World Bank Institute

About: World Bank Institute is a based out in . It is known for research contribution in the topics: Government & Accountability. The organization has 77 authors who have published 166 publications receiving 23488 citations.

The effects of school-based management in the Philippines: an initial assessment using administrative data

Abstract: This paper estimates the effect of school-based management on student performance in the Philippines using the administrative dataset of all public schools in 23 school districts over a 3-year period, 2003- 2005. The authors test whether schools that received early school-based management interventions (training in school-based management and direct funding for school-based reforms, based on school improvement plans) attained higher average test scores than those that did not receive such inputs. The analysis uses school-level overall composite test scores (comprising all subject areas tested) and test scores in three separate subject areas: English, math, and science. Their preferred estimator, difference-indifference with propensity score matching, shows that the average treatment effect of participation in school-based management was higher by 1.5 percentage points for overall composite scores, 1.2 percentage points for math scores, 1.4 percentage points for English scores, and 1.8 percentage points for science scores. These results suggest that the introduction of school-based management had a statistically significant, albeit small, overall positive effect on average school-level test scores in 23 school districts in the Philippines. The paper provides a first glimpse of the potential for school-based management in a Southeast Asian context based on available administrative data. The authors suggest that the next order of research is to answer policy-related questions regarding the reforms: what aspects of the reform lead to desired results; are there differential effects across subpopulations; and what are the potential downsides to the reforms? The authors recommend that countries embarking on implementation of school-based management reforms specify their school-based management model and theories of change clearly and advance mechanisms for rigorous evaluations simultaneously. Such evaluations should not only provide more accurate estimates of the effectiveness of the reforms, but also help answer policy-related questions regarding design and implementation of those reforms in different socio-cultural contexts.

The imperative for health promotion in universal health coverage.

Abstract: Universal health coverage (UHC) centers on delivering effective, affordable health care, and the policy focus is often heavily on curative care. Health promotion, on the other hand, centers on keeping people well, largely through promoting healthy behavior and environments. Implementing robust, effective evidence-based health promotion programs would improve people's health profoundly and also help ensure the financial viability of UHC. The emerging importance of noncommunicable diseases and injuries (NCDIs) in the developing world increases the imperative for prevention and health promotion. Fortunately, vibrant examples with strong impact are emerging both in the West and in developing countries. Health promotion programs implement a broad array of interventions to ensure optimal health and to prevent illness across the life span, at national, provincial, and community levels, involving multiple sectors of Government, notably Ministries of Education, Finance, Transportation, and Communication. Successful health promotion programs rely on qualified professionals specialized in areas as diverse as policy analysis, legislation, social psychology, social and behavior change communication, economics, sociology, and health journalism. This article advocates that national policy and decision-makers should rebalance efforts in the health field to do far more to promote health and prevent disease. This will require: raising competencies, profiles, and incentives for health promotion and disease prevention professionals; a stronger health promotion curriculum in schools of public health and far more attention to health promotion and disease prevention in the training of doctors and other health care providers; and an improved legal, operational, and management framework of health promotion units in health ministries at national and provincial levels, with clearer roles and responsibilities and adequate budgets.

Corruption and Policy: Back to the Roots

Abstract: Corruption is now recognized to be a pervasive phenomenon that can seriously jeopardize the best-intentioned reform efforts. Economists in the field of industrial organization, antitrust and regulation have long recognized certain institutional factors as potent determinants of corruption, opportunistic behavior and "capture" of government officials. Only now are these relationships becoming conventional wisdom among specialists of economies in transition. This paper presents an analytical framework for examining the role basic market institutions play in rent-seeking and illicit behavior. Using data only recently available on the incidence of corruption and institutional development across an array of transition economies, the paper provides preliminary evidence on the link between the development of market institutions and incentives for corruption. The empirical results suggest that high barriers to new business entry and soft budget constraints on incumbent firms are particularly important institutional factors engendering opportunities for corruption. The findings also support the notion that economic development and maturation of democratic processes both temper corruption, as does, to a lesser extent, openness to international trade.

East Asian preferential trade agreements in services: liberalization content and WTO rules

Abstract: The past seven years have seen a rapid proliferation of preferential trade agreements (PTAs) in the East Asian region. Many of the recently concluded PTAs are comprehensive in their coverage, seeking not only the dismantling of barriers to trade in goods but also the liberalization of trade in services. This paper offers an assessment of this recent wave of services agreements in East Asia, focusing on their liberalization content and their compliance with WTO rules on regional integration. It draws on a database in which the authors recorded the value added of PTA liberalization undertakings relative to pre-existing multilateral services commitments. Among other things, this database is used to empirically assess the effect of the scheduling approach on the depth and breadth of liberalization undertakings.

Implicit Pension Debt, Transition Cost, Options, and Impact of China's Pension Reform: A Computable General Equilibrium A

Abstract: China's population is aging rapidly: the old-age dependency ratio will rise from 11 percent in 1999 to 25 percent in 2030 and 36 percent in 2050. Currently, three workers support one retiree; without reform, the system dependency ratio will climb to 69 percent in 2030 and 79 percent in 2050. The pension system has been in deficit, with an implicit pension debt in 2000 as high as 71 percent of GDP. The lack of an effective, sustainable pension system is a serious obstacle to Chinese economic reform. The main problems with China's pension system - the heavy pension burdens of state enterprises and the aging of the population - have deepened in recent years. Using a new computable general equilibrium model that differentiates between three types of enterprise ownership and 22 groups in the labor force, Wang, Xu, Wang, and Zhai estimate the effects of pension reform in China, comparing various options for financing the transition cost. They examine the impact that various reform options would have on the system's sustainability, on overall economic growth, and on income distribution. The results are promising. The current pay-as-you-go system, with a notional individual account, remains unchanged in the first scenario examined. Simulations show this system to be unsustainable. Expanding coverage under this system would improve financial viability in the short run but weaken it in the long run. Other scenarios assume that the transition cost will be financed by various taxes and that a new, fully funded individual account will be established in 2001. The authors compare the impact of a corporate tax, a value-added tax, a personal income tax, and a consumption tax. They estimate the annual transition cost to be about 0.6 percent of GDP between 2000 and 2010, declining to 0.3 percent by 2050. Using a personal income tax to finance the transition cost would best promote economic growth and reduce income inequality. Levying a social security tax and injecting fiscal resources to finance the transition costs would help make the reformed public pillar sustainable. To finance a benefit of 20 percent of the average wage, a contribution rate of only 10 percent-12.5 percent would be enough to balance the basic pension pillar. Gradually increasing the retirement age would further reduce the contribution rate. This paper - a product of the Economic Policy and Poverty Reduction Division, World Bank Institute - was presented at the conference Developing through Globalization: China's Opportunities and Challenges in the New Century (Shanghai, China, July 5-7, 2000). The study was funded by the Bank's Research Support Budget under the research project "Efficiency and Distribution Effects of China's Social Security Reform" (RPO 683-52). The authors may be contacted at ywang2@worldbank.org or zwang@ers.usda.gov.