|
on Development |
| By: | Maryam Akmal (Center for Global Development); Lant Pritchett (Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford) |
| Abstract: | The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for education include the goal that “all youth...achieve literacy and numeracy” (Target 4.6). Achieving some absolute standard of learning for all children is a key element of global equity in education. Using the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) data from India and Pakistan, and Uwezo data from Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda that test all children of given ages, whether in school or not, on simple measures of learning in math, reading (local language), and English, we quantify the role of achieving equality between the richest 20% and the poorest 40% in terms of grade attainment and learning achievement toward accomplishing the global equity goal of universal numeracy and literacy for all children. First, excluding Kenya, equalizing grade attainment between children from rich and poor households would only close between 8% (India) and 25% (Pakistan) of the gap to universal numeracy, and between 8% (Uganda) and 28% (Pakistan) of the gap to universal literacy. Second, children from the poorest 40% of households tend to have lower performance in literacy and numeracy at each grade. If such children had the learning profiles of children from rich households, we would close between 16% (Pakistan and Uganda) and 34% (India) of the gap to universal numeracy, and between 13% (Uganda) and 44% (India) of the gap to universal literacy. This shows that the “hidden exclusion” (WDR, 2018) of lower learning at the same grade levels—a gap that emerges in the earliest grades—is a substantial and often larger part of the equity gap compared to the more widely documented gaps in enrollment and grade attainment. Third, even with complete equality in grade attainment and learning achievement, children from poor households would be far from the equity goal of universal numeracy and literacy, as even children from the richest 20% of households are far from universal mastery of basic reading and math by ages 12-13. Achieving universal literacy and numeracy to accomplish even a minimal standard of global absolute equity will require more than just closing the rich-poor learning gap, it will take progress in learning for all. |
| Keywords: | learning assessments, education quality, human capital, equity, wealth |
| JEL: | I25 J24 O15 O53 D31 |
| Date: | 2019–02–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cgd:wpaper:504&r=all |
| By: | Florent Bédécarrats (AFD Paris, France); Isabelle Guérin (IRD CESSMA); Solène Morvant-Roux (School of Social Sciences UNIGE-G3S, University of Geneva); François Roubaud (IRD, UMR DIAL, PSL, Université Paris-Dauphine) |
| Abstract: | We replicate a flagship randomised control trial carried out in rural Morocco that showed substantial and significant impacts of microcredit on the assets, the outputs, the expenses and the profits of self-employment activities. The original results rely primarily on trimming, which is the exclusion of observations with the highest values on some variables. However, the applied trimming procedures are inconsistent between the baseline and the endline. Using identical specifications as the original paper reveals large and significant imbalances at the baseline and, at the endline impacts on implausible outcomes, like household head gender, language or education. This calls into question the reliability of the data and the integrity of the experiment protocol. We find a series of coding, measurement and sampling errors. Correcting the identified errors lead to different results. After rectifying identified errors, we still find substantial imbalances at baseline and implausible impacts at the endline. Our re-analysis focused on the lack of internal validity of this experiment, but several of the identified issues also raise concerns about its external validity. |
| Keywords: | RCT, Microcredit, J-PAL, Replication, Morocco, Internal validity, Data quality |
| JEL: | C18 C83 C93 G21 |
| Date: | 2018–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dia:wpaper:dt201809&r=all |
| By: | Sylvain Eloi Dessy; Francesca Marchetta; Roland Pongou; Luca Tiberti |
| Abstract: | In communities highly dependent on rainfed agriculture for their livelihoods, the common oc- currence of climatic shocks such as droughts can lower the opportunity cost of having children, and raise fertility. Using longitudinal household data from Madagascar, we estimate the causal effect of drought occurrences on fertility, and explore the nature of potential mechanisms driving this effect. We exploit exogenous within-district year-to-year variation in rainfall deficits, and find that droughts occurring during the agricultural season significantly increase the number of children born to women living in agrarian communities. This effect is long lasting, as it is not reversed within four years fol- lowing the drought occurrence. Analyzing the mechanism, we find that droughts have no effect on common underlying factors of high fertility such as marriage timing and child mortality. Further- more, droughts have no significant effect on fertility if they occur during the non-agricultural season or in non-agrarian communities, and their positive effect in agrarian communities is mitigated by irrigation. These findings provide evidence that a low marginal price of having children is the main channel driving the fertility effect of drought in agrarian communities. |
| Keywords: | Drought, Fertility, Agrarian Communities, Price of a marginal child |
| JEL: | C12 C13 C14 J12 J13 O12 |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lvl:pmmacr:2019-06&r=all |
| By: | Max K\"ohler; Stefan Sperlich |
| Abstract: | A fixed effects regression estimator is introduced that can directly identify and estimate the Africa-Dummy in one regression step so that its correct standard errors as well as correlations to other coefficients can easily be estimated. We can estimate the Nickel bias and found it to be negligibly tiny. Semiparametric extensions check whether the Africa-Dummy is simply a result of misspecification of the functional form. In particular, we show that the returns to growth factors are different for Sub-Saharan African countries compared to the rest of the world. For example, returns to population growth are positive and beta-convergence is faster. When extending the model to identify the development of the Africa-Dummy over time we see that it has been changing dramatically over time and that the punishment for Sub-Saharan African countries has been decreasing incrementally to reach insignificance around the turn of the millennium. |
| Date: | 2019–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:1903.02357&r=all |
| By: | Teresa Molina (University of Hawaii at Manoa); Ivan Rivadeneyra (University of Hawaii at MÄ noa) |
| Abstract: | It is both theoretically and empirically unclear whether a drastic nationwide reduction in the cost of education should significantly improve individual labor market outcomes. This paper estimates the labor market effects of a 2008 policy that eliminated tuition fees at public universities in Ecuador. We use a difference-in-difference strategy that exploits variation across cohorts differentially exposed to the policy, as well as geographic variation in access to public universities. We find that the tuition fee elimination significantly increased college participation, but did not improve income. The policy had modest effects on job type, shifting people out of more physical jobs. However, the bulk of the benefits of this fee elimination were enjoyed by individuals of higher socioeconomic status. |
| Keywords: | higher education, tuition reduction, Ecuador |
| JEL: | I23 I24 I28 O15 |
| Date: | 2019–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hai:wpaper:201901&r=all |
| By: | Giorgia Giovannetti; Elena Perra |
| Abstract: | The Syrian Civil War has begun in 2011 and is still wrecking enormous damages on the country's economy, with an impressive toll measured in deaths, migration, and the destruction of the Syrian historical heritage and physical infrastructure. This paper examines the impact of the War on Syria's economy from the perspective of outer space, to bypass the issue of data availability due to the inaccessibility of the war-ravaged territory. The estimates obtained in this way are more pessimistic than the ones reported by international organisations. Starting from our estimates, we provide long-term projections for the country's economy, and estimate the window for GDP recovery at the pre-war levels. We discuss geo-political implications which could prevent our projections from happening. |
| Keywords: | Syria, War, GDP estimates, Night-Lights |
| JEL: | E01 O15 C82 H56 |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:frz:wpaper:wp2019_05.rdf&r=all |
| By: | Bethuel Kinuthia; Abdelkrim Araar; Laura Barasa; Stephene Maende; Faith Mariera |
| Abstract: | Panel data from the Living Standards Measurement Study-Integrated Surveys on Agriculture for Tanzania and Uganda were analyzed to investigate the impact of off-farm participation on agricultural production and farmers’ welfare. Using strategies ranging from simple least squares to a dynamic panel model, we demonstrated how each of the intermediate models, such as the random effects Tobit model, could tackle censoring bias. Our results reveal that off-farm participation had a negative impact on agricultural production in both countries, though the impact was positive on welfare for Tanzania only. Policy makers should consider the complexities surrounding the formulation of pro-agriculture and pro-welfare policies aimed at producing desirable outcomes from off-farm participation. In that effort, policies that minimize the trade-off between agricultural production and off-farm participation and which enhance positive welfare effects are vital. |
| Keywords: | Off-farm participation, Agricultural production, Welfare, Consumption, Farmers, Sample selection, Dynamic panel model, East Africa, Tanzania, Uganda |
| JEL: | Q10 Q12 Q14 Q15 Q16 |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lvl:pmmacr:2019-01&r=all |
| By: | Kubik, Z.; May, J. |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we analyze the food access dimension of food security, and we model the link between weather shocks and food security that acts specifically through food prices. We focus on dietary diversity as a measure of food security, and we employ an instrumental variable model where household dietary diversity is determined by food prices instrumented with standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index (SPEI), a measure of weather shock. Our findings suggest that food prices have a significant negative impact on household food security, i.e. a one per cent increase in local food prices induced by a weather shock decreases the number of food items consumed by household by around 2.5 per cent, and the number of food groups by almost one per cent. The low-income households are particularly vulnerable to weather and price shocks; however, their response to shocks seem to depend on the level of poverty. The moderately poor households from the second wealth quartile show the greatest response to shocks, but the extremely poor household from the first wealth quartile have little scope to decrease their dietary diversity which is already very low. While own food production might alleviate food insecurity of the poorest, it does not insulate them form the weather and food price shocks. Our findings are robust to employing self-reported measures of food security. |
| Keywords: | Food Security and Poverty |
| Date: | 2018–09–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aeas18:284748&r=all |
| By: | Thiemo Fetzer (University of Warwick,; Pearson Institute at the University of Chicago; CEPR); Stephan Kyburz (Center for Global Development) |
| Abstract: | Can institutionalized transfers of resource rents be a source of civil conflict? Are cohesive institutions better at managing conflicts over distribution? We exploit exogenous variation in revenue disbursements to local governments and use new data on local democratic institutions in Nigeria to answer these questions. There is a strong link between rents and conflict far away from the location of the resource. Conflict over distribution is highly organized, involving political militias, and concentrated in the extent to which local governments are non-cohesive. Democratically elected local governments significantly weaken the causal link between rents and political violence. Elections produce more cohesive institutions, and vastly limit the extent to which distributional conflict between groups breaks out following shocks to the rents. Throughout, we confirm these findings using individual level survey data. |
| Keywords: | conflict, ethnicity, natural resources, political economy, commodity prices |
| JEL: | Q33 O13 N52 R11 L71 |
| Date: | 2019–02–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cgd:wpaper:503&r=all |
| By: | Gibson, John; Le, Trinh |
| Abstract: | Many countries lack spatially disaggregated consumer price data. Yet these data are needed to estimate real inequality and spatial patterns of poverty, especially for poor countries where weak infrastructure and high transport costs create big price variation over space. We experimented in Vietnam with a new way of obtaining disaggregated price data, using local expert knowledge to derive the mean and variance for prices of 64 consumer items in over 1000 communities. We used photographs of the specified items to ensure comparability of the reported prices. These prices are used to calculate regional cost-of-living indexes, which provide a good approximation to benchmark multilateral price indexes that are calculated from data obtained from traditional market price surveys. In comparison, two widely used no-price methods, based on using food Engel curves to derive deflators and based on using unit values (survey group expenditures over group quantity) are very poor proxy indicators of prices and of the cost-of-living and would distort estimates of real inequality and the spatial pattern of poverty. Prices from local expert informants also exhibit a basic spatial feature of prices – the Alchian-Allen effect or ‘shipping the good apples out’ – in much the same way as do prices from the traditional survey approach. This effect is one reason why unit values are a bad proxy for prices and this effect should become more important as food systems commercialize. Using expert knowledge to measure local prices is a low-cost and feasible approach that could be adopted more widely in developing countries. |
| Keywords: | Expert knowledge; Inequality; Prices; Regional Cost-of-Living; Surveys; Vietnam |
| JEL: | D12 O15 |
| Date: | 2019–02–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:92533&r=all |
| By: | Andinet Woldemichael; Daniel Gurara; Abebe Shimeles |
| Abstract: | Achieving universal health coverage, including financial risk protection and access to quality essential health-care services, is one of the main Sustainable Development Goals. In low-income countries, innovative and affordable health financing systems are key to realize these goals. This paper assesses the impacts of Community-Based Health Insurance Scheme in Rwanda on health-related financial risks using a nationally representative household survey data collected over a ten-year period. We find that the scheme significantly reduce annual per capita out-of-pocket spending by about 3,600 Rwandan Franc (about US$12) or about 83 percent of average per capita healthcare expenditure compared to the baseline level in 2000.The impacts however favor the rich as compared to the poor. The program also reduces the incidence of catastrophic healthcare spending significantly. |
| Date: | 2019–02–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:imf:imfwpa:19/38&r=all |
| By: | Elodie Djemaï (Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD), DIAL - Développement, institutions et analyses de long terme, LEDa - Laboratoire d'Economie de Dauphine - Université Paris-Dauphine); Yohan Renard (PSL - research university - Institut Curie, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD), DIAL - Développement, institutions et analyses de long terme, LEDa - Laboratoire d'Economie de Dauphine - Université Paris-Dauphine); Anne-Laure Samson (LEM - Laboratoire d'Economie et de Management - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - UNS - Université Nice Sophia Antipolis - UCA - Université Côte d'Azur) |
| Abstract: | We use four waves of Demographic and Health Surveys from Zimbabwe to evaluate the effect off mother's and father's education on child health outcomes. We identify causal effects using the 1980 education reform. A simultaneous-equation model is estimated to take into account possible selection and endogeneity biases. Our results suggest some specialization within parents, as mothers and fathers do not affect the same health outcomes of their under-5 children. Fathers matter more than mothers, and mother's education improves health only when she is matched to a low-educated man. There is selection in our sample, as is usual. The inverse Mills ratio capturing the likelihood of living with one's father or mother significantly affects child health. Last, parental educational sorting is shown to be important, so that estimation that does not take both mother's and father's education into account will produce biased results. |
| Abstract: | A partir de quatre vagues des Enquêtes Démographiques et de Santé conduites au Zimbabwe et de la réforme de l'éducation menée en 1980, nous nous intéressons à l'effet causal respectif de l'éducation de la mère et de l'éducation du père sur la santé des enfants de moins de 5 ans. Un modèle d'équations simultanées est estimé pour tenir compte d'éventuels biais de sélection et d'endogénéité. Nos résultats suggèrent une certaine spécialisation au sein du couple parental puisque les mères et les pères n'influencent pas les mêmes variables de santé de leurs enfants. Les pères semblent jouer un rôle plus important que les mères, et l'éducation des mères n'a d'effet sur la santé de leurs enfants que lorsque le niveau d'éducation du père est faible. Par ailleurs, nous mettons en évidence un phénomène de sélection dans notre échantillon. Les inverses des ratios de Mills, capturant la probabilité pour un enfant de vivre avec son père ou avec sa mère, ont un effet significatif sur la santé des enfants. Enfin, nous montrons qu'étant donné l'importance de l'homogamie d'éducation, ne pas tenir compte simultanément de l'éducation du père et de la mère dans l'estimation conduit à des résultats biaisés. |
| Keywords: | Couples,Child’s Health,Education,Reform,Sub-Saharan Africa |
| Date: | 2019–02–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-02013503&r=all |
| By: | Lara Cockx |
| Abstract: | Do the returns to migration extend beyond migrants themselves and accrue to the children of migrants? Drawing upon data from a unique 19-year longitudinal survey from Tanzania, this paper empirically investigates this question by exploiting the variation in the outcomes of the children of migrants and the children of the migrants’ siblings who stayed behind conditional upon a range of individual characteristics of their parents. I show that parental migration has important implications for child development. This relation depends on the destination and the timing of the move. More specifically, children whose parents migrated from rural areas to cities are heavier, taller and more educated for their age. The effects on height and schooling are strongest for children who were exposed to the city environment during their early childhood. In contrast, children whose parents moved to a different rural village do not appear to experience any health advantage and those moving alongside their parents even start schooling at a later age. In addition to conferring a broader view of the returns to physical mobility, this analysis contributes to the debate on the origin of spatial inequalities in developing countries. |
| Keywords: | Internal migration, health, education |
| JEL: | R23 O15 I15 I25 |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lic:licosd:41119&r=all |
| By: | Tiguéné Nabassaga (African Development Bank); El-Hadj Bah (African Development Bank); Issa Faye (African Development Bank) |
| Abstract: | Using the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) data from 8 African countries, among the top 10 countries with the highest malaria cases, accounting for 87% of malaria incidence cases in Africa, we analyze the impact of housing quality and the usual malaria prevention measures on malaria incidence among children under 5 years old. First, we investigate the potential correlation between malaria incidence and the quality of housing materials. Secondly, using OLS, two-stage least squares and Poisson regression, we estimate the marginal effects of housing quality on the incidence of malaria. The results can be summarized in four points. (i) The statistical analysis results show a substantial correlation between housing quality and the incidence of malaria. We found 8 percentage points lower rate of incidence among children living in houses constructed with improved materials than those in houses with poor quality materials. (ii) We also found that it is not only the physical characteristic of homes that matters, having good sanitation is associate with lower malaria incidence, with a total difference of 10 and 4 percentage points compared to those with less improved toilet facility and poor-quality drinking water respectively. (iii) An improvement in the overall housing quality leads to a significant reduction in the incidence of malaria among children under 5 years old. Explicitly, an improvement from the first percentile measure of housing quality to the 50th percentile leads to a 32% reduction in the number of malaria cases among children under age-five. In other words, if one improves the housing quality of poorer households to the national average, and keeping other factors constant, the number of malaria cases will drop by 50%. (iv) For both groups of households, those that use mosquito bed nets and those who use insecticide as means of preventing malaria, the results show that improved housing quality complements bed nets and insecticides. As housing quality improves, the role of the two preventives become smaller and smaller. Keywords: Malaria, Housing quality, indoor intervention, IV regression, marginal plot. JEL classification: I18; P25; B23 |
| Date: | 2019–02–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:adb:adbwps:2438&r=all |
| By: | Heather A. Knauer (School of Social Work, University of Michigan); Pamela Jakiela (Center for Global Development); Owen Ozier (World Bank Development Research Group); Frances Aboud (Department of Psychology, McGill University); Lia C.H. Fernald (School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley) |
| Abstract: | Worldwide, 250 million children under five (43 percent) are not meeting their developmental potential because they lack adequate nutrition and cognitive stimulation in early childhood. Several parent support programs have shown significant benefits for children’s development, but the programs are often expensive and resource intensive. The objective of this study was to test several variants of a potentially scalable, cost-effective intervention to increase cognitive stimulation by parents and improve emergent literacy skills in children. The intervention was a modified dialogic reading training program that used culturally and linguistically appropriate books adapted for a lowliteracy population. We used a cluster randomized controlled trial with four intervention arms and one control arm in a sample of caregivers (n = 357) and their 24- to 83-month-old children (n = 510) in rural Kenya. The first treatment group received storybooks, while the other treatment arms received storybooks paired with varying quantities of modified dialogic reading training for parents. Main effects of each arm of the trial were examined, and tests of heterogeneity were conducted to examine differential effects among children of illiterate vs. literate caregivers. Parent training paired with the provision of culturally appropriate children’s books increased reading frequency and improved the quality of caregiver-child reading interactions among preschool-aged children. Treatments involving training improved storybook-specific expressive vocabulary. The children of illiterate caregivers benefited at least as much as the children of literate caregivers. For some outcomes, effects were comparable; for other outcomes, there were differentially larger effects for children of illiterate caregivers. |
| Keywords: | dialogic reading, word gap, early childhood, local-language storybooks, primary school readiness |
| Date: | 2019–02–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cgd:wpaper:502&r=all |
| By: | Linden McBride; Leah Bevis |
| Abstract: | The relationship among risk, returns, and welfare has important implications for the reproduction of inequality and persistent poverty and therefore is critical to understand for effective anti-poverty policy making. We use unsupervised learning methods to identify the productive asset portfolios available in the Tanzanian economy 2008-2013 and then use Antle’s (1983) moments approach to estimate the first three moments of the consumption-based distribution of returns to those asset portfolios. Finally, we nonparametrically estimate the relationship among initial wealth, expected returns, and the risk premium of each of the identified asset portfolios. Our analysis identifies three distinct asset portfolios within the data–one based on business and human capital assets and two based on agricultural assets. We find evidence of a relationship between initial asset holdings, expected returns, and risk across, but not within, portfolios.Keywords: Risk, Returns, Assets, Welfare, Tanzania |
| Date: | 2019–02–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:adb:adbwps:2437&r=all |
| By: | Chuku Chuku (African Development Bank; University of Uyo - Nigeria); Onye Kenneth (University of Uyo - Nigeria) |
| Abstract: | Are poor macroeconomic outcomes primarily the result of economic policies, or of deeper underlying state fragility problems in sub-Saharan Africa? We attempt to answer this question by using carefully specified dynamic panel regression techniques to show how state fragility conditions help to explain the differences in the macroeconomic performance of sub-Saharan African economies, and to identify the most plausible mechanisms of transmission. We find that countries with greater fragility suffer higher macroeconomic volatility and crisis; they also experience weaker growth. When we disaggregate state fragility into its various components, we find that it is the security and social components that have the strongest causal impact on macroeconomic outcomes, while the political component is, at best, weak. Therefore, we conclude: it is state fragility conditions, and not necessarily macroeconomic policies, that are of first-order importance in explaining the differences in macroeconomic performance for African countries. The knock-on effects are mostly mediated through the fiscal channel, the aid channel, and the finance channel. Accordingly, we recommend that interventions in fragile states should best focus on exploiting the potential for using fiscal policy, aid, and finance as instruments to improve macroeconomic outcomes.Keywords: State fragility, macroeconomic volatility and crises, dynamic panel model, macroeconomic polices, sub-Saharan Africa. JEL classification: E02, O43, D72 |
| Date: | 2019–02–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:adb:adbwps:2433&r=all |
| By: | Echeverría, Lucía; Menon, Martina; Perali, Federico; Berges, Miriam |
| Abstract: | Are two parents and single parents allocating household resources to children in the same way? Which factors affect intra-household inequality? Do mothers re-distribute more income to children as they are more empowered? We focus on child welfare in the context of two parent and single parent families, which is relevant for policy recommendation. We model households behavior in a collective framework, which allows us to understand the rule governing the allocation process between adults and children. Using consumption data from Argentina from three consecutive expenditures surveys (1996, 2004 and 2012) we analyze intra-household behavior over three different socio-economic contexts. We estimate a collective quadratic demand system following a structural approach to identify the fraction of total household expenditure that is devoted to children and adults, exploiting the observability of assignable goods. We provide the first evidence of intra-household inequality and individual poverty levels for Argentina. Our results indicate that family structure matters in the intra-household distribution. We find a positive gender bias in expenditure when children are females for both types of families, and we document that children fare better when mothers have a higher bargaining power in the allocation process, measured by their employment status. Further, we find several features of intra-household behavior which are persistent in time. |
| Keywords: | Gasto de los Hogares; Asignación de Recursos; Bienestar; Niños; Argentina; |
| Date: | 2019–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nmp:nuland:3051&r=all |
| By: | Chiara Broccolini; Giulia Lotti; Alessandro Maffioli; Andrea F Presbitero; Rodolfo Stucchi |
| Abstract: | We use loan-level data on syndicated lending to a large sample of developing countries between 1993 and 2017 to estimate the mobilization effects of multilateral development banks (MDBs), controlling for a large set of fixed effects. We find evidence of positive and significant direct and indirect mobilization effects of multilateral lending on the number of deals and on the total size of bank inflows. The number of lending banks and the average maturity of syndicated loans also increase after MDB lending. These effects are present not only on impact, but they last up to three years and are not offset by a decline in bond financing. There is no evidence of anticipation effects and the results are not driven by confounding factors, such as the presence of large global banks, Chinese lending and aid flows. Finally, the economic effects are sizable, suggesting that MBDs can play a vital role to mobilize private sector financing to achieve the goals of the 2030 Development Agenda. |
| Date: | 2019–02–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:imf:imfwpa:19/28&r=all |
| By: | Yobe, C.; Ferrer, S.; Mudhara, M. |
| Abstract: | The SA government has favored cooperatives over other types of corporate entities in its programmes for rural development. This study examines financial efficiency and its determinants for 387 agricultural cooperatives in SA using a two-stage double bootstrap approach. Bias-corrected Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) efficiency estimates are obtained in the first-stage for the agricultural cooperatives. Next, a Double Bootstrapped Truncated Regression model was estimated to obtain bias-corrected scores. The model was designed to obtain DEA scores for financial efficiency. First-stage results indicate that many agricultural cooperatives are relatively inefficient. Results of the second-stage analysis identified significant determinants of efficiency as age of cooperatives, size, gender of management, governance indicators and training. Governance indicators negatively influencing efficiency indicate institutions that prioritize non-financial goals and consequently compromise on governance quality. The deviation from institutional control mechanisms most likely emerges in a weak institutional environment. Various types of training influenced financial efficiency meaning that an understanding of training needs across institutions is crucial for equipping and empowering cooperatives towards financial efficiency. The study shows that the design and implementation of suitable training programs are prerequisites for addressing financial efficiency of agricultural cooperatives. Key words: Agricultural cooperatives, Data envelopment analysis, Financial efficiency, Two-stage double bootstrap method, South Africa JEL codes: Q10, Q12, Q13 |
| Keywords: | Agricultural Finance |
| Date: | 2018–09–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aeas18:284757&r=all |