Niek de Jong

Bio: Niek de Jong is an academic researcher. The author has contributed to research in topics: Poverty & Commercial policy. The author has an hindex of 5, co-authored 6 publications receiving 297 citations.

Determinants of Poverty in Kenya: A Household Level Analysis

Abstract: Strategies aimed at poverty reduction need to identify factors that are strongly associated with poverty and that are amenable to modification by policy. This article uses household level data collected in 1994 to examine probable determinants of poverty status, employing both binomial and polychotomous logit models. The study shows that poverty status is strongly associated with the level of education, household size and engagement in agricultural activity, both in rural and urban areas. In general, those factors that are closely associated with overall poverty according to the binomial model are also important in the ordered-logit model, but they appear to be even more important in tackling extreme poverty.

Trade Liberalization and Poverty in Ecuador: A CGE Macro-Microsimulation Analysis

Abstract: Cross-country analysis of the aggregate growth-poverty link is likely to miss important country-specific detail and possible offsetting forces in the underlying labour market adjustment process. This paper combines a CGE model analysis with a microsimulations approach to analyse the effects of trade liberalization on poverty and income distribution in Ecuador. The CGE model enables us to disentangle the general equilibrium effects of various trade policy scenarios on sector output, employment, factor incomes and household consumption. However, as is typical of CGE models, this analysis only provides distribution results for fairly aggregated groups of workers and a reduced number of representative households. The microsimulations approach adds the full distribution to the analysis and allows simulation of the effects of trade reform on the job status and remuneration of individual workers and thereby on household income distribution and poverty. The macro- microsimulation results indicate that the trade o...

Extending the SAM with Social and Environmental Indicators: An Application to Bolivia

Abstract: Extending economic accounts with sets of social and environmental indicators is a first step towards a more integrated analysis of aspects of sustainability problems. In this article, therefore, a proposal is made to nest social and environmental indicators into an existing economic accounting framework. The Social Accounting Matrix (SAM) is taken as a basis, because of its flexibility regarding extensions with non-monetary data addressing social and environmental concerns. The main thrust of the paper is methodological. From the discussion of methodological issues and the application to the SAM for Bolivia for the year 1989, it is concluded that it is, in principle, feasible and relatively simple to extend the SAM with the two sets of indicators. However, additional data will have to be collected to be able to address, more adequately, the problems of sustainability.

Regional blocs or global markets? A world accounting approach to analyze trade and financial linkages

Abstract: Regional Blocs or Global Markets? A World Accounting Approach to Analyze Trade and Financial Linkages. —Do we live in a world of globalized capital and commodity markets or do regional networks dominate trade and financial linkages between economies? This paper addresses the question, using an integrated and consistent data system of trade and financial flows, called the World Accounting Matrix (WAM). This framework overcomes many of the data discrepancies and shortcomings in official statistics sources. Simple descriptive parameters are derived from the WAM to define the degree of trade and financial linkages between countries and regions. It is found that regional ties continue to be a predominant feature of the structure of the world economy.

Factors influencing the intensity of market participation by smallholder farmers: A case study of rural and peri-urban areas of Kenya

Abstract: Participation in commercial agriculture holds considerable potential for unlocking suitable opportunity sets necessary for providing better incomes and sustainable livelihoods for smallscale farmers. This study examined factors that influence the intensity of market participation among smallholder farmers in Kenya. Data was obtained through a rapid rural appraisal and a household survey. A truncated regression model was applied in the analysis. Results showed that farmers in peri-urban areas sold higher proportions of their output than those in rural areas. Distance from farm to point of sale is a major constraint to the intensity of market participation. Better output price and market information are key incentives for increased sales. These findings demonstrate the urgent need to strengthen market information delivery systems, upgrade roads in both rural and peri-urban areas, encourage market integration initiatives, and establish more retail outlets with improved market facilities in the remote rural villages in order to promote production and trade in high value commodities by rural farmers.

Assessing Progress in Africa toward the Millennium Development Goals

Abstract: Material in this publication may be freely quoted or reprinted. Acknowledgement is requested, together with a copy of the publication. Table 0.1: Top five destinations by share of total illicit financial flows for selected African countries and sectors where there are significant illicit financial flows (trade mispricing only), vii Foreword The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) have been a catalyst for action by governments, civil society and the private sector to advance development. The effects have been direct, including mobilizing aid for social development, and indirect, through advocacy and global monitoring, particularly of key indicators of progress in education, health and gender equality. African Member States have made remarkable progress towards achieving the MDGs despite difficult initial conditions. Indeed, previous MDG Progress Reports for Africa have shown that when effort and initial conditions are factored in, African countries are among the top achievers of the MDGs. A study of countries accelerating the most rapidly towards the MDGs found that eight of the world's top ten best performers are in Africa. Further, progress was more rapid in least-developed countries (LDCs) than in non-LDCs despite the significant investments in infrastructure and human capital that countries at very low levels of development require to achieve the MDGs. The development context and landscape in many African countries is changing. With the imminent MDG target date of 2015, it is important for Member States to build and sustain the momentum achieved to date and ensure that their development priorities and aspirations find credible expression in the post-2015 Development Agenda/Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Due to the rapid growth experienced by several African countries in the past decade, the continent can now have greater fiscal autonomy in charting its own development path based on the different contexts of individual countries and the shared aspirations of the African people. Indeed, the discourse is shifting to a narrative that emphasizes ownership underpinned by robust domestic resource mobilization and adequate policy space. Understandably, Official Development Assistance (ODA) will remain an important feature of the development financing landscape and a substantial component of the fiscal envelope of most low-income countries. Nevertheless, there is a growing recognition that with the prevailing global uncertainties and fiscal consolidation in many developed countries, ODA should at best be seen as a complement and not a substitute for domestic resources, investment and trade. These observations are pertinent in the context of the decline in ODA to Southern, …

The global economy—myths and realities

Abstract: Hirst and Thompson's Globalization in Question is the key text questioning claims of economic globalisation. This review of its revised second edition examines its main claims: that contemporary levels of international integration fall short of the Gold Standard period; genuinely global companies remain exceptional; capital mobility is not shifting economic activity to developing countries wholesale; international eco nomic activity is primarily regional rather than global; and that international economic activity is sanctioned by nation states and remains subject to their political power. This review argues that, while their evidence provides a useful corrective to extreme globalisation views, focusing on this view understates changes in the international economy.

Constructing SAMs for Development Policy Analysis: Lessons Learned and Challenges Ahead

Abstract: A The aim of this paper is to appraise a few of the key innovative features of the early work in compiling SAMs for development policy analysis; to set out and review some recent methodological advances; and to identify those areas where compilation continues to be problematic. It briefly re-visits the features of the SAM as an integrating framework and sets out its relationship to the SNA 1993. The main compilation problems faced in practice arise from assembling the household accounts from household survey data where income data are especially unreliable and are difficult to link to the factor accounts and to income transfers. Experience is drawn from the construction of a Ghana SAM. In the literature relatively more attention has been devoted to balancing and data reconciliation methods, which are briefly reviewed, although these are second order adjustments and much still depends on the quality of the initial estimates K: Social accounting matrices; household accounts; balancing methods