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on Development |
| By: | Dietz, Barbara (Institute for East and Southeast European Studies, Regensburg); Gatskova, Ksenia (Institute for East and Southeast European Studies, Regensburg); Ivlevs, Artjoms (University of the West of England, Bristol) |
| Abstract: | We study the relationship between migration and children's education in Tajikistan – one of the poorest and most remittance-dependent economies in the world. The analysis of a unique three-wave household panel survey reveals that emigration of family members is negatively associated with children's school attendance. Receiving remittances does not offset this negative effect. Migration of non-parent family members (such as siblings) is particularly detrimental to school attendance, especially among older children and children from less educated households. This supports a conjecture that emigration in Tajikistan has a negative signaling effect on the education of children staying behind. |
| Keywords: | migration, remittances, schooling, Tajikistan |
| JEL: | J61 O15 |
| Date: | 2015–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp9515&r=dev |
| By: | Iyer, Sriya (University of Cambridge); Shrivastava, Anand (University of Cambridge) |
| Abstract: | The effect of ethnic violence on electoral results provides useful insights into voter behaviour in democratic societies. Religious riots have claimed more than 14,000 lives in India since 1950. We study the effect of Hindu-Muslim riots on election results in India. We combine data on riots, which have been geo-coded, with electoral data on state legislature elections and control variables on demographics and public goods provision to construct a unique panel data set for 16 large states in India over a 21 year period from 1981-2001. We suggest a new instrument that draws upon the random variation in the day of the week that important Hindu festivals fall on in each year, as set by a lunar calendar. The probability of a riot increases if a Hindu festival falls on a Friday, the holy day for Muslims. This allows us to isolate the causal effect of riots on electoral results. We also correct for under-reporting of riots and how they affect electoral outcomes in nearby districts. We find that riots occurring in the year preceding an election increases the vote share of the Bharatiya Janata Party by 5 to 7 percentage points in the election. |
| Keywords: | religion, elections, riots, India |
| JEL: | Z12 D72 D74 |
| Date: | 2015–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp9522&r=dev |
| By: | Gisela Di Meglio (Department of Economic Analysis II Complutense University of Madrid, Spain); Jorge Gallego (Department of Economic Analysis Autonomous University of Madrid, Spain.); Andrés Maroto (Department of Economic Analysis Autonomous University of Madrid, Spain.); Maria Savona (Science Policy Research Unit University of Sussex, UK.) |
| Abstract: | The paper analyses the potential contribution of services as a driving force of economic growth in developing countries within a Kaldorian framework. In doing so, we revisit Kaldor Growth Laws and econometrically test them for a number of economic activities (including four service branches) across twenty-nine developing countries from Asia, Latin-America and Sub-Saharan Africa during a time span of three decades (1975-2005). Panel data estimations are complemented with a decomposition of labour productivity growth by means of a shift-share analysis. The results induce to question the traditional role posed to services as unlikely drivers of productivity growth in developing economies. As a matter of fact, business services seem to allow productivity growth by the same Kaldorian mechanisms that have traditionally made manufacturing the key driver of growth. |
| Keywords: | structural change, growth, development, productivity, Kaldor |
| JEL: | L16 O14 O47 C23 |
| Date: | 2015–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sru:ssewps:2015-32&r=dev |
| By: | Shatakshee Dhongde (Georgia Institute of Technology, U.S.A.); Jacques Silber (Bar-Ilan University, Israel) |
| Abstract: | This paper proposes a unified approach to the measurement of distributional change. The framework is used to define indices of inequality, convergence, and pro-poorness of growth and associated equivalent growth rates. A distinction is made between non-anonymous and anonymous measures. The analysis is extended by using the notion of a generalized Gini index. This unified approach is then used to study the link between income and other non-income characteristics, such as education or health. An empirical illustration based on Indian data on infant survival levels in 2001 and 2011 highlights the usefulness of the proposed measures. |
| Keywords: | beta-convergence, sigma-convergence, Gini index, India, infant mortality, pro-poor growth, relative concentration curve. |
| JEL: | D31 I32 O15 |
| Date: | 2015–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:inq:inqwps:ecineq2015-377&r=dev |
| By: | David, Clarissa C.; Albert, Jose Ramon G. |
| Abstract: | In 2008, about 12 percent of five- to fifteen-year-old children were in school. Five years later, the proportion of children aged five to fifteen who were in school has gone down to about 5 percent. Adjusted net primary school attendance rates have increased from 90.8 percent in 2008 to 96.45 percent in 2013. In this paper, we examine this decline in the proportion of out-of-school children and improved primary school participation in the country and attribute them to three key government interventions. First is the passage and full implementation of mandatory kindergarten and the K-12 Law, which aims to enhance basic education through key reforms in the curricula and addition of kindergarten and two years to basic education. Second is the increasing budget that the Department of Education has obtained from the national government. And third is the expansion of the government`s conditional cash transfer program that requires families under the program to send their children to school. These three broad public programs to invest in our human capital changed the way basic education is implemented in the country, and have helped bring the country closer to its goal of universal primary education. Ways forward include continued making full use of information systems especially the learner information system, improving school participation in the secondary education level, monitoring and evaluating the alternative learning system and alternative delivery modes of schooling, addressing gender disparities in basic education, and improving the quality of basic education. |
| Keywords: | Philippines, out-of-school children (OOSC), school attendance, school participation |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:phd:rpseri:dp_2015-51_(revised)&r=dev |
| By: | Nanak Kakwani (University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia); Hyun H. Son (Asian Development Bank, Manila, Philippines) |
| Abstract: | Deepening inequality has become the subject of intense debates, particularly on growth, poverty, and development. This paper shows that inequality has a bearing on well-being, which comprises a set of capabilities indicating the extent of freedom individuals have in leading their lives. It examines inequality in different dimensions of well-being across Brazilian municipalities and measures the impact of income inequality on well-being. Findings reveal that Brazil has improved outcomes related to material well-being, health, education, living conditions, and labor market activities, and has reduced disparities in these areas. The study finds that income inequality hampers growth in well-being, except for indicators closely associated with education and human capital development. Findings suggest that while the impacts of income inequality differ across various dimensions of well-being, reducing inequality will generally help improve the well-being of a society |
| Date: | 2015–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:inq:inqwps:ecineq2015-380&r=dev |
| By: | Simon Alder (University of North Carolina at Chapel H) |
| Abstract: | This paper uses a general equilibrium framework as in Eaton and Kortum (2002) to estimate the contribution of transport infrastructure to regional development. I apply the analysis to India, a country with a notoriously weak and congested transportation infrastructure. I first analyze the development effects of a recent Indian highway project that improved connections between the four largest economic centers. I estimate the effect of this new infrastructure on income across districts using satellite data on night lights. The results show aggregate gains from the Indian highway project, but unequal effects across regions. China has followed a different highway construction strategy and has experienced more significant convergence across regions than India. I therefore use the model to gauge the effects of a counterfactual highway network for India that replicates the Chinese strategy of connecting intermediate-sized cities. The results suggest that this counterfactual network would have benefited the lagging regions of India. I also construct additional counterfactuals and discuss their effects on economic development. |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:red:sed015:1447&r=dev |