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on Development |
| By: | Jaime Andrés Sarmiento Espinel (El Colegio de México; Universidad Militar Nueva Granada) |
| Abstract: | This paper estimates for a sample of Mexican families a structural collective model of household labor supply with children and home production. The framework of Blundell, Chiappori, and Meghir (2005) is used to address how household allocations are affected by the intra-household decision-making process when both parents care for their children’s welfare, particularly their education. In households with characteristics equal to the average of the sample, more household resources are directed toward children’s education when the balance of bargaining power changes in favor of fathers instead of mothers. Moreover, in spite of mothers having a larger estimated marginal willingness to pay than fathers for resources associated with children’s utility, more (less) expenditures and time would be dedicated to children when fathers. bargaining power increases (decreases) exogenously. These results draw attention to the design of targeting strategies which presumes that mothers care more for children than fathers, being possible to be less effective in some cases than if it had been focused on augment fathers’power. |
| Keywords: | collective household models, children, labor supply, household production. |
| JEL: | D12 D13 J13 J22 |
| Date: | 2012–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:emx:ceedoc:2012-09&r=dev |
| By: | Raymundo M. Campos Vazquez (El Colegio de México); Andres Hincapie (Washington University in St. Louis); Ruben Irvin Rojas-Valdes (El Colegio de México) |
| Abstract: | We study family income inequality in Mexico from 1988 to 2010. The share of married females' income among married couples grew from 13 to 23 percent in the period. However, the correlation of married males' and married females' earnings has been fairly stable at 0.28, one of the highest correlations recorded across countries. We follow Cancian and Reed's (1999) methodology in order to analize whether married females' income equalizes total family income distribution. We investigate several counterfactuals and conclude that the increment in female employment has contributed to a decrease in family income inequality through a rise in married females' labor supply in poor families. |
| Keywords: | income inequality, female employment, female earnings, Latin America, Mexico |
| JEL: | J12 J21 J31 O15 O54 |
| Date: | 2012–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:emx:ceedoc:2012-08&r=dev |
| By: | Isabelle Chort (PSE - Paris-Jourdan Sciences Economiques - CNRS : UMR8545 - Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) - Ecole des Ponts ParisTech - Ecole Normale Supérieure de Paris - ENS Paris - INRA, EEP-PSE - Ecole d'Économie de Paris - Paris School of Economics - Ecole d'Économie de Paris) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the importance and role of migration networks in Senegal using a new nationally representative survey conducted in 2006-2007. Using a sample of 1707 Senegalese households I explore potentially differential effects of networks on international migration depending on their characteristics in terms of composition and destination. Results from logit and multinomial logit regressions show that household networks seem to be destination-specific and have a greater positive influence on migration than community networks. Networks also seem to have heterogeneous effects on migration depending on gender, household wealth or size which is consistent with previous findings in the literatureand backs up a networks effects story. |
| Keywords: | Migration ; Migrant Networks ; Senegal |
| Date: | 2012–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:psewpa:halshs-00689460&r=dev |
| By: | Dillon, Andrew; Sharma, Manohar; Zhang, Xiaobo |
| Abstract: | During the period of Nepal's ninth Five-Year Plan (1997–2002), agricultural growth in the predominantly rural society was disappointing. The recent peace process, however, gives the country new opportunities to develop its economy with less interference due to internal conflict. This research monograph investigates how Nepal might seize these opportunities by increasing agricultural growth and poverty reduction through improvements in roads, irrigation, and rural extension. The authors evaluate the impact of public investments in these areas by using two types of data and methodology: a hedonic approach that relates access to public infrastructure and services to land value and a panel of household-level data on consumption, poverty, and income. The hedonic methodology suggests a positive relationship between investments in irrigation and extension and household welfare, although the panel data approach suggests otherwise. This result reinforces the importance of methodology in evaluating rural investments. Rural roads yielded more clear-cut findings, however: both approaches agree that investment there has a positive relationship with household welfare, as measured in land values, consumption growth, poverty reduction, or agricultural income growth. The authors recommend increased public investments in rural roads, irrigation, and extension, as well as further research into precisely how infrastructure and services affect rural households' welfare and how their effectiveness can be improved. This monograph will be useful to policymakers, researchers, and others concerned with Nepal's future development. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural growth, Poverty reduction, Public investments, hedonic approach, household data, policymakers, Rural development, infrastructure, Rural conditions, Economic aspects, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:resrep:andrewdillon&r=dev |
| By: | Yamauchi, Futoshi; Tiongco, Marites |
| Abstract: | This paper shows mutually consistent evidence to support female advantage in education and disadvantage in labor markets observed in the Philippines. We set up a model that shows multiple Nash equilibria to explain schooling and labor market behaviors for females and males. Our evidence from unique sibling data of schooling and work history and from the Philippine Labor Force Survey support that family arrangement to tighten commitment between daughters and parents keeps a high level of schooling investments in daughters. Because wage penalty to females in labor markets means that education is relatively important as a determinant of their earnings, parental investments in their daughters' education has larger impacts on the income of their daughters than on their sons. Parents expect larger income shared from better-educated adult daughters. In contrast, males stay in an equilibrium, with low levels of schooling investment and income sharing. |
| Keywords: | Education, Family, Gender, Labor market, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:1155&r=dev |
| By: | Akramov, Kamiljon T.; Shreedhar, Ganga |
| Abstract: | The combination of the recent global food and financial crises has had severe negative consequences on food security in Tajikistan. High dependence on food imports has made Tajikistan extremely vulnerable to the increasing global food prices and the volatility and transmission of global food prices was an important dimension of the food price crisis in the country. Excessive reliance on labor remittances exacerbated Tajikistan's food insecurity and the vulnerability of its households. This study examines the impact of recent food and economic crises on macro- and household-level food security in the country using macro-, sectoral-, and household-level data from national and international sources. The study also discusses overall trends in economic growth and poverty reduction, constraints and bottlenecks on agricultural growth and productivity, and other policies that may mitigate the negative effects of future external shocks. |
| Keywords: | Agriculture, Financial crisis, food security, global food crisis, Land reform, Remittances, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:1163&r=dev |
| By: | Babu, Suresh Chandra; Govindarajan, Senthil Kumar; Asenso-Okyere, Kwadwo; Glendenning, Claire J. |
| Abstract: | Public agricultural extension systems often fail due to inadequate consultation of farmers about their information needs and poor understanding of their information search strategies. In discussing and implementing extension programs and advisory services, the following questions need to be addressed: What information do the farmers need? How and where do they search for information? What factors determine their search behavior? How much are they willing to pay for information? While the first two questions are addressed fairly well in the literature, the latter two have not yet been dealt with in the context of developing countries. Using a case study of two districts in South India, we examine farmers' information needs and information search behavior, factors affecting their search behavior, and their willingness to pay for information. Cluster analysis on access, frequency, and use of information sources identified four farmer information search behaviors—high, medium, semi-medium, and low. The groups differed significantly by post–high school studies, household economic status, cultivated land area, agricultural income, and membership in a farmer-based organization (FBO) and a primary agricultural cooperative bank (PACB). We use these four information search behavior clusters to examine differences in information needs, sources used, and preferred sources. The important information needs relating to rice included pest and disease management, pesticide and fertilizer application, seed variety, and seed treatment. Rice production practices and credit information were more important for the low search group. Private input dealers and the state department of agricultural extension staff were the main information sources, though use of these two sources decreased with greater information searching. High and medium searchers used a greater number of sources, which also included print media and television. The major constraints to information access, common to all search groups, were poor reliability and timeliness. The preferred medium for obtaining information was interpersonal contacts, followed by information via mobile phones, where a helpline or voice messages were preferred over short message service (SMS). A contingent valuation technique revealed that farmers' willingness to pay for voice-based mobile phone messages was low. The results show that tailoring the delivery of agricultural information to the different information search behaviors of farmers is important for extension programs to consider. |
| Keywords: | agricultural extension and advisory service, willingness to pay, search behavior, information source, information need, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:1165&r=dev |
| By: | McMillan, Margaret; Masters, William A.; Kazianga, Harounan |
| Abstract: | This paper uses historical census data from Burkina Faso to characterize local demographic pressures associated with internal migration into river valleys after onchocerciasis eradication, combined with a new survey of village elders to document change over time and differences across villages in local public goods provision, market institutions, and land use rights. We hypothesize that higher local population densities are associated with more public goods and with a transition from open-access to regulated land use. Controlling for province or village fixed effects, we find that villages' variance in population associated with proximity to rivers is closely correlated with higher levels of infrastructure, markets, and individual land rights, as opposed to familial or communal rights. Responding to population growth with both improved public services and private property rights is consistent with both scale effects in public good provision and changes in the scarcity of land. |
| Keywords: | Demography, Institutions, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:1164&r=dev |
| By: | Kolavalli, Shashi; Robinson, Elizabeth; Diao, Xinshen; Alpuerto, Vida; Folledo, Renato; Slavova, Mira; Ngeleza, Guyslain; Asante, Felix |
| Abstract: | In the context of the Ghanaian government's objective of structural transformation with an emphasis on manufacturing, this paper provides a case study of economic transformation in Ghana, exploring patterns of growth, sectoral transformation, and agglomeration. We document and examine why, despite impressive growth and poverty reduction figures, Ghana's economy has exhibited less transformation than might be expected for a country that has recently achieved middle-income status. Ghana's reduced share of agriculture in the economy, unlike many successfully transformed countries in Asia and Latin America, has been filled by services, while manufacturing has stagnated and even declined. Likely causes include weak transformation of the agricultural sector and therefore little development of agroprocessing, the emergence of consumption cities and consumption-driven growth, upward pressure on the exchange rate, weak production linkages, and a poor environment for private-sector-led manufacturing. |
| Keywords: | agglomeration, Economic transformation, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:1161&r=dev |
| By: | McMillan, Margaret; Rodrik, Dani |
| Abstract: | Large gaps in labor productivity between the traditional and modern parts of the economy are a fundamental reality of developing societies. In this paper, we document these gaps and emphasize that labor flows from low-productivity activities to high-productivity activities are a key driver of development. Our results show that since 1990 structural change has been growth-reducing in both Africa and Latin America, with the most striking changes taking place in Latin America. The bulk of the difference between these countries' productivity performance and that of Asia is accounted for by differences in the pattern of structural change—with labor moving from low- to high-productivity sectors in Asia, but in the opposite direction in Latin America and Africa. In our empirical work, we identify three factors that help determine whether—and, if so, the extent to which—structural change contributes to overall productivity growth. In countries with a relatively large share of natural resources in exports, structural change has typically been growth-reducing. Even though these enclave sectors usually operate at very high productivity, they cannot absorb the surplus labor from agriculture. By contrast, competitive or undervalued exchange rates and labor market flexibility have contributed to growth-enhancing structural change. |
| Keywords: | economic growth, exchange rates, Labor, productivity, structural change, |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:1160&r=dev |
| By: | Takasaki, Yoshito |
| Abstract: | How disaster aid is allocated within poor villages is little understood. This paper examines risk-sharing institutions and social hierarchies as village self-allocation mechanisms. Original survey data from Fiji contain rich information about cyclone damage, traditional kin status, and aid allocations over post-disaster phases, at both household and kin-group levels. The paper shows under what conditions the performance of targeting aid to victims can significantly differ from overall risk-sharing outcomes determined by private transfers and aid (i.e., targeting gap). Elite domination in aid allocation can occur not only for given damage, but also in targeting on damage (i.e., targeting bias). |
| Keywords: | disaster aid, informal risk sharing, social hierarchy, targeting, Fiji |
| JEL: | O17 I38 Q18 Q54 |
| Date: | 2012–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hit:primdp:25&r=dev |
| By: | Li, Yuheng (China Economic Research Center) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the spatial-temporal disparity evident in rural household incomes at the provincial level in China in the period 1978-2007. The research is introduced through a framework comprising the transitional processes of decentralization, marketization, urbanization, and globalization. The research uses Moran’s I index and the spatial regression model. Research results show a clear spatial-temporal disparity in rural household incomes in China in the post-reform era, whereby the eastern provinces possess higher rural household incomes in comparison to the lower rural household incomes of the inland provinces. This disparity is attributed to the joint influence of processes of marketization, urbanization, and globalization upon household incomes derived from the non-agricultural industries. Decentralization proves to be non-significant in explaining the disparity in rural household incomes across China, as a result of the agricultural income generated from the limited household land allocated to each rural household. |
| Keywords: | Rural household income; spatial-temporal; Moran’s; transitional process; China |
| JEL: | N95 O11 R11 R58 |
| Date: | 2012–04–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:hacerc:2012-021&r=dev |
| By: | Nicola Brandt |
| Abstract: | Notwithstanding impressive progress, poverty and inequality remain high in Chile in OECD comparison, and the tax-benefit system does little to improve on this. The government plans to introduce a new cash transfer for the poor, the Ingreso Ético Familiar. This is a welcome initiative. However, the transfer will be modest by OECD standards, at least initially, and it will be quite narrowly targeted at families living in extreme poverty. Over time, the government should consider increasing the size of this transfer and opening it to a wider range of beneficiaries through gradual benefit withdrawal. Strong support for the poor to find jobs of decent quality will be key to help them overcome poverty in a sustainable way. Ingreso Ético Familiar will come with an employment programme for beneficiaries. This should build on the existing infrastructure of active labour market policies, which will need to improve at the same time. The government should strengthen the capacity of local labour offices and use the current evaluation of training programmes to retain only those of proven effectiveness, while focusing them more on low-skilled workers and the unemployed. Strengthening unemployment benefits, while limiting severance pay, would make employment protection more effective and do more to avoid labour market duality. This Working Paper relates to the 2012 OECD Economic Survey of Chile (www.oecd.org/eco/surveys/chile).<P>Réduire la pauvreté au Chili grâce aux transferts monétaires et à de meilleures possibilités d'emploi<BR>En dépit des impressionnants progrès accomplis, la pauvreté et les inégalités demeurent fortes au Chili par comparaison avec les autres pays membres de l’OCDE, et le système de prélèvements et de transferts ne contribue guère à améliorer la situation. Les autorités envisagent d’introduire un nouveau transfert monétaire destiné aux pauvres : Ingreso Ético Familiar. C’est une initiative qui va dans le bon sens. Cependant, au moins au début, le transfert sera modeste par rapport aux critères de la zone OCDE, et il sera ciblé très étroitement sur les familles vivant dans l’extrême pauvreté. A terme, il faudrait prévoir d’augmenter son montant et d’élargir l’éventail de ses bénéficiaires en instaurant une progressivité dans la suppression de la prestation. Il sera essentiel d’apporter aux pauvres un solide appui dans la recherche d’un emploi décent afin de les aider à sortir durablement de la pauvreté. Ingreso Ético Familiar s’accompagnera d’un programme pour l’emploi à l’intention des bénéficiaires. Ce dispositif devrait s’appuyer sur l’infrastructure existante des politiques actives du marché du travail, qu’il faudra améliorer parallèlement. Les autorités devraient renforcer les capacités des agences locales pour l’emploi et se fonder sur l’évaluation existante des programmes de formation pour ne conserver que ceux dont l’efficacité est prouvée, tout en les axant davantage sur les travailleurs peu qualifiés et les chômeurs. L’amélioration de l’indemnisation du chômage, couplée à la limitation des indemnités de licenciement, accroîtrait l’efficacité de la protection de l’emploi et contribuerait mieux à éviter le dualisme du marché du travail Ce Document de travail se rapporte à l'Etude économique de l'OCDE du Chili 2012 (www.oecd.org/eco/etudes/chili). |
| Keywords: | poverty, labour market, inequality, cash transfers, marché du travail, pauvreté, transferts d’argent, inégalité |
| JEL: | H52 H53 H55 I32 J2 J5 |
| Date: | 2012–04–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:ecoaaa:951-en&r=dev |
| By: | McKenzie, David; Theoharides, Caroline; Yang, Dean |
| Abstract: | The authors use an original panel dataset of migrant departures from the Philippines to identify the responsiveness of migrant numbers and wages to gross domestic product shocks in destination countries. They find a large significant elasticity of migrant numbers to gross domestic product shocks at destination, but no significant wage response. This is consistent with binding minimum wages for migrant labor. This result implies that labor market imperfections that make international migration attractive also make migrant flows more sensitive to global business cycles. Difference-in-differences analysis of a minimum wage change for maids confirms that minimum wages bind and demand is price sensitive without these distortions. |
| Keywords: | Labor Markets,Labor Policies,Population Policies,International Migration,Economic Theory&Research |
| Date: | 2012–04–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6041&r=dev |
| By: | Akyeampong, Emmanuel; Fofackm Hippolyte |
| Abstract: | Bringing together history and economics, this paper presents a historical and processual understanding of women's economic marginalization in Sub-Saharan Africa from the pre-colonial period to the end of colonial rule. It is not that women have not been economically active or productive; it is rather that they have often not been able to claim the proceeds of their labor or have it formally accounted for. The paper focuses on the pre-colonial and colonial periods and outlines three major arguments. First, it discusses the historical processes through which the labor of women was increasingly appropriated even in kinship structures in pre-colonial Africa, utilizing the concepts of"rights in persons"and"wealth in people."Reviewing the processes of production and reproduction, it explains why most slaves in pre-colonial Africa were women and discusses how slavery and slave trade intensified the exploitation of women. Second, it analyzes how the cultivation of cash crops and European missionary constructions of the individual, marriage, and family from the early decades of the 19th century sequestered female labor and made it invisible in the realm of domestic production. Third, it discusses how colonial policies from the late 19th century reinforced the"capture"of female labor and the codification of patriarchy through the nature and operation of the colonial economy and the instrumentality of customary law. The sequel to this paper focuses on the post-colonial period. It examines the continuing relevance and impact of the historical processes this paper discusses on post-colonial economies, and suggests some policy implications. |
| Keywords: | Anthropology,Gender and Development,Population Policies,Rural Development Knowledge&Information Systems,Gender and Law |
| Date: | 2012–04–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6051&r=dev |
| By: | Parajuli, Dilip; Acharya, Gayatri; Chaudhury, Nazmul; Thapa, Bishnu Bahadur |
| Abstract: | The Nepal Poverty Alleviation Fund is a World Bank supported community-driven development program. Its objective is to improve rural welfare, particularly for groups that have traditionally been excluded for reasons of gender, ethnicity, caste, and location. Since its launch in 2004, the Fund has covered the 40 poorest districts of the country, supported some 15,000 community organizations, and benefited more than 2.5 million people. This paper attempts to estimate the impact of this large-scale program using a randomized phase-in approach, in which certain localities are randomly selected for earlier intervention than others. Using two rounds of survey data and a difference-in-difference combined with instrumental variable estimation method, it finds statistically significant causal impact of the program on key welfare outcomes. The treatment-on-the-treated estimate on real per capita consumption is 19 percent growth. Other impacts include a 19 percentage points decline on incidence of food insecurity (defined as food sufficiency for six months or less) and a 15 percentage points increase in the school enrollment rate among 6-15 year-olds. Impacts (positive or negative) are yet to be detected on indicators associated with child malnutrition, social capital, and empowerment. The policy implications of these results should be of interest to the government and to development partners in determining what may be effective instruments to deliver services to marginalized communities in what remains a fragile and difficult political environment. |
| Keywords: | Rural Poverty Reduction,Poverty Monitoring&Analysis,Housing&Human Habitats,Regional Economic Development |
| Date: | 2012–04–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6042&r=dev |
| By: | Cuesta, Jose; Kabaso, Pamela; Suarez-Becerra, Pablo |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the distributional effect of public spending in Zambia using the most recent data from the 2010 Living Conditions Monitoring Survey. The analysis focuses on both the"traditional"social sectors, such as education and public healthcare, as well as other spending areas less thoroughly studied, such as agricultural support programs. Ultimately, this benefit incidence analysis addresses the extent to which spending is pro-poor and progressive; that is, it primarily benefits the poor and does so at an increasing rate as welfare levels decrease. The results indicate that overall public education spending in Zambia is neither pro-poor nor progressive, but while this is true for the system as a whole it is not true for all of its parts. The net unitary benefits of primary and secondary education are clearly both pro-poor and progressive. However, their progressivity is ultimately outweighed by the extreme concentration of tertiary education benefits among the wealthiest members of Zambian society. Health spending is also regressive and not pro-poor. Although unitary net benefits are slightly progressive, unequal access remains the key constraint. In contrast, the benefits of agricultural-input subsidy programs follow a somewhat progressive pattern (for each beneficiary in the top quintile there are almost two beneficiaries in the poorest quintile) but clearly suffer from targeting problems. Consequently, without better-designed and more conscientiously implemented targeting mechanisms, public spending on health, education, and fertilizers will not be able to further the government's larger objectives for pro-poor and progressive development policy. |
| Keywords: | Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Public Sector Expenditure Policy,Access to Finance,Population Policies,Health Systems Development&Reform |
| Date: | 2012–04–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6052&r=dev |
| By: | Macours, Karen; Premand, Patrick; Vakis, Renos |
| Abstract: | While climate change is likely to increase weather risks in many developing countries, there is little evidence on effective policies to facilitate adaptation. This paper presents experimental evidence on a program in rural Nicaragua aimed at improving households'risk-management through income diversification. The intervention targeted agricultural households exposed to weather shocks related to changes in rainfall and temperature patterns. It combined a conditional cash transfer with vocational training or a productive investment grant. The authors identify the relative impact of each complementary package based on randomized assignment, and analyze how impacts vary by exposure to exogenous drought shocks. The results show that both complementary interventions provide full protection against drought shocks two years after the end of the intervention. Households that received the productive investment grant also had higher average consumption levels. The complementary interventions led to diversification of economic activities and better protection from shocks compared to beneficiaries of the basic conditional cash transfer and control households. These results show that combining safety nets with productive interventions can help households manage future weather risks and promote longer-term program impacts. |
| Keywords: | Safety Nets and Transfers,Regional Economic Development,Rural Poverty Reduction,Housing&Human Habitats |
| Date: | 2012–04–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6053&r=dev |
| By: | Lin, Justin Yifu; Rosenblatt, David |
| Abstract: | This paper provides an historical overview of both the evolution of the economic performance of the developing world and the evolution of economic thought on development policy. The 20th century was broadly characterized by divergence between high-income countries and the developing world, with only a limited number (less than 10 percent of the economies in the world) managing to progress out of lower or middle-income status to high-income status. The last decade witnessed a sharp reversal from a pattern of divergence to convergence --particularly for a set of large middle-income countries. The latter phenomenon was also driven by increasing economic ties among developing countries, and on the intellectual scale, increased knowledge generation and sharing among the developing countries. Re-thinking development policy implies confronting these realities: 20th century economic divergence, the experience of the handful of success stories, and the recent rise of the multi-polar growth world. The paper provides descriptive data and a literature survey to document these trends. The paper also provides a brief survey of the role of multilateral institutions -- in particular, the World Bank -- in this changing context and offers suggestions on how they can adapt their strategies to improve development outcomes. |
| Keywords: | Economic Theory&Research,Emerging Markets,Achieving Shared Growth,Debt Markets,Country Strategy&Performance |
| Date: | 2012–04–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6040&r=dev |
| By: | Abras, Ana; Cuesta, Jose; Hoyos, Alejandro; Narayan, Ambar |
| Abstract: | This study analyzes opportunities for children in Cote d'Ivoire, where opportunities refer to access to basic services and goods that improve the likelihood of a child maximizing his or her human potential. The principle that guides this analysis is one of equality of opportunity, which is that a child's circumstances at birth should not determine his or her access to opportunities. The analysis computes the Human Opportunity Index, which measures the extent to which access to basic services is universal and evenly distributed among children of different circumstances. Opportunities are limited in Cote d'Ivoire, despite some improvements in access to electricity and timely access to primary education. Otherwise, trends on access remain stagnant. Scale effects (variations across the board) are behind these trends, with little improvement observed from equalizing interventions. Circumstances such as region and household head characteristics affect a child's access to opportunities, while household incomes and a child's gender and ethnicity play a relatively small role in access differentials. Public spending on education opportunities is shown to be regressive and pro-rich, especially when analyzed across the distribution of circumstances rather than acroos income level.The groups of children that are particularly behind in terms of educational opportunities are those whose household heads lack primary education and reside in rural areas. Closing the enrollment gap of these children should be a priority for targeted educational interventions. However, improving opportunities may require more than a single type of intervention: opportunities with low coverage may need to be scaled up, while those with large inequalities of access may require equalizing interventions. |
| Keywords: | Primary Education,Population Policies,Disability,Gender and Law,Rural Poverty Reduction |
| Date: | 2012–04–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6048&r=dev |
| By: | Das Gupta, Chirashree |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the causal links between the role of public finance and Bihar's growth and development in the last decade; and argues that these links are tenuous. Bihar's growth acceleration precedes the ‘policy reforms' in public finance based on the ‘good governance' agenda initiated since 2005-06. However, the constraints on sustaining efforts to close Bihar's development gap with the rest of India stems from the nature of the growth process in its regional, sectoral and social dimensions and the contradictory means and ends of the ‘policy reforms' in public finance. Together, this has not only prevented the economic growth to add to public coiffeurs of the state but also occluded the role of tax institutions. |
| Keywords: | India, Corporate governance, Public finance, Local economy, Good Governance, Growth, Bihar, Political Economy |
| JEL: | O20 O40 P41 P43 R11 R58 |
| Date: | 2012–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jet:dpaper:dpaper331&r=dev |
| By: | Vuong Quoc, Duy |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the factors affecting the access of rural individual and group-based households to formal credit in the Mekong Delta (MD), Vietnam. Poverty levels in the Mekong Delta have declined significantly over the last decades, but in the rural areas they remain significant. If it is assumed that access to credit is a suitable vehicle for poverty alleviation, it is necessary to assess the way households decide on borrowing. This paper identifies the determinants of the decision to borrow and of the amount that is borrowed by using the double hurdle model and the Heckman selection model. Data used in this paper were obtained from a survey of 325 rural households, conducted between May and October 2009. The results indicate that household capital endowments, marital status, family size, distance to the market centre, and location affect both the probability and the amount of asking for credit. |
| Keywords: | Formal credit; Double hurdle model; individual and group-based lending; rural households |
| JEL: | G2 O2 E5 |
| Date: | 2012–03–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:38202&r=dev |
| By: | Owen, Ann L.; Videras, Julio |
| Abstract: | We use latent class analysis to categorize development experiences. This technique allows us to consider a broad range of country characteristics including per capita income growth, health, inequality, environmental performance, and life satisfaction. We show that each of these indicators is important in explaining the classifications based on the quality of growth. We then predict membership in growth quality classes using many of the standard determinants of growth. We find that they are related to growth quality in a non-linear way and that population growth is more consistently related to our broader measure of growth quality than is typically found in standard growth regressions. |
| Keywords: | long-run growth; standard of living; human development; finite mixture model |
| JEL: | I3 O4 |
| Date: | 2012–04–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:38342&r=dev |