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on Development |
| By: | Hartwig, R.; Sparrow, R.A.; Budiyati, S.; Yumna, A.; Warda, N.; Suryahadi, A.; Bedi, A.S. |
| Abstract: | We exploit variation in the design of sub-national health care financing initiatives in Indonesian districts to assess the effects of these local schemes on maternal care from 2004 to 2010. The analysis is based on a district pseudo-panel, combining data from a unique survey among District Health Offices with the Indonesian Demographic and Health Surveys, the national socioeconomic household surveys, and the village census. Our results show that these district schemes contribute to an increase in antenatal care visits and the probability of receiving basic recommended antenatal care services, and a decrease in home births, especially for households that fall outside the target group of the national health insurance programs. The variation in scheme design is a source of impact heterogeneity. Including antenatal and delivery services explicitly in benefit packages and contracting local rather than national health care providers increases the positive effects on maternal care. |
| Keywords: | health care financing, decentralization, maternal health care, Indonesia |
| JEL: | I13 I18 |
| Date: | 2015–03–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ems:euriss:77964&r=dev |
| By: | Khandker, Shahidur R; Samad, Hussain A |
| Abstract: | Using long panel survey data collected three times between the years 1991/92 and 2010/11, this paper examines the role of microfinance in poverty reduction in rural Bangladesh. More specifically, in assessing the impact of microfinance on poverty, this paper makes a distinction between the effects of current participation in microfinance programs and those of past participation, and between the effects of continuous participation in microfinance programs and those of irregular participation. Findings suggest that there is a greater decrease in poverty levels for participants in microfinance programs than for non-participants, and for female participants more than for male participants. Additionally, continuous borrowers fare better than irregular borrowers. Overall, microfinance participation, which is found to be cost-effective for borrowers, has contributed to about one-seventh of the total reduction in moderate poverty and one-eleventh of the total reduction in extreme poverty in rural Bangladesh. Finally, this paper recommends the expansion of microfinance funded growth-oriented activities in the non-farm sector, in particular manufacturing and processing activities, so as to reap larger benefits from microfinance. |
| Keywords: | microfinance , poverty , Bangladesh , rural finance , microfinance dynamics |
| Date: | 2016–02–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jic:wpaper:114&r=dev |
| By: | Willa Friedman |
| Abstract: | This paper looks at the impact of corruption on the effectiveness of antiretroviral drugs in preventing AIDS deaths and the potential channels that generate this relationship. This is based on a unique panel dataset of countries in sub-Saharan Africa, which combines information on all imported antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) from the World Health Organization's Global Price Reporting Mechanism with measures of corruption and estimates of the HIV prevalence and the number of AIDS deaths in each year and in each country. Countries with higher levels of corruption experience a significantly smaller drop in AIDS deaths as a result of the same quantity of ARVs imported. This is robust to different measures of corruption and to a measure of overall death rates as well as HIV-specific death rates as the outcome. A case-study analysis of the Kenyan experience illustrates one potential mechanism for the observed effect, demonstrating that disproportionately more clinics begin distributing ARVs in areas that are predominantly represented by the new leader's ethnic group. |
| Keywords: | HIV/AIDS, antiretroviral drugs, corruption |
| JEL: | I15 D73 |
| Date: | 2015–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cgd:wpaper:395&r=dev |
| By: | Juan S. Morales (Department of Economics, University of Toronto) |
| Abstract: | More than ten percent of the population of Colombia has been forced to migrate due to civil war. This study employs an enclave IV strategy, which exploits social distance between origin and destination locations, as well as conflict induced migration, to estimate the impact that the arrival of displaced individuals has on local residents. I compare the effects on four different subgroups of the population, partitioned by skill (low-skilled versus high-skilled) and by gender. The analysis suggests that a conflict-induced increase in population leads to a short-run negative impact on wages. Though the impact tends to dissipate over time, it persists for one group, low-skilled women. The arrival of internally displaced people also affects local access to public goods, I find a negative effect on access to piped water, and a positive effect on access to trash collection services. |
| Keywords: | civil conflict; migration; labour markets; public goods |
| JEL: | H41 J40 J61 O15 R23 |
| Date: | 2016–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hic:wpaper:209&r=dev |
| By: | Tommaso Ciarli; Chiara Kofol; Carlo Menon |
| Abstract: | In this paper we use a unique dataset that combines spatial detailed information on conflict events and on households' activity, to show a positive and significant correlation between violent conflict and entrepreneurship in Afghanistan. We build spatial and IV identifications to estimate the effect of different measures of conflict on the investment in a range of private economic activities of nearby households. The results consistently show that the level of conflict, its impact, and to a lesser extent its frequency, increase the probability that a household engages in self-employment activities with lower capital intensity and in activities related to subsistence agriculture, and reduce the probability of investing in higher capital self-employment. Overall, by increasing entrepreneurship, conflict pushes the country towards a regressive structural change. However, the magnitude of most of the effects is quite small. The paper contributes to a literature that, due to data constraints and identification issues, has not yet delivered conclusive evidence. |
| Keywords: | violent conflict; entrepreneurship; development |
| JEL: | D74 O12 R12 |
| Date: | 2015–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:65015&r=dev |
| By: | d'Agostino, Giorgio; Scarlato, Margherita; Napolitano, Silvia |
| Abstract: | This paper evaluates the causal effect of the Child Support Grant (CSG) implemented in South Africa on household food consumption and dietary diversity. The analysis uses the National Income Dynamics Study (NIDS) covering 2008, 2010-2011 and 2012, and carries out a regression discontinuity design exploiting the increase in the age limit criteria for eligibility for the program. Our results show that the CSG have proved to be effective in increasing total food expenditure per adult equivalent but has not significantly changed the dietary habits of the beneficiary households, nor has the program resulted in any stronger effect for the most vulnerable subgroups of the beneficiary population. To analyse the external and internal validities of the results, a comparison between non-parametric, semi-parametric and parametric estimates is presented. |
| Keywords: | Food security, Cash transfers, Regression discontinuity design, South Africa |
| JEL: | C33 I32 I38 O55 |
| Date: | 2016–02–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:69177&r=dev |
| By: | Panda, P.; Chakraborty, A.; Raza, W.A.; Bedi, A.S. |
| Abstract: | Low renewal rate is a key challenge facing the sustainability of Community-based Health Insurance (CBHI) schemes. While there is a large literature on initial enrolment into such schemes, there is limited evidence on the factors that impede renewal. This paper uses longitudinal data to analyse what determines renewal, both one and two years after the introduction of three CBHI schemes, which have been operating in rural Bihar and Uttar Pradesh since 2011. We find that initial scheme uptake is about 23-24 % and that two years after scheme operation, only about 20 % of the initial enrolees maintain their membership. A household’s socio-economic status does not seem to play a large role in impeding renewal. In some instances, a greater understanding of the scheme boosts renewal. The link between health status and use of health care in maintaining renewal is mixed. The clearest effect is that individuals living in households that have received benefits from the scheme are substantially more likely to renew their contracts. We find that having access to a national health insurance scheme is not a substitute for the CBHI. We conclude that the low retention rates may be attributed to limited benefit packages, slow claims processing times and the gaps between the amounts claimed and amounts paid out by insurance. |
| Keywords: | community-based health insurance, renewing membership, rural India |
| Date: | 2015–04–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ems:euriss:77965&r=dev |
| By: | Stella Lartey (Policy Analyst, Ministry of Health, Ghana); Rasheda Khanam (Faculty of Business, Education, Law & Arts, University of Southern Queensland); Shingo Takahashi (Professor, International University of Japan) |
| Abstract: | This paper pools four waves of data from Demographic and Health Surveys (from 1993 to2008) to examine the impact of household wealth status on child survival in Ghana. The Weibull hazard model with gamma frailty was used to estimate the general wealth effect, as well as the trend of wealth effect on child fs survival probability. We find that household wealth status has a negative and significant effect on the hazard rate. Thus a child is more likely to survive when he/she is from a household with high wealth status. Even though wealth effect declined over the years, the risk of death for children from the poorest households was about 1.7 times higher than those from the richest households. Among other factors, birth spacing and parental education are found to be highly significant to increase a child fs survival probability. |
| Keywords: | Child survival, wealth, Weibull hazard model, Gamma frailty, Ghana |
| Date: | 2016–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iuj:wpaper:ems_2016_01&r=dev |
| By: | Singh,Raju; Huang,Yifei |
| Abstract: | Studies on the link between financial development and poverty have been inconclusive. Some claim that deeper financial sectors should improve the allocation of capital by allowing entrepreneurs greater access to finance, which should particularly favor the poor. Others argue that improvements in the financial system primarily benefit the rich and politically connected. The literature has also been ambiguous about the channels through which finance may be associated with lower poverty (deposits versus credit). Looking at a sample of 37 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa from 1992 through 2006, the paper suggests that financial deepening is associated with lower poverty through different channels depending on the strength of property rights. In the absence of well-defined and enforced property rights, wider access to saving and risk-sharing instruments is accompanied by a reduction in poverty. Only once property rights grow stronger is credit associated with lower poverty. |
| Keywords: | Debt Markets,Banks&Banking Reform,Economic Theory&Research,Access to Finance,Pro-Poor Growth |
| Date: | 2016–02–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:7559&r=dev |
| By: | ARVATE, Paulo; FALSETE, Filipe Ortiz; RIBEIRO, Felipe Garcia; SOUZA, André Portela |
| Abstract: | This paper estimates the effect of lighting on violent crime reduction. We explore an electrification program (LUZ PARA TODOS or Light for All - LPT) adopted by the federal government to expand electrification to rural areas in all Brazilian municipalities in the 2000s as an exogenous source of variation in electrification expansion. Our instrumental variable results show a reduction in homicide rates (approximately five homicides per 100,000 inhabitants) on rural roads/urban streets when a municipality moved from no access to full coverage of electricity between 2000 and 2010. These findings are even more significant in the northern and northeastern regions of Brazil, where rates of electrification are lower than those of the rest of the country and, thus, where the program is concentrated. In the north (northeast), the number of violent deaths on the streets per 100,000 inhabitants decreased by 48.12 (13.43). This moved a municipality at the 99th percentile (75th) to the median (zero) of the crime distribution of municipalities. Finally, we do not find effects on violent deaths in households and at other locations. Because we use an IV strategy by exploring the LPT program eligibility criteria, we can interpret the results as the estimated impact of the program on those experiencing an increase in electricity coverage due to their program eligibility. Thus, the results represent local average treatment effects of lighting on homicides. |
| Date: | 2016–01–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fgv:eesptd:408&r=dev |
| By: | Simplice Asongu (Yaoundé/Cameroun); Rangan Gupta (University of Pretoria, South Africa) |
| Abstract: | The transition from Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) has substantially shifted the policy debate from growth to inclusive growth. In this short note, we revisit the trust-growth nexus by exploiting a dataset on quality of growth (QG), recently made available to the scientific community. The empirical evidence is based on interactive contemporary and non-contemporary quantile regressions. Inequality and human development modifying variables are used as additional controls. The findings broadly support the positive role of trust in QG. In addition, relatively high thresholds of inequality are needed to change this positive trust-QG nexus in some distributions. |
| Keywords: | Trust; Inclusive Growth; Conditional Effects |
| JEL: | A13 I30 O40 Z13 |
| Date: | 2015–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:agd:wpaper:15/026&r=dev |