|
on Development |
| By: | Baskaran, Thushyanthan; Blesse, Sebastian |
| Abstract: | A recent literature suggests that arbitrarily designed administrative borders are an important reason why sub-Saharan Africa remains one of the least developed regions on the globe. Accordingly, administrative border reforms may be a way to promote growth on the African continent. In this paper, we study the effect of subnational administrative border reforms on local economic development (proxied by nighttime luminosity) by tracking state-level border changes in Africa during 1992-2013 with GIS techniques. Difference-in-difference regressions suggest that mergers have strong positive effects on economic development. Splits, too, have positive effects, but they are substantially smaller on average. To understand why the economic impact of splits and mergers differs in magnitude, we investigate transmission channels. We link border changes to geocoded conflict data and survey evidence on political attitudes as well as service delivery. We find that the differences between splits and mergers are possibly due to different underlying motives for these two types of border reforms. Splits seem to affect development through higher political stability, i.e. a lower incidence of conflicts and more benign political attitudes of citizens, while mergers presumably work through an improvement in administrative efficiency. |
| Keywords: | administrative border reforms,economic development,night-light data,Africa |
| JEL: | D73 H77 R11 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:18027&r=dev |
| By: | Beal, Ty; Le Danh, Tuyen; Nguyen, Duy Son; Simioni, Michel; Thomas-Agnan, Christine; Trinh, Thi-Huong |
| Abstract: | Vietnam launched the national Expanded Program on Immunization in 1981. Since then, this program has contributed signi cantly to the improvement of child health and to the reduction of child mortality rate. Despite of the fact that the coverage of the national EPI keeps expanding, the number of children who complied with the recommended immunization schedule remains low. This article studies the progress of the timeliness childhood immunization compliance among children between 0-5 years of age in Vietnam from 2006 to 2014 and analyzes the socio-economic factors that account for the changes of the compliance rate during this period. The dataset is extracted from the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey in 2006 and 2014. We rst identify the socio-economic factors that impact on the vaccination compliance rate using a logistic regression model. Next, we apply the decomposition method to determine the contribution of each factor on the evolution of the timeliness childhood immunization compliance. The progress of the timeliness childhood immunization has been positive and the major contribution comes from the structure e ect (unmeasured e ect). Rural areas show a stronger improvement as of 2014. Among the socio-economic factors, mother education and birth order are the ones that have the larger in uence on the childhood immunization compliance rate. However, these factors have di erent implications in urban and rural areas. These ndings are critical to the current context of Vietnam where the government is designing a strategy focusing on the e ectiveness rather than the traditional coverage indicator. |
| Keywords: | Vaccination; timeliness childhood immunisation compliance; decomposition; logistic model; MICS data; Vietnam |
| JEL: | C02 C31 C51 I18 I38 Q18 |
| Date: | 2018–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tse:wpaper:32652&r=dev |
| By: | León, Gianmarco |
| Abstract: | We estimate the effects of political accountability on the selection of politicians when accountability mechanisms are prone to political capture. Using a comprehensive dataset that records characteristics of candidates for mayor in the last three local elections in Peru, and a close election sharp regression discontinuity design, we compare candidates running for mayor in districts where the incumbent was ousted from office through a recall referendum in the previous electoral term with those who run in districts where the recall referendum failed by a small margin. Candidates in municipalities where the incumbent was recalled are less educated, have less experience in elected offices and in the public sector, and are younger. These findings are consistent with a framework where potential candidates learn about an accountability mechanism which is prone to capture, distorting the main objectives of improving the quality of government, and instead discouraging high quality candidates to run. The negative selection of candidates is partially offset by voters, who elect the best politician out of a lower quality pool of candidates. |
| Keywords: | accountability; Peru; Selection into Politics |
| JEL: | D71 D72 O10 O53 |
| Date: | 2018–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:12941&r=dev |
| By: | Do Thi Thuy, Thuy; Nguyen, Quang Dung; Nguyen Van, Huy; Thomas-Agnan, Christine; Trinh, Thi-Huong |
| Abstract: | Vietnam launched the national Expanded Program on Immunization in 1981. Since then, this program has contributed signi cantly to the improvement of child health and to the reduction of child mortality rate. Despite of the fact that the coverage of the national EPI keeps expanding, the number of children who complied with the recommended immunization schedule remains low. This article studies the progress of the timeliness childhood immunization compliance among children between 0-5 years of age in Vietnam from 2006 to 2014 and analyzes the socio-economic factors that account for the changes of the compliance rate during this period. The dataset is extracted from the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey in 2006 and 2014. We rst identify the socio-economic factors that impact on the vaccination compliance rate using a logistic regression model. Next, we apply the decomposition method to determine the contribution of each factor on the evolution of the timeliness childhood immunization compliance. The progress of the timeliness childhood immunization has been positive and the major contribution comes from the structure e ect (unmeasured e ect). Rural areas show a stronger improvement as of 2014. Among the socio-economic factors, mother education and birth order are the ones that have the larger in uence on the childhood immunization compliance rate. However, these factors have di erent implications in urban and rural areas. These ndings are critical to the current context of Vietnam where the government is designing a strategy focusing on the e ectiveness rather than the traditional coverage indicator. |
| Keywords: | Vaccination; timeliness childhood immunisation compliance; decomposition; logistic model; MICS data; Vietnam |
| JEL: | C02 C21 C51 P46 |
| Date: | 2018–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tse:wpaper:32646&r=dev |
| By: | Fiala, Nathan; Premand, Patrick |
| Abstract: | Corruption and mismanagement of public resources can affect the quality of government services and undermine growth. Can citizens in poor communities be empowered to demand better-quality public investments? We look at whether providing social accountability training and information on project performance can lead to improvements in local development projects. The program we study is unique in its size and integration in a national program. We find that offering communities a combination of training and information on project quality leads to significant improvements in household welfare. However, providing either social accountability training or project quality information by itself has no welfare effect. These results are concentrated in areas that are reported by local officials as more corrupt or mismanaged, suggesting local agents have significant information about where corruption and mismanagement is worse. We show evidence that the impacts come in part from community members increasing their monitoring of local projects, making more complaints to local and central officials and increasing cooperation. We also find modest improvements in people's trust in the central government. The results suggest that government-led, large-scale social accountability programs can strengthen communities' ability to address corruption and mismanagement as well as improve services. |
| Keywords: | social accountability,community training,scorecards,corruption,service delivery |
| JEL: | D7 H4 O1 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:rwirep:752&r=dev |
| By: | Branko BOSKOVIC; Ujjayant CHAKRAVORTY; Martino PELLI; Anna RISCH |
| Abstract: | Fuelwood collection is often cited as the most important cause of deforestation in developing countries. Use of fuelwood in cooking is a leading cause of indoor air pollution. Using household data from India, we show that households located farther away from the forest spend more time collecting. Distant households are likely to sell more fuelwood and buy less. That is, lower access to forests increases fuelwood collection and sale. This counter-intuitive behavior is triggered by two factors: lower access to forests (a) increases the fixed costs of collecting, which in turn leads to more collection; and (b) drives up local fuelwood prices, which makes collection and sale more profitable. We quantify both these effects. Using our estimates we show that a fifth of the fuelwood collected is consumed outside of rural areas, in nearby towns and cities. Our results imply that at the margin, fuelwood scarcity may lead to increased collection and sale, and exacerbate forest degradation. |
| Keywords: | energy access, cooking fuels, deforestation, forest cover, fuelwood collection |
| JEL: | D10 O13 Q42 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mtl:montec:05-2018&r=dev |
| By: | Zuhumnan Dapel (Center for Global Development) |
| Abstract: | Individuals do escape poverty during periods of overall rise in the poverty rate; they also transit into poverty during periods of overall decline in the poverty rate. A static poverty estimate drawn from independent cross surveys tends to obscure these details because it is unable to provide information on individual poverty experiences across time and space. In this paper, I explore six sweeps of household surveys of Nigeria (1980–2010) in an attempt to address these concerns. In addition, I test, by estimating poverty regressions, whether different processes are at work in determining chronic and transient poverty. Between 1980 and 1985, about 0.11–9.5 percent of Nigeria’s population escaped poverty. At the same time, 21.94–32.27 percent moved into poverty. Both transient and chronic poverty were higher in 1996–2010 than in 1980–1992. But transient poverty rose faster as the share of chronic poverty declined to between 3-55 percent from about 90 percent. Chronic poverty is less prevalent in Nigeria’s oil producing region and more prevalent in the country’s northeast, and poverty increases with household size. About 81 percent of those trapped in poverty farm, and 81.02 percent are from the north. Years of schooling has the strongest negative impact on chronic poverty; 74 percent of those never trapped in poverty have more than a high school level of education. Stepping up girls’ education can mitigate teenage pregnancies and consequently address population rise among the poor. In addition, increasing investment in human capital, through government spending, can help break the cycle of poverty in the north. |
| Keywords: | poverty, chronic, transient, mobility, synthetic, panel, Nigeria |
| JEL: | I31 |
| Date: | 2018–06–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cgd:wpaper:485&r=dev |
| By: | Bargain, Olivier (University of Bordeaux); Boutin, Delphine (CERDI, University of Auvergne); Champeaux, Hugues (CERDI, University of Auvergne) |
| Abstract: | Egyptian women have played an unprecedented role in the Arab Spring democratic movement, possibly changing women's perception about their own rights and role. We question whether these events have translated into better outcomes within Egyptian households. We conjecture that potential changes must have been heterogeneous and depended on the local intensity of protests and women's participation over 2011-13. We exploit the geographical heterogeneity along these two margins to conduct a double difference analysis using data surrounding the period. We find a significant improvement in women's final say regarding decisions on health, socialization and household expenditure, as well as a decline in the acceptation of domestic violence and girls' circumcision, in the regions most affected by the protests. This effect is not due to particular regional patterns or pre-existing trends in empowerment. It is also robust to alternative treatment definitions and confirmed by triple difference estimations. We confront our main interpretation to alternative mechanisms that could have explained this effect. |
| Keywords: | Arab Spring, revolutions, gender, empowerment, Egypt |
| JEL: | J12 J16 D74 I14 |
| Date: | 2018–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp11534&r=dev |
| By: | Kubitza, Christoph; Gehrke, Esther |
| Abstract: | The introduction of new production technologies is often regarded as one of the key drivers of the historical fertility transition in the US and Western Europe. In contrast, empirical evidence on the relationship between technology and fertility in a developing country context is largely inexistent. Our paper addresses this gap by exploring the expansion of oil palm in Indonesia. Oil palm induces labor savings similar to mechanization, but is also widely adopted by smallholder farmers. We use Becker's quantity-quality model to identify different causal mechanism through which the expansion of oil palm could affect fertility rates. Our identification strategy relies on an instrumental variables approach with regency-fixed effects, in which the area under oil palm at regency level is instrumented by regency-level attainable yield of oil palm interacted with the national oil palm expansion. While a labor-saving technology could theoretically increase fertility rates by decreasing maternal opportunity costs of time, we find consistently negative effects of the oil palm expansion on fertility. The results suggest that income gains among agricultural households coupled with broader local economic development explain this effect. Specifically, local economic development seems to have raised returns to education and triggered investments into women's and children's education, which together with the direct income effect explain the bulk of the negative effect of the oil palm expansion on fertility. |
| Keywords: | oil palm,fertility rate,technological change,labor-savings,quantity-quality model |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:crc990:22&r=dev |
| By: | Vicente Cardoso; Marcelo Resende |
| Abstract: | The paper investigates the effect of police presence on homicides at the municipality level in Brazil during the January 2010 to December 2014 period. For this purpose, occasional and illegal police strikes are considered as relevant shocks in a quasi-natural experiment. After controlling for different variables that explain heterogeneity across municipalities, it is possible to identify a sizeable effect accruing from police strikes on the occurrence of homicides. Despite a conservative analysis that involves temporal and spatial aggregation of variables, the evidence indicates that police strikes lead, on average, to a 16% increase in the homicide rate if one considers a broader sample of 3597 municipalities. The focus of the analysis for a large and heterogeneous country also partially may mitigate concerns for external validity that had been raised in the context of previous studies in the related literature. |
| Keywords: | police strikes, crime |
| JEL: | C23 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_7064&r=dev |
| By: | Blankespoor, Brian; Emran, M. Shahe; Shilpi, Forhad; Xu, Lu |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the effects of a large reduction in transport costs on agricultural development in a developing country with a focus on the interactions among comparative advantage and transport costs of a location, and transport intensity and value of a commodity. We extend the von Thunen model of land allocation to incorporate costly technology adoption and comparative advantage based on land productivity. The theoretical analysis predicts spatial non-linearity in cropland allocation, and produces deviation of observed cropping pattern from the efficient crop choices. A reduction in transport costs leads to adoption of productivity-enhancing inputs in the newly-connected region, and increases the share of land devoted to the high-value transport-intensive crop, with the strongest effect in the areas that are not too near or too far from the center and also have a higher land productivity in that crop. The empirical context of our analysis is the Jamuna bridge in Bangladesh, which opened in 1998, and reduced the transport costs from the poor hinterland in the north-west to the capital city Dhaka by more than 50 percent. Using sub-district level panel data, we implement doubly robust estimators in a difference-in-difference design where the comparison areas come from a region which is supposed to be connected to the capital city by the proposed, but yet to be built, Padma bridge. We find that the construction of Jamuna bridge led to increased adoption of technology (fertilizer, irrigation, green-ness and cropping intensity) and reallocation of land from low-value and non-perishable crop rice to high-value crops, pulses (non-perishable) and vegetables (perishable). The evidence indicates spatial non-linearity in the effects on cropping intensity and on the reallocation of land in areas with comparative advantage in vegetable production. For cropping intensity, the magnitude of the effect is large in the intermediate distance (130-150 km) from the bridge. In areas with relatively higher vegetable productivity, land allocated to rice declined, and in particular, the land was reallocated from HYV rice to vegetables in the intermediate distance (110-150 km). This improved productive efficiency by aligning the cropping pattern more closely with comparative advantage. The bridge thus led to agricultural development through technology adoption, higher cropping intensity, and by reducing the spatial mismatch between land suitability and crop choice. |
| Keywords: | Bridge, Jamuna River, Bangladesh, Land Reallocation, Technology Adoption, Cropping Intensity, Agricultural Development Agriculture |
| JEL: | O12 O13 O18 |
| Date: | 2018–05–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:86630&r=dev |
| By: | Jevan Cherniwchan; Juan Moreno-Cruz |
| Abstract: | Columbus’s arrival in the New World triggered an unprecedented movement of people and crops across the Atlantic Ocean. We study an overlooked part of this Columbian Exchange: the effects of New World crops in Africa. Specifically, we test the hypothesis that the introduction of maize increased population density and Trans-Atlantic slave exports in precolonial Africa. We find robust empirical support for these predictions. We also find little evidence to suggest maize increased economic growth or reduced conflict. Our results suggest that rather than stimulating development, the introduction of maize simply increased the supply of slaves during the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. |
| Keywords: | Africa, Columbian exchange, maize, slave trades |
| JEL: | N57 O13 Q10 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_7018&r=dev |