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  • 2010-2014  (1,276)
  • 1995-1999
  • 2011  (1,276)
  • Washington, D.C : The World Bank  (689)
  • Boston, MA : Safari  (587)
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  • 2010-2014  (1,276)
  • 1995-1999
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  • 1
    Book
    Book
    No small matter : the impact of poverty, shocks, and human capital investments in early childhood development (2011)
    Washington, D.C : The World Bank
    Details
    ISBN: 9780821386774
    Language: English
    Pages: xviii, 183 p , ill., graph Darst. , 23 cm
    Series Statement: Human development
    Series Statement: Perspectives
    DDC: 305.23109172/4
    Keywords: Cognition in children ; Children Economic conditions ; Children Social conditions ; Child Development ; Child, Preschool ; Cognition ; Developing Countries ; Infant ; Socioeconomic Factors ; Armut ; Entwicklungsländer ; Kleinkind ; Kognitive Entwicklung ; Soziale Situation ; Wirtschaftliche Lage ; Aufsatzsammlung ; Aufsatzsammlung ; Aufsatzsammlung ; Entwicklungsländer ; Kind ; Soziale Situation
    Description / Table of Contents: Cognitive development among young children in low-income countries -- The influence of economic crisis on early childhood development : a review of pathways and measured impact -- Conflicts, epidemics and orphanhood : the impact of extreme events on the health and educational achievements of children -- Promoting equity through early child development interventions for children from birth through three years of age -- The convergence of equity and efficiency in ECD programs.
    Note: Includes bibliographical references
    DOI: 10.1596/978-0-8213-8677-4
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    KOBV
  • 2
    Online Resource
    Online Resource
    Doing Business 2012 : Doing Business in a More Transparent World (2011)
    Washington, D.C : The World Bank
    Details
    ISBN: 9780821388341
    Language: English
    Pages: Online-Ressource (201 p)
    Edition: 2011 World Bank eLibrary
    Series Statement: Doing Business
    Abstract: Ninth in a series of annual reports comparing business regulations in 183 economies, Doing Business 2012 measures regulations affecting 11 areas of everyday business activity: • starting a business • dealing with construction permits • employing workers • registering property • getting credit • protecting investors • paying taxes • trading across borders • enforcing contracts • closing a business • getting electricity The report updates all indicators as of June 1, 2011, ranks countries on their overall ""ease of doing business"", and analyzes reforms to business regulation—identifying which countries are strengthening their business environment the most. Doing Business 2012 includes a new set of indicators on the time, steps, and cost for a private business to get an electricity connection. The data on connection services can inform utilities, regulators and governments seeking to strengthen the performance of the electricity sector. Drawing on a now longer time series, this year's report introduces a measure to illustrate how the regulatory environment for business has changed in each economy since Doing Business 2006 was published in 2005. A new ""distance to frontier"" measure complements the aggregate ranking on the ease of doing business, which benchmarks each economy's current performance on the indicators against that of all other economies in the sample for a given year. A fundamental premise of Doing Business is that economic activity requires good rules that are transparent and accessible to all. Such regulations should be efficient, striking a balance between safeguarding some important aspects of the business environment and avoiding distortions that impose unreasonable costs on businesses. Where business regulation is burdensome and competition limited, success depends more on whom you know than on what you can do. But where regulations are relatively easy to comply with and accessible to all who need to use them, anyone with talent and a good idea should be able to start and grow a business in the formal sector. “The Doing Business report, which was started in 2003, has become one of the key ways in which the bank and other observers gauge business climate within developing countries...” -- The Financial Times “[Doing Business started] as a way to encourage countries to reduce obstacles to entrepreneurship. Developing countries compete to land a spot on the top 10 list of most-improving countries because it is s ...
    DOI: 10.1596/978-0-8213-8833-4
    URL: Volltext  (Deutschlandweit zugänglich)
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    MPI Ethno. Forsch.
  • 3
    Online Resource
    Online Resource
    The World Bank Annual Report 2011 (2011)
    Washington, D.C : The World Bank
    Details
    ISBN: 9780821388297
    Language: English
    Pages: Online-Ressource (32 p)
    Edition: 2011 World Bank eLibrary
    Series Statement: World Bank Annual Report
    Abstract: The World Bank Annual Report is prepared by the Executive Directors of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the International Development Association (IDA) in accordance with the by-laws of the two institutions. The President of the IBRD and IDA and Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors submits the report, along with the accompanying administrative budgets and audited financial statements, to the Board of Governors
    DOI: 10.1596/978-0-8213-8828-0
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  • 4
    Online Resource
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    Impact evaluation of school feeding programs in Lao PDR (2011)
    Washington, D.C : The World Bank
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: Online-Ressource (59 p)
    Edition: 2011 World Bank eLibrary
    Parallel Title: Buttenheim, Alison Impact evaluation of school feeding programs in Lao PDR
    Abstract: Despite the popularity and widespread implementation of school feeding programs, evidence on the impact of school feeding on school participation and nutritional status is mixed. This study evaluates school feeding programs in three northern districts of the Lao People's Democratic Republic (Lao PDR). Feeding modalities included on-site feeding, take-home rations, and a combination. District-level implementation of the intervention sites and selective take-up present considerable evaluation challenges. To address these limitations, the authors use difference-in-difference estimators with propensity-score weighting to construct two plausible counterfactuals. They find minimal evidence that the school feeding schemes increased enrollment or improved children's nutritional status. Several robustness checks and possible explanations for null findings are presented
    DOI: 10.1596/1813-9450-5518
    URL: Volltext  (Deutschlandweit zugänglich)
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  • 5
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    Shrinking classroom age variance raises student achievement : Evidence from developing countries (2011)
    Washington, D.C : The World Bank
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: Online-Ressource (47 p)
    Edition: 2011 World Bank eLibrary
    Parallel Title: Wang, Liang Choon Shrinking classroom age variance raises student achievement
    Abstract: Large classroom variance of student age is prevalent in developing countries, where achievement tends to be low. This paper investigates whether increased classroom age variance adversely affects mathematics and science achievement. Using exogenous variation in the variance of student age in ability-mixing schools, the author finds robust negative effects of classroom age variance on fourth graders' achievement in developing countries. A simulation demonstrates that re-grouping students by age in the sample can improve math and science test scores by roughly 0.1 standard deviations. According to past estimates for the United States, this effect size is similar to that of raising expenditures per student by 26 percent
    DOI: 10.1596/1813-9450-5527
    URL: Volltext  (Deutschlandweit zugänglich)
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  • 6
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    Equity and public governance in health system reform : Challenges and opportunities for China (2011)
    Washington, D.C : The World Bank
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: Online-Ressource (43 p)
    Edition: 2011 World Bank eLibrary
    Parallel Title: Brixi, Hana Equity and public governance in health system reform
    Abstract: Achieving the objective of China's current health system reform, namely equitable improvements in health outcomes, will be difficult not least because of the continuously growing income disparities in the country. The analysis in this paper shows that since 2000, disparity in selected health outcomes has been declining across provinces, largely due to earmarked central government allocations. By contrast, public expenditure on health is increasingly regressive (positively correlated with local income per capita) across provinces, and across prefectures and lower levels within provinces. The increasing inequity in public expenditure at sub-national levels indicates that incentives, responsibilities, and resources at sub-national levels are not well aligned with China's national priorities. To address the weaknesses in equity and efficiency that characterize China's health system and health outcomes, China's health system reform may require complementary reforms to improve governance for public service delivery across sectors
    DOI: 10.1596/1813-9450-5530
    URL: Volltext  (Deutschlandweit zugänglich)
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  • 7
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    Crossing the threshold : An analysis of IBRD graduation policy (2011)
    Washington, D.C : The World Bank
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: Online-Ressource (35 p)
    Edition: 2011 World Bank eLibrary
    Parallel Title: Heckelman, Jac C Crossing the threshold
    Abstract: According to World Bank policy, countries remain eligible to borrow from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development until they are able to sustain long-term development without further recourse to Bank financing. Graduation from the Bank is not an automatic consequence of reaching a particular income level, but rather is supposed to be based on a determination of whether the country has reached a level of institutional development and capital-market access that enables it to sustain its own development process without recourse to Bank funding. This paper assesses how International Bank for Reconstruction and Development graduation policy operates in practice, investigating what income and non-income factors appear to have influenced graduation decisions in recent decades, based on panel data for 1982 through 2008. Explanatory variables include the per-capita income of the country, as well as measures of institutional development and market access that are cited as criteria by the graduation policy, and other plausible explanatory variables that capture the levels of economic development and vulnerability of the country. The authors find that the observed correlates of Bank graduation are generally consistent with the stated policy. Countries that are wealthier, more creditworthy, more institutionally developed, and less vulnerable to shocks are more likely to have graduated. Predicted probabilities generated by the model correspond closely to the actual graduation and de-graduation experiences of most countries (such as Korea and Trinidad and Tobago), and suggest that Hungary and Latvia may have graduated prematurely-a prediction consistent with their subsequent return to borrowing from the Bank in the wake of the global financial crisis
    DOI: 10.1596/1813-9450-5531
    URL: Volltext  (Deutschlandweit zugänglich)
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  • 8
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    Are rural road investments alone sufficient to generate transport flows? : Lessons from a randomized experiment in rural Malawi and policy implications (2011)
    Washington, D.C : The World Bank
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: Online-Ressource (24 p)
    Edition: 2011 World Bank eLibrary
    Parallel Title: Raballand, Gaël Are rural road investments alone sufficient to generate transport flows?
    Abstract: This paper draws lessons from an original randomized experiment in Malawi. In order to understand why roads in relatively good condition in rural areas may not be used by buses, a minibus service was subsidized over a six-month period over a distance of 20 kilometers to serve five villages. Using randomly allocated prices for use of the bus, this experiment demonstrates that at very low prices, bus usage is high. Bus usage decreases rapidly with increased prices. However, based on the results on take-up and minibus provider surveys, the experiment demonstrates that at any price, low (with high usage) or high (with low usage), a bus service provider never breaks even on this road. This can contribute to explain why walking or cycling is so widespread on most rural roads in Sub-Saharan Africa. In terms of policy implications, this experiment explains that motorized services need to be subsidized; otherwise a road in good condition will most probably not lead to provision of service at an affordable price for the local population
    DOI: 10.1596/1813-9450-5535
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  • 9
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    Sunk costs, market contestability, and the size distribution of firms (2011)
    Washington, D.C : The World Bank
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: Online-Ressource (29 p)
    Edition: 2011 World Bank eLibrary
    Parallel Title: Kessides, Ioannis N Sunk costs, market contestability, and the size distribution of firms
    Abstract: This paper offers a new economic explanation for the observed inter-industry differences in the size distribution of firms. The empirical estimates-based on three temporal (1982, 1987, and 1992) cross-sections of the four-digit United States manufacturing industries-indicate that increased market contestability, as signified by low sunk costs, tends to reduce the dispersion of firm sizes. These findings provide support for one of the key predictions of the theory of contestable markets: that market forces under contestability would tend to render any inefficient organization of the industry unsustainable and, consequently, tighten the distribution of firms around the optimum
    DOI: 10.1596/1813-9450-5540
    URL: Volltext  (Deutschlandweit zugänglich)
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  • 10
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    Signaling and technological marketing tools for exporters (2011)
    Washington, D.C : The World Bank
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: Online-Ressource (41 p)
    Edition: 2011 World Bank eLibrary
    Parallel Title: Ferro, Esteban Signaling and technological marketing tools for exporters
    Abstract: Besides superior productivity, what other firm characteristics are associated with export success? This empirical study identifies the effects of signaling tools (foreign technical license, International Standards Organization certification, and review of financial statements) and Internet tools (email and website) on export frequency and intensity of firms in developing countries. Using data from the World Bank's Enterprise Survey, the author finds that productivity, size, foreign ownership, International Standards Organization certification, and the use of Internet tools have positive effects on the probability of exporting and on the intensive margin of trade. International Standards Organization certified firms are 22 percent more likely to be exporters, whereas firms that use their own website to communicate with clients and suppliers increase the likelihood they export by 11 percent. Among exporting firms, those that are International Standards Organization certified sell 41 percent more abroad than firms that are not certified. Firms that use email sell 31 percent more in foreign markets than exporting firms that do not
    DOI: 10.1596/1813-9450-5547
    URL: Volltext  (Deutschlandweit zugänglich)
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  • 11
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    Services liberalization in preferential trade arrangements : the case of Kenya (2011)
    Washington, D.C : The World Bank
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: Online-Ressource (135 p)
    Edition: 2011 World Bank eLibrary
    Parallel Title: Balistreri, Edward J Services liberalization in preferential trade arrangements
    Keywords: Handelspräferenzen ; Handelsliberalisierung ; Kleine offene Volkswirtschaft ; Allgemeines Gleichgewicht ; Unternehmensdienstleistung ; Kenia
    Abstract: Given the growing importance of commitments to foreign investors in services in regional trade agreements, it is important to develop applied general equilibrium models to assess the impacts of liberalization of barriers to multinational service providers. This paper develops a 55 sector applied general equilibrium model of Kenya with foreign direct investment and Dixit-Stiglitz productivity effects from additional varieties of imperfectly competitive goods or services, and uses the model to assess its regional and multilateral trade options, focusing on commitments to foreign investors in services. To assess the sensitivity of the results to parameter values, the model is executed 30,000 times, and results are reported as confidence intervals of the sample distributions. The analysis reveals that a 50 percent preferential reduction in the ad valorem equivalents of barriers in all business services by Kenya with its African partners would be somewhat beneficial for Kenya. If a preferential agreement with African partners is combined with an agreement with the European Union, the gains would more than triple the gains of an Africa only agreement. Multilateral reduction of services barriers, however, would yield gains about 12 times the gains of an agreement with the Africa region alone. These results suggest that preferential liberalization in the region is a valuable first step, but wider liberalization, with larger partners and liberal rules of origin or multilaterally, will yield much larger gains due to providing access to a much wider set of services providers. The largest gains would come from domestic regulatory reform in services, as this would almost triple the gains of multilateral liberalization
    DOI: 10.1596/1813-9450-5552
    URL: Volltext  (Deutschlandweit zugänglich)
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  • 12
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    Mass media and public services : The effects of radio access on public education in Benin (2011)
    Washington, D.C : The World Bank
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: Online-Ressource (34 p)
    Edition: 2011 World Bank eLibrary
    Parallel Title: Keefer, Philip Mass media and public services
    Abstract: Does radio access improve public service provision? And if so, does it do so by increasing government accountability to citizens, or by persuading households to take advantage of publicly-provided services? Prior research has argued that citizens with greater access to mass media receive greater benefits from targeted government welfare programs, but has not addressed these questions for public services such as in education and health. Using unique data from Benin, this paper finds that literacy rates among school children are higher in villages exposed to signals from a larger number of community radio stations. The effect is identified based on a "natural experiment" in the northern communes of Benin where within-commune variation in village access to radio stations is exogenous to observed and unobserved village characteristics. In contrast to prior research, the authors find that this media effect does not operate through government accountability: government inputs into village schools and household knowledge of government education policies are no different in villages with greater access to community radio. Instead, households with greater access are more likely to make financial investments in the education of their children
    DOI: 10.1596/1813-9450-5559
    URL: Volltext  (Deutschlandweit zugänglich)
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  • 13
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    The possibility of a rice green revolution in large-scale irrigation schemes in Sub-Saharan Africa (2011)
    Washington, D.C : The World Bank
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: Online-Ressource (36 p)
    Edition: 2011 World Bank eLibrary
    Parallel Title: Nakano, Yuko The possibility of a rice green revolution in large-scale irrigation schemes in Sub-Saharan Africa
    Abstract: This paper investigates the potential of and constraints to a rice Green Revolution in Sub-Saharan Africa's large-scale irrigation schemes, using data from Uganda, Mozambique, Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, and Senegal. The authors find that adequate irrigation, chemical fertilizer, and labor inputs are the key to high productivity. Chemical fertilizer is expensive in Uganda and Mozambique and is barely used. This is aggravated when water access is limited because of the complementarities between fertilizer and irrigation. Meanwhile, in the schemes located in four countries in West Africa's Sahel region, where water access is generally good and institutional support for chemical fertilizer exists, rice farmers achieve attractive yields. Some countries' wage rate is high and thus mechanization could be one solution for this constraint. Improvement of credit access also facilitates the purchase of expensive fertilizer or the employment of hired labor
    DOI: 10.1596/1813-9450-5560
    URL: Volltext  (Deutschlandweit zugänglich)
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  • 14
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    Designing climate change adaptation policies : An economic framework (2011)
    Washington, D.C : The World Bank
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: Online-Ressource (41 p)
    Edition: 2011 World Bank eLibrary
    Parallel Title: Hallegatte, Stéphane Designing climate change adaptation policies
    Abstract: Adaptation has long been neglected in the debate and policies surrounding climate change. However, increasing awareness of climate change has led many stakeholders to look for the best way to limit its consequences and has resulted in a large number of initiatives related to adaptation, particularly at the local level. This report proposes a general economic framework to help stakeholders in the public sector to develop effective adaptation strategies. To do so, it lays out the general issues involved in adaptation, including the role of uncertainty and inertia, and the need to consider structural changes in addition to marginal adjustments. Then, it identifies the reasons for legitimate public action in terms of adaptation, and four main domains of action: the production and dissemination of information on climate change and its impacts; the adaptation of standards, regulations and fiscal policies; the required changes in institutions; and direct adaptation actions of governments and local communities in terms of public infrastructure, public buildings and ecosystems. Finally, the report suggests a method to build public adaptation plans and to assess the desirability of possible policies
    DOI: 10.1596/1813-9450-5568
    URL: Volltext  (Deutschlandweit zugänglich)
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  • 15
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    Impacts of international migration and remittances on child outcomes and labor supply in Indonesia : How does gender matter? (2011)
    Washington, D.C : The World Bank
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: Online-Ressource (37 p)
    Edition: 2011 World Bank eLibrary
    Parallel Title: Nguyen, Trang Impacts of international migration and remittances on child outcomes and labor supply in Indonesia
    Abstract: This paper aims to investigate empirically how international migration and remittances in Indonesia, particularly female migration, affect child outcomes and labor supply behavior in sending households. The authors analyze the Indonesia Family Life Survey data set and apply an instrumental variable estimation method, using historical migration networks as instruments for migration and remittance receipts. The study finds that, in Indonesia, the impacts of international migration on sending households are likely to vary depending on the gender of the migrants. On average, migration reduces the working hours of remaining household members, but this effect is not observed in households with female migrants. At the same time, female migration and their remittances tend to reduce child labor. The estimated impacts of migration and remittances on school enrollment are not statistically significant, but this result is interesting in that the directions of the effects can be opposite when the migrant is male or female
    DOI: 10.1596/1813-9450-5591
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  • 16
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    Exchange rate uncertainty and optimal participation in international trade (2011)
    Washington, D.C : The World Bank
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: Online-Ressource (10 p)
    Edition: 2011 World Bank eLibrary
    Parallel Title: Mundaca, Gabriela Exchange rate uncertainty and optimal participation in international trade
    Abstract: Instead of just focusing on the effect of exchange rate levels (undervalued or overvalued exchange rates) on trade, this paper provides an analysis of the effects of exchange rate volatility levels on international trade. Intuitively, an increase in exchange rate volatility leads to uncertainty for agents participating in international trade, and such uncertainty might have a negative impact on international trade flows and participation, thereby reducing the advantages of world-wide specialization. This is especially crucial for countries where exchange rate derivatives markets are not yet well developed and the costs of hedging exchange rate risk are very high. The model here considers optimal decisions about participation in international trade under uncertainty about the exchange rate. The main conclusion is that a high level of exchange rate volatility can deter entrepreneurs from becoming exporters, even though exporting can be highly profitable. For those already participating in international trade, it is opposite: they may, optimally, choose not to leave the market even though staying in this market is highly unprofitable in the short run
    DOI: 10.1596/1813-9450-5593
    URL: Volltext  (Deutschlandweit zugänglich)
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  • 17
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    Ethiopia's infrastructure : A continental perspective (2011)
    Washington, D.C : The World Bank
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: Online-Ressource (37 p)
    Edition: 2011 World Bank eLibrary
    Parallel Title: Foster, Vivien Ethiopia's infrastructure
    Abstract: Infrastructure contributed 0.6 percentage points to Ethiopia's annual per capita GDP growth over the last decade. Raising the country's infrastructure endowment to that of the region's middle-income countries could add an additional 3 percentage points to infrastructure's contribution to growth. Ethiopia's infrastructure successes include developing Ethiopia Airlines, a leading regional carrier; upgrading its network of trunk roads; and rapidly expanding access to water and sanitation. The country's greatest infrastructure challenge lies in the power sector, where a further 8,700 megawatts of generating plant are needed over the next decade, implying a doubling of current capacity. The transport sector faces the challenges of low levels of rural accessibility and inadequate road maintenance. Ethiopia's ICT sector currently suffers from a poor institutional and regulatory framework. Addressing Ethiopia's infrastructure deficit will require a sustained annual expenditure of
    DOI: 10.1596/1813-9450-5595
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  • 18
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    Malawi's infrastructure : A continental perspective (2011)
    Washington, D.C : The World Bank
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: Online-Ressource (36 p)
    Edition: 2011 World Bank eLibrary
    Parallel Title: Foster, Vivien Malawi's infrastructure
    DOI: 10.1596/1813-9450-5598
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  • 19
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    The Democratic Republic of Congo's infrastructure : A continental perspective (2011)
    Washington, D.C : The World Bank
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: Online-Ressource (40 p)
    Edition: 2011 World Bank eLibrary
    Parallel Title: Foster, Vivien The Democratic Republic of Congo's infrastructure
    Abstract: The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) faces possibly the most daunting infrastructure challenge on the African continent. Conflict has seriously damaged most infrastructure networks. Vast geography, low population density, extensive forestlands, and criss-crossing rivers complicate the development of new networks. Progress has been made since the return of peace in 2003. A privately funded GSM network now provides mobile telephone signals to two-thirds of the population. External funding has been secured to rebuild the country's road network, and domestic air traffic has grown. Modest investments could harness inland waterways for low-cost transport. Much more substantial investments in hydropower would enable the DRC to meet its own energy demands cheaply while exporting vast quantities of power. One of the country's most immediate infrastructure challenges is to reform the national power utility and increase power generation and delivery. Capacity must increase by 35 percent over the period 2006-15 to meet domestic demand. The dilapidated condition of both road and rail infrastructure presents another challenge. To meet the target defined in the report, investment in the country's infrastructure must increase from
    DOI: 10.1596/1813-9450-5602
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  • 20
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    Food insecurity and public agricultural spending in Bolivia : Putting money where your mouth is? (2011)
    Washington, D.C : The World Bank
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: Online-Ressource (36 p)
    Edition: 2011 World Bank eLibrary
    Parallel Title: Cuesta, Jose Food insecurity and public agricultural spending in Bolivia
    Abstract: This paper explores the reduction of food insecurity in Bolivia, adopting a supply side approach that analyzes the role of agricultural spending on vulnerability. Vulnerability to food insecurity is captured by a municipal level composite-developed locally within the framework of World Food Program food security analysis-that combines welfare outcomes, weather conditions and agricultural potential for all 327 municipalities in 2003, 2006 and 2007. Our econometric results indicate that levels of public agricultural spending are positively associated with high or very high vulnerability. The authors interpret this to indicate that agricultural spending allocation decisions are driven by high or very high vulnerability levels. In other words, more agricultural spending appears to be destined to where it is more needed in line with previous findings in other sectors in Bolivia. This is confirmed through a number of specifications, including contemporaneous and lagged relationships between spending and vulnerability. They also find evidence of public spending on infrastructure and research and extension services having a significant (but very small) effect towards reducing high vulnerability. This indicates the importance of the composition of public agricultural spending in shaping its relationship with vulnerability to food insecurity
    DOI: 10.1596/1813-9450-5604
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  • 21
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    "No way out" : The lack of efficient insolvency regimes in the MENA region (2011)
    Washington, D.C : The World Bank
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: Online-Ressource (36 p)
    Edition: 2011 World Bank eLibrary
    Parallel Title: Uttamchandani, Mahesh No way out
    Abstract: This paper provides a comparative summary of the payout phase of insolvency systems in the MENA Region. Countries in the region generally have weaker restructuring and liquidation systems than those in most other regions. The paper summarizes many of the weaknesses common across the region
    DOI: 10.1596/1813-9450-5609
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  • 22
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    How Resilient Were Emerging Economies to the Global Crisis? (2011)
    Washington, D.C : The World Bank
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: Online-Ressource (58 p)
    Edition: 2011 World Bank eLibrary
    Parallel Title: Didier, Tatiana How Resilient Were Emerging Economies to the Global Crisis?
    Abstract: This paper studies the cross-country incidence of the 2008-2009 global crisis and documents a structural break in the way emerging economies responded to the global shock. Contrary to popular perceptions, emerging market economies suffered growth collapses comparable, or even larger, to those experienced by advanced economies during the crisis. With such large financial and real shock, most of the world economy came to a halt when the crisis hit, with most countries resuming their pre-crisis growth rates afterwards. While emerging economies were not able to avoid the crisis collapse, they grew at a higher rate during the post crisis, relative to before and, as usual, to advanced countries. Moreover, emerging economies initiated their recovery sooner. Breaking with the past, emerging economies were able to conduct countercyclical policies, and became more similar to developed countries in softening the impact of the crisis and in their ability to pursue expansionary policies
    DOI: 10.1596/1813-9450-5637
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  • 23
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    Stimulating Managerial Capital in Emerging Markets : The Impact of Business and Financial Literacy for Young Entrepreneurs (2011)
    Washington, D.C : The World Bank
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: Online-Ressource (62 p)
    Edition: 2011 World Bank eLibrary
    Parallel Title: Bruhn, Miriam Stimulating Managerial Capital in Emerging Markets
    Abstract: Identifying the determinants of entrepreneurship is an important research and policy goal, especially in emerging market economies where lack of capital and supporting infrastructure often imposes stringent constraints on business growth. This paper studies the impact of a comprehensive business and financial literacy program on firm outcomes of young entrepreneurs in an emerging post-conflict economy, Bosnia and Herzegovina. The authors conduct a randomized control trial and find that while the training program did not influence business survival, it significantly improved business practices, investments, and loan terms for surviving businesses. Entrepreneurs with higher ex-ante financial literacy further exhibited some improvements in business performance and sales
    DOI: 10.1596/1813-9450-5642
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  • 24
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    Five Feet High and Rising : Cities and Flooding in the 21st Century (2011)
    Washington, D.C : The World Bank
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: Online-Ressource (68 p)
    Edition: 2011 World Bank eLibrary
    Parallel Title: Jha, Abhas Five Feet High and Rising
    Abstract: Urban flooding is an increasingly important issue. Disaster statistics appear to show flood events are becoming more frequent, with medium-scale events increasing fastest. The impact of flooding is driven by a combination of natural and human-induced factors. As recent flood events in Pakistan, Brazil, Sri Lanka and Australia show, floods can occur in widespread locations and can sometimes overwhelm even the best prepared countries and cities. There are known and tested measures for urban flood risk management, typically classified as structural or engineered measures, and non-structural, management techniques. A combination of measures to form an integrated management approach is most likely to be successful in reducing flood risk. In the short term and for developing countries in particular, the factors affecting exposure and vulnerability are increasing at the fastest rate as urbanization puts more people and more assets at risk. In the longer term, however, climate scenarios are likely to be one of the most important drivers of future changes in flood risk. Due to the large uncertainties in projections of climate change, adaptation to the changing risk needs to be flexible to a wide range of future scenarios and to be able to cope with potentially large changes in sea level, rainfall intensity and snowmelt. Climate uncertainty and budgetary, institutional and practical constraints are likely to lead to a combining of structural and non-structural measures for urban flood risk management, and arguably, to a move away from what is sometimes an over-reliance on hard-engineered defenses and toward more adaptable and incremental non-structural solutions
    DOI: 10.1596/1813-9450-5648
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  • 25
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    Methodology for the Assessment of Data Quality : Application to HIV and AIDS Programs in Latin America (2011)
    Washington, D.C : The World Bank
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: Online-Ressource (101 p)
    Edition: 2011 World Bank eLibrary
    Parallel Title: Rodriguez-García, Rosalía Methodology for the Assessment of Data Quality
    Abstract: Evidence is crucial in strategic planning for HIV response as well as the monitoring of results. This paper presents a simple tool that can be used to analyze the methodological quality of HIV data, its scope and limitations, and whether it can be accurately compared with other evidence. The tool, utilized as a questionnaire or checklist, first identifies the type of document containing the data; the status and means of its publication; the epidemiological design used; and the priority population. Next, the document is analyzed against a verification list based on eight methodological criteria: 1) objective; 2) inclusion and exclusion criteria; 3) sample size; 4) sampling technique; 5) error-reduction strategies; 6) data analysis technique; 7) limitations; and 8) confidence intervals and/or statistical significance. The paper also presents the results of implementing the tool in three Latin American countries
    DOI: 10.1596/1813-9450-5653
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  • 26
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    Success and Failure of African Exporters (2011)
    Washington, D.C : The World Bank
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: Online-Ressource (38 p)
    Edition: 2011 World Bank eLibrary
    Parallel Title: Cadot, Olivier Success and Failure of African Exporters
    Abstract: Using a novel dataset with transactions level exports data from four African countries (Malawi, Mali, Senegal and Tanzania), this paper uncovers evidence of a high degree of experimentation at the extensive margin associated with low survival rates, consistent with high and middle income country evidence. Consequently, the authors focus on the questions of what determines success and survival beyond the first year and find that survival probability rises with the number of firms exporting the same product to the same destination from the same country, pointing towards the existence of cross-firm synergies. Accordingly the evidence is consistent with the hypothesis that those synergies may be driven by information spillovers. More intuitively and consistently with multi-product firms models, the analysis also finds that firms more diversified in terms of products, but even more in terms of markets, are more likely to be successful and survive beyond the first year
    DOI: 10.1596/1813-9450-5657
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  • 27
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    Maize Revolutions in Sub-Saharan Africa (2011)
    Washington, D.C : The World Bank
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: Online-Ressource (34 p)
    Edition: 2011 World Bank eLibrary
    Parallel Title: Smale, Melinda Maize Revolutions in Sub-Saharan Africa
    Abstract: There have been numerous episodes of widespread adoption of improved seed and long-term achievements in the development of the maize seed industry in Sub-Saharan Africa. This summary takes a circumspect view of technical change in maize production. Adoption of improved seed has continued to rise gradually, now representing an estimated 44 percent of maize area in Eastern and Southern Africa (outside South Africa), and 60 percent of maize area in West and Central Africa. Use of fertilizer and restorative crop management practices remains relatively low and inefficient. An array of extension models has been tested and a combination of approaches will be needed to reach maize producers in heterogeneous agricultural environments. Yield growth overall has been 1 percent over the past half-century, although this figure masks the high variability in maize yields, as well as improvements in resistance to disease and abiotic pressures that would have caused yield decline in the absence of maize breeding progress. The authors argue that conducive policies are equally, if not more, important for maize productivity in the region than the development of new technology and techniques. Currently popular, voucher-based subsidies can "crowd out" the private sector and could be fiscally unsustainable
    DOI: 10.1596/1813-9450-5659
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  • 28
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    On the Relevance of Freedom and Entitlement in Development : New Empirical Evidence (1975-2007) (2011)
    Washington, D.C : The World Bank
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: Online-Ressource (39 p)
    Edition: 2011 World Bank eLibrary
    Parallel Title: Chauffour, Jean-Pierre On the Relevance of Freedom and Entitlement in Development
    Abstract: Reviewing the economic performance-good and bad-of more than 100 countries over the past 30 years, this paper finds new empirical evidence supporting the idea that economic freedom and civil and political liberties are the root causes of why some countries achieve and sustain better economic outcomes. For instance, a one unit change in the initial level of economic freedom between two countries (on a scale of 1 to 10) is associated with an almost 1 percentage point differential in their average long-run economic growth rates. In the case of civil and political liberties, the long-term effect is also positive and significant with a differential of 0.3 percentage point. In addition to the initial conditions, the expansion of freedom conditions over time (economic, civil, and political) also positively influences long-run economic growth. In contrast, no evidence was found that the initial level of entitlement rights or their change over time had any significant effects on long-term per capita income, except for a negative effect in some specifications of the model. These results tend to support earlier findings that beyond core functions of government responsibility-including the protection of liberty itself-the expansion of the state to provide for various entitlements, including so-called economic, social, and cultural rights, may not make people richer in the long run and may even make them poorer
    DOI: 10.1596/1813-9450-5660
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  • 29
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    Incentive Compatible Reforms : The Political Economy of Public Investments in Mongolia (2011)
    Washington, D.C : The World Bank
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: Online-Ressource (24 p)
    Edition: 2011 World Bank eLibrary
    Parallel Title: Hasnain, Zahid Incentive Compatible Reforms
    Abstract: Why do politicians distort public investments? And given that public investments are poor because presumably that is what is politically rational, what types of reforms are likely to be both efficiency improving and compatible with the interests of politicians? This paper explores these two questions in the context of Mongolia. It argues that Mongolian members of parliament have an incentive to over-spend on smaller projects that bring benefits to specific geographical localities and to under-spend on large infrastructure that would bring economic benefits to Mongolia on the whole. The incentive for the former is that members of parliament internalize the political benefits from the provision of particular, targeted benefits to specific communities. The disincentive for the latter is that large infrastructure carries a political risk because the political faction in control of that particular ministry would have access to huge rents and become politically too powerful. The identity of these "winners" is uncertain ex ante, given the relatively egalitarian and ethnically homogenous nature of Mongolia's society and polity. Anticipating this risk, members of parliament are reluctant to fund these projects. Since these large infrastructure projects are crucial for national growth, neglecting them hurts all members of parliament. Members of parliament will therefore support reforms that collectively tie their hands by safeguarding large, strategic investment projects from political interference thereby ensuring that no political faction becomes too powerful. This protection of mega-projects would need to be part of a bargain that also allows geographical targeting of some percentage of the capital budget
    DOI: 10.1596/1813-9450-5667
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  • 30
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    Does Cash for School Influence Young Women's Behavior in the Longer Term : Evidence from Pakistan (2011)
    Washington, D.C : The World Bank
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: Online-Ressource (57 p)
    Edition: 2011 World Bank eLibrary
    Parallel Title: Alam, Andaleeb Does Cash for School Influence Young Women's Behavior in the Longer Term
    Abstract: The Punjab Female School Stipend Program, a female-targeted conditional cash transfer program in Pakistan, was implemented in response to gender gaps in education. An early evaluation of the program shows that the enrollment of eligible girls in middle school increased in the short term by nearly 9 percentage points. This paper uses regression discontinuity and difference-in-difference analyses to show that five years into the program implementation positive impacts do persist. Beneficiary adolescent girls are more likely to progress through and complete middle school and work less. There is suggestive evidence that participating girls delay their marriage and have fewer births by the time they are 19 years old. Girls who are exposed to the program later, and who are eligible for the benefits given in high school, increase their rates of matriculating into and completing high school. The persistence of impacts can potentially translate into gains in future productivity, consumption, inter-generational human capital accumulation and desired fertility. Lastly, there is no evidence that the program has negative spillover effects on educational outcomes of male siblings
    DOI: 10.1596/1813-9450-5669
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  • 31
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    Strategic Climate Policy with Offsets and Incomplete Abatement : Carbon Taxes versus Cap-and-Trade (2011)
    Washington, D.C : The World Bank
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: Online-Ressource (41 p)
    Edition: 2011 World Bank eLibrary
    Parallel Title: Strand, Jon Strategic Climate Policy with Offsets and Incomplete Abatement
    Abstract: This paper provides a first analysis of optimal offset policies by a "policy bloc" of fossil fuel importers implementing a climate policy, facing a (non-policy) fringe of other importers, and a bloc of fuel exporters. The policy bloc uses either a carbon tax or a cap-and-trade scheme, jointly with a fully efficient offset mechanism for reducing emissions in the fringe. The policy bloc is then shown to prefer a tax over a cap-and-trade scheme, since 1) a tax extracts more rent as fuel exporters reduce the export price, and more so when the policy bloc is larger relative to the fringe; and 2) offsets are more favorable to the policy bloc under a tax than under a cap-and-trade scheme. The optimal offset price under a carbon tax is half the tax rate; under a cap-and-trade scheme the quota and offset price are equal. The domestic carbon and offset price are both higher under a tax than under a cap-and-trade scheme when the policy bloc is small; when it is larger the offset price can be higher under a cap-and-trade scheme. Fringe countries gain by mitigation in the policy bloc, and more under a carbon tax since the fuel import price is lower, and since the price obtained when selling offsets is often higher (always so for a large fringe)
    DOI: 10.1596/1813-9450-5675
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  • 32
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    International Harmonization of Product Standards and Firm Heterogeneity in International Trade (2011)
    Washington, D.C : The World Bank
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: Online-Ressource (35 p)
    Edition: 2011 World Bank eLibrary
    Parallel Title: Reyes, José-Daniel International Harmonization of Product Standards and Firm Heterogeneity in International Trade
    Abstract: As free trade areas have proliferated and statutory tariffs have been dramatically reduced in recent decades, non-tariff barriers (NTBs) to international trade have risen in importance. Destination-specific product standards are one of the major types of NTBs as they impose additional costs on exporters and increase the time required to bring a product to market. This paper examines the response of U.S. manufacturing firms to a reduction of this NTB by looking at the harmonization of European product standards to international norms in the electronics sector. Using a highly detailed dataset that links U.S. international trade transactions to U.S. firms and a new industry-level database of EU product standards, the author finds that harmonization increases U.S. exports to the EU and that this increase is due to more U.S. firms entering the EU market-the extensive margin of trade. New entrants to the EU region are drawn mainly from the most productive set of firms already exporting to developing markets before harmonization -the extensive margin of trade composition. These firms are characterized by being smaller and less productive than the firms that were already exporting to the EU before harmonization. Furthermore, harmonization decreases export sales at existing exporters -the intensive margin of trade. These findings are consistent with a model featuring the role of product standards heterogeneity across market destinations and productivity heterogeneity across firms. These results suggest that working toward a harmonization of product rules across markets could be a supportive policy to encourage small and medium size firms' ability to enter new export markets
    DOI: 10.1596/1813-9450-5677
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  • 33
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    Small Area Estimation-Based Prediction Methods to Track Poverty : Validation and Applications (2011)
    Washington, D.C : The World Bank
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: Online-Ressource (46 p)
    Edition: 2011 World Bank eLibrary
    Parallel Title: Christiaensen, Luc Small Area Estimation-Based Prediction Methods to Track Poverty
    Abstract: Tracking poverty is predicated on the availability of comparable consumption data and reliable price deflators. However, regular series of strictly comparable data are only rarely available. Price deflators are also often missing or disputed. In response, poverty prediction methods that track consumption correlates as opposed to consumption itself have been developed. These methods typically assume that the estimated relation between consumption and its predictors is stable over time-an assumption that cannot usually be tested directly. This study analyzes the performance of poverty prediction models based on small area estimation techniques. Predicted poverty estimates are compared with directly observed levels in two country settings where data comparability over time is not a problem. Prediction models that employ either non-staple food or non-food expenditures or a full set of assets as predictors are found to yield poverty estimates that match observed poverty well. This offers some support to the use of such methods to approximate the evolution of poverty. Two further country examples illustrate how an application of the method employing models based on household assets can help to adjudicate between alternative price deflators
    DOI: 10.1596/1813-9450-5683
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  • 34
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    Adjusting the Labor Supply to Mitigate Violent Shocks : Evidence from Rural Colombia (2011)
    Washington, D.C : The World Bank
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: Online-Ressource (55 p)
    Edition: 2011 World Bank eLibrary
    Parallel Title: Fernández, Manuel Adjusting the Labor Supply to Mitigate Violent Shocks
    Abstract: This paper studies the use of labor markets to mitigate the impact of violent shocks on households in rural areas in Colombia. It examines changes in the labor supply from on-farm to off-farm labor as a means of coping with the violent shock and the ensuing redistribution of time within households. It identifies the heterogeneous response by gender. Because the incidence of violent shocks is not exogenous, the analysis uses instrumental variables that capture several dimensions of the cost of exercising terror. As a response to the violent shocks, households decrease the time spent on on-farm work and increase their supply of labor to off-farm activities (non-agricultural ones). Men carry the bulk of the adjustment in the use of time inasmuch as they supply the most hours to off-farm non-agricultural work and formal labor markets. Labor markets do not fully absorb the additional labor supply. Women in particular are unable to find jobs in formal labor markets and men have increased time dedicated to leisure and household chores. Additional off-farm supply does not fully cover the decrease in consumption. The results suggest that in rural Colombia, labor markets are a limited alternative for coping with violent shocks. Thus, policies in conflict-affected countries should go beyond short-term relief and aim at preventing labor markets from collapsing and at supporting the recovery of agricultural production
    DOI: 10.1596/1813-9450-5684
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  • 35
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    Cape Verde's Infrastructure : A Continental Perspective (2011)
    Washington, D.C : The World Bank
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: Online-Ressource (35 p)
    Edition: 2011 World Bank eLibrary
    Parallel Title: Briceño-Garmendia, Cecilia M Cape Verde's Infrastructure
    Abstract: Cape Verde stands out in West Africa as a country whose economic geography poses major and unique challenges for infrastructure development. Its small population of half a million people is spread across a nine-island archipelago. The islands need complementary infrastructure in terms of roads, water, transport, ports, power, and ICT. Cape Verde already has well-developed infrastructure networks. Road density is relatively high, and most of the national network is paved. Almost all islands have port and airport facilities. Around 70 percent of the population has power and utility water. Indicators for ICT coverage-penetration, bandwidth, submarine cable, private sector participation-are relatively good. Nevertheless, prices for all services are exceptionally high. The quality of services is often deficient. At least half of the national road network is in poor condition; power supply is unreliable; and half of the population receives water from standposts. Cape Verde devotes around
    DOI: 10.1596/1813-9450-5687
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  • 36
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    Making Services Work : Indicators, Assessments, and Benchmarking of the Quality and Governance of Public Service Delivery in the Human Development Sectors (2011)
    Washington, D.C : The World Bank
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: Online-Ressource (40 p)
    Edition: 2011 World Bank eLibrary
    Parallel Title: Fiszbein, Ariel Making Services Work
    Abstract: Improving governance is central to improving results in human development. It is clear that money is not enough: improved outcomes from service delivery require better governance, including mechanisms for holding service providers accountable and appropriate incentives for performance. There is therefore a growing demand for indicators to measure how and whether these processes work, and how they affect health and education results. This paper makes the case for measuring governance policies and performance, and the quality of service delivery in health and education. It develops a framework for selecting and measuring a set of indicators and proposes options, drawing from new and innovative measurement tools and approaches. The paper proposes the adoption of a more systematic approach that will both facilitate the work of health and education policymakers and allow for cross-country comparisons and benchmarking
    DOI: 10.1596/1813-9450-5690
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  • 37
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    Disaster Risk Financing and Contingent Credit : A Dynamic Analysis (2011)
    Washington, D.C : The World Bank
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: Online-Ressource (33 p)
    Edition: 2011 World Bank eLibrary
    Parallel Title: Clarke, Daniel Disaster Risk Financing and Contingent Credit
    Abstract: This paper aims to assist policy makers interested in establishing or strengthening financial strategies to increase the financial response capacity of developing country governments in the aftermath of natural disasters, while protecting their long-term fiscal balance. Contingent credit is shown to increase the ability of governments to self-insure by relaxing their short-term liquidity constraints. In many situations, contingent credit is most effectively used to facilitate risk retention for middle layers, with reserves used for bottom layers and risk transfer (for example, reinsurance) for top layers. Discussions with governments on the optimal use of contingent credit instruments as part of a sovereign catastrophe risk financing strategy can be guided by the output of a dynamic financial analysis model specifically developed to allow for the provision of contingent credit, in addition to reserves and/or reinsurance. This model is illustrated with three country case studies: agricultural production risks in India; tropical cyclone risk in Fiji; and earthquake risk in Costa Rica
    DOI: 10.1596/1813-9450-5693
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  • 38
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    Crossing Boundaries : Gender, Caste and Schooling in Rural Pakistan (2011)
    Washington, D.C : The World Bank
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: Online-Ressource (32 p)
    Edition: 2011 World Bank eLibrary
    Parallel Title: Jacoby, Hanan G Crossing Boundaries
    Abstract: Can communal heterogeneity explain persistent educational inequities in developing countries? The paper uses a novel data-set from rural Pakistan that explicitly recognizes the geographic structure of villages and the social makeup of constituent hamlets to show that demand for schooling is sensitive to the allocation of schools across ethnically fragmented communities. The analysis focuses on two types of social barriers: stigma based on caste affiliation and female seclusion that is more rigidly enforced outside a girl's own hamlet. Results indicate a substantial decrease in primary school enrollment rates for girls who have to cross hamlet boundaries to attend, irrespective of school distance, an effect not present for boys. However, low-caste children, both boys and girls, are deterred from enrolling when the most convenient school is in a hamlet dominated by high-caste households. In particular, low-caste girls, the most educationally disadvantaged group, benefit from improved school access only when the school is also caste-concordant. A policy experiment indicates that providing schools in low-caste dominant hamlets would increase overall enrollment by almost twice as much as a policy of placing a school in every unserved hamlet, and would do so at one-sixth of the cost
    DOI: 10.1596/1813-9450-5710
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  • 39
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    Can Diaries Help Improve Agricultural Production Statistics : Evidence from Uganda (2011)
    Washington, D.C : The World Bank
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: Online-Ressource (25 p)
    Edition: 2011 World Bank eLibrary
    Parallel Title: Deininger, Klaus Can Diaries Help Improve Agricultural Production Statistics
    Abstract: Although good and timely information on agricultural production is critical for policy-decisions, the quality of underlying data is often low and improving data quality could have a high payoff. This paper uses data from a production diary, administered concurrently with a standard household survey in Uganda to analyze the nature and incidence of responses, the magnitude of differences in reported outcomes, and factors that systematically affect these. Despite limited central supervision, diaries elicited a strong response, complemented standard surveys in a number of respects, and were less affected by problems of respondent fatigue than expected. The diary-based estimates of output value consistently exceeded that from the recall-based production survey, in line with reported disposition. Implications for policy and practical administration of surveys are drawn out
    DOI: 10.1596/1813-9450-5717
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  • 40
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    The Correlation between Human Capital and Morality and its Effect on Economic Performance : Theory and Evidence (2011)
    Washington, D.C : The World Bank
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: Online-Ressource (51 p)
    Edition: 2011 World Bank eLibrary
    Parallel Title: Balan, David J The Correlation between Human Capital and Morality and its Effect on Economic Performance
    Abstract: This paper incorporates morality-defined as lower utility from consuming goods obtained through appropriative rather than productive activities-into a simple static general equilibrium model in which agents choose whether to be producers or appropriators. The authors analyze the relationship between the correlation between morality and human capital on the one hand, and aggregate economic performance on the other. They show that there is a main effect that tends to cause this relationship to be positive, and that there can be secondary effects that can either rein-force or oppose (or even overbalance) the main effect. They test the theory using the World Val-ues Survey as a source of proxies for morality. Using their preferred proxy, they find evidence that higher within-country correlation between morality and ability, holding constant the levels of morality and ability, increases per-capita income levels. Under the preferred specification, a one-standard-deviation increase in the correlation between morality and ability raises the log of per-capita income by about one-fourth of a standard deviation, equal to approximately
    DOI: 10.1596/1813-9450-5720
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  • 41
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    Trade Credit Contracts (2011)
    Washington, D.C : The World Bank
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: Online-Ressource (40 p)
    Edition: 2011 World Bank eLibrary
    Parallel Title: Klapper, Leora Trade Credit Contracts
    Keywords: Lieferantenkredit ; Europa ; Nordamerika
    Abstract: The authors employ a novel dataset on almost 30,000 trade credit contracts to describe the broad characteristics of the parties that contract together; the key contractual terms, such as the discount for early payment; and the days by when payment is due. Whereas prior work has typically used information on only one side of the buyer-seller transaction, this paper utilizes information on both. The authors find that the largest and most creditworthy buyers receive contracts with the longest maturities from smaller suppliers, with the latter extending credit to the former perhaps as a way of certifying product quality. Discounts for early payment seem to be offered to riskier buyers to limit the potential nonpayment risk when credit is extended for non-financial reasons
    DOI: 10.1596/1813-9450-5726
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  • 42
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    Productivity Effects of Land Rental Markets in Ethiopia : Evidence from a Matched Tenant-Landlord Sample (2011)
    Washington, D.C : The World Bank
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: Online-Ressource (35 p)
    Edition: 2011 World Bank eLibrary
    Parallel Title: Deininger, Klaus Productivity Effects of Land Rental Markets in Ethiopia
    Abstract: As countries increasingly strive to transform their economies from agriculture-based into a diversified one, land rental will become of greater importance. It will thus be critical to complement research on the efficiency of specific land rental arrangements-such as sharecropping-with an inquiry into the broader productivity impacts of the land rental market. Plot-level data for a matched landlord-tenant sample in an environment where sharecropping dominates allows this paper to explore both issues. The authors find that pure output sharing leads to significantly lower levels of efficiency that can be attenuated by monitoring while the inefficiency disappears if inputs are shared as well. Rentals transfer land to more productive producers but realization of this productivity advantage is prevented by the inefficiency of contractual arrangements, suggesting changes that would prompt adoption of different contractual arrangements could have significant benefits
    DOI: 10.1596/1813-9450-5727
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  • 43
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    Civil Society, Public Action and Accountability in Africa (2011)
    Washington, D.C : The World Bank
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: Online-Ressource (68 p)
    Edition: 2011 World Bank eLibrary
    Parallel Title: Devarajan, Shantayanan Civil Society, Public Action and Accountability in Africa
    Abstract: This paper examines the potential role of civil society action in increasing state accountability for development in Sub-Saharan Africa. It further develops the analytical framework of the World Development Report 2004 on accountability relationships, to emphasize the underlying political economy drivers of accountability and implications for how civil society is constituted and functions. It argues on this basis that the most important domain for improving accountability is through the political relations between citizens, civil society, and state leadership. The evidence broadly suggests that when higher-level political leadership provides sufficient or appropriate powers for citizen participation in holding within-state agencies or frontline providers accountable, there is frequently positive impact on outcomes. However, the big question remaining for such types of interventions is how to improve the incentives of higher-level leadership to pursue appropriate policy design and implementation. The paper argues that there is substantial scope for greater efforts in this domain, including through the support of external aid agencies. Such efforts and support should, however, build on existing political and civil society structures (rather than transplanting "best practice" initiatives from elsewhere), and be structured for careful monitoring and assessment of impact
    DOI: 10.1596/1813-9450-5733
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  • 44
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    Measuring Aversion to Debt : An Experiment Among Student Loan Candidates (2011)
    Washington, D.C : The World Bank
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: Online-Ressource (31 p)
    Edition: 2011 World Bank eLibrary
    Parallel Title: Caetano, Gregorio Measuring Aversion to Debt
    Abstract: This paper reports the results of an experiment designed to test for the presence of debt aversion. The population who participated in the experiment were recent financial aid candidates and the experiment focused on student loans. The goal is to shed new light on different aspects of the perceptions with respect to debt. These perceptions can prevent agents from choosing an optimal portfolio or from undertaking attractive investment opportunities, such as in education. The study design disentangles two types of debt aversion: one that is studied in the previous literature, which encompasses both framing and labeling effects, and another that controls for framing effects and identifies only what we denote labeling debt aversion. The results suggest that participants in the experiment exhibit debt aversion, and most of the debt aversion is due to labeling effects. Labeling a contract as a "loan" decreases its probability of being chosen over a financially equivalent contract by more than 8 percent. The analysis also provides evidence that students are willing to pay a premium of about 4 percent of the financed value to avoid a contract labeled as debt
    DOI: 10.1596/1813-9450-5737
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  • 45
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    Entrepreneurship Capital and Technical Efficiency : The Role of New Business/Firms as a Conduit of Knowledge Spillovers (2011)
    Washington, D.C : The World Bank
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: Online-Ressource (24 p)
    Edition: 2011 World Bank eLibrary
    Parallel Title: Laborda, Leopoldo Entrepreneurship Capital and Technical Efficiency
    Abstract: Increasingly, entrepreneurship is being discussed and considered as a source of high economic growth and competitiveness. A conceptual process of creative construction that characterizes the dynamics between entrants and incumbents can prove quite useful to analyze the impact of countries' entrepreneurship capital on economic performance and can be a guide for economic policy. This paper applies a Stochastic Frontier Analysis approach to test the hypothesis that entrepreneurship capital promotes economic performance by serving as a conduit of knowledge spillovers. In addition, kernel density functions are employed to analyze convergence (or divergence) in the efficiency estimated for individual countries. The empirical evidence and results here tend to support the hypothesis. Specifically, the empirical analysis shows that the rate of expenditure on research and development in relation to new businesses registered has a positive and significant effect in increasing technical efficiency. These factors facilitate the dissemination of existing knowledge, develop entrepreneurship capital, and thus provide the missing link to economic performance-entrepreneurship capital. The authors also show the trends and dynamics of changes in countries' technical efficiency
    DOI: 10.1596/1813-9450-5739
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  • 46
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    Why Does the Productivity of Education Vary Across Individuals in Egypt : Firm Size, Gender, and Access to Technology as Sources of Heterogeneity in Returns to Education (2011)
    Washington, D.C : The World Bank
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: Online-Ressource (39 p)
    Edition: 2011 World Bank eLibrary
    Parallel Title: Herrera, Santiago Why Does the Productivity of Education Vary Across Individuals in Egypt
    Abstract: The paper estimates the rates of return to investment in education in Egypt, allowing for multiple sources of heterogeneity across individuals. The paper finds that, in the period 1998-2006, returns to education increased for workers with higher education, but fell for workers with intermediate education levels; the relative wage of illiterate workers also fell in the period. This change can be explained by supply and demand factors. On the supply side, the number workers with intermediate education, as well as illiterate ones, outpaced the growth of other categories joining the labor force during the decade. From the labor demand side, the Egyptian economy experienced a structural transformation by which sectors demanding higher-skilled labor, such as financial intermediation and communications, gained importance to the detriment of agriculture and construction, which demand lower-skilled workers. In Egypt, individuals are sorted into different educational tracks, creating the first source of heterogeneity: those that are sorted into the general secondary-university track have higher returns than those sorted into vocational training. Second, the paper finds that large-firm workers earn higher returns than small-firm workers. Third, females have larger returns to education. Female government workers earn similar wages as private sector female workers, while male workers in the private sector earn a premium of about 20 percent on average. This could lead to higher female reservation wages, which could explain why female unemployment rates are significantly higher than male unemployment rates. Formal workers earn higher rates of return to education than those in the informal sector, which did not happen a decade earlier. And finally, those individuals with access to technology (as proxied by personal computer ownership) have higher returns
    DOI: 10.1596/1813-9450-5740
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  • 47
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    Informality and Protection from Health Shocks : Lessons from Yemen (2011)
    Washington, D.C : The World Bank
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: Online-Ressource (51 p)
    Edition: 2011 World Bank eLibrary
    Parallel Title: Cho, Yoonyoung Informality and Protection from Health Shocks
    Abstract: The informal sector is generally believed to be more vulnerable to various risks due to limited access to social insurance, but little empirical evidence exists to support this statement. This paper examines the relationship between informality and protection from health risks in Yemen. The formal sector, when defined based on pension coverage, largely overlaps with public employment where the better educated, more experienced, and better informed tend to work. The results indicate that, even after accounting for socioeconomic status, water supply and quality conditions, risky behavior patterns, and unobserved heterogeneity, formal sector households have better accessibility and affordability to health service. This may in part explain better health outcomes among formal households, although large heterogeneity across regions (urban/rural) exists. However, the role of the existing health insurance is found to be unclear. The findings reconfirm the importance of policies that promote universal access to health service and a risk pooling avenue delinked from employment types as well as healthy living conditions and lifestyles
    DOI: 10.1596/1813-9450-5746
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  • 48
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    Governance in State-Owned Enterprises Revisited : The Cases of Water and Electricity in Latin America and the Caribbean (2011)
    Washington, D.C : The World Bank
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: Online-Ressource (28 p)
    Edition: 2011 World Bank eLibrary
    Parallel Title: Andrés, Luis Alberto Governance in State-Owned Enterprises Revisited
    Abstract: This paper studies the governance structure of state-owned enterprises in the water and electricity sectors of Latin America and the Caribbean. Through a unique dataset, the paper compares 44 leading state companies of the region based on an aggregate measure of corporate governance and six salient aspects of their design: board, chief executive officer, performance orientation, management, legal framework, and transparency/disclosure. The results indicate the need for improvement in areas such as the selection and appointment of directors to the board and the performance-orientation of the enterprises. The paper also highlights the importance of discussing the management of state-owned enterprises in the wider context of public sector governance, with particular focus on accountability. Moreover, it recognizes the role of accountability as central in the management of state-owned enterprises, recommending a better understanding of regulation and performance management. The paper finds a positive correlation between corporate governance and the utilities' performance. Among the different aspects of corporate governance, performance orientation and professional management seem to be the highest contributors to well-performing state-owned enterprises. State-owned enterprises in the electricity sector show higher governance levels than those in the water sector
    DOI: 10.1596/1813-9450-5747
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  • 49
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    Estimating the Impact of Trade and Offshoring on American Workers Using the Current Population Surveys (2011)
    Washington, D.C : The World Bank
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: Online-Ressource (57 p)
    Edition: 2011 World Bank eLibrary
    Parallel Title: Ebenstein, Avraham Estimating the Impact of Trade and Offshoring on American Workers Using the Current Population Surveys
    Abstract: The authors link industry-level data on trade and offshoring with individual-level worker data from the Current Population Surveys. They find that occupational exposure to globalization is associated with larger wage effects than industry exposure. This effect has been overlooked because it operates between rather than within sectors of the economy. The authors also find that globalization is associated with a reallocation of workers across sectors and occupations. They estimate wage losses of 2 to 4 percent among workers leaving manufacturing and 4 to 11 percent among workers who also switch occupations. These effects are most pronounced for workers who perform routine tasks
    DOI: 10.1596/1813-9450-5750
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  • 50
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    Stakeholder Dialogue as an Institutional Strategy for Sustainable Development in China : The Case of Community Environmental Roundtables (2011)
    Washington, D.C : The World Bank
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: Online-Ressource (27 p)
    Edition: 2011 World Bank eLibrary
    Parallel Title: Wang, Hua Stakeholder Dialogue as an Institutional Strategy for Sustainable Development in China
    Abstract: Stakeholder dialogue, as an alternative institutional strategy for environmentally and socially sustainable development, has received little attention from researchers and practitioners in developing countries such as China, even though the dialogue strategy can potentially lead public governance to a more efficient level. This paper first discusses the potential of stakeholder dialogue as an institutional tool for promoting sustainable development in China, and then presents a pilot program of stakeholder dialogue recently developed in China-the community environmental roundtables. Community leaders organize roundtable dialogues where representatives from government agencies, companies and the local residents exchange their views toward certain environmental issues they are facing and discuss possible ways to resolve the issues. Informal agreements are reached during the dialogues and implemented after them. This community roundtable dialogue strategy has been piloted in dozens of Chinese municipalities, addressing various environmental issues. A survey of dialogue participants shows that significant impacts have been generated on environmental protection, community management, as well as social and institutional development at the community level. Mutual understanding and trust among the government, companies, and local citizens are enhanced, environmental and social conflicts are reduced, and the public performance of various parties has been improved. This approach is expected to help solve other conflicts and public governance issues in China as well. The potential challenges of institutionalizing such a program in China are also discussed in the paper
    DOI: 10.1596/1813-9450-5759
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  • 51
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    The Mechanics and Regulation of Variable Payout Annuities (2011)
    Washington, D.C : The World Bank
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: Online-Ressource (63 p)
    Edition: 2011 World Bank eLibrary
    Parallel Title: Vittas, Dimitri The Mechanics and Regulation of Variable Payout Annuities
    Abstract: This paper discusses the mechanics and regulation of participating and unit-linked variable payout annuities. These annuities offer benefits that are not fixed in either nominal or real terms but depend on the performance of the fund or funds in which the underlying reserve assets are invested, their profit sharing features, and the treatment of longevity risk. The paper focuses on the treatment of investment and longevity risks by different types of these annuities and underscores the challenge of establishing a robust and effective framework of regulation and supervision for these products. The paper also addresses the exposure of annuitants to integrity risk and places special emphasis on the need for a high level of meaningful transparency
    DOI: 10.1596/1813-9450-5762
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  • 52
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    More Than You Can Handle : Decentralization and Spending Ability of Peruvian Municipalities (2011)
    Washington, D.C : The World Bank
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: Online-Ressource (34 p)
    Edition: 2011 World Bank eLibrary
    Parallel Title: Loayza, Norman V More Than You Can Handle
    Abstract: In the past three decades, emerging countries have gone through extensive decentralization reforms. Yet, there are no studies assessing quantitatively the relative importance of various factors known to affect the success of decentralization. This paper builds on a comprehensive dataset the authors constructed for Peru, which merges municipal fiscal accounts with information about municipalities' characteristics such as population, poverty, education, and local politics. The paper then analyzes the leading factors affecting the ability of municipalities to execute the allocated budget using complementary methodologies, from least squares to quantile regression analyses. According to the existing literature and the Peruvian context, the analysis divides these factors into four categories: the budget size and allocation process; local capacity; local needs; and political economy constraints. Although all four factors affect decentralization, the largest determinant of spending ability is the adequacy of the budget with respect to local capacity. The results confirm the need for decentralization to be implemented gradually over time in parallel with strong capacity building efforts
    DOI: 10.1596/1813-9450-5763
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  • 53
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    Environmental and Gender Impacts of Land Tenure Regularization in Africa : Pilot Evidence from Rwanda (2011)
    Washington, D.C : The World Bank
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: Online-Ressource (31 p)
    Edition: 2011 World Bank eLibrary
    Parallel Title: Ali, Daniel Ayalew Environmental and Gender Impacts of Land Tenure Regularization in Africa
    Abstract: Although increased global demand for land has led to renewed interest in African land tenure, few models to address these issues quickly and at the required scale have been identified or evaluated. The case of Rwanda's nation-wide and relatively low-cost land tenure regularization program is thus of great interest. This paper evaluates the short-term impact (some 2.5 years after completion) of the pilots undertaken to fine-tune the approach using a geographic discontinuity design with spatial fixed effects. Three key findings emerge from the analysis. First, the program improved land access for legally married women (about 76 percent of married couples) and prompted better recordation of inheritance rights without gender bias. Second, the analysis finds a very large impact on investment and maintenance of soil conservation measures. This effect was particularly pronounced for female headed households, suggesting that this group had suffered from high levels of tenure insecurity, which the program managed to reduce. Third, land market activity declined, allowing rejection of the hypothesis that the program caused a wave of distress sales or widespread landlessness by vulnerable people. Implications for program design and policy are discussed
    DOI: 10.1596/1813-9450-5765
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  • 54
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    Banking Flows and Financial Crisis : Financial Interconnectedness and Basel III Effects (2011)
    Washington, D.C : The World Bank
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: Online-Ressource (30 p)
    Edition: 2011 World Bank eLibrary
    Parallel Title: Ghosh, Swati R Banking Flows and Financial Crisis
    Abstract: This paper examines the factors that determine banking flows from advanced economies to emerging markets. In addition to the usual determinants of capital flows in terms of global push and local pull factors, it examines the role of bilateral factors, such as growth differentials and economic size, as well as contagion factors and measures of the depth in financial interconnectedness between lenders and borrowers. The analysis finds profound differences across regions. In particular, in spite of the severe impact of the global financial crisis, banking flows in emerging Europe stand out as a more stable region than is the case in other developing regions. Assuming that the determinants of banking flows remain unchanged in the presence of structural changes, the authors use these results to explore the short-term implications of Basel III capital regulations on banking flows to emerging markets
    DOI: 10.1596/1813-9450-5769
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  • 55
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    Education and Conflict Recovery : The Case of Timor Leste (2011)
    Washington, D.C : The World Bank
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: Online-Ressource (65 p)
    Edition: 2011 World Bank eLibrary
    Parallel Title: Justino, Patricia Education and Conflict Recovery
    Keywords: Bürgerkrieg ; Bildungsverhalten ; Kinder ; Geschlecht ; Sezession ; Timor Leste
    Abstract: The Timor Leste secession conflict lasted for 25 years. Its last wave of violence in 1999, following the withdrawal of Indonesian troops, generated massive displacement and destruction with widespread consequences for the economic and social development of the country. This paper analyzes the impact of the conflict on the level and access to education of boys and girls in Timor Leste. The authors examine the short-term impact of the 1999 violence on school attendance and grade deficit rates in 2001, and the longer-term impact of the conflict on primary school completion of cohorts of children observed in 2007. They compare the educational impact of the 1999 wave of violence with the impact of other periods of high-intensity violence during the 25 years of Indonesian occupation. The short-term effects of the conflict are mixed. In the longer term, the analysis finds a strong negative impact of the conflict on primary school completion among boys of school age exposed to peaks of violence during the 25-year long conflict. The effect is stronger for boys attending the last three grades of primary school. This result shows a substantial loss of human capital among young males in Timor Leste since the early 1970s, resulting from household investment trade-offs between education and economic survival
    DOI: 10.1596/1813-9450-5774
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  • 56
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    Applying the Growth Identification and Facilitation Framework : The Case of Nigeria (2011)
    Washington, D.C : The World Bank
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: Online-Ressource (46 p)
    Edition: 2011 World Bank eLibrary
    Parallel Title: Lin, Justin Yifu Applying the Growth Identification and Facilitation Framework
    Abstract: This paper applies the Growth Identification and Facilitation Framework developed by Lin and Monga (2010) to Nigeria. It identifies as appropriate comparator countries China, India, Indonesia, and Vietnam, and selects a wide range of industries in which these comparator countries may be losing their comparative advantage and which may therefore lend themselves to targeted interventions of the government to fast-track growth. These industries include food processing, light manufacturing, suitcases, shoes, car parts, and petrochemicals. The paper also discusses binding constraints to growth in each of these value chains as well as mechanisms through which governance-related issues in the implementation of industrial policy could be addressed
    DOI: 10.1596/1813-9450-5776
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  • 57
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    The Impact of Recall Periods on Reported Morbidity and Health Seeking Behavior (2011)
    Washington, D.C : The World Bank
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: Online-Ressource (37 p)
    Edition: 2011 World Bank eLibrary
    Parallel Title: Das, Jishnu The Impact of Recall Periods on Reported Morbidity and Health Seeking Behavior
    Abstract: Between 2000 and 2002, the authors followed 1621 individuals in Delhi, India using a combination of weekly and monthly-recall health questionnaires. In 2008, they augmented these data with another 8 weeks of surveys during which households were experimentally allocated to surveys with different recall periods in the second half of the survey. This paper shows that the length of the recall period had a large impact on reported morbidity, doctor visits, time spent sick, whether at least one day of work/school was lost due to sickness, and the reported use of self-medication. The effects are more pronounced among the poor than the rich. In one example, differential recall effects across income groups reverse the sign of the gradient between doctor visits and per-capita expenditures such that the poor use health care providers more than the rich in the weekly recall surveys but less in monthly recall surveys. The authors hypothesize that illnesses-especially among the poor-are no longer perceived as "extraordinary events" but have become part of "normal" life. They discuss the implications of these results for health survey methodology, and the economic interpretation of sickness in poor populations
    DOI: 10.1596/1813-9450-5778
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  • 58
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    Political Economy of the Petroleum Sector in Nigeria (2011)
    Washington, D.C : The World Bank
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: Online-Ressource (50 p)
    Edition: 2011 World Bank eLibrary
    Parallel Title: Gboyega, Alex Political Economy of the Petroleum Sector in Nigeria
    Abstract: The relatively slow pace of Nigeria's development has often been attributed to the phenomenon of the resource curse whereby the nature of the state as a "rentier" dilutes accountability for development and political actors are able to manipulate institutions to sustain poor governance. The impact of the political elite's resource-control and allocation of revenues on core democratic mechanisms is central to understand the obstacles to development and governance failure. Given that problems of petroleum sector governance are extremely entrenched in Nigeria, the key question is whether and how it is possible to get out of a poor equilibrium after fifty years of oil production. This paper uses a political economy perspective to analyze the governance weaknesses along the petroleum sector value chain and attempts to establish the links between challenges in sector regulation and the following major political and economic attributes: (i) strong executive control on petroleum governance in a political environment of weak checks and balances; (ii) regulatory and operating roles bundled into one institution, thereby creating conflict of interest; and (iii) manipulation of elections and political appointments. The restoration of democratic government has helped improve transparency and management of oil revenue and reforms at the federal level and proposed reforms of the petroleum sector hold much promise. At the same time, the judiciary has started to restore confidence that it will serve as a check and balance on the executive and the electoral process. Yet, these reforms are fragile and need to be deepened and institutionalized. They must be addressed not as purely technocratic matters but as issues of political economy and vested interests that must, through regulation and reform, be aligned with the public interest and a vision of Nigerian development
    DOI: 10.1596/1813-9450-5779
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  • 59
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    The Impact of Economics Blogs (2011)
    Washington, D.C : The World Bank
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: Online-Ressource (47 p)
    Edition: 2011 World Bank eLibrary
    Parallel Title: McKenzie, David The Impact of Economics Blogs
    Abstract: There is a proliferation of economics blogs, with increasing numbers of economists attracting large numbers of readers, yet little is known about the impact of this new medium. Using a variety of experimental and non-experimental techniques, this study quantifies some of their effects. First, links from blogs cause a striking increase in the number of abstract views and downloads of economics papers. Second, blogging raises the profile of the blogger (and his or her institution) and boosts their reputation above economists with similar publication records. Finally, a blog can transform attitudes about some of the topics it covers
    DOI: 10.1596/1813-9450-5783
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  • 60
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    Debt Overhang in Emerging Europe? (2011)
    Washington, D.C : The World Bank
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: Online-Ressource (54 p)
    Edition: 2011 World Bank eLibrary
    Parallel Title: Brown, Martin Debt Overhang in Emerging Europe?
    Abstract: This paper assesses the extent to which debt overhang poses a constraint to economic activity in Emerging Europe, as the region emerges from the recent financial and economic crisis. At the macroeconomic level, it finds that the external imbalance problem for Emerging Europe has been in most cases more one of flows (high current account deficits in the pre-crisis years) rather than large stocks of external debt. A high reliance on equity funding means that net external debt is far lower than net external liabilities. Domestic balance sheets have expanded quite rapidly but sector liabilities remain relatively low compared with advanced economies. With the important exception of Hungary, public debt levels also remain relatively low in Emerging Europe. At the microeconomic level, the potential for debt overhang in the corporate sector is limited to a few countries: Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, and Slovenia. Due to the low incidence of household debt, hardly any country, except Estonia, seems to face a threat of debt overhang in the household sector. The strong increase in non-performing loans compared with pre-crisis bank profitability suggests that debt overhang in the banking sector is a threat in Ukraine, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Georgia, and Albania. Financial integration of Emerging Europe seems to have contributed to the transmission of the crisis to the region. At the same time, this integration is helping the region in managing the crisis by concerted actions of the major players
    DOI: 10.1596/1813-9450-5784
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  • 61
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    Does Expanding Health Insurance Beyond Formal-Sector Workers Encourage Informality? : Measuring the Impact of Mexico's Seguro Popular (2011)
    Washington, D.C : The World Bank
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: Online-Ressource (42 p)
    Edition: 2011 World Bank eLibrary
    Parallel Title: Aterido, Reyes Does Expanding Health Insurance Beyond Formal-Sector Workers Encourage Informality?
    Abstract: Seguro Popular was introduced in 2002 to provide health insurance to the 50 million Mexicans without Social Security. This paper tests whether the program has had unintended consequences, distorting workers' incentives to operate in the informal sector. The analysis examines the impact of Seguro Popular on disaggregated labor market decisions, taking into account that program coverage depends not only on the individual's employment status, but also that of other household members. The identification strategy relies on the variation in Seguro Popular's rollout across municipalities and time, with the difference-in-difference estimation controlling for household fixed effects. The paper finds that Seguro Popular lowers formality by 0.4-0.7 percentage points, with adjustments largely occurring within a few years of the program's introduction. Rather than encouraging exit from the formal sector, Seguro Popular is associated with a 3.1 percentage point reduction (a 20 percent decline) in the inflow of workers into formality. Income effects are also apparent, with significantly decreased flows out of unemployment and lower labor force participation. The impact is larger for those with less education, in larger households, and with someone else in the household guaranteeing Social Security coverage. However, workers pay for part of these benefits with lower wages in the informal sector
    DOI: 10.1596/1813-9450-5785
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  • 62
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    Ladies First? : Firm-Level Evidence on the Labor Impacts of the East Asian Crisis (2011)
    Washington, D.C : The World Bank
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: Online-Ressource (48 p)
    Edition: 2011 World Bank eLibrary
    Parallel Title: Hallward-Driemeier, Mary Ladies First?
    Abstract: In a crisis, do employers place the burden of adjustment disproportionately on female employees? Relying on household and labor force data, existing studies of the distributional impact of crises have not been able to address this question. This paper uses Indonesia's census of manufacturing firms to analyze employer responses and to identify mechanisms by which gender differences in impact may arise, notably differential treatment of men and women within firms as well as gender sorting across firms that varied in their exposure to the crisis. On average, women experienced higher job losses than their male colleagues within the same firm. However, the aggregate adverse effect of such differential treatment was more than offset by women being disproportionately employed in firms hit relatively less hard by the crisis. The null hypothesis that there were no gender differences in wage adjustment is not rejected. Analyzing how employer characteristics impact labor market adjustment patterns contributes to the understanding of who is vulnerable in volatile times
    DOI: 10.1596/1813-9450-5789
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  • 63
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    Ripe for a Big Bang? : Assessing the Political Feasibility of Legislative Reforms in the Philippines' Local Government Code (2011)
    Washington, D.C : The World Bank
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: Online-Ressource (30 p)
    Edition: 2011 World Bank eLibrary
    Parallel Title: Matsuda, Yasuhiko Ripe for a Big Bang?
    Abstract: In the Philippines' highly decentralized political system, smooth functioning of inter-governmental relations is key to effective service delivery and good governance overall. Although considered a milestone, the 1991 Local Government Code, the Philippines' basic legislation governing inter-governmental relations, contains provisions that thwart vertical and horizontal resource equalization among local government units, and contributes to mismatch between expenditure assignments and the fiscal capacities of the local government units. Numerous technical reports have called for adjustments to the existing revenue and expenditure assignments, yet no tangible progress has been made. This paper assesses the prospects of legislative reforms on the revenue side of the decentralization framework. Using a variety of approaches ranging from a historical analysis to institutional analysis of the legislative dynamics in the Philippine congress, it assesses the prospects of a major overhaul of the Local Government Code and concludes that a significant reform is highly unlikely under the conditions prevailing in the late 2010s. By implication, any effort to improve the Philippines' inter-governmental framework will have to settle for sub-optimal incremental measures within the inefficient revenue assignment arrangement
    DOI: 10.1596/1813-9450-5792
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  • 64
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    Assessing the Direct Economic Effects of Reallocating Irrigation Water to Alternative Uses : Concepts and an Application (2011)
    Washington, D.C : The World Bank
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: Online-Ressource (38 p)
    Edition: 2011 World Bank eLibrary
    Parallel Title: Scheierling, Susanne M Assessing the Direct Economic Effects of Reallocating Irrigation Water to Alternative Uses
    Abstract: Irrigation water reallocations are playing an increasingly important role in both developed and developing countries. With growing urban and environmental water demands, rising costs for the development of new water supplies, and irrigated agriculture usually including the least economically valuable use of water, transfers of irrigation water to alternative uses are increasing. However, such reallocations are often controversial, and it is often questioned whether the benefits resulting from these transactions are large enough to outweigh the associated costs. This paper reviews the experience with irrigation water transfers, including the involvement of the World Bank. It discusses the problems of assessing the direct economic effects of reallocations, with a focus on the foregone direct benefits in irrigated agriculture. Because foregone direct benefits cannot easily be directly observed, they need to be estimated. However, assessments have shown widely differing estimates-even when the same methodology was used. The paper reviews the methodologies and model specifications used for estimating foregone direct benefits; illustrates the impact of different model specifications on the magnitude of estimates of foregone direct benefits based on an application in an example case; and draws conclusions with regard to future efforts in assessing reallocation effects, including calculating adequate compensation for farmers. Because estimating the direct benefits of irrigation expansion is methodologically equivalent to estimating foregone direct benefits from reduced irrigation water supplies, the findings have implications for a broader range of water allocation decisions
    DOI: 10.1596/1813-9450-5797
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  • 65
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    Do Phoenix Miracles Exist? : Firm-Level Evidence from Financial Crises (2011)
    Washington, D.C : The World Bank
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: Online-Ressource (65 p)
    Edition: 2011 World Bank eLibrary
    Parallel Title: Ayyagari, Meghana Do Phoenix Miracles Exist?
    Abstract: This paper provides empirical evidence on firm recoveries from financial system collapses in developing countries (systemic sudden stops episodes), and compares them with the experience in the United States in the 2008 financial crisis. Prior research found that economies recover from systemic sudden stop episodes before the financial sector. These recoveries are called Phoenix miracles, and the research questioned the role of the financial system in recovery. Although an average of the macro data across a sample of systemic sudden stop episodes over the 1990s appears consistent with the notion of Phoenix recoveries, closer inspection reveals heterogeneity of responses across the countries, with only a few countries fitting the pattern. Micro data show that across countries, only a small fraction (less than 31 percent) of firms follow a pattern of recovery in sales without a recovery in external credit, and even these firms have access to external sources of cash. The experience of firms in the United States during the 2008 financial crisis also suggests no evidence of credit-less recoveries. An examination of the dynamics of firms' financing, investment and payout policies during recovery periods shows that far from being constrained, the firms in the sample are able to access long-term financing, issue equity, and significantly expand their cash holdings
    DOI: 10.1596/1813-9450-5799
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  • 66
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    School-Based Management, School Decision-Making and Education Outcomes in Indonesian Primary Schools (2011)
    Washington, D.C : The World Bank
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: Online-Ressource (37 p)
    Edition: 2011 World Bank eLibrary
    Parallel Title: Chen, Dandan School-Based Management, School Decision-Making and Education Outcomes in Indonesian Primary Schools
    Abstract: This paper examines the key aspects of the practices of school-based management in Indonesia, and its effect on education quality. Using a conceptual framework of an accountability system of public service delivery, the paper explores the relations among Indonesian parents, school committees, schools, and government education supervisory bodies from three tenets: participation and voice; autonomy; and accountability. Using the data from a nationally representative survey of about 400 public primary schools in Indonesia, the paper finds that the level of parental participation and voice in school management is extremely low in Indonesia. While the role of school committees is still limited to community relations, school facilities, and other administrative areas of school management, school principals, together with teachers, are much more empowered to assert professional control of the schools. The accountability system has remained weak in Indonesia's school system, which is reflected by inadequate information flow to parents, as well as seemingly low parental awareness of the need to hold schools accountable. The accountability arrangement of the Indonesian school system currently puts more emphasis on top-down supervision and monitoring by government supervisory bodies. The findings show that although the scope of school-based management in Indonesia is limited, it has begun to help schools make the right decisions on allocation of resources and hiring additional (non-civil servant) teachers, and to create an enabling environment of learning, including increasing teacher attendance rates. These aspects are found to have significantly positive effects on student learning outcomes
    DOI: 10.1596/1813-9450-5809
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  • 67
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    How Do the Poor Cope with Shocks in Bangladesh? : Evidence from Survey Data (2011)
    Washington, D.C : The World Bank
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: Online-Ressource (24 p)
    Edition: 2011 World Bank eLibrary
    Parallel Title: Santos, Indhira How Do the Poor Cope with Shocks in Bangladesh?
    Abstract: This paper uses household survey data collected in September-October 2009 on a nationally representative sample of 2,000 households in Bangladesh to examine the nature of shocks experienced by households over the preceding 12 months and the type of coping mechanisms that were adopted. The analysis finds that more than half the sample claimed to have faced a shock-economic, health, climatic, or asset related-over the previous year. Surprisingly, the non-poor face a larger share of these shocks compared with the poor. A closer look at this result shows that the non-poor report a significantly larger share of "asset-related" shocks, which is consistent with the fact that the poor have fewer assets to lose. Health-related shocks dominate and households appear to have coped with these shocks through savings and loans, help from friends, and depletion of assets. The results show that households, when faced with covariate shocks due to climatic reasons, are less able to cope. As would be expected, the poor are less able to cope with shocks compared with the non-poor; the poor are more likely to use coping mechanisms that could have negative welfare implications in the longer term, including the depletion of assets, reduction of essential consumption, and use of high-interest loans. Econometric analysis suggests that geographical location, socio-economic status, and access to microfinance all affect the ability to cope with shocks. Policy implications include the importance of developing safety nets that take into account the vulnerability to climate-related shocks and further developing the links between micro-finance and safety net programs
    DOI: 10.1596/1813-9450-5810
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  • 68
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    Senegal's Infrastructure : A Continental Perspective (2011)
    Washington, D.C : The World Bank
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: Online-Ressource (57 p)
    Edition: 2011 World Bank eLibrary
    Parallel Title: Torres, Clemencia Senegal's Infrastructure
    Abstract: Infrastructure contributed 1 percentage point to Senegal's improved per capita growth performance between 2000 and 2005, placing it in the middle of the distribution among West African countries. Raising the country's infrastructure endowment to that of the region's middle-income countries (MICs) could boost annual growth by about 2.7 percentage points. Senegal has made significant progress in some areas of its infrastructure, including the transport, electricity, water, and information-and-communication-technology (ICT) sectors. But looking ahead, the country faces important infrastructure challenges, including improving road conditions, boosting air and rail traffic, updating electricity infrastructure, and boosting the pace of expansion of the water-and-sanitation network. Senegal currently spends around
    DOI: 10.1596/1813-9450-5817
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  • 69
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    Global Inequality : From Class to Location, from Proletarians to Migrants (2011)
    Washington, D.C : The World Bank
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: Online-Ressource (25 p)
    Edition: 2011 World Bank eLibrary
    Parallel Title: Milanovic, Branko Global Inequality
    Abstract: Inequality between world citizens in mid-19th century was such that at least a half of it could be explained by income differences between workers and capital-owners in individual countries. Real income of workers in most countries was similar and low. This was the basis on which Marxism built its universal appeal. More than 150 years later, in the early 21st century, the situation has changed fundamentally: more than 80 percent of global income differences is due to large gaps in mean incomes between countries, and unskilled workers' wages in rich and poor countries often differ by a factor of 10 to 1. This is the basis on which a new global political issue of migration has emerged because income differences between countries make individual gains from migration large. The key coming issue will be how to deal with this challenge while acknowledging that migration is probably the most powerful tool for reducing global poverty and inequality
    DOI: 10.1596/1813-9450-5820
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  • 70
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    DR-CAFTA and the Environment (2011)
    Washington, D.C : The World Bank
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: Online-Ressource (30 p)
    Edition: 2011 World Bank eLibrary
    Parallel Title: Cunha, Bárbara DR-CAFTA and the Environment
    Abstract: The Dominican Republic-Central American Free Trade Agreement with the United States aims to create a free trade zone for economic development. The Agreement is expected to intensify commerce and investment among the participating countries. This paper analyzes the changes in the production and trading patterns in 2-digit manufacturing sectors with the goal of understanding the short-term environmental implications of the Dominican Republic-Central American Free Trade Agreement. More specifically, the paper addresses the questions: Did pollution increase in the period after the Agreement negotiations? Did trade and production shift toward pollution intensive factors? The results suggest an increase in pollution emissions in the post-negotiations period. The increase in emissions is mainly attributable to scale effects. Composition effects are small and in some cases (including Nicaragua and Honduras) favoring cleaner industries and partially compensating the pollution gains from output and export growth
    DOI: 10.1596/1813-9450-5826
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  • 71
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    Women's Decision Making Power and Human Development : Evidence from Pakistan (2011)
    Washington, D.C : The World Bank
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: Online-Ressource (33 p)
    Edition: 2011 World Bank eLibrary
    Parallel Title: Hou, Xiaohui Women's Decision Making Power and Human Development
    Abstract: When deciding who should receive welfare benefits with the aim to increase household well-being, it is necessary to understand the effects of the distribution of power within the households at which the aid is directed. Two primary household models have been used to study intra-household bargaining and decision making: the unitary model and the collective model. The unitary model seems to fit Pakistan's context because the prevailing traditional culture positions the male head as the household decision maker. However, using a set of direct measures of decision-making power from the Pakistan Social and Living Standard Measurement Survey, this study finds that even in a country where men seem to have more power than women, the collective household bargaining model applies. This study also finds that, in Pakistan, when women have more decision-making power at home, households tend to spend more on women's preferred goods (such as clothing and education), family members eat more non-grain food items, and children, particularly girls, are more likely to be enrolled in school
    DOI: 10.1596/1813-9450-5830
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  • 72
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    Distributional Impact Analysis of the Energy Price Reform in Turkey (2011)
    Washington, D.C : The World Bank
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: Online-Ressource (34 p)
    Edition: 2011 World Bank eLibrary
    Parallel Title: Zhang, Fan Distributional Impact Analysis of the Energy Price Reform in Turkey
    Abstract: A pricing reform in Turkey increased the residential electricity tariff by more than 50 percent in 2008. The reform, aimed at encouraging energy efficiency and private investment, sparked considerable policy debate about its potential impact on household welfare. This paper estimates a short-run residential electricity demand function for evaluating the distributional consequences of the tariff reform. The model allows heterogeneity in household price sensitivities and is estimated using a national sample of 18,671 Turkish households. The model also addresses the common problem of missing data in survey research. The study reveals a highly skewed distribution of price elasticities in the population, with rich households three times more responsive in adjusting consumption to price changes than the poor. This is most likely because the poor are close to their minimum electricity consumption levels and have fewer coping options. In addition, the welfare loss of the poorest quintile-measured by the consumer surplus change as a percentage of income-is 2.9 times of that of the wealthiest
    DOI: 10.1596/1813-9450-5831
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  • 73
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    The Role of Macro-Prudential Policies in the Boom and Adjustment Phase of the Credit Cycle in Estonia (2011)
    Washington, D.C : The World Bank
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: Online-Ressource (16 p)
    Edition: 2011 World Bank eLibrary
    Parallel Title: Sutt, Andres The Role of Macro-Prudential Policies in the Boom and Adjustment Phase of the Credit Cycle in Estonia
    Abstract: The Estonian economy experienced an unusually long business and credit cycle during the first decade of the 21st century. The magnitude of the cycle tested what can be achieved by traditional policy tools and the limits of macro-prudential policies. The country's financial sector, almost fully consisting of foreign banks, displayed the complexities of cross-border regulation and supervision. Capital and liquidity requirements that were stricter than international minimums, as well as the build-up of fiscal buffers, were instrumental to engineering an orderly adjustment. Openness and integration, including well-advanced cross-border cooperation, were equally important in maintaining financial stability throughout the global financial crisis
    DOI: 10.1596/1813-9450-5835
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  • 74
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    Remittances and Financial Inclusion : Evidence from El Salvador (2011)
    Washington, D.C : The World Bank
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: Online-Ressource (36 p)
    Edition: 2011 World Bank eLibrary
    Parallel Title: Anzoategui, Diego Remittances and Financial Inclusion
    Abstract: This paper investigates the impact of remittances on financial inclusion. This is an important issue given recent studies showing that financial inclusion can have significant beneficial effects on households. Using household-level survey data for El Salvador, the authors examine the impact of remittances on households' use of savings and credit instruments from formal financial institutions. They find that although remittances have a positive impact on financial inclusion by promoting the use of deposit accounts, they do not have a significant and robust effect on the demand for and use of credit from formal institutions. If anything, by relaxing credit constraints, remittances might reduce the need for external financing from financial institutions, while at the same time increasing the demand for savings instruments
    DOI: 10.1596/1813-9450-5839
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  • 75
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    A Review of Solar Energy : Markets, Economics and Policies (2011)
    Washington, D.C : The World Bank
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: Online-Ressource (51 p)
    Edition: 2011 World Bank eLibrary
    Parallel Title: Timilsina, Govinda R A Review of Solar Energy
    Abstract: Solar energy has experienced phenomenal growth in recent years due to both technological improvements resulting in cost reductions and government policies supportive of renewable energy development and utilization. This study analyzes the technical, economic and policy aspects of solar energy development and deployment. While the cost of solar energy has declined rapidly in the recent past, it still remains much higher than the cost of conventional energy technologies. Like other renewable energy technologies, solar energy benefits from fiscal and regulatory incentives and mandates, including tax credits and exemptions, feed-in-tariff, preferential interest rates, renewable portfolio standards and voluntary green power programs in many countries. Potential expansion of carbon credit markets also would provide additional incentives to solar energy deployment; however, the scale of incentives provided by the existing carbon market instruments, such as the Clean Development Mechanism of the Kyoto Protocol, is limited. Despite the huge technical potential, development and large-scale, market-driven deployment of solar energy technologies world-wide still has to overcome a number of technical and financial barriers. Unless these barriers are overcome, maintaining and increasing electricity supplies from solar energy will require continuation of potentially costly policy supports
    DOI: 10.1596/1813-9450-5845
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  • 76
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    Has the Global Banking System Become More Fragile over Time? (2011)
    Washington, D.C : The World Bank
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: Online-Ressource (38 p)
    Edition: 2011 World Bank eLibrary
    Parallel Title: Anginer, Deniz Has the Global Banking System Become More Fragile over Time?
    Abstract: This paper examines time-series and cross-country variations in default risk co-dependence in the global banking system. The authors construct a default risk measure for all publicly traded banks using the Merton contingent claim model, and examine the evolution of the correlation structure of default risk for more than 1,800 banks in more than 60 countries. They find that there has been a significant increase in default risk co-dependence over the three-year period leading to the financial crisis. They also find that countries that are more integrated, and that have liberalized financial systems and weak banking supervision, have higher co-dependence in their banking sector. The results support an increase in scope for intra-national supervisory co-operation, as well as capital charges for "too-connected-to-fail" institutions that can impose significant externalities
    DOI: 10.1596/1813-9450-5849
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  • 77
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    Enrichment with Growth (2011)
    Washington, D.C : The World Bank
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: Online-Ressource (20 p)
    Edition: 2011 World Bank eLibrary
    Parallel Title: Klein, Michael Enrichment with Growth
    Abstract: This essay first sets out the "business model" problems entailed by corruption and their effects as well as implications for economic growth. Key issues are the need for secrecy and co-operation with partners in crime. Dealing with these leads to behavior which is ostensibly bizarre and undermines economic efficiency, but is in fact a rational way of managing corrupt practices. However, different economic policies can be pursued that are compatible with corruption. Some are more pro-growth than others. Pro-growth corrupt policies hold the promise of enriching the corrupt elite more in absolute terms even though the share of national wealth diverted may be smaller. The most effective pro-growth polices that help enrich an elite resemble fairly orthodox economic policy prescriptions. Eventually the abolition of corruption holds the greatest promise to enhance growth and with it the wealth of elites. The expectation of such growth may explain why more and more political elites pursue "sound" economic policy and may embrace anti-corruption efforts, while securing legal ways of enrichment for themselves. Country examples illustrate policy approaches with different combinations of enrichment and growth properties
    DOI: 10.1596/1813-9450-5855
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  • 78
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    ECCAS's Infrastructure : A Regional Perspective (2011)
    Washington, D.C : The World Bank
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: Online-Ressource (70 p)
    Edition: 2011 World Bank eLibrary
    Parallel Title: Ranganathan, Rupa ECCAS's Infrastructure
    Abstract: Sound infrastructure is fundamental for growth across the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS). During 1995-2005, improvements in infrastructure boosted growth in Central Africa by 1 percentage point per capita annually, primarily due to the introduction and expansion of mobile telephony. Improved roads also made a small contribution. Conversely, inadequate power deterred growth to a greater degree than elsewhere in Africa. ECCAS must address a complex set of challenges. Economic activity takes place in isolated pockets separated by vast distances. Two countries are landlocked and dependent on regional corridors; seven countries have populations of under 10 million; and eight have economies that are smaller than
    DOI: 10.1596/1813-9450-5857
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  • 79
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    Competition and Innovation-Driven Inclusive Growth (2011)
    Washington, D.C : The World Bank
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: Online-Ressource (47 p)
    Edition: 2011 World Bank eLibrary
    Parallel Title: Dutz, Mark A Competition and Innovation-Driven Inclusive Growth
    Abstract: The paper investigates the strength of innovation-driven employment growth, the role of competition in stimulating and facilitating it, and whether it is inclusive. In a sample of more than 26,000 manufacturing establishments across 71 countries (both OECD and developing), the authors find that firms that innovate in products or processes, or that have attained higher total factor productivity, exhibit higher employment growth than non-innovative firms. The strength of firms' innovation-driven employment growth is significantly positively associated with the share of the firms' workforce that is unskilled, debunking the conventional wisdom that innovation-driven growth is not inclusive in that it is focused on jobs characterized by higher levels of qualification. They also find that young firms have higher propensities for product or process innovation in countries with better Doing Business ranks (both overall and ranks for constituent components focused on credit availability and property registration). Firms generally innovate more and show greater employment growth if they are exposed to more information (through internet use and membership in business organizations) and are exporters. The empirical results support the policy propositions that innovation is a powerful driver of employment growth, that innovation-driven growth is inclusive in its creation of unskilled jobs, and that the underlying innovations are fostered by a pro-competitive business environment providing ready access to information, financing, export opportunities, and other essential business services that facilitate the entry and expansion of young firms
    DOI: 10.1596/1813-9450-5852
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  • 80
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    Higher Wages, Lower Pay : Public vs. Private Sector Compensation in Peru (2011)
    Washington, D.C : The World Bank
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: Online-Ressource (28 p)
    Edition: 2011 World Bank eLibrary
    Parallel Title: Coppola, Andrea Higher Wages, Lower Pay
    Abstract: Do public sector employees earn less than their counterparts in the private sector? This paper addresses this question in the case of Peru, a country where civil service reform is being debated yet the only available empirical studies on wage differentials date back to the late 1980s. Using data from the 2009 national household survey, the authors perform a multiple step analysis. First, they estimate a single equation with a public sector dummy, which is found to be statistically significant and positive when only monetary wages are taken into account. However, when in-kind payments and bonuses are included to measure compensation, the analysis finds a private sector premium. Second, they estimate for public and formal private employees two distinct wage functions, including the inverse Mills ratio. This takes into account the selection bias resulting from workers self-selecting into the public or private sector. Third, these results are used to decompose wage differentials using the standard Oaxaca-Blinder approach. The results show that the compensation differentials are not significant except for the sub-sample of employees that achieved a postgraduate degree
    DOI: 10.1596/1813-9450-5858
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  • 81
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    What Drives the Global "Land Rush"? (2011)
    Washington, D.C : The World Bank
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: Online-Ressource (33 p)
    Edition: 2011 World Bank eLibrary
    Parallel Title: Arezki, Rabah What Drives the Global "Land Rush"?
    Abstract: The 2007-2008 upsurge in agricultural commodity prices gave rise to widespread concern about investors causing a "global land rush". Large land deals can provide opportunities for better access to capital, transfer of technology, and advances in productivity and employment generation. But they carry risks of dispossession and loss of livelihoods, corruption, deterioration in local food security, environmental damage, and long-term social polarization that led some countries to recently pass legislation restricting foreign land acquisition. To stimulate evidence-based debate, this paper explores determinants of foreign land acquisition for large-scale agriculture. It quantifies demand for land deals, showing it focused on Africa where land expansion is about 20 times the level it was in the past. The analysis uses data on bilateral investment relationships, together with newly constructed indicators of agro-ecological suitability in non-protected and forested areas with low population density as well as land rights security. It estimates gravity models that can help identify determinants of foreign land acquisition dedicated to large-scale agriculture. The results confirm the central role of agro-ecological potential as a pull factor. In contrast to the literature on foreign investment in general, the quality of the business climate is insignificant, whereas weak land governance and tenure security for current users make countries more attractive for investors. Implications for policy are discussed
    DOI: 10.1596/1813-9450-5864
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  • 82
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    Estimating the Long-Term Impacts of Rural Roads : A Dynamic Panel Approach (2011)
    Washington, D.C : The World Bank
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: Online-Ressource (37 p)
    Edition: 2011 World Bank eLibrary
    Parallel Title: Khandker, Shahidur R Estimating the Long-Term Impacts of Rural Roads
    Abstract: Infrastructure investments are typically long-term. As a result, observed benefits to households and communities may vary considerably over time as short-term outcomes generate or are subsumed by longer-term impacts. This paper uses a new round of household survey as part of a local government engineering department's rural road improvement project financed by the World Bank in Bangladesh to compare the short-term and long-term effects of rural roads over eight years. A dynamic panel model, estimated by generalized method of moments, is applied to estimate the varying returns to public road investment accounting for time-varying unobserved characteristics. The results show that the substantial effects of roads on such outcomes as per capita expenditure, schooling, and prices as observed in the short run attenuate over time. But the declining returns are not common for all outcomes of interest or all households. Employment in the rural non-farm sector, for example, has risen more rapidly over time, indicating increasing returns to investment. The very poor have failed to sustain the short-term benefits of roads, and yet the gains accrued to the middle-income groups are strengthened over time because of changing sectors of employment, away from agriculture toward non-farm activity. The results also show that initial state dependence-or initial community and household characteristics as well as road quality-matters in estimating the trajectory of road impacts
    DOI: 10.1596/1813-9450-5867
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  • 83
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    Cross Border Banking Supervision : Incentive Conflicts in Supervisory Information Sharing between Home and Host Supervisors (2011)
    Washington, D.C : The World Bank
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: Online-Ressource (39 p)
    Edition: 2011 World Bank eLibrary
    Parallel Title: D'Hulster, Katia Cross Border Banking Supervision
    Abstract: The global financial crisis has uncovered a number of weaknesses in the supervision and regulation of cross border banks. One such weakness was the lack of effective cooperation among banking supervisors. Since then, international bodies, such as the G-20, the Financial Stability Board and the Basel Committee have actively promoted the use of supervisory colleges. The objective of this paper is to explore the obstacles to effective cross border supervisory information sharing. More specifically, a schematic presentation illustrating the misalignments in incentives for information sharing between home and host supervisors under the current supervisory task-sharing anchored in the Basel Concordat is developed. This paper finds that in the absence of an ex ante agreed upon resolution and burden-sharing mechanism and deteriorating health of the bank, incentive conflicts escalate and supervisory cooperation breaks down. The promotion of good practices for cooperation in supervisory colleges is thus not sufficient to address the existing incentive conflicts. What is needed is a rigorous analysis and review of the supervisory task-sharing framework, so that the right incentives are secured during all stages of the supervisory process. For this purpose, it is essential that policy makers integrate and harmonize the current debates on crisis management, resolution policy and good supervisory practices for cross border banking supervision
    DOI: 10.1596/1813-9450-5871
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  • 84
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    Is There Such Thing as Middle Class Values? : Class Differences, Values and Political Orientations in Latin America (2011)
    Washington, D.C : The World Bank
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: Online-Ressource (28 p)
    Edition: 2011 World Bank eLibrary
    Parallel Title: Lopez-Calva, Luis F Is There Such Thing as Middle Class Values?
    Abstract: Middle class values have long been perceived as drivers of social cohesion and growth. This paper investigates the relation between class (measured by position in the income distribution), values, and political orientations using comparable values surveys for six Latin American countries. The analysis finds that both a continuous measure of income and categorical measures of income-based class are robustly associated with values. Both income and class tend to display a similar association to values and political orientations as education, although differences persist in some important dimensions. Overall, there is no strong evidence of any "middle class particularism": values appear to gradually shift with income, and middle class values are between the ones of poorer and richer classes. If any, the only peculiarity of middle class values is moderation. The analysis also finds changes in values across countries to be of much larger magnitude than the ones dictated by income, education, and individual characteristics, suggesting that individual values vary primarily within bounds dictated by each society
    DOI: 10.1596/1813-9450-5874
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  • 85
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    Average and Marginal Returns to Upper Secondary Schooling in Indonesia (2011)
    Washington, D.C : The World Bank
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: Online-Ressource (40 p)
    Edition: 2011 World Bank eLibrary
    Parallel Title: Carneiro, Pedro Average and Marginal Returns to Upper Secondary Schooling in Indonesia
    Keywords: Bildungsverhalten ; Bildungsertrag ; Indonesien
    Abstract: This paper estimates average and marginal returns to schooling in Indonesia using a non-parametric selection model estimated by local instrumental variables, and data from the Indonesia Family Life Survey. The analysis finds that the return to upper secondary schooling varies widely across individual: it can be as high as 50 percent per year of schooling for those very likely to enroll in upper secondary schooling, or as low as -10 percent for those very unlikely to do so. Returns to the marginal student (14 percent) are well below those for the average student attending upper secondary schooling (27 percent)
    DOI: 10.1596/1813-9450-5878
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  • 86
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    Avoiding the Fragility Trap in Africa (2011)
    Washington, D.C : The World Bank
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: Online-Ressource (34 p)
    Edition: 2011 World Bank eLibrary
    Parallel Title: Andrimihaja, Noro Aina Avoiding the Fragility Trap in Africa
    Abstract: Not only do Africa's fragile states grow more slowly than non-fragile states, but they seem to be caught in a "fragility trap". For instance, the probability that a fragile state in 2001 was still fragile in 2009 was 0.95. This paper presents an economic model where three features-political instability and violence, insecure property rights and unenforceable contracts, and corruption-conspire to create a slow-growth-poor-governance equilibrium trap into which these fragile states can fall. The analysis shows that, by addressing the three problems, fragile countries can emerge from the fragility trap and enjoy a level of sustained economic growth. But addressing these issues requires resources, which are scarce because external aid is often tailored to the country's performance and cut back when there is instability, insecurity, and corruption. The implication is that, even if aid is seemingly unproductive in these weak-governance environments, it could be hugely beneficial if it is invested in such a way that it helps these countries tackle the root causes of instability, insecurity, and corruption. Empirical estimations corroborate the postulated relationships of the model, supporting the notion that it is possible for African fragile countries to avoid the fragility trap
    DOI: 10.1596/1813-9450-5884
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  • 87
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    Explaining the Demand for Sovereignty (2011)
    Washington, D.C : The World Bank
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: Online-Ressource (39 p)
    Edition: 2011 World Bank eLibrary
    Parallel Title: Sambanis, Nicholas Explaining the Demand for Sovereignty
    Abstract: Why do groups want to secede and where are we most likely to see demands for self-determination? This paper proposes an economic explanation whereby a tradeoff between income and sovereignty implies that, other things being equal, richer regions are more likely to want more autonomy and conflict arises due to a disparity between desired and actual levels of sovereignty. The authors provide simple empirical tests using new data collected at the level of second-tier administrative subdivisions in 48 decentralized countries. They find a positive association between, on the one hand, relative regional income, regional population share, natural resource endowment, and regional inter-personal inequality and, on the other hand, observed sovereignty levels. Ethnically distinct regions have lower sovereignty, but this association is only conditional on controlling for the interactive effects between ethnic distinctiveness and regional inter-personal inequality
    DOI: 10.1596/1813-9450-5888
    URL: Volltext  (Deutschlandweit zugänglich)
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  • 88
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    Assessment Testing Can be Used to Inform Policy Decisions : The Case of Jordan (2011)
    Washington, D.C : The World Bank
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: Online-Ressource (16 p)
    Edition: 2011 World Bank eLibrary
    Parallel Title: Abdul-Hamid, Husein Assessment Testing Can be Used to Inform Policy Decisions
    Abstract: Over the past two decades, the Jordanian education system has made significant advances. Net enrollment in basic education increased from 89 percent in 2000 to 97 percent in 2006. Transition rates to secondary education increased from 63 to 79 percent in the same period. At the same time, Jordan made significant gains on international surveys of student achievement, with a particularly impressive gain of almost 30 points on the science portion of the Third International Mathematics and Science Study. Changes in test scores over time are presented and analyzed using decomposition analysis. The trends are related to policy changes over time. It is argued that benchmarking education systems and constant feedback between researchers and policymakers contributed to this achievement
    DOI: 10.1596/1813-9450-5890
    URL: Volltext  (Deutschlandweit zugänglich)
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  • 89
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    Quality of Tax Administration : How Relevant is Country Size? (2011)
    Washington, D.C : The World Bank
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: Online-Ressource (34 p)
    Edition: 2011 World Bank eLibrary
    Parallel Title: Amin, Mohammad Quality of Tax Administration
    Abstract: Repeated attempts at uncovering the relevance of country size for various economic factors have produced discouraging results. The present paper sheds new light on the relevance of country size using micro or firm-level data on firms' experience with the quality of tax administration, an important but neglected element of the business climate. The analysis finds that the quality of tax administration is significantly better for small compared with large countries. The instrumental variables regression method confirms that this finding is robust to various endogeneity concerns. The paper also finds some evidence that the country size and tax administration relationship is non-linear, and much stronger for small than large countries. Implications of these findings for the broader literature on country size are discussed
    DOI: 10.1596/1813-9450-5895
    URL: Volltext  (Deutschlandweit zugänglich)
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  • 90
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    ECOWAS's Infrastructure : A Regional Perspective (2011)
    Washington, D.C : The World Bank
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: Online-Ressource (76 p)
    Edition: 2011 World Bank eLibrary
    Parallel Title: Ranganathan, Rupa ECOWAS's Infrastructure
    Abstract: Infrastructure improvements boosted growth in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) by one percentage point per capita per year during 1995-2005, primarily thanks to growth in information and communication technology. Deficient power infrastructure held growth back by 0.1 percent. Raising the region's infrastructure to the level of Mauritius could boost growth by 5 percentage points. Overall, infrastructure in the 15 ECOWAS countries ranks consistently behind southern Africa across many indicators. However, there is parity in access to household services - water, sanitation, and power. ECOWAS has a well-developed regional road network, though sea corridors and ports need attention. Surface transport is expensive and slow, owing to cartelization, restrictive regulations, and delays. There is no regional rail network. Air transport has improved despite the lack of a strong hub-and-spoke structure. Safety remains a concern. Electrical power, the most expensive and least reliable in Africa, reaches 50 percent of the population but meets just 30 percent of demand. Regional power trading would bring substantial benefits if Guinea could become a hydropower exporter. Prices for critical ICT services are relatively high. Recent panregional initiatives have improved roaming. New projects are underway to provide access and improved services to unconnected countries. Completing and maintaining ECOWAS's infrastructure will require sustained spending of
    DOI: 10.1596/1813-9450-5899
    URL: Volltext  (Deutschlandweit zugänglich)
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  • 91
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    The Relative Volatility of Commodity Prices : A Reappraisal (2011)
    Washington, D.C : The World Bank
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: Online-Ressource (31 p)
    Edition: 2011 World Bank eLibrary
    Parallel Title: Arezki, Rabah The Relative Volatility of Commodity Prices
    Abstract: This paper studies the volatility of commodity prices on the basis of a large dataset of monthly prices observed in international trade data from the United States over the period 2002 to 2011. The conventional wisdom in academia and policy circles is that primary commodity prices are more volatile than those of manufactured products, although most of the existing evidence does not actually attempt to measure the volatility of prices of individual goods or commodities. The literature tends to focus on trends in the evolution and volatility of ratios of price indexes composed of multiple commodities and products. This approach can be misleading. Indeed, the evidence presented in this paper suggests that on average prices of individual primary commodities are less volatile than those of individual manufactured goods. However, the challenges of managing terms of trade volatility in developing countries with concentrated export baskets remain
    DOI: 10.1596/1813-9450-5903
    URL: Volltext  (Deutschlandweit zugänglich)
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  • 92
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    Stress-Testing Croatian Households with Debt-Implications for Financial Stability (2011)
    Washington, D.C : The World Bank
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: Online-Ressource (21 p)
    Edition: 2011 World Bank eLibrary
    Parallel Title: Sugawara, Naotaka Stress-Testing Croatian Households with Debt-Implications for Financial Stability
    Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to stress test the resilience of Croatian households with debt to economic shocks. The shocks not only impact a household's welfare, but also increase the probability of loan default. As a result, there is a direct link between these stress-testing exercises and financial stability risks. The authors find that very few households are at risk as a result of the shocks experienced over the past few years; new vulnerable households represent about 2 percent of all households, 6 percent of households with debt, and 2-3 percent of aggregate banking system assets. This suggests that household over-indebtedness in Croatia is unlikely to become a drag on aggregate economic activity and that financial stability risks remain manageable. One caveat should be noted. Some 27-31 percent of households with debt, representing 8-9 of banking system assets, are vulnerable even before being subjected to an economic shock. Since NPLs were low before the global financial crisis, it can be argued that banks knew something about some of these households that is not captured by household budget surveys. It follows that the calculations in this paper should primarily focus on the increased vulnerability of households as a result of shocks and are likely to represent an upper bound to the financial stability risks faced by Croatia on account of household indebtedness
    DOI: 10.1596/1813-9450-5906
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  • 93
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    Tax Morale, Eastern Europe and European Enlargement (2011)
    Washington, D.C : The World Bank
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: Online-Ressource (43 p)
    Edition: 2011 World Bank eLibrary
    Parallel Title: Torgler, Benno Tax Morale, Eastern Europe and European Enlargement
    Abstract: This study tries to remedy the current lack of tax compliance research analyzing tax morale in 10 Eastern European countries that joined the European Union in 2004 or 2007. By exploring tax morale differences between 1999 and 2008, it shows that tax morale has decreased in 7 out of 10 Eastern European countries. This lack of sustainability may support the incentive based conditionality hypothesis that the European Union only has a limited ability to influence tax morale over time. The author observes that events and processes at the country level are crucial to understanding tax morale. Factors such as perceived government quality and trust in the justice system and the government are positively correlated with tax morale in 2008
    DOI: 10.1596/1813-9450-5911
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  • 94
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    Does Financial Structure Matter for Poverty? : Evidence from Developing Countries (2011)
    Washington, D.C : The World Bank
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: Online-Ressource (27 p)
    Edition: 2011 World Bank eLibrary
    Parallel Title: Kpodar, Kangni Does Financial Structure Matter for Poverty?
    Abstract: Although there has been research looking at the relationship between the structure of the financial system and economic growth, much less work has dealt with the importance of bank-based versus market-based financial systems for poverty and income distribution. Empirical evidence has indicated that the structure of the financial system has little relevance for economic growth, suggesting that the same could be true for poverty since growth is an important driver in reducing poverty. Some theories, however, claim that, by reducing information and transaction costs, the development of bank-based financial systems could exert a particularly large impact on the poor. This paper looks at a sample of 47 developing economies from 1984 through 2008. The results suggest that when institutions are weak, bank-based financial systems are better at reducing poverty and, as institutions develop, market-based financial systems can turn out to be beneficial for the poor
    DOI: 10.1596/1813-9450-5915
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  • 95
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    Intra-Generational Mobility and Repeated Cross-Sections : A Three-Country Validation Exercise (2011)
    Washington, D.C : The World Bank
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: Online-Ressource (45 p)
    Edition: 2011 World Bank eLibrary
    Parallel Title: Cruces, Guillermo Intra-Generational Mobility and Repeated Cross-Sections
    Abstract: This paper validates a recently proposed method to estimate intra-generational mobility through repeated cross-sectional surveys. The technique allows the creation of a "synthetic panel" - done by predicting future or past household income using a set of simple modeling and error structure assumptions - and thus permits the estimation of lower and upper bounds on directional mobility measures. The authors validate the approach in three different settings where good panel data also exist (Chile, Nicaragua, and Peru). In doing so, they also carry out a number of refinements to the validation procedure. The results are broadly encouraging: the methodology performs well in all three settings, especially in cases where richer model specifications can be estimated. The technique does equally well in predicting short and long-term mobility patterns and is robust to a broad set of additional "stress" and sensitivity tests. Overall, the paper lends support to the application of this approach to settings where panel data are absent
    DOI: 10.1596/1813-9450-5916
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  • 96
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    The Role of Islamic Finance in Enhancing Financial Inclusion in Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Countries (2011)
    Washington, D.C : The World Bank
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: Online-Ressource (61 p)
    Edition: 2011 World Bank eLibrary
    Parallel Title: Mohieldin, Mahmoud The Role of Islamic Finance in Enhancing Financial Inclusion in Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Countries
    Abstract: The core principles of Islam lay great emphasis on social justice, inclusion, and sharing of resources between the haves and the have nots. Islamic finance addresses the issue of "financial inclusion" or "access to finance" from two directions - one through promoting risk-sharing contracts that provide a viable alternative to conventional debt-based financing, and the other through specific instruments of redistribution of the wealth among the society. Use of risk-sharing financing instruments can offer Shariah-compliant microfinance, financing for small and medium enterprises, and micro-insurance to enhance access to finance. And redistributive instruments such as Zakah, Sadaqat, Waqf, and Qard-al-hassan complement risk-sharing instruments to target the poor sector of society to offer a comprehensive approach to eradicating poverty and to build a healthy and vibrant economy. Instruments offered by Islam have strong historical roots and have been applied throughout history in various Muslim communities. The paper identifies gaps currently existing in Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) countries on each front, that is, Shariah-compliant micro-finance and financing for small and medium enterprises and the state of traditional redistributive instruments. The paper concludes that Islam offers a rich set of instruments and unconventional approaches, which, if implemented in true spirit, can lead to reduced poverty and inequality in Muslim countries plagued by massive poverty. Therefore, policy makers in Muslim countries who are serious about enhancing access to finance or "financial inclusion" should exploit the potential of Islamic instruments to achieve this goal and focus on improving the regulatory and financial infrastructure to promote an enabling environment
    DOI: 10.1596/1813-9450-5920
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  • 97
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    Income Shocks Reduce Human Capital Investments : Evidence from Five East European Countries (2011)
    Washington, D.C : The World Bank
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: Online-Ressource (36 p)
    Edition: 2011 World Bank eLibrary
    Parallel Title: Dasgupta, Basab Income Shocks Reduce Human Capital Investments
    Abstract: This paper empirically investigates whether households affected by income shocks cope by reducing human capital investments. The analysis uses Crisis Response Surveys conducted in Armenia, Bulgaria, Montenegro, Romania, and Turkey during 2009 and 2010. A propensity score matching technique is adopted to compare health and education investment decisions among households that were affected by income shocks to the matched comparison group. The authors find that households affected by income shocks reduced some human capital investments. Interestingly, households in these five countries were more likely to adopt health-related coping strategies as opposed to education-related coping strategies. The results from Armenia, Bulgaria, Montenegro, and Turkey show that households affected by income shocks reduced their visits to doctors and reduced their spending on medicine and medical care significantly more than the matched comparison group. Households affected by income shocks reduced their education investments, but did not adopt harmful education-related coping strategies, such as withdrawing children from schools or moving children from costly private to cheaper public schools. These findings reveal that long-term and possibly intergenerational household welfare could be affected by short-run income shocks and hence underscore the need for governments to employ mitigation measures
    DOI: 10.1596/1813-9450-5926
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  • 98
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    Post-HIPC Growth Dynamics in Sub-Saharan Africa (2011)
    Washington, D.C : The World Bank
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: Online-Ressource (30 p)
    Edition: 2011 World Bank eLibrary
    Parallel Title: Bayraktar, Nihal Post-HIPC Growth Dynamics in Sub-Saharan Africa
    Abstract: Access to debt relief under the Highly Indebted Poor Country Initiative enhanced the growth performance across Sub-Saharan Africa, especially in the subset of debt-ridden low-income countries. Over the past few years, these Completion Point countries have enjoyed significantly higher investments and growth rates, primarily fueled by the expanding fiscal space of the post-Highly Indebted Poor Country Initiative era. They are also weathering the adverse effects of the global crisis much better than their non-Highly Indebted Poor Country Initiative counterparts. Despite these growth rebounds, the region is not likely to meet the Millennium Development Goals, however. Long-term growth projections from a simple macroeconomic model, which is applied to Ethiopia, suggest that prospects for reversing the widening income gaps with other regions of the developing world are limited. Under the baseline scenario, assuming current growth trends, the estimates show that it could take more than five decades for per capita real income to double in Ethiopia. However, even these gloomy prospects are likely to be undermined by the looming risk of another sovereign debt crisis. In effect, the experiments show that lowering interest rates on external debt would not bridge the widening income gap with other regions of the world, unless it is accompanied by a rapid expansion of capital accumulation financed by sustained inflows of foreign aid
    DOI: 10.1596/1813-9450-5924
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  • 99
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    Addressing Youth Issues in South Asia (2011)
    Washington, D.C : The World Bank
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: 1 Online-Ressource
    Series Statement: Other papers
    Series Statement: World Bank E-Library Archive
    Abstract: Youth are the cornerstone and the future of societies. It is of critical importance to adopt a life-cycle approach to child and youth development with a greater focus on the care, empowerment, and protection of girls and young women. This report focuses on youth, an age group defined as persons 15 to 24 years old. Five life transitions take place during this period, including: (1) learning after primary school age; (2) starting a productive working life; (3) adopting a healthful lifestyle; (4) forming a family; and (5) exercising citizenship. Youth in South Asia face many challenges during their transition into adulthood. They have to cope with high youth unemployment and youth illiteracy rates. The region is subject to both human-made emergencies and natural disasters, leading to the breakdown of health, education, and protection systems. Young men have been identified in conflict analyses across the region as key stakeholders in ongoing conflicts. This document contains an overview of concrete interventions from various sources, including around youth participation; changing norms, behaviors, and attitudes; gender sensitive development; preventing violent behavior; and child sensitive protection
    DOI: 10.1596/28533
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  • 100
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    Improving Land Sector Governance in Nigeria (2011)
    Washington, D.C : The World Bank
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: 1 Online-Ressource
    Series Statement: Other Rural Study
    Series Statement: World Bank E-Library Archive
    Abstract: Nigeria is covered by two major types of vegetation: (i) the forest types consisting of mangrove swamp, freshwater swamp, and the tropical rainforest dominantly found in the south; and (ii) the savanna types consisting of Guinea, derived, Sudan, and Sahel savanna covering the middle belt and northern part of Nigeria. In spite of the rich endowments, Nigeria is still facing a lot of development challenges. The basic legal framework on land, the land use act (a federal enactment attached to the Constitution) has prescribed that all land in Nigeria within the territory of each state of the federation is vested in the control and management of the state governor in question. The inclusion of Nigeria as one of the six countries benefiting from the World Bank and International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and other partner organizations in this land governance assessment framework (LGAF) pilot study at this point in time is one of the best things to happen to Nigeria and especially, to the Presidential Technical Committee on Land Reforms (PTCLR). Designed as a diagnostic instrument for rapid national evaluation of various aspects of land governance, the LGAF is to be implemented by in-country experts. The LGAF study started in February 2011 in Nigeria. The Nigerian study included a complementary module on large scale land acquisition (LSLA) with 16 dimensions
    DOI: 10.1596/28525
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