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on Development |
By: | Behrman, J.; Parker, S.; Todd, P.; Zhang, W. |
Abstract: | This paper develops and estimates a dynamic model of student enrollment, school choice, academic achievement and grade progression to evaluate the impacts of Mexico’s conditional cash transfer program Prospera on educational outcomes over grades 4-9. Academic achievement is measured by nationwide standardized test scores in mathematics and Spanish. Enrollment decisions are the outcomes of sequential decisions at each age from individuals’ feasible choice sets, determined by the types of schools locally available and local-labor-market opportunities. The achievement production function has a value-added structure. Model parameters are estimated by maximum likelihood using nationwide administrative test-score data (the ENCEL data) combined with survey data from students and parents, census labor-market data, and geo-coded school-location data. The estimation approach controls for selective school enrollment in different types of schools, grade retention and unobserved heterogeneity. The results show that the Prospera program increases school enrollment and academic achievement for program beneficiaries in lower-secondary school grades (grades 7-9). The average test-score impacts are 0.09-0.13 standard deviations in mathematics and 0.03-0.05 standard deviations in Spanish. Students from the most disadvantaged backgrounds experience the largest impacts. The availability of telesecondary distance-learning schools is shown to be an important determinant of the Prospera program’s impacts on educational outcomes. |
Date: | 2021–11–08 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cam:camdae:2178&r= |
By: | Sandro Provenzano; Hannah Bull |
Abstract: | This paper assembles large archives of satellite imagery to provide novel insights on how mine openings and closings impact the development of local communities in Africa. We collect 30m-resolution Landsat images between 1984 and 2019 from a 40km radius around 1,658 mineral deposits, covering 12% of the African landmass. Using state-of-the-art techniques in computer vision, we translate these images into economically meaningful indicators, including material wealth predictions as well as urban and agricultural land use. We then use stacked event studies and difference-in-difference models to estimate the local impact of mine openings and closings on these indicators. Our findings demonstrate that mine openings increase wealth and boost local urban growth and agricultural activities in the surrounding area. Furthermore, democratic institutions are a decisive factor for making mining a success for local communities. However, our results show that the fast growth in mining areas is only temporary. After the mines close, former mining areas cannot maintain elevated growth rates and revert to the same pace of development as areas without mines. |
Date: | 2021–11 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2111.05783&r= |
By: | Emilio Depetris-Chauvin (Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile); Ömer Özak (Southern Methodist University) |
Abstract: | We explore the effect of historical ethnic borders on contemporary non-civil conflict in Africa. Exploiting variations across artificial regions (i.e., grids of 50x50km) within an ethnicity's historical homeland, we document that both the intensive and extensive margins of contemporary conflict are concentrated close to historical ethnic borders. Following a theory-based instrumental variable approach, which generates a plausibly exogenous ethno-spatial partition of Africa, we find that grid cells with historical ethnic borders have 27 percentage points higher probability of conflict and 7.9 percentage points higher probability of being the initial location of a conflict. We uncover several key underlying mechanisms: competition for agricultural land, population pressure, cultural similarity and weak property rights. |
Keywords: | Borders, Conflict, Intra-State Conflict, Ethnic Borders, Non-Civil Conflict, Ethnic Conflict, Territory, Property Rights, Landownership, Population Pressure, Migration, Historical Homelands, Development, Africa, Economic Development, Economic Growth, Voronoi Diagram, Voronoi Tesselation, Thiessen Tesselation |
JEL: | D74 N57 O13 O17 O43 P48 Q15 Q34 |
Date: | 2021–11 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:smu:ecowpa:2105&r= |
By: | Alou Adessé Dama (CERDI - Centre d'Études et de Recherches sur le Développement International - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - UCA - Université Clermont Auvergne) |
Abstract: | This article explores the relationship between violent conflicts and tax revenue in Sub-Saharan countries. In a first stage, I estimate the effects of conflicts for 42 countries using panel data analysis. I find that an outbreak of violent conflict leads to an average 1.5 percent loss of tax revenue per capita. The results show that due to the outbreak of violence, government cannot successfully raise revenue, and because the conflict also negatively affects key macroeconomic variables, the tax base shrink and the overall loss is higher. The results also point to an important role of some specificities of Sub-Saharan countries such as ethnic division and natural resource endowment. Drawing on these results, I conduct case study for Central African Republic, Cote d'Ivoire, Congo Republic, Guinea and Guinea Bissau in a second stage using synthetic control method. The results show that the 2002 conflict in Cote d'Ivoire and the 1998 conflict in Guinea-Bissau led to significant drop in tax revenue. The outbreak of conflict did not have significant effects on tax revenue for the remaining three countries. |
Keywords: | Tax,Internal conflict,Government revenue,Subsaharian Africa |
Date: | 2021–10 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-03401539&r= |
By: | Aparajita Dasgupta (Ashoka University); Anahita Karandikar (J-PAL, South Asia) |
Abstract: | There is mixed evidence in the literature on the effect of rainfall shocks on educational outcomes for children in rural areas, with a limited understanding of how the gender-gap in education evolves in the face of such a shock. We posit that the vulnerability to climatic shocks can vary by the gender institutions of the setting which can have a bearing on the gender-gap in educational outcomes. On one hand, a negative productivity shock can lead to a disproportionate reduction in human capital outcomes for girls, as investments for girls may be more sensitive to income constraints. On the other hand, as the opportunity cost of schooling goes down in the face of a negative shock, it can translate into gains in educational outcomes, which are higher for female children in areas that favour female labour force participation. Leveraging the variation in cropping patterns that guide norms around female labor force participation (FLFP) in rural India, we examine how exposure to contemporaneous and past rainfall shocks a effects learning outcomes for girls and boys. We find the widest gaps in outcomes in positive versus negative rainfall shock years for female children in regions that favour FLFP. We provide suggestive evidence that this is driven by increased participation in paid employment and full time domestic work during a positive rainfall shock. |
Keywords: | Female labour force participation, rainfall, education, India |
Date: | 2021–11 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ash:wpaper:70&r= |
By: | Maty Konte (UNU-MERIT - UNU-MERIT - United Nations University - Maastricht University); Rose Camille Vincent (UNU-MERIT - UNU-MERIT - United Nations University - Maastricht University, CERDI - Centre d'Études et de Recherches sur le Développement International - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - UCA - Université Clermont Auvergne) |
Abstract: | This paper investigates the local effects of mining on the quality of public services and on people's optimism about their future living conditions in Africa. Most importantly, it assesses the moderating role of local institutions and local governments' taxing rights in shaping the proximity-to-mine effects. The empirical framework connects more than 130,000 respondents from the Afrobarometer survey data (2005–2015) to their closest mines based on the geolocation coordinates of the enumeration areas (EA) and data on the mines and their respective status from the SNL Metals & Mining by the S&P. The geo-referenced data are matched with new indicators on local governments' taxing rights across the African continent. Using a difference-in-differences strategy, the results indicate that citizens living near an active mine are less likely to approve government performance in key public goods and services – including health, job creation and improving living standards of the poor. On the moderating role of local governance and local taxing rights, the findings point to a negative impact of local corruption, yet a positive impact of local authorities' discretion over tax and revenues. However, the positive impact of local taxing powers tends to reduce in environments with poor quality of local governance, high incidence of bribe payment and low level of trust in local government officials. Residents of mining communities with low corruption and comparatively high-level of raising revenue ability have the highest rate of positive appraisal compared to the other scenarios. |
Date: | 2021–04 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-03226129&r= |
By: | Pal, Soumya |
Abstract: | We study how income shock affect due to weather shock causally impacts the birth outcomes. We selected households depended directly on agriculture due to their extreme vulnerability to temperature and rainfall shocks. We find large efficiency loss attributed to weather shock for major food crops to the extent of 20%. However, we find that access to technology provides resilience against weather shock, therefore, causing the heterogeneity in vulnerability across farming households. Based on it, we designed the agriculture-household model, which predicts that health outcomes of child is dependent on income shock due to change in weather conditions. We tested the hypothesis by introducing weather shock in the cropping season before the conception of child to elim- inate the confounding effect of direct impact due to extreme weather conditions. We find that weather shocks in cropping season, increases the likelihood of child mortality, low birth weight, and birth size. We further find that access to technology, financial tools, and economic security net reduces the impact of income loss due to weather shock. Our results suggests that access to resilient capabilities leads to heterogeneous impact across farmer households causing environmental injustice. Further, our findings provide insights into the policy design for long term shift in weather patterns due to climate change and stresses on the inequality in resilience against extreme weather events. |
Keywords: | Environmental Justice,Weather Shock,Farm Income,Child Mortality |
JEL: | Q1 Q5 I1 I3 D1 |
Date: | 2021 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:965&r= |
By: | Rabah Arezki (African Development Bank); Markus Brueckner (Australian National University) |
Abstract: | Military expenditure shares significantly affect the relationship between the risk of civil conflict outbreak and natural resources. We show that a significant positive correlation between the risk of civil conflict outbreak and resource rents is limited to countries with low military expenditure shares. In countries with high military expenditure shares there is no significant relationship between the risk of civil conflict outbreak and rents from natural resources. An important message is thus that a conflict resource curse is absent in countries with sufficiently large military expenditure shares. However, there is a trade-off: the larger military expenditure shares, the smaller is the effect that resource rents have on economic growth and democracy. |
Keywords: | Military expenditure, Resource rents, Civil conflict, Democracy JEL classification: D74, Q02, Q34 |
Date: | 2021–08–09 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:adb:adbwps:2477&r= |
By: | Prieto, Joaquin |
Abstract: | This paper proposes a strategy to measure economic insecurity in countries in the Global South. It builds a 'Multidimensional Economic Insecurity Index' (MEII) that combines four indicators of economic vulnerability that cause stress and anxiety: unexpected economic shocks, unprotected employment or non-workers in the household, over-indebtedness and asset poverty. The index offers a measure that directly relates economic uncertainty to stress and anxiety due to the lack of protection and buffers to face an unexpected economic shock. The MEII is applied to Chile using Survey of Household Finances (SHF) cross-sectional data (2007, 2011, 2014 and 2017). The results show that i) about half of the Chilean households experienced, on average, two or more economic vulnerabilities during the last decade with an intensity of 2.3 vulnerabilities, and ii) economic insecurity affects households on the entire income distribution, even in the highest income deciles groups. By identifying the groups of households most affected by economic insecurity and its trend in recent years, applying the MEII in countries such as Chile provides relevant information to monitor, evaluate and improve social safety nets besides labour market regulations. |
Keywords: | economic insecurity; Global South; multidimensional index; survey of households financies; well-being |
JEL: | I31 D63 |
Date: | 2021–10 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:112490&r= |
By: | Yokoo, Hide-Fumi; 横尾, 英史; Arimura, Toshi H.; 有村, 俊秀; Chattopadhyay, Mriduchhanda; Katayama, Hajime; 片山, 東 |
Abstract: | We investigate the accuracy of the perceptions of health risks in India. The context of our study is the risk of developing physical symptoms related to household air pollution caused by cooking. Using field data collected from 588 respondents in 17 villages in West Bengal, we regress the probability of symptoms on fuel choices to predict respondent-specific health risk changes. The estimated risks, which we treat as objective risks, are then compared with the corresponding subjective probabilistic beliefs, which are elicited by an interactive method with visual aids. Our results show that, on average, the respondents slightly underestimate the change in risk when switching from cooking with firewood to cooking with liquefied petroleum gas, even though their beliefs are qualitatively correct. The results further show that risk misperception is associated only with religion among individuals’ observed characteristics, suggesting that their unobserved characteristics play a substantial role in risk misperception. |
Keywords: | Belief, Cooking fuel choice, Health risk, India, Risk misperception, Subjective probabilistic expectation |
JEL: | D83 D84 I12 O13 Q53 |
Date: | 2021–11 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hit:econdp:2021-03&r= |
By: | Carlo Lombardo (CEDLAS-IIE-FCE-UNLP); Julian Martinez-Correa (CEDLAS-IIE-FCE-UNLP); Leonardo Peñaloza-Pacheco (Cornell University and CEDLAS-IIE-FCE-UNLP); Leonardo Gasparini (CEDLAS-IIE-FCE-UNLP & CONICET) |
Abstract: | The massive displacement of Venezuelan citizens to Colombia is the second most important episode of forced migration in the world. We study the impact of this demographic shock on the Colombian income distribution exploiting the geographical heterogeneity in the intensity of migration. We use RIF regressions in an instrumental variables approach to account for the non-random pattern of location of immigrants. We find that despite the fact that Venezuelan immigrants are relatively skilled compared to native Colombian workers, the exodus had a larger negative effect on the lower tail of the wage distribution, implying increases in income inequality and poverty. We link this result to a sizeable downgrading of (mostly unregistered) Venezuelan recent migrants who work in more routine tasks and earn lower wages than natives with similar characteristics. We also explore a large regularization program for immigrants and find that it was associated to a reduction in the extent of downgrading, and hence, to a mitigation of the unequalizing impact of the exodus |
JEL: | F14 F22 F16 F23 J61 L60 |
Date: | 2020–11 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dls:wpaper:0290&r= |
By: | Chuku Chuku (African Development Bank); Lin Lang (School of Social Sciences, University of Manchester); King Yoong Lim (Nottingham Business School, Nottingham Trent University) |
Abstract: | TBased on an optimal oil explorationextraction model with public debts and Chinese loans, we examine analytically and empirically two theoretical propositions pertaining to the impacts of public debt and Chinese loan on economic and physical scarcity/abundance in Africa economies. First, despite a baseline independent relationship between public debt level and optimal operations, the level of public debts in an economy can have an adverse effect on the abundance measures if it breached the debt-sustainability threshold. Second, with alternative Chinese loans, the effect on optimal exploration-extraction is analytically ambiguous. To examine both propositions, we estimate endogenous binary-treatment regression models based on a panel data of 18 African economies over 2000-17. We find empirical support with regards to the adverse effect of public debt sustainability. Further, we find positive effect from Chinese loans to both abundance measures, indicating that the combined marginal benefits outweigh the marginal costs associated with the resourcecollateralized funding nature of these loans. |
Keywords: | Africa, Chinese loans, Economic scarcity, Exploration and extraction, Non-renewable resources JEL classification: Q31, Q35, Q48 |
Date: | 2021–10–12 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:adb:adbwps:2481&r= |
By: | Batuo E. Michael (Westminster Business School, University of Westminster); George Kararach (African Development Bank); Issam Malki (Westminster Business School, University of Westminster) |
Abstract: | This paper attempts to offer an empirical assessment of the main macroeconomic and institutional drivers of inequality in Africa. We also propose a two-step econometric methodology to account for the distributional properties of income per capita of economies in our sample. We employ panel data models and data sets encompassing 52 African countries. spanning the years 1980–2017. The findings suggest that (i) income per capita in Africa is divergent and there exist groups or “clubs” of convergence, (ii) the Kuznets’s curve relationship holds only for economies at the bottom of the income distribution, and (iii) macroeconomic and institutional factors play a limited role across African economies. This last finding shows that the distributional property of income may offer insight into which economic forces could help to reduce inequality in Africa. |
Keywords: | Income convergence and distribution, income inequality, macroeconomics and institutional effects, Africa JEL classification: C33, O4, F15, D63 |
Date: | 2021–10–12 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:adb:adbwps:2479&r= |
By: | Seydou Coulibaly (African Development Bank); Abdramane Camara (CERDI, Université Clermont Auvergne) |
Abstract: | African countries generally cut corporate income tax (CIT) rates in the hopes of attracting foreign direct investment (FDI), but the effectiveness of tax rate reductions in attracting extractive industries FDI is controversial. This paper estimates the impact of CIT rates, as applied to mining companies, on FDI inflows to the gold and silver sectors of African economies. The estimation results indicate that the impact of mining CIT rate on the host country’s gold and silver FDI inflows is negative, but not statistically significant, at the conventional levels of significance. These results indicate that cuts in CIT rates applied to mining companies will not necessarily attract FDI to gold and silver projects. Moreover, we find a strategic complementarity in gold and silver FDI inflows between countries, suggesting that an increase in the host country’s gold and silver FDI inflows may stimulate FDI to gold and silver projects in neighboring countries. Furthermore, the results show that infrastructure, government stability and gold and silver reserves positively affect gold and silver FDI inflows. The main findings of the paper suggest that, instead of granting corporate tax incentives, governments may consider improving the quality of socioeconomic infrastructure, the availability of geological information, and promoting political and economic stability for attracting mining investments. |
Keywords: | : FDI in gold and silver, mining corporate tax rate, panel data, spatial econometrics, Africa JEL classification: C23, E62, F21, H25, L72 |
Date: | 2021–10–12 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:adb:adbwps:2480&r= |
By: | Lisa D. Cook (Michigan State University); Linguère Mously Mbaye (African Development Bank); Janet Gerson (University of Michigan); Anthony Simpasa (African Development Bank) |
Abstract: | Could initial – colonial and early post-colonial – conditions explain episodes of systemic crisis in banking systems today? We exploit differences in ethnic concentration of initial ownership and management structure of Nigerian banks established during the colonial era to examine banking crisis and vulnerability of the financial system in contemporary Nigeria. Although banking institutions emerged from or were a reaction to British colonial banking structure, they pursued different practices with respect to ownership and management structure. To measure these initial conditions, we use historical data from the Nigerian banking system to construct an index of diversity in the initial ownership and management structure of each bank, where more diversity corresponds to a lower concentration of insiders, including family members, tribal affiliates, and political partners. We collected data from the “Blue Books”, British colonial banking records from 1887 to 1940, data on indigenous banks established during the colonial period from 1929 to 1960, and data on banks from 1960 to 2016. These data allow us to track the first Nigerian families, ethnic groups, and their associates who were part of the formation of the formal banking institutions in the country. We also collect individual and aggregate bank data from 2001 to 2016 collected from bank balance sheets, financial statements, annual reports, statistical bulletins, banking supervision reports, and other reports of the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation. Our estimates suggest that lower levels of diversity are associated with higher levels of risk for a bank. That is, lack of initial diversity in ownership and management of Nigerian banks may have played a role in the performance and fragility of the Nigerian banking system that lent itself to systemic crisis. Our findings are consistent with the broader recent literature that shows higher profit and stronger performance of more diverse firms relative to less diverse firms due to, for example, diversity-driven innovation and product development. |
Keywords: | Banks, financial institutions, banking crisis, financial crisis, colonial economic history, African economic history, social networks, Africa JEL classification: G21, G32, N47, N27, O16 |
Date: | 2021–10–12 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:adb:adbwps:2484&r= |
By: | Olivier J. Walther |
Abstract: | This brief presents a factual and retrospective analysis of the relationships between urbanisation and demography in North Africa and West Africa. It shows that the process of demographic transition is now fully underway in this region. North of the Sahara the new demographic equilibrium features a birth rate higher than expected, according to theoretical model predictions, resulting in continuous population growth. Over 70% of the population now lives in cities, a number that is expected to continue to rise in the coming decades. South of the Sahara all countries have seen death rates plummet, followed by a decrease in birth rates. The gap between the change in the two variables has contributed to spectacular natural growth in the space of a few decades. This growth is occurring in parallel with a redistribution of populations to urban areas, which are now home to close to one of every two inhabitants. West African urbanisation is likely to accelerate the social, economic and political changes that favour the demographic transition. One of the main challenges facing the region is the question of how to reduce the regional variations seen in fertility rates between the continent’s urban and rural areas. |
Keywords: | birth rate, demography, population, urbanisation, West Africa |
JEL: | N37 N97 Q56 |
Date: | 2021–11–11 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:swacaa:33-en&r= |
By: | Michelle Escobar Carias; David Johnston; Rachel Knott; Rohan Sweeney |
Abstract: | Billions of people live in urban poverty, with many forced to reside in disaster-prone areas. Research suggests that such disasters harm child nutrition and increase adult morbidity. However, little is known about impacts on mental health, particularly of people living in slums. In this paper we estimate the effects of flood disasters on the mental and physical health of poor adults and children in urban Indonesia. Our data come from the Indonesia Family Life Survey and new surveys of informal settlement residents. We find that urban poor populations experience increases in acute morbidities and depressive symptoms following floods, that the negative mental health effects last longer, and that the urban wealthy show no health effects from flood exposure. Further analysis suggests that worse economic outcomes may be partly responsible. Overall, the results provide a more nuanced understanding of the morbidities experienced by populations most vulnerable to increased disaster occurrence. |
Date: | 2021–11 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2111.05455&r= |
By: | Bjorn Van Campenhout; Anusha De |
Abstract: | In situations with imperfect information, the way that value chain actors perceive each other is an important determinant of the value chain's structure and performance. Inaccurate perceptions may result in inefficient value chains, and systematic bias in perceptions may affect inclusiveness. In a case study on perceptions in Ugandan maize supply chains, a random sample of farmers were asked to rate upstream and downstream value chain actors-agro-input dealers, traders, and processors-on a set of important attributes that included ease of access, quality of services rendered, price competitiveness, and overall reputation. These value chain actors were then tracked and asked to assess themselves on the same set of attributes. We find that input dealers, traders, and processors assess themselves more favourably than farmers do. We also focus on heterogeneity in perceptions related to gender and find that for self- assessments, the gender of the value chain actor does not matter. However, the difference between how actors assess themselves and how farmers perceive them is larger for male than for female farmers, as female farmers appear to rate dealers, traders, and processors significantly higher in several dimensions. The gender of the actor being rated does not affect the rating they receive, and gender-based homophily among women is not present in rating behaviour. |
Date: | 2021–11–04 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ete:licosp:683140&r= |
By: | Mandal, Abir; Regmi, Narendra; Tamura, Robert |
Abstract: | Original decadal estimates of real output per worker, schooling per worker, mortality risk and total fertility rates for states of India covering 1951 to 2011 are produced. An intergenerational model with precautionary demand for fertility is used to fit the observations of fertility and schooling at the state level. The intergenerational human capital model is shown to explain about 75% of log level differences, 100% of average growth rates and 40\% of the variation of growth rates across the states of India. These are all improvements relative to a standard Mincer human capital model of schooling and experience returns. The data covers the demographic transition of the states of India from high fertility, total fertility rates of 6, to low fertility, total fertility rates of 2.5. |
Keywords: | real output per worker, states of India, demographic transition |
JEL: | O1 O4 |
Date: | 2021–10–11 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:110378&r= |
By: | Pamela E. Ofori (University of Insubria, Varese, Italy); Simplice A. Asongu (Yaoundé, Cameroon); Vanessa S. Tchamyou (Yaoundé, Cameroon) |
Abstract: | The debate on the need for Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries to increase female participation in the economic sector has intensified the coming into force of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and good governance. This study investigates the joint effects of governance (comprising of political, economic and institutional governance) and economic integration on female economic participation in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The study employs panel data of 42 countries in SSA spanning 1996-2020 for the analysis. The empirical strategy uses the dynamic System Generalized Method of Moments (SGMM) estimation technique. The findings reveal that the single effect of economic integration on female economic participation is necessary but not sufficient. Hence, complementing economic integration with good governance further enhances female economic participation in SSA. In general, the joint effect of economic integration and good governance should be a concern for policymakers to promote female economic inclusion. |
Keywords: | economic integration; governance; female economic participation; sub-Saharan Africa |
JEL: | G20 I10 I32 O40 O55 |
Date: | 2021–10 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:exs:wpaper:21/071&r= |