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on Development |
| By: | Santiago Guerrero |
| Abstract: | In the late 80's and early 90's Mexico eliminated minimum price policies of main agricultural commodities and substituted those policies by government operated contract markets. Contracts can help smooth price variations and facilitate risk-sharing but their impact on price levels is uncertain. We simultaneously estimate the impacts of quantity supplied sold via contracts and the cash market on cash prices for grains participating in contracts: wheat, corn, soybeans and sorghum. By doing so we estimate an inverse grain demand function using supply shifters and other exogenous variables as exclusion restrictions. Our findings show that quantity supplied sold via contracts is a more important determinant of prices than quantity supplied in the cash market. A 10 % increase of volume sold via contracts is estimated to reduce cash market prices by 2.5 %. Additionally, we find no evidence that more contracts affect prices by reducing quantity supplied in the cash market. |
| Keywords: | Contracts, Inverse Demand, Three Stage Least Squares, Grains, Supply Shifters. |
| JEL: | Q11 Q14 Q18 |
| Date: | 2012–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bdm:wpaper:2012-15&r=dev |
| By: | Odd-Helge Fjeldstad; Collette Schulz-Herzenberg; Ingrid Hoem Sjursen |
| Abstract: | What are the key determinants of taxpayer compliance? And which features of citizen-state relations govern attitudes and behaviour regarding taxation? This paper examines the analytical foundation, methodological approaches and key findings of available empirical literature on taxpayer behaviour in Africa. Understanding how citizens perceive and experience taxation may provide an essential diagnostic of the political realities for tax reform. Attempts to broaden the tax base require insights into how citizens experience and perceive the tax system, whether people perceive they are paying taxes or not, what they eventually pay, their views on tax administration and enforcement, and whether and how their tax behaviour is correlated with how they perceive the state. Attitude and perception surveys of current and potential taxpayers may also help to identify perceived weaknesses of the tax system, and enable tax authorities to focus attention efficiently on high-risk categories of taxpayers. |
| Keywords: | Taxation, Tax behaviour, Compliance, Evasion, Fiscal exchange, Surveys |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:chm:wpaper:wp2012-7&r=dev |
| By: | Magnus Hatlebakk |
| Abstract: | A unique family survey was conducted in Nepal to investigate the economic consequences of having a first-born girl. Women get more children, but we find no causal effect of number of children on economic outcomes. But independently of the number of children there is a positive effect on boys' education of having a first born sister, who presumably takes care of household work so the boys can focus on school. This indicates a stronger son-preference in Nepal than what is found in studies from neighboring countries. |
| Keywords: | Fertility, Intra-household gender |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:chm:wpaper:wp2012-8&r=dev |
| By: | Espen Villanger |
| Abstract: | Studies of microbusiness in poor countries find high marginal returns to capital but also lack of investments. This paper analyzes how caste-based segmentation in the capital and labor markets can act as obstacles to investment in microbusiness in rural in Nepal and also explain high marginal returns to capital. Using a household survey purposively designed for assessing caste as a barrier to microbusiness growth, we find that segmentation leads to inefficient allocation of entrepreneurial talent, labor and capital. This, in turn, leads to lower wages and smaller and less profitable businesses for low castes (Dalits) and lower economic growth of the local economy. The study covers a range of barriers to doing business and finds that in addition to caste segmentation, access to capital and lack of skills and knowledge are the main constraints to doing microbusiness in the studied areas. |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:chm:wpaper:wp2012-9&r=dev |
| By: | Arceo, Eva (CIDE, Mexico City); Hanna, Rema (Harvard University); Oliva, Paulina (University of CA, Santa Barbara) |
| Abstract: | Much of what we know about the marginal effect of pollution on infant mortality is derived from developed country data. However, given the lower levels of air pollution in developed countries, these estimates may not be externally valid to the developing country context if there is a nonlinear dose relationship between pollution and mortality or if the costs of avoidance behavior differs considerably between the two contexts. In this paper, we estimate the relationship between pollution and infant mortality using data from Mexico. We find that an increase of 1 parts per billion in carbon monoxide (CO) over the last week results in 0.0032 deaths per 100,000 births, while a 1 (mu)g/m[superscript 3] increase in particulate matter (PM[subscript 10]) results in 0.24 infant deaths per 100,000 births. Our estimates for PM[subscript 10] tend to be similar (or even smaller) than the U.S. estimates, while our findings on CO tend to be larger than those derived from the U.S. context. We provide suggestive evidence that a non-linearity in the relationship between CO and health explains this difference. |
| Date: | 2012–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecl:harjfk:rwp12-050&r=dev |
| By: | Saich, Tony (Harvard University) |
| Abstract: | Are China's citizens sufficiently satisfied to reduce potential challenges to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) rule? It is reasonable to assume that if a significant percentage of citizens are more satisfied with government performance and the provision of public goods, the government will have a greater capacity for policy experimentation and enjoy a residual trust that may help them survive policy errors. This paper asks three sets of questions. The first set asks about the general levels of satisfaction with government across different levels. Second, we ask about how citizens view the performance of local officials in dealing with the public and in implementing policy. Third, we look at the level of satisfaction with the provision of a number of specific goods and services, with a more in-depth look at dealing with corruption. In particular, we compare responses among those who live in major cities, small towns and townships, and villages. Findings are based on a survey that was conducted together with Horizon Market Research Company in the fall of 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2009, and 2011. The survey is a purposive stratified survey ranging from 3,800 to 4,150 respondents selected from three administrative levels: city, town, and village. Rather than a nationwide probability sample, the survey comprises a number of sites selected on the basis of three variables: geographic location, average per capita income, and population. Survey findings reveal that the new leadership that takes power through late-2012 and 2013 is likely to inherit a mixed situation. There is clearly much dissatisfaction with the performance of local government and its officials; very few have faith that the government can deal effectively with the problem of corruption. Yet, there is still good will towards the Central government that is not identified with the problems that are seen to blight the performance of those levels of government closer to the people. The surveys confirm the view of others that Chinese citizens do "disaggregate" the state and would appear to retain faith in the central government. In addition, the satisfaction with all levels of government has risen since we began the surveys in 2003. This may give the Central leadership some cushion if it makes policy errors in the future. However, as we have seen in the recent past, seemingly stable authoritarian regimes can unravel quickly, and citizen frustration can spill out onto the streets. Our survey also suggests that citizens feel that local officials are not very effective in promoting the interests of ordinary folk, but are quite adept at pursuing their own interests. It will be a notable challenge for the new leadership to bring about significant improvement in those areas of public service citizens deem most important without increasing transparency and accountability in local government. |
| Date: | 2012–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecl:harjfk:rwp12-051&r=dev |
| By: | Saich, Tony (Harvard University); Hu, Biliang (Beijing Normal University) |
| Abstract: | This paper uses a case study of the evolution of education and healthcare provision in Yantian Village, Guangdong Province to examine broader trends in China's evolving social policies. It makes no claims that development in Yantian is typical for rural China but it may allow some tentative conclusions to be drawn about the extent of inclusiveness of social policy and the moves towards citizenship as a basis for redistribution policies and welfare provision. Yantian is not a normal village but rather is what people refer to as an "urban village" and it has been one of the major beneficiaries of economic reform. Lying close to Hong Kong and Shenzhen, it is in the hub of the Pearl River Delta that has become a key link in the global reorganization of manufacturing and production. The economic reforms, especially the opening to foreign investment, pursued since the late-1970s have replaced the water buffalo and rice paddies with China's main export processing center. It has been a key center for foreign direct investment and, as a result, has attracted a large migrant community. The province of Guangdong is home to some 30 million migrants, 80,000 of whom lived in Yantian in 2010. The migrants work primarily in the 200 or so foreign invested enterprises vested in Yantian (there were over 400 at their peak). However, the group of migrants is not homogenous and this has consequences for how they are treated within the village. Investors are treated far better than those working in the factories. Most importantly, the migrants are not eligible for any payout from the dividends from the village collective that has provided the relative wealth for the local residents. The rapid development of Yantian with the influx of foreign investment and the large number of migrants who moved into the village put tremendous pressure on the educational services. This led to the emergence of a network of different types of schools catering to the varied needs within the community. The range of schools available did mean that all children in Yantian were able to find schooling irrespective of family background, but the quality and investment varied significantly. Most importantly, from 2008 the government budget covered the costs for migrant children helping overcome the biggest inequity of the previous years. Yet, differences remained with respect to the quality of the teachers and the infrastructure in the schools. As elsewhere in China, economic reforms had a major impact on medical insurance in Yantian. From the early-1980s, Yantian Village started to transform its healthcare system from one based on a collective, cooperative scheme to one where village clinics ran on contracts. This meant villagers no longer enjoyed any guarantees for healthcare provision. Some of the wealthier families purchased commercial medical insurance, while certain production teams set aside a partial fund from their collective revenues to subsidize members who suffered catastrophic or chronic disease and to provide a limited medical allowance. However, by 2000 Yantian Village had achieved universal coverage for its residents through a three-phase development. |
| Date: | 2012–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecl:harjfk:rwp12-053&r=dev |
| By: | Fang, Hai (University of CO, Denver); Eggleston, Karen N. (Walter H Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center, Stanford University); Rizzo, John A. (Stony Brook University, SUNY); Zeckhauser, Richard J. (Harvard University) |
| Abstract: | Data on 2,355 married women from the 2006 China Health and Nutrition Survey are used to study how female employment affects fertility in China. China has deep concerns with both population size and female employment, so the relationship between the two should be better understood. Causality flows in both directions. A conceptual model shows how employment prospects affect fertility. Then a well-validated instrumental variable isolates this effect. Female employment reduces a married woman's preferred number of children by 0.35 on average and her actual number by 0.50. Ramifications for China's one-child policy are discussed. |
| JEL: | J13 J18 O15 |
| Date: | 2012–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecl:harjfk:rwp12-054&r=dev |
| By: | Jesus Fernández-Huertas Moraga |
| Abstract: | The productive characteristics of migrating individuals, emigrant selection, affect welfare. The empirical estimation of the degree of selection suffers from a lack of complete and nationally representative data. This paper uses a dataset that addresses both issues: the ENET (Mexican Labor Survey), which identifies migrants right before they leave and allows a direct comparison to non-migrants. This dataset presents a relevant dichotomy: it shows negative selection for urban Mexican emigrants to the United States for the period 2000-2004 together with positive selection in Mexican emigration out of rural Mexico to the United States in the same period. Three theories that could explain this dichotomy are tested. Whereas higher skill prices in Mexico than in the US are enough to explain half of the negative selection result in urban Mexico, its combination with network effects and wealth constraints fully account for positive selection in rural Mexico. |
| Date: | 2013–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fda:fdaddt:2013-02&r=dev |
| By: | Adeline Delavande; Basit Zafar |
| Abstract: | Gender discrimination in South Asia is a well-documented fact. However, gender is only one of an individual’s many identities. This paper investigates how gender discrimination depends on the social identities of interacting parties. We use an experimental approach to identify gender discrimination by randomly matching 2,836 male and female students pursuing bachelor’s-equivalent degrees in three different types of institutions—Madrassas (religious seminaries), Islamic universities, and liberal universities—that represent distinct identities within the Pakistani society. Our main finding is that gender discrimination is not uniform in intensity and nature across the educated Pakistani society and varies as a function of the social identity of both individuals who interact. While we find no evidence of higher-socioeconomic-status men discriminating against women, men of lower socioeconomic status and higher religiosity tend to discriminate against women--but only women of lower socioeconomic status who are closest to them in social distance. Moreover, this discrimination is largely taste-based. Our findings suggest that social policies aimed at empowering women need to account for the intersectionality of gender with social identity. |
| Keywords: | Sex discrimination against women ; Stereotype (Psychology) ; Social choice ; Women - Education |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fednsr:593&r=dev |
| By: | Leandro Prados de la Escosura (Universidad Carlos III de Madrid) |
| Abstract: | How has wellbeing evolved over time and across regions? How does the West compare to the Rest? What explains their differences? These questions are addressed using an historical index of human development. A sustained improvement in wellbeing has taken place since 1870. The absolute gap between OECD and the Rest widened over time, but an incomplete catching up –largely explained by education- has occurred since 1913 but fading away after 1970, when the Rest fell behind the OECD in terms of longevity. As the health transition was achieved in the Rest, the contribution of life expectancy to human development improvement declined. Meanwhile, in the OECD, as longevity increased, healthy years expanded. A large variance in human development is noticeable in the Rest since 1970, with East Asia, Latin America and North Africa catching up to the OECD, while Central and Eastern Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa falling behind. |
| Keywords: | Wellbeing, Human Development, HDI, Life Expectancy, Education |
| JEL: | O15 O50 I00 N30 |
| Date: | 2013–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hes:wpaper:0034&r=dev |
| By: | Oxford Policy Management (Oxford Policy Management) |
| Abstract: | This research guide was prepared as part of the joint FAO-UNICEF ?From Protection to Production? (PtoP) project (http://www.fao.org/economic/ptop/en/). The project takes advantage of ongoing impact evaluations of cash transfer programmes in sub-Saharan Africa to look at the impact of these programmes on household economic activities, including labour supply, as well as their impact on the local economy. The project is using a mixed-method approach, combining econometric analysis of impact evaluation data, local economy Social Accounting Matrix (SAM)/computable general equilibrium (CGE) models and qualitative methods. (?) |
| Keywords: | Qualitative Research and Analyses of the Economic Impacts of Cash Transfer Programmes in Sub-Saharan Africa ? a Research Guide Prepared for the from P |
| Date: | 2012–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipc:wpaper:100&r=dev |
| By: | Solomon Asfaw (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)); Silvio Daidone (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)); Benjamin Davis (FAO); Josh Dewbre (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)); Alessandro Romeo (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)); Paul Winters (American University); Katia Covarrubias (FAO); Habiba Djebbari (Universite Laval) |
| Abstract: | Cash transfer programmes have become an important tool of social protection and poverty reduction strategies in low- and middle-income countries. In the past decade, a growing number of African governments have launched cash transfer programmes as part of their strategies of social protection. Most of these programmes have been accompanied by rigorous impact evaluations. Concern about vulnerable populations in the context of HIV/AIDS has driven the objectives and targeting of many of these programmes, leading to an emphasis on those people who are ultra-poor, labour-constrained, with prevalence of adverse health conditions, elderly and/or caring for orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) (Davis et al., 2012). As a result, the objectives of most of these programmes focus on food security, health, nutritional and educational status, particularly of children, and so, as would be expected, the accompanying impact evaluations concentrate on measuring these dimensions of programme impact. (?) |
| Keywords: | Analytical Framework for Evaluating the Productive Impact of Cash Transfer Programmes on Household Behaviour ? Methodological Guidelines for the From |
| Date: | 2012–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipc:wpaper:101&r=dev |
| By: | Sebastian Levine (UNDP); Benjamin Roberts (Human Sciences Research Council) |
| Abstract: | The authors estimate changes in the distribution of household consumption expenditure in Namibia since Independence in 1990 and the effects on poverty. To produce comparability between two household surveys, they use survey matching techniques and apply the framework of stochastic dominance to test the robustness of the results. The results reveal a significant decrease in the poverty headcount over the period and small but insignificant decreases in the country?s extremely high levels of inequality. Decomposition analysis shows that poverty reduction in Namibia is largely driven by growth in mean incomes rather than redistribution. Even so, there have been important changes in inequality, especially between different social groups, as educational attainment has replaced ethnicity as the main determinant of inequality between groups. (?) |
| Keywords: | Robust Estimates of Changes in Poverty and Inequality in Post-Independence Namibia |
| Date: | 2012–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipc:wpaper:102&r=dev |
| By: | Raquel Almeida Ramos (IPC-IG) |
| Abstract: | With the global financial crisis, emerging developing countries have been experiencing marked cycles of capital flows: significant inflows until the collapse of Lehman Brothers; a sudden outflow in the sequence; a rebound of inflows some months after; and, more recently, more short-lived periods of risk aversion and outflows due to the problems concerning the Euro. This period has been of singular intensity, with cycles changing much more rapidly than previously. The different intensity has major implications for understanding the process, especially regarding the relative importance of push and pull factors and the formulation of policy options. (?) |
| Keywords: | Financial Flows and Exchange Rates: Challenges Faced by Developing Countries |
| Date: | 2012–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipc:wpaper:97&r=dev |
| By: | Ugo Gentilini (World Food Programme); Andy Sumner (Institute of Development Studies, Sussex) |
| Abstract: | Debate about national and international poverty measurement continued to evolve (see for example, Abu-Ismail et al., 2012). The basic question of how many poor people there are in the world generally assumes that poverty is measured according to international poverty lines (IPLs). Yet, an equally relevant question could be how many poor people there are in the world, based on how poverty is defined where those people live. In short, rather than a comparison based on monetary values, the latter question is germane to estimates based on a concept??poverty??as defined by countries? specific circumstances and institutions. (?) |
| Keywords: | Poverty Where People Live: What do National Poverty Lines Tell us about Global Poverty? |
| Date: | 2012–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipc:wpaper:98&r=dev |
| By: | J. Edward Taylor (UC Davis) |
| Abstract: | As soon as a household receives a cash transfer, it usually spends it. This transmits the transfer?s impacts from the beneficiary household to others inside and outside the local economy, including households not eligible for the transfer. As the programme?s influences swirl around the project?s zone of influence (ZOI), they create local general equilibrium (LGE) effects in addition to the programme?s direct impact on the beneficiary households. Local economy-wide impact evaluation (LEWIE) is designed to capture the full impact of government programmes (as well as other exogenous shocks; see Taylor and Filipski, 2012) on local economies. (?) |
| Keywords: | A Methodology for Local Economy-Wide Impact Evaluation (LEWIE) of Cash Transfers |
| Date: | 2012–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipc:wpaper:99&r=dev |
| By: | Abe, Shin; Takahashi, Ryo; Haruna, Akiko; Yamaji, Eiji; Wakatsuki, Toshiyuki |
| Abstract: | It is worthwhile to understand farming strategies of smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa, especially those of farmers who are in transition from traditional to alternative agriculture in terms of adoption of innovative technologies. In a case study of inland valleys in central Nigeria, we investigated the farming strategy of Nupe farmers who have a long-term tradition of wet rice cultivation and indigenous methods of land preparation for soil, water and weed management. In this region, a new method of land preparation has recently been introduced along with a recommendation to use improved seeds and chemical fertilizers. Our findings reveal that Nupe farmers directly sow traditional seeds and apply a marginal amount of fertilizer to paddy plots prepared by labor-saving methods on drought-prone hydromorphic valley fringes and flood-susceptible valley bottoms, whereas they preferentially transplanted improved seedlings and applied a relatively large quantity of fertilizer to paddy fields prepared by a labor-intensive and mechanized method on a valley position where they can access to optimum water condition (less risky against the drought and flood). |
| Keywords: | Nigeria, Agriculture, Agricultural technology, Farming techniques, Rice, Indigenous knowledge, Land preparation method, Rice cultivation, Risk management, Technology adoption |
| JEL: | N57 O33 Q16 |
| Date: | 2012–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jet:dpaper:dpaper355&r=dev |
| By: | Ann E. Harrison; Justin Yifu Lin; L. Colin Xu |
| Abstract: | Africa’s economic performance has been widely viewed with pessimism. In this paper, we use firm-level data for 89 countries to examine formal firm performance. Without controls, manufacturing African firms do not perform much worse than firms in other regions. But they do have structural problems, exhibiting much lower export intensity and investment rates. Once we control for geography and the political and business environment, formal African firms robustly lead in sales growth, total factor productivity levels and productivity growth. Africa’s conditional advantage is higher in low-tech than in high-tech manufacturing, and exists in manufacturing but not in services. While geography, infrastructure, and access to finance play an important role in explaining Africa’s disadvantage in firm performance, the key factor is party monopoly. The longer a single political party remains in power, the lower are firm productivity levels, growth rates, and sales growth for manufacturing. In contrast, the business environment and firm characteristics (except for foreign investment) do not matter as much. We also find evidence that the effects of the political and business environment are heterogeneous across sectors and firms of various levels of technology. |
| JEL: | O14 O4 O43 |
| Date: | 2013–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:18683&r=dev |
| By: | Daron Acemoglu; Tristan Reed; James A. Robinson |
| Abstract: | The lowest level of government in sub-Saharan Africa is often a cadre of chiefs who raise taxes, control the judicial system and allocate the most important scarce resource - land. Chiefs, empowered by colonial indirect rule, are often accused of using their power despotically and inhibiting rural development. Yet others view them as traditional representatives of rural people, and survey evidence suggests that they maintain widespread support. We use the colonial history of Sierra Leone to investigate the relationships between chiefs' power on economic development, peoples' attitudes and social capital. There, a chief must come from one of the ruling families recognized by British colonial authorities. Chiefs face less competition and fewer political constraints in chiefdoms with fewer ruling families. We show that places with fewer ruling families have significantly worse development outcomes today - in particular, lower rates of educational attainment, child health, and non-agricultural employment. But the institutions of chiefs' authority are also highly respected among villagers, and their chiefdoms have higher levels of "social capital," for example, greater popular participation in a variety of “civil society" organizations and forums that might be used to hold chiefs accountable. We argue that these results are difficult to reconcile with the standard principle-agent approach to politics and instead reflect the capture of civil society organizations by chiefs. Rather than acting as a vehicle for disciplining chiefs, these organizations have been structured by chiefs to control society. |
| JEL: | D72 N27 O12 |
| Date: | 2013–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:18691&r=dev |
| By: | Alberto Alesina; Johann Harnoss; Hillel Rapoport |
| Abstract: | The diversity of people has economic costs and benefits. Using recent immigration data from 195 countries, we propose an index of diversity based on people’s birthplaces. This new index is decomposed in a “size” (share of foreign born) and a variety (diversity of immigrants) component and is available for 1990 and 2000 and for the overall as well as for the high (workers with college education) and low-skill fractions of the workforce. We show that birthplace diversity is largely uncorrelated with ethnic and linguistic fractionalization and that—unlike fractionalization—it is positively related to economic development even after controlling for education, institutions, ethnic and linguistic fractionalization, trade openness, geography, market size and origin-effects. This positive association appears particularly strong for the diversity of skilled immigrants in richer countries. We make progress towards addressing endogeneity by specifying a gravity model to predict the diversity of immigration based on exogenous bilateral variables. The results are robust across various OLS and 2SLS specifications. |
| JEL: | F22 F43 O1 O4 |
| Date: | 2013–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:18699&r=dev |
| By: | Anna Jankowska; Arne Nagengast; José Ramón Perea |
| Abstract: | <ul> <li>Chinese Taipei; Hong Kong, China; Korea and Singapore (the East Asian Newly Industrialised Countries or NICs) have been successful in attaining income convergence with high-income countries while Latin American countries remain caught in the Middle-Income Trap.</li> <li>The East Asian NICs pursued export-led growth by targeting strategic industries which facilitated gradual diversification and upgrading into new products that required similar skills and inputs.</li> <li>Comparing the experience of the NICs to Latin American economies reveals that successful diversification and upgrading of a country’s export structure requires coherent and complimentary policies in the areas of education, infrastructure, innovation and access to finance.</li></ul> |
| Date: | 2012–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:devaac:96-en&r=dev |
| By: | Nyamwange, Mathew |
| Abstract: | This study advices on a suitable strategy for financing healthcare in Kenya as the sector faces challenges of underfunding with an increased demand of quality and availability of health care services that are equitable and affordable for a growing population.The study examines the effect of per capita gross domestic product (GDP per capita) on public healthcare expenditure (PHCE) in Kenya, and uses estimates of public recurrent & development expenditures, (1982 - 2012), as well as the economic survey and statistical abstracts for the same years. The analysis is a time series estimation of the effect of per capita gross domestic product on public healthcare expenditure, so as to explain the minimum amount of funding that the government should direct to public healthcare expense given future predictions of GDP per capita by institutions like World Bank. The study employs OLS regression and checks for co-integration on the long-run relationship between PHCE and GDP per capita, as well as other tests of granger causality, unit root presence and stationarity and study attempts to determine the properties of healthcare in Kenya. Results reveal that healthcare in Kenya is a necessary good and has an elasticity of 0.024% to GDP per capita. This is to mean that for every 1% increase in GDP per capita, PHCE should increase by 0.024%. |
| Keywords: | Public Healthcare Expenditure; Economic Growth; Kenya Healthcare Financing; |
| JEL: | E0 H0 A1 C0 D9 B4 H5 E6 H6 C2 I1 |
| Date: | 2012–11–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:43707&r=dev |
| By: | Arvis, Jean-François; Duval, Yann; Shepherd, Ben; Utoktham,Chorthip |
| Abstract: | The authors use newly collected data on trade and production in 178 countries to infer estimates of trade costs in agriculture and manufactured goods for the 1995-2010 period. The data show that trade costs are strongly declining in per capita income. Moreover, the rate of change of trade costs is largely unfavorable to the developing world: trade costs are falling noticeably faster in developed countries than in developing ones, which serves to increase the relative isolation of the latter. In particular, Sub-Saharan African countries and low-income countries remain subject to very high levels of trade costs. In terms of policy implications, the analysis finds that maritime transport connectivity and logistics performance are very important determinants of bilateral trade costs: in some specifications, their combined effect is comparable to that of geographical distance. Traditional and non-traditional trade policies more generally, including market entry barriers and regional integration agreements, play a significant role in shaping the trade costs landscape. |
| Keywords: | Economic Theory&Research,Free Trade,Emerging Markets,Trade Law,Trade Policy |
| Date: | 2013–01–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6309&r=dev |