|
on Development |
| By: | Lazzaroni, Sara |
| Abstract: | This multidisciplinary study considers the impact of short-term weather variations on food consumption of 488 rural households in Uganda. We combine World bank LSMS households panel data with data on rainfall, number of rainy days, maximum and minimum temperatures in the period 2005/06-2009/10. Triangulating the findings of the econometric model with qualitative interviews and the analysis of the agricultural sector recent developments, we argue that households are involved in ex-ante smoothing strategies while land and reduction of non-consumption expenditures seem to partially offset adverse rainfall variations. |
| Keywords: | weather variability, risk, food consumption, Uganda, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty, I31, O12, O44, Q12, Q14, |
| Date: | 2013–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aiea13:149774&r=dev |
| By: | Rakhshanda, Kousar; Awudu, Abdulai |
| Abstract: | This article examines the impact of non-farm work on household welfare, differentiated by female, for rural households in the Punjab province of Pakistan. We employ an endogenous switching regression approach that accounts for selection bias due to observable and unobservable factors to examine the factors that influence the household’s decision to participate in non-farm work and the impact of participation on household welfare. Given we find no substantial selection bias on unobservable factors; we also use PSM approach to check the robustness of our results from the ESR estimates. Separate estimates are also provided for male and female to address gender heterogeneity. The empirical results reveal that participation in non-farm work significantly increases per head expenditures and reduces household poverty level. This confirms the potential role of non-farm work in improving rural household welfare and poverty alleviation in rural areas of developing countries. |
| Keywords: | non-farm work, household welfare, impact assessment, Pakistan, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Labor and Human Capital, J16, J22, Q1, |
| Date: | 2013–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aiea13:149890&r=dev |
| By: | Nathalie Guilbert (PSL, Université Paris-Dauphine, IRD,LEDa, UMR DIAL) |
| Abstract: | (english) This paper uses data from recent Senegalese Demographic and Health Surveys to explore the link between female empowerment and child mortality via early marriage, defined as marriage before age 16. There exist three channels through which early marriage reduces a mother's ability to take good care of her children: the harmful physical consequences of early sex and pregnancy; a disrupted education; and reduced autonomy and bargaining power. Controlling for the first two of these allows us to isolate the empowerment effect of early marriage. We estimate that it increases the probability that the mother experience at least one son death by 4.43%, and raises the number of dead sons per mother by 0.074. Particular attention is paid to discuss and address endogeneity issues. We also further investigate the heterogeneity of impact by current age and marriage duration. Findings suggest that we effectively identify the empowerment channel. _________________________________ (français) Cet article utilise les données des Enquêtes Démographiques et de Santé collectées en 2005 et en 2010 au Sénégal pour explorer le lien entre autonomisation des femmes et mortalité infantile, via la pratique du mariage précoce. Le mariage précoce est défini comme tout mariage ayant lieu avant que la jeune fille ait atteint 16 ans. Cette pratique est encore très répandue au Sénégal où 34,4% des femmes mariées sont concernées. Il existe trois canaux via lesquels le mariage précoce réduit l’aptitude des femmes à prendre bien soin de leurs enfants. Le premier est lié aux conséquences physiques désastreuses des rapports sexuels et grossesses précoces. Le deuxième découle du manque d’éducation formelle et informelle reçue par ces jeunes femmes pour lesquelles toute opportunité d’aller à l’école est interrompue précocement par le mariage. Le troisième ressort de l’absence de pouvoir de négociation des femmes au sein de leur ménage et de leur absence d’autonomie. En contrôlant pour les deux premiers canaux, nous sommes en mesure d’isoler l’impact spécifique du canal d’autonomisation des femmes sur la mortalité infantile. On estime alors que cette absence de pouvoir de négociation des femmes, exacerbée dans le cas des mariages précoces, accroît la probabilité d’une femme de voir un de ses fils décédés avant l’âge de 5 ans de 4,43% et leur nombre de 0,074. L’impact sur la mortalité des filles est non significatif. Une attention particulière a été portée à discuter et résoudre les problèmes d’endogénéité auxquels nous faisons face dans cette étude. Nous avons aussi creusé l’hétérogénéité de l’impact en fonction de l’âge actuel de la femme et du nombre d’années passées dans l’union, ceci afin de confirmer que l’on identifie bien le canal d’autonomisation des femmes. En effet, avec le temps, la connaissance du ménage d’accueil et un âge plus élevé qui confère un certain statut social, il est probable que l’effet « pouvoir de négociation » du mariage précoce s’amenuise. C’est effectivement ce que l’on observe. |
| Keywords: | Early marriage, Senegal, Fertility, Child Mortality, Women Empowerment, Bargaining Power, Mariage précoce, Sénégal, fécondité, mortalité infantile, autonomisation des femmes, pouvoir de négociation. |
| JEL: | J12 J13 I14 |
| Date: | 2013–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dia:wpaper:dt201305&r=dev |
| By: | Alberto Bagnai (Université Gabriele D’Annunzio, Chieti, Italie); Arsène Rieber (Université de Rouen, France); Thi Anh-Dao Tran (UMR DIAL, IRD, Vietnam) |
| Abstract: | (english) Our paper examines the long run relationship between economic growth and the current account balance equilibrium by relying on the BoP constrained growth model. We find that Vietnam grew less than the rate predicted when the period 1985 to 2010 as a whole is considered, but with different behavior for the 1998-2010 sub-period. The relative price effect is neutral, allowing the volume effects to dominate in setting the BoP constraint. The high income elasticities of exports enable growth in the advanced countries to have a multiplier effect on the Vietnamese economy. However, this effect is hindered by a high ‘appetite’ for imports coming from Asia. We also assess the impact of the current crisis on Vietnam’s growth for the period 2011 to 2017. _________________________________ (français) En se basant sur le modèle de croissance contrainte par la balance des paiements, notre papier examine la relation de long terme au Vietnam entre la croissance économique et l'équilibre de la balance courante. Nous trouvons que sur l’ensemble de la période 1985-2010, le Vietnam a connu un taux de croissance inférieur à celui prédit par le modèle, mais avec une évolution divergente sur la souspériode 1998-2010. L'effet des prix relatifs est neutre, amenant les effets volume à prédominer dans la détermination de la contrainte de balance des paiements. Les élasticités de revenu élevées des exportations permettent à la croissance des pays avancés d'exercer un effet multiplicateur sur l'économie Vietnamienne. Cependant, cet effet est contrecarré par un appétit élevé d’importations venant d'Asie. Nous évaluons également l'impact de la crise actuelle sur la croissance du Vietnam pour la période 2011-2017. |
| Keywords: | Economic growth, BoP constrained growth model, Multi country model, Asia, Vietnam, Croissance économique, modèle de croissance contrainte par la balance des paiements, modèle multi-pays, Asie, Vietnam. |
| JEL: | E12 F43 O11 O53 |
| Date: | 2013–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dia:wpaper:dt201306&r=dev |
| By: | Alatas, Vivi (World Bank); Banerjee, Abhijit (MIT); Hanna, Rema (Harvard University); Olken, Benjamin A. (MIT); Purnamasari, Ririn (World Bank); Wai-Poi, Matthew (World Bank) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the impact of elite capture on the allocation of targeted government welfare programs in Indonesia, using both a high-stakes field experiment that varied the extent of elite influence and non-experimental data on a variety of existing government transfer programs. Conditional on their consumption level, there is little evidence that village elites and their relatives are more likely to receive aid programs than non-elites. Looking more closely, however, we find that this overall result masks a difference between different types of elites: those holding formal leadership positions are more likely to receive benefits, while informal leaders are actually less likely to. We show that capture by formal elites occurs during the distribution of benefits under the programs, and not during the processes when the beneficiary lists are determined by the central government. However, while elite capture exists, the welfare losses it creates appear quite small: since formal elites and their relatives are only 9 percent richer than non-elites, are at most about 8 percentage points more likely to receive benefits than non-elites, and represent at most 15 percent of the population, eliminating elite capture entirely would improve the welfare gains from these programs by less than one percent. |
| Date: | 2013–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecl:harjfk:rwp13-008&r=dev |
| By: | Andrews, Matt (Harvard University) |
| Abstract: | "Leadership" is not a common topic for research in international development. In recent years, however, prominent studies like the 2008 Growth Commission Report noted the importance of leadership in development. This and other studies focused on individual leaders--or heroes--when referencing what leaders did to foster development. The current article asks if heroes really lead development. It deconstructs the implied theory behind a 'hero orthodoxy' into four hypotheses; about how change happens in development, who leads it, how it emerges, and how it is bought to completion. Through a qualitative study of twelve interventions in contexts like Afghanistan, Sierra Leone and Kosovo, the article shows that these hypotheses are too simple to really help explain who leads development. It appears that change is complex and requires complex multi-agent leadership interventions. |
| Date: | 2013–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecl:harjfk:rwp13-011&r=dev |
| By: | Lawrence, Robert Z. (Harvard University) |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the impact of past and future growth in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the People's Republic of China (PRC), and India--the ACI countries--on aggregate welfare, relative wages, and global emissions in the rest of the world. It outlines several analytical frameworks, considers effects over the past decade and, based on consensus forecasts, the implications of that growth for the rest of the world in the decades to come. |
| JEL: | F01 F10 |
| Date: | 2013–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecl:harjfk:rwp13-013&r=dev |
| By: | Jan Fidrmuc; Elijah Karaja |
| Abstract: | Reforms often occur in waves, seemingly cascading from country to country. We argue that such reform waves can be driven by informational spillovers: uncertainty about the outcome of reform is reduced by learning from the experience of similar countries. We motivate this hypothesis with a simple theoretical model of informational spillovers and learning, and then test it empirically using an approach inspired by the gravity model. We find evidence of informational spillovers both with respect to both political and economic liberalization. While the previous literature has focused only on economic reform, we find that the spillovers are particularly important for political changes. |
| Date: | 2013–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:edb:cedidp:13-04&r=dev |
| By: | Julian Jamison (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, D.C.); Dean Karlan (Economic Growth Center, Yale University); Pia Raffler (Department of Political Science, Yale University) |
| Abstract: | We evaluate the impact of a health information intervention implemented through mobile phones, using a clustered randomized control trial augmented by qualitative interviews. The intervention aimed to improve sexual health knowledge and shift individuals towards safer sexual behavior by providing reliable information about sexual health. The novel technology designed by Google and Grameen Technology Center provided automated searches of an advice database on topics requested by users via SMS. It was offered by MTN Uganda at no cost to users. Quantitative survey results allow us to reject the hypothesis that improving access to information would increase knowledge and shift behavior to less risky sexual activities. In fact, we find that the service led to an increase in promiscuity, and no shift in perception of norms. Qualitative focus groups discussions support the findings of the quantitative survey results. We conclude by discussing a potential mechanism explaining the counterintuitive findings. |
| Keywords: | information technology for development, mhealth, ICT4D, sexual health |
| JEL: | D13 O12 O31 O33 |
| Date: | 2013–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:egc:wpaper:1025&r=dev |
| By: | Roman Horvath (Institute of Economic Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic) |
| Abstract: | We analyze 1334 estimates from 67 studies that examine the effect of financial development on economic growth. Taken together, the studies imply a positive and statistically significant effect, but individual estimates vary a lot. We find that both research design and heterogeneity in the underlying effect play a role in explaining the differences in results. Studies that do not address endogeneity tend to overstate the effect of finance on growth. While the effect seems to be weaker in poor countries, the effect decreases worldwide after the 1980s. Our results suggest that stock markets support faster economic growth than other financial intermediaries. We find no evidence of publication bias in the literature. |
| Keywords: | finance, development, growth, meta-analysis |
| JEL: | C83 G10 O40 |
| Date: | 2013–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fau:wpaper:wp2013_04&r=dev |
| By: | Stephen C. Smith (Department of Economics/Institute for International Economic Policy, George Washington University); Saudamini Das (Department of Economics, Swami Shradhanand College, University of Delhi) |
| Abstract: | Heat waves, defined as an interval of abnormally hot and humid weather, have been a prominent killer in recent years. With heat waves worsening with climate change, adaptation is essential; one strategy has been to issue heat wave warnings and undertake awareness campaigns to bring about behavioral changes to reduce heat stroke. Since 2002, the Indian state of Odisha has been undertaking a grassroots awareness campaign on "dos and don'ts" during heat wave conditions through the Disaster Risk Management (DRM) program. Selection criteria for DRM districts were earthquake, flood, and cyclone incidence; but subsequently heat wave awareness also received intensive attention in these districts. We present quasi-experimental evidence on the impact of the program, taking DRM districts and periods as treatment units and the rest as controls, analyzing the impact on the death toll from heat stroke for the 1998 to 2010 period, using difference-in-difference (DID) regressions with a district level panel data set and a set of control variables. We find indications of program effectiveness with initial DID specifications, but results are not strongly robust. We then take into account a statewide heat wave advertising program, to which the poor have limited exposure but which may also provide spillover benefits, using a triple differencing approach; results suggest the heat wave awareness programs may have complementary impacts. We examine research strategies for much-needed improvement in the precision of impact evaluation results for innovative programs of this type. |
| Keywords: | Adaptation to climate change, Awareness campaigns, Heat waves, Disaster Risk Management Program, India, Odisha, Difference-in-difference |
| JEL: | Q54 O13 I18 |
| Date: | 2012–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gwi:wpaper:2012-6&r=dev |
| By: | Monica Beuran (World Bank - Washington District of Columbia (United States)); Marie Castaing Gachassin (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS : UMR8174 - Université Paris I - Panthéon-Sorbonne); Gaël Raballand (World Bank - Washington District of Columbia (United States)) |
| Abstract: | As planned large investments in road infrastructure continue to be high on the agenda of many African countries, only few of these countries have actually ammended their investments strategy. In many cases, there seems to be a preference for a status quo that can easily be explained by political economy factors driving the policies in the sector. This paper first presents data on the state of roads in Sub-Saharan Africa (length, density, condition) as well as on investments in the sector over the last decades. It then demonstrates how most countries' strategies are based on some misperceptions and recommends some changes to improve the developmental impact of roads investments. Better prioritization of investments, better procurement and contract management, better projects implementation and better monitoring are still needed, in spite of the efforts observed in the last 10 years. |
| Keywords: | Transport; roads; Sub-Saharan Africa; strategy; infrastructure; procurement |
| Date: | 2013–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:cesptp:halshs-00830006&r=dev |
| By: | Dean Karlan; Jonathan Zinman |
| Abstract: | The long-run price elasticity of demand for credit is a key parameter for intertemporal modeling, policy levers, and lending practice. We use randomized interest rates, offered across 80 regions by Mexico’s largest microlender, to identify a 29-month dollars-borrowed elasticity of -1.9. This elasticity increases from -1.1 in year one to -2.9 in year three. The number of borrowers is also elastic. Credit bureau data does not show evidence of crowd-out. Competitors do not respond by reducing rates, perhaps because Compartamos’ profits are unchanged. The results are consistent with multiple equilibria in loan pricing. |
| JEL: | E43 G21 O11 O12 |
| Date: | 2013–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:19106&r=dev |
| By: | Tom Vogl |
| Abstract: | Discussions of cross-sectional fertility heterogeneity and its interaction with economic growth typically assume that the poor have more children than the rich. Micro-data from 48 developing countries suggest that this assumption was false until recently. Over the second half of the twentieth century, the association of economic status with fertility and the association of the number of siblings with their education flipped from generally positive to generally negative. Because large families switched from investing in more education to investing in less, heterogeneity in fertility across families initially increased but now largely decreases average educational attainment. While changes in GDP per capita, women's work, sectoral composition, urbanization, and population health do not explain the reversal, roughly half of it can be attributed to the rising aggregate education levels of the parent generation. The results are consistent with two classes of theories of the fertility transition: (1) those based on changing preferences over the quality and quantity of children and (2) those incorporating subsistence consumption constraints. |
| JEL: | E24 I25 J1 O1 |
| Date: | 2013–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:19128&r=dev |
| By: | Lin, Faqin (Central University of Finance and Economics); Tang, Hsiao Chink (Asian Development Bank) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates how exporting affects firm innovation. We embed innovation into a firm heterogeneity model with productivity, where in equilibrium the model shows that exporters invest more in innovation, such as research and development (R&D), than non-exporters. Using firm-level data from the People’s Republic of China (PRC), we apply the Levinsohn and Petrin (2003) method of estimating firm productivity and matching econometrics to control for endogeneity. The results show, on average, in contrast to non-exporters, exporters increase their R&D intensity by more than 5%, raise their R&D expenditure by more than 33%, and are 4% more likely to engage in R&D activity. In addition, we find exporting to have a smaller impact on innovation among firms that export processed goods, specifically, those in the electronics sectors, located in coastal provinces, and foreign-owned. |
| Keywords: | Exporting; innovation; firm heterogeneity; matching |
| JEL: | D21 F14 O31 |
| Date: | 2013–04–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:adbrei:0111&r=dev |
| By: | Furio Camillo Rosati (University of Rome "Tor Vergata" and UCW); Jacobus de Hoop (University of Rome "Tor Vergata" and UCW) |
| Abstract: | Using data from BRIGHT, an integrated program that aims to improve school participation in rural communities in Burkina Faso, we investigate the impact of school subsidies and increased access to education on child work. Regression discontinuity estimates demonstrate that, while BRIGHT substantially improved school participation, it did not reduce – in fact may have increased - children’s participation in economic activities and household chores. This combination of increased school participation and work can be explained by the introduction of a simple non convexity in the standard model of altruistic utility maximizing households. If education programmes are implemented to achieve a combination of increased school participation and a reduction in child work they may either have to be combined with different interventions that effectively reduce child work or they may have to be tuned more carefully to the incentives and constraints the child labourer faces. |
| Keywords: | Burkina Faso, child labour, regression discontinuity, school participation. |
| JEL: | I25 J22 J24 O12 O55 |
| Date: | 2013–05–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rtv:ceisrp:282&r=dev |
| By: | Erasmus Kersting (Department of Economics and Statistics, Villanova School of Business, Villanova University); Kilby, Christopher (Department of Economics and Statistics, Villanova School of Business, Villanova University) |
| Abstract: | This paper uses Freedom House ratings to assess the impact of foreign aid on democracy. We employ an interval regression to account for Freedom House's method of rating countries. A cross-sectional analysis examining the long run effect of aid on democracy in 122 countries between 1972 and 2011 finds a significant positive relationship that survives various tests for endogeneity. A short run annual panel analysis of 156 countries between 1985 and 2011 explores whether aid operates through leverage and conditionality. We present evidence that i) donors allocate aid in response to democratization and ii) recipient countries respond to this incentive for democratic reform. Our identification strategy relies on the reduced importance of democratization in the allocation of aid to geopolitically important countries. |
| Keywords: | Democracy; Freedom House; Foreign Aid; Political Reform |
| JEL: | F35 |
| Date: | 2013–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:vil:papers:23&r=dev |
| By: | Oliver, Jill; Wodon, Quentin |
| Abstract: | This role of faith-inspired health care providers in sub-saharan Africa and public-private partnerships is comprised of a three volume series on strengthening the evidence for faith inspired engagement in health in sub-Saharan Africa. An increasing level of interest in the role of faith in development has generated much debate and dialogue at the international and national levels over the last decade. Despite difficulties in communication and differences in cultures within such debates, there has been a continued reaffirmation of the potential benefits that faith-inspired communities can bring towards efforts to achieve the millennium development goals (MDGs), especially in the areas of health. This series focuses on assessing the role and market share of faith-inspired providers and on assessing the extent to which they are involved in and benefit from public-private partnerships. The purpose of this series is three HNP discussion papers is to round up various analytical perspectives and emerging research on faith engagement in health in Africa from a range of researchers and practitioners from the north as well as the south. The series is structured into three volumes: a first volume on the role and market share of faith-inspired providers and public-private partnerships, a second on satisfaction and the comparative nature of faith-inspired health provision, and the third on mapping of faith inspired provision and the extent to which faith-inspired providers reach to the poor. |
| Keywords: | ability to pay, AIDS prevention, AIDS Relief, antenatal care, block grants, chronic disease, cities, civil society organizations, clinics, communities, COMMUNITY HEALTH, cost of care, COST OF HEALTH CARE, delivery of health services, description, Developing Countries, development policy, disadvantaged patients, diseases, districts, educational services, Emergency Plan, epidemic, exercises, Global health, Global Poverty, HEALTH CARE, health care centers, health care facilities, HEALTH CARE PROVIDERS, health care provision, health care services, health centers, Health Delivery, HEALTH FACILITIES, Health Financing, health funding, health infrastructure, health initiatives, health needs, Health Organization, Health Policy, health posts, health providers, health provision, Health Sector, Health Sector Reform, health service, health service providers, health service provision, health services, health system, health systems, HIV, HIV/AIDS, homes, hospital, hospital beds, hospital care, hospitals, household surveys, households, Human Development, Human Resources, impact on health, incidence analysis, income, indigenous populations, information system, information systems, integration, international policy, international response, intervention, interventions, level of poverty, limited resources, Living Standards, local communities, Malaria, mandates, measurement techniques, midwives, Millennium Development Goals, Ministry of Health, modernization, national health, national health systems, national population, national strategies, non-governmental organizations, Nongovernmental Organizations, nurses, Nutrition, pandemic, patients, pharmacists, Policy Framework, policy level, policy makers, population groups, practitioners, prevention activities, prevention strategies, primary care, primary health care, private sector, probability, Progress, providers of health care, provision of health care, Provision of Health Services, provision of services, Public Health, public health services, PUBLIC HEALTH SPENDING, public health strategies, public life, public providers, public sector, public spending, QUALITY CARE, quality of care, quality services, religious groups, religious institutions, religious leaders, respect, risk groups, rural areas, rural health care, service delivery, settlement, significant policy, Social Services, towns, traditional healers, Tuberculosis, Universal Access, urban areas, urban centers, urbanization, voluntary sector, vulnerable groups, vulnerable populations, Waste, World Council of Churches, World Health Organization |
| Date: | 2012–11–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:hnpdps:76223v3&r=dev |
| By: | Michalopoulos, Constantine; Ng, Francis |
| Abstract: | The study presents a comprehensive review of developing country trade policies and market access issues as they evolved over the period 1990-2012. The main findings are, first, that applied tariffs as well as traditional core non-tariff measures have declined significantly over time in both developed and developing countries. Second, the instruments of protection used by developed and developing countries are becoming increasingly similar: trade remedies, especially anti-dumping are the instruments of choice for all except low-income developing countries. Third, agriculture is the main sector where developing countries face access problems in OECD markets. Fourth, regional and other preferential trade agreements are both a result and a cause of the lack of progress in multilateral trade negotiations. They violate the basic World Trade Organization tenet of most favored nation and thus pose a potential threat to the multilateral system and a potential stimulus to further multilateral collaboration. Fifth, sanitary and phytosanitary and technical barriers to trade are being increasingly used by both developed and developing countries but their protective intent is difficult to gauge. There is a need for increased vigilance, transparency, and reporting to ensure that they are not being used as a means of protection of economic interests. Sixth, the service sectors are the most promising area where efforts for further liberalization are needed and may produce significant benefits. And seventh, far less additional protection has been put in place following the 2008 financial crisis compared with what had been feared or what had happened in earlier crises. |
| Keywords: | Trade Policy,Free Trade,Economic Theory&Research,Debt Markets,Emerging Markets |
| Date: | 2013–05–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6463&r=dev |
| By: | Larson, Donald F. |
| Abstract: | In the Middle East and North Africa, food security and water security are tightly entwined. In particular, choices about the extent to which food security policies rely on trade rather than domestically produced staples have stark consequences for the region's limited water resources. This paper builds on previous modeling results comparing the cost and benefits of policies to protect consumers against surging international wheat prices, and expands the analysis to consider the consequences of the policies for water resources. A self-sufficiency policy is analyzed as well. Results suggest that trade-based food security policies have no significant effect on the sustainability of water resources, while the costs of policies based on self-sufficiency for water resources are high. The analysis also shows that while information about the water footprint of alternative production systems is helpful, a corresponding economic footprint that fully measures the resource cost of water is needed to concisely rank alternative policies in economic terms that are consistent with sustainable outcomes. |
| Keywords: | Town Water Supply and Sanitation,Food&Beverage Industry,Water and Industry,Water Supply and Sanitation Governance and Institutions,Water Supply and Systems |
| Date: | 2013–05–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6464&r=dev |
| By: | Valente, Christine |
| Abstract: | Between 1996 and 2006, Nepal experienced violent civil conflict as a consequence of a Maoist insurgency, which many argue also brought about an increase in female empowerment. This paper exploits variations in exposure to conflict by birth cohort, survey date, and district to estimate the impact of the insurgency on education outcomes. Overall conflict intensity, measured by conflict casualties, is associated with an increase in female educational attainment, whereas abductions by Maoists, which often targeted school children, have the reverse effect. Male schooling tended to increase more rapidly in areas where the fighting was more intense, but the estimates are smaller in magnitude and more sensitive to specification than estimates for females. Similar results are obtained across different specifications, and robustness checks indicate that these findings are not due to selective migration. |
| Keywords: | Primary Education,Population Policies,Education For All,Education and Society,Post Conflict Reconstruction |
| Date: | 2013–05–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6468&r=dev |
| By: | Brooks, Karen; Zorya, Sergiy; Gautam, Amy; Goyal, Aparajita |
| Abstract: | This paper sheds light on how to harvest the"youth dividend"in Sub-Saharan Africa by creating jobs in agriculture. The agriculture that attracts the youth will have to be profitable, competitive, and dynamic. These are the same characteristics needed for agriculture to deliver growth, to improve food security, and to preserve a fragile natural environment. With higher priority accorded to implementation of well-designed public investments in agriculture, continued progress on regulatory and policy reform, and attention to assure inclusion of young people in Africa's agricultural renaissance, the sector's handsome youth dividend can be collected and widely shared. |
| Keywords: | Access to Finance,Banks&Banking Reform,Rural Development Knowledge&Information Systems,Environmental Economics&Policies,Adolescent Health |
| Date: | 2013–06–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6473&r=dev |
| By: | Fafchamps, Marcel; Soderbom, Mans |
| Abstract: | Patterns of correlation in innovation and contractual practices among manufacturing firms in Ethiopia and Sudan are documented. Network data that indicate whether any two firms in the utilized sample do business with each other, buy inputs from a common supplier, or sell output to a common client are used for the analysis. Only limited support is found for the commonly held idea that firms that are more proximate in a network sense are more likely to adopt similar practices. Indeed, for certain practices, adoption decisions appear to be local strategic substitutes: if one firm in a given location uses a certain practice, nearby firms are less likely to do so. These results suggest that the diffusion of technology and new business practices may play a more limited role in spurring growth in Africa's manufacturing sector than is often assumed in the present policy discussion. |
| Keywords: | E-Business,Microfinance,Small Scale Enterprise,Labor Policies,Technology Industry |
| Date: | 2013–06–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6474&r=dev |
| By: | Meyer, Eric |
| Abstract: | [Einleitung] Mit dem Vertrag von Lissabon und den damit verbundenen Änderungen im institutionellen Gefüge der Europäischen Union wurden auch die Abstimmungsregeln im Ministerrat erneut geändert. Diesen Änderungen vorausgegangen waren langwierige Diskussionen und Änderungsvorschläge, die sich insbesondere in den Verfassungsentwürfen des Europäischen Konvents und der Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) zum Entwurf des Verfassungsvertrages manifestierten. Nachdem der IGC-Entwurf eines Verfassungsvertrages in Frankreich und in den Niederlanden in Referenden abgelehnt worden war, wurde die weitere Ratifizierung in einigen EU-Ländern, die den Vertrag noch ratifizieren mussten, ausgesetzt und erst im Juni 2006 beschloss der Europäische Rat eine Wiederaufnahme der Verhandlungen über einen neuen EU-Vertrag, indem die Ratspräsidentschaft beauftragt wurde, bis zum ersten Halbjahr 2007 einen Bericht zu Möglichkeiten der Fortführung des Verfassungsvertrages vorzulegen. Die Verhandlungen wurden insbesondere unter der deutschen Präsidentschaft im ersten Halbjahr 2007 vorangetrieben und mündeten im Beschluss auf dem Europäischen Gipfel im Juni 2007, eine Regierungskonferenz einzusetzen, die einen neuen Vertrag aushandeln soll. Unter der portugiesischen Präsidentschaft wurden diese Verhandlungen fortgeführt und mündeten im Vertrag von Lissabon, der auf der Sitzung des Europäischen Rates am 12 und 13. Dezember 2007 in Lissabon unterzeichnet wurde. Im Zuge des Verhandlungsprozesses erwiesen sich gerade die institutionellen Fragen als sehr kontrovers. Dennoch gelang es einige grundlegende institutionelle Änderungen vorzunehmen, die auch die Abstimmungsregeln im Ministerrat betreffen. Der folgende Beitrag untersucht die Macht der einzelnen Mitgliedstaaten im Ministerrat nach den alten Regeln des Nizza-Vertrages und nach den neuen Regeln des Lissabon-Vertrages. Nach einem Literaturüberblick über bestehende Machtanalysen im Ministerrat nach dem Vertrag von Lissabon und einer kurzen Beschreibung des verwendeten Banzhaf-Machtindex wird in Abschnitt vier das neue Abstimmungsverfahren im Ministerrat nach dem EUV und dem AEUV beschrieben. Der fünfte Abschnitt bildet den Hauptteil der Untersuchung und analysiert die Machtverschiebung nach den Abstimmungsverfahren des Vertrages von Lissabon im Vergleich zu den aktuellen Bestimmungen aus dem Vertrag von Nizza. Erstens wird untersucht, welchen Effekt die geforderten Abstimmungsquoren haben, zweitens wird zwischen den beiden unterschiedlichen Machtarten (Gestaltungsmacht und Blockademacht) unterschieden und drittens wird in diesem Arbeitspapier ausführlich analysiert, wie sich die neuen Bestimmungen in Fällen, wo nicht alle Mitgliedstaaten abstimmungsberechtigt sind, also insbesondere im Fall der Währungsunion, auswirken. -- |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:cawmbg:36&r=dev |
| By: | Erkan Goeren (University of Oldenburg - Department of Economics and Statistics) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the economic growth impact of cultural diversity, both domestically and in neighbouring countries, in a balanced panel of 94 countries covering the period 1970 to 2004. The measures of cultural diversity used in this article were derived from a recently developed computer algorithm intended primarily to measure linguistic distances in an automated fashion. The empirical analysis suggests that the degree of cultural diversity in contiguous neighbouring countries has substantial positive effects on domestic per capita income growth, even controlling for a broad set of regional, institutional, religious and other proximate factors of economic growth. The conclusion is that culturally homogeneous countries gain a strategic advantage over their culturally diverse neighbours. |
| Keywords: | cultural diversity, ethnic diversity, economic growth |
| JEL: | O11 O5 |
| Date: | 2013–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zen:wpaper:16&r=dev |