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on Development |
| By: | Ulrik Beck |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates how two effects drive wedges between nominal and real inequality estimates. The effects are caused by (i) differences in the composition of consumption over the income distribution coupled with differential inflation of consumption items; and (ii) quantity discounting effects for the non-poor. Household-specific deflators are estimated using 15 surveys collected in six countries in the period 1999.2011. In some countries (Mozambique, Tanzania, Malawi, and Pakistan), nominal inequality is lower than real inequality. In other countries (Ethiopia and Madagascar), no differences are found. Finally, I argue that poverty estimation based on national account consumption means and estimates of inequality from consumption surveys should employ real, rather than nominal, inequality estimates. This increases the level and reduces the decline of poverty over time, but the magnitude of the adjustment is country- and year-specific. |
| Keywords: | real inequality, consumption structure, quantity discounting, food and non-food inflation, poverty measurement |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp2015-133&r=dev |
| By: | Carla Canelas |
| Abstract: | This paper uses national representative data from the Ecuadorian Family Expenditure survey to study the determinants of poverty and informality in the country, taking into account the simultaneous two-way relationship between these two phenomena. The results support the view of a heterogeneous informal market, where informal work is both a demand-led phenomenon as well as a voluntary and primarily supply-led form of employment. As such, informal salaried work and self-employment are both a last resort option for low-skilled workers and a voluntary choice for the more educated and entrepreneurial ones. |
| Keywords: | : informality, poverty, developing economy |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp2015-112&r=dev |
| By: | Murendo, Conrad; Wollni, Meike |
| Abstract: | Despite the fact that the use of mobile money technology has been spreading rapidly in developing countries, empirical studies on the broader welfare effects of the technology on rural households are still limited. Using household survey data, we analyse the effect of mobile money on household food security in Uganda. Unlike previous studies that rely on a single measure of food security, we measure food security using two indicators – a food insecurity index and food expenditures. To account for selection bias in mobile money use, we estimate treatment effects and instrumental variables regressions. Our results indicate that the use of mobile money per se as well as the volumes transferred are associated with a reduction in food insecurity. Furthermore, the use, frequency of use, and volumes of mobile money transferred are associated with increases in food expenditures. Policy interventions and strategies aiming to improve household food security should consider the promotion of mobile money among rural households in Uganda and other developing countries as a promising instrument. |
| Keywords: | mobile money, food security, households, Uganda, Consumer/Household Economics, Financial Economics, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty, International Development, G29, I31, O16, O33, |
| Date: | 2016–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:gagfdp:229805&r=dev |
| By: | Gilbert,Christopher L.; Christiaensen,Luc; Kaminski,Jonathan |
| Abstract: | Everyone knows about seasonality. But what exactly do we know? This study systematically measures seasonal price gaps at 193 markets for 13 food commodities in seven African countries. It shows that the commonly used dummy variable or moving average deviation methods to estimate the seasonal gap can yield substantial upward bias. This can be partially circumvented using trigonometric and sawtooth models, which are more parsimonious. Among staple crops, seasonality is highest for maize (33 percent on average) and lowest for rice (16½ percent). This is two and a half to three times larger than in the international reference markets. Seasonality varies substantially across market places, but maize is the only crop in which there are important systematic country effects. Malawi, where maize is the main staple, emerges as exhibiting the most acute seasonal differences. Reaching the Sustainable Development Goal of Zero Hunger requires renewed policy attention to seasonality in food prices and consumption. |
| Keywords: | E-Business,Food&Beverage Industry,Access to Markets,Emerging Markets,Markets and Market Access |
| Date: | 2016–01–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:7539&r=dev |
| By: | Merima Ali; Odd-Helge Fjeldstad; Boqian Jiang; Abdulaziz B. Shifaz |
| Abstract: | Ethnicity has received increased attention in studies of Africa's economic and institutional development. We present evidence on the long-term effects of Britain's "divide-and-rule" colonial strategy that deliberately fostered ethnic rivalries to weaken and control locals. Using micro data from Sub-Saharan Africa, we found that citizens of Anglophone (as compared to Francophone) countries are more likely to: (1) attach greater importance to ethnic identity (vis-a-vis national identity); (2) have weaker norms against tax evasion; and (3) face extortion by non state actors. We address endogeneity concerns using IV regression and regression-discontinuity. These results suggest that Britain's divide-and-rule strategy may have undermined state-building. |
| Keywords: | Colonial legacy, development, ethnicity, state capacity, Sub-Saharan Africa, tax, tax evasion |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:chm:wpaper:wp2015-16&r=dev |
| By: | Anastasia Cozarenco; Marek Hudon; Ariane Szafarz |
| Abstract: | Recent evidence shows that the poor desperately need access to savings products. But despite this general consensus, microfinance institutions (MFIs) offering savings products are still under-studied. Using random-effect probit estimation on a dataset of 722 MFIs active over the 2005-2010 period, we try to identify the characteristics of those that collect voluntary savings. Our results suggest that these MFIs have received fewer subsidies than their credit-only counterparts. In other words, subsidies would crowd out micro-savings products, suggesting that donors generate negative externalities on product diversification. |
| Keywords: | microfinance; subsidies; micro-savings; savings |
| JEL: | O16 G21 D61 G32 F21 |
| Date: | 2016–01–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sol:wpaper:2013/224666&r=dev |
| By: | Tigabu D. Getahun; Espen Villanger |
| Abstract: | We examine the welfare impacts of women getting low-skilled jobs and find large positive effects, both at the household and the individual level. However, the women workers, their husbands and their oldest daughters reduced their leisure, but women to a much larger extent than the others. The leisure of the oldest son did not change. Investigating the transmission mechanisms suggests that the impacts did not only go through income and substitution effects, but also through a bargaining effect. Getting the job likely improved the bargaining position of the wife through several mechanisms, which in turn added to the positive impact on her welfare. |
| Keywords: | salaried employment, wage labor, gender, bargaining, consumption, poverty, hunger |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:chm:wpaper:wp2015-15&r=dev |
| By: | Carla Canelas |
| Abstract: | This paper utilizes a unique dataset on time use to study the determinants of the number of hours allocated to market work, household chores, and school related activities of Guatemalan children between 2000 and 2011. The paper also exploits information on the duration of schooling in order to compute survival probabilities or the probability of dropping out of school conditional on having stayed in school for time t. Results suggest that working children are two to four times more likely to drop out of school or to have never enrolled than the rest of the children in the sample. The findings also reveal the traditional gender specialization on market and domestic activities from early ages. While market work increases the likelihood of dropping out of school for both boys and girls, household chores add additional pressure to girls. time allocation and further increase school failure. |
| Keywords: | child labour, school attainment, Guatemala |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp2015-113&r=dev |
| By: | Apella,Ignacio Raul; Blanco, Gastón |
| Abstract: | As part of the 2006-2011 National Development Plan, the Plurinational State of Bolivia launched two cash transfer programs and one youth labor training program aimed at promoting the accumulation of households? human capital: the Juancito Pinto Educational Grant, the Juana Azurduy Mother-Child Grant, and my first decent job. The objective of this paper is to analyze the effectiveness of the targeting mechanisms utilized in these programs. Based on the information provided by the Ongoing Household Survey, we estimate the mechanisms? potential inclusion and exclusion errors. The results permit us to suggest that the categorical selection mechanisms used in the three programs are effective in reaching the poorest population, although they present distinct levels of inclusion and exclusion errors associated with both the design and implementation problems of the particular mechanism utilized. |
| Keywords: | Safety Nets and Transfers,Population Policies,Poverty Monitoring&Analysis,Services&Transfers to Poor,Rural Poverty Reduction |
| Date: | 2015–09–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:hdnspu:100363&r=dev |
| By: | Ochieng, Justus; Kirimi, Lilian; Mathenge, Mary |
| Abstract: | Agriculture is the mainstay of the Kenyan economy with an estimated GDP share of 26 percent in 2012, and thus remains an important contributor to employment and food security of rural populations. Climate variability and change have adversely affected this sector. This situation is expected to worsen in the future if the latest findings of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) are anything to go by. We estimate the effect of climate variability and change on crop revenue and on maize and tea revenue separately using household panel data collected between 2000 and 2010 in rural Kenya. Effect of climate variability and change is estimated using a fixed effects estimator. Findings show that climate variability and change affect agricultural production but differs across different crops. Temperature has negative effect on crop and maize revenues but positive one on tea while rainfall has negative effect on tea incomes. Long-term effects of climate change on crop production are larger than short-term effects, requiring farmers to adapt effectively and build their resilience. We find that tea relies on stable temperatures and consistent rainfall patterns and any excess would negatively affect the production. Climate change will adversely affect agriculture in 2020, 2030 and 2040 with greater effects in tea sector if nothing is done. Therefore, rethinking about the likely harmful effects of rising temperature and increasing rainfall uncertainty should be a priority in Kenya. It is important to invest in adaptation measures at national, county and farm level as well as implementing policies that prevent destruction of the natural environment in order to address the challenges posed by climate variability and change. |
| Keywords: | agricultural incomes, food security, fixed effects model, adaptation, panel data, Agricultural and Food Policy, Production Economics, C31, Q24, Q12, Q54, |
| Date: | 2016–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:egtewp:229711&r=dev |
| By: | Anurag Banerjee (Durham Business School, United Kingdom); Milanjan Banik (Mahindra Ecole Centrale, India); Ashvika Dalmia (Durham Business School, United Kingdom) |
| Abstract: | Worldwide, India has the highest number of people defecating in the open. In an attempt to reduce number of open defecation, a supply side initiative is underway. In 2014-2015, Government of India, constructed 8 million toilets. However, an important aspect for this supply-side initiative to become successful is to create demand for toilets. In this paper we look at household demand for toilets, and study the factors leading to open defecation. Using Demographic and Health Survey data we create a wealth index, and use it to rank household preference for toilets vis-à-vis 20 other different consumer durables. Our results suggest, among lists of household items that any individual want to have, toilets get a lower preference – ranked 12, out of 21. Additionally, we examine preference structure for using toilets among residents from various federal states in India. We find residents of NorthEastern states are more likely to use toilets. We further investigate factors leading to toilet usage among households. Results indicate a strong case for imparting education and public awareness, especially, among the female cohort. Length: 36 pages |
| Keywords: | sanitation, household sanitation, toilets, india |
| JEL: | M13 M15 M21 M37 O31 O33 |
| Date: | 2016–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unt:arwopa:awp154&r=dev |