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on Development |
| By: | Ferrone, Lucia (UNICEF); Giannelli, Gianna Claudia (University of Florence) |
| Abstract: | In many Sub-Saharan African countries, a large number of people migrate internally or abroad because of demographic, economic and political factors. This pronounced mobility is likely to have consequences for child education, which is still a matter of concern in the region. We study this issue for Uganda, investigating whether the migration of household members affects child primary education and in what direction. Using the Uganda National Panel Survey for 2005, 2009, 2010 and 2011, we estimate conditional fixed effects logit models of school attendance and primary school completion. We find that migration of children has a significant positive impact on child school attendance rates while that of adults has a significantly negative effect, and that remittances have no influence. These findings suggest that migration of children is indeed beneficial, since it may contribute to matching the demand and supply of schooling. The absence of adults, instead, has controversial effects when children are left behind. In fact, lack of supervision and children working substituting adults in their tasks might reduce the rate of school attendance. However, the migration of neither children nor adults seem to increase the rate of primary school completion, evidence that points to the problem of the low quality of primary education in developing countries. |
| Keywords: | migration, schooling, panel data models with fixed effects, Uganda |
| JEL: | I25 J13 J61 O15 |
| Date: | 2015–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8927&r=dev |
| By: | Dasso, Rosamaría (IFPRI, International Food Policy Research Institute); Fernandez, Fernando (Universitat Pompeu Fabra); Nopo, Hugo (Inter-American Development Bank) |
| Abstract: | We study the effects of electrification on educational outcomes in Peru by taking advantage of a program that rapidly increased electricity coverage in rural areas. Using household survey panel data from 2007-2010, we document that: i) girls living in treated districts are more likely to be enrolled in school, and this effect is larger among younger girls; ii) this positive effect on female enrollment does not translate into higher attendance rates; iii) households in treated areas spend more money on younger girls' education. In addition, we use school-level panel data from 2007-2012 on Math and Reading test scores to show that treatment is associated with a reduction in learning. But, among treated schools, longer treatment exposure increases scores in Reading for boys and girls; and improves performance in Math, only among boys. Finally, our estimates are robust to controlling for other confounding interventions. |
| Keywords: | education, rural electrification, Peru |
| JEL: | I25 O13 O15 |
| Date: | 2015–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8928&r=dev |
| By: | Stephan Klasen (Georg-August-Universität Göttingen / Germany); Simon Lange (Georg-August-Universität Göttingen / Germany) |
| Abstract: | In the absence of reliable and exhaustive income data, Proxy Means Tests (PMTs) are frequently employed as a cost-eective way to identify income-poor beneciaries of targeted anti-poverty programs. However, their usefulness depends on whether proxies accurately identify the income poor. Based on Receiver Operating Characteristics (ROC)-analysis, we nd that PMTs perform poorly in terms of identifying poor households in Bolivian data when transfers are targeted narrowly to the poor but that the true positive rate is highly responsive to increases in the proportion of beneciaries. Using non-parametric regression- techniques, we show that the resulting leakage can largely be conned to the non-poor close to the poverty line. However, simulating the eect on poverty measures of a uniform transfer to beneciaries across inclusion rates suggests that the largest poverty eect is attained with very narrow targeting. Hence, we nd a trade-o between targeting accuracy and poverty eect. |
| Keywords: | targeting; transfers; social assistance; proxy means tests; poverty; ROC-analysis; Latin America; Bolivia |
| JEL: | C52 I38 O21 |
| Date: | 2015–03–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:got:iaidps:231&r=dev |
| By: | Barrientos Quiroga, Paola Andrea (Aarhus University); Blunch, Niels-Hugo (Washington and Lee University); Datta Gupta, Nabanita (Aarhus University) |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the dynamics of income and poverty of rural Indian households, 1994-2005. The estimation strategy consists of convergence analysis to test whether poor households are catching-up in terms of income, followed by transition analysis to test whether poor households are more likely to exit poverty than to remain poor. The identification strategy explicitly addresses issues pertaining to the potential endogeneity and measurement error of initial income and poverty. We find evidence of income convergence and a higher probability of exiting poverty than of remaining poor. The key variables driving these results are education, occupation and asset ownership. |
| Keywords: | income convergence, poverty transition, endogeneity, measurement error, IHDS & HDPI data |
| JEL: | O12 O47 O53 |
| Date: | 2015–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8929&r=dev |
| By: | Werner L. Hernani-Limarino (Fundación ARU) |
| Abstract: | This paper assesses the impact of Bolivia’s school subsidy program, Bono Juancito Pinto (BJP), on school attendance. BJP is a relatively small cash transfer (less than 30 dollars per child per year) given conditional on being enrolled into a public school and on regular school attendance. Since there are no feasible alternatives of a control group, we use simple structural behavioral models to understand the school-work decision and derive counterfactuals of interest. Estimation is conducted using two dimensional kernel regression estimators. Our results suggest that BJP has been successful increasing school attendance only for young children – 6 to 8 years old, and particularly for girls. We conclude that BJP has only encourage households to enroll children to school at the proper age but has not give an additional incentive to attend to those already enrolled for the first time. |
| Keywords: | impact evaluation, conditional cash transfers, education |
| JEL: | C14 I2 I3 |
| Date: | 2015–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aru:wpaper:201506&r=dev |
| By: | Werner L. Hernani-Limarino (Fundación ARU); Gary Mena (Fundación ARU) |
| Abstract: | This document attempts to identify the effects of the most comprehensive temporary employment program implemented in Bolivia, the Plan Nacional de Empleo de Emergencia (PLANE), on per-capita calorie intake and future prospects of employment and wages. Using methods for estimation and inference that assume unconfoundedness, we find that the PANE was successful as a consumption smoothing scheme – it increased per-capita calorie intake in households where at least one member had participated in the program, but did not have any effects neither on post-program probabilities of being employed nor on post-program wages. This evidence suggests that, although public employment programs might be useful as social protection policies in times of recession – they help smooth consumption of poor households with unskilled breadwinners; they are not good alternatives to improve the employability of vulnerable populations. |
| Keywords: | impact evaluation, unconditional cash transfers, non contributive social protection system, elderly programs |
| JEL: | C21 H2 H5 I3 |
| Date: | 2015–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aru:wpaper:201503&r=dev |
| By: | Norman Loayza (World Bank); Jamele Rigolini (World Bank and IZA) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the impact of mining activity on socioeconomic outcomes in local communities in Peru. In the last two decades, the value of Peruvian mining exports has grown by fifteen times; and since a decade ago, one-half of fiscal revenues from mining have been devolved to local governments in producing regions. Has this boom benefitted people in local communities? We find evidence that producing districts have larger consumption per capita and lower poverty rates than otherwise similar districts. However, these positive impacts decrease drastically with administrative and geographic distance from mining centers. Moreover, consumption inequality within producing districts is higher than in comparable nonproducing districts. This dual effect of mining is partially accounted for by the better educated immigrants required and attracted by mining activity. The inequalizing impact of mining, both across and within districts, may explain the social discontent with mining in Peru, despite its enormous revenues. |
| Keywords: | Natural resources, Mining, Poverty, Inequality, Commodity Boom, Peru |
| JEL: | D7 H7 O1 Q3 |
| Date: | 2015–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:apc:wpaper:2015-033&r=dev |
| By: | Bonou, Alice; Diagne, Aliou; Biaou, Gauthier |
| Abstract: | The aim of this study was to assess the impact of adoption of new high-yielding varieties (NERICA) of rice on its varietal diversity in Benin. The database was from Impact Assessment unit of AfricaRice and concerns 304 producers of rice. Overall the study covered twenty-four villages over three districts: Dassa-Zounmè, Glazoué and Savalou. Data analysis was carried out using the econometric approach based on the Local Average Effect of Treatment (LATE) framework. Overall, estimation of impact showed that at village level the indexes of in-situ (on farm) conservation of varietal diversity of rice are the same in NERICA and Non-NERICA villages. Moreover, at farmer level, the average impact of NERICA adoption on number of modern rice varieties of the sub-population of NERICA potential adopters is 0.8. NERICA’s rice varieties had positively impacted the in situ conservation of varietal diversity. Our findings indicated that it is worth extending diffusion of NERICA varieties in Benin. |
| Keywords: | Adoption, LATE, NERICA, varietal diversity, rice, Crop Production/Industries, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, |
| Date: | 2013–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaae13:158482&r=dev |
| By: | Kai Barron; Luis Fernando Gamboa; Paul Rodriguez-Lesmes |
| Abstract: | Abstract This paper makes use of a short, sharp, unexpected health shock in the form of the 2010 Colombian Dengue outbreak to examine the direct and indirect impact of negative health shocks on behaviour of households in affected areas. Our analysis combines data from several sources in order to obtain a comprehensive picture of the influence of the outbreak, and furthermore to understand the underlying mechanisms driving the effects. Our initial analysis indicates that the outbreak had a substantial negative effect on the health status of adults and adversely affected their ability to function as usual in their daily lives. In our aggregated school data, in areas with high levels of haemorrhagic Dengue we observe a reduction in national exam attendance (last year of secondary school) and on enrolment rates in primary education. Further analysis aims to exploit detailed individual level data to gain a more in depth understanding of the precise channels through which this disease influenced the behaviour and outcomes of the poor in Colombia. |
| Keywords: | Education, Dengue, Colombia |
| JEL: | I12 I20 |
| Date: | 2015–03–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:col:000092:012646&r=dev |
| By: | Assa, Maganga Mulagha; Gebremariam, Gebrelibanos G.; Mapemba, Lawrence D. |
| Abstract: | Agriculture in Malawi is vulnerable to the impacts of changing climate. Adaptation is identified as one of the options to abate the negative impacts of the changing climate. This study analyzed the factors influencing different climate change adaptation choices by smallholder farmers in Malawi. We sampled 900 farmers from all three regions of Malawi, using the multistage sampling procedure, study piloted in 2012. We analyzed smallholder farmers’ climate change adaptation choices with Multinomial logit regression. Factors that enhance or hinder choice of climate adaptation options include age, gender, household size, land ownership, credit access, climate change training and extension visit. Policy thrust should focus on linking farmers to credit institutions, advocating for labour saving farm technologies and intensification of climate change trainings among smallholder farmers. |
| Keywords: | Climate change, adaptation, multinomial logit, Agricultural and Food Policy, Farm Management, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, |
| Date: | 2013–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaae13:161304&r=dev |