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.

What Determines African Bilateral Aid Receipts

Abstract: This paper empirically models aid allocation to four African countries—Egypt, Kenya, Morocco and Tanzania—using 1968–1999 time series data. The econometric method employed allows for the joint determination of aid to these countries and for recipient-specific coefficients. It is hypothesised that aid to these countries has been determined by a diverse set of determinants, ranging from their developmental needs or requirements through to donor commercial, political and strategic interests. A special interest of the paper is whether policy regimes have impacted on the amounts of aid received by these countries. Results indicate that they have for all four countries, although the direction of influence differs among them. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Exporting and Productivity: Learning from Vietnam

Abstract: For Africa to industrialise and develop, it must learn from successful cases of structural transformation. Just two decades ago, Vietnam had a level of per capita income and structural characteristics similar to many African economies. In the meantime, Vietnam has with great success taken a very different policy stance than typical in Africa. This is especially so in promoting export-oriented industry. If learning by exporting is a key driver of progress, then a fundamental reason for Africa's lack of transformation is likely to be the low policy priority given to export promotion in the past. To enlarge the body of empirical evidence, we use an extensive 2005–2012 firm-level panel data set from Vietnam and separate out productivity effects of exporting due to self-selection. This allows us to conclude that firms actually learn by exporting. We also examine how this learning takes place. Our findings suggest that productivity gains are associated with moving to larger scale for foreign-owned firms with little evidence of subsequent learning on export markets. We find strong evidence to suggest that private domestic firms learn and accumulate knowledge from export markets with learning attributed in some part to within-firm innovations, in particular research and development. These mechanisms are highly relevant to African countries where market size, innovation and research are seriously constrained.

Terms of Trade Shocks and the Current Account in Small Island Developing States

Abstract: The paper investigates the dynamic relationship between external and internal shocks and the current account in selected small islands developing states. External shocks, defined as terms of trade fluctuations, explain a significant proportion of the variation in the current account balances. The external shocks have a temporary negative impact on the current account balances with a subsequent improvement, generating a J-curve type reaction. In contrast, real output shocks have a positive and significant effect on the current account.