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.

Fuelwood Consumption and Forest Degradation: A Household Model for Domestic Energy Substitution in Rural India

Abstract: This paper discusses domestic energy supply and demand in rural India. Links between forest scarcity and household fuel collection are analyzed in a non-separable household model, focusing on substitution of non-commercial fuels from the commons and the private domain. Based on data from villages bordering a protected area, a novel maximum entropy approach is used for estimation. It is found that households respond to forest scarcity and increased fuelwood collection time by substituting fuels from private sources for forest fuelwood. However, the magnitude of the response appears insufficient to prevent current fuelwood collection practices from causing serious forest degradation.

Spatial decomposition of inequality

Abstract: This paper reviews the theory and application of the decomposition methods commonly used to measure the impact of spatial location on income inequality. It establishes some new theoretical results with potentially wide applicability, and examines empirical evidence drawn from a large number of countries.

Biofuels, Poverty, and Growth: A Computable General Equilibrium Analysis of Mozambique

Abstract: This paper examines the recent decentralization of governance in Indonesia and its impact on local infrastructure provision. The decentralization of decision-making power to local jurisdictions in Indonesia may have improved the matching of public infrastructures provision with local preferences. However, decentralization has made local public infrastructures depend on local resources. Due to differences in initial endowments, this may result in the divergence of local public infrastructures in rich and poor jurisdictions. Using data from village-level panel surveys conducted in 1996, 2000, and 2006, this paper finds that (1) local public infrastructures depend on local resources, (2) decentralization has improved the availability of local public infrastructures, (3) local jurisdictions are converging to a similar level of local public infrastructure, and (4) to some extent, decentralized public infrastructures' provision reflects local preferences.

An analysis of unreported sales of wheat in sudan

Abstract: As a typical LDC, the government of Sudan has explored several policy instruments to secure an adequate wheat supply to meet the increasing wheat demand in the country. Farmers are asked to deliver part of their domestic production at a procurement price less than that of the free market price. Consequently, farmers under-report their production and sell it to the free market at the risk of being caught cheating. A postulated model describing farmers' decisions on wheat production and the proportion sold illegally to the free market is examined using 1956-86 data. The analysis supports other findings that Sudanese government policies have discouraged production and, indeed, failed to achieve their designated goals. Copyright 1993 by Blackwell Publishers Ltd/University of Adelaide and Flinders University of South Australia

What do we know about non-clinical interventions for preventable and treatable childhood diseases in developing countries?

Abstract: Preventable and treatable childhood diseases, notably acute respiratory infections and diarrhoeal diseases are the first and second leading causes of death and morbidity among young children in developing countries. The fact that a large proportion of child deaths are caused by these diseases is symptomatic of dysfunctional policy strategies and health systems in the developing world. Though clinical interventions against such diseases have been thoroughly studied, non-clinical interventions have received much less attention. This paper contributes to the existing literature on child wellbeing in two important respects: first, it presents a theory of change-based typology that emerges from a systematic review conducted on non-clinical interventions against preventable and treatable childhood diseases. Second, it pays particular attention to policies that have been tested in a developing country context, and which focus on children as the primary target population. Overall, we find that improved water supply and quality, sanitation and hygiene, as well as the provision of medical equipment that detect symptoms of childhood diseases, along with training and education for medical workers, are effective policy instruments to tackle diarrhoeal diseases and acute respiratory infections in developing countries.