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on Development |
| By: | Pardy, Martina; Riom, Capucine; Hoffmann, Roman |
| Abstract: | Worsening climatic conditions are a significant threat to livelihoods, health and well-being worldwide. In this paper, we estimate the impact of temperature and precipitation anomalies on inequality and poverty using a dataset combining comprehensive climatological data with subnational regional wealth and inequality measures derived from the Demographic and Health Surveys for 52 countries and 453 regions. Using the International Wealth Index as a comparative measure of material wealth, we find a significant impact of temperature anomalies on the distribution of material wealth. We estimate that an average temperature anomaly of one standard deviation in the past 4 years increases the regional Gini coefficient by 0.018 points and increases the share of extremely poor households by 4.1 percent. The impacts are stronger in rural areas. We find that temperature anomalies affect inequality through multiple channels, including agricultural employment, the deterioration of assets, decreased economic activity, higher unemployment and worsened access to healthcare. The impacts of precipitation anomalies on inequality, on the other hand, are more ambiguous. |
| Keywords: | environment; inequality; regional development |
| JEL: | Q56 I31 R11 |
| Date: | 2024–09–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:125447 |
| By: | Ray, Soumyajit; Raghunathan, Kalyani; Bhanjdeo, Arundhita; Heckert, Jessica |
| Abstract: | Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs)—farmer collectives, often legally registered - can mitigate some of the constraints smallholder farmers face by improving their access to extension, services, and markets, especially for women. We evaluate the effects of a set of interventions delivered through women-only FPOs in Jharkhand, India, using a panel of 1200 households and a difference-in-difference model with nearest neighbor matching. A complementary qualitative study in the same areas helps triangulate and interpret our findings. The interventions aimed to improve agricultural productivity by coordinating production and improving access to services, while also providing gender sensitization trainings to FPO leaders and members. We collect household data on asset ownership and agricultural outcomes and individual data on women’s and men’s empowerment using the project-level Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index for Market Inclusion (pro-WEAI+MI). Our results for asset ownership, land cultivated, cropping intensity, and per acre yields, revenues or costs are statistically insignificant. Effects on men’s and women's empowerment are mixed. While we see positive effects on women’s decisionmaking, asset ownership, control over income and attitudes towards intimate partner violence, the program is associated with an increase in workload and a reduction in active group membership for both men and women. Men appear to cede control over resources and decisionmaking to other household members. Additional analyses suggest that while some effects can occur in the short-term, others take time to accrue. FPO based interventions that aim to empower women or other marginalized groups likely require sustained investments over multiple years and will need to go beyond improving FPO functioning and increasing women’s participation to transforming social norms. |
| Keywords: | agriculture; farmers organizations; cooperatives; markets; prices; yields; empowerment; smallholders; women; gender; India; Asia |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:2267 |
| By: | Abdel Ghany, Jasmin (University of Oxford); Wilde, Joshua (University of Oxford); Dimitrova, Anna (University of California); Kashyap, Ridhi (University of Oxford); Muttarak, Raya (University of Bologna) |
| Abstract: | Sex ratios at birth shape populations and are linked to maternal health and gender discrimination. We estimate the effect of prenatal temperature exposure on birth sex by linking data on 5 million births in 33 sub-Saharan African countries and India with high-resolution temperature data. We find that days with a maximum temperature above 20°C reduce male births in both regions. In sub-Saharan Africa, we observe fewer male births after high first trimester temperature exposure, consistent with increased spontaneous abortions from maternal heat stress. By contrast, in India we find second trimester temperature exposure is associated with fewer male births, consistent with reductions in induced sex-selective abortions against girls. These findings demonstrate that climate change harms maternal health, increases prenatal mortality, and reduces engagement with the health system. |
| Keywords: | sex ratios at birth, temperature, prenatal exposure, maternal health, abortion |
| JEL: | J13 J10 I15 I10 O13 |
| Date: | 2024–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17310 |
| By: | Hazarika, Gautam (The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley) |
| Abstract: | Rice and wheat are India's staple cereal crops and there is significant regional variation in the suitability to the cultivation of each. Both are so-called 'plough-positive' crops, whose cultivation is benefited by ploughing. It has previously been argued that the ancient adoption of the plough, a heavy implement better suited to handling by men, was a factor in the evolution of cultural norms prescribing a domestic role for women in society (Boserup, 1970). This study contends that rice is an anomalous plough-positive crop in that its cultivation, highly labor-intensive, has traditionally required much female labor. This, it is argued, may have led to a local loosening of plough culture's strictures against work by Indian women proportional to the local relative, to wheat, suitability to rice cultivation. To distinguish between a cultural effect and the technical effect of the labor-intensivity of rice cultivation, this study considers the workforce participation of urban women, spatially removed from agricultural operations. It is found that the district urban female workforce participation rates in both the 2001 and 2011 Censuses of India significantly increase in the district relative suitability to rice cultivation. Further, the increase in the district urban female workforce participation rate between 2001 and 2011 was significantly more pronounced in districts potentially better suited to growing rice than wheat. In addition, analysis of microdata from the 1999-2000 National Sample Survey of Employment and Unemployment reveals that the urban female propensity to work significantly increases in the district relative suitability to rice cultivation, though, tellingly, only so in the case of natives of the district, those whose culture will have been shaped by the local agro- ecology. Finally, urban females principally engaged in domestic duties are likelier to report that they are required to be so occupied, the compulsion probably cultural in nature, the less relatively suitable the district is to rice cultivation, with this effect too confined to natives of the district. Taken together, these findings suggest that rice cultivation has played a cultural role in Indian women's workforce participation. |
| Keywords: | deep roots of culture, female labor force participation, India |
| JEL: | Z1 |
| Date: | 2024–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17250 |
| By: | Bargain, Olivier; Jara, H. Xavier; Rivera, David |
| Abstract: | To finance increased public spending and social programs, Latin America's tax systems need to develop further. Yet taxation can reduce the tax base by discouraging formal employment. Evidence on the intensity of the problem is limited and tends to focus on specifically large reforms of the tax system. Conversely, and to improve external validity, we study whether routine changes in tax policies also alter labor market formalization. Our approach is based on grouped-data estimations of formal employment responses to policy changes. We exploit tax variation across three countries (Bolivia, Ecuador and Colombia) and three periods (2008, 2014/15, 2019). We use precise calculations of counterfactual tax burdens when moving from informal to formal jobs, i.e. formalization tax rates (FTRs). For most countries and pairs of years, FTRs have a negative and significant effect on formal employment, particularly when wages are held constant across periods – in order to extract the pure policy effect – and in a series of sensitivity checks. |
| Keywords: | taxation; benefits; labor supply; informality |
| JEL: | H24 H31 J24 J40 |
| Date: | 2024–09–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:125368 |
| By: | Sonalde Desai (National Council of Applied Economic Research, Delhi); Debasis Barik (National Council of Applied Economic Research, Delhi); Pallavi Choudhuri (National Council of Applied Economic Research, Delhi) |
| Abstract: | With a growing economy and declining poverty, India faces a curious challenge in providing a social safety net to its citizens. Using data from three rounds of the India Human Development Survey (IHDS), collected in 2004-5, 2011-12, and 2022-24, this paper shows that households face considerable transition in and out of poverty as the economy grows. Historically, India’s approach to social safety nets has involved identifying the poor and providing them with priority access to various social protection programmes that include both in-kind and cash assistance—however, the nature of poverty changes with economic growth. This churn in households’ economic circumstances makes it difficult to identify and target the poor precisely. Traditional approaches to identifying the poor through the provision of Below Poverty Line (BPL) cards, now dubbed priority cards, assume long-term stability of poverty and tend to focus on chronically poor households that usually come from poor regions or have enduring characteristics that predispose them to poverty (e.g., belonging to Scheduled Castes and Tribes). The IHDS data shows that with a decline in chronic poverty, transient poverty begins to dominate. This suggests that our approach to social protection must pay greater attention to circumstances of life that push people into poverty rather than circumstances of birth associated with social identity or region of birth. This paper discusses various approaches to providing safety nets and examines the experiences of some critical programs in reaching the poor. |
| Keywords: | Social Welfare |
| Date: | 2024–05–24 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nca:ncaerw:171 |
| By: | Esmeralda Arranhado; Lágida Barbosa; João A. Bastos |
| Abstract: | We examine an individual-level poverty measure for Benin using cross-sectional data. Since our measure is defined within the interval [0, 1], we combine fractional regression models and machine learning models for fractions to examine the factors influencing multidimensional poverty measures and to predict poverty levels. Our approach illustrates the potential of combining parametric models, that inform on the statistical significance and variable interactions, with SHapley Additive ex- Planations (SHAP) and Accumulated Local Effects (ALE) plots obtained from a random forest. Results highlight the importance of addressing gender inequalities in education, particularly by increasing access to female education, to effectively reduce poverty. Furthermore, natural conditions arising from agroecological zones are significant determinants of multidimensional poverty, which underscores the need for climate change policies to address poverty in the long term, especially in countries heavily reliant on agriculture. Other significant determinants of welfare include household size, employment sector, and access to financial accounts. |
| Keywords: | Multidimensional Poverty; Benin; Fractional regression model; Machine learning; SHAP values; ALE plots. |
| Date: | 2024–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ise:remwps:wp03432024 |
| By: | Nduka, Eleanya (University of Warwick and UK Energy Research Centre); Jimoh, Modupe (University of Warwick and UK Energy Research Centre) |
| Abstract: | This study utilizes novel data to investigate the impact of cooking energy sources and indoor air pollution on the happiness, life satisfaction, physical, and mental health of women in Nigeria. The existing body of literature relies on ambient air pollution data, which can be limiting in resource-constrained settings. To address this gap, we employ a direct approach, measuring Carbon Monoxide (CO) levels in participants’ blood using the Rad-57 CO-oximeter. Our analysis reveals strong positive correlations between the utilization of clean cooking energy and women’s reported happiness and life satisfaction. Additionally, the study finds that clean cooking energy usage is associated with a significant reduction in mental health problems among women. These findings highlight a substantial disparity in wellbeing based on access to clean cooking energy sources. Furthermore, exposure to carbon monoxide, as measured in this study, demonstrates a detrimental effect on women’s health and overall well-being. Consequently, policymakers and stakeholders should prioritize initiatives that promote household energy access and facilitate the transition to clean cooking practices, especially in rural areas where the use of polluting fuels and exposure to indoor air pollution remain prevalent concerns. |
| Keywords: | Air pollution ; Clean Cooking ; Dirty Cooking ; Energy ; Health ; Happiness ; Mental health ; Well-being ; Women; Poverty. |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wrk:warwec:1515 |
| By: | Daniel Guzmán |
| Abstract: | Using Colombian Household Survey (GEIH) data and Schmieder and von Wachter (2010) methodology, which builds upon Beaudry and DiNardo (1991) empirical approach, I found that informal workers obtain proportionally higher wage gains than formal workers when the labour market is tight. In turn, these wage premia are persistent in the informal sector, unlike the formal one. While these wage gains appear to increase around 20% the probability of layoffs when compared to the unconditional means across both sectors, the absolute increase for informal workers can be up to six-fold larger relative to their formal counterparts. The absence of regulation and employee benefits -such as written contracts, severance payments and social insurance-seems to have an amplifying effect on the informal workers’ bargaining power during the most favourable periods of the labour market. |
| Date: | 2024–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:chb:bcchwp:1012 |
| By: | Ann M. Furbush; Anna Josephson; Talip Kilic; Jeffrey D. Michler |
| Abstract: | We examine the impact of livelihood diversification on food insecurity amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Our analysis uses household panel data from Ethiopia, Malawi, and Nigeria in which the first round was collected immediately prior to the pandemic and extends through multiple rounds of monthly data collection during the pandemic. Using this pre- and post-outbreak data, and guided by a pre-analysis plan, we estimate the causal effect of livelihood diversification on food insecurity. Our results do not support the hypothesis that livelihood diversification boosts household resilience. Though income diversification may serve as an effective coping mechanism for small-scale shocks, we find that for a disaster on the scale of the pandemic this strategy is not effective. Policymakers looking to prepare for the increased occurrence of large-scale disasters will need to grapple with the fact that coping strategies that gave people hope in the past may fail them as they try to cope with the future. |
| Date: | 2024–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2409.02285 |
| By: | Busso, Matias (Inter-American Development Bank); Montaño, Sebastián (University of Maryland); Muñoz-Morales, Juan S. (IÉSEG School of Management); Pope, Nolan G. (University of Maryland) |
| Abstract: | Teacher quality is a key factor in improving student academic achievement. As such, educational policymakers strive to design systems to hire the most effective teachers. This paper examines the effects of a national policy reform in Colombia that established a merit-based teacher-hiring system intended to enhance teacher quality and improve student learning. Implemented in 2005 for all public schools, the policy ties teacher-hiring decisions to candidates' performance on an exam evaluating subject-specific knowledge and teaching aptitude. The implementation of the policy led to many experienced contract teachers being replaced by high exam-performing novice teachers. We find that though the policy sharply increased pre-college test scores of teachers, it also decreased the overall stock of teacher experience and led to sharp decreases in students' exam performance and educational attainment. Using a difference-in-differences strategy to compare the outcomes of students from public and private schools over two decades, we show that the hiring reform decreased students' performance on high school exit exams by 8 percent of a standard deviation, and reduced the likelihood that students enroll in and graduate from college by more than 10 percent. The results underscore that relying exclusively on specific ex ante measures of teacher quality to screen candidates, particularly at the expense of teacher experience, may unintentionally reduce students' learning gains. |
| Keywords: | teachers, teaching experience, teacher screening, Colombia, test scores, college enrollment |
| JEL: | I25 I28 J24 |
| Date: | 2024–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17294 |
| By: | Ratna Sahay (Center for Global Development; National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER)); Navya Srivastava (National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER)); Mahima Vasishth (Bocconi University; National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER)) |
| Abstract: | Globally, women’s share in corporate leadership has been steadily rising, including in India. The female director mandate under The Companies Act (2013) in India marked a significant step toward gender-inclusive corporate leadership, requiring listed firms to have at least one woman on their board. Within a year, the percentage of listed firms without women on board plummeted from 53 percent to less than 10 percent. Despite this progress, India still lags in the share of women in middle and senior management roles at only 17 percent, compared to nearly 33 percent for the world. This paper documents the status of gender-inclusive corporate leadership and uses the woman director mandate in the Act to study its relationship with firm outcomes, including financial performance and corporate culture in India. Interestingly we find that firms, on average, were appointing more women than mandated by the Act, suggesting the favorable impact of the current government’s signal to foster women-led development and the positive experience gained by firms. At the same time, newly appointed women were younger and more educated than their male counterparts and their average number of directorship (the “stretch factor”) increased significantly compared to men. Combining personnel-level data from NSE-listed firms with firm performance data and employing a reverse difference-in-difference econometric strategy, we find that having at least one woman on board is associated with higher economic performance and financial stability. Additionally, using almost 400, 000 employee reviews scraped from a company review platform, we find that higher shares of women in board positions correlate positively with employee ratings and sentiment scores only when firms also hire women in top management positions. This analysis highlights the business case of appointing more women at the top. |
| Keywords: | Women’s Leadership, Firm Performance, Firm Culture |
| JEL: | J16 L25 M59 |
| Date: | 2024–09–17 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cgd:wpaper:704 |
| By: | Ackah, Charles; Hanley, Aoife; Hecker, Lars; Kodom, Michael |
| Abstract: | Our analysis of over 500 Ghanaian firms sheds light, for the first time, on how certain firms managed to extract value from mobile money. Our regressions point to the usefulness of this form of cashless payments in stabilizing sales during the COVID pandemic. Perhaps the most important message from our analysis is the recognition that the benefits from mobile money extend beyond its purpose as a tool for transacting cashless payments. We reveal that firms using these additional tools supported by MoMo (e.g. for planning or saving purposes) report higher sales resilience, all things equal. Our findings appear to echo the literature on private householders (e.g. Jack and Suri, 2014). However, while the latter report a positive effect due to remittances, our finding is more likely driven by enhanced ability of businesses to streamline their planning and sales. |
| Keywords: | Mobile Money, Africa, Firm, Urbanization |
| JEL: | G23 G21 L25 O14 O18 O33 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:kcgwps:303046 |