL: | I12 J13 J22 J28 |
| Date: | 2009–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:smu:ecowpa:0905&r=dev |
| By: | Opata, Patience. I; Nweze, Noble. J |
| Abstract: | Paper to be presented for International Conference of Women in Africa and African Diaspora (WAAD) at Yaradua Conference Centre Abuja, August 3-11, 2009 |
| Keywords: | Women, Credit and Savings, Agribusiness, Agricultural Finance, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Consumer/Household Economics, Crop Production/Industries, Financial Economics, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty, Institutional and Behavioral Economics, Marketing, |
| Date: | 2009–08–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:miscpa:51554&r=dev |
| By: | Bates, Robert H.; Block, Steven |
| Abstract: | This paper uses new data on agricultural policy interventions to examine the political economy of agricultural trade policies in Sub-Saharan Africa. Historically, African governments have discriminated against agricultural producers in general (relative to producers in non-agricultural sectors), and against producers of export agriculture in particular. While more moderate in recent years, these patterns of discrimination persist. They do so even though farmers comprise a political majority. Rather than claiming the existence of a single best approach to the analysis of policy choice, we explore the impact of three factors: institutions, regional inequality, and tax revenuegeneration. We find that agricultural taxation increases with the rural population share in the absence of electoral party competition; yet, the existence of party competition turns the lobbying disadvantage of the rural majority into political advantage. We also find that privileged cash crop regions are particular targets for redistributive taxation, unless the country's president comes from that region. In addition, governments of resource-rich countries, while continuing to tax export producers, reduce their taxation of food consumers. |
| Keywords: | Distorted incentives, agricultural and trade policy reforms, national agricultural development, agriculture, taxation, political economy, Agricultural and Food Policy, International Relations/Trade, F13, F14, Q17, Q18, O13, |
| Date: | 2009–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:wbadwp:50302&r=dev |
| By: | Rozelle, Scott; Swinnen, Johan |
| Abstract: | The paper analyzes the political and institutional factors which are behind the dramatic changes in distortions to agricultural incentives in the transition countries in East Asia (China and Vietnam), Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, etc), the rest of the former Soviet Union, and in Central and Eastern Europe. The paper explains why these changes have occurred and why there are large differences among transition countries in the extent and the nature of the remaining distortions. |
| Keywords: | Distorted incentives, agricultural and trade policy reforms, national agricultural development, Political economy, agricultural distortions, transition economies, China, Agricultural and Food Policy, International Relations/Trade, F13, F14, Q17, Q18, N50, O13, O21, P22, P26, |
| Date: | 2009–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:wbadwp:50298&r=dev |
| By: | Anderson, Kym |
| Abstract: | During the 1960s and 1970s most developing countries imposed anti-agricultural policies, while many high-income countries restricted agricultural imports and subsidized their farmers. Both sets of policies inhibited economic growth and poverty alleviation in developing countries, while doing little to assist small farmers in high-income countries. Since the 1980s, however, many developing countries began to reduce the anti-agricultural bias of sectoral policies, and from the early 1990s the European Union began to move away from price supports to more-direct forms of farm income payments. This paper summarizes a forthcoming book that seeks to explain this evolving pattern of distortions to incentives conceptually and econometrically by making use of new political economy theory and a new globally comprehensive and consistent set of estimates of the changing extent of annual distortions over the past half-century. The distortion estimates involve more than 70 products that cover around 70 percent of the value of agricultural output in each of 75 countries that together account for over 90 percent of the global economy, and they expose the contribution of the various policy instruments (both farm and non-farm) to the net distortion to farmer incentives. Such a widespread coverage of countries, products, years and policy instruments has allowed this collection of studies to test a wide range of hypotheses suggested by the new political economy literature, including the importance of institutions. As a set it sheds much new light on the underlying forces that have affected incentives facing farmers in the course of national and global economic and political development, and hence on how those distortions might change in the future â or be changed by concerted actions to offset political pressures from traditionally powerful vested interests. |
| Keywords: | Distorted incentives, agricultural and trade policy reforms, national agricultural development, Political economy, agricultural price and trade policies, Agricultural and Food Policy, International Relations/Trade, F13, F14, Q17, Q18, F59, H20, N50, O13, |
| Date: | 2009–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:wbadwp:50306&r=dev |
| By: | Mushtaq H. Khan |
| Abstract: | Poverty reduction is a function of economic growth, income distribution and distribution changes. Governance can impact both growth and income distribution. The dominant market-enhancing governance paradigm seeks to enhance the efficiency of markets through ‘good governance’ reforms, ostensibly to trigger or sustain growth. ‘Pro-poor’ good governance reforms purport to enhance the scale and efficiency of service delivery to the poor. The good governance approach to enhancing growth is disputed. Neither theory nor evidence strongly support the plausibility of significantly reducing poverty through the good governance agenda. Alternative governance approaches for addressing poverty are contrasted favourably with the currently dominant paradigm. |
| Keywords: | Governance, growth, income distribution, poverty |
| JEL: | O15 O16 O57 |
| Date: | 2009–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:une:wpaper:75&r=dev |
| By: | Aghion, Ph.; Askenazy, Ph.; Bourlès, R.; Cette, G.; Dromel, N. |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the effects of the education level, product market rigidities and employment protection legislation on growth. It exploits macro-panel data for OECD countries. For countries close to the technological frontier, education and rigidities are significantly related to TFP growth. The contribution of the interaction between product market regulation and labour market rigidity seems particularly substantial. |
| Keywords: | Productivity ; Growth ; Regulations ; Market Rigidities ; Education |
| JEL: | O47 J24 J68 L40 O57 |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bfr:banfra:229&r=dev |
| By: | Sarah Stolting |
| Abstract: | This paper develops an endogenous growth model with heterogeneous firms to analyze the impact of intra-industry trade on productivity growth. Growth is generated by selection, and sustained by entrants imitating successful incumbents. Firms are subject to idiosyncratic productivity shocks and some firms, mostly those with relatively low productivity levels, are forced to exit. This results in an increase in average productivity of the economy. The intraindustry effect of trade works through self-selection of the most productive firms into the export market. It leads to a reallocation of resources towards more efficient firms. Since the effect of selection and imitation on growth is amplified by the trade-induced selection process, opening up to trade increases the growth rate of productivity. |
| Keywords: | Endogenous growth, Intra-industry trade, Heterogeneous firms, Selection |
| JEL: | F10 L11 O40 |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eui:euiwps:eco2009/21&r=dev |
| By: | Romina Cavatassi (Agricultural and Development Economics Division, Food and Agriculture Organization); Mario González (Inter-American Development Bank, Washington, DC); Paul Winters (American University, Washington, DC); Jorge Andrade-Piedra (International Potato Center, Quito, Ecuador); Graham Thiele (International Potato Center, Lima, Peru); Patricio Espinosa (International Potato Centre, Quito, Ecuador) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the impact of participation in multi-stakeholder platforms (Plataformas) aimed at linking smallholder potato farmers to the market in the mountain region of Ecuador. It describes and evaluates the Plataformas’ program to determine whether it has been successful in linking farmers to higher-value markets and the effects that such connections have brought, particularly with regard to farmers’ welfare and to the environment. The analysis is run comparing a set of different and carefully constructed control groups to beneficiaries and using various specifications. Results are strongly consistent across the different specifications and are sound across the counterfactuals, suggesting impacts are adequately identified. Findings suggest that the program was successful in improving the welfare of beneficiaries, while potential negative environmental impacts, particularly with relation to agrobiodiversity and use of agrochemicals seem not to be a concern. Mechanisms through which impacts have been achieved are analyzed. Little spillover effects are found. |
| Keywords: | New agricultural economy, Ecuador, smallholder potato farmers, impact evaluation, food-security, agrobiodiversity, natural resources. |
| JEL: | D13 O13 Q13 Q51 |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fao:wpaper:0906&r=dev |
| By: | Chi, Wei; Qian, Xiaoye |
| Abstract: | This study examines one of the channels through which education may contribute to economic growth, specifically, innovation. Endogenous growth theory has long suggested that human capital lead to greater innovation and, through technology innovation and diffusion, contribute to economic growth. However, there is little evidence on the role of human capital in innovation. Using the Chinese provincial data from 1997 to 2006, we show that workers’ tertiary education is significantly and positively related to provincial innovative activities measured by invention patent applications per capita. This result does not vary when spatial dependence is allowed in the estimation. Thus, we find strong and robust evidence for the prediction of endogenous growth theory regarding the effect of human capital on innovation. However, we do not find the consistently significant effect of innovation on growth. This finding may, however, relate to the growth pattern in China. |
| Keywords: | Education; Human Capital; Innovation; Paten; Economic Growth; Spatial Analysis |
| JEL: | O1 O3 |
| Date: | 2009–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:15779&r=dev |
| By: | Pandey, Manoj K. |
| Abstract: | In this paper, the effect of maternal health on the under-five mortality has been examined. Third wave of micro-level National Family Health Survey 2005-06 data for rural India is used. Using various alternative measures of maternal health, the paper finds strong association between maternal health and child mortality. In particular, the effects of maternal height, weight, presence of any disease and anemia are found significant. Based on our findings, we argue that if the possible generational transfer of poor health from a mother to her child has to avoid, policies aimed at attaining the millennium development goal of reduced child mortality should be directed on improving the health of existing and future mothers. |
| Keywords: | under-five mortality; maternal height; maternal weight; body mass index; anemia |
| JEL: | J13 I12 D6 |
| Date: | 2009–06–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:15934&r=dev |
| By: | Eberhardt, Markus; Teal, Francis |
| Abstract: | Since the seminal contribution of Gregory Mankiw, David Romer and David Weil (1992), the growth empirics literature has used increasingly sophisticated methods to select relevant growth determinants in estimating cross-section growth regressions. The vast majority of empirical approaches however limit cross-country heterogeneity in production technology to the specification of Total Factor Productivity, the 'measure of our ignorance' (Abramowitz, 1956). The central theme of this survey is an investigation of this choice of specification against the background of pertinent data properties when the units of observations are countries or regions and the time-series dimension of the data becomes substantial. We present two general empirical frameworks for cross-country productivity analysis and demonstrate that they encompass the approaches in the growth empirics literature of the past two decades. We then develop our central argument, that cross-country heterogeneity in the impact of observables and unobservables on output is important for reliable empirical analysis. This idea is developed against the background of the pertinent time-series and cross-section properties of macro panel data. |
| Keywords: | Cross-Country Empirical Analysis; Nonstationary Panel Econometrics; Parameter Heterogeneity; Common Factor Model; Cross-section Dependence |
| JEL: | O11 O47 C33 |
| Date: | 2009–06–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:15813&r=dev |
| By: | Pandey, Manoj K.; Kaur, Charanjit |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the trend and economic determinants of the suicidal deaths in India. Time-series data over the period 1967-2006 is used from various sources. The paper analyzes the suicidal trend and exploratory relationships between suicide rate and some of the demographic and other economic variates. Further, we use ARDL model to find out the association between suicide and some economic variables. We find that inflation, per capita real GDP and industrial growth encourages the incidences of suicides whereas increased per capita household income helps in reducing suicidal deaths in India. |
| Keywords: | Suicide; Economic factors; Trends; Time series; ARDL model |
| JEL: | I12 C22 |
| Date: | 2009–04–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:15732&r=dev |
| By: | Pandey, Manoj K. |
| Abstract: | In this paper, the trend and determinants of health and poverty among the elderly in rural India is analysed. Two rounds of National Sample Survey (NSS) data for the year 1995-96 and 2004 are employed. The analysis has been done with independent and pooled datasets. Our analysis shows that levels of consumption poverty have declined marginally between 1995-96 and 2004 while increased proportion of elderly with poor health status is continued. Results suggest that poverty is one of the key determinants of health among elderly in rural India. |
| Keywords: | health; poverty; elderly |
| JEL: | J14 I12 I32 |
| Date: | 2009–06–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:15926&r=dev |
| By: | Attanasio, Orazio; Battistin, Erich; Mesnard, Alice |
| Abstract: | We study food Engel curves among the poor population targeted by a conditional cash transfer programme in Colombia. After controlling for the endogeneity of total expenditure and for the (unobserved) variability of prices across villages, the best fit is provided by a log-linear specification. Our estimates imply that an increase in total expenditure by 10% would lead to a decrease of 1% in the share of food. However, quasi-experimental estimates of the impact of the programme on total and food consumption show that the share of food increases, suggesting that the programme has more complex impacts on expenditure patterns than those induced by higher household income and expenditure. |
| Keywords: | demand patterns; evaluation of welfare programmes; food Engel curves |
| JEL: | C52 D12 I38 |
| Date: | 2009–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:7326&r=dev |
| By: | Jayachandran, Seema; Kuziemko, Ilyana |
| Abstract: | Medical research indicates that breastfeeding suppresses post-natal fertility. We model the implications for breastfeeding decisions and test the model's predictions using survey data from India. First, we find that breastfeeding increases with birth order, since mothers near or beyond their desired total fertility are more likely to make use of the contraceptive properties of nursing. Second, given a preference for having sons, mothers with no or few sons want to conceive again and thus limit their breastfeeding. We indeed find that daughters are weaned sooner than sons, and, moreover, for both sons and daughters, having few or no older brothers results in earlier weaning. Third, these gender effects peak as mothers approach their target family size, when their decision about future childbearing (and therefore breastfeeding) is highly marginal and most sensitive to considerations such as ideal sex composition. Because breastfeeding protects against water- and food-borne disease, our model also makes predictions regarding health outcomes. We find that child-mortality patterns mirror those of breastfeeding with respect to gender and its interactions with birth order and ideal family size. Our results suggest that the gender gap in breastfeeding explains 14 percent of excess female child mortality in India, or about 22,000 "missing girls" each year. |
| Keywords: | breastfeeding; child health; child mortality; contraception; fertility; missing women; son preference |
| JEL: | H0 J13 O12 O15 |
| Date: | 2009–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:7321&r=dev |
| By: | Charles I. Jones; Paul M. Romer |
| Abstract: | In 1961, Nicholas Kaldor used his list of six "stylized" facts both to summarize the patterns that economists had discovered in national income accounts and to shape the growth models that they were developing to explain them. Redoing this exercise today, nearly fifty years later, shows how much progress we have made. In contrast to Kaldor's facts, which revolved around a single state variable, physical capital, our six updated facts force consideration of four far more interesting variables: ideas, institutions, population, and human capital. Dynamic models have uncovered subtle interactions between these variables and generated important insights about such big questions as: Why has growth accelerated? Why are there gains from trade? |
| JEL: | O1 O3 O4 |
| Date: | 2009–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:15094&r=dev |
| By: | Timothy J. Besley; Torsten Persson |
| Abstract: | We report on an on-going project, which asks a number of questions relevant to the study of state capacity. What are the main economic and political determinants of the state’s capacity to raise revenue and support private markets? How do risks of violent conflict affect the incentives to invest in state building? Does it matter whether conflicts are external or internal to the state? When are large states associated with higher income levels and growth rates than small states? What relations should we expect between resource rents, civil wars and economic development? The paper is organized into three main sections: 1. The origins of state capacity, 2. Sate capacity and the genius of taxation, and 3. State capacity and the strategy of conflict. Each of these begins with a specific motivation. A simple model is formulated to analyze the determinants of state capacity in the first section, and modified to address the new issues that arise in subsequent sections. The theoretical results are summarized in a number of propositions. We discuss the implications of the theory, comment on its relation to existing literature, and briefly mention some empiric applications. |
| JEL: | O1 O10 |
| Date: | 2009–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:15088&r=dev |
| By: | Shang-Jin Wei; Xiaobo Zhang |
| Abstract: | While the high savings rate in China has global impact, existing explanations are incomplete. This paper proposes a competitive saving motive as a new explanation: as the country experiences a rising sex ratio imbalance, the increased competition in the marriage market has induced the Chinese, especially parents with a son, to postpone consumption in favor of wealth accumulation. The pressure on savings spills over to other households through higher costs of house purchases. Both cross-regional and household-level evidence supports this hypothesis. This factor can potentially account for about half of the actual increase in the household savings rate during 1990-2007. |
| JEL: | D1 F3 |
| Date: | 2009–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:15093&r=dev |
| By: | Enrico Spolaore; Romain Wacziarg |
| Abstract: | We develop a theory of interstate conflict in which the degree of genealogical relatedness between populations has a positive effect on their conflict propensities because more closely related populations, on average, tend to interact more and develop more disputes over sets of common issues. We examine the empirical relationship between the occurrence of interstate conflicts and the degree of relatedness between countries, showing that populations that are genetically closer are more prone to go to war with each other, even after controlling for a wide set of measures of geographic distance and other factors that affect conflict, including measures of trade and democracy. |
| JEL: | F51 F52 F54 F59 H56 N10 |
| Date: | 2009–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:15095&r=dev |