https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.2307%2F3343168.pdf

Development as Freedom

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.

Estimation and Inference in Econometrics

A common approach to evaluating robustness to omitted variable bias is to observe coefficient movements after inclusion of controls. This is informative only if selection on observables is informative about selection on unobservables. Although this link is known in theory in existing literature, very few empirical articles approach this formally. I develop an extension of the theory that connects bias explicitly to coefficient stability. I show that it is necessary to take into account coefficient and R-squared movements. I develop a formal bounding argument. I show two validation exercises and discuss application to the economics literature. Supplementary materials for this article are available online.

/pdf/unobservable-selection-and-coefficient-stability-theory-and-1r9lpwnnl2.pdf

Unobservable Selection and Coefficient Stability: Theory and Evidence

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.

Land policies for growth and poverty reduction

In this paper, we report results from surveys in which enumerators make unannounced visits to primary schools and health clinics in Bangladesh, Ecuador, India, Indonesia, Peru and Uganda and recorded whether they found teachers and health workers in the facilities.

/pdf/missing-in-action-teacher-and-health-worker-absence-in-1v58idosni.pdf

Missing in Action: Teacher and Health Worker Absence in Developing Countries

Much of the literature on consumption smoothing and on risk sharing has focused on the ability of the household as a unit to protect its consumption. Little is known about the ability of individual...

/pdf/in-sickness-and-in-health-risk-sharing-within-households-in-4766y7uq38.pdf

In Sickness and in Health: Risk Sharing within Households in Rural Ethiopia

Assessing changes in poverty levels over time is bedevilled by problems in questionnaire design, the choice of the poverty line, the exact timing of the survey and uncertainty about the appropriate cost-of-living deflators. In this paper, we focus on testing the robustness of measured changes in poverty to these common problems, using household panel data collected in rural Ethiopia in 1989, 1994 and 1995: in particular, we implement a simple graphical technique for assessing the impact of uncertainty in measured inflation rates. We find that poverty declined between 1989 and 1994, but remained virtually unchanged between 1994 and 1995. However, the last result disguises substantial seasonal fluctuations in 1994. We also find that households with substantial human and physical capital, and better access to roads and towns have both lower poverty levels and are more likely to get better off over time. Human capital and access to roads and towns also reduce the fluctuations in poverty across the seasons.

/pdf/changes-in-poverty-in-rural-ethiopia-1989-1995-measurement-5h5asohg2v.pdf

Changes in Poverty in Rural Ethiopia 1989-1995: Measurement, Robustness Tests and Decomposition

A household survey conducted in rural Zimbabwe in 2001 is used to compare the position of de facto and de jure female-headed households to those with a male head. These households are characterised by different forms of poverty that impinge on their ability to improve agricultural productivity. However, once inputs are accounted for, it is only for growing cotton that female-headed households' productivity is lower than that found for male-headed households. General poverty alleviation policies will benefit the female-headed household but specific interventions via extension services and access to marketing consortia are also indicated.

/pdf/poverty-and-productivity-in-female-headed-households-in-4r2bvoelot.pdf

Poverty and productivity in female-headed households in Zimbabwe

This study examined the size and determinants of the gender wage gap in Ethiopia Uganda and the Ivory Coast. The analysis includes decomposition of wage differences and sector decomposition by gender using Oaxaca and Neumark methods. Data were obtained from the 1990 Survey of Adolescent Fertility Reproductive Behavior and Employment Status of Youth in Urban Ethiopia; the 1985 1986 and 1987 Ivory Coast Living Standards Surveys; and the 1992 Integrated Survey of Uganda. The samples were restricted to urban population. The sample population was aged 15-59 in the Ivory Coast and Uganda and 15-30 years in Ethiopia. The analysis focused on uncorrected estimates. Index problems that were encountered in Uganda suggest caution in drawing inferences. Decomposition varied widely across the 3 countries. There were substantial gender wage differences in Uganda and Ethiopia which are attributed to wage generating characteristics. Neumark interpretations suggest that favoritism of men and discrimination against women were equally important in Ethiopia while discrimination against women was key in Uganda. Gaps by sector were wider in the private sector in Ethiopia comparable in Uganda and wider in the public sector in the Ivory Coast. The processes that accounted for sector wage gaps by gender varied between countries. The wage gap appears narrower in descriptive statistics which shows that women were overrepresented in the better-paid public sector. The gender gaps in Ethiopia and Ivory Coast would be 17% and 20% greater respectively if men and women were equally allocated by sector. In Uganda sector equity would increase the gap by 5%.

/pdf/the-gender-wage-gap-in-three-african-countries-3kv5ep94ae.pdf

The Gender Wage Gap in Three African Countries

Empirical studies of the relationship between school inputs and test scores typically do not account for the fact that households will respond to changes in school inputs. This paper presents a dynamic household optimization model relating test scores to school and household inputs, and tests its predictions in two very different low-income country settings -- Zambia and India. The authors measure household spending changes and student test score gains in response to unanticipated as well as anticipated changes in school funding. Consistent with the optimization model, they find in both settings that households offset anticipated grants more than unanticipated grants. They also find that unanticipated school grants lead to significant improvements in student test scores but anticipated grants have no impact on test scores. The results suggest that naive estimates of public education spending on learning outcomes that do not account for optimal household responses are likely to be considerably biased if used to estimate parameters of an education production function.

Pramila Krishnan

Papers

In Sickness and in Health: Risk Sharing within Households in Rural Ethiopia

Changes in Poverty in Rural Ethiopia 1989-1995: Measurement, Robustness Tests and Decomposition

Poverty and productivity in female-headed households in Zimbabwe

The Gender Wage Gap in Three African Countries

School Inputs, Household Substitution, and Test Scores