nep-dev New Economics Papers
on Development
Issue of 2016‒01‒18
six papers chosen by
Jacob A. Jordaan
Universiteit Utrecht

  1. Challenges of Change: An Experiment Training Women to Manage in the Bangladeshi Garment Sector By Macchiavello, Rocco; Menzel, Andreas; Rabbani, Atonu; Woodruff, Christopher
  2. Intra-Household Bargaining and Child Health Outcomes: Do Domestic Violence Laws Matter? By Nuhu, Ahmed Salim
  3. Malaria and Anemia among Children in sub-Saharan Africa: the Effect of Mosquito Net Distribution By Bénédicte H. Apouey; Gabriel Picone; Joshua Wilde; Joseph Coleman; Robyn Kibler
  4. Better Teachers, Better Results? Evidence from Rural Pakistan By Marine de Talancé
  5. Identifying the Poorest People and Groups: Strategies Using the Global Multidimensional Poverty Index By Sabina Alkire, Jose Manuel Roche, Suman Seth and Andy Sumner
  6. What can dissaving tell us about catastrophic costs? Linear and logistic regression analysis of the relationship between patient costs and financial coping strategies adopted by tuberculosis patients in Bangladesh, Tanzania and Bangalore, India. By Jason J Madan; Knut Lonnroth; Samia Laokri; Stephen Bertel SB Squire

  1. By: Macchiavello, Rocco (University of Warwick); Menzel, Andreas (University of Warwick); Rabbani, Atonu (University of Dhaka); Woodruff, Christopher (University of Warwick)
    Abstract: Large private firms are still relatively rare in low-income countries, and we know little about how entry-level managers in these firms are selected. We examine a context in which nearly 80 percent of production line workers are female, but 95 percent of supervisors are male. We evaluate the effectiveness of female supervisors by implementing a training program for selected production line workers. Prior to the training, we find that workers at all level of the factory believe males are more effective supervisors than females. Careful skills diagnostics indicate that those perceptions do not always match reality. When the trainees are deployed in supervisory roles, production line workers initially judge females to be significantly less effective, and there is some evidence that the lines on which they work underperform. But after around four months of exposure, both perceptions and performance of female supervisors catch up to those of males. We document evidence that the exposure to female supervisors changes the expectations of male production workers with regard to promotion and expected tenure in the factory.
    Date: 2015
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wrk:warwec:1100&r=dev
  2. By: Nuhu, Ahmed Salim
    Abstract: In this paper, we explore a unique exogenous instrument to examine how the intra-familial position of women influence health outcomes of their children using micro data from Ghana. Using the 2SLS-IV estimation technique,we build a model of household bargaining and child health development with perceptions of women regarding wife-beating and marital rape in the existence of domestic violence laws, in Ghana. Even though the initial OLS estimates suggest that women’s participation in decisions regarding purchases of household consumption goods help to improve child health outcomes, the IV estimates reveal that the presence of endogeneity underestimates the impact of women’s bargaining power on child health outcomes. Our test for endogeneity also confirms that child-health investment decisions is mediated through domestic violence laws, which protect women from physical and sexual abuse in the household. Our instrument is also robust to rural residency and father characteristics controls.
    Keywords: Keywords: Household Bargaining, Women Empowerment, Child Health Investment, Instrumental Variables, Domestic Violence
    JEL: J12 J13 J16
    Date: 2015–12
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:68630&r=dev
  3. By: Bénédicte H. Apouey (Paris School of Economics); Gabriel Picone (Department of Economics, University of South Florida); Joshua Wilde (Department of Economics, University of South Florida); Joseph Coleman (Department of Economics, University of South Florida); Robyn Kibler (Department of Economics, University of South Florida)
    Abstract: This article explores the impact of antimalarial campaigns, and in particular of the scale up in the distribution of mosquito nets, on anemia for children under 5 in sub-Saharan Africa. It uses individual-level data on more than 150,000 children and their families, combined with regionallevel data on malaria intensity before the antimalarial campaigns, for 16 countries between 2000 and 2014. Using a differences-in-differences estimation strategy, the paper tests whether the impact of the campaigns on anemia is larger in regions where the intensity of malaria was greater prior to the campaigns. The results indicate that the scale up has a negligible or small effect on moderate or severe anemia, whereas the other campaigns do not have any significant impact.
    Keywords: Anemia, Malaria, Bed Nets, Africa, Child Health
    JEL: I12 I15 I18 O55
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:usf:wpaper:0116&r=dev
  4. By: Marine de Talancé (PSL, Université Paris-Dauphine, LEDa, IRD, UMR DIAL)
    Abstract: (english) Using a gain model with three dierent levels of xed eects, this paper empirically esti- mates the impacts of teachers on students' achievement in three districts in the rural province of Punjab in Pakistan. The model-based results suggest that teachers' factors do explain students' achievement. Increasing teachers' wages could improve schooling quality along with recruiting local teachers with non-permanent contracts. Recruiting local teachers has an important posi- tive impact on students' achievement especially for girls. It could therefore reduce gender based inequalities of academic achievement. Furthermore, our analysis suggests that policy reforms con- cerning training programs and re-thinking wage policies should be on the agenda of future research. _________________________________ (français) Ce papier evalue l'impact des professeurs sur les resultats scolaires des eleves dans trois districts de Punjab au Pakistan. Les resultats de cette etude indiquent que les dierences d'enseignants ex- pliquent partiellement la reussite scolaire des eleves. Les eleves qui ont un professeur mieux paye, engage avec un contract temporaire et originaire de la m^eme region que l'ecole ont de meilleurs resultats. Recruter des professeurs locaux est associe a un gain de connaissances superieur pour les lles par rapport aux garcons. De plus, notre analyse suggere que des reformes concernant les programmes de formation des professeurs devraient ^etre mises en place.
    Keywords: Education, Pakistan, Primary Schooling, Punjab, Quality, Skills, Teachers, Temporary contract, Qualite de l'education, Pakistan, Enseignement primaire, Connaissances cognitives, Professeurs, Contrat temporaire.
    JEL: I21 I25 I28
    Date: 2015–12
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dia:wpaper:dt201521&r=dev
  5. By: Sabina Alkire, Jose Manuel Roche, Suman Seth and Andy Sumner
    Abstract: If development is about poverty reduction, then where the poorest live is an important question. This paper seeks to answer this questionusing an internationally comparable multidimensional poverty index (MPI) to identify the poor using household surveys across more than a hundred countries. We compare three approaches to identifying the bottom billion: (i) the billion living in the poorest countries; (ii) the billion living in the poorest subnational regions and (iii) the poorest billion according to the intensity of their deprivations. Although there are commonalities across these three approaches, they produce notably different findings that are relevant to the discussions of sustainable development goals.
    Date: 2014–11
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qeh:ophiwp:ophiwp078&r=dev
  6. By: Jason J Madan; Knut Lonnroth; Samia Laokri; Stephen Bertel SB Squire
    Abstract: Tuberculosis (TB) is a major global public health problem which affects poorest individuals the worst. A high proportion of patients incur 'catastrophic costs' which have been shown to result in severe financial hardship and adverse health outcomes. Data on catastrophic cost incidence is not routinely collected, and current definitions of this indicator involve several practical and conceptual barriers to doing so. We analysed data from TB programmes in India (Bangalore), Bangladesh and Tanzania to determine whether dissaving (the sale of assets or uptake of loans) is a useful indicator of financial hardship.
    Keywords: Catastrophic health expenditure, Tuberculosis, Financial protection for health, Innovative measurements, coping strategies
    Date: 2015
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ulb:ulbeco:2013/223014&r=dev

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