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on Development |
| By: | Lykke E. Andersen (Institute for Advanced Development Studies); Beatriz Muriel (Maestrias para el Desarrollo, Universidad Catolica Boliviana); Horacio Valencia (Institute for Advanced Development Studies) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses non-agricultural work supplied by rural households in Bolivia. It is shown that roughly 50% of all rural households complement their incomes through non-agricultural work, but that households in the lowlands are more likely to do so than households in the highlands. Since non-agricultural work pays several times better than agricultural work, access to this source of complementary income constitutes an important opportunity to escape rural poverty. |
| Keywords: | Rural labor markets, Bolivia, non-farm labor |
| JEL: | J22 J43 R23 Q12 |
| Date: | 2009–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:adv:wpaper:200901&r=dev |
| By: | Lykke E. Andersen (Institute for Advanced Development Studies); Bent Jesper Christensen (Aarhus University) |
| Abstract: | This paper utilizes a unique three-wave panel of household data from Nicaragua, which allows a thorough exploration of the relationships between migration, remittances and household consumption. The paper distinguishes between the effects of emigration and the impacts of remittances received. There is a self-selection bias in the decision to send a migrant, as well as in the decision to receive remittances. To adequately correct for these selection biases, we develop a bivariate selection correction procedure. Perhaps surprisingly, the results show that households do not benefit (in terms of higher consumption growth) from receiving remittances, but rather from having migrants abroad. This suggests that not only money are remitted from abroad, but also something more subtle, which could be business ideas, belief systems, aspirations, patterns of social interaction, and other intangibles, which have been dubbed social remittances. |
| Keywords: | Migration, Remittances, Social Remittances, Nicaragua, Bivariate Selection Correction |
| JEL: | F35 |
| Date: | 2009–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:adv:wpaper:200905&r=dev |
| By: | Anne-Claire Thomas (DIAL, University Paris Dauphine,EURIsCO) |
| Abstract: | (english) This paper tests if agricultural and climatic shocks have persistent impacts on consumption growth in 7 rural areas from Madagascar. The empirical framework is inspired by a standard Solow growth model. Shocks are introduced directly in the reduced form model as controls for factor productivity and investment level. This model is estimated on a panel of 6175 households observed each year between 1999 and 2004. Fixed effects are introduces to control for unobserved heterogeneity. We use idiosyncratic shocks on agricultural fields due to plant illness or predators and a covariate climatic shock measured by village rainfall deviations from long term means. Growth is measured by consumption growth. We use household total consumption, household per capita consumption, household total food consumption and household per capita food consumption. Estimation results indicate that covariate (rainfall) and idiosyncratic shocks on rice fields have persistent impacts on growth whereas idiosyncratic shocks on other crops than rice have no persistent impact. These average impacts are however not the same along income distribution. Estimation by income quintile shows that idiosyncratic shocks decrease future growth of poor household whereas rich household growth performance is protected against idiosyncratic shocks. Surprisingly, covariate shocks have persistent impact on rich household consumption growth but not on poor household consumption growth. _________________________________ (français) Cet article teste si les chocs agricoles et climatiques négatifs ont un effet persistant sur la croissance de la consommation des ménages dans 7 observatoires du Réseau des Observatoires Ruraux (ROR) à Madagascar. Autrement dit, on examine si un choc négatif sur la production agricole réduit les performances de croissance futures des ménages. Un modèle de croissance néo-classique de type Solow est mobilisé afin de spécifier la relation entre croissance de la consommation, caractéristiques du ménage et chocs. Ce modèle est estimé sous forme réduite sur un panel de 6175 ménages malgaches interrogés chaque année de 1999 à 2004. L’introduction d’effets fixes permet de contrôler pour l’hétérogénéité non observée. Les chocs sont introduits directement dans l’équation comme des variables qui déterminent la productivité des facteurs et le niveau d’investissement. Les chocs étudiés comprennent des chocs idiosyncratiques sur les cultures tels que les maladies des plantes et les destructions par des prédateurs et un choc climatique covarié mesuré par les déviations des précipitations par rapport à leurs moyennes de long terme village par village. Quatre agrégats sont utilisés pour mesurer la croissance : la croissance de la consommation totale du ménage, la croissance de la consommation par tête, la croissance de la consommation alimentaire totale du ménage et la croissance de la consommation alimentaire par tête. Les résultats d’estimation indiquent que les chocs covariés (précipitations) et les chocs idiosyncratiques sur les parcelles de riz réduisent durablement la croissance des ménages. Par contre, les chocs idiosyncratiques sur les autres cultures (maïs, tubercules, autres) n’ont pas d’impact persistant sur la croissance de la consommation. Ces effets moyens ne sont cependant pas homogènes sur toute la distribution des revenus des ménages. Les estimations réalisées par quintile de revenus montrant que les chocs idiosyncratiques ont un impact négatif persistant sur la croissance de la consommation des ménages pauvres tandis que les riches semblent protégés. De manière étonnante, les chocs covariés (précipitations) ont un impact persistent sur la croissance des ménages les plus riches mais pas sur celle des plus pauvres. |
| Keywords: | risk, poverty, growth, insurance,risque, pauvreté, croissance, assurance |
| JEL: | O12 D90 R20 Q12 |
| Date: | 2009–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dia:wpaper:dt200905&r=dev |
| By: | Jean-Pierre Cling (DIAL,IRD, Paris); Mireille Razafindrakoto (DIAL, IRD, Paris); François Roubaud (DIAL, IRD, Paris) |
| Abstract: | (english) Vietnam is a very important country for the World Bank. It is the first recipient of IDA credits. It is also presented by the Bank as a model country for development success, especially in terms of poverty reduction. At the same time, the Bank is very active in Vietnam: it is the first provider of development aid; it is also the leader in economic research. Starting from a detailed diagnosis on the Bank’s activities in Vietnam and on the contents of policies it promotes in this country, this paper analyses the political economy of the relationship between the Bank and the Vietnamese government. Since there is no IMF programme in Vietnam, the Bank is the main government partner among donors. But the Bank’s influence over Vietnam’s development path is limited. The Vietnamese government has always refused to adopt policies imposed by foreign organizations and the Vietnamese institutions are strong enough to be able to form an alter ego for the Bank and to achieve “ownership” of public policies. One could almost say that Vietnam is more important for the Bank than the latter is for Vietnam, especially because the Bank gains a political advantage image-wise from what it can hold up as a success story due to its work. _________________________________ (français) Le Vietnam est un pays très important pour la Banque mondiale du point de vue de ses financements : il est le premier récepteur de crédits distribués par l’AID. Cette importance tient aussi au rôle d’élève modèle en matière de politiques de développement que la Banque fait jouer au Vietnam. Ce pays est notamment mis en avant pour ses succès en matière de réduction de la pauvreté. En sens inverse, la Banque est devenue le premier bailleur de fonds au Vietnam et elle joue également un rôle de leader du point de vue de la recherche économique sur ce pays. Partant d’un diagnostic détaillé concernant les activités de la Banque au Vietnam et le contenu original des politiques promues par cette organisation, ce papier analyse l’économie politique des relations entre la Banque et le gouvernement vietnamien. En l’absence de financement du FMI, la Banque a su s’imposer comme le principal interlocuteur du gouvernement parmi les bailleurs de fonds. Mais son influence sur la trajectoire de développement du Vietnam est modeste. Le gouvernement vietnamien a toujours refusé de se voir imposer des politiques de l’extérieur et les institutions vietnamiennes sont suffisamment fortes pour former un alter ego à la Banque et pour s’approprier les politiques mises en place. A la limite, le Vietnam est presque plus important pour la Banque que l’inverse, notamment en raison des bénéfices que celle-ci en tire du point de vue de son image et de ce qu’elle présente comme une success story de son action. |
| Keywords: | World Bank, Vietnam, development aid, model country,Banque mondiale, Vietnam, aide au développement, modèle de développement. |
| JEL: | F35 F53 F59 O19 |
| Date: | 2009–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dia:wpaper:dt200904&r=dev |
| By: | Gustav Ranis (Yale University, Economic Growth Center) |
| Abstract: | Template-Type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0 |
| Abstract: | This paper reviews the literature on the impact of ethnic diversity on economic development. Ethnically polarized societies are less likely to agree on the provision of public goods and more likely to engage in rent seeking activities providing lower levels of social capital. Initial conditions are important determinants of adverse development outcomes. The role of decentralization, democracy and markets as potential remedies are discussed. The paper then presents a number of preliminary hypotheses on the relationship between diversity and instability in order to stimulate future research. |
| Keywords: | Africa, Diversity, Economic Growth, Instability |
| JEL: | O11 O40 O43 O55 |
| Date: | 2009–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:egc:wpaper:977&r=dev |
| By: | Omilola, Babatunde |
| Abstract: | "It has often been argued that new agricultural technologies lead to poverty reduction. This paper argues that any changes in poverty situation attributed to those who adopt new agricultural technology (treatment group) without a counterfactual comparison of carefully selected nonadopters (control group) are likely to be questionable. The paper estimates the effects of new agricultural technology on poverty reduction by employing the “double difference” method on data collected in rural Nigeria. Seeing the agricultural technology–poverty linkage through the lenses of adopters and nonadopters of such new technology provides understanding of the relationship between agricultural technology and poverty. The paper finds that differences in poverty status between adopters and nonadopters of new agricultural technologies (a combination of tube wells and pumps) introduced in rural Nigeria in the late 1980s and early 1990s are alarmingly modest. The paper concludes that new agricultural technology would not expressly lead to poverty reduction in poor countries. The exact channels through which new agricultural technology impact poverty outcomes need to be further explored." from authors' abstract |
| Keywords: | Poverty, evaluation, Inequality, Impact assessment, Agricultural technology, Difference-in-difference methodology, Development strategies, |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:901&r=dev |
| By: | Fan, Shenggen; Li, Lixing; Zhang, Xiaobo |
| Abstract: | "It has been argued in the literature that China is underurbanized in large part because of restrictions on migration. While the presence of migration barriers can help explain why existing cities fail to achieve their optimal size, it cannot explain the lack of cities. Although migration has become much easier over time, the number of cities in China has been rather stagnant. In this paper, we argue that lack of appropriate mechanisms for creating new cities is another reason for underurbanization. Under China's hierarchical governance structure, the only way to create new cities is through the centralized policy of upgrading existing counties or prefectures into cities. However, in practice the implementation of the county-to-city upgrading policy was more complicated than expected. Based on a county-level panel dataset, this paper shows that jurisdictions that were upgraded to cities prior to 1998 do not perform better relative to their counterparts that remain to be counties in terms of both economic growth and providing public services. The policy was retracted in 1997, freezing the number of county-level cities since then. This, in turn, contributes to the observed underurbanization." from authors' abstract |
| Keywords: | Urbanization, City creation, Governance structure, Political centralization, Development strategies, |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:875&r=dev |
| By: | Filho, Joachim Bento de Souza Ferreira |
| Abstract: | "This paper addresses the potential effects of a world agricultural trade liberalization scenario on poverty and regional income distribution in Brazil, using an interregional applied general equilibrium (AGE) and microsimulation model of Brazil, tailored for income distribution and poverty analysis. The model distinguishes 10 different labor types and 270 different household expenditure patterns. Income can originate from 41 different production activities (which produce 52 commodities), located in 27 states in the country. The AGE model is linked to a microsimulation model that includes 112,055 Brazilian households and 263,938 adults. The scenario is generated from a previous run of the MIRAGE model, which assesses the likely impacts of a Doha Development Agenda agreement, based on the draft on agriculture by Crawford Falconer and the draft on nonagricultural market access by Don Stephenson. The results of this global scenario are transmitted to the Brazilian model. Poverty and income distribution indexes are computed over the entire sample of households and persons, before and after the introduction of policy shocks. Model results show that the simulated trade policy shocks have positive effects on poverty and income distribution in Brazil. The simulated effects on poverty and income distribution are positive in aggregate, with benefits concentrated in the poorest households. The results, however, differ across the Brazilian territory, worsening in some important states, where the poverty and inequality indicators increase. The gains in agriculture are found to benefit all the agents involved, from workers to small producers to large farmers, rejecting the idea that just large farmers would gain." from authors' abstract |
| Keywords: | Economic integration, Poverty, Income distribution, Globalization, Markets, trade, |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:874&r=dev |
| By: | Yamauchi, Futoshi; Yohannes, Yisehac; Quisumbing, Agnes R. |
| Abstract: | "This paper uses panel data from Bangladesh, Ethiopia, and Malawi to examine the impacts of natural disasters on schooling investments, with a particular focus on the roles of ex-ante actions and ex-post responses. We find that the importance of ex-ante actions depends on disaster risks and the likelihood of public assistance, potentially creating substitution between the two actions. We find that higher future probabilities of disaster increase the likelihood of agents holding more human capital and/or livestock relative to land; this asset-portfolio effect is significant in disaster-prone areas. Our empirical results support the roles of both ex-ante and ex-post (public assistance) responses in coping with disasters, but we see interesting variations across countries. In Ethiopia, public assistance plays a more important role than ex-ante actions in mitigating the impact of shocks on child schooling. In contrast, Malawi households rely more on private ex-ante actions than on public assistance. The Bangladesh example shows that active roles are played by both ex-ante and ex-post actions. These observations are consistent with our findings on the relationship between ex-ante actions and disaster risks. Our results also show that among ex-ante actions, human capital accumulated in the household prior to disasters helps mitigate the negative effects of a disaster in both the short and long runs." from authors' abstract |
| Keywords: | Natural disasters, Ex-ante actions, Ex-post responses, Human capital investment, Poverty reduction, Social protection, Gender, Childcare and work, |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:880&r=dev |
| By: | Nin Pratt, Alejandro; Diao, Xinshen; Bahta, Yonas |
| Abstract: | "We develop a detailed trade analysis to assess the potential welfare impacts of a free trade agreement (FTA) on the agricultural sector of southern African countries and to determine opportunities and challenges faced by the region as a consequence of the agreement. Our approach combines an in-depth look at the current trading patterns of southern African countries with the application of a partial equilibrium analysis that uses bilateral trade data at the four-digit standard international trade classification (SITC) level for 193 agricultural industries in 14 southern African countries. Low diversification of agricultural exports in most southern African countries seems to be a major constraint for promoting regional trade. In most countries, overall welfare effects of an FTA would be positive but small. Inefficient agricultural producers with a regional comparative advantage for agriculture would benefit from trade creation with the rest of the world. Welfare results for regional importers would be negative because of increased imports from inefficient regional producers. These results suggest that the region should be looking at regional policies and interventions beyond trade arrangements, such as those targeting investment, agricultural productivity, and diversification, to enhance benefits of regional trade liberalization." from authors' abstract |
| Keywords: | Regional trade agreement, Agricultural trade, Development strategies, |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:888&r=dev |
| By: | Headey, Derek; Malaiyandi, Sangeetha; Fan, Shenggen |
| Abstract: | "The closely interlinked food, fuel and financial crises pose a significant new challenge to the global effort to reduce poverty. In short run, the oil-biofuels nexus was clearly the driving force behind the surge in food prices, but export restrictions and panic purchases turned a tightened market situation into a crisis. New evidence reveals that food prices rose sharply in many countries and that global poverty levels have increased markedly. The good news is that the supply response in many countries was strong. The impacts of the financial crisis on poor countries have yet to fully roll out, but it is clear that additional people will fall into poverty and become food insecure. In the long run, there are strong indications that the global food system is fundamentally changing in a number of dimensions. Biofuels are here to stay, and energy and food prices have adjusted to a higher equilibrium, albeit with large volatility. Trade protection has also resurfaced, but so too have renewed investments in the agricultural sector. These fundamental shifts bring with them opportunities and risks that require internationally coordinated responses with strong national buy-in, as well as timely and relevant research." from authors' abstract |
| Keywords: | Food crisis, Energy crisis, Financial crisis, Agricultural development, Poverty, Public investment, Development strategies, |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:889&r=dev |
| By: | Raabe, Katharina; Sekher, Madhushree; Birner, Regina |
| Abstract: | "In 1993, India introduced quota-based political reservations for women in rural areas with the objective to promote gender equality in human development by making rural service provision and local governance inclusive and responsive to the needs of women. Recent evidence shows that reservation policies for women (1) stimulate the political participation of women in rural areas, (2) shift rural service provision to public goods that reflect gender preferences, and (3) improve the access to and the quality of public services. Despite the suggested positive effects of women's reservation policies on service provision and local governance, the gender bias in human development is still pronounced. This casts doubt on the effectiveness of reservation policies as an instrument for making rural service provision and local governance more gender equitable and raises questions about the nature and direction of the major constraints. This paper aims to qualify and quantify the role of political reservation policies for women as a determinant of rural service provision and local governance and seeks to identify the social, economic, and institutional factors that constrain effective local governance and rural service provision beyond the women's reservation effect. Our empirical sample consists of 80 Gram Panchayats (GP) and 966 households in 12 districts in Karnataka in 2006. In contrast to the main existing literature, the empirical evidence from (non-)linear probability models lends weak support to the existence of gender effects of reservation policies on local governance and rural service provision. The local governance and service delivery outcomes are predominantly determined by social, economic, and institutional factors that are unrelated to women's reservation requirements. For example, (1) individual characteristics such as literacy, household institutional and political linkages, or the household location in the GP and (2) GP-specific factors such as the degree of community involvement in service provision and the fiscal devolution of activities are more likely to have a significant effect on service provision and governance than reservation policies for women. These results suggest that women's reservation policies per se are insufficient means for making rural service provision and local governance more inclusive and gender equitable. In addition, it appears that gender-integrated policy approaches that are targeted at both women and men are needed." from authors' abstract |
| Keywords: | Gender, Decentralization, Local governance, Rural service provision, Affirmative action, Governance, Women, |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:878&r=dev |
| By: | Ulimwengu, John M.; Ramadan, Racha |
| Abstract: | "Almost unaffected by the 2008 wave of soaring world food prices, Ugandan local market prices exhibit signs of high price volatility in the first quarter of 2009. At the household level, while net producers may reap some benefits from this increase in food prices, net consumers are more likely to suffer from it. However, the net consumption impact of food price increase is not as straightforward as reported in previous studies. In this paper, we extend Singh et al. (1986) multimarket model by adding demand elasticities from the Almost Ideal Demand System (AIDS). We use the integrated Ugandan National Household Survey (UNHS) 2005/2006 to estimate a measure of net consumption impact that includes both price and profit effects. Overall, we found that household welfare is expected to decrease with loss in consumption and increase with income gain as a result of higher food prices for the cereals producers. Simulating change in cereals consumption induced by a 50 percent increase in cereals price and taking into account the profit effect, our results predict a 23 percent decrease in food consumption for net sellers, compared with 44 percent when using the consumption approach alone. Accounting for such substitution effects, our results suggest that the impact of rising food prices may be mitigated because some households will attempt to substitute more expensive food items with cheaper ones; however, this apparent coping strategy often leads to a much poorer diet. The results suggest that the majority of households with expected positive income impact, the gainers, live in rural areas. These households also tend to have better access to agricultural services than the nongainers." from authors' abstract |
| Keywords: | Consumption, Elasticity, Food prices, households, Multimarket, Science and technology, Institutional change, Innovation systems, Supply and demand, Household resource allocation, Gender, |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:884&r=dev |
| By: | Bagamba, Fred; Burger, Kees; Kuyvenhoven, Arie |
| Abstract: | "Although there is growing evidence of the increasing role of nonfarm activities in rural livelihoods, there is still relatively little empirical evidence regarding the factors that influence smallholder farmers to diversify into nonfarm activities. This study analyses the factors that influence household labor allocation decisions and demand for farm labor in Uganda. Data were collected from 660 households in three banana-based production zones with divergent production constraints and opportunities. The determinants of demand for hired labor were estimated with the Tobit model. Linear regression was used to estimate reduced-form equations for the time-allocation decisions of household members. Our findings show that household members respond positively to increases in wages, suggesting that they respond to economic incentives. Increased wage rates negatively affect the use of hired labor, but household size has no effect on the use of hired labor, indicating that the economic rationing of labor hiring has more to do with the market wage than family size or composition. Education and road access have positive effects on the amount of time allocated to off-farm activities. Access to off-farm opportunities, however, takes away the most productive labor from farm production. These findings suggest that investment in road infrastructure and education suited to smallholder production needs could help alleviate bottlenecks in labor markets and improve resource allocation between farm and nonfarm sectors." from authors' abstract |
| Keywords: | Smallholder farmers, Labor demand, Non-farm employment, Land management, |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:887&r=dev |
| By: | Yamauchi, Futoshi; Yohannes, Yisehac; Quisumbing, Agnes R. |
| Abstract: | "This paper uses panel data from Bangladesh, Ethiopia, and Malawi to examine the impacts of disasters on dynamic human capital production. Our empirical results show that accumulation of biological human capital prior to a disaster helps children maintain investments during the post-disaster period. Biological human capital formed in early childhood (for example, good long-term nutritional status) helps insure resilience to disasters by protecting schooling investments and outcomes, even though disasters have negative impacts on the actual investments (for example, by destroying schools). In Bangladesh, children with more biological human capital are less adversely affected by flood, and the rate of investment increases with the initial human capital stock during the post-disaster recovery process. In Ethiopia and Malawi, where droughts are relatively frequent, repeated drought exposure reduces schooling investments in some cases, with larger negative impacts seen among children who embody less biological human capital. Asset holdings prior to disaster (especially intellectual human capital stock in the household) also help maintain schooling investments to at least the same degree as the stock of human capital accumulated in the children prior to the disaster. Our results suggest that as the frequency of natural disasters increases due to global warming, the insurance value of investments in child nutrition will increase. Public investments in child nutrition therefore have the potential to effectively protect long-term human capital formation among children who are vulnerable to natural disasters." from authors' abstract |
| Keywords: | Disasters, Human capital, Nutrition, Schooling, Self-insurance, Poverty reduction, Social protection, Shocks, Asset dynamics, Education, |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:881&r=dev |
| By: | Minten, Bart; Reardon, Thomas; Vandeplas, Anneleen |
| Abstract: | "Food supply chains are being transformed in a number of developing countries due to widespread changes in urban food demand. To better anticipate the impact of this transformation and thus assist in the design of appropriate policies, it is important to understand the changes that are occurring in these supply chains. In a case study of India, we find that overall urban consumption is increasing; the urban food basket is shifting away from staples toward high-value products; and modern market channels (modern retail, food processing, and the food service industry) are on the rise. We document differing practices in traditional and modern food supply chains and identify an agenda for future research." from authors' abstract |
| Keywords: | Agricultural marketing, Market transformation, Rural-urban linkages, Globalization, Markets, |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:883&r=dev |
| By: | Quisumbing, Agnes R.; Pandolfelli, Lauren |
| Abstract: | "Recognizing that “gender matters,” many development interventions have aimed to close the gender gap in access to resources, both human and physical, and to address the specific needs of female farmers. This paper critically reviews attempts to increase poor female farmers' access to, and control of, productive resources in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. It surveys the literature from 1998 to 2008 that describes interventions and policy changes across several key agricultural resources, including land, soil, and water; labor-saving technologies; improved varieties; extension services; and credit. Compared with interventions designed to increase investment in human capital, only a minority of interventions or policy changes designed to increase female farmers' access to productive resources have been rigorously evaluated. Future interventions need to consider interactions among inputs rather than treat each input in isolation, adapt interventions to clients' needs, and pay attention to the design of alternative delivery mechanisms, the trade-offs between practical and strategic gender needs, and the culture and context specificity of gender roles." from authors' abstract |
| Keywords: | Gender, Agriculture, Interventions, Agricultural growth, Agricultural technology, |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:882&r=dev |
| By: | Nin-Pratt, Alejandro; Johnson, Michael; Magalhaes, Eduardo; Diao, Xinshen; You, Liang; Chamberlin, Jordan |
| Abstract: | "We identify a set of development priorities for agriculture that cut across West Africa, at both the country and the regional level, to achieve economy-wide growth goals in the region. To do this, we adopt a modeling and analytical framework that involves the integration of spatial analysis to identify yield gaps determining growth potential of different agricultural activities for areas with similar conditions and an economy-wide multimarket model to simulate ex ante the economic effects of closing these yield gaps. Results indicate that the greatest agriculture-led growth opportunities in West Africa reside in staple crops (cereals as well as roots and tubers) and livestock production. Rice is the commodity with the highest potential for growth and the one that could generate the greatest benefits for many countries. Activities contributing the most to agricultural growth in the Sahel are livestock, rice, coarse grains, and groundnuts; in coastal countries, staple crops like cassava, yams, and cereals seem to be relatively more important than the contributions of other subsectors; and livestock and root crops are the sources of growth with highest potential in Central Africa. Our results also point toward an essential range of policies and investments that are needed to stimulate productivity growth of prioritized activities. These include the following: development of opportunities for regional cooperation on technology adaptation and diffusion, strengthening of regional agricultural markets exploiting opportunities for greater regional cooperation and harmonization, diversification of traditional markets, and enhancement of linkages between agricultural and nonagricultural sectors." from authors' abstract |
| Keywords: | Agricultural growth, Multi-market model, spatial analysis, Staple food crops, Yield gap, Development strategies, |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:876&r=dev |
| By: | Omilola, Babatunde |
| Abstract: | "This paper investigates the contribution of rural non-farm income to income inequality by examining the contribution of specific income sources (farm income from irrigated agriculture, farm income from rainfed agriculture and non-farm income) to income inequality in Nigeria. The results reveal the relative importance of specific income sources to income inequality and the various determinants of income inequality in rural Nigeria. Although non-farm income is distributed more unequally than incomes from the other two sources, it contributes least to overall income inequality. Farm income from irrigated agriculture represents the most important inequality-increasing source of income." from authors' abstract |
| Keywords: | Non-farm income, Inequality, Development strategies, |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:899&r=dev |
| By: | Dillon, Andrew |
| Abstract: | "This paper examines a subjective measure of child labor as an alternative to hours data for eliciting the distribution of children's time between work, school, and leisure. The subjective child labor questions that were developed have two primary advantages. First, the subjective measures avoid proxy respondent bias in child labor reports made by parents in a standard hours module. Second, the subjective child labor module scales responses to elicit the relative distribution of the shares of children's time without relying on hours data which are prone to severe outlier problems. Adult, proxy respondents are found to produce uniformly lower reports of children's time allocated to work and school than the child's own subjective responses. Conditional labor supply functions are also estimated to examine the marginal effects of child, parent, household and school characteristics between the two types of data. Children's subjective responses are found to increase the magnitude of the marginal effects for child's age, parental education, and school availability with limited differences between household composition and asset variables." from authors' abstract |
| Keywords: | Child labor, Questionnaire design, Development strategies, Childcare and work, Gender, |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:879&r=dev |
| By: | Michael Clemens |
| Abstract: | Large numbers of doctors, engineers, and other skilled workers from developing countries choose to move to other countries. Do their choices threaten development? The answer appears so obvious that their movement is most commonly known by the pejorative term “brain drain.” This paper reconsiders the question, starting from the most mainstream, explicit definitions of “development.” Under these definitions, it is only possible to advance development by regulating skilled workers’ choices if that regulation greatly expands the substantive freedoms of others to meet their basic needs and live the lives they wish. Much existing evidence and some new evidence suggests that regulating skilled-worker mobility itself does little to address the underlying causes of skilled migrants’ choices, generally brings few benefits to others, and often brings diverse unintended harm. The paper concludes with examples of effective ways that developing countries can build a skill base for development without regulating human movement. The mental shift required to take these policies seriously would be aided by dropping the sententious term “brain drain” in favor of the neutral, accurate, and concise term “skill flow.” |
| Keywords: | brain drain; migration; development; labor; education; developing; labor mobility; circular migration; higher education; university; training; skilled; high skill; talent; globalization; health workers; high tech; technology transfer |
| JEL: | F22 J24 O15 |
| Date: | 2009–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cgd:wpaper:180&r=dev |
| By: | Faraha Nawaz (Department of Public Administration, Rajshahi University) |
| Abstract: | The paper aims to analyze the critical factors of women entrepreneurship development in rural Bangladesh. The analysis is based on recent theoretical ideas that have been supported by empirical research findings. The paper depicts an analytical framework based on institutional theory, which focuses on three kinds of factors: regulative, normative, and cognitive. Regulative factors refer to different rules and regulations of the Government that facilitate women entrepreneurship development in rural Bangladesh. Normative and cognitive factors include norms, rules, regulation, and values of society. Based on the analysis of these factors, the paper provides many significant policy implications on how to improve women entrepreneurship development in rural Bangladesh. |
| Keywords: | Bangladesh, women, entrepreneuship, development |
| Date: | 2009–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bnr:wpaper:5&r=dev |
| By: | Mohammad Nashir Uddin (Shahjalal University of Science & Technology (SUST)); Mohammad Hamiduzzaman (Shahjalal University of Science & Technology (SUST)); Bernhard G. Gunter (American University and Bangladesh Development Research Center (BDRC)) |
| Abstract: | In Bangladesh, children are accustomed to working in industrial and manufacturing plants, small scale factories, metal works, construction, as well as in many informal sector activities. Based on a survey conducted in Sylhet city, this study found that child workers are suffering from different physical and psychological problems and that more than half of them receive their medical assistance from local health care providers who have no recognized qualifications. The study maintains that working from an early age impedes the children’s physical growth and intellectual and psychological development, which then also has negative effects on their long-term health and earning potential. |
| Keywords: | risky child labor, physical health, mental health, Bangladesh |
| Date: | 2009–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bnr:wpaper:8&r=dev |
| By: | Acemoglu, Daron (MIT and CIFAR); Ticchi, Davide (University of Urbino); Vindigni, Andrea (Princeton University) |
| Abstract: | A notable feature of post-World War II civil wars is their very long average duration. We provide a theory of the persistence of civil wars. The civilian government can successfully defeat rebellious factions only by creating a relatively strong army. In weakly-institutionalized polities this opens the way for excessive influence or coups by the military. Civilian governments whose rents are largely unaffected by civil wars then choose small and weak armies that are incapable of ending insurrections. Our framework also shows that when civilian governments need to take more decisive action against rebels, they may be forced to build over-sized armies, beyond the size necessary for fighting the insurrection, as a commitment to not reforming the military in the future. |
| JEL: | H20 N10 N40 P16 |
| Date: | 2009–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecl:prirpe:09-06-2009&r=dev |
| By: | Jeemol Unni |
| Abstract: | In this paper, with empirical data, the Capabilities Approach to identify 'conversion factors' that are not typically addressed in the utility approach is used. The two approaches are juxtaposed to examine how institutions such as caste and religion mediate access and returns to education of men and women. The effort is to discuss whether, the capabilities approach provides any advantage in addressing questions of inequity that may be mediated through such institutions. The main innovation in this paper is a comparison between the knowledge generated through use of traditional data sources to measure access and returns to education compared with knowledge about the dynamics of capability formation generated through a mixture of traditional quantitative and some qualitative data within the capabilities approach. |
| Keywords: | institutions, knowledge, attendance,Child Labour, school, children, Education, Capabilities approach, human capital, caste, religion, India, traditional data, quantitative, qualitative, data, men, women, |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ess:wpaper:id:2227&r=dev |
| By: | Maja Micevska |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the determinants of participation in nonfarm activities and of nonfarm incomes across rural households. A unique data set collected in the Himalayan region of India allows us to deal with the heterogeneity of rural nonfarm activities by using aggregations into categories that are useful both analytically and for policy purposes. [WP no. 205]. |
| Keywords: | rural households, productivity, wage employment, data set, India, Himalayas, Nonfarm employment; Rural households; Incomes; Education; India, |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ess:wpaper:id:2226&r=dev |
| By: | Tapasvi I Puwar |
| Abstract: | A situational analysis of recording and reporting maternal deaths in Gandhinagar district, Gujarat, India and to suggest improvements in the system for reporting and recording maternal deaths based on the findings. This qualitative study was conducted during June-August 2008 and analyzed maternal deaths occurred during April 2007–March 2008. To understand the current reporting system of maternal deaths, semi-structured interviews were conducted with all the concerned officials and offices. Forms and formats relating to death registration and registers containing information on deaths in the villages and towns were studied. Deaths of women in reproductive age group (15-49), reported by the district for the same year were also analyzed. Analysis of 15 verbal autopsy forms filled by the Medical Officers and Block Health Officers was also carried out using Epi Info software. Verbal autopsy method was used for in-depth understanding the circumstances and issues relating to 2 maternal deaths occurred during the study period and its reporting. A group meeting was conducted with Anganwadi workers to understand the reporting of maternal deaths through ICDS. |
| Keywords: | maternal deaths, autopsy, Mumbai, gujarat state, maternal mortality ratio, MMR, south asia, NFHS, births, MDGs, Anganwadi workers, ICDS,women, reproductive age group, |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ess:wpaper:id:2222&r=dev |
| By: | Ju, Jiandong; Lin, Justin Yifu; Wang, Yong |
| Keywords: | Economic Theory&Research,Political Economy,Economic Growth,Access to Finance,Currencies and Exchange Rates |
| Date: | 2009–09–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:5055&r=dev |
| By: | Milanovic, Branko |
| Abstract: | The results of new direct price level comparisons across 148 countries in 2005 have led to large revisions of purchasing power parity exchanges rates, particularly for China and India. The recalculation of international and global inequalities, using the new purchasing power parity rates, shows that inequalities are substantially higher than previously thought. Inequality between global citizens is estimated at 70 Gini points rather than 65 as before. The richest decile receives 57 percent of global income rather than 50 percent. |
| Keywords: | Inequality,Poverty Impact Evaluation,Emerging Markets,Equity and Development,Economic Theory&Research |
| Date: | 2009–09–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:5061&r=dev |
| By: | Cull, Robert; Scott, Kinnon |
| Abstract: | In recent years, the number of surveys of access to and use of financial services has multiplied, but little is known about whether the data generated are comparable across countries, or within the same country over time. This paper reports results from a randomized experiment in Ghana to test whether the identity of the respondent and the inclusion of product-specific cues in questions affect the reported rates of household usage of financial services. The analysis shows that rates of household usage are almost identical when the head reports on behalf of the household and when the rate is tabulated from a full enumeration of household use. Randomly selected informants (i.e., non-heads of the household) provide a less complete summary of household use of financial services than the other two methods. The findings also show that for credit from formal institutions, informal sources of savings, and insurance, usage rates are higher when questions are asked about specific financial products rather than about the respondent’s dealings with types of financial institutions. In short, who is asked the questions and the form in which they are asked both matter. |
| Keywords: | Access to Finance,,Banks&Banking Reform,Housing&Human Habitats,Emerging Markets |
| Date: | 2009–09–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:5048&r=dev |
| By: | Khandker, Shahidur R.; Barnes, Douglas F.; Samad, Hussain; Minh, Nguyen Huu |
| Abstract: | Access to electricity is crucial for economic development and there is a growing body of literature on the impact of rural electrification on development. However, most studies have so far relied on cross-sectional surveys comparing households with and without electricity, which have well known causal attribution problems. This paper is one of the first studies to examine the welfare impacts of households’ rural electrification based on panel surveys conducted in 2002 and 2005 for some 1,100 households in rural Vietnam,. The findings indicate that grid electrification has been both extensive (connecting all surveyed communes by 2005) and intensive (connecting almost 80 percent of the surveyed households by 2005). Vietnam is unusual in that once electricity is locally available, both rich and poor households are equally likely to get the connection. The econometric estimations suggest that grid electrification has significant positive impacts on households’ cash income, expenditure, and educational outcomes. The benefits, however, reach a saturation point after prolonged exposure to electricity. Finally, this study recommends investigating the long-term benefits of rural electrification - not just for households, but for the rural economy as a whole. |
| Keywords: | Energy Production and Transportation,Electric Power,Engineering,Access to Finance,Rural Poverty Reduction |
| Date: | 2009–09–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:5057&r=dev |
| By: | Ravallion, Martin |
| Abstract: | Development aid and policy discussions often assume that poorer countries have less internal capacity for redistribution in favor of their poorest citizens. The assumption is tested using data for 90 developing countries. The capacity for redistribution is measured by the marginal tax rate on those who are not poor by rich-country standards that is needed to cover the poverty gap or to provide a poverty-level of basic income, judged by developing-country standards. For most (but not all) countries with annual consumption per capita under $2,000 (at 2005 purchasing power parity) the required tax burdens are found to be prohibitive-often calling for marginal tax rates of 100 percent or more. By contrast, the required tax rates are quite low (1 percent on average) among all countries with consumption per capita over $4,000, as well as some poorer countries. Most countries fall into one of two groups: those with little or no realistic prospect of addressing extreme poverty through redistribution from the"rich"and those that would appear to have ample scope for such redistribution. Economic growth tends to move countries from the first group to the second. Thus the appropriate balance between growth and redistribution strategies can be seen to depend on the level economic development. |
| Keywords: | Achieving Shared Growth,Rural Poverty Reduction,Population Policies,Debt Markets,Inequality |
| Date: | 2009–09–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:5046&r=dev |
| By: | Lay, Jann; Robilliard, Anne-Sophie |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes complementarities between different Millennium Development Goals, focusing on child mortality and how it is influenced by progress in the other goals, in particular two goals related to the expansion of female education: universal primary education and gender equality in education. The authors provide evidence from eight Sub-Saharan African countries using two rounds of Demographic and Health Surveys per country and applying a consistent micro-econometric methodology. In contrast to the mixed findings of previous studies, for most countries the findings reveal strong complementarities between mothers’ educational achievement and child mortality. Mothers’ schooling lifts important demand-side constraints impeding the use of health services. Children of mothers with primary education are much more likely to receive vaccines, a crucial proximate determinant of child survival. In addition, better educated mothers tend to have longer birth intervals, which again increase the chances of child survival. For the variables related to the other goals, for example wealth proxies and access to safe drinking water, the analysis fails to detect significant effects on child mortality, a finding that may be related to data limitations. Finally, the study carries out a set of illustrative simulations to assess the prospects of achieving a reduction by two-thirds in the under-five mortality rate. The findings indicate that some countries, which have been successful in the past, seem to have used their policy space for fast progress in child mortality, for example by extending vaccination coverage. This is the main reason why future achievements will be more difficult and explains why the authors have a fairly pessimistic outlook. |
| Keywords: | Population Policies,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Early Child and Children's Health,Early Childhood Development,Adolescent Health |
| Date: | 2009–09–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:5062&r=dev |
| By: | Andreas Madestam (Bocconi University) |
| Abstract: | I study the coexistence of formal and informal finance in underdeveloped credit markets. While weak institutions constrain formal banks, shallow pockets hamper informal lenders. In such economies, informal finance has two effects. By increasing the investment return it decreases borrowers’ relative payoff following default, inducing banks to lend more liberally (disciplinary effect). By channeling bank capital it reduces banks’ agency costs from lending directly to borrowers, limiting banks’ extension of borrower credit (rent-extraction effect). Among other things, the model shows that informal interest rates are higher, borrower welfare lower, and informal finance more prevalent when the rent-extraction effect prevails, consistent with stylized facts in poor societies. |
| Keywords: | Credit Markets, Financial Development, Institutions, Market Structure |
| JEL: | O12 O16 O17 D40 |
| Date: | 2009–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fem:femwpa:2009.69&r=dev |
| By: | Arusha Cooray; |
| Abstract: | This study shows that despite a strong empirical association between gender differentials in enrolment ratios and democracy, that democracy alone does not explain gender differentials in education in Africa and Asia. The results indicate that income, employment in agriculture, religious heterogeneity and colonialism also help explain the under-representation of girls in education in these regions. Countries in which the duration of suffrage has been longer, tend to perform better on average in terms of gender equality in education. |
| JEL: | O11 O15 O43 O57 |
| Date: | 2009–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:acb:camaaa:2009-20&r=dev |
| By: | Roozbeh Hosseini; Larry E. Jones; Ali Shourideh |
| Abstract: | We use an extended Barro-Becker model of endogenous fertility, in which parents are heterogeneous in their labor productivity, to study the efficient degree of consumption inequality in the long run. In our environment a utilitarian planner allows for consumption inequality even when labor productivity is public information. We show that adding private information does not alter this result. We also show that the informationally constrained optimal insurance contract has a resetting property - whenever a family line experiences the highest shock, the continuation utility of each child is reset to a (high) level that is independent of history. This implies that there is a non-trivial, stationary distribution over continuation utilities and there is no mass at misery. The novelty of our approach is that the no-immiseration result is achieved without requiring that the objectives of the planner and the private agents disagree. Because there is no discrepancy between planner and private agents' objectives, the policy implications for implementation of the efficient allocation differ from previous results in the literature. Two examples of these are: 1) estate taxes are positive and 2) there are positive taxes on family size. |
| Keywords: | Taxation ; Contracts ; Risk |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedmwp:674&r=dev |
| By: | Yi Wen |
| Abstract: | Fast-growing economies tend to have extremely high saving rates. Empirical evidence suggests that this positive correlation holds largely because high growth leads to high saving, not the other way around. Such empirical evidence is inconsistent with the permanent-income hypothesis, but consistent with standard neoclassical growth theory, since high productivity growth raises the rate of returns to investment, hence stimulating saving through high real interest rates. However, fast-growing economies have not just high saving rates, but also low interest rates. Why would households save excessively to finance firms? investment when the interest rate on their savings is so low? This paper shows that precautionary saving under borrowing constraints can solve the puzzle. Borrowing constraints make an individual?s marginal propensity to consume negatively dependent on her permanent income, so that high growth can lead to substantially increased saving without high interest rates. In other words, precautionary saving is able to support a large spread between the deposit rate and the rate of returns to capital; consequently, fast-growing economies can exhibit not only astonishingly high saving rates despite low deposit rates, but also undiminished rates of return to capital despite large investment-to-output ratios. |
| Keywords: | Saving and investment ; Consumer behavior |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedlwp:2009-045&r=dev |
| By: | Giulia Bettin (Hamburg Institute of International Economics (HWWI), Germany); Alberto Zazzaro (Universit… Politecnica delle Marche, Department of Economics, MoFiR) |
| Abstract: | In a recent study, Chami et al. (2003) suggested that remittances can have a negative impact on;economic growth of the receiving country by diminishing the work effort of the migrants' relatives.;Subsequently, Giuliano and Ruiz-Arranz (2009) found that this moral hazard effect emerges only;when financial development is low. In this paper, we introduce a new indicator of financial;development measuring the efficiency domestic banking system and show that the impact of;remittances on economic growth is negative (positive) in countries where bank efficiency is low;(high). This complementarity result is robust to controls for other financial development and;institutional quality indicators. |
| Keywords: | bank efficiency, economic growth, financial development, migrants' remittances |
| JEL: | F22 F43 O16 |
| Date: | 2009–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:anc:wmofir:28&r=dev |
| By: | Aleksander Berentsen; Mariana Rojas Breu; Shouyong Shi |
| Abstract: | Many countries simultaneously suffer from high rates of inflation, low growth rates of per capita income and poorly developed financial sectors. In this paper, we integrate a microfounded model of money and finance into a model of endogenous growth to examine the effects of inflation and financial development. A novel feature of the model is that the market for innovation goods is decentralized. Financial intermediaries arise endogenously to provide liquid funds to the innovation sector. We calibrate the model to address two quantitative issues. One is the effects of an exogenous improvement in the productivity of the financial sector on welfare and per capita growth. The other is the effects of inflation on welfare and growth. Consistent with the data but in contrast to previous work, reducing inflation generates large gains in the growth rate of per capita income as well as in welfare. Relative to reducing inflation, improving the efficiency of the financial market increases growth and welfare by much smaller amounts. |
| Keywords: | Money, Credit, Innovation, Growth |
| Date: | 2009–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zur:iewwpx:441&r=dev |
| By: | Hisako, KAI; Shigeyuki, HAMORI |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the relationship microfinance and inequality by providing a cross-country empirical study of 61 developing countries. Microfinance plays an important role in the financial market in many developing countries. Although microfinance is expected to significantly affect macro variables, we lack enough empirical research on Impact Analysis at the macro level, such as the effect of microfinance on inequality. We expect microfinance to have an equalizing effect, and provide a first detailed cross-country empirical analysis in this regard. We find that microfinance can lower inequality, and poorer countries need to focus more on the equalizing effect of microfinance. |
| Keywords: | Microfinance; Inequality; Impact Analysis at Macro Level |
| JEL: | O11 |
| Date: | 2009–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:17537&r=dev |
| By: | Guifu, Chen; Shigeyuki, Hamori |
| Abstract: | Oaxaca’s study (1973), along with the China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS) questionnaire (2004 and 2006 pooling data), is used as the basis for this study in estimating the formal-informal employment hourly income differential, as well as the formal and informal male-female employment hourly income differential in urban China. The results indicate that differences in the characteristics between formal and informal employment account for a much higher percentage of the hourly income differential than do discrimination. In addition, ignoring the sample selection bias, one finds the formal male-female, the informal male-female hourly income differential and the degree of discrimination against informal women’s employment will be overestimated; conversely, the degree of discrimination against formal women’s employment will be underestimated. |
| Keywords: | formal employment; informal employment; income differentials; Chinese labor market |
| JEL: | J40 J70 |
| Date: | 2009–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:17585&r=dev |