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.

Do Stronger Collective Property Rights Increase Household Income? Evidence from a Field Study in Fiji

Abstract: A diverse body of recent research identifies collective ownership as a potentially better institution for common pool resource governance under some conditions than either private or state ownership. Extensive previous work analyzes the structure and functioning of successful collective ownership institutions, but limited research examines the impact of stronger collective ownership rights on household income. Exploiting a natural experiment – in which some villages were exogenously included in a provincial level initiative to strengthen collective ownership rights over fisheries, while villages in a neighboring province were excluded – this article uses a unique dataset to examine the impact of collective fisheries ownership on household income and food consumption. Strengthening collective ownership rights improves household consumption of marine resources, but does not increase monetary income. Income improvements that at first appear due to stronger collective ownership institutions are instead a byproduct NGO engagement.

Is the Clean Development Mechanism Effective for Emission Reductions

Abstract: This research studies whether the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of the Kyoto Protocol achieves its objective of emission reductions in the host countries. It empirically investigates the impacts of CDM projects on CO? emission reductions for 60 CDM host countries over 2005-10. This research makes use of the newly-developed econometric methods for dynamic panel data models associated with X-differencing procedure. It provides evidence in support of a decline in CO? emissions in the CDM host countries. It has important policy implications that encourage the international community to support developing countries´ efforts towards low-carbon development via CDM projects.

Parameter Estimation for a Computable General Equilibrium Model: A Maximum Entropy Approach

Abstract: We introduce a maximum entropy approach to parameter estimation for computable general equilibrium (CGE) models. The approach applies information theory to estimating a system of non-linear simultaneous equations. It has a number of advantages. First, it imposes all general equilibrium constraints. Second, it permits incorporation of prior information on parameter values. Third, it can be applied in the absence of copious data. Finally, it supplies measures of the capacity of the model to reproduce the historical record and the statistical significance of parameter estimates. The method is applied to estimating a CGE model of Mozambique.