nep-dev New Economics Papers
on Development
Issue of 2017‒08‒20
four papers chosen by
Jacob A. Jordaan
Universiteit Utrecht

  1. Educational inequality and intergenerational mobility in Latin America: A new database By Neidhöfer, Guido; Serrano, Joaquín; Gasparini, Leonardo
  2. The Impact of Road Development on Household Welfare in Rural Papua New Guinea By Martin Wiegand; Eric Koomen; Menno (M.) Pradhan; Christopher Edmonds
  3. Stigma of Sexual Violence and Womens Decision to Work By Chakraborty, Tanika; Mukherjee, Anirban; Rachapalli,Swapnika Reddy; Saha, Sarani
  4. Dietary pattern, socioeconomic status and child health outcomes in Ghana: application of multilevel analysis By Nunoo, Jacob; Nyanzu, Frederick

  1. By: Neidhöfer, Guido; Serrano, Joaquín; Gasparini, Leonardo
    Abstract: The causes and consequences of the intergenerational persistence of inequality are a topic of great interest among various fields in economics. However, until now, issues of data availability have restricted a broader and cross-national perspective on the topic. Based on rich sets of harmonized household survey data, we contribute to filling this gap computing time series for several indexes of relative and absolute intergenerational education mobility for 18 Latin American countries over 50 years, and making them publicly available. We find that intergenerational mobility has been rising in Latin America, on average. This pattern seems to be driven by the high upward mobility of children from low-educated families; at the same time, there is substantial immobility at the top of the distribution. Significant cross-country differences are observed and are associated with income inequality, poverty, economic growth, public educational expenditures and assortative mating.
    Keywords: inequality,intergenerational mobility,equality of opportunity,transition probabilities,assortative mating,education,human capital,Latin America
    JEL: D63 I24 J62 O15
    Date: 2017
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:fubsbe:201720&r=dev
  2. By: Martin Wiegand (VU Amsterdam); Eric Koomen (VU Amsterdam); Menno (M.) Pradhan (VU Amsterdam; University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands; Tinbergen Institute, The Netherlands); Christopher Edmonds (Tokyo International University)
    Abstract: In this paper we estimate the impact of road development on household welfare in rural Papua New Guinea over the period between 1996 and 2010, using two cross-sectional household surveys and corresponding road maps. To deal with endogenous placement of road infrastructure programs we employ a correlated random effects model that corrects for location-specific changes in road quality. We also use a newly developed quantile regression method to investigate whether road works are pro-poor. Estimates show that investments in sealing roads to nearest towns led to higher consumption levels and housing quality, and to less reliance on subsistence farming. Effects are stronger among poor, less educated, and female-led households.
    Keywords: roads; infrastructure; impact evaluation; household welfare; developing country; Papua New Guinea
    JEL: H54 O18
    Date: 2017–08–07
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tin:wpaper:20170076&r=dev
  3. By: Chakraborty, Tanika; Mukherjee, Anirban; Rachapalli,Swapnika Reddy; Saha, Sarani
    Abstract: Our study is motivated by two disturbing evidences concerning women in India. On one hand, crime against women is on the rise while on the other, women's labor force participation rate (WLFPR) has been declining over the last three decades. We estimate the extent to which the decline in WLFPR can be assigned to increasing instances of crime against women. We argue that an increase in crime against women, increases the non-pecuniary costs of traveling to work, particularly in a traditional society marked by stigma against victims of sexual crimes. Our findings suggest that women are less likely to work away from home in regions where the perceived threat of sexual harassment against girls is higher. The estimate is robust to various sensitivity checks. Moreover, the deterrence effect of crime responds to the opportunity cost of work on one hand and the stigma cost of sexual crimes on the other.
    Keywords: Crime-against-women,Labor-force-participation,stigma-cost
    JEL: E24 J16 J18
    Date: 2017
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:96&r=dev
  4. By: Nunoo, Jacob; Nyanzu, Frederick
    Abstract: Introduction – Child welfare, especially issues bordering on child health, continues to be one of the core issues of development. Over the years, appreciable progress has been made, but the levels are still not good enough. Objective - This paper investigates the effects of mothers’ socioeconomic characteristics and regional effect on the health of the child. Also, the paper employs a multilevel estimation technique, a methodology that distinguishes this study from previous studies to investigate in detail, the sources of variation in child health for appropriate policy recommendations Design/methodology/approach - This study revisits the issue on the determinants of child health using the 2012 Ghana version of the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey, with a sample size of 7364, to investigate how infant diet practices impact child health in Ghana. We estimate the impact of dietary pattern and other socioeconomic characteristics and regional effect on child anthropometric indicators using the multilevel estimation technique to control for clustering effect. Results - We found a dietary pattern to have a positive impact on child health. In addition, we realised that both mother characteristics and regional effect play a role in the growth of the child, but mother characteristics seem the most driving force when mother effects and regional effect are set at play. Conclusion - It is recommended that parents should adhere to the appropriate diet requirement for their children to better health outcome. Also, it is imperative for policies to be geared towards parents as a first step in ensuring a better child health. In addition, policies and programmes directed to the three Northern regions of Ghana are very crucial in supporting a positive child health development for children in Ghana.
    Keywords: Child Health Outcome, Dietary Pattern, Socioeconomic Status, Multilevel Analysis, Ghana
    JEL: I0 I1 I12
    Date: 2017–08–06
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:80663&r=dev

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