World Bank

About: World Bank is a other organization based out in Washington D.C., District of Columbia, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Poverty. The organization has 7813 authors who have published 21594 publications receiving 1198361 citations. The organization is also known as: World Bank, WB & The World Bank.

On Decomposing the Causes of Health Sector Inequalities with an Application to Malnutrition Inequalities in Vietnam

Abstract: A method for decomposing inequalities in the health sector into their causes is developed and applied to data on child malnutrition in Vietnam. Wagstaff, van Doorslaer, and Watanabe propose a method for decomposing inequalities in the health sector into their causes, by coupling the concentration index with a regression framework. They also show how changes in inequality over time, and differences across countries, can be decomposed into the following: - Changes due to changing inequalities in the determinants of the variable of interest. - Changes in the means of the determinants. - Changes in the effects of the determinants on the variable of interest. The authors illustrate the method using data on child malnutrition in Vietnam. They find that inequalities in height-for-age in 1993 and 1998 are accounted for largely by inequalities in household consumption and by unobserved influences at the commune level. And they find that an increase in such inequalities is accounted for largely by changes in these two influences. In the case of household consumption, rising inequalities play a part, but more important have been the inequality - increasing effects of rising average consumption and the increased protective effect of consumption on nutritional status. In the case of unobserved commune-level influences, rising inequality and general improvements seem to have been roughly equally important in accounting for rising inequality in malnutrition. This paper - a joint product of Public Services for Human Development, Development Research Group, and the Development Data Group - is part of a larger effort in the Bank to investigate the links between health and poverty. The authors may be contacted at awagstaff@worldbank.org, vandoorslaer@econ.bmg.eur.nl., or nwatanabe@worldbank.org.

Bank Regulation and Supervision: What Works Best?

Abstract: The authors draw on their new database on bank regulation and supervision in 107 countries to assess different governmental approaches to bank regulation and supervision and evaluate the efficacy of different regulatory and supervisory policies. First, the authors assess two broad and competing theories of government regulation: the helping-hand approach, according to which governments regulate to correct market failures, and the grabbing-hand approach, according to which governments regulate to support political constituencies. Second, they assess the effect of an extensive array of regulatory and supervisory policies on the development and fragility of the banking sector. These policies include the following: Regulations on bank activities and the mixing of banking and commerce. Regulations on entry by domestic and foreign banks. Regulations on capital adequacy. Design features of deposit insurance systems. Supervisory power, independence, and resources; stringency of loan classification; provisioning standards; diversification guidelines; and powers to take prompt corrective action. Regulations governing information disclosure and fostering private sector monitoring of banks. Government ownership of banks. The results raise a cautionary flag with regard to reform strategies that place excessive reliance on a country's adherence to an extensive checklist of regulatory and supervisory practices that involve direct government oversight of and restrictions on banks. The findings, which are much more consistent with the grabbing-hand view of regulation than with the helping-hand view, suggest that the regulatory and supervisory practices most effective in promoting good performance and stability in the banking sector are those that force accurate information disclosure, empower private sector monitoring of banks, and foster incentives for private agents to exert corporate control.

Impact Evaluation in Practice

Abstract: Development programs and policies are typically designed to change outcomes such as raising incomes, improving learning, or reducing illness. Whether or not these changes are actually achieved is a crucial public policy question, but one that is not often examined. Impact evaluations are part of a broader agenda of evidence-based policy making. This growing global trend is marked by a shift in focus from inputs to outcomes and results, and is reshaping public policy.The first part of the book presents an overview of impact evaluation. Chapter 1 discusses why impact evaluation is important and how it fits within the context of ethical, evidence-based policy making. The authors contrast impact evaluation with monitoring, introduce the defining features of impact evaluation, and discuss complementary approaches, including cost-benefit analysis and cost-effectiveness analysis. The authors introduce a core focus of the book: namely, how a program’s available resources, eligibility criteria for selecting beneficiaries, and timing for mplementation serve to structure options in the selection of impact evaluation methods. Finally, the authors introduce different modalities of impact evaluation, such as prospective and retrospective evaluation, and efficacy versus effectiveness trials and conclude with a discussion on when to use impact evaluations. Chapter 2 discusses how to formulate evaluation questions and hypotheses that are useful for policy. These questions and hypotheses determine the focus of the evaluation. The authors also introduce the fundamental concept of a theory of change and the related use of results chains and performance indicators. Chapter 2 provides the first introduction to the fictional case study, the Health Insurance Subsidy Program (HISP), that is used throughout the book and in the accompanying material found on the Impact Evaluation in Practice website (www.worldbank .org/ieinpractice).

Official Intervention in the Foreign Exchange Market: Is It Effective and, If So, How Does It Work?

Abstract: In this Paper we assess the progress made by the profession in understanding whether and how exchange rate intervention works. To this end, we review the theory and evidence on official intervention, concentrating primarily on work published within the last decade or so. Our reading of the recent literature leads us to conclude that, in contrast with the profession's consensus view of the 1980s, official intervention can be effective, especially through its role as a signal of policy intentions, and especially when it is publicly announced and concerted. We also note, however, an apparent empirical puzzle concerning the secrecy of much intervention and suggest an additional way in which intervention may be effective but which has so far received little attention in the literature, namely through its role in remedying a coordination failure in the foreign exchange market.