Showing papers in "Economic Development and Cultural Change in 2014"
TL;DR: In this article, a subset of rural micro-finance clients were offered eight full time days of business training and the opportunity to participate in a loan lottery of up to Rs. 100,000 (USD 1,700), about seven times the average loan size.
Abstract: This paper identifies the relative importance of human and physical capital for entrepreneurship. A subset of rural microfinance clients were offered eight full time days of business training and the opportunity to participate in a loan lottery of up to Rs. 100,000 (USD 1,700), about seven times the average loan size. The study finds that business training increased business knowledge, reduced business failure, improved business practices and increased household expenditures by about $40 per year. It also improved financial and labor allocation decisions. These effects are concentrated among male clients, however. Women improve business knowledge but show no improvements in other outcomes. A cost-benefit analysis suggests that business training was not cost-effective for the microfinance institution, despite having a positive impact on clients. This may explain why so few microfinance institutions offer training. Access to the larger loan, in contrast, had little effect, indicating that existing loan size limits may already meet the demand for credit for these clients.
174 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the impact of a sudden, mass influx of forced migrants on the hosting economy is understudied and not well understood, using a household panel data set for the Kagera region in Tanzania.
Abstract: The impact of a sudden, mass influx of forced migrants on the hosting economy is understudied and not well understood. Using a household panel data set for the Kagera region in Tanzania, we test the impact of the mass refugee presence on the welfare of the local population. Our identification strategy exploits variations in the timing of arrival as well as the spatial distribution of Rwandese and Burundi refugees. We find a positive and aggregate effect, but households are affected differently depending on their main initial occupation.
171 citations
TL;DR: This study uses newly available longitudinal data from the state of Andhra Pradesh in India to estimate the impact of the introduction of a national midday meal program on anthropometric z- scores of primary school students and investigates whether the program ameliorated the deterioration of health in young children caused by a severe drought.
Abstract: Despite the popularity of school meals, little evidence exists on their effect on health outcomes. This study uses newly available longitudinal data from the state of Andhra Pradesh in India to estimate the impact of the introduction of a national midday meal program on anthropometric z-scores of primary school students and investigates whether the program ameliorated the deterioration of health in young children caused by a severe drought. Correcting for self-selection into the program using a nonlinearity in how age affects the probability of enrollment, we find that the program acted as a safety net for children, providing large and significant health gains for children whose families suffered from drought.
119 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a large social protection program in rural Ethiopia, the Productive Safety Net Programme (PSNP), was evaluated and the effectiveness of the PSNP is of interest because the program was implemented at scale in one of Africa's poorest countries, which has limited physical and communications infrastructure and scarce administrative resources.
Abstract: This study evaluates a large social protection program in rural Ethiopia, the Productive Safety Net Programme (PSNP). The effectiveness of the PSNP is of interest because the program was implemented at scale in one of Africa’s poorest countries, which has limited physical and communications infrastructure and scarce administrative resources. Using longitudinal survey data collected in 2006, 2008, and 2010 at the household and locality levels, we employ an extension of the propensity score matching method to continuous treatments to estimate the impact of transfers from the PSNP and a separate program on household food security. Against the formidable background of rising food prices and widespread drought, participation in the Public Works component of the PSNP has modest effects. The PSNP reduced the length of the last hungry season by 1.29 months among households that received transfers for 5 years compared to eligible households that received almost nothing. Five years of participation raises l...
113 citations
TL;DR: For example, the authors found that women with more schooling engage in HIV-preventing behavior by having fewer sexual partners and know more about how HIV spreads and that an extra year of education raises the probability of having comprehensive knowledge of HIV by nearly 10% and decreases by 7 percentage points the probability having common misconceptions about HIV.
Abstract: We explore a fundamental link between education and health: knowledge about health. Do the educated know more about how certain diseases are spread and how to prevent them? Using age-specific exposure to an education reform in Zimbabwe, we find that women with more schooling engage in HIV-preventing behavior by having fewer sexual partners and know more about how HIV spreads. An extra year of education raises the probability of having comprehensive knowledge of HIV by nearly 10% and decreases by 7 percentage points the probability of having common misconceptions about HIV. We discuss possible channels for how education led to more knowledge about HIV.
75 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors construct a unique ethnicity-level data set linking current rates of polygyny with historical trade flow data from the African slave trades, and show that the relationship is causal and statistically signicant.
Abstract: Polygyny rates are higher in Western Africa than in Eastern Africa. The African slave trades explain this dierence. More male slaves were exported in the trans-Atlantic slave trades from Western Africa, while more female slaves were exported in the Indian Ocean and Red Sea slave trades from Eastern Africa. The slave trades led to prolonged periods of abnormal sex ratios, which impacted the rates of polygyny across Africa. In order to assess these claims, we construct a unique ethnicity-level data set linking current rates of polygyny with historical trade ow data from the African slave trades. Our OLS estimates show a positive correlation between the trans-Atlantic slave trades and polygyny. An IV approach shows the relationship is causal and statistically signicant. We also provide cross-country evidence corroborating our ndings.
71 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors estimate the informal-formal sector pay gap throughout the conditional wage distribution using panel data from Brazil, Mexico, and South Africa using similar definitions of informality.
Abstract: We estimate the informal-formal sector pay gap throughout the conditional wage distribution using panel data from Brazil, Mexico, and South Africa. We control for time-invariant unobservables, and identification stems from intersector movers. We control for observables in a nonlinear way using propensity score reweighting and carefully check for potential measurement errors. Using similar definitions of informality, we obtain consistent results for all three countries: informally employed workers earn much less than formal workers primarily because of lower observable and unobservable skills. Estimates of the conditional wage gap show that they are also underpaid compared to their formal sector counterparts. In all three countries, the informal wage penalty is larger in the lower part of the conditional distribution and tends to disappear at the top (i.e., the informal sector increases wage dispersion). The magnitudes of these effects vary across countries, with the largest penalties in lower cond...
61 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors estimate the effect of 70 y Mas, an age-conditioned cash transfer program for individuals age 70 and older in rural Mexico, on the labor force participation of beneficiaries and of younger individuals who live with them.
Abstract: We estimate the effect of 70 y Mas, an age-conditioned cash transfer program for individuals age 70 and older in rural Mexico, on the labor force participation of beneficiaries and of younger individuals who live with them. Using data from the 2010 Mexican census, we exploit the age and locality population thresholds to identify the effects of the program, which at the time operated only in localities with less than 30,000 inhabitants. We find that the program reduces the labor force participation of elderly men, particularly those who live alone and who are relatively poor, but has a much weaker effect on that of elderly women. The program has no statistically significant effect on the labor force participation of either prime-age men or women who live with potential beneficiaries, and it has a negative and significant effect on the labor force participation of boys age 12–17, particularly those in the lowest wealth quintiles, but not on that of same-age girls. These results suggest that the prog...
43 citations
TL;DR: This article found that Indian households with a male first child are approximately 2 percentage points more likely to use clean cooking fuel than comparable households having a female first child, and that the association between fuel choice and child sex is not driven by terminated pregnancies or by household wealth or family size.
Abstract: Urban Indian households with a male first child are approximately 2 percentage points more likely to use clean cooking fuel than comparable households with a female first child. Given Indian son preference, there are at least two mechanisms by which child sex could affect fuel choice: by improving the intrahousehold status of women, who bear more of the costs of traditional fuels, or by presenting an opportunity to invest in children’s health, in the context of a preference for healthier boys. If child sex is not selected for by biased abortion or other processes, then the sex of a first child has an exogenous causal effect on household fuel choice. We show that the association between fuel choice and child sex is not driven by terminated pregnancies or by household wealth or family size. Among a range of outcomes we study, the effect of child sex is unique to fuel choice; our finding that there is no effect on other assets indicates that it is unlikely that the result is confounded by real or sub...
41 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors used household panel data to provide robust evidence on the effects of BRAC's (Building Resources across Countries) Targeting the Ultra-poor (TUP) program in Bangladesh.
Abstract: This article uses household panel data to provide robust evidence on the effects of BRAC’s (Building Resources across Countries) Targeting the Ultra-poor (TUP) program in Bangladesh. We use alternative treatment-comparison pairs; in addition to BRAC’s own classification, we exploit type 1 errors in assignment in BRAC’s selection process to create a second treatment-comparison pair. This allows us to estimate the program effects on the target group, not contaminated by mistargeting. To address selection on unobservables, we implement heteroskedasticity-based identification and two recent estimators based on matching and propensity score reweighting. The results show that participation had significant positive effects on food security, clothing, shoes, livestock, and cash savings, but there is weak or no evidence of an impact on the number of household durables and assets and indicators of health and women’s empowerment. The effects on the poorest of the poor (the target group) may be different from...
40 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors analyzed the individualization of farm units in Mali in the sense of a transformation of purely collective farms into mixed units in which private plots coexist with collective fields.
Abstract: We analyze the individualization of farm units in Mali in the sense of a transformation of purely collective farms into mixed units in which private plots coexist with collective fields. Since a moral-hazard-in-team problem plagues production on the latter and the household head extracts his income from it, he faces a trade-off between efficiency and capture. We show, within the framework of a patriarchal farm household model, that private plots become profitable for the head once land becomes sufficiently scarce. Specifically, greater land scarcity raises both the probability to find private plots in afarm and the share of farmland allocated to these plots. On the basis of firsthand data collected in southern Mali, we test and confirm the two predictions yielded by the above theory. Moreover, we show that a higher number of married men within the household has the same effect as land scarcity, thus suggesting an interesting refinement of the moral-hazard-in-team argument.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors used household panel data for rural India covering 1993-94 and 2004-5 to test whether scheduled castes (SCs) and other minority groups perform better or worse in terms of income when resident in villages dominated by (i) upper castes or (ii) their own group.
Abstract: Using household panel data for rural India covering 1993–94 and 2004–5, we test whether scheduled castes (SCs) and other minority groups perform better or worse in terms of income when resident in villages dominated by (i) upper castes or (ii) their own group. Theoretically, upper-caste dominance comprises a potential “proximity gain” and offsetting group-specific “oppression” effects. For SCs and other backward classes (OBCs), initial proximity gains dominate negative oppression effects because upper-caste-dominated villages are located in more productive areas: once agroecology is controlled for, proximity and oppression effects cancel each other out. Although the effects are theoretically ambiguous, we find large, positive own-dominance or enclave effects for upper castes, OBCs, and especially SCs. These village regime effects are restricted to the Hindu social groups. Combining pathway and income source analysis, we close in on the mechanisms underpinning identity-based income disparities; whi...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors conducted a gender impact evaluation study on El Salvador's EDUCO program and found that community participation is largely responsible for the positive effect of the program.
Abstract: This brief summarizes the results of a gender impact evaluation study, entitled Does community management help keep kids in schools? Evidence using panel data from El Salvador's EDUCO program, conducted in the year 1991, in Senegal. The study observed that EDUCO has a positive and robust influence on students, encouraging them to continue their schooling. Results suggest that community participation is largely responsible for the positive effect of the EDUCO program. The better classroom environment and careful teacher management under the EDUCO program also seem to contribute to the positive results. Students in EDUCO schools are less likely to repeat grades than students in traditional schools; however, this effect is not statically significant. There are no significant gender differences in program impact.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors focus on the social consequences arising from misallocation of resources in close-knit communities and find that the mistargeting of a cash transfer program in Indonesia had significant negative social consequences.
Abstract: Cash transfer programs can provide important financial support for poor households in developing countries and are becoming increasingly common. However the potential for mistargeting of program funds is high. This article focuses on the social consequences arising from misallocation of resources in close-knit communities. We find that the mistargeting of a cash transfer program in Indonesia had significant negative social consequences. The prevalence of crime within communities increased and participation in community groups declined. Hence poorly administered transfer programs have a potentially large negative downside that extends beyond the pure financial costs that have been the focus of the literature to date.
TL;DR: Wang et al. as discussed by the authors analyzed a unique data set consisting of 208 urban water utilities servicing more than 300 million urban residents from 1998 to 2007 and found that a utility's profitability and liability level and a host city's road infrastructure in the prior year play important roles in driving private investors both to enter and to withdraw from the sector.
Abstract: In the early 1990s, China began opening its urban water sector to nonstate capital to meet increasing urban water demand. By 2007, more than 30% of large and medium urban water utilities had attracted private sector participation (PSP), of which two thirds have a majority of nonstate shareholders. To understand the factors that drive PSP in urban water supply and to answer the key policy question of how PSP has affected water utility performance, we assemble and analyze a unique data set consisting of 208 urban water utilities servicing more than 300 million urban residents from 1998 to 2007. We find that a utility’s profitability and liability level and a host city’s road infrastructure in the prior year play important roles in driving private investors both to enter and to withdraw from the sector. It is further found that PSP utilities, and mainly those with majority nonstate shareholders, have made substantial cost savings through employment downsizing and cutting managerial expenses, which le...
TL;DR: The malaria campaign reduced postneonatal mortality by 33% in the malarious regions during 2004–8 and no evidence of an impact on neonatal mortality is found, which is consistent with epidemiological literature that finds neonates enjoy significant protection from malaria.
Abstract: Since the early 2000s there has been a rapid intensification of malaria control efforts across Africa. I exploit baseline differences in the regional incidence of malaria coupled with the sharp timing of the intensified campaign to investigate the impact on infant mortality in Kenya. Postintervention, I find a significant reduction in postneonatal mortality in the malarious regions relative to the nonmalarious regions. In contrast, I find no evidence of an impact on neonatal mortality, which is consistent with epidemiological literature that finds neonates enjoy significant protection from malaria. I rule out alternative explanations such as differential preexisting trends, changes in maternal and infant care, or the contemporaneous expansion of HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment. I find that the malaria campaign reduced postneonatal mortality by 33% in the malarious regions during 2004–8.
TL;DR: In this paper, a micro panel dataset of Brazilian students was used to investigate the impact of working while in school on learning outcomes and found that the effects of child work range from 3 to 8 percent of a standard deviation decline in test score.
Abstract: This paper uses a unique micro panel dataset of Brazilian students to investigate the impact of working while in school on learning outcomes. The potential endogeneity is addressed through the use of difference-in-difference and instrumental variable estimators. A negative effect of working on learning outcomes in math and Portuguese is found. The effects of child work range from 3 to 8 percent of a standard deviation decline in test score, which represents a loss of about a quarter to a half of a year of learning on average.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors measure HIV stigma as the amount of compensation demanded through a second-price auction to complete tasks involving objects handled by an HIV-positive person, and show that both perceived transmission risk and negative judgment of those with the disease underlie this stigma.
Abstract: Stigma against those living with HIV can undermine efforts to prevent the spread of the disease, but it has traditionally been hard to measure or to assess the efficacy of antistigma educational efforts. Using a framed field experiment involving adult participants in rural Kenya, this research measures HIV stigma as the amount of compensation demanded through a second-price auction to complete tasks involving objects handled by an HIV-positive person. By varying educational messages, we show that both perceived transmission risk and negative judgment of those with the disease underlie this stigma. Messages that overcome fear of transmission and that disassociate people living with HIV/AIDS from behaviors considered immoral are both effective, reducing avoidance behavior by up to 50%.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors used data from 3 and 5 years after the crisis to investigate whether the 1999 crisis had a negative and persistent impact on child health and development, finding that one year of exposure significantly decreased height-for-age z-scores by.08 SD and vocabulary test scores by 4.9 points.
Abstract: In 1999 Ecuador experienced an economic crisis that was characterized by drastic increases in prices and the eventual adoption of the dollar as its currency. While many reports show that household consumption decreased and poverty increased, there are no studies on the impact of the crisis on early childhood development. This study uses data from 3 and 5 years after the crisis to investigate whether the 1999 crisis had a negative and persistent impact on child health and development. Using the variation in children’s exposure to the crisis that is due to birth month, I find that one year of exposure significantly decreased height-for-age z-scores by .08 SD and vocabulary test scores by 4.9 points. In rural areas, children from farming households and those with more access to nutrition programs were more protected.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors exploit city and fortnightly variation in air pollution to identify its causal effect on the incidence of a common respiratory ailment among children, which is called cough.
Abstract: Using a multicity sample from India, we exploit city and fortnightly variation in air pollution to identify its causal effect on the incidence of a common respiratory ailment among children—cough. We account for key sources of confounding in this relationship with a two-way fixed effects estimation strategy. Our results show that air pollution, specifically, particulate matter, has a large and negative health effect that is robust to alternative specifications. These effects are three times larger for children living in slums in comparison to children living outside slums. This suggests that improving urban air quality can lead to equity-enhancing health gains in developing countries. In addition, our falsification tests are able to rule out the possibility that the identified effects are due to other diseases unrelated to air pollution.
TL;DR: It is found that patients who healed after seeking health care are more likely to seek care again in the future, and conditional on seeking care, individuals are morelikely to return to formal health providers with whom they have experienced a previous history of cures and switch away from formal (informal) caregivers with whomthey had a negative outcome.
Abstract: The aim of this article is to understand the functioning of individuals’ health-seeking behavior. It studies, theoretically and empirically, whether individuals change health care providers over time, depending on the health outcome (i.e., healed or sick) after consultation with the previous caregiver. Results show that the previous health outcome plays a crucial role in shifting individual preferences to a particular type of medical care. I find that patients who healed after seeking health care are more likely to seek care again in the future. Furthermore, conditional on seeking care, individuals are more likely to return to formal (informal) health providers with whom they have experienced a previous history of cures and switch away from formal (informal) caregivers with whom they had a negative outcome. I interpret these results as learning about clinicians’ quality over time. The effects are tested using 4-year panel data from a household survey in Tanzania.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors assess the impact of counseling and testing of young adults for HIV on their near-term decisions, such as when to leave school, when to marry, and when to have a first child.
Abstract: For young adults living in countries with AIDS epidemics, getting an HIV test may influence near-term decisions, such as when to leave school, when to marry, and when to have a first child. These behaviors, which define the transition from adolescence to adulthood, have long-term implications on well-being and directly affect a person's risk of contracting HIV. Using an experimental design embedded in a panel survey from Malawi, this study assesses the impact of voluntary counseling and testing of young adults for HIV on these decisions. The results show negligible intent-to-treat effect of HIV testing on behaviors. There is some suggestive evidence on differential response by wealth and by prior beliefs about one's status.
TL;DR: This paper found that people who were exposed to a high malaria risk around birth tend to have a higher likelihood of cardiovascular diseases and worse cognitive functions at old age, compared to those who were not at risk.
Abstract: In the early twentieth century, the Japanese colonial government initiated an island-wide malaria eradication campaign in Taiwan, resulting in not only a rapid decline in malaria across time but also elimination of disparity across regions. Exploiting variations in malaria deaths caused by the campaign, we estimate causal effects of malaria exposure around birth on the health of elderly born in the colonial period. To mitigate potential biases caused by measurement errors and omitted confounders, we employ climatic factors to instrument for malaria deaths. Our findings suggest that people who were exposed to a high malaria risk around birth tend to have a higher likelihood of cardiovascular diseases and worse cognitive functions at old age.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined how the partial derivatives of predicted household welfare vary with parental education and found that female education is not as strongly associated with beneficial outcomes as is often assumed.
Abstract: Using census data from Nepal we examine how the partial derivatives of predicted household welfare vary with parental education. We focus on fertility, child survival, schooling, and child labor. Female education is not as strongly associated with beneficial outcomes as is often assumed. Male education often matters more, and part of the association between female education and welfare is driven by marriage market matching with more educated men. Controlling for the average education of parental cohorts does not change this finding. But when we use educational rank to proxy for unobserved ability and family background, the positive association between female education and beneficial outcomes becomes weaker or is reversed. For women, the association between educational rank and outcomes is strong: women who obtain more schooling than their peers in school have fewer children and educate them better. In contrast, for men the statistical association between education and household welfare remains str...
TL;DR: This paper found that links from blogs cause a striking increase in the number of abstract views and downloads of economics papers, and that blogging raises the profile of the blogger and changes readers' perceptions about his or her institution, and they found some suggestive evidence that a blog can increase knowledge of the topics it covers for the average, but not the marginal, reader.
Abstract: Economics blogs represent a significant change in the way research on development economics is discussed and disseminated, yet little is known about the impact of this new medium. Using surveys of development researchers and practitioners, along with experimental and nonexperimental techniques, we try to quantify some of the blogs’ effects. We find that links from blogs cause a striking increase in the number of abstract views and downloads of economics papers. Furthermore, blogging raises the profile of the blogger and changes readers’ perceptions about his or her institution. Finally, we find some suggestive evidence that a blog can increase knowledge of the topics it covers for the average, but not the marginal, reader.
TL;DR: This paper explored the selection of fishing households into receipt of aid and evaluated the effectiveness of in-kind transfers of fishing boats provided after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami in Aceh, Indonesia.
Abstract: This article explores the selection of fishing households into receipt of aid and evaluates the effectiveness of in-kind transfers of fishing boats provided after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami in Aceh, Indonesia. First, besides local leaders’ targeting decisions, this article highlights households’ self-selection behaviors under the uncertainty of receiving aid. While the selection process is found to be affected by social capital, aid could be more efficiently targeted to productive fishermen through the community targeting approach. On the basis of this selection rule, I proceed to evaluate the impact of aid programs on recipients’ fishing productivity. As the hasty construction of a homogeneous type of fishing boats created a mismatch with beneficiaries’ heterogeneous fishing skills, aid effectiveness is found to be limited. A counterfactual simulation suggests that tailoring the design of in-kind transfer to recipients’ fishing skills could have been a cost-effective policy to promote fishing ...
TL;DR: The authors investigated the effect of entering magnet classes on the educational performance of high school students in China and found that enrollment in a magnet class can increase students' gross final examination score in the first semester by 0.647 standard deviations.
Abstract: We investigate the effect of entering magnet classes on the educational performance of high school students in China. Using the regression discontinuity design and data from a high school in Hebei Province, we find that enrollment in a magnet class can increase students’ gross final examination score in the first semester by 0.647 standard deviations. However, we find no evidence to suggest that the positive effect of entering magnet classes is different for female students, students of different ages, or minority students.