|
on Central and South America |
|
Issue of 2005‒07‒18
two papers chosen by |
| By: | Frédéric Docquier (University of Lille 2, World Bank, IWEPS and IZA Bonn); Olivier Lohest (IWEPS (Regional Govt. of Wallonia, Belgium)); Abdeslam Marfouk (Free University of Brussels and IWEPS) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we analyze the distribution of the brain drain in the LAC region (Latin America and the Caribbean), Asia and Africa. We rely on an original data set on international migration by educational attainment for 1990 and 2000. Our analysis reveals that the brain drain is strong in Eastern, Middle and Western Africa, Central America and the Caribbean. However, the Kernel approach suggests that the dispersion and the intradistribution dynamics of skilled migration rates strongly differ across regions. We then tautologically disentangle the brain drain into two multiplicative components, the global migration rate and the selection bias. Among the most affected countries, LAC countries suffer from high migration rates whilst most African countries suffer from high selection biases. Finally, exploratory Moran’s tests reveal strong spatial, political and cultural autocorrelations in migration rates and selection biases. The latter result suggests that skilled workers react differently than unskilled workers to a large set of variables. |
| JEL: | F22 O15 J11 J24 |
| Date: | 2005–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp1668&r=lam |
| By: | Danilo Camargo Igliori (Department of Land Economy, University of Cambridge, UK) |
| Abstract: | The determinants of technical efficiency in agriculture and cattle ranching are closely related with the debate involving the conservation-development trade-off in the Brazilian Amazon. Concerned with balancing development and environmental conservation, policy makers and academics have emphasized the importance of choosing ways of selecting areas where land use restrictions would be established. In order to understand the relationship between spatial patterns of deforestation and the associated distribution and characteristics of economic activity, issues regarding technical efficiency are clearly important. This paper aims to identify the socio-economic and environmental determinants of technical efficiency in agriculture and cattle ranching in the Brazilian Amazon emphasizing their relationship with spatial processes of deforestation and development. The study is structured in two parts. The first part is concerned with measuring technical efficiency for agriculture and cattle ranching in each geographical unit focusing on the production relationship between inputs and outputs. The second one focuses on the variation in the efficiency measure explained by exogenous factors and includes the spatial analysis. We adopt the model proposed by Battese and Coelli (1995) where the production function and the exogenous effects influencing technical efficiency are estimated simultaneously. |
| Keywords: | stochastic frontier, technical efficiency, spatial analysis, Brazilian Amazon |
| Date: | 2005–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lnd:wpaper:092005&r=lam |