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on Development |
| By: | Kramer, Berber; Pattnaik, Subhransu; Ward, Patrick S.; Xu, Yingchen |
| Abstract: | Smallholder farmers often lack documented land rights to serve as collateral for formal loans, and their livelihoods are inextricably linked to increasingly variable weather conditions. Resulting credit and risk constraints prevent them from making potentially profitable investments in their farms. We implemented a randomized evaluation of the impacts of KhetScore, an innovative credit scoring methodology that uses digital technologies and in particular remote sensing to unlock credit and insurance for smallholders including landless farmers in Odisha, a state in eastern India. In our treatment group, where we offered loans and insurance based on the KhetScore methodology, farmers - and especially women - were more likely to purchase insurance, renew insurance coverage in subsequent years, and borrow from formal sources without substituting formal loans for informal loans. Despite increased borrowing, households in the treatment group faced less difficulty in repaying loans, suggesting that KhetScore loans, bundled with crop insurance, transferred risk and eased the burden of repayment. Moreover, the treatment increased agricultural revenues during the monsoon (kharif) season and reduced costs in the dry (rabi) season, enhancing profitability in both seasons. Positive and significant effects are found not only among baseline credit unconstrained farmers but also quantity rationed farmers, suggesting that KhetScore loans can help overcome supply-side credit constraints. Finally, women in the treatment group reported significantly higher levels of empowerment and mental health, manifested in increased participation in household decision-making and reduced feelings of stress, than women in the control group. In conclusion, digital technologies can contribute substantially to expansion in agricultural credit access, risk management, resilience, and wellbeing among marginalized landless farmers. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural Finance, Consumer/Household Economics, Farm Management, Financial Economics |
| Date: | 2023–12–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:assa24:339080&r=dev |
| By: | Huong-Giang Pham (Faculty of International Economics, Foreign Trade University, Viet Nam); Tuong-Anh T. Nguyen (Faculty of International Economics, Foreign Trade University, Viet Nam); Hoang-Nam Vu (Faculty of International Economics, Foreign Trade University, Viet Nam) |
| Abstract: | Conventional agricultural methods are putting considerable strain on developing countries' environments. This problem can be ameliorated through the adoption of Sustainable Agricultural Practices (SAPs), which can bring economic, ecological and social benefits for farmers, consumers and the overall economy. However, the adoption rates of SAPs remain low in many developing countries. It is therefore vital to provide empirical evidence on the improvement of agricultural productivity as it may assist policymakers in designing suitable policy as well as encourage farmers to adopt SAPs on their farms. This study analyses the impacts of different SAP adoption packages on land productivity and labour productivity in Viet Nam. This is the first attempt in the context of Viet Nam to investigate the economic effects of adopting different SAP packages including crop diversification (CD), conservation agriculture practices (CA) and a combination of those. Using panel Viet Nam Access to Resources Household Survey (VARHS) data with multinomial endogenous switching regressions and an instrumental variable helps reduce potential biases in impact evaluation that previous studies have not fully addressed. Results confirm that if a farmer adopts SAPs, it may raise his net profit per hectare by about 4 million Vietnamese Dong (D)/ha/year, whereas the agricultural income per hectare increases by about 4–6 million D/ha/year. Moreover, the joint adoption of multiple SAPs brings higher benefits (of about 2-4 more million D/ha/year) than single SAP adoption. These findings suggest that policymakers and related stakeholders should focus on promoting the adoption of a combination of crop diversification and conservation practices. |
| Keywords: | sustainable agricultural practices, multinomial endogenous switching regressions, household production, Viet Nam. |
| JEL: | D13 O13 Q12 |
| Date: | 2023–03–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:era:wpaper:dp-2022-41&r=dev |
| By: | Peter Warr (Australian National University, Canberra, Australia); Huy Quynh Nguyen (Hanoi School of Business and Management, Viet Nam National University, Hanoi, Viet Nam) |
| Abstract: | Viet Nam's 1986 programme of market-oriented economic reforms did not include the freedom of farmers to choose their crops independently. Large areas of land remain restricted to rice production. This paper studies the effects of this policy on agricultural productivity, using panel data from the Viet Nam Access to Resources Household Survey (VARHS), covering the years 2008 to 2016. The econometrics uses fixed effects methods with and without the additional use of instrumental variable methods to allow for the possible statistical endogeneity of the restrictions. The findings are that the crop choice restrictions reduced the overall productivity of annual crop land by about 5%, reduced the overall productivity of farm labour by about 8% and reduced the mean incomes of farm households by 5%-6%, implying increased levels of rural poverty. Moreover, rice output would have been no lower if the restrictions were removed |
| Keywords: | land restrictions, productivity, rice production, land policy |
| JEL: | Q15 C54 |
| Date: | 2023–03–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:era:wpaper:dp-2022-43&r=dev |
| By: | AlAzzawi, Shireen (Santa Clara University); Dang, Hai-Anh (World Bank); Hlasny, Vladimir (UN ESCWA); Abanokova, Kseniya (World Bank); Behrman, Jere R. (University of Pennsylvania) |
| Abstract: | Various challenges are thought to render female-headed households (FHHs) vulnerable to poverty in the Arab region. Yet, previous studies have mixed results and despite the availability of cross-sectional data, the absence of household panel survey data hinders analysis of poverty dynamics. We address these challenges by proposing a novel typology of FHHs and analyze synthetic panels that we constructed from 20 rounds of repeated cross-sectional surveys spanning the past two decades from Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Mauritania, Palestine, and Tunisia. We find that the definition of FHHs matters for measuring poverty levels and dynamics. Most types of FHHs are less poor, but FHHs with a major share of female adults are generally poorer. FHHs are more likely to escape poverty than households on average, but FHHs without children are most likely to do so. While more children are generally associated with more poverty for FHHs, there is heterogeneity across countries is addition to heterogeneity across FHH measures. Our findings provide useful inputs for social protection and employment programs aiming at reducing gender inequalities and poverty in the Arab region. |
| Keywords: | poverty, feminization, female-headedness typology, synthetic panels, Arab region, household surveys |
| JEL: | I3 J16 N35 O1 |
| Date: | 2023–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp16641&r=dev |
| By: | Herrera-Almanza, Catalina; McCarthey, Aine Seitz |
| Abstract: | Fertility decline in rural sub-Saharan Africa has lagged behind other developing countries. The gap in fertility preferences between men and women plays a pivotal role in determining household fertility and reproductive health outcomes, with men desiring more children and exerting more significant influence in household decision-making. This disparity becomes more pronounced in rural regions where patrilineal norms, especially those associated with land inheritance, remain prevalent. We estimate the effect of an informational family planning intervention on male and female fertility preferences in rural Tanzania. The experiment consisted of randomizing household consultations on modern contraception, with sessions conducted either jointly for husbands and wives or exclusively for wives in private. Surprisingly, husbands who engaged in joint consultations increased their desired additional number of children, and their wives mirrored this increase in fertility preferences. In contrast, women in private consultations reduced their additional desired number of children while their husbands’ preferences remained unchanged. We provide suggestive evidence that the unintended effects on fertility preferences might be motivated by land inheritance expectations, as our results are driven by households with firstborn daughters (rather than sons). |
| Keywords: | Consumer/Household Economics, Farm Management, Labor and Human Capital |
| Date: | 2023–12–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:assa24:339077&r=dev |
| By: | Anukriti, S (World Bank); Calvi, Rossella (Rice University); Chakravarty, Abhishek (University of Essex) |
| Abstract: | Can effective policy implementation change political selection by inducing voters to prioritize leader competence over other traits, such as gender? We answer this question by examining the impact of a successful school-expansion program on the likelihood of women being elected to state legislatures in India. We show that the program increased voter prioritization of leader competence over gender, boosting the share of women among candidates and state parliamentarians and the overall capability of elected officials. These findings are consistent with the predictions of a model of candidate self-selection where voters trade-off candidate competence with their bias against female leaders. |
| Keywords: | DPEP, political selection, India, leader competence, female leaders, gender |
| JEL: | J16 I24 O12 |
| Date: | 2023–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp16639&r=dev |
| By: | Pascaline Dupas; Camille Falezan; Marie Christelle Mabeu; Pauline Rossi |
| Abstract: | Is the persistently high fertility in West Africa today rooted in the decades of forced labor migration under colonial rule? We study the case of Burkina Faso, considered the largest labor reservoir in West Africa by the French colonial authorities. Hundreds of thousands of young men were forcibly recruited and sent to work in neighboring colonies for multiple years. The practice started in the late 1910s and lasted until the late 1940s, when forced labor was replaced with voluntary wage employment. We digitize historical maps, combine data from multiple surveys, and exploit the historical, temporary partition of colonial Burkina Faso (and, more specifically, the historical land of the Mossi ethnic group) into three zones with different needs for labor to implement a spatial regression discontinuity design analysis. We find that, on the side where Mossi villages were more exposed to forced labor historically, there is more temporary male migration to Côte d'Ivoire up to today, and lower realized and desired fertility today. We show evidence suggesting that the inherited pattern of low-skill circular migration for adult men reduced the reliance on subsistence farming and the accompanying need for child labor. We can rule out women's empowerment or improvements in human and physical capital as pathways for the fertility decline. These findings contribute to the debate on the origins of family institutions and preferences, often mentioned to explain West Africa's exceptional fertility trends, showing that fertility choices respond to changes in modes of production. |
| JEL: | J13 N37 O15 |
| Date: | 2023–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:31993&r=dev |
| By: | Sania Ashraf; Cristina Bicchieri; Upasak Das; Tanu Gupta; Alex Shpenev |
| Abstract: | Prevalence of open defecation is associated with adverse health effects, detrimental not only for the individual but also the community. Therefore, neighborhood characteristics can influence collective progressive behavior such as improved sanitation practices. This paper uses primary data collected from rural and urban areas of Bihar to study the relationship between jati (sub-castes) level fractionalization within the community and toilet ownership and its usage for defecation. The findings indicate a diversity dividend wherein jati fractionalization is found to improve toilet ownership and usage significantly. While exploring the channels, we find social expectations to play an important role, where individuals from diverse communities tend to believe that there is a higher prevalence of toilet usage within the community. To assess the reasons for the existence of these social expectations, we use data from an egocentric network survey on a sub-sample of the households. The findings reveal that in fractionalized communities, the neighbors with whom our respondents interacted are more likely to be from different jatis. They are also more likely to use toilets and approve of its usage due to health reasons. Discussions about toilets are more common among neighbors from fractionalized communities, which underscore the discernible role of social learning. The inferences drawn from the paper have significant implications for community level behavioral change interventions that aim at reducing open defecation. |
| Date: | 2023–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2312.15221&r=dev |
| By: | Falcone Guillermo; César Andrés |
| Abstract: | We study the causal impact of export growth on Chilean local economic development by exploiting spatial and time variations in local exposure arising from past differences in industry specialization across local labor markets and the evolution of tariffs and exports across industries. We find that growing exports implied a significant reduction in labor informality and labor income gains in more exposed local markets, driven by job creation and wage growth in the formal sector. These effects concentrate on senior skilled workers. Exposed locations also exhibit a relative decline in monetary poverty. |
| JEL: | F14 F16 |
| Date: | 2023–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aep:anales:4651&r=dev |
| By: | Ben-Hur Francisco Cardoso; Eva Yamila da Silva Catela; Guilherme Viegas; Fl\'avio L. Pinheiro; Dominik Hartmann |
| Abstract: | Research on productive structures has shown that economic complexity conditions economic growth. However, little is known about which type of complexity, e.g., export or industrial complexity, matters more for regional economic growth in a large emerging country like Brazil. Brazil exports natural resources and agricultural goods, but a large share of the employment derives from services, non-tradables, and within-country manufacturing trade. Here, we use a large dataset on Brazil's formal labor market, including approximately 100 million workers and 581 industries, to reveal the patterns of export complexity, industrial complexity, and economic growth of 558 micro-regions between 2003 and 2019. Our results show that export complexity is more evenly spread than industrial complexity. Only a few -- mainly developed urban places -- have comparative advantages in sophisticated services. Regressions show that a region's industrial complexity is a significant predictor for 3-year growth prospects, but export complexity is not. Moreover, economic complexity in neighboring regions is significantly associated with economic growth. The results show export complexity does not appropriately depict Brazil's knowledge base and growth opportunities. Instead, promoting the sophistication of the heterogeneous regional industrial structures and development spillovers is a key to growth. |
| Date: | 2023–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2312.07469&r=dev |
| By: | Pierre-Philippe Combes (ECON - Département d'économie (Sciences Po) - Sciences Po - Sciences Po - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, CEPR - Center for Economic Policy Research - CEPR); Clément Gorin (UP1 UFR02 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - École d'économie de la Sorbonne - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Shohei Nakamura (World Bank Group); Mark Roberts (World Bank Group); Benjamin Stewart (World Bank Group) |
| Abstract: | This paper provides a detailed descriptive analysis of patterns of urbanization across Sub-Saharan Africa for the year circa 2015. Despite the rapidity and importance of Sub-Saharan Africa's urbanization, little is known about the anatomy of patterns of urbanization across the region due to a lack of detailed and accurate official data on urban settlements and populations. To address this gap, the paper applies a modified version of the "dartboard" algorithm to high-resolution gridded population data for the region, which is derived from digitized maps of the footprints of all buildings in the region from very high-resolution satellite imagery. This allows for a consistent definition of urban areas across all countries in the region, overcoming the measurement problems that arise from relying on official definitions of urban areas, which vary markedly across countries. Using this definition, the paper presents evidence on key empirical regularities that are related to disparities across the urban hierarchies, such as the extent of urban primacy and Zipf's law, as well as on the internal structures of cities, such as population density gradients and the number of centers that cities possess. The paper also analyzes how these characteristics are related to key country characteristics. Finally, the paper compares the results with those that arise from the use of an alternative definition of urban areas—the degree of urbanization. |
| Keywords: | Urbanization, Sub-Saharan Africa, dartboard approach, satellite imagery, population density |
| Date: | 2023–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:cesptp:hal-04345529&r=dev |
| By: | Christa Brunnschweiler (School of Economics, University of East Anglia); Nanang Kurniawan (Department of Politics and Government, Universitas Gadja Mada); Paivi Lujalac (Geography Research Unit, University of Oulu); Primi Putri (Geography Research Unit, University of Oulu); Sabrina Scherzer (Department of Geography, NTNU); Indah Wardhani (Department of Politics and Government, Universitas Gadja Mada) |
| Abstract: | The governance of natural resource wealth is a key factor in promoting strong institutions and economic development in resource-rich countries. In this paper, we explore how individuals engagement in local natural resource revenue (NRR) management can be enhanced and encouraged. We focus on Indonesia, which is a large gold and petroleum producer, among other natural resources, with local challenges such as underdevelopment of resource-rich areas and corruption. We run a randomized survey experiment among 807 local community members in an oil-rich district using videos with three information treatments that give citizens salient and easily understandable information on local NRR and additional motivation to use this information to engage in NRR management. Our outcomes include survey questions on stated behavior and citizen rights perception regarding NRR management, and two incentive-compatible measures. We find that providing easily understandable information increases respondents sense of the right to personally influence how NRR are used and the propensity to donate to an anti-corruption NGO. Our positive example treatment was able to increase respondents sense of their right to benefit from NRR and their right to influence NRR management, while our negative example treatment had no impact on our outcomes. We also explore intervening mechanisms and heterogeneous effects. Providing the population of resource-rich areas with easily understood information on NRR management that is relevant to the local context offers an encouraging avenue for combating NRR-related mismanagement and corruption. |
| Keywords: | accountability, survey experiment, video, Indonesia, petroleum revenues, information treatment |
| JEL: | Q35 Q38 H41 H23 D80 |
| Date: | 2023–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uea:ueaeco:2023-06&r=dev |
| By: | Cho, Sunghun (KOREA INSTITUTE FOR INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC POLICY (KIEP)); Kim, Jaehyung (New York University) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the role of education policy in raising specific human capital for industrialization during the period of economic miracle in Korea. As part of the Heavy and Chemical Industry (HCI) drive, the Korean government built technical schools near industrial complexes, resulting in a prompt supply of skilled labor. With practical curricula and training, young and skilled workers were able to enter the new sector. We also document these two patterns by using the Technical School List and the Occupational Wage survey. This government-led education reform led to higher firm-level productivity and growth, which is one of the important aspects explaining the success of the industrial policy. Motivated by historical evidence, we combine the administrative Mining and Manufacturing survey with the Technical School List to study the effectiveness of industry-oriented education reform. We incorporate an education layer into the targeted industries under the HCI drive by exploiting the variation in technical school openings at the county level. Our results show that plants in treated regions tend to employ and invest more than those in control regions, but value-added and labor productivity are negatively correlated with our interaction terms. This implies that firms in HCI sectors experienced disproportionate growth and should pay higher on-the-job costs for workers while education reform may reduce the overall cost of hiring industry-specific labor. In contrast, non-HCI sector firms exhibit a positive correlation with value added and labor productivity. These firms might benefit from the education reform that improved overall quality of skilled workers. Lastly, the effect of education reform was concentrated before the end of the HCI drive period and did not persist after 1980. In the era of emerging industrial policy, our paper presents a new mechanism that encourages more workers to enter a new sector targeted by government-led plans. Our results serve as a starting point for re-evaluating contemporary industrial policy and underscore the need to consider this additional layer in future policy design. |
| Keywords: | Industrial Policy; Heavy and Chemical Industry Drive; IndustryOriented Education Reform |
| JEL: | O14 O25 O53 |
| Date: | 2023–12–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:kiepwp:2023_003&r=dev |
| By: | Jessica (CEDLAS-IIE-FCE-UNLP); Matías Ciaschi (CEDLAS-IIE-FCE-UNLP & CONICET); Leonardo Gasparini (CEDLAS-IIE-FCE-UNLP & CONICET); Mariana Marchionni (CEDLAS-IIE-FCE-UNLP & CONICET); Guido Neidhöfer (ZEW Mannheim) |
| Abstract: | The shock of the COVID-19 pandemic affected the human capital formation of children and youths. As a consequence of this disruption, the pandemic is likely to imply permanent lower levels of human capital. This paper provides new evidence on the impact of COVID-19 and school closures on education in Latin America by exploiting harmonized microdata from a large set of national household surveys carried out in 2020, during the pandemic. In addition, the paper uses microsimulations to assess the potential effect of changes in human capital due to the COVID-19 crisis on future income distributions. The findings show that the pandemic is likely to have significant long-run consequences in terms of incomes and poverty if strong compensatory measures are not taken soon. |
| JEL: | O1 I31 I24 |
| Date: | 2024–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dls:wpaper:0324&r=dev |
| By: | Pedro Alba (BlueOrange Consulting and former World Bank staff); Patricia Bliss-Guest (former World Bank staff); Laura Tuck (former World Bank staff) |
| Abstract: | The current World Bank model focuses on reducing poverty and promoting equitable growth, while considering environmental and social sustainability. Programming of resources is country-driven, and resources are allocated to programs and investments according to priorities of client government authorities. Despite the appeal of this approach and its many benefits, it has left numerous global public goods (GPGs), particularly those related to climate change, underfinanced, undermanaged, and unachieved. The resulting limited levels of investment and programs have significant global cost and, potentially, extreme ramifications. While there has been considerable reflection on the question of mandate, as well as on options for improving financial engineering of the multilateral development banks (MDBs) to increase resources to better address GPGs, there has been little attention given to reforms and changes in the internal business model that would be required at an MDB like the World Bank if it were to implement a new global mission on climate change. This paper examines the changes in the internal business model that would allow the World Bank (or other MDBs) to better address climate change—and, with some adjustments, potentially, other GPGs. |
| Date: | 2023–03–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cgd:ppaper:288&r=dev |