世界経済・社会統計 = World development indicators

We investigate whether income inequality affects subsequent growth in a cross-country sample for 1965-90, using the models of Barro (1997), Bleaney and Nishiyama (2002) and Sachs and Warner (1997), with negative results. We then investigate the evolution of income inequality over the same period and its correlation with growth. The dominating feature is inequality convergence across countries. This convergence has been significantly faster amongst developed countries. Growth does not appear to influence the evolution of inequality over time. Outline

https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/81822/1/02-28.pdf

Economic growth and income inequality

Researchers have increasingly realized the need to account for within-group dependence in estimating standard errors of regression parameter estimates. The usual solution is to calculate cluster-robust standard errors that permit heteroskedasticity and within-cluster error correlation, but presume that the number of clusters is large. Standard asymptotic tests can over-reject, however, with few (five to thirty) clusters. We investigate inference using cluster bootstrap-t procedures that provide asymptotic refinement. These procedures are evaluated using Monte Carlos, including the example of Bertrand, Duflo, and Mullainathan (2004). Rejection rates of 10% using standard methods can be reduced to the nominal size of 5% using our methods.

/pdf/bootstrap-based-improvements-for-inference-with-clustered-1m8x7cabov.pdf

Bootstrap-Based Improvements for Inference with Clustered Errors

This literature review concerns the impact of immigration on the economy of the host country focusing on the experience of the United States. The emphasis is on the period from the 1970s to the 1990s. The author shows that research earlier in this period generally concluded that the economic effects of immigration were positive but that more recent research on later migrations have generally concluded that immigration may be having an adverse effect on the earnings of native unskilled workers and be placing an increased burden on welfare programs. The importance of such economic analysis for the formulation of appropriate migration policies is stressed.

http://www.kleykampintaiwan.com/files/GradEco/TheEconOfImmig.pdf

The Economics of Immigration

The East Asian miracle: Economic growth and public policy: By the World Bank. (New York: Oxford University Press for the World Bank, 1993. 389 pp. $19.95, paper.)

Millions of households in developing countries receive financial support from family members working overseas How do migrant earnings affect origin-household investments? This paper examines Philippine households%u2019 responses to overseas members%u2019 economic shocks Overseas Filipinos work in dozens of foreign countries, which experienced sudden (and heterogeneous) changes in exchange rates due to the 1997 Asian financial crisis Appreciation of a migrant%u2019s currency against the Philippine peso leads to increases in household remittances received from overseas The estimated elasticity of Philippine-peso remittances with respect to the Philippine/foreign exchange rate is 060 These positive income shocks lead to enhanced human capital accumulation and entrepreneurship in migrants%u2019 origin households Child schooling and educational expenditure rise, while child labor falls In the area of entrepreneurship, households raise hours worked in self-employment, and become more likely to start relatively capital-intensive household enterprises

International Migration, Remittances, and Household Investment: Evidence from Philippine Migrants' Exchange Rate Shocks

How do households respond to overseas members’ economic shocks? Overseas Filipinos in dozens of countries experienced sudden, heterogeneous changes in exchange rates during the 1997 Asian financial crisis. Appreciation of a migrant's currency against the Philippine peso leads to increases in household remittances from overseas. The estimated elasticity of Philippine-peso remittances with respect to the exchange rate is 0.60. Positive migrant shocks lead to enhanced human capital accumulation and entrepreneurship in origin households. Child schooling and educational expenditure rise, while child labour falls. Households also work more hours in self-employment, and become more likely to start relatively capital-intensive household enterprises.

/pdf/international-migration-remittances-and-household-investment-2bosu49gug.pdf

International Migration, Remittances and Household Investment: Evidence from Philippine Migrants’ Exchange Rate Shocks*

How sensitive is long-run individual well-being to environmental conditions early in life? This paper examines the effect of weather conditions around the time of birth on the health, education, and socioeconomic outcomes of Indonesian adults born between 1953 and 1974. We link historical rainfall for each individual's birth-year and birth-location with current adult outcomes from the 2000 wave of the Indonesia Family Life Survey. Higher early-life rainfall has large positive effects on the adult outcomes of women, but not of men. Women with 20% higher rainfall (relative to normal local rainfall) in their year and location of birth are 3.8 percentage points less likely to self-report poor or very poor health, attain 0.57 centimeters greater height, complete 0.22 more grades of schooling, and live in households that score 0.12 standard deviations higher on an asset index. These patterns most plausibly reflect a positive impact of rainfall on agricultural output, leading to higher household incomes and food availability and better health for infant girls. We present suggestive evidence that eventual benefits for adult women's socioeconomic status are most strongly mediated by improved schooling attainment, which in turn improves socioeconomic status in adulthood.

Under the Weather: Health, Schooling, and Economic Consequences of Early-Life Rainfall. NBER Working Paper No. 14031.

Life in rural areas of developing countries is prone to many kinds of risk, such as illness or mortality of household members, crop or other income loss due to natural phenomena (weather, insect infestations, or fire, for example), and civil conflict In addition to their contemporaneous effects, the effects of certain types of shocks may still be felt many years or even decades later From a public policy standpoint, it is particularly important to identify shocks that have large long-run effects Moreover, the mechanics underlying the persistence of shocks may be of con siderable interest For example, a health shock may have a long-run effect simply because the health shock itself persists over time Alternately, the health shock may not directly affect long run outcomes, but it could affect some other outcome?such as educational attainment?that helps determine long-run well-being In this paper, we focus on shocks that occur at the very beginning of life We ask how sensi tive long-run individual well-being is to environmental conditions around the time of birth In particular, we examine the effect of weather shocks around the time of birth on the adult health, education, and socioeconomic outcomes of Indonesian women and men born between 1953 and 1974 In addition, we attempt to shed light on the intervening pathways connecting early-life rainfall to adult outcomes, illuminating the roles of health and educational attainment in deter mining adult socioeconomic status This investigation has considerable data requirements It necessitates information on weather shocks experienced by individuals several decades earlier, as well as detailed current informa tion on adult outcomes We use information in the Indonesian Family Life Surveys (IFLS) on an individual's year and location of birth, and link each individual in that survey to locality specific rainfall data for their birth year For individuals born in rural areas (on whom we focus), rainfall variation across space and time should generate corresponding variation in agricultural output and thus household income To deal with measurement error in the rainfall data, we run instrumental variables regressions where variables for rainfall measured at slightly more distant rainfall stations serve as instruments for rainfall in the individual's birthplace and birth year We examine the impact of early-life rainfall on a range of adult outcomes observed in 2000 We find that higher early-life rainfall leads to improved health, schooling, and socioeconomic status for women Women with 20 percent higher rainfall (relative to normal local rainfall) in their year and location of birth are 38 percentage points less likely to self-report poor or very poor health They attain 057 centimeters greater height, attain 022 more completed grades of

/pdf/under-the-weather-health-schooling-and-economic-consequences-4yuxbwzb3i.pdf

Under the Weather: Health, Schooling, and Economic Consequences of Early-Life Rainfall

https://www.aeaweb.org/annual_mtg_papers/2008/2008_287.pdf

Dean Yang

Papers

International Migration, Remittances, and Household Investment: Evidence from Philippine Migrants' Exchange Rate Shocks

International Migration, Remittances and Household Investment: Evidence from Philippine Migrants’ Exchange Rate Shocks*

Under the Weather: Health, Schooling, and Economic Consequences of Early-Life Rainfall. NBER Working Paper No. 14031.

Under the Weather: Health, Schooling, and Economic Consequences of Early-Life Rainfall

Insurance, credit, and technology adoption : field experimental evidence from Malawi.