Showing papers on "Developing country published in 1994"

Like Father, Like Son; Like Mother, Like Daughter: Parental Resources and Child Height.

Abstract: Through use of child height as a proxy for general child health and nutritional status the hypothesis that there are gender differences in the allocation of household resources to child health was examined. Data were derived from household surveys conducted in the US Brazil and Ghana that included information on both child anthropometry and family socioeconomic attributes. In all three countries mothers were found to allocate more resources to daughters while fathers channelled resources toward sons. Maternal education was found to have a larger effect on the height of daughters than sons while sons benefit more than daughters as paternal education increases. In Brazil womens non-labor income was used to improve the health of daughters but not sons. In Ghana the education of a woman whose educational attainment surpasses that of her husband had a larger impact on the height of her daughter than that of her son. If relative education of parents and non-labor income are indicators of power in household allocation decisions these findings suggest that gender differentials in resource allocation reflect both technological differences in child rearing and gender-based differences in parental preferences.

Poverty and household size

Abstract: The widely held view that larger families tend to be poorer in developing countries has influenced research and policies. But the basis for this"stylized fact"is questionable, the authors argue. Widely cited evidence of a strong negative correlation between size and consumption per person is unconvincing, given that even poor households face economies of size in consumption. The authors find that the correlation between poverty and household size vanishes in Pakistan when the size elasticity of the cost of living is about 0.6. This turns out to be the elasticity implied by a modified version of the food-share method of setting scales. By contrast, some measures of child nutritional status indicate an elasticity closer to unity. Consideration of the weight attached to child versus adult welfare may help resolve the nonrobustness of demographic profiles of poverty. The authors show that the incidence of severe child stunting is more elastic to household size than their Engel curve estimate suggests, although the latter is still a fair predictor of child wasting. A consideration of the purpose of measuring poverty - notably the extent to which it is used to inform policies aimed at promoting child welfare - may go some way toward resolving the issues.

Student achievement and schooling choice in low-income countries: evidence from Ghana

Abstract: In this paper we present new evidence on the impact of school characteristics on student achievement using an unusually rich data set from Ghana. We deal with two potentially important selectivity issues in the developing country context: the sorting of higher ability children into better schools, and the high incidence of both delayed school enrollment and early leaving. Our empirical results do not reveal any strong selectivity bias. We also highlight the indirect effects of improving school quality on student achievement through increased grade attainment. A cost-benefit analysis, taking into account these indirect effects, shows that repairing classrooms (a policy option ignored in most education production function studies) is a cost-effective investment in Ghana, relative to providing more instructional materials and improving teacher quality.

Intellectual Property Protection, Foreign Direct Investment, and Technology Transfer

Abstract: Policy makers and analysts require a better understanding of the effect, if any, that a developing country's system of intellectual property rights protection has on the transfer of technology to that country through foreign direct investment. It is frequently argued that relatively weak intellectual property rights protection in a developing country may lower the probability that multinational firms will invest there, and that, even if they do invest there, they may be willing (because of weak intellectual property protection) to invest only in wholly owned subsidiaries (not joint ventures with local partners) or to transfer only older technologies. But this and other hypotheses have been challenged, and there is very little evidence one way or the other. This paper is an attempt to help fill this important gap. Based on a combination of survey data, interview studies, and statistical analysis, the author finds that the strength or weakness of a country's system of intellectual property protection seems to have a substantial effect, particularly in high-technology industries, on the kinds of technology transferred by many U.S. firms to that country. Also, this factor seems to influence the composition and extent of U.S. direct investment there, although the size of the effects seems to differ from industry to industry.

Do the Poor Insure? A Synthesis of the Literature on Risk and Consumption in Developing Countries

Abstract: Income risk is a central feature of rural areas of developing countries. A major topic in development economics is how well households are able to mitigate the adverse effects of income risk. There are several sensible reasons why households will not be able to fully insure consumption against income fluctuations. The well-known problems of moral hazard, information asymmetries, and deficiencies in the ability to enforce contracts may result in incomplete or absent insurance markets. The dearth of formal insurance markets in developing countries is evidence that these problems are considerable. However, a large body of literature indicates that households in developing countries make use of a wide variety of mechanisms, often informal, to at least partially limit consumption risk. A key piece of information required to guide policy design is how, and how well, different households mitigate risk. This paper reviews various strategies for insuring consumption against income fluctuations, and examines evidence on how effectively these strategies work.

Capital fundamentalism, economic development, and economic growth

Abstract: Few economic ideas are as intuitive as the notion that increasing investment is the best way to raise future output. This idea was the basis for the theory"capital fundamentalism."Under this view, differences in national stocks of capital were the primary determinants of differences in levels of national product. Capital fundamentalists viewed capital accumulation as central to increasing the rate of economic growth. Evidence to support this view was based mostly on case studies of less developed countries. Neoclassical growth theory and growth accounting research indicated that differences in patterns of investment and capital formation were not the main factors that led nations to be rich or poor, fast-growing or slow. Technology, rather than capital accumulation, appeared to drive improvements in living standards in the long run. Evidence to support this view was based mostly on data from advanced countries. Recent research on growth and development has lent support to two conclusions that capital fundamentalists would find attractive: that differences in national patterns of physical capital accumulation can explain many differences in levels of national product, and that increases in national investment rates can produce major increases in rates of economic growth. The authors find that although the capital-output ratio varies positively with the level of per capita income, there is little support for the view that capital fundamentalism should guide the agenda for research and policy advice. Extending standard growth accounting procedures to a broad sample of 105 countries, they find: 1) differences in capital-per-person explain few of the differences in output-per-person across countries; 2) growth in capital stocks account for little of output growth across countries; and 3) the ratio of investment to Gross Domestic Product is strongly associated with economic growth - but there is more reason to believe that economic growth causes investment and savings than investment and savings cause economic growth.

Nutritional influences on linear growth: a general review

Abstract: The first section of this paper reviews what is known about the roles of specific nutrients in the general linear growth faltering that occurs in developing countries. Those reviewed are energy, protein, zinc, iron, copper, iodine and vitamin A. For none of these nutrients was there clear, consistent evidence that supplementation with the nutrient benefited linear growth. Rather, interventions with each specific nutrient had a positive effect on length gain in some studies, while in others these affected only weight gain or had no effect. Reasons for these conflicting results are suggested, including the strong probability that growth is limited by multiple, simultaneous deficiencies in many populations. This point is illustrated with data from the Nutrition Collaborative Research Support Program (CRSP) and other reports. Most interventions with single nutrients have been tested on children older than the age when linear growth faltering is most rapid, that is, within a few months of birth. Possible reasons why growth stunting begins so early in life are presented, but these are mostly hypothetical because of the paucity of information on this topic.

Borrowing Constraints and Progress Through School: Evidence from Peru

Abstract: This paper investigates the effect of borrowing constraints on the timing of human capital investment in a developing country by looking at how quickly children with different family backgrounds progress through the primary school system in Peru. The main findings are that children start withdrawing from school earlier, as indicated by repetition of grades, in households with lower income and durable good holdings and when children are more closely spaced. Behavior also differs as predicted between children from households that appear to be borrowing constrained and those that appear unconstrained. Copyright 1994 by MIT Press.

Rates of Return to Education: Does the Conventional Pattern Prevail in Sub-Saharan Africa?

Abstract: In his most recent review of rates of return to education (RORE), Psacharopoulos reaffirms that the conventional pattern of continent-wide aggregate social and private ROREs continues to prevail among both developed and developing countries. In particular, “primary education continues to exhibit the highest social profitability in the world regions” (Psacharopoulos, 1994). A detailed examination of individual RORE studies undertaken in sub-Saharan African countries reveals, however, pervasive theoretical and empirical shortcomings which seriously undermine the credibility of aggregate RORE estimates for the continent as a whole.

The Importance of Product Country of Origin

Abstract: Uses conjoint analysis to investigate the relative importance of the country of origin of a product to consumers in the United States, Canada, Germany and The Netherlands. It was found that the country of origin of a product was one of the two or three most important attributes in preference evaluation. Across the four countries and the two product categories studied, the importance weight assigned to the country‐of‐origin factor ranged from 18 to 29 per cent, a level of importance that was often equal to or greater than that assigned to the brand name, price and other intrinsic and extrinsic attributes. Respondents in each country preferred domestically‐made products foremost, followed by products made in other developed countries and, lastly, products made in developing countries.

Capital Mobility in Developing Countries: Some Measurement Issues and Empirical Estimates

Abstract: An economy's financial integration with the outside world (the extent of capital mobility across its borders) is a key determinant of some of its most important macroeconomic properties. Yet little is known about this characteristic of many developing economies. An important stumbling block in the empirical assessment of financial integration (openness) is the many approaches to measuring it. The author describes and evaluates different tests of capital mobility, surveys existing evidence, and applies four tests of capital mobility - to assess the degree to which the many developing countries tested have achieved integration with the world financial markets. The four tests are the: (1) magnitude of gross capital flows; (2) uncovered interest rate parity; (3) strength of saving-investment correlations; and (4) behavior of domestic consumption over time. The evidence suggests that most developing countries can be considered to be financially open - in only 18 of the 57 developing countries classified did the data fail to show financial openness - and that many countries may be experiencing an increased degree of integration with world financial markets.

International Services Marketing: A Comparative Evaluation of the Dimensions of Service Quality between Developed and Developing Countries

Abstract: During the 1980s, the international marketing of services has grown tremendously in world trade. As services are having a significant impact internationally, special attention is needed to deal with the opportunities that emerge both domestically and worldwide. This rapid growth of the service sector can be found in both developed and developing countries. With opportunities found in service industries across different countries, it is essential to understand the characteristics of services that distinguish themselves in nations under different stages of development.

Why Does the Self-Employment Rate Vary Across Countries and Over Time?

Abstract: There is a tremendous diversity in the level and time-series pattern of the self-employment rate across countries. After documenting this fact with cross-section and time-series data on industrialized and lesser-developed countries, this paper presents and tests a series of hypotheses concerning the sources of this diversity. We show that the major explanation for this diversity is the stage of economic development. While the tendency for the self-employment rate to decline with economic development has long been recognized, this paper is the first attempt to estimate the statistical relationship between self-employment and economic development and to test an explanation for this relationship that is grounded in theory. We also show that the negative relationship between self-employment and economic development remains after controlling for a number of other factors. Although economic development is an extremely powerful force behind the secular decline in self-employment rates, the convergence of several factors in the 1970s tended to stem the secular decline in the self-employment rate for many countries. Of the 23 OECD countries we examined, 15 had increases in the self-employment rate during the 1970s or 1980s. It is likely, however, that these factors are temporary and that self-employment will continue its downwards trend as per-capita wealth increases in the developed and developing world.

Is poverty increasing in the developing world

Abstract: The authors assess the developing world's progress in reducing absolute-consumption poverty during 1981-91, using new data on the distribution of household consumption or income per capita for 40 countries (at two points in time for 18 of the countries). They apply dominance tests to the distributions after adjustment to purchasing-power parity. They find that the incidence of aggregate poverty changed little. The number of poor increased at the rate of population growth. The region with the greatest aggregate poverty is either South Asia or sub-Saharan Africa, depending on the poverty line used. The experience was diverse across regions and countries. The only regions with falling poverty measures are South and East Asia.

The Determinants of Reproductive Change in Bangladesh: Success in a Challenging Environment

Abstract: Demographic trends have taken many surprising forms over the last 30 years, but none have aroused such surprise, even incredulity, as recent events in Bangladesh. Although this country remains one of the poorest and least developed of all nations, there is mounting evidence of a steep decline in fertility. Fertility transition in such settings as China, Indonesia, and south India has already demonstrated that high material living standards are not a necessary precondition for a fall in birth rates. Yet in these cases alternative explanations were readily available; high levels of adult literacy in south India, for instance, and the prior creation of powerful nonfamilial welfare institutions in China. Bangladesh, in contrast, appears to possess no features that are conducive to fertility decline, except for a strong, persistent government commitment to reducing population growth. The aim of this volume are threefold. First, it documents with maximum precision the timing, magnitude, and nature of fertility change. Having established the demographic facts, the second aim is to assess alternative explanations. Of necessity, the explanatory net has to be widely cast because there are so many possible influences on human reproduction; nor is it desirable to cling to any specific theoretical position. The volume proceeds to review social and economic changes and their possible links to reduced demand or need for children. It focuses on shifts to consideration of the role of the family planning program in reducing fertility. Thirdly, its aim is to spell out the implications of the analysis for future population policy and programs.

Adjusting Privatization: Case Studies From Developing Countries

Abstract: Privatization emerged in the 1980s as a component of structural adjustment policies and was viewed as a cure-all for the ills of the public sector. This book, through case studies in seven countries, shows how the structure of developing economies can even reverse the sought after benefits of privatization.

Inflows of Capital to Developing Countries in the 1990s: Causes and Effects

Abstract: This paper discusses the changing pattern of capital flows to developing countries. The analysis is heavily colored by recent events. It concentrates on the principal facts, developments, and policies that characterize the current episode of capital inflows to Asia and Latin America.

Successful and Unsuccessful Exporters from Developing Countries: : Some Preliminary Findings

Abstract: Past research has identified several organizational, managerial, relationship‐related and external variables as playing a role in determining the success or failure of a firm′s export marketing activities. However, most of this research has been conducted using samples from the developed world. Attempts to differentiate between successful and unsuccessful exporters from a developing country. Findings indicate that characteristics of the industry, nature of the product (industrial/consumer), destination of exports and managerial variables are significant discriminators of success in a developing‐country context.

Determinants of Fertility and Child Mortality in Cote D'Ivoire and Ghana

Abstract: This paper examines the relationship between child mortality and fertility in two neighboring West African countries: Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana. The authors first explore separately the reduced form determinants of fertility and child mortality, as explained by individual, household and community characteristics. Fertility is somewhat higher in Cote d'Ivoire than in Ghana and appears not to have changed recently in either country. Child mortality is high, with about 16 percent of children dying before their fifth birthday. Women's education beyond the primary level is associated with substantially lower fertility in both countries. However, in Cote d'Ivoire, income, assets and mother's height are positively related to fertility, while in Ghana they are associated with lower fertility. These results suggest that Ghana is farther along in its fertility transition than is Cote d'Ivoire. Female education has a smaller effect on child mortality in Cote d'Ivoire, where relatively fewer women are educated, than in Ghana. Community characteristics explained only a small fraction of child mortality. However, the community's average experience of child mortality is still an important predictor of the household's child mortality, suggesting that there remain unobserved community factors that lower child mortality in the two countries. Future research may uncover some of these factors and demonstrate how public policy interventions can moderate them. There was only weak statistical support for treating child mortality at the household level as endogenous to the process determining fertility. When child mortality is treated as an exogenous variable, these estimates indicate that a reduction of five child deaths would lead to a decrease in fertility of one birth. Further development of women's education in both countries is likely to play a significant role in bringing child mortality under control and slowing population growth.

Technology and Enterprise Development: Ghana Under Structural Adjustment

Abstract: Technology is one of the primary determinants of the competitiveness of manufacturing firms. Since practically all the technologies in use are imported from the developed countries and their application is known and understood, it is widely believed that developing country firms need to invest little on their own in technological effort. This book is the first detailed attempt to assess technological capabilities in an African country. It is a study of a sample of manufacturing enterprises in Ghana. A country undergoing structural adjustment since the mid-1980s. It develops further and applies the methodology used in past analyses of technological capabilities in developing countries. Its findings cast fresh light on the problems of industrial development in Africa and on the effects of rapid liberalization programs. The policy conclusions drawn are of relevance to other countries at early stages of industrial development. This study was part of the World Bank's Regional Program for Enterprise Development (RPED), which was intended to analyses the dynamics of enterprise growth in several countries in Sub Saharan Africa Ghana is the first country to be studied in this program. This study does not; therefore attempt to address the issues covered by these other modules. The enterprises in Ghana that gave generously of their time and information are too numerous to mention individually.

Cancer in developing countries.

Abstract: Cancer is a major cause of mortality in developing countries, accounting for 13 percent of the annual deaths in adults. As the population increases and ages, the number of new cases of cancer is expected to increase dramatically. This article presents epidemiologic information on the principal cancers in developing countries and outlines the increasing challenge for the control of cancer in developing countries.

Poverty and Child Development: Relevance of Research in Developing Countries to the United States.

Abstract: Data from low-income countries are helpful in understanding the effects of poverty on child development in the U.S. Illustrative are 3 public health issues: (1) In the U.S., among poor African-American and Hispanic babies anemia is as high as 20%-24%, while in low-income countries, iron deficiency anemia (IDA) causes poor performance on mental and motor tests among babies and children. These data suggest that IDA is a major public health problem among poor minority children that requires prompt attention. (2) In 1993 the U.S. government appropriated $2.86 billion for the Special Supplemental Food Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). Evaluations of WIC, however, have failed to yield conclusive information on the benefits of the program. In low-income countries, nutritional supplements targeted to at-risk groups have resulted in developmental benefits. Thus, WIC is likely to buffer intellectual development against the adverse effects of malnutrition observed among poor children. (3) Evidence from developing countries suggests that concurrent illnesses and poor nutrition interfere with schooling. However, in the U.S., attention to such issues has declined, while common illnesses have increased among the poor. A reappraisal of this issue is warranted to meet the education and health goals proposed for the year 2000 in the U.S.

Research and Development Expenditures and Economic Growth: A Cross-Country Study*

Abstract: An assessment of the sources of economic growth is of obvious importance, and numerous attempts have been made to judge the impact of different factors on economic growth. Although these exercises have been typically conducted in the context of development problems of less developed countries (LDCs), the issues studied are fairly general. The list of items whose possible effect on economic growth has been assessed is long.' However, as far as we know, there is no work that explores, even in a preliminary manner, the effect of research and development (R & D) outlays on economic growth in a large crosscountry setting.2 Since technological change is probably one of the most important factors in economic growth, this study makes a small beginning toward an assessment of the effect of R & D outlays on economic growth in an international setting. Although there are wellknown data problems and methodological issues, the effort seems worthwhile.3 Our work has been facilitated by the National Science Foundation's (NSF) compilation of reasonably good data on R & D outlays for a fairly large cross section of countries.4

How attitudes toward family planning and discussion between wives and husbands affect contraceptive use in Ghana.

Abstract: Data on 661 married couples obtained from the 1988 Ghana Demographic and Health Survey were analyzed by multiple logistic regression to examine the attitudes and preferences of couples towards family size family limitation and contraceptive use as well as the degree of communication and discussion between husbands and wives. Both the husband and wife in 77% of couples shared like attitudes toward family planning. 73% of these couples approved of family planning. Yet 39% of the wives either did not know or misreported their husbands attitude. Even though 76% agreed that they wanted no more children only 44% reported the same responses on ideal family size. Only 35% of wives and 39% of husbands who knew at least one contraceptive method had talked to their spouse about family planning in the last 12 months. Wifes approval of family planning had a significant positive effect on current contraceptive use (relative risk [RR] = 11.75; p < 0.01) when the researcher controlled for background factors. While husbands approval did not have a significant effect (RR = 1.81). Significant independent variables of current contraceptive use included urban residence (RR = 1.53; p < 0.01) wifes attitude toward family planning (RR = 8.85; p < 0.01) and discussion of family planning between spouses (RR = 2.15-2.17; p < 0.01). These findings suggest that due to the considerable discrepancies between responses of wives and husbands one needs to interview both men and women to improve understanding of family planning decision making. They also indicate that the attitudes and preferences of the wife carry more weight in determining whether to adopt contraceptive than do those of the husband.