|
on South East Asia |
| By: | McKinley, Justin; Sander, Bjoern; Vuduong, Quynh; Mai, Trinh; LaFrance, Jeffrey |
| Abstract: | This study aims to better understand factors that may influence a farmers’ decision to use the irrigation practice known as alternate wetting and drying (AWD). This study is novel because it is the first of its kind to use expectations of AWD use to estimate whether or not farmers use the practice of AWD. Perceptions have not been previously used as predictors in the use of new agricultural technologies / practices and certainly not for AWD specifically. Furthermore, this study investigates whether or not those expectations match reality by looking at the production data of farmers using AWD as compared to farmers not using AWD. At the Paris Climate Agreement in 2015, Vietnam committed to an eight percent reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2030. These reductions will come in part from the agricultural sector and specifically rice production. One promising GHG mitigating technology used in rice production is AWD, which can reduce GHG emission by as much as 48% (Sander, Wassmann, & Siopongco, 2015). This study uses primary data collected in Vietnam’s Mekong River Delta and Red River Delta to compare yield, cost, and returns of farmers who currently use AWD to farmers who use the conventional production method of continuously flooded (CF) rice. Furthermore, this study employs McFadden’s conditional logit model to model factors that may influence the farmers’ decision to use AWD or not. This study looks specifically at expectations of farm inputs (e.g. will water use increase or decrease with AWD use?) and yield for AWD use, sources of agricultural information, and irrigation subsidy perceptions. This is the first study of its kind to use expectations as an explanatory variable for the outcome, namely, expectations of AWD as a determinant of AWD use. Results indicate that the respondents’ expectations of AWD use, where respondents receive agricultural information, and whether or not they perceive that they receive a subsidy for irrigation are all significant factors in whether or not they use AWD. Furthermore, farmers have rational expectations of AWD as their expectations largely match the reality with respect to certain costs and production. The Vietnamese government can use AWD to abate GHG emissions and move closer to achieving their GHG abatement commitments without burdening themselves or Vietnamese farmers with additional costs to production. AWD use can be increased by changing expectations of AWD through proper channels of agricultural information in Vietnam. |
| Keywords: | Farm Management |
| Date: | 2020–09–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare20:305255&r=all |
| By: | Goeb, Joseph; Zu, A. Myint; Synt, Nang Lun Kham; Boughton, Duncan; Maredia, Mywish K. |
| Abstract: | Phone surveys were conducted with input retailers from Shan, Kachin, Bago, Ayeyarwady, Sagaing, and Mandalay between 17 and 20 June and again between 6 and 8 July 2020 to understand and monitor the effects of the COVID-19 crisis on the agricultural input sector. |
| Keywords: | MYANMAR, BURMA, SOUTHEAST ASIA, ASIA, Coronavirus, coronavirus disease, Coronavirinae, farm inputs, supplies, farmers, fertilizers, seeds, pesticides, Covid-19, agricultural input retailers |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:myanpn:22&r=all |
| By: | Maredia, Mywish K.; Goeb, Joseph; Lambrecht, Isabel; Masias, Ian; Win, Khin Zin |
| Abstract: | This is the second policy note in a series presenting results from rounds of a telephone survey of a sample of retail food shop owners or managers located in two cities in Myanmar – Yangon, the economic center of the country with 4.4 million inhabitants, and Mandalay, the second largest city with 1.1 million inhabitants. The phone surveys are designed to better understand the effects of COVID-19 shocks on Myanmar’s agri-food marketing system from the perspective of these smallscale urban food retailers. Their shops are an important outlet for final consumers to purchase a variety of consumer goods, including many types of processed and packaged dry foods, condiments, snacks, beverages, basic staple grains (i.e., rice and pulses), dairy products, eggs, kitchen crops, tobacco, and alcohol products. The COVID-19 economic crisis could bring dramatic changes to these retailers – not only on the demand side in terms of the food purchasing behaviors of consumers, but also on the supply side in terms of how the food supply chains upon which they rely function and how they respond to these changes. This policy note builds on the analysis of the firstround of the survey, which focused on the demand side and overall business effects of COVID-19, by adding detailed questions on three additional themes – supplier options, credit extended and received by retailers, and the use of modern technologies and practices. |
| Keywords: | MYANMAR, BURMA, SOUTHEAST ASIA, ASIA, retail markets, Coronavirus, coronavirus disease, Coronavirinae, urban areas, surveys, policies, restrictions, food retailers, Covid-19, food retail shops, lockdown, phone survey, retail shop |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:myanpn:25&r=all |
| By: | Ladwig, Walter |
| Abstract: | India’s role in the broader Asia-Pacific region is not one that is widely recognized—even by some regional specialists. For example, in a recent academic text on the politics of the region, India merits only a few passing references and is described merely as a country that ‘interacts with the Asia-Pacific in various ways’.1 Although it would be a significant mistake to overlook or discount the role that India is playing in this region, such omissions are somewhat understandable. From a geographic standpoint, India does not border the Pacific Ocean and it is only through its far-flung Nicobar and Andaman island territories that it is even adjacent to the key maritime choke points linking the Indian and Pacific Oceans. For those who narrowly conceive of East Asia stretching in an arc from Myanmar to Japan on the basis of race or a mythical quasi- Confucian culture, India would not appear to ‘belong’. In terms of security linkages, India has traditionally had little involvement with either of the two key security issues in the region: the China–Taiwan dispute and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s (North Korea) quest for nuclear weapons. Finally, from an economic standpoint, at present India’s economic linkages with the region do not approach the depth or breadth that the nations of East Asia and Australasia have among themselves. While all of these factors may appear to be good reasons for not considering India’s role in the region, to do so would be a mistake. A steadily expanding economy, paired with a growing partnership with key regional actors, is positioning India to have a dynamic impact on the emerging economic and security architecture of the Asia- Pacific. |
| Date: | 2020–04–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:jkges&r=all |
| By: | Takeshima, Hiroyuki; Win, Myat Thida; Masias, Ian |
| Keywords: | MYANMAR, BURMA, SOUTHEAST ASIA, ASIA, coronavirus, coronavirus disease, Coronavirinae, equipment, farm equipment, supply chains, policies, sales, arid zones, Covid-19, retailers, agricultural equipment retailers (ERs), agricultural equipment sales, equipment availability, equipment price |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:myanpn:burmese18&r=all |
| By: | Fang, Peixun; Belton, Ben; Ei Win, Hnin; Zhang, Xiaobo |
| Keywords: | MYANMAR, BURMA, SOUTHEAST ASIA, ASIA, Coronavirus, coronavirus disease, Coronavirinae, poultry, farmers, broiler chickens, prices, cash flow, peri-urban agriculture, Covid-19 |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:myanpn:burmese21&r=all |
| By: | Goeb, Joseph; Zu, A. Myint; Synt, Nang Lun Kham; Zone, Phoo Pye; Boughton, Duncan; Maredia, Mywish K. |
| Abstract: | Crop traders comprise the mid-stream of Myanmar’s food supply chain, forming important links between farms and food processors, exporters, commodity exchange centers, and urban food markets. Traders engage in a variety of business activities ranging from wholesalers that buy, store, grade, and sell commodities to brokers that facilitate crop sales on commissions. Many traders have strong and direct ties to farmers, often providing farmers with agricultural inputs on credit to strengthen relationships and to build business later in the year when crops are harvested and sold. These connections to the farm have important implications for any challenges that traders face due to the COVID-19 crisis. Effects on traders will also be felt upstream by farmers through both their post-harvest crop marketing activities, including the prices they receive for their crops, and potentially through access to agricultural inputs on credit. Furthermore, challenges to crop trading will also have effects on the food system downstream and, ultimately, on consumers. This is the second policy note in a series presenting results from phones surveys tracking a sample of crop traders across Myanmar. The surveys are designed to better understand the effects of COVID-19 shocks on Myanmar’s agri-food marketing system. This Policy Note builds on the results from the first round of the survey of crop traders. 1 This second round of the survey also added questions on two key themes from the first-round report – credit offered out by traders to farmers and trader’s use of mobile phones. |
| Keywords: | MYANMAR, BURMA, SOUTHEAST ASIA, ASIA, Coronavirus, coronavirus disease, Coronavirinae, trade, supply chain, commodities, marketing, agricultural prices, prices, movement restrictions, agricultural products, Covid-19, crop marketing, traders |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:myanpn:23&r=all |
| By: | Goeb, Joseph; Tang, Yulu; Zone, Phoo Pye |
| Abstract: | To understand how Myanmar’s rice value chain has been affected by the COVID-19 crisis, a series of phone interviews are being conducted with rice millers from Ayeyarwady, Bago, and Yangon. This report presents results from the first round of interviews that was conducted in July 2020 with 404 medium- and large-scale mill owners and managers. Key Findings Strikingly, 60 percent of mills are anticipating a revenue drop of at least 30 percent this year compared to 2019. Only 3 percent of mills are expecting an increase in revenue. Just over half of the mills interviewed experienced disruptions in selling milled rice and in buying paddy. However, those impacts have lessened considerably, as only 15 percent of millers reported experiencing those disruptions in the past 30 days. Almost all mills regarded byproduct sales as important to their business. Roughly half reported no changes in byproduct prices compared to 2019, but one-quarter reported price increases, while the other quarter reported decreases. Mills from Ayeyarwady have been more negatively impacted by lower byproduct prices than elsewhere. For most mills, both paddy purchase and rice sales prices are now slightly higher than the 2019 average. Interestingly, prices increased more for low-quality varieties than for high-quality varieties. Margins for low-quality varieties have increased relative to 2019, while they have decreased for high-quality varieties. Thus, mills producing larger quantities of high-quality rice now may be adversely affected by lower margins. Recommended Actions Continue and expand the government relief loan program offered to small and medium enterprises – Action 2.1.1 under the COVID-19 Economic Relief Plan (CERP) of the Government of Myanmar. This would assist mills struggling with lower revenues and buffer smaller mills from further shocks during the crisis. Government should extend tax relief to mills hard hit by the COVID-19 crisis through waivers or deferrals (CERP Action 2.1.3). Government should facilitate exports by putting in place easier licensing processes (CERP Action 2.4.3), such as allowing licenses to be obtained online. |
| Keywords: | MYANMAR, BURMA, SOUTHEAST ASIA, ASIA, Coronavirus, coronavirus disease, Coronavirinae, rice, value chains, COVID-19 Economic Relief Plan, Covid-19 |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:myanpn:26&r=all |
| By: | Garcia, Roberto J. (School of Economics and Business, Norwegian University of Life Sciences); Nguyen, Thi Ngan Giang (School of Economics and Business, Norwegian University of Life Sciences) |
| Abstract: | Much has been written in the popular press and studied in the political-economics literature about the link between the awarding of the 2010 Noble Peace Prize to a Chinese dissident and China’s trade sanction affecting Norway’s whole, fresh/chilled salmon exports. Trade patterns show a break in Norway’s salmon exports to China and a declining share of the Chinese market. However, since 2011 a curious trade pattern developed as Vietnam suddenly increased its import of Norwegian salmon. This paper establishes a relationship between the salmon markets of Vietnam and China since 2011, specifically addressing whether Vietnam’s increased import of salmon is related to China’s limiting of market access to Norwegian salmon. The sanction period acts as a structural break that divides trade flows into two sub-periods, July 1997 to February 2011 and March 2011 to December 2018. Vietnam’s current monthly imports are negatively affected by lags in China’s monthly imports with the sanction but had no effect before the sanction. An increase (decrease) in China’s salmon imports from Norway “Granger causes” a decrease (increase) in Vietnam’s imports from Norway. This provides statistical evidence of China’s sanction on Norwegian salmon, but that the sanction integrated China and Vietnam’s salmon markets through smuggling. |
| Keywords: | Vietnam; China; Norway; salmon trade; sanction; Granger causality; smuggling |
| JEL: | F13 F14 F51 P33 |
| Date: | 2020–01–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:nlsseb:2019_006&r=all |
| By: | Gruber, Noam |
| Abstract: | Using PISA truancy and tardiness data to generate estimates of school discipline comparable across countries, this paper finds a strong relation between both individual and school-level discipline and student performance. Furthermore, the data shows that the effect of discipline grows with class size, so that students in large classes can benefit the most from an atmosphere of discipline. This finding explains how Asian education systems in Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Hong-Kong and Singapore are top performers in international student achievement tests while having exceptionally large classes. It also implies that some Western countries, enjoying high levels of discipline but opting for small classes, are inefficient in the use of their educational resources, leading to sub-optimal results by their students. |
| Keywords: | Education, PISA, International Tests, Discipline, Tardiness, Punctuality, Truancy, Class Size |
| JEL: | I21 I28 |
| Date: | 2020–09–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:102733&r=all |
| By: | Alipio, Mark |
| Abstract: | Although the National Health Insurance Act (NHIA) of 2013 has been widely successful in expanding coverage, insurance alone may not translate into access to quality healthcare for everyone. Even among the insured, substantial barriers to accessing services inhibit health care utilization. This study was focused on examining the influence of selected health services access barriers to the healthcare utilization among the publicly insured residents in the Philippines. A cross-sectional survey was conducted with a sample of 7,234 Filipino residents chosen using multi-stage cluster sampling. Path analysis was used to determine the connections among the study variables. Descriptive analysis revealed that the respondents always perceive approachability and ability to reach as supply-side and demand-side access barriers, respectively, among others. Correlation analysis revealed that supply-side and demand-side access barriers to care and the healthcare utilization of the respondents are positively interrelated from each other, suggesting that respondents who always perceive the mentioned factors as access barrier to care utilize low level of healthcare services for the past three months. A further path analysis was conducted and revealed that the supply-side determinant with the largest total causal effect on healthcare utilization is approachability while the demand-side determinant with the largest total causal effect is ability to reach. The findings showed better fit of the conceptual model in predicting healthcare utilization. Approximately 93% of the variance in the healthcare utilization is explained by the model. The results of the study may enable policy makers and health planners to identify the different dimensions and aspects of barriers to access to health services, and to devise specific interventions or combination of interventions that can best address these barriers. |
| Date: | 2020–03–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:d6vbm&r=all |
| By: | Yaumidin, Umi Karomah |
| Abstract: | This paper aims to estimate the causal impact of the unexpected weather variation on the employment level of the farm households by exploiting natural variation of the unexpected weather changes and variation in decision of labour allocation based on gender and occupation in Indonesia. Weather variability is increasing in frequency, duration and intensity. It cannot be predicted with certainty and effectively mitigated in terms of both the time of the event and the impact of the loss (Lei, Liu, et al. 2016). Through its implications for agricultural production, the weather variability together with extreme weather will lead to crop failure, increased production costs, damaged farm infrastructure, reduced farmer incomes, and increased rural poverty (Winsemius et al. 2018). Despite substantial discussion on crop diversification, the farmers’ option to manage their family labour as means of risk avoidance is limited in the literature (Ayenew 2017). It is a crucial question to address how this strategy is effective in response to the negative effect of unexpected weather changes. We exploit the unexpected weather variability that is defined as the deviation between the real-time value of weather condition, proxies by the Standardized Precipitation and Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI). Then, we construct our model based on the assumption that farming family hold non-separable between production and consumption decision, as a response to market imperfection. To this end, our outcome variables refer to a household’s allocation of time to work (log household worked hours) of family labour to any of the categories of activities (in agriculture and non-agriculture) and by gender. While, our control variables comprise information on household and community characteristics. Household characteristics variables consist of farm or land size, parents education, household size, non-farm asset, the working-age (15-65 years old) member of the household. Village characteristics measure the availability of infrastructure that are the level of road and electricity, and irrigation. Information on altitude, experience to drought in the last year and majority income of village dwellers are also taking into account in our model. Hence, by utilising a linear household fixed-effect method, our model can be written as: y_ijt= 〖α+φD〗_jt+〖βX〗_ijt+〖ωV〗_jt+〖δ_i+δ_d+δ〗_t+ ε_ijt………(4) Overall, our results found that there were causal inferences between the employment level of farm households and weather-based variables. Unexpected variability of weather exposure reduced the number of working hours of farms employed by 4.7 per cent per standard deviation. In contrast, farm household’s member worked more in non-agricultural job as indicated by the number of working hours increased 3.6 per cent. These results are robust to the inclusion of sub-district and year fixed effect as control, and several confounding factors. Moreover, the panel regression confirmed that all policies variables have a significant positive on households working hours. Agricultural extension, public works project, and credit facilities in the villages are substantial consideration for the policies design to support farmers in overcoming the negative effect of weather variability. |
| Keywords: | International Development, Farm Management |
| Date: | 2020–09–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare20:305233&r=all |
| By: | Tim Lann (IPC-IG) |
| Abstract: | "This Policy Research Brief compares three countries (Bahamas, Timor-Leste, Indonesia) and their approach to using social protection information systems to optimise their conditional and unconditional cash transfer programmes". (...) |
| Keywords: | social protection; social protection information systems; agile development; developmental economics; sustainable development; CCTs; UCTs; Bahamas; Timor-Leste; Indonesia. |
| Date: | 2020–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipc:pbrief:66&r=all |
| By: | Lisa Cameron; Jennifer Seager; Manisha Shah |
| Abstract: | We examine the impact of criminalizing sex work, exploiting an event in which local officials unexpectedly criminalized sex work in one district in East Java, Indonesia, but not in neighboring districts. We collect data from female sex workers and their clients before and after the change. We find that criminalization increases sexually transmitted infections among female sex workers by 58 percent, measured by biological tests. This is driven by decreased condom access and use. We also find evidence that criminalization decreases earnings among women who left sex work due to criminalization, and decreases their ability to meet their children's school expenses while increasing the likelihood that children begin working to supplement household income. While criminalization has the potential to improve population STI outcomes if the market shrinks permanently, we show that five years post-criminalization the market has rebounded and the probability of STI transmission within the general population is likely to have increased. |
| JEL: | I18 J16 K42 |
| Date: | 2020–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:27846&r=all |
| By: | Masias, Ian; Goeb, Joseph; Lambrecht, Isabel; Maredia, Mywish K.; Win, Khin Zin |
| Abstract: | Traditional family owned retail shops are the backbone of Myanmar’s consumer market. As the final node in the grocery supply chain, they sell all types of dry foods, i.e., processed and packaged, condiments, snacks, and beverages to final consumers. To some extent, they also supply basic staple grains, i.e., rice and pulses; dairy products; eggs; kitchen crops; and tobacco and alcohol. About 85 percent of all consumer goods in Myanmar are sold through these shops. In the food and grocery sector, these retail outlets, including wet markets, account for 90 percent of all sales, with the other 10 percent accounted for by fast-growing supermarkets. Because of the importance of traditional retail outlets in the last mile delivery of a wide variety of foods to consumers, any challenges they encounter from the COVID-19 crisis and corresponding policy responses to contain the virus have important implications for the availability and affordability of food for final consumers. This policy note is the first in a series of reports presenting results from rounds of a telephone survey of a sample of owners or managers of food retail shops located in the two largest cities in Myanmar, Yangon and Mandalay. The phone surveys are designed to provide a better understanding of the effects of COVID-19 shocks on Myanmar’s agri-food marketing system through the perspective of small-scale food retailers in urban areas. This policy note focuses on the demand side and overall business effects of the COVID-19 crisis on these food retailers. Phone interviews were conducted with 426 retail shop owners or managers between 8 and 15 July 2020. Eighty percent of those surveyed were in Yangon, with the rest in Mandalay. |
| Keywords: | MYANMAR, BURMA, SOUTHEAST ASIA, ASIA, retail markets, Coronavirus, coronavirus disease, Coronavirinae, urban areas, surveys, policies, restrictions, food retailers, Covid-19, food retail shops, lockdown, phone survey, retail shop |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:myanpn:24&r=all |
| By: | amien, haqqan |
| Abstract: | Dalam buku New Economics Foundation Second Edition (2008), SROI dapat didefinisikan sebagai sosial dan lingkungan yang menghasilkan nilai moneter yang nyata, membantu organisasi dan investor untuk melihat gambaran yang lebih lengkap pada manfaat yang mengalir dari investasi waktu, uang, dan sumber lainnya. Cara ini sangat memungkinkan untuk melihat suatu dampak sehingga memungkinkan mereka yang berinvestasi dan memiliki saham, untuk mempertimbangkan sumber daya yang mereka gunakan. (Khairunnisa, Pribad, & Prabowo, 2019) |
| Date: | 2020–09–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:osfxxx:d6jwz&r=all |
| By: | Patrice Bougette (Université Côte d'Azur; GREDEG CNRS); Christophe Charlier (Université Côte d'Azur; GREDEG CNRS) |
| Abstract: | In 2019, following several investigations, the European Union decided to impose definitive anti-subsidy (AS) duties on imports of biodiesel from Argentina and Indonesia. While AS duties protect the domestic market and R\&D, this trade defense policy may interfere with environmental preservation. We investigate this issue using an international duopoly model with an environmental externality. We discuss the economic rationale of AS measures in the biodiesel context. We show that the larger the size of the domestic market, the higher the optimal AS level. Second, trade policies are less necessary when firms become more cost-efficient. Third, the sensitivity of AS policies to environmental externalities is ambiguous. Fourth, under certain conditions, the success of the innovation is negatively correlated with the strategic levels of both subsidies and AS policies. |
| Keywords: | Anti-subsidy, countervailing duties, biodiesel, European Union, trade, environmental impact |
| JEL: | D43 F18 F13 Q48 |
| Date: | 2020–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gre:wpaper:2020-38&r=all |
| By: | Monica Deza; Alvaro Mezza |
| Abstract: | We exploit the natural experiment provided by the Vietnam lottery draft to evaluate the intergenerational effect of fathers’ draft eligibility on children’s propensity to engage in risky health behaviors during adolescence using the NLSY97. Draft eligibility increases measures of substance use, intensity of use, decreases age of initiation—particularly for marijuana—and increases measures of delinquency. We explore potential mechanisms: Draft eligibility affects paternal parenting styles and attitudes towards the respondent, environmental aspects, and even maternal factors. Results are robust to alternative specifications and falsification diagnostics. Our results indicate that previous analyses underestimate the full negative effects of draft eligibility. |
| JEL: | I1 J13 |
| Date: | 2020–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:27830&r=all |
| By: | Landmann, Andreas (University of Erlangen-Nuremberg); Vollan, Björn (University of Marburg); Henning, Karla (KfW Development Bank); Frölich, Markus (University of Mannheim) |
| Abstract: | We analyze whether the availability of formal insurance products affects informal solidarity transfers in two independent behavioral experiments in the Philippines. The first experiment allows for communication, non-anonymity and unrestricted transfers. The second experiment mimics a laboratory setting without communication and preserves anonymity, which minimizes strategic concerns. The introduction of an insurance treatment alters solidarity in both experiments. We find crowding-out effects in the first setting with strategic motives, while there are even crowding-in effects due to insurance availability in the anonymous experiment. These and additional supporting results are in line with crowding-out of strategic, but not necessarily intrinsic motives due to the availability of insurance. |
| Keywords: | insurance, solidarity, crowding effects, lab-in-the-field experiment, Philippines |
| JEL: | O12 Z13 |
| Date: | 2020–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp13688&r=all |
| By: | NAKAMURO Makiko; ITO Hirotake |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the causal effects of computer-assisted learning on children's cognitive and noncognitive skills. We ran school-by-grade-level clustered randomized controlled trials at five public elementary schools in Cambodia. After confirming that the IQ scores of treated students significantly improved over just three months, we randomly reassigned those students either into treatment or control groups for an additional seven-month comparison. We find that students retain their cognitive skills during the additional seven-month treatment, but the initial gain diminishes for students who leave the program. Conversely, a meaningful effect on noncognitive skills is not detected immediately after the first three-month short-run program, but the effect appears to become significant and persists in the longer run. |
| Date: | 2020–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eti:dpaper:20074&r=all |
| By: | Roman Stöllinger; Julia Grübler |
| Abstract: | Das Netzwerk der EU-Freihandelsabkommen hat sich über die letzten Jahrzehnte über den gesamten Globus ausgebreitet. Die Abkommen unterscheiden sich jedoch in ihrem Umfang und ihrer Tiefe. Die "zweite Generation" umfassender Abkommen der EU wurde mit dem EU-Südkorea Abkommen begründet. Nach einer mehrjährigen Periode ohne große Durchbrüche traten die tiefen Handelsabkommen mit Kanada (2017), Japan und Singapur (2019) sowie Vietnam (2020) in Kraft. Verhandlungen mit Mercosur wurden abgeschlossen. Abkommen mit Neuseeland und Australien stehen in den Startlöchern. In Summe bleiben die USA und China die großen Ausnahmen und Brexit der herbste Rückschlag für die EU. Während die EU über das größte Freihandelsnetzwerk mit mehreren geographischen Clustern verfügt, verliert es an Gewicht durch den globalen Anstieg von Abkommen ohne europäische Involvierung. Eine besonders dynamische Entwicklung überlappender Freihandelszonen entwickelt sich im Pazifik mit ASEAN(+3), RCEP und CPTPP. Die jüngsten EU-Abkommen der neuen Generation verschieben das Gewicht weiter Richtung Asien. Wirtschaftliche und politische Entwicklungen als auch die jüngste COVID-19-bedingte globale „Gesundheitskrise“ sind Faktoren, die eine Analyse der Stabilität von komplexen Systemen, wie überlappende Freihandelsnetzwerke und Abhängigkeiten in globalen Wertschöpfungsketten, anstoßen sollten. |
| Date: | 2020–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wsr:pbrief:y:2020:i:047&r=all |
| By: | Igor Gurkov (National Research University Higher School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | According to UNCTAD, the global number of foreign direct investment projects in manufacturing announced in 2018 reached 8049 (UNCTAD, 2019: 9-10). Although the real number of realized projects will be much smaller in 2020-2021 because of the global fall of foreign direct investments (UNCTAD, 2020: xi) the overall number of newly installed factories will be still counted in thousands. In many developing and emerging markets, especially in South-East Asia, Latin America and Russia, ribbon-cutting ceremonies for new facilities opened by foreign investors are mandatory. We ran a study identifying all videoed ribbon-cutting ceremonies for new facilities opened by foreign investors in Russia in 2012-2018. Using a detailed analysis of the content of speeches delivered by representative of foreign investors and representative of local authorities at those ceremonies, and information obtained through personal observations and interviews, we were able to discover the surface and deeper level meaning attaching to these ceremonies, to propose the definition of efficient plant-opening ceremonies and to demonstrate how it is possible to amend the design of such ceremonies to increase their effectiveness and also to increase mental coherence between the corporate center and oversea subsidiaries. |
| Keywords: | organizational rituals, foreign direct investment, manufacturing, Russia |
| JEL: | F23 M16 |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hig:wpaper:62/man2020&r=all |
| By: | Suahasil Nazara (IPC-IG); Sri Kusumastuti Rahayu (IPC-IG) |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipc:pbarab:42&r=all |
| By: | Jarvis, Forest; Johnson, Hillary; Liaqat, Sundas; Donald, Aletheia; Perova, Elizaveta; Castro-Zarzur, Rosa |
| Abstract: | Our detailed survey of farming households in the rural Philippines reveals widespread and systemic spousal disagreement on decision-making, a phenomenon reflected in similar surveys throughout the world. Using original qualitative and quantitative data, we explore the following research questions: first, what are the drivers of disagreement in spousal reports of decision-making? Second, we explore the empowerment angle by asking what is the relationship between decision-making and empowerment? The measurement of women’s empowerment in agriculture and the household has traditionally used women’s self-reported participation in decision-making as an indicator of household power, and joint decision-making is often used as a targeted outcome in development efforts. However, spousal surveys across a variety of contexts have revealed high levels of disagreement between spouses about decision-making authority. Although women’s decision-making power has been associated in some studies with better household outcomes, the conceptual and evidential links between decision-making and empowerment have been called into question. Our work adds to the literature on the measurement of decision-making and disagreement, and on the links between decision-making power and empowerment writ large. Our quantitative analysis uses data from a spousal survey of agricultural households in the rural Philippines, primarily on the island of Mindanao. Part of a larger study on land tenure, respondents were asked about decisions in a variety of agricultural domains, as well as household matters. We capture respondents’ agency through the locus of control and Relative Autonomy Index (RAI) scales. Qualitative data come from a follow-up round of semi-structured interviews focusing on the decision-making process. We exploit the detailed decision-making questionnaire to test for different drivers of decision-making, namely differing interpretations of decision-making, differing frames of reference, and social desirability bias. To test for the relationship between decision-making and empowerment, we regress various aspects of decision-making power on the respondents’ motivational autonomy. Our follow-on qualitative interviews provide more detail on differing interpretations of decision-making, and the social norms regarding decision-making in our sample population. We find evidence that differing gendered interpretations of what it means to be a decision maker are a driver of spousal disagreement on decision-making, with women more likely to report themselves as joint decision-makers as long as they are included in a conversation. Qualitative work suggests a strong social norm towards a consultative decision-making process, further obscuring the differences between interpretations of sole and joint decision-making and increasing measurement error. We also find limited evidence of social desirability bias as a driver of measurement error. We find the being a decision-maker is not associated with higher overall autonomy. However, the ability to make one’s own personal decisions, and the level of input on decisions, are well-correlated with motivational autonomy. Our findings indicate that simple binary outcomes of sole and joint decision-making obscure important elements of the decision process, suggesting the need for a more nuanced and context-specific measurement of process and intent if it is to be used as an indicator or outcome. |
| Keywords: | Community/Rural/Urban Development |
| Date: | 2020–09–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare20:305245&r=all |
| By: | McKinley, Justin; Santos, Paulo; Meyer, Stefan; Feu, Yang |
| Abstract: | This study proposes that some executive functions (EF)s are likely to play an important role in a producer’s willingness to adopt a new market activity. If so, EFs will be important factors in explaining a producer’s willingness to enter new markets and diversify their livelihoods. This paper is unique in that it is the first of its kind to investigate the role of higher-order EFs on entering new markets, filling a void in the literature identified by Dean, Schilbach et al. (2019). There has long been an interest in economics of better understanding the factors that expand the production possibilities frontier, leading to higher productivity and in some cases, a pathway out of poverty. Much of this interest has been on individual’s production management and more specifically on entrepreneurship. Schumpeter (1947) describes the entrepreneur as someone who does new things or does old things in a new way. This study examines the importance of cognitive function in shaping the “ability to do new things […]”, using the concept of EFs, which are defined in the cognitive psychology literature as the top-down mental processes that control an individual’s attention, dictates their ability to use information or suppress instinctive responses when those responses are not optimal (Miller and Cohen 2001, Espy 2004, Burgess and Simons 2005). EFs have received increasing attention in understanding economic behavior. In this study, EFs likely play a role in the optimization function of agricultural producers in the uplands of Laos who are seeking to optimize an objective (e.g. maximize utility, etc.) subject to some constraints. This study uses primary panel data collected from two periods to investigate the role of EFs on management decisions for agricultural producers in upland Laos, particularly producers’ decisions to transition away from the traditional agricultural practice of growing rice to a diversified or specialized system focused on producing cattle for the emerging market. This study uses a binary choice model to investigate selection into a specific agricultural activity and then uses the results of this step to control for selection bias when investigating the role of EFs on production once an agent has selected into a specific production system. Using EFs as proxies for differing management capacities, this study shows that executive functions matter in a producer’s willingness to enter new markets and diversify their livelihoods. Furthermore, higher EFs resulted in larger herd sizes for producers who entered into cattle production. This study adds to the literature in better understanding the underlying role of cognitive function has on adoption. In the future, EFs may be an important constraint to consider when designing successful development projects. |
| Keywords: | Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies |
| Date: | 2020–09–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare20:305256&r=all |
| By: | Manoj pant (Indian Institute of Foreign Trade , New Delhi); Sugandha Huria (Jawaharlal Nehru University , New delhi) |
| Abstract: | The gradual transformation in the structure of trade with services contributing to almost two-thirds of the global GDP, has made the design and implementation of services trade policy a high-profile issue for many countries. With the process of regulating commodity trade being known, it is expected that most of the future trade negotiations at the WTO will also be centred around services. In fact, a services trade chapter is already being included in some RTAs like TTIP, TPP, India-ASEAN along with the related issue of foreign investment. It is now well known that though the RCEP negotiation’ details are not publicly known, a sticking point is the extension of the agreement to services trade. However, in comparison to the extensive literature available on regulations affecting commodity trade, very limited attention seems to have been paid on assessing services trade restrictiveness. Recently, the OECD has come up with an objective indicator of services trade regulations, known as the OECD STRI. However, its methodology suffers from various theoretical and empirical shortcomings, which makes it inadequate for policy purposes. To this end, the paper proposes a new and theoretically sounder approach for quantifying services trade restrictions, which is both consistent and country neutral. |
| Keywords: | Services Trade, Regulations, WTO trade negotiations, OECD Services Trade Restrictiveness Index. |
| JEL: | F13 F14 L80 |
| Date: | 2019–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ift:wpaper:1940&r=all |
| By: | Farquharson , Robert; Pyay Thar, So; Ramilan, Thiagarajah; Chen, Deli |
| Abstract: | Questions of ‘improving’ smallholder decisions for farm input use have long exercised the minds of RD&E practitioners with ‘reducing poverty’ objectives in developing countries. Decision Support Tools (DSTs) have often been developed for farmers and/or extension agents based on a ‘top-down’ or linear Research-Development-Extension paradigm. There is evidence that DSTs are not used by farm decision makers. Some developers of DSTs don’t realise that smallholder farmers must borrow money to buy fertilizer! In Myanmar smallholder farmers are using Nitrogen (N) fertilizer for cereal crop production and these decisions have been studied to investigate whether better information can be provided for such decisions. These smallholders are semi-subsistence with reliance on purchased inputs and they sell to markets for profit. Considering the current situation for rice and maize production systems in the central Dry Zone of Myanmar, how can information be provided to relevant decision makers (farmers, extension agents, input suppliers) leading to improved farm household well-being? Is the development of a ‘traditional’ DST (as described above) likely to be of value? Can an improved decision-making framework be developed for this set of farmers and circumstances? A multi-disciplinary ACIAR-funded project in central Myanmar has investigated rice and maize production focussing on nutrient use efficiency and fertiliser decisions. Bio-physical work included field trials measuring crop yield responses to differing levels of N input (production functions) and taking associated soil and plant measures to estimate N uptake and use efficiency. The socio-economic component included initial focus group workshops, two farmer field surveys, a literature review of DSTs and an economic analysis of the crop yield responses for ‘best’ N levels. The project has promised to develop a DST, and the purpose of this paper is to outline our thinking about decision support. The paper draws together information from the focus group workshops, the field surveys, the yield responses and economic analyses. A partial budget framework using (subjective) farmer inputs in a return on investment (ROI) framework is outlined. An existing DST which uses this economic framework is discussed. Despite our a priori expectations that farmers in central Myanmar might not be using fertilizer efficiently, we found that many smallholders apply both compound (NPK) and Urea (N) fertilizers, that the amounts of Urea are substantial, and that they split the Urea applications as do farmers in Australia. They seem to understand the agronomic benefits from applying N fertilizer when the crop is growing to improve uptake efficiency. Rice and maize yield responses to increasing N application rates generally follow a diminishing returns pattern, despite the tyranny of site and season associated with trials in farmer fields. Given that their stated objectives include financial returns, that some farmers require their income to cover input costs and that a ROI is desirable, we apply the CIMMYT (1988) framework to this set of results and compare the actual farmer decisions with a ROI decision rule based on agronomic field work results. We conclude that these farmers are making fertilizer decisions that are consistent with a profit-conscious but risk-averse paradigm. We illustrate a DST which is based more on economic objectives and risk preferences than traditional tools based on N budgets or programs with soil, agronomic and socio-economic overlays. |
| Keywords: | Community/Rural/Urban Development |
| Date: | 2020–09–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare20:305248&r=all |
| By: | Tim Lann (IPC-IG) |
| Abstract: | "Esse Policy Research Brief faz uma análise comparativa entre três países (Bahamas, Timor-Leste e Indonésia) e suas abordagens no uso de sistemas de informação de proteção social para otimizar seus programas de transferências condicionadas e não condicionadas de renda". (...) |
| Keywords: | proteção social; sistemas de informação de proteção social; desenvolvimento ágil; economia do desenvolvimento; desenvolvimento sustentável; programas de transferência de renda; Bahamas; Timor-Leste; Indonésia. |
| Date: | 2020–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipc:pbport:66&r=all |
| By: | Dirk Kruger (University of Pennsylvania, CEPR and NBER); Harald Uhlig (University of Chicago, CEPR and NBER); Taojun Xie (National University of Singapore) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we argue that endogenous shifts in private consumption behavior across sectors of the economy can act as a potent mitigation mechanism during an epidemic or when the economy is re-opened after a temporary lockdown. Extending the theoretical framework proposed by Eichenbaum-Rebelo-Trabandt (2020), we distinguish goods by their degree to which they can be consumed at home rather than in a social (and thus possibly contagious) context. We demonstrate that, within the model the ÒSwedish solutionÓ of letting the epidemic play out without government intervention and allowing agents to shift their sectoral behavior on their own can lead to a substantial mitigation of the economic and human costs of the COVID-19 crisis, avoiding more than 80 of the decline in output and of number of deaths within one year, compared to a model in which sectors are assumed to be homogeneous. For different parameter configurations that capture the additional social distancing and hygiene activities individuals might engage in voluntarily, we show that infections may decline entirely on their own, simply due to the individually rational re-allocation of economic activity: the curve not only just flattens, it gets reversed. |
| Keywords: | Epidemic, Coronavirus, Macroeconomics, Sectoral Substitution |
| JEL: | E52 E30 |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bfi:wpaper:2020-43&r=all |