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on South East Asia |
| By: | Ang, James |
| Abstract: | This paper attempts to identify the key factors behind Malaysia’s remarkable savings performance. Drawing on the life cycle theory, the saving function is estimated by incorporating other relevant structural features and institutional settings of the Malaysian economy into the specification. Particular emphasis has been placed on the roles of financial factors in mobilizing funds in the private sector. The results suggest that financial deepening and increased banking density tend to encourage private savings. Development of insurance markets and liberalization of the financial system, however, tend to exert a dampening effect on private savings. |
| Keywords: | private savings; financial development; Malaysia; ARDL bounds test |
| JEL: | O53 O16 E21 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:21718&r=sea |
| By: | Christophe RAULT; Guglielmo Maria CAPORALE; Thouraya HADJ AMOR |
| Abstract: | The aim of this paper is to provide new empirical evidence on the impact of international financial integration on the long-run Real Exchange Rate (RER) in 39 developing countries belonging to three different geographical regions (Latin America, Asia and MENA). It covers the period 1979-2004, and carries out "second-generation" tests for non-stationary panels. Several factors, including international financial integration, are shown to drive the long-run RER in emerging countries. It is found that the new financial environment characterised by international financial integration leads to a depreciation of the RER in the long run. Further, RER misalignments take the form of an under-valuation in most MENA countries and an over-valuation in most Latin American and Asian countries |
| Keywords: | emerging economies, real exchange rate, financial integration, misalignment, second-generation panel unit-root and cointegration tests |
| JEL: | E31 F0 F31 C15 |
| Date: | 2009–09–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wdi:papers:2009-970&r=sea |
| By: | Medina, Martin |
| Abstract: | Many cities in Africa, Asia, and Latin America face serious problems managing their wastes. Two of the major problems are the insufficient collection and inappropriate final disposal of wastes. Despite spending increasing resources, many cities – particularly in Africa and Asia – collect less than half of the waste generated. Most wastes are disposed of in open dumps, deposited on vacant land, or burned by residents in their backyards. Insufficient collection and inadequate disposal generate significant pollution problems and risks to human health and the environment. Over one billion people living in lowincome communities and slums lack appropriate waste management services. Given the rapid population growth and urbanization in many cities, the management of wastes tends to further deteriorate. This paper examines the challenges and opportunities that exist in improving the management of waste in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. It is argued that, despite a worsening trend, there are opportunities for reducing pollution, alleviating poverty, improving the urban environment, and lowering greenhouse gas emissions in developing countries by implementing low-cost, low-tech, labour-intensive methods that promote community participation and involve informal refuse collectors and waste-pickers. Evidence from several cities in Africa, Asia, and Latin America is discussed. |
| Keywords: | urbanization, cities, environment, waste |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp2010-23&r=sea |
| By: | Arimah, C. Ben |
| Abstract: | One of the most visible and enduring manifestations of urban poverty in developing countries is the formation and proliferation of slums. While attention has focused on the rapid pace of urbanization as the sole or major factor explaining the proliferation of slums and squatter settlements in developing countries, there are other factors whose impacts are not known with much degree of certainty. It is also not clear how the effects of these factors vary across regions of the developing world. This paper accounts for differences in the prevalence of slums among developing countries using data drawn from the recent global assessment of slums undertaken by the United Nations Human Settlements Programme. The empirical analysis identifies substantial inter-country variations in the incidence of slums both within and across the regions of Africa, Asia as well as, Latin America and the Caribbean. Further analysis indicates that higher GDP |
| Keywords: | urban poverty, slums, developing countries, inter-country differences |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp2010-30&r=sea |
| By: | Paul J.J. Welfens (Europäisches Institut für Internationale Wirtschaftsbeziehungen (EIIW)); Jens K. Perret (Europäisches Institut für Internationale Wirtschaftsbeziehungen (EIIW)); Deniz Erdem |
| Abstract: | Summary: The traditional discussion about CO2 emissions and greenhouse gases as a source of global warming has been rather static, namely in the sense that innovation dynamics have not been considered much. Given the global nature of the climate problem, it is natural to develop a more dynamic Schumpeterian perspective and to emphasize a broader international analysis, which takes innovation dynamics and green international competitiveness into account: We discuss key issues of developing a consistent global sustainability indicator, which should cover the crucial dimensions of sustainability in a simple and straightforward way. The basic elements presented here concern genuine savings rates – covering not only depreciations on capital, but on the natural capital as well -, the international competitiveness of the respective country in the field of environmental ("green") goods and the share of renewable energy generation. International benchmarking can thus be encouraged and opportunities emphasized - an approach developed here. This new EIIW-vita Global Sustainability Indicator is consistent with the recent OECD requirements on composite indicators and thus, we suggest new options for policymakers. The US and Indonesia have suffered from a decline in their performance in the period 2000-07; Germany has improved its performance as judged by the new composite indicator whose weights are determined from factor analysis. The countries covered stand for roughly 91% of world GDP, 94% of global exports, 82% of global CO2 emissions and 68% of the population. |
| Keywords: | CO2 Emission, Global worming, Sustainability, International country competitiveness |
| JEL: | Q54 Q01 O57 |
| Date: | 2010–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bwu:eiiwdp:disbei174&r=sea |
| By: | Patrick Criqui (LEPII - Laboratoire d'Économie de la Production et de l'Intégration Internationale - CNRS : UMR5252 - Université Pierre Mendès-France - Grenoble II); Pierre-Olivier Peytral (LEPII - Laboratoire d'Économie de la Production et de l'Intégration Internationale - CNRS : UMR5252 - Université Pierre Mendès-France - Grenoble II); Jean-Christophe Simon (LEPII - Laboratoire d'Économie de la Production et de l'Intégration Internationale - CNRS : UMR5252 - Université Pierre Mendès-France - Grenoble II) |
| Abstract: | The report is prepared with three main objectives: i/ Review of general information and scientific literature to be shared with members of the scientific committee and with other contributors to the seminar. ii/ Analysis of energy trends and carbon emission patterns, and identification of major issues related to low carbon scenarios analysis. iii/ Exploration of some topics for further debate and analysis : Overview on the dual climate change and development challenge, with emphasis on the scope for policy options related to the current debate on “Green Growth” ; retrospective analysis of CO2 emissions profiles in Thailand over 1990-2008 ; review of methodologies low carbon scenario The conclusion will address the rationale for Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions that could be implemented in the years to come. This report is built on documents and literature published prior to December 2009 and therefore does not deal with new issues considered as in a ‘post Copenhagen Conference' perspective. |
| Keywords: | climate policy ; carbon emissions ; scenario ; Thailand |
| Date: | 2010–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-00467462_v1&r=sea |
| By: | Khattri, Nidhi; Ling, Cristina; Jha, Shreyasi |
| Abstract: | This paper estimates the effect of school-based management on student performance in the Philippines using the administrative dataset of all public schools in 23 school districts over a 3-year period, 2003-2005. The authors test whether schools that received early school-based management interventions (training in school-based management and direct funding for school-based reforms) attained higher average test scores than those that did not receive such inputs. The analysis uses school-level overall composite test scores (comprising all subject areas tested) and test scores in three separate subject areas: English, math, and science. Their preferred estimator, difference-in-difference with propensity score matching, shows that the average treatment effect of participation in school-based management was higher by 1.5 percentage points for overall composite scores, 1.2 percentage points for math scores, 1.4 percentage points for English scores, and 1.8 percentage points for science scores. These results suggest that the introduction of school-based management had a statistically significant, albeit small, overall positive effect on average school-level test scores in 23 school districts in the Philippines. The paper provides a first glimpse of the potential for school-based management in an East Asian context based on available administrative data. The authors suggest that the next order of research is to answer policy-related questions regarding the reforms: what aspects of the reform lead to desired results; are there differential effects across subpopulations; and what are the potential downsides to the reforms? The Philippines is embarking on a nation-wide implementation of school-based management and the authors recommend that mechanisms for rigorous evaluations be advanced simultaneously. Such evaluations should not only provide more accurate estimates of the effectiveness of the reforms, but also help answer policy-related questions regarding design and implementation of those reforms in different socio-cultural contexts. |
| Keywords: | Tertiary Education,Education For All,Teaching and Learning,Secondary Education,Primary Education |
| Date: | 2010–03–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:5248&r=sea |
| By: | Lucia Ceccato (Ca’ Foscari University); Valentina Giannini (Ca’ Foscari University and Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei); Carlo Giupponi (Ca’ Foscari University and Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei) |
| Abstract: | This work illustrates the preliminary findings of a participatory research process aimed at identifying responses for sustainable water management in a climate change perspective, in two river basins in Europe and Asia. The paper describes the methodology implemented through local workshops, aimed at eliciting and evaluating possible responses to flood risk. Participatory workshops allowed for the identification of four categories of possible responses and a set of nine evaluation criteria, three for each of the three pillars of sustainable development. The main outcome of such activities consists in the ranking of broad response categories instrumental to the objective of the Brahmatwinn research project, i.e. the identification of Integrated Water Resource Management Strategies (IWRMS) based upon the issues and preferences elicited from local experts. The mDSS tool was used to facilitate transparent and robust management of the information collected through Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) and communication of the outputs. |
| Keywords: | Participatory Process, Climate Change, Flood Risk, Decision Support System, Multi Criteria Analysis, MCA, Eliciting Responses, Evaluating Responses, Integrated Water Resources Management, IWRM, Mulino Decision Support System, mDSS |
| JEL: | C61 Q01 Q54 Q56 Q58 |
| Date: | 2010–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fem:femwpa:2010.28&r=sea |
| By: | Uchida, Hirotsugu; Nelson, Andrew |
| Abstract: | A common challenge in analyzing urbanization is the data. The United Nations (UN) compiles information on urbanization (urban population and its share of total national population) that is reported by various countries but there is no standardized definition of ‘urban’, resulting in inconsistencies. This situation is particularly troublesome if one wishes to conduct a cross-country analysis or determine the aggregate urbanization status of the regions (such as Asia or Latin America) and the world. This paper proposes an alternative to the UN measure of urban concentration that we call an agglomeration index. It is based on three factors: Population density, The population of a ‘large’ city centre and Travel time to that large city centre. The main objective in constructing this new measure is to provide a globally consistent definition of settlement concentration in order to conduct cross-country comparative and aggregated analyses. As an accessible measure of economic density, the agglomeration index lends itself to the study of concepts such as agglomeration rents in urban areas, the ‘thickness’ of a market, and the travel distance to such a market with many workers and consumers. With anticipated advances in remote sensing technology and geo-coded data analysis tools, the agglomeration index can be further refined to address some of the caveats currently associated with it. |
| Keywords: | agglomeration index, urbanization, accessibility map, cost surface |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp2010-29&r=sea |
| By: | Kubelec, Chris (Bank of England); Sa, Filipa (Trinity College, University of Cambridge) |
| Abstract: | This paper constructs a data set on stocks of bilateral external assets and liabilities for a group of 18 countries, including developed and emerging economies. The data set covers the years 1980 to 2005 and distinguishes between four asset classes: foreign direct investment, portfolio equity, debt, and foreign exchange reserves. A number of stylised facts emerge from it. There has been a remarkable increase in interconnectivity over the past two decades. Financial links have become larger and more frequent and countries have become more open. The global financial network is centred around a small number of nodes, which have many and large links. In addition, the network exhibits ‘small-world’ properties, such as high clustering and low average path length. The combination of high interconnectivity, a small number of hubs, and ‘small-world’ properties makes for a robust-yet-fragile system, in which disturbances to the key hubs would be rapidly and widely transmitted. The global financial network is centred around the United States and the United Kingdom, which have large links and are connected to most other countries. This contrasts with the global trade network, which is arranged in three clusters: a European cluster (centred on Germany), an Asian cluster (centred on China), and an American cluster (centred on the United States). |
| Keywords: | International financial networks; international investment; financial liberalisation |
| JEL: | F20 F30 |
| Date: | 2010–03–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:boe:boeewp:0384&r=sea |