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on Development |
| By: | Ward, Patrick S.; Singh, Vartika |
| Abstract: | In this paper we conduct a series of eld experiments in rural India in order to measure preferences related to risk, loss, and ambiguity. Disaggregating by data, we nd that on average women are signicantly more risk averse and loss averse than men, though the higher average risk aversion arises due to a greater share of women who are extremely risk averse. Through a series of two empirical examples, we demonstrate how these parameters aect decisions to adopt new agricultural technologies. By combining these results with a choice experiment over new and familiar rice seeds, we nd that ambiguity averse individuals are far more likely to stick with seeds they are familiar with, while a greater degree of loss aversion generally suggests people are more willing to switch to a new variety. |
| Keywords: | uncertainty, Prospect Theory, technology adoption, India, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Consumer/Household Economics, International Development, International Relations/Trade, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, O13, O33, C93, |
| Date: | 2013–06–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150794&r=dev |
| By: | Rodrigo, María F |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the impact of Public Works (PW) from the Productive Safety Net Program (PSNP) in the agricultural regions of Ethiopia. In particular, based on a household model with two inputs, I explore the eects of the program on capital and labor decisions using the Ethiopian Rural Household Surveys (ERHS) from 2004 and 2009. Results indicate that PW did not have an eect crowding out adult labor on- farm but it reduced child labor. Furthremore, after analyzing the relationship between capital and labor inputs, there is not evidence suggesting that the program had an eect on the demand of capital inputs (i.e., units of livestock and value of farming tools). |
| Keywords: | Farm Management, International Relations/Trade, Labor and Human Capital, Public Economics, |
| Date: | 2013–06–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150806&r=dev |
| By: | Chen, Susan E.; Salas, Paula Cordero |
| Abstract: | This paper provides evidence of the eect of agricultural diversication and commercialization on the health of preschool children. We specically look at the impact of diversication and commercialization on stunting, wasting and underweight by using a nationally representative sample of households taken from the Tanzania National Panel Survey (TNPS). We nd that engaging in contract farming for producing food crops has a negative eect on stunting and wasting. Diversication only has a positive eect on stunting of children at the bottom of the nutritional distribution while commercialization eects vary according to the type of crop that the household sells and the position of children in the nutritional distribution. The results provide insight into the eects of policies that pursue agricultural diversication and commercialization on the household well-being. |
| Keywords: | nutrition, agricultural diversification, commercialization, household welfare, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Health Economics and Policy, Public Economics, I12, I15, Q12, Q18, |
| Date: | 2013–06–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150952&r=dev |
| By: | Peralta, M. Alexandra; Swinton, Scott M. |
| Abstract: | In this study we conduct an impact evaluation of a complex rural development project in Central America with multiple treatments taking place simultaneously, purposive program placement and project participant freedom to opt in to project interventions. For this purpose we use propensity score matching difference-in-differences estimation, and compare results of this method with weighted propensity score regression and simple difference-in-differences estimation. We find short term project impacts in household savings, in participation in groups and associations, and in reduction of stored grain losses. However, we find no project impacts in long-term outcomes associated with increased agricultural income or household asset accumulation. These results are not surprising, since the project evaluation was conducted two years into a three-year project, before beneficiaries had realized its full benefits. Our study calls attention to the need of more research on linking short term to long-term impacts and on longer term strategies to evaluate impacts of agricultural technology. |
| Keywords: | Community/Rural/Urban Development, International Relations/Trade, O10, O13, Q1, |
| Date: | 2013–06–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:150988&r=dev |
| By: | Xie, Ruizhi; Awokuse, Titus O. |
| Abstract: | The economic benefits from improving health status are obvious, yet there remains a lack of agreement on how to quantify and compare the benefits and the accompanied costs. In our study, we extend Liu et al. (2008)’s study on the role of health status on income in China and examine whether their conclusions still hold under new specifications and in a broader time horizon. Our results show a larger impact of health status on income after replacing household income with individual income. We find this effect becomes even more pronounced in the 2000s. Moreover, our results show an inverted-U relationship between age and income, which is an improvement over Liu et al. (2008)’s work and is in line with other empirical studies. By admitting the endogeneity issue, we find the impact of health status becomes even larger after instrumenting health status. The results of GMM estimation, which allows for efficient estimation under heteroskedasticity of unknown form, are consistent the IV estimations. |
| Keywords: | Health, Income, China, CHNS, Consumer/Household Economics, Health Economics and Policy, I10, I12, J24, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:151137&r=dev |
| By: | Janzen, Sarah A.; Carter, Michael R. |
| Abstract: | When natural disasters strike in developing countries, households are often forced to choose between preserving assets or consumption: either can result in permanent consequences. In this paper we ask: can insurance transfer risk in a way that reduces the need for households to rely on costly coping strategies that undermine their future productivity? Since 2010, pastoralists in northern Kenya have had access to a novel index-based drought insurance product. We analyze the impact of a drought-induced insurance payout on consumption smoothing and asset protection in this setting. Our results show that insured households are on average 36 percentage points less likely to anticipate drawing down assets, and 25 percentage points less likely to anticipate reducing meals upon receipt of a payout. Empirical evidence of a poverty trap in this setting suggests that these average impacts may mask a heterogeneous behavioral response and subsequent heterogeneous impacts of insurance. For this reason we use Hansen's (2000) threshold estimator to estimate a critical asset threshold around which optimal coping strategies bifurcate. Using this approach we nd that that households holding assets above a critical asset threshold, who are also most likely to sell assets, are 64 percentage points less likely to anticipate doing so when an insurance payout is available. Households holding assets below the estimated threshold, who are likely to destabilize consumption, are 43 percentage points less likely to anticipate doing so with insurance. Together, these results suggest that insurance can help households to protect assets during crises, without having the deleterious eect on human capital investments. |
| Keywords: | Agribusiness, Risk and Uncertainty, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:151141&r=dev |
| By: | Olivia, Susan; Gibson, John |
| Abstract: | Satellite-detected luminosity is sometimes used to proxy for economic activity although only recently within the mainstream economics literature (Henderson et al., 2012). If this method works it holds great promise for developing countries with weak statistical systems that face difficulties in consistently measuring long-term economic change. Regardless of how chaotic are statistical efforts on the ground, viewed from space it may be possible to detect economic change, with high frequency and for small areas. But doubts remain about how much trust can be put in night lights data as a proxy for economic growth since previous validation attempts just compare with other error-ridden measures (Henderson et al., 2012; Chen and Nordhaus, 2011; Kulkarni et al., 2011). This paper uses gold standard data on electrification and economic growth for 5000 sub-districts in Indonesia from 1992 to 2008 to evaluate the reliability of night-light based measures of local economic change. Our results also contribute to debate in the literature about the severity of the shock to Indonesia from the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997 and the subsequent rate of rebound in economic activity. |
| Keywords: | Economic Growth, Luminosity, Measurement Error, Indonesia, Agricultural and Food Policy, Financial Economics, International Relations/Trade, Production Economics, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, O47, C52, E31, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:151210&r=dev |
| By: | Tumusiime, Emmanuel |
| Abstract: | This study examined how households’ responded in the Tillabery region, Niger given early cash transfer intervention and the impact on household food access and ability to cope and recover from a food crisis. Data was also collected from households that did not benefit from the cash transfer program for comparative purposes. Food access indicators are linked to the cash transfer program and structural characteristics of households and the relationships estimated using a propensity weighted econometric model. Results indicate that early cash transfer intervention had a positive impact on staving off short term food deficiency and reducing vulnerability but limited in contributing to longer lasting impact. The results also demonstrate that certain social-structural characteristics of a household, namely, more economically active adults, male head of a household and concerted decision making, are important for improved food access status. Focusing safety net programs based on these household characteristics could benefit efforts to better target those most vulnerable. |
| Keywords: | Early cash transfer, Food crisis, Niger, Vulnerability, Resilience, Agricultural Finance, Risk and Uncertainty, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:151270&r=dev |
| By: | Wang, Xinxin; Chen, Kevin; Huang, Zuhui |
| Abstract: | Demographic transition due to population aging is an emerging issue throughout the developing world, and especially in China, which has undergone demographic transition more rapidly than most industrial economies. This paper quantifies the economic and distributional effects in the context of demographic transition using the integrated recursive dynamic computable general equilibrium (CGE) model with top-down behavioral micro-simulation. The results show that the population aging slow down China’s economy growth rate due to the exhausted of demographic dividend with high cost of labor force. The consequences from the poverty and inequality index indicate that population aging has a negative impact to the reduction of poverty while it is positive as refers to the equality during the process of demographic transition. The average age within a household has a noticeable contribution to total inequality. These findings suggest that measures for stimulating the second demographic dividend should be carried out to promote the economic growth as well as the reduction of poverty. The inequality within the same household groups while with different household age should be put more emphasize on. What’s more, the social pension system should be improved, especially in rural China |
| Keywords: | Demographic Transition, Economic Growth, Income Distribution, CGE model, Community/Rural/Urban Development, International Development, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:151276&r=dev |
| By: | Yanez-Pagans, Patricia |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes whether monetary incentives modify cooperative behavior in activities that have been traditionally unpaid. We provide a simple theoretical framework and exploit variation over time in community access to Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) within Mexican common property communities to analyze whether payments increase work in forest protection activities, which are increasingly incentivized under PES, and also explore their eects on other community activities that remain unpaid. We nd that cash incentives increase work, both in the intensive and extensive margins, in forest conservation activities; however, we claim that the framing of the incentive plays an important role in explaining cooperation in activities that remain unpaid. Our ndings indicate that, as long as agents are exposed to sanctions resulting from deviant behavior and their actions are visible, lump-sum transfers without specic work conditionalities can be more eective than wages to promote cooperation. Given the increased popularity of PES initiatives as tools to combat climate change, our ndings are important not only for environmental conservation but also for the sustainability and welfare of common property communities. |
| Keywords: | Payments for Ecosystem Services, Cooperative Behavior, Common Property Management, Incentive Framing, Farm Management, Land Economics/Use, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea13:151295&r=dev |
| By: | Fabrício Missio (UFMT); Frederico Jayme Jr (Cedeplar-UFMG); Gustavo Britto (Cedeplar-UFMG); José Luis Oreiro (UNB) |
| Abstract: | The goal of this paper is to empirically analyse the relationship between the real exchange rate and the growth rate of output. Firstly, we calculate an index of real exchange rate undervaluation, following the relevant literature. Then, using unbalanced (balanced) panel data techniques, we estimate the effect of this index on the rate of output growth for a sample of 103 (63) countries over the 1978-2007 period. Afterwards, we investigate the existence of a nonlinear relationship (quadratic) between these variables, as well as the possibility of there being different patterns for different groups of countries. We employ various tests and econometric methods, including the technique of quantile regressions, to ensure the robustness of the results. The conclusions indicate that maintaining a competitive level for the real exchange rate has positive effects on the growth rate, especially for developing countries in Latin America. Moreover, this effect tends to be nonlinear, i.e., it is positive for moderate levels of undervaluation. |
| Keywords: | Real Exchange Rate, Nonlinearity and Growth. |
| JEL: | F43 O19 E12 |
| Date: | 2013–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdp:texdis:td482&r=dev |
| By: | Vivi Alatas; Abhijit Banerjee; Rema Hanna; Benjamin A. Olken; Ririn Purnamasari; Matthew Wai-Poi |
| Abstract: | Economic theory suggests that, when designing aid programs, ordeal mechanisms that impose differential costs for rich and poor can induce self-selection and hence improve targeting (“self-targeting”). We first re-examine this theory and show that ordeal mechanisms may actually have theoretically ambiguous effects on targeting: for example, time spent applying imposes a higher monetary cost on the rich, but may impose a higher utility cost on the poor. We then examine these issues empirically by conducting a 400-village field experiment within Indonesia's Conditional Cash Transfer program. Targeting in the program is usually conducted by automatically enrolling candidates who pass an asset test. We compare whether instituting an ordeal mechanism, where villagers come to a central application site to apply and take the asset test, improves targeting over the existing automatic enrollment system. Within self-targeting villages, we find that the poor are more likely to apply, even conditional on whether they would pass the asset test. On net, self-targeting villages have a much poorer group of beneficiaries than status quo villages. However, marginally increasing the ordeal does not necessarily improve targeting: while experimentally increasing the distance to the application site reduces the number of applicants, it screens out both rich and poor in roughly equal proportions. Estimating the model structurally, we show that only one would need to increase the ordeal dramatically (e.g. tripling wait times to 9 hours or more) to induce detectable additional selection. In short, ordeal mechanisms can induce self-selection, but marginally increasing the ordeal can impose additional costs on applicants without necessarily improving targeting. |
| JEL: | I38 O12 |
| Date: | 2013–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:19127&r=dev |
| By: | Xi Zhu; John Whalley; Xiliang Zhao |
| Abstract: | We argue that the demographic changes caused by the one child policy (OCP) may not harm China's long-term growth. This attributes to the higher human capital induced by the intergenerational transfer arrangement under China’s poor-functioning formal social security system. Parents raise their children and depend on them for support when they reach an advanced age. The decrease in the number of children prompted by the OCP resulted in parents investing more in their children’s educations to ensure retirement consumption. In addition, decreased childcare costs strengthen educational investment through an income effect. Using a calibrated model, a benchmark with the OCP is compared to three counterfactual experiments without the OCP. The output under the OCP is expected to be about 4 percent higher than it would be without the OCP in 2025 under moderate estimates. The output gain comes from a greatly increased educational investment driven by fewer children (11.4 years of schooling rather than 8.1). Our model sheds new light on the prospects of China's long-term growth by emphasizing the OCP's growth enhancing role through human capital formation under the intergenerational transfer arrangement. |
| JEL: | J13 O11 O53 |
| Date: | 2013–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:19160&r=dev |
| By: | Sonia R. Bhalotra; Guilhem Cassan; Irma Clots-Figueras; Lakshmi Iyer |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates whether the religious identity of state legislators in India influences development outcomes, both for citizens of their religious group and for the population as a whole. To allow for politician identity to be correlated with constituency level voter preferences or characteristics that make religion salient, we use quasi-random variation in legislator identity generated by close elections between Muslim and non-Muslim candidates. We find that increasing the political representation of Muslims improves health and education outcomes in the district from which the legislator is elected. We find no evidence of religious favoritism: Muslim children do not benefit more from Muslim political representation than children from other religious groups. |
| JEL: | H41 I15 J13 P16 |
| Date: | 2013–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:19173&r=dev |
| By: | Vu, Tam Bang; Noy, Ilan |
| Abstract: | We examine the effects of natural disasters on income and investment in China. Using detailed macroeconomic province-level data and their history of disaster exposure over the past two decades, and after accounting for two-way causality using a three-stage least-squares estimation procedure, we describe the relationship between disaster mortality and morbidity, disasters’ economic damages, government investment and regional economic activity and infrastructure development. The Chinese government’s aggressive investment in post-disaster reconstruction is discussed, and the implications of this investment for post-disaster private sector economic activity are analyzed empirically. We further investigate the differential effects of natural disasters on economic activity in the different provinces. |
| Keywords: | China, Natural disasters, Environment, Investment, Recovery, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:vuw:vuwecf:2812&r=dev |
| By: | Giles, John; Wang, Dewen; Park, Albert |
| Abstract: | This paper first reviews the history of social insurance policy and coverage in urban China, documenting the evolution in the coverage of pensions and medical and unemployment insurance for both local residents and migrants, and highlighting obstacles to expanding coverage. The paper then uses two waves of the China Urban Labor Survey, conducted in 2005 and 2010, to examine the correlates of social insurance participation before and after implementation of the 2008 Labor Contract Law. A higher labor tax wedge is associated with a lower probability that local employed residents participate in social insurance programs, but is not associated with participation of wage-earning migrants, who are more likely to be dissuaded by fragmentation of the social insurance system. The existing gender gap in social insurance coverage is explained by differences in coverage across industrial sectors and firm ownership classes in which men and women work. |
| Keywords: | Health Economics&Finance,Insurance&Risk Mitigation,Social Protections&Assistance,Pensions&Retirement Systems,Wages, Compensation&Benefits |
| Date: | 2013–06–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6497&r=dev |
| By: | Jarotschkin, Alexandra; Kraay, Aart |
| Abstract: | Aid donors and recipients have long been concerned that aid inflows may lead to an appreciation of the real exchange rate and an associated loss of competitiveness. This paper provides new evidence of the dynamic effects of aid on the real exchange rate, using an identification strategy that exploits the long delays between the approval of aid projects and the subsequent disbursements on them. These disbursement delays enable the isolation of a source of variation in aid inflows that is uncorrelated with contemporaneous macroeconomic shocks that may drive both aid and the real exchange rate. Using this predetermined component of aid as an instrument, there is little evidence that aid inflows lead to significant real exchange rate appreciations. |
| Keywords: | Macroeconomic Management,Debt Markets,Economic Stabilization,Emerging Markets,Economic Theory&Research |
| Date: | 2013–06–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6501&r=dev |
| By: | Bruhn, Miriam; McKenzie, David |
| Abstract: | The majority of microenterprises in most developing countries remain informal despite more than a decade of reforms aimed at making it easier and cheaper for them to formalize. This paper summarizes the evidence on the effects of entry reforms and related policy actions to promote firm formalization. Most of these policies result only in a modest increase in the number of formal firms, if at all. Less is known about the impact of other forms of business regulations on the performance of low-scale enterprises. Most informal firms appear not to benefit on net from formalizing, so ease of formalization alone will not lead to most of them formalizing. Increased enforcement of rules can increase formality. Although there is a fiscal benefit of doing this with larger informal firms, it is unclear whether there is a public rationale for trying to formalize subsistence enterprises. |
| Keywords: | Microfinance,Small Scale Enterprise,E-Business,Business in Development,Competitiveness and Competition Policy |
| Date: | 2013–06–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6507&r=dev |
| By: | Kaminski, Bartlomiej; Ng, Francis |
| Abstract: | Sri Lanka's external performance defies global trends on two counts. First, the level of openness as measured by the ratio of trade in goods and services, after a strong increase in 1987-95 and stagnation in 1996-2004, sharply fell in 2005-10 to the levels experienced during the era of import substitution. Second, the share of clothing in manufactured exports has remained largely unchanged over the past 25 years. Had there been no economic growth, this would not have been puzzling. The paper argues that these unique features can be traced to (a) the duality of Sri Lanka's economic regime -- the legacy of unfinished structural reforms of a socialist economic regime -- and (b) high and growing protectionism in the 2000s. Sri Lanka's experience shows that the lack of stability in trade policy combined with recently expanding protectionism and the state's micromanagement of investment does not create an institutional/policy setting conducive to rapidly evolving composition of exports and their fast growth. The practice of dealing with weaknesses in trade policies and the business environment through granting exemptions to various activities deemed desirable by the authorities only exacerbates distortions and creates more fertile ground for rent seeking. Without a radical overhaul of the current policy framework shaping interaction of Sri Lankan businesses with global markets, economic growth may be reduced, if not reversed. |
| Keywords: | Trade Policy,Free Trade,Economic Theory&Research,Debt Markets,Currencies and Exchange Rates |
| Date: | 2013–06–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6512&r=dev |
| By: | Krauss, Alexander |
| Abstract: | One in six children age 6-14 are engaged in labor activities in Ghana, with child employment being the leading alternative to schooling. By exploring structural, institutional, geographic, monetary, demographic, and cultural factors affecting household decisions about child labor, the paper's main purpose is to identify the conditions and characteristics of working children, the root causes of their vulnerability, and thus help to inform decision-makers and actors who draft and implement public policy of possible ways to tackle child labor in Ghana. The paper empirically assesses the effects of individual, household, community, regional, and national factors on child labor simultaneously. Findings from the analysis indicate that the underlying causes of child labor vary from factors as widespread in their influence as the structure of the economy (which is largely shaped by family farming), demographics and relevant social norms to those as specific in their manifestation as the geographic isolation of particular groups in the North, a lack of higher returns to schooling up to the basic education level in rural areas, and the low priority and capacity to enforce anti-child labor laws. In addition, an interview conducted with the Minister of Education as well as interviews with Ghanaian children help identify specific interdependencies between child labor and schooling and highlight the societal and economic demand for children to be working. Finally, after identifying which constraints and enabling factors are most important, the paper outlines policy and reform approaches to tackle child labor in Ghana. |
| Keywords: | Street Children,Youth and Governance,Primary Education,Children and Youth,Education For All |
| Date: | 2013–06–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6513&r=dev |
| By: | Nose, Manabu |
| Abstract: | After the tsunami in Aceh, Indonesia, the recovery of fishing was limited while non-fishing sectors temporarily expanded. This paper shows that fishermen's ex-post labor supply responses continued to be constrained by the provision of low quality production assets. The average fishing productivity also declined for the negative selection in response to the aggregate shock. In a natural experiment set-up, it shows widening income inequality after the tsunami for income losses to the recipients of poor quality aid. It suggests the importance of quality monitoring and private market access to sustainably promote rural development after the tsunami. |
| Keywords: | Fisheries and Aquaculture,Coastal and Marine Environment,Labor Policies,Labor Markets,Coastal and Marine Resources |
| Date: | 2013–06–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6514&r=dev |
| By: | Devarajan, Shantayanan; Go, Delfin S.; Maliszewska, Maryla; Osorio-Rodarte, Israel; Timmer, Hans |
| Abstract: | After an impressive acceleration in growth and poverty reduction since the mid-1990s, many African countries continue to register robust growth in the aftermath of the global financial crisis. Will this growth persist, given the tepid recovery in developed countries, numerous weather shocks, and civil conflicts in Africa? This paper"stress tests"African economies. The findings indicate that Africa's long-term growth is fairly impervious to a prolonged recession in high-income countries. Growth is, however, much more sensitive to a disruption of capital flows to the region, and to internal shocks, such as civil conflict and drought, even if the latter follow historical patterns. The broad policy implication is that with proper domestic production conditions African countries can sustain robust long-term growth. Because of the economic dominance of the agriculture sector and the share of food in household budgets, countries will need to increase the resilience of agriculture and protect it from unfavorable climate change impacts, such as drought. As in the past, civil conflicts and violence will pose by far the greatest threat to Africa's performance. |
| Keywords: | Economic Theory&Research,Emerging Markets,Rural Poverty Reduction,Achieving Shared Growth,Climate Change Economics |
| Date: | 2013–06–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6517&r=dev |
| By: | Ferro, Esteban; Wilson, John S.; Otsuki, Tsunehiro |
| Abstract: | The authors create a standards restrictiveness index using newly available data on maximum residue levels of pesticides for 61 importing countries. The paper analyzes the impact that food safety standards have on international trade of agricultural products. The findings suggest that more restrictive standards are associated, on average, with a lower probability of observing trade. However, after controlling for sample selection and the proportion of exporting firms in a gravity model, the analysis finds that the effect of standards on trade intensity is indistinguishable from zero. This is consistent with the assumption that meeting stringent standards increases primarily the fixed costs of exporting. Once firms enter the market, however, standards do not impact the level of exports. The analysis also finds a greater marginal effect of BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) standards on the probability of trade, relative to other countries'standards, keeping in mind however that on average BRICS standards are less restrictive. The analysis also suggests that exporters in low-income countries are more adversely affected by stricter standards. |
| Keywords: | Free Trade,Economic Theory&Research,Labor Policies,Food&Beverage Industry,Trade Law |
| Date: | 2013–06–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6518&r=dev |
| By: | Shilpi, Forhad |
| Abstract: | This paper utilizes the mixed effects model to measure and decompose spatial disparity in per capita expenditure in Bangladesh between 2000 and 2010. It finds a significant decline in spatial disparity in urban areas and the country as a whole but no substantial change in rural areas. The decomposition analysis indicates that average years of education, the percentage of households with electricity connections, and phone ownership account for most of the spatial variations in welfare. Spatial convergence in urban areas can be explained primarily by the expansion of electricity and phone networks for household use. Improved access to these services had little effect on spatial disparity in rural areas. This paper offers several explanations for the difference in convergence rates between urban and rural areas. |
| Keywords: | Regional Economic Development,Housing&Human Habitats,Rural Poverty Reduction,Transport Economics Policy&Planning,Population Policies |
| Date: | 2013–06–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6519&r=dev |
| By: | Iacovone, Leonardo; Mattoo, Aaditya; Zahler, Andres |
| Abstract: | Studies on innovation and international trade have traditionally focused on manufacturing because neither was seen as important for services. Moreover, the few existing studies on services focus only on industrial countries, although in many developing countries services are already the largest sector in the economy and an important determinant of overall productivity growth. Using a recent firm-level innovation survey for Chile to compare the manufacturing and"tradable"services sector, this paper reveals some novel patterns. First, although services firms have on average a much lower propensity to export than manufacturing firms, services exports are less dominated by large firms and tend to be more skill intensive than manufacturing exports. Second, services firms appear to be as innovative as -- and in some cases more innovative than -- manufacturing firms, in terms of both inputs and outputs of"technological"innovative activity, although services innovations more often take a"non-technological"form. Third, services exporters (like manufacturing exporters) tend to be significantly more innovative than non-exporters, with a wider gap for innovations close to the global technological frontier. These findings suggest that the growing faith in services as a source of both trade and innovative dynamism may not be misplaced. |
| Keywords: | E-Business,ICT Policy and Strategies,Public Sector Corruption&Anticorruption Measures,Housing&Human Habitats,Commodities |
| Date: | 2013–06–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6520&r=dev |
| By: | Agbodji, Akoete Ega; Batana, Yele Maweki; Ouedraogo, Denis |
| Abstract: | The importance of gender equality is reflected not only in the Millennium Development Goals, but also in the World Bank's Gender Action Plan launched in 2007 as well as in other treaties and actions undertaken at regional and international levels. Unlike other work on gender and poverty, which is mostly based on monetary measurement, the present study makes use of a counting approach to examine gender issues in Burkina Faso and Togo using household surveys. Focusing on six dimensions (housing, basic utilities, assets, education, employment, and access to credit) largely recognized as Millennium Development Goal targets, the main findings of the study indicate that overall individuals are the most deprived in education in Burkina Faso, while the reverse situation is true in Togo. Gender inequality is observed in all dimensions since women always seem to be more deprived than men. The situation is also marked by regional disparities. Moreover, the assessment of dimensional contributions shows different patterns for each country. While employment proves to be the main contributor of gender inequality in Burkina Faso, three dimensions (assets, access to credit, and employment) account together for most of the total contribution to gender inequality in Togo. There is also a positive correlation between multidimensional deprivation and women's age in Burkina Faso, whereas both measures seem to be uncorrelated in Togo. |
| Keywords: | Gender and Development,Rural Poverty Reduction,Gender and Law,Regional Economic Development,Population Policies |
| Date: | 2013–06–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6522&r=dev |
| By: | Zhang, Heather Xiaoquan; Loubere, Nicholas |
| Abstract: | Establishing an inclusive financial system with comprehensive and accessible services in rural areas is increasingly promoted as a crucial element for socio-economic development both in China and globally. Yet, in existing research on China's agricultural and rural development, relatively less attention has been paid to the ways in which changes in the provision of rural finance have impacted the livelihoods of individuals, families and communities from the perspectives of local people. This paper intends to contribute to our understanding of the relationship between rural finance and development by delineating a recent history of financial service extension to rural areas since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949. We analyse, in particular, the accelerated pace of the expansion and diversification of such services together with a deeper penetration of the so-called 'microfinance industry' in rural China since the mid-2000s. We analyse the major actors and dynamics involved, the strengths and weaknesses in current scholarship, and suggest ways forward in order to deepen our understanding of the relationship between rural finance, development and the livelihoods in China and beyond. -- |
| Keywords: | rural financial services,financial extension and diversification,urban-rural integration,microcredit,livelihoods,China |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:udedao:942013&r=dev |