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.

Cognitive, Non-Cognitive Skills and Gender Wage Gaps: Evidence from Linked Employer-Employee Data in Bangladesh

Abstract: We use a first-hand linked employer-employee dataset representing the formal sector of Bangladesh to explain gender wage gaps by the inclusion of measures of cognitive skills and personality traits. Our results show that while cognitive skills are important in determining mean wages, personality traits have little explanatory power. However, quantile regressions indicate that personality traits do matter in certain parts of the conditional wage distribution, especially for wages of females. Cognitive skills as measured by reading and numeracy also confer different benefits across the wage distribution to females and males respectively. Quantile decompositions indicate that these skills and traits reduce the unexplained gender gap, mainly in the upper parts of the wage distribution. Finally, results suggest that employers place greater consideration on observables such as academic background and prior work experience, and may also make assumptions about the existence of sex-specific skills of their workers, which could then widen the within-firm gender wage gap.

Donor funding of multilateral aid agencies: Determining factors and revealed burden sharing

Abstract: The paper reports an empirical study of the factors affecting burden sharing among OECD’s 22 DAC members in ‘bankrolling’ the multilateral aid agencies. These are the UN agencies, World Bank’s IDA and non-IDA programmes, regional development banks, European Community, and other multilateral agencies that include the Global Environmental Facility and the Montreal Protocol on environment. Annual data over 1970-2000, pooled across the donor countries, form the basis for the empirical estimation of each donor’s share in the ODA aid receipts for each multilateral agency. Our findings suggest the existence of reverse exploitation, i.e., the financial burden of the agencies is disproportionally carried by the smaller donors. The study also finds that

Quantitative Analysis in Social Sciences: An Brief Introduction for Non-Economists

Abstract: In this paper, I present an introduction to quantitative research methods in social sciences. The paper is intended for non-Economics undergraduate students, development researchers and practitioners who although unfamiliar with statistical techniques, are interested in quantitative methods to study social phenomena. The paper discusses conventional methods to assess the direction, strength and statistical significance of the correlation between two or more variables, and examines regression techniques and experimental and quasi-experimental research designs to establish causality in the analysis of public interventions.

What Does Good Governance Mean

Abstract: Almost all major development institutions today say that promoting good governance is an important part of their agendas. The outcome document of the recent 2011 Busan High-Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness further reflects these commitments. In a well-cited quote, former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan noted that ‘good governance is perhaps the single most important factor in eradicating poverty and promoting development’.Despite this consensus, ‘good governance’ is an extremely elusive objective. It means different things to different organizations, not to mention to different actors within these organizations (to make matters even more confusing, governance experts also routinely focus on other types of governance — global governance, corporate governance, IT governance, participatory governance, and so on — which may be related only peripherally to the good governance agenda vis-a-vis domestic politics and administration which is our focus here.)

Economy-wide implications of biofuel production in Zambia.

Abstract: Potential biofuel demand in South Africa is estimated to increase to 1550 million litres by 2025 due to mandatory blending rates. Land and water constraints, however, limit the ability for domestic...