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on Development |
| By: | Lei, Xiaoyan (Peking University); Yin, Nina (Toulouse School of Economics); Zhao, Yaohui (Peking University) |
| Abstract: | The epidemiological transition, which has already passed the developed world, is still progressing in many developing countries. A particular problem associated with this transition is the under-diagnosis and lack of treatment of chronic diseases, and these may exhibit SES gradients and exacerbate social inequality. Using hypertension as an example and data from China (CHNS), we find that the prevalence of hypertension in China is already close to levels in developed countries, under-diagnosis is pervasive, treatment is rare, and failure to control is widespread. Consistent with the literature, we find no income and education gradients in the prevalence of hypertension. However, there are strong education gradients in diagnosis and treatment in urban areas. The income gradients in all aspects of hypertension are relatively weak and sometimes nonexistent. Interestingly, we find that access to health care does not contribute to the diagnosis of hypertension, nor does it aid much in the treatment and control of hypertension. Our results suggest that the epidemiological transition has indeed occurred, but both the Chinese public and its health care system are ill-prepared. There is an urgent need to educate the public on chronic illnesses, and to raise the quality of health care so that patients receive proper diagnoses and guidance on how to treat and control those chronic illnesses. |
| Keywords: | epidemiological transition, under-diagnosis, SES health gradients |
| JEL: | I10 |
| Date: | 2010–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4914&r=dev |
| By: | Halliday, Timothy (University of Hawaii at Manoa) |
| Abstract: | We use panel data from El Salvador to investigate migration and the intra-household allocation of labor as a strategy for coping with uninsured risk. Consistent with a model of a farm household with a binding subsistence constraint, we show that adverse agricultural productivity shocks increased both male migration to the US and the supply of male agricultural labor within the household in El Salvador. In contrast, after damage sustained from the 2001 earthquakes, female migration from El Salvador declined. This is consistent with the earthquakes increasing the demand for home production. Overall, household responses to uninsured risk appear to be consistent with a simple framework in which household members are allocated to sectors according to their comparative advantage. Finally, we show no evidence that the labor market in El Salvador is capable of helping rural Salvadoran households to buffer the effects of adverse shocks. |
| Keywords: | migration, labor supply, insurance, intra-household allocation, subsistence constraints |
| JEL: | J22 J61 |
| Date: | 2010–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4903&r=dev |
| By: | Bezabih, Mintewab (University of Portsmouth); Mannberg, Andréa (Department of Economics, Umeå University); Visser, Martine (University of Cape Town) |
| Abstract: | This paper empirically assesses links between expectations of future health and income on sexual risk taking on a sample of young adults in Cape Town, South Africa. An important contribution of the paper lies in combining a wide range of variables measuring risky sexual behavior such that the maximum information possible is extracted from, and adequate weights are attached to each measure, as opposed to previous studies that are based on individual measures or arbitrary aggregations. The findings indicate that expected income and health and future uncertainty are significant determinants of current patterns of sexual risk taking. From a policy perspective, the results suggest that reducing poverty and improving social insurance as well as reducing the taboo related to talking about HIV may constitute important issues to be addressed. |
| Keywords: | HIV/AIDS; Health risk; Risk aversion |
| JEL: | D81 D84 D91 I10 |
| Date: | 2010–04–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:umnees:0804&r=dev |
| By: | Ana Fernandes (University of Sussex); Heiwai Tang (Tufts University and Centro Studi Luca d’Agliano) |
| Abstract: | Using detailed product-level export data for China and a variant of the Antràs and Helpman (2004) model that includes investments in component search, we examine the sectoral determinants of foreign direct investment (FDI) versus foreign outsourcing in export processing trade. We exploit the coexistence of two regulatory export processing regimes in China, which specify who owns and controls the imported components for export processing. We find that in the regime that Chinese plants own the imported components, the share of exports from vertically integrated plants is increasing in the intensity of headquarter inputs across sectors, and is decreasing in the contractibility of inputs. These results are consistent with the property- rights theory of intra-firm trade. However, in the regime that foreign firms own the imported components, no significant relationship is found between the prevalence of vertical integration, headquarter intensity and input contractibility across sectors. The positive relationship between productivity dispersion and the export share of integrated plants across sectors, as suggested by the existing literature, is found only in the regime that foreign firms own the imported components. These results are consistent with our model, which considers ownership of imported components as an alternative to asset ownership to alleviate the hold-up problem by the export-processing plant. |
| Keywords: | Intra rm trade, Vertical integration, Export processing, Outsourcing |
| JEL: | F14 F23 L14 L33 |
| Date: | 2010–04–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:csl:devewp:289&r=dev |
| By: | Quamrul Ashraf; Oded Galor |
| Abstract: | This research argues that deep-rooted factors, determined tens of thousands of years ago, had a signi.cant e¤ect on the course of economic development from the dawn of human civilization to the contemporary era. It advances and empirically establishes the hypothesis that in the course of the exodus of Homo sapiens out of Africa, variation in migratory distance from the cradle of humankind to various settlements across the globe a¤ected genetic diversity and has had a direct long-lasting e¤ect on the pattern of comparative economic development that could not be captured by contemporary geographical, institutional, and cultural factors. In particular, the level of genetic diversity within a society is found to have a hump-shaped e¤ect on development outcomes in the pre-colonial era, re.ecting the trade-o¤ between the bene.cial and the detrimen- tal e¤ects of diversity on productivity. Moreover, the level of genetic diversity in each country today (i.e., genetic diversity and genetic distance among and between its ancestral populations) has a similar non-monotonic e¤ect on the contemporary levels of income per capita. While the intermediate level of genetic diversity prevalent among the Asian and European populations has been conducive for development, the high degree of diversity among African populations and the low degree of diversity among Native American populations have been a detrimental force in the development of these regions. Further, the optimal level of diversity has increased in the process of industrialization, as the bene.cial forces associated with greater diversity have intensi.ed in an environment characterized by more rapid technological progress. |
| Keywords: | .Out of Africa. hypothesis; Human genetic diversity; Comparative development; Population density; Neolithic Revolution; Land productivity; Malthusian stagnation |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bro:econwp:2010-7&r=dev |
| By: | Pedro Pita Barros (Departamento de Economia, Universidade Nova de Lisboa and CEPR); Isabel Medalho Pereira (Human Development Report Office (UNDP) and CEFAGE-UE) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the performance of immigrants relative to natives, in terms of their health status, use of health care services, lifestyles, and coverage of health expenditures. We base the analysis on international evidence that identified a healthy immigrant effect, complemented by empirical research on the Portuguese National Health Survey. Furthermore, we assess whether differences in health performance depend on the personal characteristics of the individuals or can be directly associated with their migration experience. |
| Keywords: | Migration; Health status; Health care; Healthy immigrant effect; Portugal. |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cfe:wpcefa:2010_04&r=dev |
| By: | Niño-Zarazúa, Miguel; Barrientos, Armando; Hulme, David; Hickey, Sam |
| Abstract: | This paper provides an overview of the recent extension of social protection in sub-Saharan Africa. It identifies two main ‘models’ of social protection in the region: the Southern Africa and Middle Africa models. It then assesses the contrasting policy processes behind these models and examines the major challenges they face as regards financing, institutional capacity and political support. It concludes that, for an effective institutional framework for social protection to evolve in sub-Saharan African countries, the present focus on the technical design of social protection programmes needs to be accompanied by analyses that contribute to also ‘getting the politics right’ |
| Keywords: | social protection; poverty; transfer programmes; sub-Saharan Africa |
| JEL: | O55 D63 O17 H53 |
| Date: | 2010–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:22422&r=dev |
| By: | Cohen, Joseph N |
| Abstract: | The Frasier Institute’s Economic Freedom of the World is often taken as a metric of market capitalism. This paper argues that the index is an amalgam of measures capturing free markets and good governance, and analysts should remain cognizant of this conceptual conflation when using the index to develop policy prescriptions. Implicitly, the “economic freedom” literature suggests that countries embrace an “Anglo-Swiss” policy model, although the rich world offers alternative models that maximize good governance but not liberalization. Factor analyses suggest that the index’s Legal System & Property Rights component is more closely related to outside governance metrics that do not imply market liberalism than other “economic freedom” constituent measures. |
| Keywords: | Economic Freedom; Capitalism; Governance; Economic Policy; Economic Development |
| JEL: | O1 P5 P1 |
| Date: | 2009–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:22437&r=dev |
| By: | Daron Acemoglu |
| Abstract: | I discuss the role of economic theory in empirical work in development economics with special emphasis on general equilibrium and political economy considerations. I argue that economic theory plays (should play) a central role in formulating models, estimates of which can be used for counterfactual and policy analysis. I discuss why counterfactual analysis based on microdata that ignores general equilibrium and political economy issues may lead to misleading conclusions. I illustrate the main arguments using examples from recent work in development economics and political economy. |
| JEL: | B41 D50 O10 O12 P48 |
| Date: | 2010–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:15944&r=dev |
| By: | Daron Acemoglu; Gino Gancia; Fabrizio Zilibotti |
| Abstract: | We study a dynamic general equilibrium model where innovation takes the form of the introduction new goods, whose production requires skilled workers. Innovation is followed by a costly process of standardization, whereby these new goods are adapted to be produced using unskilled labor. Our framework highlights a number of novel results. First, standardization is both an engine of growth and a potential barrier to it. As a result, growth in an inverse U-shaped function of the standardization rate (and of competition). Second, we characterize the growth and welfare maximizing speed of standardization. We show how optimal IPR policies affecting the cost of standardization vary with the skill-endowment, the elasticity of substitution between goods and other parameters. Third, we show that the interplay between innovation and standardization may lead to multiple equilibria. Finally, we study the implications of our model for the skill-premium and we illustrate novel reasons for linking North-South trade to intellectual property rights protection. |
| JEL: | F43 O31 O33 O34 |
| Date: | 2010–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:15958&r=dev |