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on Development |
| By: | Haile, Beliyou; Azzarri, Carlo; Tzintzun, Ivan; Boukaka, Sedi-Anne; Vitellozzi, Sveva |
| Abstract: | This study evaluates the impact of Africa RISING, a sustainable intensification (SI) program, implemented in Bougouni, Yanfolila, and Koutiala cercles in southern Mali beginning in 2012. Using a participatory action research framework, the program validated and promoted alternative SI options including fertilized groundnut and sorghum, crop-legume intercropping, intercropping of two compatible legumes, access to extension services, and fertilizer microdosing, while preserving ecosystem services in the face of projected population growth and climatic changes. Impact is estimated on several SI indicators and domains using two rounds of quasi-experimental panel data (surveys conducted in 2014 and 2022) and difference-in-differences techniques. The unique study design allows us to estimate the impact of Africa RISINg by comparing outcomes among program beneficiaries with two different counterfactual groups—one located inside program villages (within-village comparison) and another in non-program (control) villages (out-of-village comparison) on several indicators across five SI domains— environment, productivity, economic, human, and social. We also conduct a placebo test comparing non-beneficiaries in the two counterfactual groups. We find no statistically significant differences among households in the within-village and out-of-village comparisons, most likely because of misreporting of program participation. Overall comparisons between households in target and non-target villages show a positive impact of AR on environmental variables such as access to extension services, implementation of intercropping techniques, and adoption of improved crops; on productivity variables such as green bean yield; and on economic variables such as an increase in the non-agricultural wealth index; but no statistically significant effect on human and social indicators, namely household dietary diversity, food consumption scores, and nutritional indicators for children 0–59 months old and women 15–49 years old. Estimates based on within-village, out-of-village, and placebo comparisons suggest important insights about the challenges in assessing the impact of agricultural programs in general and, specifically, participatory multi-intervention programs in the presence of sample (self-)selection and spillovers. Our study highlights useful empirical lessons learned to inform future program design and impact assessments. |
| Keywords: | MALI; WEST AFRICA; AFRICA SOUTH OF SAHARA; AFRICA; sustainable development; fertilizers; intercropping; extension services; climate change; dietary diversity; wealth; nutrition |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:resrep:137003&r=dev |
| By: | Tanner Regan (George Washington University); Giorgio Chiovelli (Universidad de Montevideo); Stelios Michalopoulos (Brown University); Elias Papaioannou (London Business School) |
| Abstract: | Satellite images of nighttime lights are commonly used to proxy local economic conditions. Despite their popularity, there are concerns about how accurately they capture local development in low-income settings and different scales. We compile a yearly series of comparable nighttime lights for Africa from 1992 to 2020, considering key factors that affect accuracy and comparability over time: sensor quality, top coding, blooming, and, importantly, variations in satellite systems (DMPS and VIIRS) using an ensemble, machine learning, approach. The harmonized luminosity series outperforms the unadjusted series as a stronger predictor of local development, particularly over time and at higher spatial resolutions. |
| Keywords: | Night Lights, Economic Development, Measurement, Africa |
| JEL: | O1 R1 E01 I32 |
| Date: | 2023–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gwi:wpaper:2023-11&r=dev |
| By: | Hirvonen, Kalle; Gilligan, Daniel O.; Leight, Jessica; Tambet, Heleene; Villa, Victor |
| Abstract: | We study the role of a multifaceted ultra-poor graduation program in protecting household wellbeing and women’s welfare from the effects of localized droughts in Ethiopia. We use data from a large experimental trial of an integrated livelihood and nutrition intervention that supplemented the consumption support provided by Ethiopia’s Productive Safety Net Program (PSNP), conducted within a sample in which all households were beneficiaries of the PSNP. We match three rounds of household survey data to detailed satellite weather data to identify community-level exposure to droughts. We then exploit random assignment to the graduation program to evaluate whether exposed households show heterogeneous effects of drought on household food security and livestock holdings, women’s diets and nutritional status, and prevalence of intimate partner violence (IPV). We find that droughts have substantial negative effects on these outcomes, but the intervention serves to consistently moderate these effects, and for some outcomes (particularly diets and nutrition and IPV), the intervention fully protects households from any adverse drought affects. A further analysis exploits variation across treatment arms that received different program elements and suggests that the primary mechanism is enhanced household savings. |
| Keywords: | ETHIOPIA; EAST AFRICA; AFRICA SOUTH OF SAHARA; AFRICA; resilience; shocks; weather; climate change; social safety nets; poverty; households; welfare; women; livelihoods; nutrition; drought; food security; livestock; gender; graduation program models; intimate partner violence |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:2206&r=dev |
| By: | Justin Sandefur (Center for Global Development); Thomaz Alvares de Azevedo (MSI, A Tetra Tech Company); Xiaomin Ju (Center for Global Development); Thi Le (Center for Global Development) |
| Abstract: | Over two decades and dozens of countries, the United States Agency for International Development has refined a package of support for early-grade reading, often referred to as “structured pedagogy”, which includes textbooks, teacher training, coaching, and lesson plans. Programs are implemented by American companies in public schools and evaluated using harmonized learning metrics, yielding a portfolio of 12 experimental and 15 difference-in-difference evaluations. Results vary widely, but on average programs increase oral reading fluency by approximately 3 words from a base of 13 correct words per minute in early primary. The average program costs about $200 per pupil, roughly equivalent to doubling school spending. Larger programs cost much less per pupil, but yield (insignificantly) smaller impacts. Newer programs yield somewhat bigger impacts, consistent with the idea that program evaluation can improve the quality of aid through iterative learning. |
| Keywords: | education, early-grade reading assessments, impact evaluation, foreign aid, USAID |
| JEL: | F35 I25 O15 |
| Date: | 2023–11–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cgd:wpaper:668&r=dev |
| By: | David Ubilava |
| Abstract: | I present new evidence of the effects of climate shocks on political violence and social unrest. Using granular conflict and weather data covering the entire continent of Africa from 1997 to 2023, I find that exposure to El Ni\~no events during the crop-growing season decreases political violence targeted at civilians during the early postharvest season. A moderate-strength El Ni\~no event results in a three percent reduction in political violence with civilian targeting in croplands compared with the benchmark levels of this conflict evaluated at average cropland size and average growing-season exposure of local weather to El Ni\~no shocks. Because this effect manifests itself only in cells with crop agriculture and only during the postharvest season supports the idea that agriculture is the key channel and rapacity is the key motive connecting climatic shocks and political violence. Reassuringly, the magnitude of the estimated effect increases substantially, in one instance more than doubles, when I use subsets of data that are better suited for unveiling the proposed mechanism. This study advances knowledge of the relationship between climate and conflict. And because El Ni\~no events can be predicted several months in advance, these findings can contribute to creating a platform for early warning of political violence, specifically in predominantly agrarian societies in Africa. |
| Date: | 2023–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2311.16370&r=dev |
| By: | Pedrazzi Julian Pierino; Marchionni Mariana |
| Abstract: | We assess whether motherhood could be the last hurdle to achieving gender equality in developing countries by exploring the link between motherhood and the overall gender gap in the labor market for 14 Latin American countries over the last two decades. Using pseudo-panels built from harmonized household surveys and an event study approach around the birth of the first child, we find that the arrival of the first child leads to a sharp and persistent 35% decline in mothers’ earnings. This result is explained by a reduction in employment and a prompting shift towards occupations that favor more flexible work arrangements, including part-time and informal jobs. These effects are pervasive across countries and population groups. Furthermore, using an extended version of the Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition, we identify motherhood as the primary source of income inequality between men and women. Motherhood explains 44% of the remaining gender gap and has progressively gained relative importance over the last two decades while other contributing factors, such as education and its associated returns, have shown a waning impact. Moreover, we find no clear cross-country association between the motherhood-related gap and per capita GDP or gender norms, while the contribution of other factors to the gender gap in earnings diminishes with higher per capita GDP and more gender-egalitarian social norms. This suggests that gender gaps stemming from the motherhood effect exhibit greater rigidity than other drivers of gender inequality. |
| JEL: | D63 J13 |
| Date: | 2023–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aep:anales:4680&r=dev |
| By: | Giancarlo Buitrago (Instituto de Investigaciones Clínicas, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Nacional de Colombia; Hospital Universitario Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá, Colombia); Javier Amaya (Instituto de Investigaciones Clínicas, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá, Colombia); Grant Miller (Department of Health Policy, Stanford University School of Medicine, and National Bureau of Economic Research); Marcos Vera-Hernández (Department of Economics, University College London, and Institute for Fiscal Studies) |
| Abstract: | There is substantial evidence that cost-sharing in medical care constrains total health spending. However, there is relatively little (and unclear) evidence on its health effects, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. This paper re-evaluates the link between outpatient cost-sharing and health, studying Colombia’s entire formal sector workforce observed monthly between 2011 and 2018 with individual-level health care utilization records linked to payroll data and vital statistics. Because Colombia’s national health system imposes discrete breaks in outpatient cost-sharing requirements across the earnings distribution, we estimate a dynamic regression discontinuity model, finding that greater outpatient cost-sharing initially reduces use of outpatient care (including consultations and drugs), resulting in fewer diagnoses of common chronic diseases—and over time, increases the prevalence and severity of chronic diseases as well as use of inpatient care. Ultimately, greater outpatient cost-sharing measurably increases mortality, raising 8-year mortality by four deaths per 10, 000 individuals. To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first to show a relationship between cost-sharing and adult mortality risk in a low- or middle-income country, a relationship important to incorporate into social welfare analyses of cost-sharing policies. |
| Date: | 2023–12–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cgd:wpaper:671&r=dev |
| By: | Lahoti, Rahul; Abraham, Rosa; Swaminathan, Hema (Indian Institute of Management Bangalore) |
| Abstract: | Marriage and motherhood are almost universal and among the most critical events in a women’s life in developing countries. The impact of childbirth on labour market participation of women has been discussed extensively in the context of developed countries, but impact of marriage and in a developing country context are limited due to lack of longitudinal data. In this paper, using a Life History Calendar approach, we collect retrospective information on major events (marriage, childbirth, labour market transitions) and the concurrent employment status of men and women over their adult lives. Using an event study model, we estimate the impact of marriage and first childbirth on women’s labour market participation. Our main findings are twofold. First, there is a sharp and sustained jump in women’s labor supply after marriage. Second, women do not experience any penalty in their labour market participation after childbirth. These findings are robust to inclusion of additional controls and various other robustness tests. We find that the increase in women’s labor supply post marriage is driven by agricultural informal work. It is concentrated among women who get married at younger ages, are less educated and belong to poorer house holds. Our results might seem surprising and counter‐intuitive at first, but the Indian context helps understand them better. The predominantly informal nature of the Indian economy implies there is ease of entry into (and exit from) employment. This allows for women to enter or remain in workforce on marriage and childbirth. In addition, the norms surrounding mobility and employment are more conservative for unmarried women compared to married women making outside employment more acceptable for the latter. Early age of marriage (half before 18) and the need to earn to support marital family may also explain our findings. Our work underscores the importance of context when considering women’s work. Household responsibilities after marriage and childbirth may not be binding constraints as is often believed, especially in the context of low income, |
| Date: | 2023–12–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:jud9r&r=dev |
| By: | Takeshima, Hiroyuki; Edeh, Hyacinth; Lawal, Akeem; Oniybe, Johnson E.; Daudu, Christogonus K.; Andam, Kwaw S. |
| Abstract: | Managing biotic stress, such as pests, diseases, and weeds, remain critical in enhancing the productivity of agrifood systems in developing countries, including Nigeria. The public sector continues to seek solutions for efficient and effective measures for addressing these biotic stresses, ranging from varietal technologies, improved crop husbandry, and the application of agrochemicals. The field-level evidence remains scarce regarding the effectiveness of these measures in developing countries like Nigeria. Furthermore, increasing climate uncertainty poses further challenges in identifying effective measures. This study assesses the damage abatement effects of agrochemicals in Nigeria and how these effects are affected by weather shocks. We extend the standard damage abatement framework to 4 waves of farm panel data to minimize the potential bias due to the endogeneity in agrochemical use decisions. Our results indicate that weather shocks have significant effects. In particular, rising nighttime minimum temperatures above 20 ℃ have significantly increased damage abatement effects of pesticides in Nigeria. This is possibly because of increased pest activities induced by the warmer nighttime temperatures, which, in the absence of pesticide uses, would cause more significant damage to crops. These results hold for all crops combined, as well as individual crops, including cowpea and maize, for which Nigeria has intensified its effort in pest control through both agrochemicals and Bt varieties in recent years. |
| Keywords: | NIGERIA; WEST AFRICA; AFRICA SOUTH OF SAHARA; AFRICA; damage abatement framework; maximum likelihood estimation; pesticides; climate change; data; biotic stress; agrifood systems; developing countries; agrochemicals; weather; shocks |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:2204&r=dev |
| By: | Gabriela Smarrelli (Center for Global Development) |
| Abstract: | Exposure to school violence has been proven to be detrimental to human capital formation, but there is limited rigorous evidence about how to tackle this pervasive issue. This paper examines the impacts of a large-scale government intervention that aimed to improve school leaders’ skills to manage school violence in Peru. I exploit the eligibility rules used to select beneficiary schools and use a fuzzy regression discontinuity design to estimate the short-term impacts of the intervention on violence and education-related outcomes. The findings show that the likelihood of reporting violence increased by 15 percentage points and that the number of reports of violence rose among eligible schools. Combining unique administrative and primary data, I provide suggestive evidence that the documented rise in reports of violence is primarily due to shifts in reporting rather than a greater incidence of school violence. Upon exploring the short-term impacts on education-related outcomes, I find the intervention reduced students’ likelihood of switching schools by two percentage points. These findings add to our understanding of the benefits of investing in school staff skills for safer learning environments. |
| Keywords: | economics of education, school management of violence, school mobility, school dropout, test scores |
| JEL: | I20 I29 H75 |
| Date: | 2023–11–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cgd:wpaper:667&r=dev |
| By: | Jonathan M. B. Stern (RTI International); Matthew C. H. Jukes (RTI International); Jacobus Cilliers (Georgetown University); Brahm Fleisch (University of Witwatersrand); Stephen Taylor (National Department of Basic Education, South Africa); Nompumelelo Mohohlwane (National Department of Basic Education, South Africa; Center for Global Development) |
| Abstract: | Developing countries strongly emphasize enhancing foundational reading skills, with the expectation that such improvements will catalyze the development of new cognitive abilities and lead to improved life outcomes. However, the relationship between early educational gains and later-life achievements remains theoretically complex and evidence is lacking, particularly from low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). This paper examines the long-term impacts of an early grade literacy intervention that was implemented in South Africa in Setswana language from 2015 to 2017. A unique feature of our study is the longitudinal tracking and assessment of the same group of students over a 7-year period, extending up to 4 years post-intervention. We find sustained improvements in Setswana oral reading fluency, indicating the lasting impact of the intervention. Moreover, treated students exhibited enhanced Setswana and English written comprehension skills, signifying the emergence of new skills. Grade progression also improved, potentially reducing dropout rates, and facilitating transitions to secondary education. This study contributes to the limited literature on the long-term causal impacts of early literacy investments in LMICs, suggesting potential for enduring educational benefits and improved later-life outcomes. |
| Keywords: | impact evaluation, early grade reading, structured pedagogy, long-term outcomes |
| Date: | 2023–12–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cgd:wpaper:672&r=dev |
| By: | Pablo Álvarez-Aragón (Development Finance and Public Policies, University of Namur); Catherine Guirkinger; Paola Villar |
| Abstract: | The mechanisms that contribute to the enduring effects of colonial investments in education on human capital today are not well understood.This paper addresses this gap by examining the case of colonial Congo and the Democratic Republic of Congo. We first document the enduring effects of colonial education and then analyze both demand-side channels and supply-side mechanisms. Using detailed contemporary and historical microdata, our results show that exposure to colonial Catholic and Protestant missionary education led to different demand-side mechanisms (intergenerational transmission and educational mobility triggered by missions). However, the quantitative importance of these channels seems limited in this context. On the supply side, we examine the dynamics of school location after independence. Our results suggest that the persistence of educational outcomes is primarily due to the concentration of contemporary schools around historical missions. This agglomeration effect appears to be driven by competition among religious schools of different denominations (and possibly by structural change in the vicinity of Catholic missions). As a result, girls living farther from historical missions have to travel greater distances to reach schools, which affects their enrollment more than that of boys. |
| Date: | 2023–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nam:defipp:2305&r=dev |
| By: | Juliana Carneiro (University of Warwick); Martin Foureaux Koppensteiner (University of Surrey); Lıvia Menezes (University of Birmingham) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we estimate the causal effect of transitory individual-level health shocks on schooling outcomes in Brazil. We focus on dengue fever, which, despite putting half of the world’s population at risk, has received relatively little attention, possibly due to its low mortality. We link individual register data on dengue infections with detailed individual records from the Brazilian school census and use a fixed effects estimation strategy to estimate the effect of dengue infections on grade retention and dropout. We find that dengue infections during the school year have a substantial negative effect on measures of student success, with an increase in grade retention of 3.5 percent and an increase in dropout of 4.6 percent. The results are important for vector control programs and for the adoption and targeting of novel dengue vaccines. |
| JEL: | I12 J13 K42 O12 |
| Date: | 2023–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sur:surrec:1423&r=dev |
| By: | Santos Maria Emma; Lustig Nora; Miranda Zanetti Maximiliano |
| Abstract: | In this paper we propose indicators of impact and spending effectiveness of fiscal interventions for multidimensional poverty reduction. In the impact effectiveness indicator, the observed poverty reduction is compared against the optimal reduction that could have been achieved. In the spending effectiveness indicator, the observed spent budget is compared with the minimum budget that could have been spent to achieve the observed poverty reduction. We consider two alternative criteria to find the optimal allocation: one that prioritizes reducing poverty to the biggest number of people and another which prioritizes reducing poverty among the poorest poor. The proposed methodology can be implemented using cross-sectional household survey (or census) data, alongside information on the cost of removing each deprivation at the household level, and information on public spending. The methodology can be implemented ex-post, as an effectiveness assessment, as well as ex-ante, to guide a multidimensional poverty reduction program. |
| JEL: | H53 I32 |
| Date: | 2023–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aep:anales:4691&r=dev |
| By: | Sousa, Ricardo (University of Minho); Kyophilavong, Phouphet (National University of Laos); Abdullah-Al-Baki, Chowdhury (Linköping University); Uddin, Gazi Salah (Linköping University); Park, Donghyun (Asian Development Bank) |
| Abstract: | We investigate the impact of electrification on the economic, educational, and environmental outcomes of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR). We use household-level data and a novel identification scheme, whereby we instrument the electrification status with the proportion of grid-connected households in a community. We find evidence consistent with the so-called “peer pressure for technology adoption, ” as a higher proportion of electrified households is linked with a boost in the electrification of neighboring households. Additionally, we find that electrification: (i) significantly increases income (in particular, farm income); (ii) improves children's educational completion; and (iii) reduces the use of dirty fuel for lighting and cooking. From a policy perspective, public investments and financial incentives for electricity generation and distribution can play a key role in alleviating the existing economic, educational, and environmental bottlenecks of developing countries like the Lao PDR. |
| Keywords: | electrification; household; fuel; income; education; Lao People’s Democratic Republic |
| JEL: | Q40 Q49 |
| Date: | 2023–12–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:adbewp:0705&r=dev |
| By: | Cisneros , Elías (University of Texas at Dallas); Kis-Katos, Krisztina (University of Göttingen); Reiners , Lennart (Asian Development Bank) |
| Abstract: | State decentralization is often promoted to improve public service delivery. However, its effects on forest conservation are ambiguous. Decentralization might not only improve local forest governance, but also change the incentives to promote agricultural expansion into forests. This study focuses on the power devolution caused by the proliferation of new administrative units in Indonesia. The discontinuous changes in government responsibilities at new administrative borders provide exogenous spatial variation to study forest outcomes. Using a spatial boundary discontinuity design with 14, 000 Indonesian villages, we analyze the effects of 115 district splits between 2002 and 2014. Results show a 35% deforestation decline within new districts relative to existing districts both immediately before and after splits. In presplit years, this can be explained through agricultural divestment by existing districts on territories that will be lost. In post-split years, the short-term forest conservation benefits seem to be rooted in temporary administrative incapacity to attract agricultural investments. |
| Keywords: | deforestation; decentralization; environmental protection; Indonesia; spatial RDD |
| JEL: | H77 O13 Q15 Q56 |
| Date: | 2023–12–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:adbewp:0708&r=dev |
| By: | Takeshima, Hiroyuki; Djanibekov, Nodir; Abduvalieva, Nilufar; Mirkasimov, Bakhrom; Akramov, Kamiljon |
| Abstract: | Economic resilience within the agrifood system is becoming increasingly crucial for assuring sustainable development. This is particularly so in regions with volatile and fragile environments, including Central Asia. Evidence remains scarce regarding what factors can enhance the economic resilience of agents within the agrifood system, including the resilience of productivity and technical efficiency. We partly fill this knowledge gap using the unique panel datasets of farm enterprises in Uzbekistan and southern Kazakhstan, collected in 2019 and 2022, during which these enterprises experienced significant economic shocks in input prices. Using novel methods that combine Inverse Probability Weighting and panel stochastic frontier analyses models, we show that farmers who received more agricultural training and who had been granted greater autonomy in their production decisions in 2018 experienced greater resilience in technical efficiency despite the need to reduce the use of chemical fertilizer and oil/diesel in response to their price surges. Our findings suggest that providing critical public goods like information (related to training) and enabling environment (related to decision-making autonomy) can potentially enhance the resilience in the technical efficiency of farm enterprises. Furthermore, with chemical fertilizer and oil/diesel being potentially environmentally harmful inputs, these farmers also indirectly demonstrated resilience toward environmental sustainability. |
| Keywords: | UZBEKISTAN; KAZAKHSTAN; CENTRAL ASIA; ASIA; resilience; agrifood systems; sustainable development; farms; shocks; agricultural training; inputs; prices; access to information; inverse probability weighting; panel stochastic frontier analyses |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:2205&r=dev |
| By: | Zhang , Huafeng (Centre for Land Tenure Studies, Norwegian University of Life Sciences); Holden, Stein T. (Centre for Land Tenure Studies, Norwegian University of Life Sciences) |
| Abstract: | To achieve the overarching goal of "education for all, " there is a growing interest in understanding school learning outcomes and disparities among school children from disadvantaged backgrounds in Africa. This study employs data from standardized reading skill tests conducted in 11 low-income and lower-middle-income African countries through the Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS) to evaluate children's learning outcomes. Drawing from recent nationally representative data, this multi-country study investigates the impact of various factors, including a country's socio-economic development, rural-urban disparities, family background, and disability status, on children's reading skills acquisition. Our study reveals that reading proficiency among children is generally low and exhibits significant variation across the 11 African countries under examination. Notably, reading skills proficiency rates are lower in countries with lower GDP per capita, smaller government education expenditure relative to GDP per capita, lower school enrolment, and higher pupil-teacher ratios. The study identifies notable learning gaps among children from disadvantaged backgrounds, including disabled children, those residing in rural areas, and those from poorer and less educated families. We specifically investigate the reading skills disparities between disabled and non-disabled children across various social categories and countries. These reading skills disparities remain fairly constant across the different social backgrounds, indicating that disabled children benefit equally from improved conditions as other children do. These results underscore the critical role of macroeconomic development and social equity in enhancing reading skills for all. To effectively reduce this gap, further targeted research is essential to understand the dynamics and identify tailored interventions. |
| Keywords: | Socio-economic development; reading skills; urban-rural disparity; children with disabilities; poverty; educational inequality; Africa |
| JEL: | I24 |
| Date: | 2023–12–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:nlsclt:2023_008&r=dev |
| By: | Caitlin Brown (Department of Economics, University of Manchester); Eeshani Kandpal (Center for Global Development); Jean Lee (South Asia Chief Economist’s Office, World Bank); Anaise Williams (Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health) |
| Abstract: | Using DHS data for South Asia, we find that most undernourished individuals are not found in wealth-poor households. They are also not typically found in the same households: 40 percent of households have differing nutritional status among members, and 66 percent of undernourished individuals reside in households with members who are not undernourished. However, household-level factors such as wealth and infrastructure are also at play. Between-household and within-community inequality represents a relatively larger portion of total inequality in undernutrition; however, average community-level undernourishment is generally low. Given these heterogeneities, accurately reaching undernourished individuals through targeted policy is likely to be difficult. While simple categorical targeting metrics such as age or access to sanitation infrastructure does as well as household wealth-based targeting, all targeting methods considered yield large inclusion and exclusion errors, raising questions as to whether nutrition interventions should be targeted. |
| Keywords: | Undernutrition, stunting, wasting, household wealth, intra-household inequality, targeting, Demographic and Health Surveys, South Asia |
| JEL: | I14 I32 I38 |
| Date: | 2023–10–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cgd:wpaper:659&r=dev |
| By: | Varvello Juan Cruz; Camusso Jorge; Navarro Ana Inés |
| Abstract: | This study aims to estimate the distributional impact of teleworking on the labor income in some South American countries, including Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Perú and Uruguay. Using microdata from household surveys, our focus is on the period 2021 onwards to filter teleworking variables from temporary changes in the labor market caused by tighter restrictions on mobility during the pandemic. While in some countries we can measure effective telework, in others we approximate it based on a set of conditions that are required for teleworking. Then, we estimate how a marginal variation in the percentage of teleworkers affects not only the mean of labor income, but also other features of the unconditional distribution, such us the quantiles and some inequality indicators (Gini and Atkinson indexes). This analysis allows us to capture potential asymmetric effects of remote work across the entire unconditional income distribution. As empirical strategy, we employ a RIF (Recentered Influence Function) regression approach. The main results show that a marginal variation in the percentage of remote workers has a positive effect on the average labor income but with asymmetries across the income distribution that could led to an increase in inequality. Indeed, for most countries, high-income workers benefit the more from a deeper teleworking penetration. Furthermore, this result is also supported by our estimates of the effect of teleworking on Gini and Atkinson inequality indexes. |
| JEL: | C1 J3 |
| Date: | 2023–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aep:anales:4698&r=dev |
| By: | Trang Thi Pham |
| Abstract: | New developments of existing technologies over time have led to emergent patterns of technology adoption and, accordingly, changing impacts on economy and society. Focusing on the arrival of mobile internet in the early 2010s in developing countries, this paper identifies significant positive effects on provinces' average household income in Viet Nam. The effect sizes are larger for lower-income quintiles and for rural areas, suggesting the more inclusive changing impact of the innovation over the last decade. |
| Keywords: | Household income, Internet, Mobile technologies, Technological change, Developing countries |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp-2023-145&r=dev |
| By: | Pamela Jakiela (Williams College; BREAD; CGD; IZA; J-PAL); Owen Ozier (Williams College, BREAD, IZA, and J-PAL); Lia C. H. Fernald (University of California at Berkeley); Heather A. Knauer (University of Michigan) |
| Abstract: | We estimate the impact of preprimary education on early childhood development in a sample of Kenyan three-year-olds. Our identification strategy exploits the fact that children in our sample are more likely to start school at age three rather than at age four if they live within a few hundred meters of the nearest primary school, though other household characteristics do not vary across such small distances. Instrumental variables estimation suggests that enrolling in preschool at age three has large positive impacts on vocabulary in children’s mother tongue, which is the primary language of instruction in preprimary. However, we do not find evidence that these short-term gains translate into persistent advantages in vocabulary or other measures of child development one to three years later. |
| Keywords: | preschool, early childhood, preprimary education, human capital, school readiness, early literacy, mother tongue instruction, instrumental variables |
| JEL: | O12 I25 J24 H52 |
| Date: | 2023–10–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cgd:wpaper:661&r=dev |
| By: | Robert Mackay; Astghik Mavisakalyan; Yashar Tarverdi |
| Abstract: | Individuals are at their most mental plasticity in their impressionable years (ages 18-25 years) forming long-term attitudes and behaviours essential to functioning in a society, such as trust. In this paper we ask how exposure to natural disasters within the impressionable years may affect the formation of trust by matching data from over 1, 000 disaster occurrences with data from 88, 670 individuals across 36 African nations. |
| Keywords: | Natural disasters, Trust, Africa, Youth |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp-2023-143&r=dev |
| By: | Esme Kadzamira (Centre for Educational Research and Training, University of Malawi); Symon Winiko (University of Malawi); Tsirizani M. Kaombe (Department of Mathematical Sciences, School of Natural and Applied Sciences, University of Malawi); Jack Rossiter (Center for Global Development) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the effectiveness of Malawi's selective secondary schools in influencing student learning outcomes. Using data from Malawi’s National Examination Board, we employ value-added and regression discontinuity methods to gauge the impact of school types on high-stakes exam results. Findings reveal that National schools enhance student learning progress by an average of 0.57 standard deviations more than day schools, within two years. Regression discontinuity results corroborate National schools’ positive impact, with National school attendance yielding a 0.40 standard deviation increase in student exam outcomes. Importantly, students from districts with relatively low-performing primary schools benefit substantially from attending National schools, especially those with low-quality secondary education alternatives. Compared to global evidence, our study highlights the importance of evaluating the broader educational context when analysing school tracking effects on student outcomes. Our findings are relevant to policy discussions around secondary school expansion, performance reporting, and student selection in Malawi. |
| Date: | 2023–12–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cgd:wpaper:673&r=dev |
| By: | Assi Okara (CERDI - Centre d'Études et de Recherches sur le Développement International - IRD - Institut de Recherche pour le Développement - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - UCA - Université Clermont Auvergne) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the potential of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) to counter socio-political instability, one of the most pressing challenges faced by developing countries. Socio-political (in)stability is approached from an institutional perspective and linked to one particular type of FDI, greenfield FDI, for its more direct socio-economic externalities and their influences on greed and grievance. The issue of causality is primarily addressed using a gravity-based instrumental variable for FDI, taking advantage of bilateral greenfield projects data. The empirical results using data over the period 2003-2017 for a large sample of developing countries show that FDI favors institutional development not only in terms of overall socio-political stability but also human rights compliant socio-political stability. The results are robust to a range of specifications and alternative identification strategies, as well as to a series of sensitivity tests. Overall, this study highlights the promotion of political stability as another channel through which FDI can contribute to development. |
| Keywords: | Greenfield FDI, institutions, political stability, developing countries |
| Date: | 2022–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:cdiwps:hal-03617085&r=dev |