Bill Kinsey

Bio: Bill Kinsey is an academic researcher from University of Zimbabwe. The author has contributed to research in topics: Land reform & Shame. The author has an hindex of 15, co-authored 20 publications receiving 2734 citations. Previous affiliations of Bill Kinsey include University of Amsterdam.

Long Term Consequences Of Early Childhood Malnutrition

Abstract: This paper examines the impact of pre-school malnutrition on subsequent human capital formation in rural Zimbabwe using a maternal fixed effects - instrumental variables (MFE-IV) estimator with a long term panel data set. Representations of civil war and drought shocks are used to identify differences in pre-school nutritional status across siblings. Improvements in height-for-age in pre-schoolers are associated with increased height as a young adult and number of grades of schooling completed. Had the median pre-school child in this sample had the stature of a median child in a developed country, by adolescence, she would be 3.4 centimeters taller, had completed an additional 0.85 grades of schooling and would have commenced school six months earlier. © 2006 Oxford University Press.

Child Growth in the Time of Drought

Abstract: This paper examines the impact of rainfall shocks on a measure of child health, growth in height, drawing on a unique household panel data set from rural Zimbabwe. We find that children aged 12 to 24 months lose 1.5-2 cm of growth in the aftermath of a drought. Catch-up growth in these children is limited so that this growth faltering has a permanent effect. By contrast, there is no evidence that older children experience a slowdown in growth. There is some evidence that the loss in growth is unequally distributed with children residing in poorer households and offspring of women who are daughters of the household head appearing to be especially vulnerable.

The impact of agricultural extension on farm production in resettlement areas of Zimbabwe

Abstract: In this paper, we revisit the contested issue of the impact of agricultural extension on farm production We exploit two features of the data available to us: its longitudinal nature and explicit measures of farmer ability We find that after controlling for innate productivity characteristics and farmer ability either using household fixed effects estimation, or by including a measure of farmer ability and village fixed effects, access to agricultural extension services, defined as receiving one or two visits per agricultural year, raises the value of crop production by about 15 per cent This parameter estimate is statistically significant However, we also find variability in these parameter estimates across individual crop years, with the impact being markedly different in drought and non-drought years Collectively, these results suggest that although access to farm-level extension visits does increase productivity even after controlling for innate productivity characteristics and farmer ability, results from single-year cross-sectional studies should be treated with caution

Land Reform, Growth and Equity: Emerging Evidence from Zimbabwe's Resettlement Programme

Abstract: Zimbabwe's resettlement programme is nearly twenty years old. The first families were resettled in 1980, just a few months after independence, and the programme has to date resettled over 70,000 families, well short of the target of 162,000 set in the early 1980s. A tension exists over where the programme goes from here. The rhetoric of the 1996 presidential elections, which presented land reform as an urgent task to be finished (the same rhetoric is conspicuous in the run-up to the 2000 parliamentary elections), is confronted by assessments, emanating both from within and outside government, that resettlement is a failure. However, this paper argues that negative assessments of Zimbabwe's land reform are both premature and have used inappropriate criteria. A long-term perspective is taken, incorporating experience from elsewhere in the region, that suggests that any attempt at comprehensive evaluation of the benefits of resettlement in less than a generation is ill-advised. The focus is not so much the p...

Estimation and Inference in Econometrics

Abstract: Offering a unifying theoretical perspective not readily available in any other text, this innovative guide to econometrics uses simple geometrical arguments to develop students' intuitive understanding of basic and advanced topics, emphasizing throughout the practical applications of modern theory and nonlinear techniques of estimation. One theme of the text is the use of artificial regressions for estimation, reference, and specification testing of nonlinear models, including diagnostic tests for parameter constancy, serial correlation, heteroscedasticity, and other types of mis-specification. Explaining how estimates can be obtained and tests can be carried out, the authors go beyond a mere algebraic description to one that can be easily translated into the commands of a standard econometric software package. Covering an unprecedented range of problems with a consistent emphasis on those that arise in applied work, this accessible and coherent guide to the most vital topics in econometrics today is indispensable for advanced students of econometrics and students of statistics interested in regression and related topics. It will also suit practising econometricians who want to update their skills. Flexibly designed to accommodate a variety of course levels, it offers both complete coverage of the basic material and separate chapters on areas of specialized interest.

Inequality and Economic Growth: The Perspective of the New Growth Theories

Abstract: We analyze the relationship between inequality and economic growth from two directions. The first part of the survey examines the effect of inequality on growth, showing that when capital markets are imperfect, there is not necessarily a trade-off between equity and efficiency. It therefore provides an explanation for two recent empirical findings, namely, the negative impact of inequality and the positive effect of redistribution upon growth. The second part analyzes several mechanisms whereby growth may increase wage inequality, both across and within education cohorts. Technical change, and in particular the implementation of "General Purpose Technologies," stands as a crucial factor in explaining the recent upsurge in wage inequality.

Inequality and Economic Growth: The Perspective of the New Growth Theories

Abstract: Depuis plus d'un siecle, l'une des principales preoccupations des chercheurs en sciences humaines est l'etude des origines de l'inegalite et de la facon dont celle-ci perdure. Pourtant on est encore loin d'avoir eclairci les relations entre l'inegalite et le processus de developpement economique. Ces quarante dernieres annees notamment auront ete marquees par une vision economique conventionnelle erronee sur deux points. Sur l'effet de l'inegalite sur la croissance dans les economies de marche, l'argument standard est que l'inegalite est un facteur d'incitation et de ce fait un atout pour la croissance, bien qu'il puisse y avoir un arbitrage entre, d'un cote, les considerations d'incitation et de croissance, et, de l'autre, les considerations d'equite et d'assurance. Inversement, sur les relations de causalite de la croissance a l'inegalite, la vision economique conventionnelle voudrait que l'inegalite obeisse a l'hypothese dite de Kuznets selon laquelle l'inegalite de revenu et le PNB par habitant ont une relation de forme cloche. L'objectif de cette etude est de remettre en question cette vision, contredite par les resultats de travaux empiriques recents. L'introduction d'autres aspects tels les imperfections du marche du credit, l'alea moral, le changement technique et organisationnel non neutre, et les institutions du marche du travail, donne une image plus complexe, et sans doute plus realiste, des relations entre inegalite et croissance.

Land policies for growth and poverty reduction

Abstract: Land policies are of fundamental importance to sustainable growth, good governance, and the well-being of, and the economic opportunities open to, both rural and urban dwellers - particularly the poor. To this end, research on land policy, and analysis of interventions related to the subject, have long been of interest to the Bank's Research Department, and other academic, and civil society institutions. The report aims to strengthen the effectiveness of land policy in support of development, and poverty reduction, by setting out the results of recent research in a way that is accessible to a wide audience of policymakers, nongovernmental organizations, academics in the Bank's client countries, donor agency officials, and the broader development community. Its main message rests on three principles: 1) provision of secure tenure to land improves the welfare of the poor, particularly by enhancing the asset base of those whose land rights are often neglected, and, creates incentives needed for investment, paramount to sustainable economic growth; 2) facilitation of land exchange, and distribution, whether as an asset or for current services, at low cost, through markets, and non-market channels, will expedite land access by productive, but land-poor producers, so that once economic growth improves, financial markets would rely on the use of land as collateral; and, 3) governments' contribution to the promotion of socially desirable land allocation, and utilization. The report discusses mechanisms to promote tenure security, demonstrates the importance of rental market transactions, arguing the removal of impediments to these can generate equity advantages, and positive investments. It also illustrates mechanisms, ranging from taxation, to regulation and land use planning to address these issues.