|
on Development |
| By: | Bargain, Olivier (University of Aix-Marseille II); Boutin, Delphine (EDHEC Business School) |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the effects of remittance receipt on child labour in an African context. We focus on Burkina Faso, a country with a high prevalence of child labour and a high rate of migration. Given the complex relationship between remittance receipt and child labour, our identification relies on different instruments capturing the employment conditions in remittance-sending countries. We first find that receiving remittances has no significant effect on child labour on average. However, when the disruptive effect from the absence of a family member is ruled out, remittances significantly reduce child labour. We provide an extensive robustness check and estimate heterogeneous effects. These show no gender difference but a significant age effect: remittances affect the labour market participation of younger children only, suggesting a progressive integration of children into work activities. |
| Keywords: | remittances, migration, child labour, Africa |
| JEL: | F24 I25 J22 |
| Date: | 2014–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8007&r=dev |
| By: | Mabel Andalón; Jenny Williams; Michael Grossman |
| Abstract: | Large differences in fertility between women with high and low levels of education suggest that schooling may have a direct impact on knowledge and use of contraception. We investigate this issue using information on women in Mexico. In order to identify the causal effect of schooling, we exploit temporal and geographic variation in the number of lower secondary schools built following the extension of compulsory education in Mexico from 6th to 9th grade in 1993. We show that raising females' schooling beyond 6th grade increases their knowledge of contraception during their reproductive years and increases their propensity to use contraception at sexual debut. This indicates that the impact of schooling on women's wellbeing extends beyond improved labor market outcomes and includes greater autonomy over their fertility. |
| JEL: | I10 I18 I25 |
| Date: | 2014–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:19961&r=dev |
| By: | Chang-Tai Hsieh; Benjamin A. Olken |
| Abstract: | Although a large literature seeks to explain the “missing middle” of mid-sized firms in developing countries, there is surprisingly little empirical backing for existence of the missing middle. Using microdata on the full distribution of both formal and informal sector manufacturing firms in India, Indonesia, and Mexico, we document three facts. First, while there are a very large number of small firms, there is no “missing middle” in the sense of a bimodal distribution: mid-sized firms are missing, but large firms are missing too, and the fraction of firms of a given size is smoothly declining in firm size. Second, we show that the distribution of average products of capital and labor is unimodal, and that large firms, not small firms, have higher average products. This is inconsistent with many models in which small firms with high returns are constrained from expanding. Third, we examine regulatory and tax notches in India, Indonesia, and Mexico of the sort often thought to discourage firm growth, and find no economically meaningful bunching of firms near the notch points. We show that existing beliefs about the missing middle are largely due to arbitrary transformations that were made to the data in previous studies. |
| JEL: | E23 H25 O11 O47 |
| Date: | 2014–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:19966&r=dev |
| By: | Halliday, Katherine E.; Okello, George; Turner, Elizabeth L.; Njagi, Kiambo; Mcharo, Carlos; Kengo, Juddy; Allen, Elizabeth; Dubeck, Margaret M.; Jukes, Matthew C.H.; Brooker, Simon J. |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the effects of intermittent screening and treatment of malaria on the health and education of school children in an area of low-to-moderate malaria transmission. A cluster randomized trial was implemented with 5,233 children in 101 government primary schools on the south coast of Kenya in 2010-12. The intervention was delivered to children randomly selected from classes 1 and 5 who were followed up twice across 24 months. Once during each school term, public health workers used malaria rapid diagnostic tests to screen the children. Children who tested positive were treated with a six-dose regimen of artemether-lumefantrine. Given the nature of the intervention, the trial was not blinded. The primary outcomes were anemia and sustained attention and the secondary outcomes were malaria parasitaemia and educational achievement. The data were analyzed on an intention-to-treat basis. Anemia in this setting in Kenya, intermittent screening and treatment, as implemented in this study, is not effective in improving the health or education of school children. Possible reasons for the absence of an impact are the marked geographical heterogeneity in transmission, the rapid rate of reinfection following artemether-lumefantrine treatment, the variable reliability of malaria rapid diagnostic tests, and the relative contribution of malaria to the etiology of anemia in this setting. |
| Keywords: | Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Disease Control&Prevention,Primary Education,Adolescent Health,Educational Sciences |
| Date: | 2014–02–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6791&r=dev |
| By: | Saumik Paul; Vengadeshvaran Sarma |
| Abstract: | Much of the debate on industrialization and displacement has, so far, focused on the optimum compensation for affected households. Our recently concluded study, comprising of a sample of 1017 households including 630 affected (displaced and land acquired) and 387 unaffected households, looks at the long-term livelihood effects of the Falta Special Economic Zone (FSEZ) in West Bengal, India. The main findings indicate a lower labour market participation rate among affected household members. However, members of displaced households show the highest work participation rate in the industrial zone but with a lower return to education than others. Women earn about 17 percentage points less compared to men after controlling for education and experience and this gap is 5 to 10 percentage points higher for FSEZ employees; but this gap is narrowing over time likewise the gender education gap. |
| Keywords: | Industrialization, Special Economic Zones, Rural livelihoods, West Bengal, India |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:not:notcre:13/09&r=dev |
| By: | Islam, Asif |
| Abstract: | Several studies have explored the relationship between economy-level crime rates or individual-level crime and economic growth. However, few studies have examined the relationship between economic growth and crime against firms. This study uses data for about 12,000 firms in 27 developing countries and finds that economic growth is negatively associated with crime. This relationship is stronger for small and medium firms than large firms. The study also explores several economy-wide factors and their influence on the growth-crime relationship for small and medium enterprises. The results are robust to various sensitivity checks. |
| Keywords: | Governance Indicators,Public Sector Corruption&Anticorruption Measures,Achieving Shared Growth,Population Policies,Gender and Law |
| Date: | 2014–02–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6768&r=dev |
| By: | Jung, Haeil; Hasan, Amer |
| Abstract: | This paper assesses whether the Indonesia Early Childhood Education and Development project had an impact on early achievement gaps as measured by an array of child development outcomes and enrollment. The analysis is based on longitudinal data collected in 2009 and 2010 on approximately 3,000 four-year-old children residing in 310 villages located in nine districts across Indonesia. The study begins by documenting the intent-to-treat impact of the project. It then compares the achievement gaps between richer and poorer children living in project villages with those of richer and poorer children living in non-project villages. There is clear evidence that in project villages, the achievement gap between richer and poorer children decreased on many dimensions. By contrast, in non-project villages, this gap either increased or stayed constant. Given Indonesia's interest in increasing access to early childhood services for all children, and the need to ensure more efficient spending on education, the paper discusses how three existing policies and programs could be leveraged to ensure that Indonesia's vision for holistic, integrated early childhood services becomes a reality. The lessons from Indonesia's experience apply more broadly to countries seeking to reduce early achievement gaps and expand access to pre-primary education. |
| Keywords: | Primary Education,Educational Sciences,Youth and Governance,Street Children,Housing&Human Habitats |
| Date: | 2014–02–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6794&r=dev |
| By: | Xiaoying Liu, Mare Sarr and Timothy Swanson |
| Abstract: | We examine the effect of the introduction of uniform water-charging for aquifer management and provide evidence using a survey-based choice experiment of agricultural water users in rural Tunisia. Theoretically, we show that the implementation of the proposed second-best regulation would result both in efficiency gains and in distributional effects in favour of small landholders. Empirically, we find that resistance to the introduction of an effective water-charging regime is greatest amongst the largest landholders. Resistance to the regulation of common resources may be sourced in the manner in which heterogeneity might determine the distributional impact of different management regimes. |
| Keywords: | Resistance, Regulation, Common Resources, Tunisia |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rza:wpaper:414&r=dev |