Showing papers by "World Institute for Development Economics Research published in 2018"
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors provided causal evidence on early-life exposure to war on mental health status in adulthood using an instrumental variable strategy and found that one percent increase in bombing intensity during 1965-75 increases the likelihood of severe mental distress in adulthood by 16 percentage points.
57 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors estimate the relationship between behavioural and personality traits of owners/managers (risk attitudes, locus of control, and innovativeness) and firm-level decisions.
Abstract: Using novel data from micro, small and medium firms in Vietnam, we estimate the relationship between behavioural and personality traits of owners/managers – risk attitudes, locus of control, and innovativeness – and firm-level decisions. We extend the analysis beyond standard metrics of firm performance such as revenue and growth to study intermediate investments, including product innovation, worker training, and adoption of workplace safety measures that are potentially conducive to observed firm performance. Our results show that innovativeness and locus of control are positively correlated with revenue while risk aversion predicts lower revenue. Risk aversion is positively correlated with the adoption of safety measures. Innovativeness, as expected, is associated with an increased probability of product innovations. An internal locus of control predicts higher probability of investments, innovations and worker training. Heterogeneity analyses indicate that innovativeness and risk aversion matter more for firm outcomes in provinces characterized by better business climate. Our results are robust to a variety of checks. We contribute to a nascent and rapidly growing literature on the importance of managerial capital by shedding light on the role of managerial personality characteristics for decision-making in firms in a dynamic transition economy.
46 citations
TL;DR: This article examined the causal effect of government spending on the social sectors (health, education and social protection) on three measures of aggregate welfare: the Human Development Index, the Inequality-adjusted Human development Index and child mortality rates, using longitudinal data from 55 low-income and middle-income countries from 1990 to 2009.
Abstract: Over the past two decades, there has been unprecedented attention to the promotion of human development via government spending in the social sectors as a conditio sine qua non for economic growth and improved aggregate welfare. Yet the existing evidence on the subject remains limited and contested. This paper contributes to the literature by examining the causal effect of government spending on the social sectors (health, education and social protection) on three measures of aggregate welfare: the Human Development Index, the Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index and child mortality rates, using longitudinal data from 55 low-income and middle-income countries from 1990 to 2009. We find strong evidence to support the proposition that government social spending has played a significant role in improving aggregate welfare in the developing world. Our results are fairly robust to, inter alia, the method of estimation, the set of control variables and the use of alternative samples and instruments. © 2017 UNU-WIDER. Journal of International Development published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
42 citations
TL;DR: The authors argue that variation in social assistance in sub-Saharan Africa results from the political contestation and negotiation between political elites, voters, bureaucrats, and transnational actors, and that the forms of politics that matter at each of these inter-related sites of negotiation include struggles over ideas as well as material interests.
Abstract: Social assistance programmes proliferated and expanded across much of the global South from the mid-1990s. Within Africa there has been enormous variation in this trend: some governments expanded coverage dramatically while others resisted this. The existing literature on social assistance, or social protection more broadly, offers little in explanation of this variation. Drawing on the literature on political settlements and democratic politics, we argue that variation results from the political contestation and negotiation between political elites, voters, bureaucrats, and transnational actors. The forms of politics that matter at each of these inter-related sites of negotiation include struggles over ideas as well as material interests, and reflect the ways in which social assistance is being used to advance certain political as well as developmental projects in sub-Saharan Africa.
41 citations
TL;DR: A considerable body of research suggests that horizontal inequality between ethnic groups has major socioeconomic implications, in particular for peace and economic development as discussed by the authors, and that ethnic groups tend to be more homogeneous than other groups.
Abstract: A considerable body of research suggests that horizontal inequality between ethnic groups has major socioeconomic implications, in particular for peace and economic development Much of this work f
28 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, legal empowerment has become widely accepted in development policy circles as an approach to addressing poverty and exclusion, but it has received relatively little attention from poli cation.
Abstract: Legal empowerment has become widely accepted in development policy circles as an approach to addressing poverty and exclusion. At the same time, it has received relatively little attention from pol...
18 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present a synopsis of the contextual conditions, factors and challenges under which the recent evolution of tax systems has taken place over the past three decades, and give especial emphasis to the role of natural endowments, political economy, social structure and history, and the interplay between politics and tax revenues.
Abstract: This paper presents a synopsis of the contextual conditions, factors and challenges under which the recent evolution of tax systems has taken place over the past three decades. The paper gives especial emphasis to the role of natural endowments, political economy, social structure and history, and the interplay between politics and tax revenues. These are relevant issues, considering that the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and now the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have placed fiscal policy, and tax policy and revenue mobilization in particular, at the centre of national and international development efforts. Delivering on the SDGs will require a level of state revenue mobilization capacity in many ways unprecedented in the history of development policy.
17 citations
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TL;DR: In this article, the authors present a synopsis of the contextual conditions, factors and challenges under which the recent evolution of tax systems has taken place over the past three decades, and give especial emphasis to the role of natural endowments, political economy, social structure and history, and the interplay between politics and tax revenues.
Abstract: This paper presents a synopsis of the contextual conditions, factors and challenges under which the recent evolution of tax systems has taken place over the past three decades. The paper gives especial emphasis to the role of natural endowments, political economy, social structure and history, and the interplay between politics and tax revenues. These are relevant issues, considering that the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and now the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have placed fiscal policy, and tax policy and revenue mobilization in particular, at the centre of national and international development efforts. Delivering on the SDGs will require a level of state revenue mobilization capacity in many ways unprecedented in the history of development policy.
16 citations
TL;DR: A systematic documentation of the levels and variation in access to energy at the health-facility level is important for designing effective policies to improve the quality of healthcare and the ultimate health of the population.
Abstract: This paper addresses an important topic, energy poverty in healthcare facilities. We try to provide an interesting perspective on bringing together two SDGs. The SDG 7, which seeks to ensure access to affordable, sustainable, and modern energy for all, is interlinked with Goal 3 on Health. The literature studies as well as data on the subject are sparse. Nevertheless, a systematic documentation of the levels and variation in access to energy at the health-facility level is important for designing effective policies to improve the quality of healthcare and the ultimate health of the population. Using the 2012-2013 Senegal Service Provision Assessment (SCSPA), we assessed energy access in health facilities and health systems' performance. Data were also geocoded using ArcGIS 10.3 to give a snapshot of the situation.
16 citations
TL;DR: The authors argue that the quantitative tradition is rooted in an atomistic view of the social world, which is allied to an etic epistemology in which causes and effects are treated as analytically separable.
15 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors provided the first estimates of the level of bipolarization of the global income distribution during 1975-2010, showing that global bipolarization declined substantially according to relative measures, while it increased according to absolute measures.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that key methodological, conceptual, and political issues pose persistent challenges for such survey and census data on topics relating to "ethnicity" broadly defined, and that these challenges imply real limits in the so-called data revolution for sustainable development, but also risks to evidence-based policy making in this area when it relies too heavily on quantitative data.
Abstract: Inequality and social exclusion receive considerable contemporary policy attention. In the field of international development, inequality—both vertical (between individuals and households) and horizontal (between groups)—is a core concern in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Despite considerable attention to horizontal inequality in both research and policy, there are notable gaps and weaknesses in our empirical knowledge about how it manifests within and across countries and over time. This has implications not only for the rigour with which we can build and test theories in this area, but also for informing policy, monitoring trends, and evaluating the impact of interventions. This article probes what more can be learned from existing survey and census data to address empirical gaps.
It argues that key methodological, conceptual, and—in particular—political issues pose persistent challenges for such survey and census data on topics relating to ‘ethnicity’ broadly defined. These challenges imply not only real limits in the so-called data revolution for sustainable development, but also risks to ‘evidence-based’ policy making in this area when it relies too heavily on quantitative data. This article serves also as the introductory and framing paper for this special issue.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors analyse the multidimensional wellbeing of children aged 0-17 in Mozambique and find that 46.3% can be considered multidimensionally poor, and a substantial divide exists between urban and rural areas and between northern and southern provinces.
Abstract: We analyse the multidimensional wellbeing of children aged 0–17 in Mozambique and find that 46.3% can be considered multidimensionally poor. A substantial divide exists between urban and rural areas and between northern and southern provinces. We compare Mozambican children’s wellbeing with that of children in other regional countries. Despite impressive gains in some indicators, multidimensional child poverty in Mozambique still substantially exceeds that in neighbouring countries. Targeted policies considering the specificities of child welfare are needed to ensure that the national-level growth and poverty reduction experienced by the population as a whole translate into better living conditions for children.
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TL;DR: The authors examined the impact of a large-scale cash transfer program, Bono Juancito Pinto (BJP), on schooling and child labour in the Bolivian government.
Abstract: In 2006, the Bolivian government introduced a large-scale cash transfer programme, Bono Juancito Pinto (BJP). Exploiting the exogenous variation of the programme expansion, this paper examines the impact of BJP on schooling and child labour. The analysis suggests that the transfer increases the likelihood of school enrolment but has no sizeable effect on the incidence of child labour. The results are in line with theoretical models that predict that if leisure and schooling decisions are substitutes, a school incentive will have either positive or neutral effects on child labour. Our findings support previous evidence that schooling and work decisions are not perfect substitutes among children.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors quantify the contribution of a subpopulation to inequality, defined as the sum of the contributions of its members, with these contributions computed as the impact on inequality of a small increase in the population mass at each point of the distribution (using the Recentered Influence Function).
Abstract: In this paper, I quantify the contribution of a subpopulation to inequality. This is defined as the sum of the contributions of its members, with these contributions computed as the impact on inequality of a small increase in the population mass at each point of the distribution (using the Recentered Influence Function). The decomposition is shown to verify various attractive properties. I also discuss alternative approaches used in the literature of factor inequality decompositions. I show that the RIF and the marginal and Shapley factor contributions are approximately equal in the case of the Mean Log Deviation, the index with the best additive decomposability properties, when the same normalization is used. In an empirical illustration, I use the approach to identify how the richest, highly educated, and urban population has disproportionally contributed to high and increasing inequality in Mozambique in recent years.
TL;DR: In this article, a new variance decomposition framework was developed and applied to data on more than one million children in three low-income East African countries, finding that although household factors account for a significant share of total test score variation, variation in school quality and positive sorting between households and schools are, together, no less important.
Abstract: Inequalities in the opportunity to obtain a good education in low-income countries are widely understood to be related to household resources and schooling quality. Yet, to date, most researchers have investigated the contributions of these two factors separately. This paper considers them jointly, paying special attention to their covariation, which indicates whether schools exacerbate or compensate for existing household-based inequalities. The paper develops a new variance decomposition framework and applies it to data on more than one million children in three low-income East African countries. The empirical results show that although household factors account for a significant share of total test score variation, variation in school quality and positive sorting between households and schools are, together, no less important. The analysis also finds evidence of substantial geographical heterogeneity in schooling quality. The paper concludes that promoting equity in education in East Africa requires policies that go beyond raising average school quality and should attend to the distribution of school quality as well as assortative matching between households and schools.
TL;DR: For example, the authors found that women fall behind in the labor market, continue to be underrepresented in the political arena, have weaker legal rights, and face overt discrimination, and these gender gaps and gender-biased attitudes are more prevalent in low-income countries.
Abstract: Gender equality and female empowerment are important goals in themselves. They are also potential means to achieving desirable outcomes in domains related to fertility, child health, education, and poverty alleviation (e.g., Duflo, 2003; Lundberg, Pollak, & Wales, 1997; World Bank, 2012). This has led to women's empowerment being a key policy goal in recent decades, especially since the adoption of the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women in 1979. In 2015, gender equality was listed as Goal 5 in the UN Sustainable Development Goals. There is as well a consensus that outcomes for women have improved considerably during recent decades especially in terms of educational attainment, fertility, life expectancy, and labor force participation (Heath & Jayachandran, 2018). However, significant gender gaps remain, and women fall behind in the labor market, continue to be underrepresented in the political arena, have weaker legal rights, and face overt discrimination (Duflo, 2012; World Bank, 2012). Further, these gender gaps and gender‐biased attitudes are more prevalent in low‐income countries. A sizable disadvantage and discrimination that women and girls face arises within their households. In fact, this inequality faced by girls within their households from an early age contributes to worse later‐life outcomes for them. Evidence from India and China points towards a preference for sons leading to skewed sex ratios and “missing women,” lower spending on daughters, practices related to dowry, and a general lack of decision‐making power in the hands of women (Anderson, 2007; Jayachandran, 2015). Female genital mutilation practised in parts of Africa and the Middle East has affected at least 200 million young girls (UNICEF, 2016). Across most developing countries, property and inheritance rights are stacked in favor of males (Hallward‐Driemeier, Hasan, & Bogdana Rusu, 2013) and women are frequent targets of domestic violence. Acknowledging the potential gains that could accrue from increased female autonomy, we need a better understanding of how changes in local contexts and environments alter women's autonomy, welfare, and decision‐making. While we know from existing literature that improved labor market
TL;DR: This article showed that occupations in South Africa are segregated and stratified by gender, while some women (mostly Black and “Coloured”) overwhelmingly fill low-paying jobs, others (mostly White a...
Abstract: This study shows that occupations in South Africa are segregated and stratified by gender. While some women (mostly Black and “Coloured”) overwhelmingly fill low-paying jobs, others (mostly White a...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present a synopsis of the contextual conditions, factors and challenges under which the recent evolution of tax systems has taken place over the past three decades, and give especial emphasis to the role of natural endowments, political economy, social structure and history, and the interplay between politics and tax revenues.
Abstract: This paper presents a synopsis of the contextual conditions, factors and challenges under which the recent evolution of tax systems has taken place over the past three decades. The paper gives especial emphasis to the role of natural endowments, political economy, social structure and history, and the interplay between politics and tax revenues. These are relevant issues, considering that the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and now the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have placed fiscal policy, and tax policy and revenue mobilization in particular, at the centre of national and international development efforts. Delivering on the SDGs will require a level of state revenue mobilization capacity in many ways unprecedented in the history of development policy.
TL;DR: The authors examined the impact of a large-scale cash transfer program, Bono Juancito Pinto (BJP), on schooling and child labour in the Bolivian population.
Abstract: In 2006, the Bolivian government introduced a large-scale cash transfer programme, Bono Juancito Pinto (BJP). Exploiting the exogenous variation of the programme expansion, this paper examines the impact of BJP on schooling and child labour. The analysis suggests that the transfer increases the likelihood of school enrollment but has no sizeable effect on the incidence of child labour. The results are in line with theoretical models that predict that if leisure and schooling decisions are substitutes, a school incentive will have either positive or neutral effects on child labour. Our findings support previous evidence that schooling and work decisions are not perfect substitutes among children.