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on Development |
| By: | Luis Laguinge (CEDLAS-IIE-FCE-UNLP & CONICET); Leonardo Gasparini (CEDLAS-IIE-FCE-UNLP & CONICET); Guido Neidhöfer (ZEW Mannheim & Turkish-German University) |
| Abstract: | Conditional Cash Transfers (CCTs) have become a key antipoverty policy in Latin America in the last 25 years. The ultimate goal of this kind of programs is to break the intergenerational transmission of poverty through the promotion of human capital accumulation of children in vulnerable households. In this paper, we explore this issue by estimating the long-run effects of the largest CCT in Latin America: the Brazilian Bolsa Familia. Through a combination of the two-stage-two-sample method and a difference-in-differences approach, we find evidence consistent with a positive long-run impact of Bolsa Familia among former beneficiaries. In particular, we find a significant positive effect on education and labor income, and a negative effect on the likelihood of being a current beneficiary of this social transfer. |
| JEL: | D04 I38 J24 |
| Date: | 2024–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dls:wpaper:0328&r=dev |
| By: | Mekonnen, Dawit Kelemework; Mekonnen, Yalew; Warner, James; Ringler, Claudia |
| Abstract: | The El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) weather event of 2015/16 caused severe drought conditions in northern and central Ethiopia affecting the welfare of millions of farmers in late 2015 and early 2016. Using nationally representative panel data collected in 2012 and 2016 and recent advances in the difference-indifferences literature, this paper explores the effects of the 2015/16 drought and the potential role of irrigation in reducing the adverse effects of the drought. We find that the drought caused, on average, a 37 percent reduction in net annual crop income, an 8 percent decline in area cultivated, a 3 percent decline in household dietary diversity score, and a 10 percent decline in the share of harvest sold for rainfed farmers. On the other hand, irrigating farmers affected by the drought managed to increase their daily expenditures by 72 percent of their average daily food expenditure in the pre-drought period, and maintained their net crop income, size of cultivated land, household dietary diversity, and share of harvest sold to the market. Overall, while rainfed agricultural producers suffered sharp declines in welfare, those farmers with access to irrigation maintained their economic status. The results suggest that irrigation protected farmers from the adverse effects of the 2015/16 ENSO event and given increasing climate variability in Ethiopia, the government should intensify its investment and support to irrigation development in the country. |
| Keywords: | drought; irrigation; resilience; farmers; Ethiopia; Afria; Eastern Africa |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:2242&r=dev |
| By: | Cristian Concha; Nathaly M. Rivera |
| Abstract: | Despite the extensive evidence linking particulate matter exposure to adverse health effects, a significant portion of the global population, especially in low-income countries, continues to depend on highly polluting fuels like wood-burning for cooking and heating. This study evaluates the immediate effects of wood-burning restrictions, triggered by air quality warnings, on levels of fine and coarse particulate matter in the city of Los Angeles, Chile. Employing a regression discontinuity design, we derive plausible causal estimates indicating that wood-burning restrictions significantly reduce daily concentrations of PM10 and PM2.5 during the most severe air quality warning. A battery of additional estimations supports these findings. However, our empirical analysis suggests that, while effective, wood-burning restrictions may not be sufficient to lower air pollution concentrations to levels deemed safe for health. |
| Date: | 2024–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:udc:wpaper:wp557&r=dev |
| By: | Marco Letta; Pierluigi Montalbano; Adriana Paolantonio |
| Abstract: | The complex relationship between climate shocks, migration, and adaptation hampers a rigorous understanding of the heterogeneous mobility outcomes of farm households exposed to climate risk. To unpack this heterogeneity, the analysis combines longitudinal multi-topic household survey data from Nigeria with a causal machine learning approach, tailored to a conceptual framework bridging economic migration theory and the poverty traps literature. The results show that pre-shock asset levels, in situ adaptive capacity, and cumulative shock exposure drive not just the magnitude but also the sign of the impact of agriculture-relevant weather anomalies on the mobility outcomes of farming households. While local adaptation acts as a substitute for migration, the roles played by wealth constraints and repeated shock exposure suggest the presence of climate-induced immobility traps. |
| Date: | 2024–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2403.09470&r=dev |
| By: | Shilpa Aggarwal; Dahyeon Jeong; Naresh Kumar; David Sungho Park; Jonathan Robinson; Alan Spearot |
| Abstract: | While cash transfers consistently show large effects on immediate outcomes like consumption, limited access to markets may mute their impact on productive investment. In an experiment in Malawi, we cross-cut cash transfers with an "input fair, " designed to reduce transport costs to access agricultural inputs. Cash alone increases investment by 27%, while the joint provision of cash and the input fair increases investment by about 40%; thus, the incremental effect of the input fair is equivalent to about a 50% increase compared to the effect of cash alone. Input fairs alone were ineffective. |
| JEL: | O13 Q12 |
| Date: | 2024–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:32263&r=dev |
| By: | Hiroyuki Hino (Office of Global Affairs, Duke University, U.S.A. and Research Institute of Economics and Business Administration, Kobe University, JAPAN); Nobuaki Hamaguchi (Research Institute of Economics and Business Administration, Kobe University, JAPAN); Charles Piot (Cultural Anthropology and African & African American Studies, Duke University, U.S.A.); Jiahan Yin (Department of Economics, Duke University, U.S.A.) |
| Abstract: | This paper attempts to gain greater clarity about an issue which has considerable bearing on economic policy in Africa yet remains poorly diagnosed: the relation between informality and dynamism among low-income micro enterprises. We begin with the premise that micro entrepreneurs are driven by non-pecuniary motives, to varying degree, and adopt informal ways of doing business when informal motivations are strong. Building on this premise, we construct a regression model in which the dynamism of microenterprises is explained by the informality of entrepreneurs' motivations and of his/her ways of doing business as well as interactions among these two informality variables. We apply the model to microentrepreneurs in Ghana, Kenya and Nigeria, with data derived from a survey conducted for this research. The regression results show that the relation between informality and dynamism is intricate. Two of the four informal business practices tested - small business size and limited bookkeeping - negatively affect business growth while the other two have no significant influence either way. On the other hand, informal motivations - represented by a composite index of non-pecuniary motivations - have a positive effect on business growth although the effect is not directly observable. When an enterprise is operated in an informal setting by an entrepreneur with strong informal motivations, the synergy between the setting and the motivation works to increase the chance of business growth. The resilience of microenterprises too is linked positively to informality although interactions between motivation and business practice tend to reduce business growth in this case. Informal motivations and informal business practices are interwoven, an insight that could help in developing policy that could strengthen informal enterprises on the continent. |
| Keywords: | Informality; Africa; Microenterprises; Growth; Resilience |
| JEL: | O55 O17 Z13 |
| Date: | 2024–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kob:dpaper:dp2024-14&r=dev |
| By: | Athira Vinod |
| Abstract: | Under the Right to Education Act (2009), the Indian government introduced a policy that required private schools to reserve 25% of primary school places for children from socially disadvantaged households. This paper examines the impact of the RTE Act’s reservation policy on private school expenditure by socially disadvantaged households. Leveraging the age of school entry and using a difference-in-difference approach, this paper finds a significant decrease in private school fees for disadvantaged children post-policy. This reduction is more pronounced in districts with higher enrolment rates under the policy. The change is attributed to a rise in low-cost private schools post-policy, facilitating cheaper education for disadvantaged students. Moreover, there exists a strong correlation between the growth of low-cost schools and increased policy enrolments at the district level. |
| Keywords: | Private schools, Disadvantaged groups, Right to Education Act, Reservation policy |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:not:notcre:24/02&r=dev |
| By: | Esteve, Albert; Castro, Andrés; Becca, Federica |
| Abstract: | This chapter provides an account of the major family transformations that occurred in recent decades across Latin American and Caribbean countries and examines the implications of such transformations for childrens school attendance and progress and womens labor force participation. Latin American and Caribbean families and households have undergone substantial changes in recent years while keeping some of their distinctive features unchanged (Esteve et al., 2022; Esteve & Florez-Paredes, 2018a; Juárez & Gayet, 2014). This combination of stability and change has had profound transformations in the family status in which women raise their children and the family context in which children are raised. We refer to family context as the combination of womens marital status and the type of households in which children reside. We combine references to the literature and own calculations based on Latin American and Caribbean population census samples, available at the Integrated Public-use Microdata Series International (IPUMS) (Minnesota Population Center, 2020). We use data from 25 countries based on the most recent census microdata and, in some instances, historical samples starting in the late 1950s (see Appendix 1). The chapter is organized as follows. First, we document trends in family change and childrens status. To illustrate family change empirically, we focus on women aged 25 to 29 and children aged 7 to 16. For reasons that will be displayed during the paper, these groups offer a reliable overview of major transformations with the advantage of avoiding overlapping cohorts when data are analyzed over time. Variations by educational attainment are also examined to illustrate the role of inequality of opportunities in family change. Second, we focus on the implications of family forms on children's school attendance and progress and women's participation in the labor market. In the absence of tailored indicators about progress in cognitive and non-cognitive skills, school attendance and progress are standard indicators of early human capital accumulation (UNESCO, 2022). We examine these two outcomes among more than 15 million children included in the IPUMS-I census samples. For women, we examine the degree of participation in the labor market (n 16 million). |
| JEL: | J12 J16 I21 |
| Date: | 2023–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:idb:brikps:13097&r=dev |
| By: | Busso, Matías; Ibáñez, Ana María; Messina, Julián; Quigua, Juliana |
| Abstract: | This chapter examines the redistributive preferences of Latin Americans and investigates the factors that shape them. Using a detailed survey in eight Latin American countries, the study sheds new light on redistributive preferences and explores which aspects of redistribution are more popular and among which groups. The roles of selfinterest, perceptions of inequality, values, and the relationship between citizens and the public sphere in shaping attitudes to redistribution are discussed. |
| Keywords: | Personal Income;Redistributive;Latin American countries;Perceptions of inequality |
| JEL: | D3 D63 D73 H71 H72 |
| Date: | 2023–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:idb:brikps:13183&r=dev |
| By: | Elmira, Elza S.; Beyene Chichaibelu, Bezawit; Qaim, Matin |
| Abstract: | Malnutrition in its various forms is a serious problem in many countries, contributing to human suffering, large healthcare costs, and hampered economic and human development. While various policies to reduce malnutrition exist, such policies typically fail to consider cultural factors. Here, we contribute to the scant literature on cultural practices and nutrition, focusing on issues of gender discrimination and intra-household resource allocation. In particular, using representative panel data from Indonesia covering a period of 22 years, we analyze how ethnic-based kinship systems and marriage customs influence the nutritional status of male and female individuals. We find that patrilocal practices contribute to a higher body mass index (BMI) among males, in comparison to both males in other cultural settings and females. Matrilocality contributes to a higher BMI among females in comparison to females in other cultural settings but not in comparison to males. Bride price practices increase BMI among both male and female individuals. Quantile regressions show that the effects on increasing BMI are especially pronounced among those already overweight, whereas discrimination against females is particularly pronounced among the underweight. Our findings underline that cultural practices matter for nutritional outcomes. Better understanding the links in different cultural settings is important for effective nutrition policies, especially given the fact that different malnutrition problems coexist in many countries. |
| Keywords: | Consumer/Household Economics, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety |
| Date: | 2024–04–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:ubzefd:341095&r=dev |
| By: | Hiroyuki Hino (Office of Global Affairs, Duke University, U.S.A. and Research Institute of Economics and Business Administration, Kobe University, JAPAN); Charles Piot (Department of Cultural Anthropology, Duke University, U.S.A.); Nobuaki Hamaguchi (Research Institute of Economics and Business Administration, Kobe University, JAPAN); Lilly Brouwer (Department of Cultural Anthropology, Duke University, U.S.A.); Jiahan Yin (Department of Economics, Duke University, U.S.A.) |
| Abstract: | This paper presents findings of a large-scale survey of low-income microentrepreneurs in Ghana, Kenya and Nigeria, conducted in order to understand the informality of the microenterprise sector. The findings reveal three key outcomes. First, contrary to common belief in the literature on informality, a significant portion of low-income entrepreneurs boast high educational credentials, and their businesses exhibit substantial sales revenues, in each case surpassing national averages. Surprisingly, nearly all low-income microenterprises pay some form of tax and maintain official registration with some government agencies. Second, again contrary to assumptions often made, microenterprises do not exist in a homogeneous realm of informality. Broadly defining informality envelops almost all microenterprises, yet a more nuanced definition uncovers rich heterogeneity in the nature and depth of informality. Third, far from stagnating, many microbusinesses are vibrant, dynamic and resilient. This finding is particularly important because development economics has traditionally judged informal enterprises as low in productivity and inferior to their formal counterparts, and this has had a profoundly negative impact on government policy. Thus, conventional approaches to the study of informality demand critical reassessment and a paradigm shift in conceptualizing informality and a reinvigorated perspective on the dynamics of low-income microenterprises in Africa. |
| Keywords: | Informality; Africa; Microenterprises; Dynamism |
| JEL: | O55 O17 Z13 |
| Date: | 2024–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kob:dpaper:dp2024-12&r=dev |