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on Development |
| By: | Deepti Goel (Department of Economics, Delhi School of Economics); Bidisha Barooah (Evaluation specialist at International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (3ie)) |
| Abstract: | We examine the role of teachers and students in the formation of test scores at the higher secondary level (grade 12) in public schools in Delhi, India. Using the value added approach, we find substantial variation in teacher and student quality within schools over the period spanning grades 11 and 12, being taught by a one standard deviation better than average teacher raises test scores by 0.373 standard deviation and being a one standard deviation better than average student raises it by 0.799 standard deviation. Being permanent (tenured) positively predicts teacher effectiveness, while educational qualifications, training, experience and personality traits have no predictive power. Relative to families where only fathers earn, those where both parents earn negatively predict student effectiveness, while religion, caste and parents’ education have no predictive power. |
| Keywords: | Value added, Test scores, Teacher quality, Student quality, India |
| JEL: | I20 I23 |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cde:cdewps:289&r=dev |
| By: | Colmer, Jonathan |
| Abstract: | Temperature-driven reductions in the demand for agricultural labor are associated with increases in the share of workers engaged in manufacturing, suggesting that the ability of non-agricultural sectors to absorb workers may play a key role in attenuating the economic consequences of weather-driven changes in agricultural productivity. Exploiting firm-level variation in the propensity to absorb these workers, I find that this reallocation is associated with relative expansions in manufacturing activity in exible labor market environments. Counter-factual estimates suggest that in the absence of labor reallocation the aggregate consequences of temperature increases would be up to 40% higher. |
| Keywords: | labor reallocation; agricultural productivity; labor regulation; industrial production |
| JEL: | J62 O13 Q54 |
| Date: | 2018–05–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:88695&r=dev |
| By: | Philippe De Vreyer (LEDa - Laboratoire d'Economie de Dauphine - Université Paris-Dauphine, DIAL - Développement, institutions et analyses de long terme); Sylvie Lambert (PJSE - Paris Jourdan Sciences Economiques - UP1 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS Paris - École normale supérieure - Paris - INRA - Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, PSE - Paris School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | This paper uses a novel survey to re-examine inequality and poverty levels in Senegal. In order to account for intra-household inequalities, the paper uses consumption data collected at a relatively disaggregated level within households. This data reveal that first, mean consumption is higher than measured by standard consumption surveys; and second, that consumption inequality in this country is also much higher that what is commonly thought, with a Gini index reaching 48. These findings affect global poverty estimates in opposite directions and in this context, nearly compensate for each other. Intra-household consumption inequalities are shown to account for nearly 14% of total inequality in Senegal. These results are robust to the existence of plausible measurement errors. As a result of this intra-household inequality, "invisible poor" exist with 12.6% of the poor individuals living in non-poor households. |
| Keywords: | Inequality,Poverty,Household surveys,Intra-household allocation,Senegal |
| Date: | 2018–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-01724194&r=dev |
| By: | Alex Armand (Institute for Fiscal Studies and University of Navarra (Spain)); Orazio Attanasio (Institute for Fiscal Studies and University College London); Pedro Carneiro (Institute for Fiscal Studies and University College London); Valérie Lechene (Institute for Fiscal Studies and University College London) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the differential effect of targeting cash transfers to men or women on the structure of household expenditures on non-durables. We study a policy intervention in the Republic of Macedonia, offering cash transfers to poor households, conditional on having their children attending secondary school. The recipient of the transfer is randomized across municipalities, with payments targeted to either the mother or the father of the child. We show that the gender of the recipient has an effect on the structure of expenditure shares. Targeting transfers to women increases the expenditure share on food by about 4 to 5 percentage points. At low levels of food expenditure, we observe a shift towards a more nutritious diet as a result of targeting women. |
| Keywords: | CCT, intra-household, gender, expenditure. |
| JEL: | D12 D13 E21 O12 |
| Date: | 2018–06–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ifs:cemmap:33/18&r=dev |
| By: | Mariana-Anda David (LEDa - DIAL - Laboratoire d'Economie de Dauphine - Equipe Economie de la mondialisation et du développement - Université Paris-Dauphine, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)) |
| Abstract: | This paper addresses the issue of socioeconomic integration of forced return migrants, focusing on the Maghreb countries. Starting from the hypothesis that the return has to be prepared, we test whether adisruption in the migration cycle (such as deportation) increases the individual’s vulnerability and affects his integration from both a structural and sociocultural point of view, using the 2006 MIREM survey. We find that forced returnees are more vulnerable to negative labour market outcomescompared to voluntary returnees. The absence of forced returnees from the labour market, or their underperformances, creates a net loss for the origin country and also incentives to re-migrate. The negative effect is statistically significant not only immediately after return, but also in the long run, atsurvey time. Forced return is also significantly and negatively correlated with sociocultural integration, reflecting a marginalization of deported migrants in their home environment, which may act as a re-emigration incentive. |
| Abstract: | Dans ce papier j’analyse l’intégration socioéconomique des migrants qui sont forcés de rentrer dans leur pays d’origine, avec un focus sur les pays du Maghreb. Ayant comme point de départ l’hypothèse que le retour doit être préparé, je teste si une interruption dans le cycle migratoire (telle quel’expulsion) accroit la vulnérabilité des individus et impacte leur intégration, à la fois d’un point de vue structurel et socioculturel, en utilisant l’enquête MIREM. Les résultats montrent que les migrants expulsés sont plus vulnérables et réussissent moins bien sur le marché du travail dans le paysd’origine, par rapport aux migrants qui ont choisi volontairement de rentrer. L’exclusion des rapatriésforcés du marché du travail, ou leur situation précaire, représente une perte nette pour le pays d’origineet résulte en une plus forte incitation à ré-émigrer. L’effet négatif de l’expulsion sur les performances sur le marché du travail est statistiquement significatif juste après le retour, mais également à plus long terme, au moment de l’enquête. Le retour forcé est également significativement et négativement corrélé avec le degré d’intégration socioculturelle, reflétant une marginalisation des migrants expulsés dans leur environnement d’origine. |
| Keywords: | intégration socio-culturelle,Migration de retour,migration forcée,expulsion,marché du travail,Maghreb |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-01793991&r=dev |
| By: | Sung Soo Lim (American University in Dubai) |
| Abstract: | In many developing countries, the burden of morbidity of prime-age adults is greater than in developed countries. Morbidity is distinct from other types of negative demographic shocks such as a loss of family members or dissolution of the family. Since the duration of illness and the possibility of recovery are generally difficult to anticipate, households may be more burdened in adjusting to the crisis caused by adult morbidity than they are to other types of demographic shocks or income shocks. Households with health shocks may use various coping strategies according to the nature of the costs imposed by those shocks. Among others, intra-household labor substitution may be an important coping strategy for households with limited access to other coping strategies. Moreover, the use of labor as insurance may have a negative impact on children?s educational attainment, which has serious implications for the future welfare of the poor in developing countries. Yet, studies on this link between adult morbidity and child labor are rare. Using two waves (2007, 2014) of Indonesian Family Life Survey data, this study investigates the effects of prime-age morbidity on work hours of children under 16 years old. This study is distinguished from few existing studies in the literature in that it controls for duration and severity of morbidity in the estimation of morbidity effects. Employing both self-reported health measures and measures of individuals? physical abilities to perform activities of daily living (ADLs), this study finds that work hours of children increase significantly when spouses of household heads suffer from long and severe illnesses. The effects are found to be greater for households where the spouses are not covered by any health insurance. Moreover, this study sheds light on gender roles within households coping with health shocks. In particular, it shows that work hours of male and female children increase more when household heads and their spouses suffer from health shocks, respectively. Again, the effects are found to be greater for households with no health insurance. This study is of special interests to policy makers trying to identify households and individuals who are more vulnerable to unexpected health shocks. The results imply that benefits of government expenditures on healthcare may be greater when the Indonesian government, with its limited resources, targets subsidies towards households suffering severe and long-term morbidity shocks. |
| Keywords: | morbidity, child labor, intra-household labor substitution, Indonesia |
| JEL: | I00 O12 |
| Date: | 2017–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sek:iacpro:5407710&r=dev |
| By: | Guadalupe Kavanaugh (RUTGERS - Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey [New Brunswick]); Maria Sviatschi (Princeton University); Iva Trako (PSE - Paris School of Economics, PJSE - Paris Jourdan Sciences Economiques - UP1 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS Paris - École normale supérieure - Paris - INRA - Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Abstract: | Many developing countries have unequal access to justice, especially for women. What are the implications for gender-based violence, intra-household bargaining and investments in children? This paper provides quasi-experimental evidence on all-women's justice centers (WJCs) a community based approach aimed at reducing violence against women in Peru. WJCs are specialized institutions that mostly employ female officers and whose main purpose is to reduce gender-based violence by providing police and legal services. We examine the gradual rollout of these centers and using complaint police data we find that as victims trust women officers more, they increase the reporting of gender-specific crimes by 40%. We also find evidence that this led to the deterrence of gender-based violence: using administrative non-reported data from health providers and district attorney offices, we find a 10% reduction in domestic violence, female deaths due to aggression, femicides and mental health problems with no effects for men and non-gender specific crimes. We argue that these results are driven by an increase in women representation in law and enforcement at the WJCs. Moreover, we find inter-generational effects: WJCs substantially increase human capital investments in children, increasing enrollment, attendance, test scores, while decreasing child labor. These results are consistent with a bargaining model in which the threat point is determined by women representation in law and enforcement. In sum, the evidence in this paper implies that providing access to justice for women is not only important for addressing gender-based violence, but also generates inter-generational benefits. |
| Keywords: | gender-based violence,access to justice,children,household bargaining |
| Date: | 2018–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:psewpa:halshs-01828539&r=dev |
| By: | Ana Suárez à lvarez; Ana Jesús López Menéndez |
| Abstract: | The aim of this paper is to shed some light on the behaviour of Inequality of Opportunity (IOp henceforth) in developing countries. The analysis is carried out using microdata collected by national surveys and harmonised by the Luxembourg Income Study (LIS). The LIS database incorporates a wide variety of personal harmonised variables, which allow us to made cross-country comparisons for developing countries. More specifically, we analyse six countries: Brazil, Egypt, Guatemala, India, Peru and South Africa and the periods of time covered vary from 2004 to 2014. Looking back to Amartya Sen´s famous question “Equality of what?†we compare IOp with economic inequality to obtain relative indicators of inequality of opportunity for each country analysed. Moreover, we use several indicators of income and consumption to assess if different aggregates lead to different conclusions both in the evolution of IOp and overall inequality and in the relative weights of the circumstances that conform IOp. In particular, we analyse IOp and Inequality for five different income aggregates: Equivalised Disposable Income using the OECD-modified scale, Personal Income, Labour Personal Income, Consumption and Monetary Consumption. We find that the use of an aggregate is not as important as it at first seems, leading in most cases to the same conclusions. |
| Date: | 2018–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lis:liswps:739&r=dev |
| By: | Matthew Kirwin (US Department of State); Jessica Anderson (Institute for the Study of International Migration) |
| Abstract: | Since 2014 over 600 000 African migrants have arrived in Italy through the perilous Central Mediterranean route, and nearly 120 000 arrived in 2017. This paper is the first examination of migration motivations at the individual level using nationally representative surveys and focus group data collected in West Africa. Respondents in six West African countries cite economic factors as the reason for migrating and those who wish to stay claim family and love of country as the ties that bind. The study then specifically focuses on Nigeria, the country of origin for a quarter of all Africans traveling through the Central Mediterranean route. Half of the Nigerians were interested in leaving their country of origin if given the opportunity, well above the number in neighbouring countries. Evidence from the six-country survey suggests individuals are migrating for economic reasons but statistical analysis of the Nigeria data reveals a different set of push factors behind the desire to migrate. In fact, economic standing has a limited effect on Nigerians’ desire to leave their home. Instead, individual perceptions of the strength of Nigeria’s democracy are most strongly associated with Nigerians’ desire to migrate abroad, in addition to low levels of trust in local security institutions. Urban and more highly educated Nigerians, especially from Lagos, are also more likely to want to migrate abroad. These findings shed new light on domestic policy steps that could address the grievances and concerns of those who seek to migrate. |
| Keywords: | migrants, migration, Nigeria, smuggling, West Africa |
| JEL: | J11 O15 O20 R23 |
| Date: | 2018–07–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:swacaa:17-en&r=dev |
| By: | Iva Trako (PSE - Paris School of Economics, PJSE - Paris Jourdan Sciences Economiques - UP1 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS Paris - École normale supérieure - Paris - INRA - Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the effect of fertility on parental labor-force participation in a developing country in the Balkans, with particular attention to the intervening role of childcare provided by grandparents in extended families. In order to address the potential endogeneity in the fertility decision, I exploit Albanian parental preference for having sons combined with the siblings sex-composition instrument as an exogenous source of variation. Using a repeated cross-section of parents with at least two children, I find a positive and statistically significant effect of fertility on parental labor supply for those parents who are more likely to be younger, less educated or live in extended families. In particular, IV estimates for mothers show that they increase labor supply, especially in terms of hours worked per week and the likelihood of working off-farm. Similarly, father's likelihood of working off-farm and having a second occupation increase as a consequence of further childbearing. The heterogeneity analysis suggests that this positive effect might be the result of two plausible mechanisms: childcare provided by non-parental adults in extended families and greater financial costs of maintaining more children. |
| Keywords: | fertility,parental labor-force participation,instrumental variables |
| Date: | 2018–07–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:psewpa:halshs-01828471&r=dev |
| By: | Lakdawala, Leah (Michigan State University, Department of Economics) |
| Abstract: | This paper seeks to understand household business decisions in response to increased credit access in an environment with multiple market failures. A simple model suggests that households at certain wealth thresholds might be able to overcome the fixed costs of entering entrepreneurship when they have increased access to credit. In the presence of labor market imperfections however, these same households may also be more likely to employ child labor. I test these predictions using household- and child-level panel data from Thailand. To isolate the causal impacts of household borrowing, I exploit the exogenous timing and institutional features of the Million Baht Program, one of the largest government initiatives to increase household access to credit in the world. I find that, consistent with the model, expanded access to credit raises entry into entrepreneurship for households in specific wealth groups while simultaneously increasing the use of child labor in these households. The results suggest that through the avenue of encouraging entrepreneurial activity, expanding credit access may have unintended consequences for the supply of child labor. |
| Keywords: | Credit; Microcredit; Entrepreneurship; Child Labor; Child Work; Schooling |
| JEL: | D13 J22 O12 O15 |
| Date: | 2018–07–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:msuecw:2018_004&r=dev |
| By: | K L Krishna (Centre for Development Economics, Delhi School of Economics); Suresh Chand Aggarwal (Former Professor, Department of Business Economics, University of Delhi, South Campus, India); Bishwanath Goldar (Former Professor, Institute of Economic Growth, Delhi, India); Deb Kusum Das (Ramjas College, University of Delhi, India); Abdul A Erumban (The Conference Board and University of Groningen); Pilu Chandra Das (Kidderpore College, University of Calcutta) |
| Abstract: | In this paper aggregate labour quality and the first order quality indices of education, age and gender have been estimated using the JGF (1987) methodology for the Indian economy, its broad sectors, disaggregated 27 Indian industries and for the organized and unorganized manufacturing industries. The objective is to find out the changes which have taken place in different labour characteristics over time. It is important as all employed persons are not homogeneous and any change over time in its characteristics has its effect on its marginal product and hence on productivity and growth of GDP. The period covered for the analysis is 1980-81 to 2014-15, which is divided into three-sub-periods, 1980-81 to 1993-94, 1994-95 to 2002-03 and 2003-04 to 2014-15, and the period covered for the organized and unorganized manufacturing industries labour quality indices is 2000-01 to 2014-15. The main results of the analysis are (a) growth of aggregate index of labour quality in India during the period of 1980-2014 grew at an annual average growth rate of 1.4%, which is almost comparable to the growth in persons employed and could contribute significantly to the growth of GDP (b) the main driver of its growth has been the growth in the education Index which contributed 1.23 percentage points to its growth (c) growth of aggregate labour quality during 1980-2014 is relatively high in Mining, Electricity, Manufacturing and Services sectors and is low in Agriculture and Construction and (d) the growth of labour quality is higher in organized manufacturing as compared to unorganized manufacturing. |
| Date: | 2018–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cde:cdewps:285&r=dev |
| By: | Joel Cariolle (FERDI - Fondation pour les Etudes et Recherches sur le Développement International) |
| Abstract: | This paper reexamines the contribution of five major corruption determinants emphasized by the literature, through an empirical analysis based on a hierarchical modelling of firm-level corruption data. Exploiting a baseline sample of 34,358 bribe reports of firms from 71 developing and transition countries, I use a three-level estimation framework to study the contribution of the economic and human development levels, the size of governments, trade openness, and democracy. Multi-level estimations stress that the negative effect of income per capita on bribery is found to be mostly driven by improvement in human capital, more particularly by the decline in fertility rates. They also allow the reconciling of some contrasting findings of the literature on other corruption determinants, but point that the contribution of corruption determinants is context-dependent. |
| Keywords: | Corruption,Bribery,Firm,multi-level model,Hierarchical models |
| Date: | 2018–06–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-01823058&r=dev |
| By: | Baskaran, Thushyanthan (University of Siegen); Bhalotra, Sonia R. (University of Essex); Min, Brian (University of Michigan); Uppal, Yogesh (Youngstown State University) |
| Abstract: | There has been a phenomenal global increase in the proportion of women in politics in the last two decades, but there is no evidence of how this influences economic performance. We investigate this using data on competitive elections to India's state assemblies, leveraging close elections to isolate causal effects. We find significantly higher growth in economic activity in constituencies that elect women and no evidence of negative spillovers to neighbouring male-led constituencies, consistent with net growth. Probing mechanisms, we find that women legislators are less likely to be criminal and corrupt, more efficacious, and less vulnerable to political opportunism. |
| Keywords: | political representation, identity, India, gender, women legislators, economic growth, luminosity, corruption, roads, close elections |
| JEL: | D72 D78 H44 H73 |
| Date: | 2018–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp11596&r=dev |
| By: | S. Chandrasekhar (Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research); Soham Sahoo (Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore) |
| Abstract: | We analyse a nationally representative data set from India for the year 2013 in order to provide evidence on how short term migration is affected by household's ownership of land, and participation in agricultural activities. We estimate a recursive bivariate probit model recognizing the simultaneity between short term migration and decision to operate land. The results of the likelihood ratio test imply that it would be incorrect to ignore this simultaneity. Households with less than 1 hectare of land and those leasing out land are more likely to have a short term migrant (STM). Households leaving their land fallow, a common occurrence in south Asia, are more likely to have a STM. Moreover, choice of crops and livestock farming has a significant role to play in migration decision. Current initiatives to increase coverage of irrigation and facilitating access to formal finance could improve livelihoods of small and marginal farmers thereby reducing the probability of distress short-term migration. |
| Keywords: | Short term migrants; Small-marginal farmers; Agricultural households; Mobility; Asia; India |
| JEL: | O1 R2 |
| Date: | 2018–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ind:igiwpp:2018-016&r=dev |
| By: | Masuda, Kazuya; Sakai, Yoko |
| Abstract: | International labor mobility is a key factor for a well-functioning labor market. Although educational attainment is known to affect regional labor mobility within a country, evidence of a relationship between schooling and international labor mobility is limited, particularly in developing countries. This study uses the across-cohort variation in the exposure to the 1988 free secondary education reform in the Philippines to examine the impact of years of education on the propensity of working abroad. The results suggest that attaining another year of schooling increases the likelihood of working abroad by 3 and 8 percentage points for men and women, respectively. These results suggest that education improves the ability to deal with negative economic shocks by allowing individuals to find employment in the international labor market. |
| Keywords: | Labor mobility, Migration, Education, Philippines, Free secondary education |
| JEL: | J61 R23 I20 |
| Date: | 2018–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hit:hitcei:2018-5&r=dev |