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on South East Asia |
| By: | John Knight; Lina Song; Ramani Gunatilaka |
| Abstract: | A national household survey for 2002, containing a specially designed module on subjective well-being, is used to estimate pioneering happiness functions in rural China. The variables predicted by economic theory to be important for happiness are relatively unimportant. The analysis suggests that we need to draw on psychology and sociology if we are to understand. Rural China is not a hotbed of dissatisfaction with life, possibly because most people are found to confine their reference groups to the village. Relative income within the village and relative income over time, both in the past and expected in the future, are shown to influence happiness. `Subjective well-being poverty` functions are estimated, in which income and various proxies for `capabilities` and `functionings` appear as arguments. Even amidst the poverty of rural China, social functionings, attitudes and expectations are important to subjective well-being. |
| Keywords: | Happiness, Subjective Well-being, Aspirations, Relative Deprivation, Reference Groups, Poverty, China |
| JEL: | I31 |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oxf:wpaper:334&r=sea |
| By: | Xiaojun Wang (University of Hawaii at Manoa); Belton M. Fleisher (Ohio State University and IZA); Haizheng Li (Georgia Tech); Shi Li (Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and IZA) |
| Abstract: | We apply a semi-parametric latent variable model to estimate selection and sorting effects on the evolution of private returns to schooling for college graduates during China’s reform between 1988 and 2002. We find that there were substantial sorting gains under the traditional system, but they have decreased drastically and become negligible in the most recent data. We take this as evidence of growing influence of private financial constraints on decisions to attend college as tuition costs have risen and the relative importance of government subsidies has declined. The main policy implication of our results is that labor and education reform without concomitant capital market reform and government support for the financially disadvantaged exacerbates increases in inequality inherent in elimination of the traditional "wage-grid". |
| Keywords: | return to schooling, selection bias, sorting gains, heterogeneity, financial constraints, comparative advantage, China |
| JEL: | J31 J24 O15 |
| Date: | 2007–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp2823&r=sea |
| By: | Boon Lee; William Shepherd |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the output and productivity performance of the Transport and Communication sector in Hong Kong and Singapore, from 1990 to 2005. The aim of the paper is two-fold. First, the paper introduces a method for derivation of appropriate currency converters or purchasing power parities (PPPs) to enable quantification of output and productivity at various disaggregated levels of the transport and communications sector. This method is based on the industry-of-origin approach as refined by the International Comparisons of Output and Productivity (ICOP) project based at the University of Groningen. Second, the paper will attempt to address differences in output and productivity levels between these two countries with regard to their current policies in transport and communications. It will also examine the impact of events such as the Asian financial crisis, the global downturn in 2001, the events of September 11, as well as the outbreak of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in 2003 on the transport and communication sector. |
| Keywords: | Purchasing Power Parity; Comparative Price Level |
| JEL: | C43 D29 L91 L96 O57 |
| Date: | 2006–12–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qut:dpaper:208&r=sea |
| By: | Lei Xu; Kao-Lee Liaw |
| Abstract: | Using a multinomial logit model, this paper explains the initial destination choices of skilled-worker immigrants from four South Asian countries (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka) who landed in Canada in 1992-2001, based on the micro data of Citizenship and Immigration Canada. We found that their choice pattern, which is characterized by extremely strong concentration in Ontario, was strongly affected by the attractions of (1) co-ethnic communities and (2) long-term income opportunities represented by earned income per capita. The temporal pattern of their choices was subject to the lagged effects of the fluctuations in the spatial pattern of employment opportunities in an economically sensible but relatively mild way. The enhancement of Quebec’s attraction by the Canada/Quebec agreement on immigration dissipated within only a few years. |
| Keywords: | Canadian immigrants, South Asia, destination choices |
| JEL: | R23 F22 O15 J11 |
| Date: | 2007–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mcm:qseprr:416&r=sea |
| By: | Lei Xu; Kao-Lee Liaw |
| Abstract: | Using a multinomial logit model, this paper explains the initial destination choices of skilled-worker immigrants from four South Asian countries (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka) who landed in Canada in 1992-2001, based on the micro data of Citizenship and Immigration Canada. We found that their choice pattern, which is characterized by extremely strong concentration in Ontario, was strongly affected by the attractions of (1) co-ethnic communities and (2) long-term income opportunities represented by earned income per capita. The temporal pattern of their choices was subject to the lagged effects of the fluctuations in the spatial pattern of employment opportunities in an economically sensible but relatively mild way. The enhancement of Quebec’s attraction by the Canada/Quebec agreement on immigration dissipated within only a few years. |
| Keywords: | Canadian immigrants, South Asia, destination choices |
| JEL: | R23 F22 O15 J11 |
| Date: | 2007–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mcm:sedapp:193&r=sea |
| By: | Gunseli Berik; Yana van der Meulen Rodgers |
| Abstract: | This study examines the nature and enforcement mechanisms of labor standards in two Asian economies (Cambodia and Bangladesh) that are experiencing strong pressures to cut labor costs and improve the price competitiveness of their textile and garment exports. Analysis of survey, interview, and compliance data indicate differing trajectories in compliance with basic labor standards. While problems persist in Bangladesh, compliance has improved in Cambodia following a trade agreement with the United States that linked positive trade incentives with labor standards enforcement. These contrasting experiences present important lessons for the debate on enforcing standards that protect female workers in formal-sector jobs. |
| Keywords: | Working conditions, enforcement, labor laws, female workers, gender and trade |
| Date: | 2007–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uta:papers:2007_03&r=sea |
| By: | Engvall, Anders (European Institute of Japanese Studies); Kokko, Ari (European Institute of Japanese Studies) |
| Abstract: | Slow agricultural development has restrained economic growth and poverty alleviation in Cambodia. The country's volatile history has left a legacy of weak tenure security and large areas of underutilized land. This study estimates the impact of access to land on poverty in a logistic regression framework using household survey data. Increased access to land is shown to significantly lower the risk of household poverty. Tenure security, land improvements and irrigation strengthens this effect. Simulations of the potential impact of a land reform package predicts a 16 percentage points fall in poverty incidence among landowning rural households and a 30-point fall when targeting the landless. The analysis suggests that improved tenure security should be at the top of the policy agenda. Given political and economic constraints, implementation of reforms remains a key challenge. |
| Keywords: | Cambodia; Economic Development; Poverty; Property Rights; Land Reform |
| JEL: | I32 O12 O53 Q12 Q15 |
| Date: | 2007–06–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:eijswp:0233&r=sea |
| By: | Andersson, Magnus (European Institute of Japanese Studies); Engvall, Anders (European Institute of Japanese Studies); Kokko, Ari (European Institute of Japanese Studies) |
| Abstract: | Lao PDR has shown a strong record of economic growth and poverty alleviation since the early 1990s. Yet, the pace of economic development has varied significantly between different parts of the country - the rate of growth was initially faster in more developed areas, but after the mid-1990s growth has been stronger in poorer rural areas. Here it is shown that this pattern of regional development has been driven by the nature of market integration. This is highlighted in three case studies covering: (i) the effect of transport infrastructure and local institutions on domestic consumer good markets; (ii) the process of regional integration with neighboring countries; and (iii) the ability of Lao producers to compete on the world market for coffee. |
| Keywords: | Laos; Lao PDR; regional development; market integration; infrastructure |
| JEL: | L11 L66 O12 O18 R11 |
| Date: | 2007–06–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:eijswp:0234&r=sea |
| By: | Hian Teck Hoon; Kong Weng Ho |
| Abstract: | This paper builds upon Hoon and Phelps (1992, 1997) to ask how much of the evolution of the unemployment rate over several decades in country can be explained by real factors in an equilibrium model of the natural rate where country's productivity growth depends upon its distance from the world's technological leader. One motivating contemporary example includes the evolution of unemployment rates in Europe as it recovered from the second world war and caught up technologically to the US. Another example that may be less familiar to many people is Singapore (the second fastest growing economy from 1960 to 2000 in Barro's data set of 112 countries) that is best thought of as catching up to the world's technological leaders (the G5 countries with whom it trades extensively and from where it receives substantial foreign direct investments) and that saw its unemployment rate go down from double-digit levels in the early 1960's to the low 2 to 3 percent in the late 1990's. How much of the big movements in the unemployment rate can be explained by non-monetary factors in a model of an endogenous natural rate exhibiting both monetary neutrality and super-neutrality? What room is left for monetary policy in explaining the movements of the unemployment rate? The paper develops the theory and seeks to ask how much non-monetary factors can quantitatively account for the evolution of the unemployment rate. |
| Date: | 2007–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kie:kieliw:1347&r=sea |
| By: | Patrick Criqui (LEPII - Laboratoire d'économie de la prospective et de l'intégration internationale - [CNRS : FR2664] - [Université Pierre Mendès-France - Grenoble II]); Silvana Mima (LEPII - Laboratoire d'économie de la prospective et de l'intégration internationale - [CNRS : FR2664] - [Université Pierre Mendès-France - Grenoble II]); Alban Kitous (Enerdata S.A.) |
| Abstract: | The future of the European energy system will strongly depend on a future world energy context that will be dominated by two key challenges. The first challenge corresponds to the necessity of meeting the energy needs of a growing population in Asia, South America and Africa, while some key energy resources – oil and natural gas – enter in a process of increasing scarcity. The second challenge results from the need to rapidly adjust the structure of the world energy system in order to meet the tightening constraints induced by the will to limit anthropogenic climate change. Both issues are clearly strategic for Europe as on the one hand the Union will have to master a growing import dependency from the international markets and neighbouring regions, and as on the other hand it intends to take the lead on the international scene for climate change mitigation policies.<br />Analyses of world long term energy scenario show that the growing scarcity on hydrocarbon supply will not solve the climate change problem as it will rather result in increased coal consumption. Conversely seriously addressing the climate change challenge will imply lower fossil fuel consumption, allow an extension of oil and gas reserves and lead to a real double dividend in terms of sustainability: by climate change mitigation and by reduced tensions and risks of crises on the oil and gas markets. Similarly, ambitious GHG abatement scenarios for Europe will allow limiting the Union's import dependency, which is of course one key element of overall security. Thus, addressing the fossil fuel emissions abatement issue clearly appears as a top priority on the agenda. In this paper we focus on what GHG emissions mitigation policies mean for the European energy system within a global framework |
| Keywords: | PROSPECTIVE ; LONG TERM ; CLIMATE POLICY ; EUROPE ; ENERGY SYSTEM |
| Date: | 2007–06–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:papers:halshs-00157812_v1&r=sea |
| By: | Hammond, Peter J. (Department of Economics, University of Warwick); Sun, Yeneng (Department of Economics, National University of Singapore) |
| Abstract: | In large random economies with heterogeneous agents, a standard stochastic framework presumes a random macro state, combined with idiosyncratic micro shocks. This can be formally represented by a ran-dom process consisting of a continuum of random variables that are conditionally independent given the macro state. However, this process satisfies a standard joint measurability condition only if there is essentially no idiosyncratic risk at all. Based on iteratively complete product measure spaces, we characterize the validity of the standard stochastic framework via Monte Carlo simulation as well as event-wise measurable conditional probabilities. These general characterizations also allow us to strengthen some earlier results related to exchangeability and independence. |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wrk:warwec:803&r=sea |