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on Development |
| By: | Elizabeth Ananat; Shihe Fu; Stephen L. Ross |
| Abstract: | We demonstrate a striking but previously unnoticed relationship between city size and the black-white wage gap, with the gap increasing by 2.5% for every million-person increase in urban population. We then look within cities and document that wages of blacks rise less with agglomeration in the workplace location, measured as employment density per square kilometer, than do white wages. This pattern holds even though our method allows for non-parametric controls for the effects of age, education, and other demographics on wages, for unobserved worker skill as proxied by residential location, and for the return to agglomeration to vary across those demographics, industry, occupation and metropolitan areas. We find that an individual’s wage return to employment density rises with the share of workers in their work location who are of their own race. We observe similar patterns for human capital externalities as measured by share workers with a college education. We also find parallel results for firm productivity by employment density and share college-educated using firm racial composition in a sample of manufacturing firms. These findings are consistent with the possibility that blacks, and black- majority firms, receive lower returns to agglomeration because such returns operate within race, and blacks have fewer same-race peers and fewer highly-educated same-race peers at work from whom to enjoy spillovers than do whites. Data on self-reported social networks in the General Social Survey provide further evidence consistent with this mechanism, showing that blacks feel less close to whites than do whites, even when they work exclusively with whites. We conclude that social distance between blacks and whites preventing shared benefits from agglomeration isa significant contributor to overall black-white wage disparities. |
| Keywords: | Black White Wage Gap, Agglomeration Economies, Human Capital Externalities,Information Networks, Total Factor Productivity |
| JEL: | J15 J24 J31 R23 R32 |
| Date: | 2013–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cen:wpaper:13-24&r=dev |
| By: | Edita A. Tan (University of the Philippines School of Economics); Katrina Dinglasan |
| Abstract: | This is a follow up note on the UP School of Economics Faculty paper on the population issue. The poor who belong to the lowest two deciles of the income distribution have much higher actual and desired number of children, respectively 5.2 and 3.5. In contrast, the upper middle and higher income groups have less than 3 children which equal their desired number. It is argued that the poor who suffer serious deprivation in basic needs and see little opportunity for their children’s education and other opportunities feel little interest in controlling their family size. For them it would not matter how many children they may bear since the intensity of their poverty as measured by average income to poverty ratio and food consumption to subsistence ratio marginally improve as the number of children falls. It is suggested that for a family planning program to succeed, it must be part of an anti poverty strategy. |
| Date: | 2012–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:phs:dpaper:201217&r=dev |
| By: | J.M. Ian Salas (Department of Economics, University of California, Irvine) |
| Abstract: | This paper presents new evidence on the role of subsidized contraceptives in influencing fertility behavior. It draws on two types of disruptions that affected the public supply of free contraceptives in the Philippines : a sharp reduction induced by the phase out of contraceptive donations to the country from an external donor coupled with a government policy that shirked public funding to fill the supply shortfall, and substantial fluctuations in the shipment of free contraceptives to the country’s provinces that was brought about by supply chain issues. It finds that birth rates were responsive to both broad and transitory changes in public contraceptive supply : provinces which experienced big declines in the supply of free contraceptives also had big increases (or small decreases) in birth rates, while temporary supply drops (increases) were followed by rising (falling) birth rates. It also identifies poor, less educated, and rural women as the groups which were least able to cope with short-term gaps in public contraceptive supply. |
| Date: | 2012–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:phs:dpaper:201220&r=dev |
| By: | Emmanuel S. de Dios (School of Economics, University of the Philippines Diliman) |
| Abstract: | A comparative-static model describes the decline of manufacturing in the face of rising overseas employment through a mechanism other than the Dutch Disease. Instead it is competition for skilled labour and the relative ease in producing skills that affect the size of the manufacturing sector, including its employment of unskilled labour. |
| Keywords: | deindustrialisation, manufacturing and services sector, migration, skills |
| JEL: | O14 O15 |
| Date: | 2013–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:phs:dpaper:201302&r=dev |
| By: | Julius A Agbor |
| Abstract: | This study investigates the impact of different dimensions of schooling education (primary, secondary and tertiary enrolment) on the intensity of intra-state conflicts in Africa during 1989-2008. It uses fixed-effects regressions in a panel framework and annual data for 25 African countries. Parameter estimates provide clear evidence that schooling education (irrespective of the dimension considered) reduces the intensity of conflicts in Africa and the channels of transmission vary according to the education dimension considered. While primary schooling works mainly through urbanization; secondary and tertiary schooling reduces conflict through both the urbanization and youth bulge channels. These results suggest that in order to reduce conflict intensity in Africa, policy makers should facilitate the urbanization of a great number of African school leavers; while at the same time raising the number of African youths with secondary and tertiary education. However, the findings also suggest that secondary schooling potentially intensifies conflict intensity through the democratization channel implying that efforts to expand secondary education in Africa need to go in tandem with the rapid entrenchment of democratic institutions. Disaggregating the sample into “Conflict-prone†versus “less Conflict-prone†countries generally confirmed the core finding that all education dimensions are important in reducing conflict intensity in Africa but no insightful results were obtained on the likely channels of transmission. Further research should consider a more robust investigating of this issue while also differentiating the impacts of education dimensions on conflict in “high income†versus “low income†countries. |
| Keywords: | School Education, Conflict, Economic Development, Africa |
| JEL: | O43 O15 O11 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rza:wpaper:347&r=dev |
| By: | Pierre-Richard Agénor; Otaviano Canuto |
| Keywords: | Rural Development Knowledge and Information Systems Gender - Gender and Law Health Monitoring and Evaluation Gender - Gender and Health Economic Theory and Research Rural Development Health, Nutrition and Population Macroeconomics and Economic Growth |
| Date: | 2012–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wboper:10037&r=dev |
| By: | World Bank |
| Keywords: | Education - Primary Education Education - Early Childhood Development Urban Development - Street Children Education - Educational Sciences Health, Nutrition and Population - Early Child and Children's Health |
| Date: | 2012–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wboper:12122&r=dev |
| By: | Nazmul Chaudhury; Jed Friedman; Junko Onishi |
| Keywords: | Health Monitoring and Evaluation Health Systems Development and Reform Housing and Human Habitats Poverty Reduction - Rural Poverty Reduction Macroeconomics and Economic Growth - Regional Economic Development Communities and Human Settlements Health Nutrition and Population |
| Date: | 2013–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wboper:13244&r=dev |
| By: | Fofack, Hippolyte |
| Abstract: | This paper proposes a model to analyze the implications of colonial policies for gender inequality in Sub-Saharan Africa. The model emphasizes segmentation of production under complete specialization. It shows that the colonial production model, underpinned by occupational job segregation in the agricultural sector and gender bias in the non-agricultural sector, exacerbated gender inequality by limiting employment opportunities for women outside the realm of home production and subsistence agriculture. Over the past few decades, the resilience of parameters underlying these models of colonial production has heightened the risks of macroeconomic volatility in the region, especially where the structural transformation from low to high-value-added activities has remained elusive. |
| Keywords: | Economic Theory&Research,Labor Policies,Rural Development Knowledge&Information Systems,Gender and Development,Population Policies |
| Date: | 2013–05–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6438&r=dev |
| By: | Bruhn, Miriam; Ibarra, Gabriel Lara; McKenzie, David |
| Abstract: | Take-up of voluntary financial education programs is typically extremely low. This paper reports on randomized experiments around a large financial literacy course offered in Mexico City to understand the reasons for low take-up, and to measure the impact of financial education. It documents that the general public displays little interest in such courses and that participation is low even among individuals who express interest in financial education. The paper experimentally investigates barriers to take-up, and finds no impact of relaxing reputational or logistical constraints and no evidence that time inconsistency is the reason for limited participation. Even relatively sizeable monetary incentives get less than 40 percent of interested individuals invited to training to attend. Using a randomized encouragement design, the authors measure the impact of the course on financial knowledge and behavior. Attending training results in a 9 percentage point increase in financial knowledge and a 9 percentage point increase in saving outcomes, but no impact on borrowing behavior. Administrative data indicate that the savings impact is relatively short-lived. The results suggest people are making optimal choices not to attend financial education courses, and point to the limits of using general purpose courses to improve financial behavior for the general population. |
| Keywords: | Financial Literacy,Access to Finance,Education For All,Access&Equity in Basic Education,Primary Education |
| Date: | 2013–05–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6439&r=dev |
| By: | Nauges, Celine; Strand, Jon |
| Abstract: | In large parts of the world, a lack of home tap water burdens households as the water must be brought to the house from outside, at great expense in terms of effort and time. This paper studies how such costs affect girls'schooling in Ghana, with an analysis based on four rounds of the Demographic and Health Surveys. Using Global Positioning System coordinates, it builds an artificial panel of clusters, identifying the closest neighbors within each round. The results indicate a significant negative relation between girls'school attendance and water hauling activity, as a halving of water fetching time increases girls'school attendance by 2.4 percentage points on average, with stronger impacts in rural communities. The results seem to be the first definitive documentation of such a relationship in Africa. They document some of the multiple and wide population benefits of increased tap water access, in Africa and elsewhere. |
| Keywords: | Town Water Supply and Sanitation,Water and Industry,Water Supply and Sanitation Governance and Institutions,Water Conservation,Water Use |
| Date: | 2013–05–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6443&r=dev |
| By: | Storeygard, Adam |
| Abstract: | Transport costs are widely considered an important barrier to local economic activity but their impact in developing countries is not well-studied. This paper investigates the role of inter-city transport costs in determining the income of Sub-Saharan African cities, using two new data sources. Specifically, it asks how important access to a large port city is for the income of hinterland cities in 15 countries. Satellite data on lights at night proxy for city economic activity, and shortest routes between cities are calculated using new road network data. Cost per unit of distance is identified by world oil prices. The results show that an oil price increase of the magnitude experienced between 2002 and 2008 induces the income of cities near a major port to increase by 6 percent relative to otherwise identical cities 500 kilometers farther away. Cities connected to the port by paved roads are chiefly affected by transport costs to the port, while cities connected to the port by unpaved roads are more affected by connections to secondary centers. These are important findings for economic development in Sub-Saharan Africa since the majority of its population growth over the next few decades is expected to be in urban areas. |
| Keywords: | Transport Economics Policy&Planning,Rural Roads&Transport,Subnational Economic Development,E-Business,Roads&Highways |
| Date: | 2013–05–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6444&r=dev |
| By: | Christiaensen, Luc; Todo, Yasuyuki |
| Abstract: | As countries develop, they restructure away from agriculture and urbanize. But structural transformation and urbanization patterns differ substantially, with some countries fostering migration out of agriculture into rural off farm activities and secondary towns, and others undergoing rapid agglomeration in mega cities. Using cross-country panel data for developing countries spanning 1980-2004, the analysis in this paper finds that migration out of agriculture into the missing middle (the rural nonfarm economy and secondary towns) yields more inclusive growth patterns and faster poverty reduction than agglomeration in mega cities. This suggests that patterns of urbanization deserve much more attention when striving for faster poverty reduction. |
| Keywords: | Rural Poverty Reduction,Achieving Shared Growth,Regional Economic Development,ICT Applications |
| Date: | 2013–05–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6445&r=dev |