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on Development |
| By: | Baten, Jörg; Cappelli, Gabriele |
| Abstract: | How did colonialism interact with the development of human capital in Africa? We create an innovative panel dataset on numeracy across African countries before, during and after the Scramble for Africa (1730 -1970) by drawing on new sources and by carefully assessing potential selection bias. The econometric evidence that we provide, based on OLS, 2SLS and Propensity Score Matching, shows that colonialism had very diverse effects on human capital depending on the education policy of the colonizer. Although the average marginal impact of colonialism on the growth of numeracy was positive, the premium that we find was driven by the British educational system. Especially after 1900, the strategies chosen by the British were associated with faster human-capital accumulation, while other colonies were characterized by a negative premium on the growth of education. We connect this finding to the reliance of British education policy on mission schools, which used local languages and the human capital of local teachers to expand schooling in the colonies. We also show that this, in turn, had long-lasting effects on economic growth, which persist to the present day. |
| Keywords: | Africa; Colonialism; Education Policy; Human Capital; Numeracy |
| JEL: | N37 O15 |
| Date: | 2016–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:11273&r=dev |
| By: | Simon Franklin |
| Abstract: | This paper looks at the link between housing conditions and household income and labour market participation in South Africa. I use four waves of panel data from 2002-2009 on households that were originally living in informal dwellings. I find that those households that received free government housing later experienced large increases in their incomes. This effect is driven by increased employment rates among female members of these households, rather than other sources of income. I take advantage of a natural experiment created by a policy of allocating housing to households that lived in close proximity to new housing developments. Using rich spatial data on the roll out of government housing projects, I generate geographic instruments to predict selection into receiving housing. I then use housing projects that were planned and approved but never actually built to allay concerns about non-random placement of housing projects. The fixed effects results are robust to the use of these instruments and placebo tests. I present suggestive evidence that formal housing alleviates the demands of work at home for women, which leads to increases in labour supply to wage paying jobs. |
| Keywords: | housing; labour supply; time allocation; home production |
| JEL: | R14 J01 |
| Date: | 2016–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:66537&r=dev |
| By: | Mahé, Clothilde (UNU-MERIT, Maastricht University); Naudé, Wim (Maastricht School of Management, UNU-MERIT, and Maastricht University) |
| Abstract: | We investigate whether the occupational productivity and employment status of individuals living in a household with migrants differ from those living in non-migrant households using the sixth round of the Ghana Living Standards Survey (GLSS6) and the Africa Sector Database (ASD). We find that rural households and households with a head in more productive occupations are more likely to have migrant members, and that rural households and households with a head who are waged-employed are more likely to have a migrant than households with members who are self-employed. While these findings are not suprising, we find some more unexpected results. For instance, migrants do not always migrate to more productive occupations; migration can result in downward occupational mobility. Migrants in our sample do not send back much remittances. Migrant-sending households in Ghana are in fact more likely to send remittances to their relatives currently away, than to receive remittances. In an attempt to explain these somewhat puzzling findings, we argue that a motivation for rural households or households with a head in a more productive occupation to send out relatives is to support younger household members to pursue their education elsewhere. Migration is therefore a long(er)-run income-and-occupational diversification strategy of the more productively employed rural households in Ghana. |
| Keywords: | migration, occupational choice, structural transformation, Africa |
| JEL: | O15 O18 R23 |
| Date: | 2016–04–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unm:unumer:2016018&r=dev |
| By: | Hossain, Marup; Mullally, Conner; Asadullah, M Niaz |
| Abstract: | Measuring food security in an accurate and cost effective way is important for targeted food relief and for designing anti-poverty programs. A number of studies have established different food security indicators as alternatives to calorie intake but none has conducted a comparative study of multiple indicators. We present a comparative analysis of 3 alternative indicators, (a) dietary diversity score (DDS) (b) self-reported food security and (c) land holding, as alternatives to calorie intake for prediction of household food security. We assess the reliability of the 3 indicators through their relation with household calorie intake, food and non-food expenditure, and nutritional status. We use a nationally representative cross sectional data consisting of 4,423 households from Bangladesh. We find no systematic difference in association with access to food (as measured by household food and non-food expenditure) among the alternative indicators. We also find that the land indicator predicts nutritional status better than DDS and self-reported indicator. We compare the ability of different indicators to predict calorie intake using a Vuong closeness test and find that DDS or any indexes of multiple indicators consisting of DDS can predict calorie intake better than others and more closely resemble the true model of calorie intake. We find the similar conclusion from out-of-sample prediction ability, lowest mean square error and mean absolute error, of alternative indicator. Finally, we try to find a discontinuous break point in DDS at different calorie intake threshold points which we can use as a cut-off points to identify food insecure household. We find no such structural points in DDS distribution. |
| Keywords: | Food security, Nutrition, Access to food, Agricultural and Food Policy, Consumer/Household Economics, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty, International Development, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, O12, Q18, |
| Date: | 2016–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:saea16:230101&r=dev |
| By: | Shaikh Eskander; Edward Barbier |
| Abstract: | We examine the effects of natural disaster exposure on agricultural households who simultaneously make rent-in and rent-out decisions in the land rental market. Our econometric approach accounts for the effects of disaster exposure both on the adjustments in the quantity of operated land (i.e. extensive margin) and agricultural yield conditional on the land quantity adjustments (i.e. intensive margin), based on selectivity-corrected samples of rental market participants. Employing a household survey dataset from Bangladesh, we find that farmers were able to ameliorate their losses from exposure to disasters by optimizing their operational farm size through participation in the land rental market. These results are robust to alternative specifications. This suggests that the land rental market may be an effective instrument reducing disaster risk, and post-disaster policies should take into account this role more systematically. |
| Date: | 2016–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lsg:lsgwps:wp236&r=dev |
| By: | Nakano, Yuko; Kajisa, Kei; Otsuka, Keijiro |
| Abstract: | In order to develop a strategy for a rice Green Revolution in sub-Saharan Africa, this study investigates the determinants of the adoption of new technologies and their impact on productivity of rice cultivation. We analyzed two kinds of data sets collected in Tanzania: a nationally representative cross-sectional data and a three-year panel data of irrigated farmers in one district. We found that not only irrigation but also agronomic practices taught by training play key roles in increasing the adoption of modern technologies and the productivity of rice farming |
| Keywords: | Rice production, Tanzania, Adoption of new technology, impact on productivity, agronomic practices, training, Crop Production/Industries, Environmental Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae15:212036&r=dev |
| By: | Djedje Hermann YOHOU; Michaël GOUJON (Centre d'Etudes et de Recherches sur le Développement International(CERDI)); Bertrand LAPORTE (Centre d'Etudes et de Recherches sur le Développement International(CERDI)); Samuel GUERINEAU (Centre d'Etudes et de Recherches sur le Développement International(CERDI)) |
| Abstract: | We explore the heterogeneous effects together with the transmission channels of aid on tax revenues in 47 African countries over 1990-2011 using a panel smooth threshold regression model and two alternative tax datasets from IMF and ICTD. We find that aid enhances tax revenues with decreasing returns for a threshold of 6.3% and 23% of GNI for total taxes and non-resource taxes respectively. Aid effect varies across countries and over time, but, on average, is positive. Moreover, we evidence that aid conditions the impact of the level of development, trade, institutions and resource wealth on tax. |
| Keywords: | Africa, Tax data, Revenues, nonlinearities, taxation, foreign aid |
| JEL: | O55 C23 H20 F35 |
| Date: | 2016–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdi:wpaper:1811&r=dev |
| By: | Ayako Wakano (Graduate School of Economics, Osaka University) |
| Abstract: | Do locally hired teachers benefit pupils f school achievements more than governmental employed teachers? This is the question to examine in this paper. Although social experiment results have shown that the marginal product in terms of test score is positive and significant when pupils are taught by PTA teachers, it is not yet known about the grelative h effectiveness between government teacher and locally hired teachers. This paper is going to find whether the PTA teacher ratio (the ratio of locally hired PTA teachers against total number of teachers in one primary school) has statistically significant explanatory power on pupil test score, after controlling various factors. In Republic of Kenya (below referred as Kenya), there are two types of teachers teaching in public primary schools. One is those teachers employed by the government and the other is those hired by the local school community, named gPTA teacher h. Although wage level for PTA teachers in public primary schools in Kenya is one fourth of that of government teachers, school outcomes of pupils taught by locally hired contract teachers are higher than those of pupils taught in controlled group schools, according to the result of social experiment (Duflo et al. 2012). This paper will examine, by using nationally representing observational data, to estimate the relative effect of PTA teachers on school outcome. In the end, by using Propensity Score Matching Estimation method, the result shows that the effect of PTA teacher ratio is positive and significant on school test score in all three subjects for lower standard grade pupils except Kernel and Radius matching and in Kiswahili subject for all seven different matching algorisms, though the magnitude of coefficient is relatively small. Although background mechanism of this finding is not solely determined, this paper is to assume that the effort level of PTA teacher in teaching tends to be higher than that of governmental teachers, based on several reasons. |
| Keywords: | Absenteeism, PTA teacher, Locally hired teacher, test score |
| JEL: | I21 I28 J18 |
| Date: | 2016–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osk:wpaper:1614&r=dev |
| By: | Traverso, Silvio |
| Abstract: | Despite the general consensus regarding the important role played by international migration in the development of Bangladesh, little has been done to quantitatively estimate its effects. Within the framework of Rubin's causal model, this paper contributes to the literature estimating the net impact of international migration on the welfare of the members of households with migration experience. By taking advantage of the non-parametric nature of matching estimators, the effect of migration is disaggregated on the basis of expenditure quartiles and length of migration period. Additionally, the estimated counterfactual outcomes of migrant households are used to build a transition matrix showing the effect of migration on social mobility. The effect of migration turns out to be positive and statistically significant, even though its magnitude is considerably affected by technical assumptions regarding household economies of scale. International migration appears to be a risky strategy which, if successful, leads to a substantial increase of the well being of migrant households' members. Finally, moving on to normative considerations, the paper argues that the resources deployed for pro-migration policies do not directly benefit the poorer sections of the population. |
| Keywords: | International migration,Counterfactual framework,Matching estimation,Bangladesh |
| JEL: | F22 O12 O15 O53 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:esprep:140882&r=dev |
| By: | Sheahan, Megan; Ariga, Joshua; Jayne, T.S. |
| Abstract: | Raising agricultural productivity remains a major challenge in developing countries. Farm productivity is especially low in Sub-Saharan Africa, where fertilizer use lags far behind the rest of the world. Identifying effective strategies for raising fertilizer use in Africa has been a longstanding policy priority. While most of the region has struggled to raise fertilizer use in a sustainable manner, several countries have recorded impressive steady growth in fertilizer use, suggesting that there may be important success stories from which to learn. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, |
| Date: | 2016–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:midips:234947&r=dev |
| By: | Lucia Corno (Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore; Dipartimento di Economia e Finanza, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore); Nicole Hildebrandt; Alessandro Voena |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we examine the impact of variation in local economic conditions on the hazard into child marriage (i.e. prior to age 18) among young women in Africa and India. We show that rainfall shocks, a major source of income variation in these areas, have similar effects on crop yields but opposite effects on the early marriage hazard in the two regions: in Africa, droughts increase the hazard into early marriage, while in India, droughts decrease the hazard. We argue that the differential impact of drought on the marriage hazard can be explained by differences in the direction of traditional marriage payments in each region (bride price in Africa and dowry in India). Our results highlight the importance of understanding the relationship between prevailing cultural norms and household responses to economic shocks; as we show here, differences in prevailing customs can result in dramatically different household responses to aggregate income fluctuations.. |
| Keywords: | Income shocks, informal insurance, marriage, Africa, India, dowry, bride. |
| JEL: | J1 O15 |
| Date: | 2016–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ctc:serie1:def040&r=dev |
| By: | Silvio Traverso |
| Abstract: | Despite the general consensus regarding the important role played by international migration in the development of Bangladesh, little has been done to quantitatively estimate its effects. Within the framework of Rubin's causal model, this paper contributes to the literature estimating the net impact of international migration on the welfare of the members of households with migration experience. By taking advantage of the non-parametric nature of matching estimators, the effect of migration is disaggregated on the basis of expenditure quartiles and length of migration period. Additionally, the estimated counterfactual outcomes of migrant households are used to build a transition matrix showing the effect of migration on social mobility. The effect of migration turns out to be positive and statistically significant, even though its magnitude is considerably affected by technical assumptions regarding household economies of scale. International migration appears to be a risky strategy which, if successful, leads to a substantial increase of the well being of migrant households' members. Finally, moving on to normative considerations, the paper argues that the resources deployed for pro-migration policies do not directly benefit the poorer sections of the population. |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:frz:wpaper:wp2016_05.rdf&r=dev |
| By: | Daniel Rais |
| Abstract: | The aim of this paper is to explore how to raise the synergies of migration, human rights, trade, investment and knowledge transfer to maximize development in countries of origin of the migrants. To reach a deeper understanding of the inter-governmental coherence this paper will additionally examine the level of coherence between free trade and related agreements (such as Regional trade agreement) and Migration agreements as well as certain migration partnership agreements in certain regions: 1.in the context of the EU between Spain and France as well as Switzerland with certain African countries and; 2. in the context of NAFTA (Mexico –USA/Canada). |
| Date: | 2014–11–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wti:papers:826&r=dev |
| By: | Moutaz Altaghlibi (University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, France); Florian Wagener (University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands) |
| Abstract: | Environmentally motivated aid can help developing countries to achieve economic growth while mitigating the impact on emission levels. We argue that the usual practice of giving aid conditionally is not effective, and we therefore study aid that is given unconditionally. Our framework is a differential open-loop Stackelberg game between a developed country (leader) and a developing country (follower). The leader chooses the amount of mitigation aid given to the follower, which the follower either consumes or invests in costly nonpolluting capital or cheap high-emission capital. The leader gives unconditional mitigation aid only when sufficiently rich or caring sufficiently about the environmental quality, while the follower cares about environmental quality to some extent. If aid is given in steady state, it decreases the steady state level of high-emission capital and capital investments in the recipient country and the global pollution stock, but it has no effect on the levels of non-polluting capital and non-polluting investments. It accelerates the economic growth of the follower; this effect is however lower than what static growth theory predicts since most of the aid is consumed. Moreover, we find that the increase in growth takes place in the nonpolluting sector. |
| Keywords: | Development aid; Green growth; Conditionality; Open loop Stackelberg equilibrium |
| JEL: | Q56 O13 |
| Date: | 2016–05–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tin:wpaper:20160037&r=dev |
| By: | Juarez-Torres, Miriam |
| Abstract: | During the 2000s, recurrent food price shocks in Mexico modified consumption and nutritional patterns of households. This research quantifies the impacts of food price shocks on the purchase of nutrients and on the weight gain of children in urban Mexican households. We find differentiated patterns of food consumption across income quintiles, which result in heterogeneous effects of price shocks on the purchase of nutrients and on weight gain according to age and sex in children. In particular, cereal price shocks are more detrimental and more regressive than price shocks on other categories like meats, vegetables or beverages. |
| Keywords: | Food price elasticities, Nutrient elasticities, Food security, Nutrition, Welfare, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty, D12, C31, O12, |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae15:211818&r=dev |
| By: | Ochieng, Isabel Joy; Otieno, David; Oluoch-Kosura, Willis; Jistrom, Magnus |
| Abstract: | Emerging forms of investment such as biofuels have intensified pressure on scarce land especially in developing countries. This has implications on household enterprise choice and food security. However, biofuel investments in Sub-Saharan Africa are often undertaken without adequate stakeholder consultations on priorities and preferences. In order to provide insights for managing potential resource conflicts, this study assessed farmers’ preferences on the design of biofuel investments in Kenya. Choice Experiment was used to elicit survey data from 342 farmers, and random parameter model applied in analysis. Results indicated higher positive preferences for short contract lengths, leasing of a quarter of their land, permanent employment and renewable contracts. Compensating surplus estimates showed that farmers who already practice mixed crop-livestock systems required higher compensation to accept biofuel investments. These findings offer insights on the design of biofuel investments as a potential livelihood diversification option. |
| Keywords: | Biofuel-investments, Farmer preferences, Livelihood diversification., Agricultural and Food Policy, Farm Management, |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae15:212589&r=dev |
| By: | Rajius Idzalika (University of Goettingen, Germany); Maria C. Lo Bue (University of Verona, Italy) |
| Abstract: | Education is a strong predictor for economic performance. Therefore, educational inequality particularly in opportunity could make significant contribution to earning disparities. Following Ferreira and Gignoux (2014) parametric method, we construct aggregate indices of inequality of educational opportunities for fourteen Indonesian provinces in the years 1997, 2000 and 2007. Our particular and original contribution is to define individual indices of the power of circumstances which measure the strength of the influence that the accumulation of factors outside individual responsibility has in the short and in the long run on individual educational achievements and on earnings. We found that-along the period considered- there has been a declining trend in inequality of educational opportunities but not in all the provinces. Our findings also suggest that parental educational background is the most significant factor for school survival and that the effect that circumstances exert on future individual educational achievements and on early earnings perspectives tend to persist over time, but only to a very small extent. Moreover, our causal model which relates educational budget policy to equality of opportunity shows a negative impact of educational budget for the youngest cohorts, questioning therefore the effectiveness of the allocation of resources to primary and intermediate schools. |
| Keywords: | Education, Intergenerational Mobility, Inequality of Opportunity, Indonesia |
| JEL: | D39 D63 I29 O53 |
| Date: | 2016–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:inq:inqwps:ecineq2016-397&r=dev |
| By: | Bui Dung The (Hue University) |
| Abstract: | Soil erosion is a significant problem in the uplands of the Central Coast of Vietnam. It affects the livelihood of farmers and could hinder the long-term economic development efforts in the uplands. Yet, trapped in poverty, upland farmers, especially the ethnic minority, are still using erosive land use systems to meet their immediate needs. This study demonstrates how the level of soil erosion varies across the typical land use systems. The fruit tree based agroforestry system is least erosive and most financially profitable. Measured by the annualized income loss, the on-site costs of soil erosion under upland ricebased and eucalyptus-based systems are VND 1,022 and 1,019 thousand/ha per year, respectively. That under the sugarcane system is VND 635 thousand/ ha per year, as compared (in all cases) to the fruit tree-based agroforestry system. The choice of land use system is influenced by farmers’ attributes, land plot characteristics, and policy-related variables. Promoting the switch to agroforestry systems and the adoption of soil conservation measures is essential in reducing soil erosion and sustaining development in the uplands. It is, however, a very challenging task. |
| Keywords: | Economics of Soil Erosion,Choice of Land Use Systems,Vietnam |
| Date: | 2016–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eep:report:rr2016063&r=dev |
| By: | Berger, Thomas |
| Keywords: | food security, climate impacts, mixed rain-fed agriculture, multi-agent systems, Environmental Economics and Policy, Food Security and Poverty, C61, Q54, C63, Q12, D12, |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae15:229062&r=dev |
| By: | Sonia Bhalotra; Abhishek Chakravarty; Dilip Mookherjee; Francisco J. Pino |
| Abstract: | While land reforms are typically pursued in order to raise productivity and reduce inequality across households, an unintended consequence may be increased within-household gender inequality. We analyse a tenancy registration programme in West Bengal, and find that it increased child survival and reduced fertility. However, we also find that it intensified son preference in families without a first-born son to inherit the land title. These families exhibit no reduction in fertility, an increase in the probability that a subsequent birth is male, and a substantial increase in the survival advantage of subsequent sons over daughters. |
| Date: | 2016–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:udc:wpaper:wp422&r=dev |
| By: | Sonia Bhalotra (University of Essex); Abhishek Chakravarty (University of Essex); Dilip Mookherjee (Boston University); Francisco J. Pino (University of Chile) |
| Abstract: | While land reforms are typically pursued in order to raise produc tivity and reduce inequality across households, an unintended consequence may be increased within-household gender inequality. We analyse a tenancy registration programme in West Bengal, and find that it increased child survival and reduced fertility. However, we also find that it intensified son preference in families without a first-born son to inherit the land title. These families exhibit no reduction in fertility, an increase in the probability that a subsequent birth is male, and a substantial increase in the survival advantage of subsequent sons over daughters. |
| Keywords: | Land reform, property rights, gender, infant mortality, sex ratio, fertility |
| JEL: | I14 I24 J71 O15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bos:iedwpr:dp-281&r=dev |
| By: | Emilio Aguirre (Ministerio de Desarrollo Social); Pablo Blanchard (Ministerio de Desarrollo Social); Fernando Borraz (Banco Central del Uruguay and Departamento de Economía, Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, Universidad de la República); Joaquín Saldain (Banco Central del Uruguay) |
| Abstract: | We use a micro-price dataset to analyze the impact on prices of a social program in Uruguay that allow the beneficiaries to purchase food, beverages and cleaning items exclusively in certain small retailers. We find that the beneficiaries pay significantly higher prices in relation to prices in other retailers. We find this result for the whole country with the exception of areas with the highest retailer density in the capital city, Montevideo. |
| Keywords: | Keywords: market structure, market power, prices, social program |
| JEL: | D4 I3 L1 |
| Date: | 2015–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ude:wpaper:1315&r=dev |
| By: | Hearn, Bruce (University of Sussex, UK); Oxelheim, Lars (Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN)); Randøy, Trond (University of Agder, Norway) |
| Abstract: | This study examines the role of institutional environment in influencing the migration of corporate governance best practice into 22 emerging African economies. Using a unique and comprehensive sample hand-collected sample of 202 IPO firms from across the continent we adopt a novel institutional logics perspective in studying the diffusion of CEO salary disclosure – a central element of corporate transparency. Our findings reveal that the adoption of CEO salary disclosure by firms is more likely in more homogenous informal institutional contexts. Complementarities arising from disclosure originating from an Anglo-American shareholder value governance framework and indigenous formal institutions adhering to English common law infer disclosure is more likely than in contrasting civil code law contexts. Finally firms with higher proportions of their boards of directors being drawn from indigenous social elites are less likely to disclose CEO salary – where this is reversed in the context of elevated institutional quality. Our findings are important for regulatory authorities, investors and policy makers alike who are involved in institutional improvements in emerging economies. |
| Keywords: | Disclosure; CEO Salary; Institutional Theory; Africa; Emerging Economies; IPO |
| JEL: | G23 G38 M12 M14 M16 |
| Date: | 2016–05–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:iuiwop:1122&r=dev |
| By: | Steven A. Block; William A. Masters; Prajula Mulmi; Gerald E. Shively |
| Abstract: | Environmental conditions in early life have known links to later health outcomes, but mechanisms and potential remedies have been difficult to discern. This paper uses the Nepal Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) of 2006-2011, combined with earlier NASA satellite observations of variation in vegetation density (NDVI) at each child's location and time of birth, to identify the trimesters of gestation and infancy during which climate variation can be linked to heights attained between 12 and 59 months of age. We find significant difference by sex of the fetus: males are most affected by conditions in their second trimester of gestation, and females in their first trimester after birth. Each 100 point difference in NDVI at those times is associated with a difference in height-for-age Z-score (HAZ) of 0.088 for boys and 0.054 for girls, an effect size that is similar to moving within the distribution of household wealth by one quintile for boys, and one decile for girls. The entire seasonal change in NDVI from peak to trough is on the order of 200-300 points, implying a seasonal effect of HAZ similar to 1-3 quintiles of household wealth. This effect is observed only in households without toilets; with toilets there is no seasonal fluctuation, implying protection against climatic changes in disease transmission. We also use data from the Nepal Living Standards Surveys on district-level agricultural production and marketing, and find a vegetation effect on child growth only in districts where households' food consumption comes primarily from own production. Robustness tests find no evidence of selection effects, and placebo regressions reveal no significant artefactual correlations. Our findings regarding timing and sex-specificity offer a novel population-scale confirmation of previous work, while the protective effect of sanitation and markets is a novel indication of the mechanisms by which households can gain resilience against adverse climatic conditions. |
| Keywords: | Sesonality, climate, health, agriculture, resilience |
| JEL: | I15 O13 Q12 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tuf:tuftec:0817&r=dev |
| By: | Zulkhibri, Muhamed (The Islamic Research and Teaching Institute (IRTI)); Ghazal, Reza (University of Kurdistan-Hawler (UKH), Hawler (Erbil), Iraq) |
| Abstract: | This paper argues that strong economic governance and institution are important elements in improving financial inclusion especially for the poor segment of the society because markets, economic activity and transactions more generally, cannot function well in its absence. This paper utilizes the data of more than 100,000 individuals’ characteristics in the Global Findex database to examine how these different characteristics are associated with financial inclusion. This paper employs probit model to explain measures of financial inclusion and then augmented the model with governance and institutional variables using principal component analysis. The results suggest that neither the impacts of governance indicators nor the freedom indexes are conclusive, while economic freedom show mixed results on financial inclusion. Governance has positive influenced on people wanting to open an account and make saving in formal financial institutions, but negatively impacted on borrowing behaviour. There is also significant differences across countries in particular between Muslim countries and non-Muslim countries in explaining financial inclusion. The study suggests that removing corruption, increasing transparent legal framework, fair judicial proceedings and administration are essential for development and raising financial inclusiveness prospects. |
| Keywords: | Financial Markets; Financial Inclusion; Institutions and Development |
| JEL: | G20 G21 G28 |
| Date: | 2016–03–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:irtiwp:2016_003&r=dev |