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.

Portfolio preferences of foreign institutional investors

Abstract: The authors examine the relationship between foreign investment and the attributes of emerging market countries and firms in which investment is made. Their findings indicate that countries with higher levels of economic development and floating exchange rate regimes tend to have greater ability to obtain foreign capital. After controlling for the country's level of economic development, they find that firms in countries with stronger shareholder rights and legal framework attract more foreign capital. The authors also find that foreign institutions allocate more of their assets to firms with better corporate governance after controlling for other country and firm attributes. The main firm-level measures of corporate governance are derived from accounting quality variables. Their results imply that steps can be taken both at the country and the firm level to create an environment conducive to foreign portfolio investment. The analysis is based on a unique dataset consisting of equity positions of U.S. mutual funds in emerging markets.

Services Trade and Policy

Abstract: Since the mid-1980s a substantial body of research has taken shape on trade in services. Much of this is inspired by the WTO and regional trade agreements. However, an increasing number of papers focus on the impacts of unilateral services sector liberalization. The literature touches on important linkages between trade and FDI in services and the general pattern of productivity growth and economic development. This paper surveys the literature on services trade, focusing on contributions that investigate the determinants of international trade and investment in services, the potential gains from greater trade, and efforts to cooperate to achieve such liberalization through trade agreements. There is increasing evidence that services liberalization is a major potential source of gains in economic performance, including productivity in manufacturing and the coordination of activities both between and within firms. The performance of service sectors, and thus services policies, may also be an important determinant of trade volumes, the distributional effects of trade, and overall patterns of economic growth and development. At the same time, services trade is also a source of increasing political unease about the impacts of globalization on labor markets, linked to worries about offshoring and the potential pressure this places on wages in high income countries.

Genetic progress in wheat yield and nitrogen use efficiency under four nitrogen rates

Abstract: The adaptation and performance of CIMMYT's bread wheat germplasm (Triticum aestivum L.) under conditions of low N fertility have been questioned because they were developed under medium-high levels of N fertility. The objectives of this research were to (i) compare the performance of a set of tall vs. semidwarf cultivars developed by CIMMYT that were widely grown by farmers in the Yaqui Valley of Mexico at low and high N fertility, (ii) measure the genetic progress in grain yield and N use efficiency (NUE), and (iii) evaluate the contribution of N uptake efficiency (UPE) and utilization efficiency (UTE) to NUE. Ten wheat cultivars, two tall and eight semidwarf, produced by CIMMYT and released in the Yaqui Valley of Sonora, by the Mexican government from 1950 to 1985 were grown with 0, 75, 150, or 300 kg N ha -1 in a 3-yr field study at Ciudad Obregon, Sonora, Mexico. Genetic gains in both grain yield and NUE during 1950 to 1985 were 1.1, 1.0, 1.2, and 1.9% yr -1 on a relative basis or 32, 43, 59, and 89 kg ha -1 yr -1 on an absolute basis, when provided 0, 75, 150, and 300 kg ha -1 N, respectively. Progress in NUE resulted in an improvement of both UPE and UTE. However, the relative importance of these two components was affected by the level of applied N. These results contradict the belief that modern semidwarf cultivars require more N than older cultivars. Instead, they respond more to N, which translates into higher economic rates and higher returns when N fertilizer is available.