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.

Brazil’s south–north labour income gap re-examined: evidence across purchasing power adjusted wage distributions

Abstract: This article provides new evidence for the sources of regional income inequalities in Brazil throughout the wage distribution, taking into account the regional differentials in purchasing power. We...

Balance Sheet Positions in OECD and Post-Soviet Countries Since the 1990s

Abstract: In this paper, we construct a new disaggregated net financial wealth data set for the OECD and some emerging markets countries. We find that since the beginning of 1990s, the net wealth positions of countries have developed differently. First, for a group of central and northern European countries, as well as Canada and Japan, improvements in private sector net financial wealth have resulted in improvements in net national financial wealth despite worsening public sector net wealth positions. Second, in the crisis-ridden countries of Portugal, Ireland, Iceland, Greece and Spain, private sector net wealth position improvements have not compensated for deteriorating public sector situations. Third, the net financial wealth of post-communist transition economies decreased over the sample period due to worsening private sector positions, public sector positions, or both. However, this pattern has recently changed in most post-communist states.

Measuring the Carbon Content of the South African Economy

Abstract: We estimate the carbon intensity of industries, products, and households in South Africa. Direct and indirect carbon usage is measured using multiplier methods that capture inter-industry linkages and multi-product supply chains. Carbon intensity is found to be high for exports but low for major employing sectors. Middle-income households are the most carbon-intensive consumers. These results suggest that carbon pricing policies (without border tax adjustments) would adversely affect export earnings, but should not disproportionately hurt workers or poorer households. 7 per cent of emissions arise though marketing margins, implying that carbon pricing should be accompanied by supporting public policies and investments.

Duration of Pre‐university Education and Labour Market Outcomes: Evidence from a Quasi‐experiment in Ghana

Abstract: This paper provides new evidence on the causal effect of shortening the duration of pre-university education on long-term labour market outcomes in Ghana. We use the education reform of 1987 as a natural experiment, which reduced the years of education prior to university from 17 to 12 years. Our identification strategy uses a regression discontinuity design, taking advantage of the situation that pre- and post-reform birth cohorts entered the labour market around the same time, thus facing similar conditions.

Decomposing Learning Inequalities in East Africa: How Much Does Sorting Matter?

Abstract: Inequalities in learning opportunities arise from both household- and school-related factors. Although these factors are unlikely to be independent, few studies have considered the extent to which sorting between schools and households might aggravate educational inequalities. To fill this gap, this article presents a novel variance decomposition, which is then applied to data from over one million children from East Africa. Results indicate that sorting accounts for around 8 percent of the test-score variance, similar in magnitude to the contribution of differences in school quality. Empirical simulations of steady-state educational inequalities reveal that policies to mitigate sorting could substantially reduce educational inequalities over the long run.