World Institute for Development Economics Research

About: World Institute for Development Economics Research is a facility organization based out in Helsinki, Finland. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Poverty & Population. The organization has 110 authors who have published 525 publications receiving 17316 citations.

Fiscal decentralization and efficiency of public services delivery by local governments in Ghana

Abstract: In this paper, we estimate the efficiency of Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) in Ghana, and investigate the impact of fiscal decentralization on the efficiency of local public goods and services delivery by MMDAs. Using data from composite budgets of all 216 MMDAs, we employ both non‐parametric and parametric frontier methods to carry out the study. The results with regard to our two indicators of fiscal decentralization indicate that fiscal autonomy proxied by MMDAs’ internally generated funds as a share of their total revenue has a positive influence on the efficiency of MMDAs whilst vertical imbalance—a high share of central government grants in MMDAs’ total expenditure—does not improve the delivery of local goods and services by MMDAs in Ghana. The findings indicate a clear signal to policy managers to prioritize support to MMDAs in the mobilization of internally generated revenue.

The economics of counterinsurgency:some evidence from Andhra Pradesh

Abstract: Present in India since the 1960s, the Naxalite insurgency has steadily spread across the country. Counterinsurgency measures lagged behind and did not follow any systematic process till the early 2000s with the exception of Andhra Pradesh, which in 1989 established the Greyhounds, an anti-Naxalite police force. However, under the Congress-led UPA government (in power since 2004), there has been a concerted effort to tackle the insurgency. This article analyzes the centrally funded Security Related Expenditure Scheme in the context of industrial investments in Andhra Pradesh over the period 2005-2009. I find the scheme to have had no effect on industrial credit at the district level. A further disaggregation of the industrial credit data reveals no effects on construction but finds a positive effect on mining and quarrying activity.

Assessing Foreign Aid's Long-Run Contribution to Growth in Development

Abstract: This paper confirms recent evidence of a positive impact of aid on growth and widens the scope of evaluation to a range of outcomes including proximate sources of growth (e.g., physical and human capital), indicators of social welfare (e.g., poverty and infant mortality), and measures of economic transformation (e.g., share of agriculture and industry in value added). Focusing on long-run cumulative effects of aid in developing countries, and taking due account of potential endogeneity, a coherent and favorable pattern of results emerges. Aid has over the past forty years stimulated growth, promoted structural change, improved social indicators and reduced poverty.

Democratic Transition and Democratic Survival in Benin

Abstract: Through its National Conference in 1990 and presidential and legislative elections in 1991, Benin successfully undertook a transition to democracy. Notwithstanding some electoral irregularities, this (minimal) democracy has survived since, witnessing three successful alternations of executive power. A 'deviant' case, Benin is not well explained by theories of democratization that highlight economic development and diffusion effects. In examining the Beninese case, this article focuses on the transition in three stages: the collapse of the incumbent government; the transition to democracy; and the survival (or 'consolidation') of minimal democracy thereafter. In explaining each of these stages, it argues that different factors were key: in the first, economic crisis exacerbated existing weaknesses in the incumbent government; in the second, external actors supported democratization, while diverse domestic groups contributed to a process that was not dominated by any single group; and in the third, domestic leadership and institutional incentives became particularly important. The article concludes by discussing democratic deepening in Benin.

The HIV|AIDS Pandemic in South Africa: Sectoral Impacts and Unemployment

Abstract: South Africa is currently confronting an HIV|AIDS crisis. HIV prevalence in the population is currently estimated at about 13 per cent with that number projected to increase over the next five years or so. Given the massive scale of the problem and the concentration of effects on adults of prime working age, the pandemic is expected to sharply influence a host of economic and non-economic variables. While the pandemic will certainly influence the rate of economic growth, structural changes are also likely to be one of the primary economic hallmarks of the AIDS pandemic.This paper builds on the work of Arndt and Lewis (2000) who estimated the aggregate macroeconomic impacts of the HIV|AIDS pandemic in South Africa using a computable general equilibrium (CGE) approach. They found that, despite dramatically lower rates of growth of the unskilled labor pool relative to the 'no AIDS' trend, estimated unemployment rates for unskilled labor in their base 'AIDS' scenario increased absolutely over most of the upcoming decade and are essentially the same (slightly higher in fact) as the rates estimated for a fictional 'no AIDS' scenario. In this paper, we seek to further investigate the interactions between unemployment and AIDS using the basic modeling approach set forth in Arndt and Lewis.