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 immigrants’ funds affect the exchange rate?

Abstract: Using annual data over 1966–2014 from the Citizenship and Immigration statistics archives of Canada and constructing a time series for the funds brought into Canada by immigrants, we investigate whether these funds affect the exchange rate of Canada. We employ the ARDL bound testing (Pesaran and Shin, Econometrics and economic theory in the 20th century: The Ragnar Frisch centennial symposium. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge UP, 1999), dynamic OLS (Stock and Watson, Econometrica, 1993, 61, 783) approaches to cointegration. 2SLS and GMM methods are also applied to estimate the portfolio balance models of the exchange rate. Estimated results indicate a long-run relation between immigrants’ funds and the exchange rate with immigrants' funds leading to a significant appreciation of the exchange rate in Canada. These results are robust to different estimation methods and an alternative proxy measure for the funds brought into Canada by immigrants.

The Political Economy of Reforms: Empirical Evidence from Post-Communist Transition in the 1990s

Abstract: Using a novel data set from post-communist countries in the 1990s, this paper examines linkages between political constraints, economic reforms and growth. A dynamic panel analysis suggests public support for reform is negatively associated with income inequality and unemployment. Both the ex post and ex ante political constraints of public support affect progress in economic reform, which in turn influences economic growth. The findings highlight that while economic reforms are needed to foster growth, they must be designed so that they do not undermine political support for reform.

Wage Determination in Rural Labour Markets: The Theory of Implicit Co-operation

Abstract: The nature of labour market in traditional rural societies has attracted a lot of attention in the recent years. One issue that has appeared particularly intriguing is the process of wage determination. After a good deal of theorising as well as detailed empirical research, the matter still remains largely unresolved. This paper takes a fresh look at this issue, focusing specifically on the casual or daily labour market of the kind typically observed in rural South Asia.

How Should Commodities Be Taxed? A Counterargument to the Recommendation in the Mirrlees Review

Abstract: The Mirrlees Review recommends that commodity taxation should in general be uniform, but with some goods consumed in conjunction with labour supply (such as child care) left untaxed. This paper examines the validity of this claim in an optimal income tax framework. Contrary to the recommendation of the Review, our theoretical results imply that even if all goods other than the good needed for working are separable from leisure, the optimal tax on these goods should not be uniform. Instead, goods with larger expenditure elasticities should be discouraged relatively more by the tax system. If the government fully subsidises the cost of the good needed for working, then commodity taxation is uniform under the standard separability assumption. Our results imply that the optimal commodity tax system is dependent on the expenditure side of the government. A calibration exercise presented in the paper suggests that these results can be quantitatively important.

The effects of an HIV and AIDS project on migrants at source and destination sites in Nepal, Bangladesh and India: findings from a quasi-experimental study

Abstract: This paper examines the effect of a 5-years quasi-experimental study (EMPHASIS project) that aimed to reduce HIV vulnerability among cross-border migrants in Nepal, Bangladesh and India. The results from the study suggests that HIV and AIDS prevention policies that focus on peer education for migrants within both their source and destination countries are vital to increase their knowledge on the risks of infection, reduce behaviour that increases these risks and expand their HIV-related service uptake. The study finds strong evidence that the EMPHASIS project had a positive impact on HIV and AIDS knowledge and communication, on referral mechanisms, on sexual behaviour and condom use and on the creation of an enabling environment to improve working conditions in destination locations and address stigma against migrants and people living with HIV at source locations. The findings suggest that effective referral mechanisms that straddle borders can be developed through context-specific partnerships and engagement and through capacity building of HIV and AIDS service providers. The study also find that it is essential to create an enabling environment by addressing migrants’ rights and entitlements and their safe mobility and by tackling the stigma they face to reduce their vulnerability.