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.

Aid, Environment and Climate Change

Abstract: Aid and aid institutions constitute an important element of the global response to interlinked global developmental and environmental challenges. As such, these institutions are now being drawn into new arenas beyond the traditional focus on improving the livelihoods of poor people in low-income countries. Development aid, by itself, cannot “save the planet.” Nevertheless, development aid and development institutions do have the potential to become important catalytic actors in achieving developmental and global environmental objectives. This requires bold reforms and political action. Without appropriate restructuring of the international institutional architecture to confront the new development context combined with the necessary complementary policy frameworks, future aid, including aid for environmental objectives, risks substantially under-performing.

Inequality and multidimensional well-being†

Abstract: The world has undergone rapid and tremendous change in the last couple of decades, much of it attributed to some facet of globalization. We have witnessed the collapse of the Soviet Union; conflict and civil wars in many developing nations; the rapid economic progress of many countries in Asia, most significantly China and India; ongoing economic and social decline in sub-Saharan Africa; increased economic uncertainty in parts of Latin America and the Caribbean; and stagnation in many parts of the Pacific. Developed countries have not remained immune to the same global forces. While they have achieved ever higher per capita incomes, and higher well-being according to traditional measures, they have also experienced profound internal change, causing widespread concerns regarding, inter alia, social exclusion, human security, levels of personal satisfaction, and happiness. Thus everywhere we look seems to accord with the view of a global environment that is more dynamic and diverse, and, arguably, more volatile and uncertain. Social science research on living standards, human well-being and quality of life has altered in response to the changing global conditions, new research priorities and improved data resources. Two decades ago, for example, a comparison of living standards across countries was typically accomplished using figures on average incomes converted into U.S. dollars using market exchange rates. Nowadays, a similar exercise would almost certainly take account of variations in purchasing power parity (PPP) between countries, and would also be likely to recognize two other important factors: the non-income dimensions of well-being that contribute to quality of life, and population heterogeneity, which casts doubt on the reliability and relevance of data on average income. The increased recognition of population heterogeneity is reflected in the attention given to the distribution of income and expenditure, both within and among countries. There is now much more information on levels and trends in income inequality, prompted in part by the availability of more comprehensive and reliable data sets, and by greater comparability in national and sub-national

Natural Disasters and International Migration from Sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract: This paper employs a systems GMM model using data on 43 Sub-Saharan African countries from 1960 to 2005 to find that natural disasters have a significant impact on migration from SSA, raising the net out-migration by around 0.37 persons per 1,000. No direct evidence was found that natural disasters lead to further migration through impacting on GDP growth. It is however established that natural disasters is associated with a slightly increased probability that a country will be in conflict in a subsequent period. The frequency of natural disasters will not influence the duration of the conflict. It is concluded that natural disasters is an important determinant of migration from SSA. The findings in this paper imply that global climate change, through leading to more extreme weather events, will contribute to further migration from the continent.

Estimating Utility-Consistent Poverty Lines

Abstract: The "Cost of Basic Needs" (CBN) approach to drawing consumption-based poverty lines is widely applied and lays credible claim to being the best practice for estimating poverty measures. Unfortunately, a growing mass of evidence indicates that poverty estimates obtained under the CBN approach are often demonstrably utility inconsistent. Here, we introduce an information theoretic approach for estimating utility-consistent poverty lines. An example of the approach is provided for the case of Mozambique. The approach represents a powerful addition to the poverty analyst's tool kit and enhances the attractiveness of the CBN approach for practical povertymeasurement problems.

Measuring quality-of-care in the context of sustainable development goal 3: a call for papers.

Abstract: measures are especially critical given the large scope and increased complexity of health services required. The universal health coverage (UHC) target of the health SDG stipulates that everyone can obtain essential health services at high quality without suffering financial hardship, yet quality has not been widely tracked. 11 There is no benefit to UHC if people are un willing to use services due to the poor quality of the services for which they are financially covered. Even if people are accessing services, poor quality will undermine health outcomes, reducing the value of UHC. Finally, high-quality health services attract the public support that contributes to governments providing sustained financing.