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  • Articles  (9)
  • Environment  (4)
  • Natural Resources  (4)
  • Migration  (3)
  • Institutional Arrangements  (2)
  • 1
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    Deals and Delays: Firm-level Evidence on Corruption and Policy Implementation Times (2016)
    Oxford University Press
    Details
    Publication Date: 2016-06-19
    Description: Whether demands for bribes for particular government services are associated with expedited or delayed policy implementation underlies debates around the role of corruption in private sector development. The "grease the wheels" hypothesis, which contends that bribes act as speed money, implies three testable predictions. First, on average, bribe requests should be negatively correlated with wait times. Second, this relationship should vary across firms, with those with the highest opportunity cost of waiting being more likely to pay and facing shorter delays. Third, the role of grease should vary across countries, with benefits larger where regulatory burdens are greatest. The data are inconsistent with all three predictions. According to the preferred specifications, ceteris paribus, firms confronted with demands for bribes take approximately 1.5 times longer to get a construction permit, operating license, or electrical connection than firms that did not have to pay bribes and, respectively, 1.2 and 1.4 times longer to clear customs when exporting and importing. The results are robust to controlling for firm fixed effects and at odds with the notion that corruption enhances efficiency.
    Keywords: K42 - Illegal Behavior and the Enforcement of Law, L25 - Firm Performance: Size, Diversification, and Scope, L51 - Economics of Regulation, O17 - Formal and Informal Sectors ; Shadow Economy ; Institutional Arrangements
    Print ISSN: 0258-6770
    Electronic ISSN: 1564-698X
    Topics: Economics
    Published by Oxford University Press
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  • 2
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    Risky Business: Political Instability and Sectoral Greenfield Foreign Direct Investment in the Arab World (2016)
    Oxford University Press
    Details
    Publication Date: 2016-06-19
    Description: Which foreign direct investments are most affected by political instability? Analysis of quarterly greenfield investment flows into countries in the Middle East and North Africa during the period from 2003 to 2012 shows that adverse political shocks are associated with significantly reduced investment inflows in the non-resource tradable sectors. By contrast, investments in natural resource sectors and non-tradable activities appear insensitive to such shocks. Political instability is thus associated with increased reliance on non-tradables and aggravated resource dependence.
    Keywords: F21 - International Investment ; Long-Term Capital Movements, F23 - Multinational Firms ; International Business, O13 - Agriculture ; Natural Resources ; Energy ; Environment ; Other Primary Products, O16 - Economic Development: Financial Markets ; Saving and Capital Investment ; Corporate Finance and, P48 - Political Economy ; Legal Institutions ; Property Rights
    Print ISSN: 0258-6770
    Electronic ISSN: 1564-698X
    Topics: Economics
    Published by Oxford University Press
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  • 3
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    A Helping Hand or the Long Arm of the Law? Experimental Evidence on What Governments Can Do to Formalize Firms (2016)
    Oxford University Press
    Details
    Publication Date: 2016-01-19
    Description: We conducted a field experiment in Belo Horizonte, Brazil to test which government actions work to encourage informal firms to register. We find zero or negative impacts of information and free cost treatments and a significant but small increase in formalization from inspections. The local average treatment effect estimates of the inspection impact are larger, providing a 21 to 27 percentage point increase in the likelihood of formalizing. The results show that most informal firms will not formalize unless forced to do so, suggesting that formality offers little private benefit to these firms.
    Keywords: C93 - Field Experiments, D21 - Firm Behavior, L26 - Entrepreneurship, O12 - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development, O17 - Formal and Informal Sectors ; Shadow Economy ; Institutional Arrangements
    Print ISSN: 0258-6770
    Electronic ISSN: 1564-698X
    Topics: Economics
    Published by Oxford University Press
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  • 4
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    The Impact of Vocational Schooling on Human Capital Development in Developing Countries: Evidence from China (2016)
    Oxford University Press
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    Publication Date: 2016-01-19
    Description: A number of developing countries are currently promoting vocational education and training (VET) as a way to build human capital and strengthen economic growth. The primary aim of this study is to understand whether VET at the high school level contributes to human capital development in one of those countries—China. To fulfill this aim, we draw on longitudinal data on more than 10,000 students in vocational high school (in the most popular major, computing) and academic high school from two provinces of China. First, estimates from instrumental variables and matching analyses show that attending vocational high school (relative to academic high school) substantially reduces math skills and does not improve computing skills. Second, heterogeneous effect estimates also show that attending vocational high school increases dropout, especially among disadvantaged (low-income or low-ability) students. Third, we use vertically scaled (equated) baseline and follow-up test scores to measure gains in math and computing skills among the students. We find that students who attend vocational high school experience absolute reductions in math skills. Taken together, our findings suggest that the rapid expansion of vocational schooling as a substitute for academic schooling can have detrimental consequences for building human capital in developing countries such as China.
    Keywords: I25 - Education and Economic Development, J24 - Human Capital ; Skills ; Occupational Choice ; Labor Productivity, O15 - Human Resources ; Human Development ; Income Distribution ; Migration
    Print ISSN: 0258-6770
    Electronic ISSN: 1564-698X
    Topics: Economics
    Published by Oxford University Press
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  • 5
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    What Explains the Stagnation of Female Labor Force Participation in Urban India? (2015)
    Oxford University Press
    Details
    Publication Date: 2015-09-30
    Description: Female labor force participation rates in urban India between 1987 and 2011 are surprisingly low and have stagnated since the late 1980s. Despite rising growth, fertility decline, and rising wage and education levels, married women's labor force participation hovered around 18 percent. Analysis of five large cross-sectional micro surveys shows that a combination of supply and demand effects have contributed to this stagnation. The main supply side factors are rising household incomes and husband's education as well as the falling selectivity of highly educated women. On the demand side, the sectors that draw in female workers have expanded least, so that changes in the sectoral structure of employment alone would have actually led to declining participation rates.
    Keywords: I25 - Education and Economic Development, J16 - Economics of Gender ; Non-labor Discrimination, J20 - General, O15 - Human Resources ; Human Development ; Income Distribution ; Migration
    Print ISSN: 0258-6770
    Electronic ISSN: 1564-698X
    Topics: Economics
    Published by Oxford University Press
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  • 6
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    Can Free Provision Reduce Demand for Public Services? Evidence from Kenyan Education* (2015)
    Oxford University Press
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    Publication Date: 2015-05-21
    Description: In 2003 Kenya abolished user fees in all government primary schools. We show that this policy contributed to a shift in demand away from free schools, where net enrollment stagnated after 2003, toward fee-charging private schools, where both enrollment and fee levels grew rapidly after 2003. These shifts had mixed distributional consequences. Enrollment by poorer households increased, but segregation between socio-economic groups also increased. We find evidence that the shift in demand toward private schooling was driven by more affluent households who ( i ) paid higher ex ante fees and thus experienced a larger reduction in school funding, and ( ii ) exited public schools in reaction to increased enrollment by poorer children.
    Keywords: H52 - Government Expenditures and Education, I22 - Educational Finance, O15 - Human Resources ; Human Development ; Income Distribution ; Migration
    Print ISSN: 0258-6770
    Electronic ISSN: 1564-698X
    Topics: Economics
    Published by Oxford University Press
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  • 7
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    What Drives the Global "Land Rush"? (2015)
    Oxford University Press
    Details
    Publication Date: 2015-05-21
    Description: We review evidence regarding the size and evolution of the "land rush" in the wake of the 2007–8 boom in agricultural commodity prices, and we study the determinants of foreign land acquisition for large-scale agricultural investment. The use of data on bilateral investment relationships to estimate gravity models of transnational land-intensive investments confirms the central role of agro-ecological potential as a pull factor. However, this finding contrasts the standard literature insofar as the quality of the destination country's business climate is insignificant, and weak tenure security is associated with increased interest for investors to acquire land in the country. Policy implications are discussed.
    Keywords: F21 - International Investment ; Long-Term Capital Movements, O13 - Agriculture ; Natural Resources ; Energy ; Environment ; Other Primary Products, Q15 - Land Ownership and Tenure ; Land Reform ; Land Use ; Irrigation, Q34 - Natural Resources and Domestic and International Conflicts
    Print ISSN: 0258-6770
    Electronic ISSN: 1564-698X
    Topics: Economics
    Published by Oxford University Press
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  • 8
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    Political Reforms and Public Policy: Evidence from Agricultural and Food Policies (2014)
    Oxford University Press
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    Publication Date: 2014-01-23
    Description: This paper studies the effect of political regime transitions on public policy using a new data set on global agricultural and food policies over a 50-year period (including data from 74 developing and developed countries over the 1955–2005 period). We find evidence that democratization leads to a reduction of agricultural taxation, an increase in agricultural subsidization, or both. The empirical findings are consistent with the predictions of the median voter model because political transitions occurred primarily in countries with a majority of farmers. The results are robust to different specifications, estimation approaches, and variable definitions.
    Keywords: D72 - Models of Political Processes: Rent-Seeking, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior, F13 - Trade Policy ; International Trade Organizations, O13 - Agriculture ; Natural Resources ; Energy ; Environment ; Other Primary Products, P16 - Political Economy, Q18 - Agricultural Policy ; Food Policy
    Print ISSN: 0258-6770
    Electronic ISSN: 1564-698X
    Topics: Economics
    Published by Oxford University Press
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  • 9
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    Food Security and Storage in the Middle East and North Africa (2014)
    Oxford University Press
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    Publication Date: 2014-01-23
    Description: In times of highly volatile commodity markets, governments often try to protect their populations from rapidly rising food prices, which can be particularly harmful for the poor. A potential solution for food-deficit countries is to hold strategic reserves that can be called on when international prices spike. But how large should strategic stockpiles be, and what rules should govern their release? In this paper, we develop a dynamic competitive storage model for wheat in the Middle East and North Africa region, where imported wheat is the most significant component of the average diet. We analyze a strategy that sets aside wheat stockpiles, which can be used to keep domestic prices below a targeted price. Our analysis shows that if the target price is set high and reserves are adequate, the strategy can be effective and robust. Contrary to most interventions, strategic storage policies are counter-cyclical, and when the importing region is sufficiently large, a regional policy can smooth global prices. Simulations indicate that this is the case for the Middle East and North Africa region. Nevertheless, the policy is more costly than a procyclical policy similar to food stamps that uses targeted transfers to directly offset high prices with a subsidy.
    Keywords: F10 - General, O13 - Agriculture ; Natural Resources ; Energy ; Environment ; Other Primary Products, Q11 - Aggregate Supply and Demand Analysis ; Prices, Q18 - Agricultural Policy ; Food Policy
    Print ISSN: 0258-6770
    Electronic ISSN: 1564-698X
    Topics: Economics
    Published by Oxford University Press
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