|
on Development |
| By: | Orazio Attanasio (University College London); Helen Baker-Henningham (Tropical Medicine Research Institute, University of the West Indies); Raquel Bernal (Universidad de los Andes); Costas Meghir (Yale University); Diana Pineda (Fundacio´n E´xito); Marta Rubio-Codina (EDePo@IFS) |
| Abstract: | This paper evaluates the effects of the implementation of a structured early stimulation curriculum combined with a nutritional intervention through public large-scale parenting support services for vulnerable families in rural Colombia, known as FAMI, using a clustered randomized controlled trial. We randomly assigned 87 towns in rural areas to treatment and control and 1,460 children younger than 1 year of age were assessed at baseline. The interventions were also complemented with training, supervision and coaching of FAMI program facilitators. We assessed program effects on children’s nutritional status, and on cognitive and socio-emotional development; as well as on parental practices. The interventions had a positive and significant effect on a cognitive development factor based on the Bayley-III of 0.15 standard deviations. We also report a reduction of 5.8 percentage points in the fraction of children whose height-for-age is below -1 standard deviation. We do not find any effects on socio-emotional development. We report positive and statistically significant effects on the quality of the home environment (0.34 SD). |
| Keywords: | early childhood development, parenting, early stimulation, program scale-up |
| JEL: | J13 I10 I20 H43 |
| Date: | 2018–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hka:wpaper:2018-073&r=dev |
| By: | Paul Pelz; Steven Poelhekke |
| Abstract: | We analyse the local e ect of exogenous shocks to the value of mineral deposits at the district level in Indonesia using a panel of manufacturing plants. To the best of our knowledge, we are the first to model and estimate the effect of heterogeneity in natural resource extraction methods. We find that in areas where mineral extraction is relatively capital-intensive, mining booms cause virtually no upward pressure on manufacturing earnings per worker, and both producers of traded and local goods benefit from mining booms in terms of employment. In contrast, labour-intensive mining booms drive up local manufacturing wages such that producers of traded goods reduce employment. This source of heterogeneity helps to explain the mixed evidence for `Dutch disease' effects in the literature. In addition, we find no evidence that fiscal revenue sharing between sub-national districts leads to any spillovers. |
| Keywords: | Dutch disease, natural resources, mining, labour intensity, Indonesia |
| JEL: | L1 L72 O12 O13 Q30 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oxf:oxcrwp:214&r=dev |
| By: | Ulyssea, Gabriel (University of Oxford); Ponczek, Vladimir (Sao Paulo School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | How does enforcement of labor regulations shape the labor market effects of trade? To tackle this question, we exploit the Brazilian trade liberalization episode and exogenous variation in the intensity of both the trade shock and enforcement across local labor markets. Regions with stricter enforcement observed no increase in informal employment but large disemployment effects. Regions with weaker enforcement had no employment losses but substantial increases in informality. All effects are concentrated on unskilled workers, with no effects on skilled workers. The results indicate that informality acts as a buffer that reduces trade-induced adjustment costs in the labor market. |
| Keywords: | trade, enforcement of labor regulations, informality |
| JEL: | F16 K31 |
| Date: | 2018–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp11783&r=dev |
| By: | Panos Hatzipanayotou (Athens University of Economics and Business); Panagiotis Konstantinou (AUEB); Ioanna Pantelaiou; Anastasios Xepapadeas |
| Abstract: | We study the impact on economic growth of LDCs of environmentally related standards (ERSs) adopted by such economies to bypass non-tariff-measures (NTMs) imposed as environmental regulatory requirements on their exports of natural resources to developed importing countries. In particular, we develop an empirical growth model that incorporates the impacts of resource abundance and of ERSs, the latter being measured by the number of ISO14001 certificates which a LDC holds, on per capita GDP growth. This specification allows to test for the existence of the 'resource curse' and for the effects of ERSs on growth through their interaction with the resource abundance measure. Our results suggest that ERSs can be growth promoting and in certain cases a factor mitigating the 'resource curse' in LDCs. Thus, compliance with ERSs combined with aid in institution formation or technology transfers can allow LDCs to enhance economic growth and alleviate poverty. |
| Keywords: | Non-tariff measures; Environmentally related standards; Natural resource exports; Resource curse; Economic growth; Poverty |
| JEL: | F18 F43 O13 O44 |
| Date: | 2017–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aue:wpaper:1809&r=dev |
| By: | Stefano BRESCHI; Francesco LISSONI; Ernest MIGUELEZ |
| Abstract: | Based on an original dataset linking patent data and biographical information for a large sample of US immigrant inventors with Indian names and surnames, specialized in ICT technologies, we investigate the rate and determinants of return migration. For each individual in the dataset, we both estimate the year of entry in the United States, the likely entry channel (work or education), and the permanence spell up to either the return to India or right truncation. By means of survival analysis, we then provide exploratory estimates of the probability of return migration as a function of the conditions at migration (age, education, patenting record, migration motives, and migration cohort) as well as of some activities undertaken while abroad (education and patenting). We find both evidence of negative self-selection with respect to educational achievements in the US and of positive self-selection with respect to patenting propensity. Based on the analysis of time-dependence of the return hazard ratios, return work migrants appear to be negatively self-selected with respect to unobservable skills acquired abroad, while evidence for education migrants is less conclusive. |
| Keywords: | immigration, innovation, inventor data, patent data |
| JEL: | F22 O15 O31 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:grt:wpegrt:2018-20&r=dev |
| By: | Solomon Asfaw (Green Climate Fund (GCF), South Korea); Giuseppe Maggio (University of Sussex); Alessandro Palma (CEIS - University of Rome Tor Vergata, Roma, Italy; IEFE - Bocconi University, Milan, Italy) |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the resilience capacity of rural Ethiopian households after the drought shock occurred in 2011. The work develops an original empirical framework able to capture the policy and socio-economic determinants of households’ resilience capacity by making parametric statistical assumption on the resilience distribution. To this end, the analysis employs a two-wave representative panel dataset aligned with detailed weather records while controlling for a large set of household- and community-level characteristics. The analysis shows that the majority of these factors affects significantly resilience capacity only in the group of households affected by the drought shock, suggesting that the observed effect relates to the adaptive capacity enabled by these factors, rather than a simple welfare effect. Three policy indications emerge from the findings of the empirical model. First, government support programmes, such as the PSNP, appear to sustain households’ resilience by helping them to reach the level of pre-shock total consumption, but have no impact on the food-consumption resilience. Secondly, the “selling out assets strategy” affects positively on households’ resilience, but only in terms of food consumption. Finally, the presence of informal institutions, such as social networks providing financial support, sharply increases households’ resilience by helping them to reach pre-shock levels of food and total consumption. Policies incentivizing the formation of these networks, through the participation of households to agricultural cooperative, agricultural associations, or community projects, may also help farmers in recovering their wealth level after a weather shock. |
| Keywords: | resilience, adaptation, livelihood strategy, food security, climate change, Ethiopia, drought. |
| JEL: | Q12 Q18 I32 C13 |
| Date: | 2018–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sru:ssewps:2018-18&r=dev |
| By: | Embry Howell (Urban Institute Health Policy Center); Timothy Waidmann (Urban Institute Health Policy Center); Nikhil Holla (Urban Institute Health Policy Center); Nancy Birdsall (Center for Global Development); Kevin Jiang (Baylor University Medical School) |
| Abstract: | The new millennium brought renewed attention to improving the health of women and children. In this same period, direct deaths from conflicts have declined worldwide, but civilian deaths associated with conflicts have increased. Nigeria is among the most conflict-prone countries in sub-Saharan Africa, especially recently with the Boko Haram insurgency in the north. This paper uses two data sources, the 2013 Demographic and Health Survey for Nigeria and the Social Conflict Analysis Database, linked by geocode, to study the effect of these conflicts on child health. We show a strong association between living close to a conflict zone and acute malnutrition in Nigerian children in 2013. This is related to the severity of the conflict, measured both in terms of the number of conflict deaths and the length of time the child was exposed to conflict. The association with mortality is much less clear, with essentially no significant relationship to conflict detected using these data for the period studied. Undoubtedly civil conflict is limiting the future prospects of Nigerian children and the country’s economic growth. In Nigeria conflicts in the north are expected to continue with sporadic attacks and continued damaged infrastructure. Thus, the children in Nigeria will continue to suffer the consequences documented in this study. |
| Date: | 2018–08–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cgd:wpaper:494&r=dev |
| By: | Wineman, Ayala |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the welfare and livelihood strategies of women in rural Tanzania after they exit marriage. We draw from a three-wave individual-level longitudinal survey, using a correlated random effects approach within regression analysis to control for time-invariant individual effects. Attention is given to whether women exit marriage through widowhood or divorce, and whether they subsequently become household heads or join another household. Nearly 40% of widowed or divorced women are not the heads of their households, but instead reside with relatives. We find that women, and particularly widows, are more likely to be poor after marriage exit. Upon widowhood or divorce, women also work longer hours in off-farm employment, and those who become household heads are especially likely to experience a reduction in land access and a heightened reliance on non-farm income, including the receipt of transfers. This underscores the importance of both the non-farm economy and family networks for women′s livelihoods after marriage. Results illustrate that women′s experiences outside of marriage are diverse and cannot be broadly proxied with a household status of being female-headed. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Security and Poverty, International Development |
| Date: | 2017–07–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:miffrp:261671&r=dev |
| By: | Seidu, Ayuba; Onel, Gulcan; Moss, Charles Britt |
| Abstract: | This study examines the impact of remittances inflows on inter-sectoral migration of farm labor toward the non-agricultural sector. Using a panel of 77 developing countries over the period 1991–2010, we find two opposing effects of remittances on out-farm migration of labor. First, remittances slow down the out-farm migration rates by supplementing farm income and consumption expenditures. Second, remittances provide a source of investment in out-farm activities that increase the rate of migration out of agriculture over time. Combining these effects, our estimates indicate that a 100 percent increase in remittances reduces the migration out of agriculture by 10 percent over time. A major policy issue facing leaders in the developing world is whether international migration, through remittances, contributes to the development process in migrant-sending communities or impedes the efficient allocation of labor and human capital at origin countries. Our results indicate that international migrant remittances help slow the rate of out-farm labor migration through its supplemental income effect; remittances help finance farm households’ consumption expenditures, thereby eliminating the need to move to non-agricultural jobs. |
| Keywords: | International Development |
| Date: | 2018–01–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:saea18:266531&r=dev |
| By: | Isabelle CHORT; Philippe DE VREYER; Thomas ZUBER |
| Abstract: | This study explores internal migration patterns of men and women using individual panel data from a nationally representative survey collected in two waves, in 2006-2007 and 2010-2012, in Senegal. The data used are unique in that they contain the GPS coordinates of individuals' location in both waves. We are thus able to precisely calculate distances and map individual moves, avoiding limitations and constraints of migration definitions based on administrative units. Our results reveal major differences across gender. Women are found to be more likely to migrate than men. However, they move less far and are more likely to migrate to rural areas, especially when originating from rural areas. Education is found to increase the likelihood of migration to urban destinations, especially for women. An analysis of the motives for migrating confirms the existence of gendered migration patterns, as female mobility is mostly linked to marriage while labor mobility is frequently observed for men. |
| Keywords: | Internal Migration ; Gender Inequalities ; Rural-Urban Migration ; Senegal |
| JEL: | J16 O15 O18 R23 |
| Date: | 2018–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tac:wpaper:2018-2019_1&r=dev |
| By: | Vidhya UNNIKRISHNAN (Global Development Institute, The University of Manchester, UK); Katsushi S. Imai (Research Institute for Economics & Business Administration (RIEB), Kobe University, Japan, and Department of Economics, The University of Manchester, UK) |
| Abstract: | As India’s population has been ageing due to declines in fertility and mortality rates, more policy emphasis has been placed on reducing poverty among the elderly. The aim of the present study is to examine the effect of Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme (IGNOAPS) on both short and long-term household welfare indicators, such as consumption expenditure. Using the household longitudinal data based on the Indian Human Development Survey in 2004-05 and 2011-12, we have applied the Propensity Score Matching (PSM) to build a counterfactual group and have used the fixed effects model to eliminate time-invariant unobservable characteristics to estimate the effect of IGNOAPS on household welfare. To address the issue of endogeneity, we have used the instrumental variable model. The results show that IGNOAPS reduces household poverty by increasing consumption expenditure, food and non-food expenditure. We have also estimated the effect of transfer payments received on the outcome variables and found that the amount of transfer determines the size of the welfare effect. Despite the positive welfare effects of the programme, it has a small adverse effect on household labour supply. |
| Keywords: | Pension, Ageing, IGNOAPS, Poverty, Household Welfare, India |
| JEL: | C23 I38 H75 |
| Date: | 2018–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kob:dpaper:dp2018-20&r=dev |
| By: | Jawara, Hamidou; Thiele, Rainer |
| Abstract: | The relationship between nutrient intake and wealth of poor households continues to be an issue of huge policy relevance. In this paper, we contribute to the ongoing debate on the nutrient-income elasticity using a sample of ultra-poor households with orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) in Kenya. To estimate the nutrient-income elasticity for these households, we employ panel data techniques that enable us to tackle measurement error and simultaneity bias. In addition, we use semi-parametric panel data models to address nonlinearities. For most of the nutrients considered, we find that income elasticities are significantly different from zero but below unity. Caloric intakes turn out to be less income-inelastic than macro and micro nutrient intakes. |
| Keywords: | nutrient-income elasticity,OVC households,Kenya |
| JEL: | C14 D12 Q11 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:ifwkwp:2114&r=dev |
| By: | Me-Nsope, Nathalie M.; Nankhuni, Flora J. |
| Abstract: | Background : Pigeon pea (Cajunus Cajan) is a crop that is well adapted in the semi-arid tropics. The legume is also highly drought tolerant (compared to maize, tobacco and cotton), and its long taproot is advantageous in accessing nutrients in deeper soil profiles (Snapp et al. 2003). The crop is also well adapted to the needs of poor smallholder farmers in the semi-arid tropics (Jones, Freeman, and Le Monaco 2002), because compared to maize, an important cash crop in Malawi, pigeon pea production is less resource intensive.1 Because of its adaptation to the agro-ecology in eastern Kenya, southern Malawi, northern Mozambique, southern Tanzania and northern Uganda, pigeon pea is a legume of choice grown by local population and the crop is particularly important in the diets in these regions (Jones, Freeman, and Le Monaco 2002). Smallholder farmers in eastern and southern Africa grow pigeon pea for subsistence and as a cash crop (Jones, Freeman, and Le Monaco 2002). At the household-level, the plant has multiple uses— its dried seed, pods and immature seeds are consumed as green vegetables; the leaves and stems are used for fodder and the dry stems are used as fuel (Simtowe et al. 2010). Compared to the dominant maize crop, pigeon pea grain has a high protein content of 21 to 25 percent (ibid), thus making it a valuable source of protein for many poor families who cannot afford other sources of protein, such as dairy and meat (Me-Nsope and Larkins 2016). The crop is also promoted in Malawi for its potential contribution to soil fertility through biological nitrogen fixation as well as from the leaf fall and recycling of the nutrients (Mhango, Snapp, and Phiri 2012; Snapp et al. 2002). Pigeon pea also has a strong potential to contribute to national food security through market possibilities. Almost two decades ago, Orr et al (2014) found that in the southern region of Malawi, the legume accounts for approximately 20% of household income among poor farmers. Several studies observe the potential the crop offers to improve livelihoods of resource-poor farmers (Bie 2008; De Schutter 2010); Mula and Saxena 2010). Despite these numerous potential benefits, smallholders continue to face numerous challenges that limit their ability to reap these benefits. Several questions remain about the performance, competitiveness, and profitability of pigeon pea production and marketing, and the ability of the value chain to contribute to the food security and poverty reduction objectives of the country of Malawi. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Security and Poverty, International Development, Production Economics |
| Date: | 2018–05–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:miffrp:275676&r=dev |