Topic: Economics - CIAO Search Results

5201. Economic Survey of Greece, 2005

Publication Date:: 07-2005
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Abstract:: Recent and prospective growth performance is good. The Greek economy has continued to grow vigorously, buoyed especially by low nominal and real interest rates and an expansionary fiscal policy stance, largely reflecting public works in preparation for the Olympic Games in 2004. The outlook is for some slowing activity in the near term, triggered by fiscal consolidation, but a subsequent pick-up in growth thereafter. However, inflation is likely to remain above the euro-area average, to a certain extent eroding Greece's international competitiveness. Fiscal consolidation is the main priority. The fiscal audit, performed by the new government in close collaboration with Eurostat has revealed a very loose fiscal policy since the late 1990s, culminating in a general government deficit of 6% of GDP in 2004. The government debt-to-GDP ratio has remained stubbornly above 100%, despite uninterrupted strong growth during the past eleven years. Reining in government deficits is of vital importance both to meet the fiscal objectives of EMU, and to prepare for demographically-related budget pressures that will start emerging in a decade's time. Moreover, sustained high public debt makes Greece relatively more vulnerable to changes in interest rates and market sentiment, while it's servicing threatens to crowd out public spending in areas important for Greece's ambitions to reach income levels elsewhere in the EU.
Topic:: Development, Economics, and Government
Political Geography:: Europe and Greece

5202. Economic Survey of New Zealand, 2005

Publication Date:: 07-2005
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Abstract:: The economy has continued on its strong upward course and living standards – measured as real GDP per person – have risen steadily over the past decade, putting the country on track towards the government’s objective of returning to the top half of the OECD. But capacity has become increasingly strained, and monetary policy has been tightened to ensure inflation remains well anchored. The country’s prospects are bright, with potential growth projected to remain comfortably above 3% per year over the medium term
Topic:: Development, Economics, and Government
Political Geography:: Australia/Pacific and New Zealand

5203. Helping workers to navigate in globalised labour markets

Publication Date:: 06-2005
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Abstract:: Fears that "globalisation" implies increasing job losses and lower wages are an important source of popular ambivalence towards the increasingly open character of OECD economies. Although such concerns are not new, recent developments appear to have heightened workers' apprehensions that rising trade competition threatens their jobs, wages and employment conditions, particularly in the higher-wage OECD countries. Increased international sourcing of production activities — including the "offshoring" of some white-collar jobs in information technology (IT) and business services — has led some commentators to conclude that a large share of high-wage OECD workers will soon be in direct competition with workers in countries where wages are far lower. EU enlargement and the increasing integration of large, labour-surplus economies such as India and China into the world trading system also reinforce anxieties about "delocalisation" and "a race to the bottom".
Topic:: Economics, Emerging Markets, Globalization, and Human Welfare

5204. From unemployment to work

Publication Date:: 06-2005
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Abstract:: All OECD governments recognise the need to provide income support for the unemployed. But how do they ensure that income support provides a cushion for a brief period to enable the person to find a new job, without becoming a permanent alternative to work? Cutting benefit levels would automatically increase the incentive to move from welfare to work, but it would not help people to find suitable employment and would aggravate social hardship for those who do not enter employment at all. Providing income support for jobseekers while at the same time strengthening their incentive to work is a puzzle that most OECD countries are still trying to solve.
Topic:: Civil Society, Economics, Government, and Human Welfare

5205. Intellectual property and competition policy in the biotechnology industry

Publication Date:: 06-2005
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Abstract:: The science of biotechnology has been pushing the frontiers of human knowledge and intellectual property (“IP”) for three decades. As scientists developed techniques for isolating and creating genetic material and began to apply them commercially, a new industry grew and so did its appetite for patent protection. Although the wisdom of granting patents on DNA is still debated, the policy of OECD countries to allow such patents has been fairly well settled for some time. The door was therefore open for biotechnological innovators to create a flood of IP, and they did
Topic:: Economics, Environment, Industrial Policy, and Science and Technology

5206. Economic Survey of France, 2005

Publication Date:: 06-2005
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Abstract:: France has high productivity per hour worked and a sophisticated social welfare system, but it also suffers from low labour force participation and high structural un employment. This poor labour market performance contributes to a persistent budget deficit which is exacerbating, rather than alleviating, the fiscal pressures arising from ageing. Rising public debt threatens fiscal sustainability. It is partly a result of insufficient public expenditure control an d insufficient public understanding of the need to meet long-run challenges as well as short-term targets. Aspects of the labour code designed to protect employees, and some aspects of the system of social transfers have had some unintended but perverse consequences leading to structurally high levels of unemployment and low participation rates. Dynamism and growth of activity and employment are held back by a lack of competition in a large number of service sectors.
Topic:: Development and Economics
Political Geography:: Europe and France

5207. Economic Survey of Sweden, 2005

Publication Date:: 06-2005
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Abstract:: The Swedish economy has undergone impressive changes and has delivered a remarkable surge in productivity since the mid-1990s. Consequently, per capita incomes are slowly making up the ground lost in earlier decades. Labour market performance, however, has been less inspiring. Employment rates have yet to recover to their 1990 peaks and hours of work need to increase to support the welfare state.
Topic:: Development, Economics, and Government
Political Geography:: Europe and Sweden

5208. Economic Survey of Austria, 2005

Publication Date:: 05-2005
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Abstract:: The Austrian economy has demonstrated the capacity to take advantage of positive external developments. Important challenges remain, however, in two areas: Fiscal performance needs to be improved despite substantial progress in securing the sustainability of government finances: government debt is still relatively high, fiscal consolidation also incorporates significant one-off measures and fiscal federal relations are often inefficient. Trend growth is still held back by low labour force participation of older workers – also a potential source of future growth deceleration, high seasonal inactivity, relatively weak productivity growth in the services and a sub-optimal environment for innovation activities.
Topic:: Development, Economics, and Government

5209. Preserving Biodiversity and Promoting Biosafety

Publication Date:: 05-2005
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Abstract:: Biodiversity – the variety of life and of habitats on Earth – is vital to human welfare. The loss or degradation of biodiversity can have important economic, environmental, and social consequences. Altering a watershed (the area draining into a common waterway), for example, not only leads to the potential loss of an ecosystem – through loss of habitat – but may also create economic costs for water filtration in cities using its water.
Topic:: Civil Society, Economics, Environment, and Human Welfare

5210. Paying for Performance: Policies for Government Employees

Publication Date:: 05-2005
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Abstract:: Over the past two decades, governments battling budget pressures and public perceptions of civil servants as under-worked and overpaid have been seeking ways to make the public service perform better. Alongside government re-organisation and privatisation of services such as telecommunications and water, governments have been modernising the management of their civil servants.
Topic:: Civil Society, Development, Economics, and Government

5211. Economic Survey of Italy, 2005

Publication Date:: 05-2005
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Abstract:: A modest recovery is under way. A recovery has been under way since early 2004 and is expected to proceed at a moderate pace in 2005 and 2006, with domestic demand continuing to rise faster than GDP. Real growth is projected to remain somewhat slower than the EU average. The gap in consumer price inflation is expected to widen again in 2006. The current-account deficit has increased and export market share losses were substantial until recently. Employment growth has been impressive throughout the slowdown, but the growth of productivity, including that of total factor productivity, has been very weak.
Topic:: Development and Economics
Political Geography:: Europe and Italy

5212. Policy Coherence Towards East Asia: Development Challenges for OECD Countries

Author:: K. Fukasaku, M. Kawai, M.G. Plummer, and A. Trzeciak-Duval
Publication Date:: 05-2005
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Abstract:: The East Asian development experience needs to be better understood — especially the region's clustered, sequential development process and neighbourhood effects linking economies at different levels of industrial development. How have different policy vectors transmitted by OECD countries, notably in the areas of trade, investment and aid, contributed to the development of the region? To what extent have the impacts of OECD-country policies depended on the capacity of East Asian economies to respond through their own public policies?
Topic:: Development, Economics, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:: Israel and East Asia

5213. Public Sector Modernisation: Modernising Accountability and Control

Publication Date:: 04-2005
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Abstract:: In the past two decades, new forms of public sector management, privatisation and new technologies have changed the way the public sector operates, but have also created a need for new ways of making both agencies and governments accountable for what they do. With an increasingly devolved public sector, ensuring conformity with government policy objectives, control of expenditure and monitoring of actual agency performance has become increasingly complex. At the same time, the changing relationship between government and the public sector has profoundly affected the traditional accountability of ministers to the legislature
Topic:: Development, Economics, Government, and Science and Technology

5214. Solving the Pensions Puzzle

Publication Date:: 03-2005
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Abstract:: Reforming pensions is one of the biggest challenges of the 21st century. All OECD countries have to adjust to the ageing of their populations and re-balance retirement income provision to keep it adequate and ensure that the system is financially sustainable.
Topic:: Civil Society, Economics, Government, and Human Welfare

5215. Combating Poverty and Exclusion through Work

Publication Date:: 03-2005
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Abstract:: All OECD governments attach importance to combating poverty and exclusion, and for good reason. Poverty and exclusion are evidence of a society that wastes human resources, opportunities and life-chances, both now and for the future. Failure to tackle the poverty and exclusion facing millions of families and their children is not only socially reprehensible, but will also weigh heavily on countries' capacity to sustain economic growth in years to come.
Topic:: Economics, Government, Human Welfare, and Poverty

5216. Economic Survey of Spain, 2005

Publication Date:: 03-2005
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Abstract:: The Spanish economy has enjoyed many years of brisk growth and has recovered swiftly from the recent international slowdown. Activity has been boosted by low interest rates and strong job creation, and underpinned by structural reforms and a sound fiscal policy. As a result, the income gap with the euro area steadily narrowed. However, tensions have arisen that could undermine the strong growth performance as inflation is relatively high, eroding competitiveness, while the surge in house prices does not yet show signs of abating. Also productivity gains have remained meagre and unemployment is still high.
Topic:: Economics, Government, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:: Europe and Spain

5217. Ensuring quality long-term care for older people

Publication Date:: 03-2005
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Abstract:: Demand for long-term care for older people is set to rise steeply in OECD countries as the baby-boom generation reaches old age. But can they be sure of receiving quality care at a price they can afford? People in need of long term care increasingly demand high-quality care, and differences in the quality and availability of such services across OECD countries show some are not getting it. How can governments in OECD countries respond to the growing demand for these services? What do they need to do to improve access to long-term care, improve quality of services and make care affordable?
Topic:: Civil Society, Economics, Government, and Human Welfare

5218. Babies and Bosses: Balancing work and family life

Publication Date:: 03-2005
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Abstract:: Are work and family life compatible? All too often parents find it impossible to balance employment and care commitments. As a result, it is becoming increasingly common to start a family later, have fewer children or have no children at all. Alternatively some parents may choose to temporarily or permanently stop working, despite the fact that they would like to have jobs, because of time constraints, no access to affordable childcare or difficulties in resuming their careers after childbirth.
Topic:: Civil Society, Economics, and Human Welfare

5219. Economic Survey of Belgium, 2005

Publication Date:: 03-2005
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Abstract:: The dominant challenge for Belgium in the years to come is to prepare for population ageing. This entails putting in place policies to attenuate its effects on economic growth and public finances. The few years left before large numbers of baby boomers retire provide a window of opportunity to push ahead with such policies and so preserve the essential elements of the system of social protection. First, further budget consolidation is required to put public finances on a sustainable path. Second, reforms are needed to increase employment rates, especially for the older working age-population, school leavers and ethnic minorities, and to slow the decline in working time. Finally, reforms are required to raise productivity growth.
Topic:: Development, Economics, and Government
Political Geography:: Europe

5220. Economic Survey of Brazil, 2005

Publication Date:: 03-2005
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Abstract:: This Survey's general assessment is that Brazil is currently reaping the benefits of macroeconomic consolidation, underpinned by a prudent policy stance. Much progress has been made in fiscal consolidation and monetary policy continues to be conducted in a forward- looking manner. The external adjustment has been remarkable, with continued strong export performance, making the economy more resilient to changes in market sentiment. These achievements owe much to the strengthening of institutions, in particular the inflation targeting framework and the Fiscal Responsibility legislation. The economic recovery is now firmly established. But the consolidation of macroeconomic stability remains essential moving forward, coupled with further structural reform, to ensure that the positive outlook ushers in a virtuous circle of improved confidence and resilient, equitable growth.
Topic:: Economics, Government, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:: Brazil and South America

5221. Public Sector Modernisation: Open Government

Publication Date:: 02-2005
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Abstract:: Governments are under increasing pressure to open up to public scrutiny, to be more accessible to the people who elected them and more responsive to their demands and needs. Indeed, an open government that meets all these requirements is increasingly recognised as an essential ingredient for de mocratic governance, social stability and economic development.
Topic:: Civil Society, Development, Economics, and Government

5222. Economic Survey of Denmark, 2005

Publication Date:: 02-2005
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Abstract:: Denmark has been near the top of the OECD's income rankings for many years. It has the most equal income distribution among member countries, partly because of its comprehensive welfare state. Given an ageing population, the key economic challenge is to maintain growth in living standards while preserving the welfare system. To achieve this, Denmark will need to raise labour supply and productivity growth. If they do not improve from here, the growth rate of per capita GDP will be dragged down to just ½ per cent per annum within a couple of decades.
Topic:: Development, Economics, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:: Europe and Denmark

5223. Economic Survey of Iceland, 2005

Publication Date:: 02-2005
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Abstract:: Iceland's impressive economic performance has continued to show the benefits of the refocusing of policies on financial stabilisation and market liberalisation in the 1990s. The most recent recovery, which began in 2003, has been much more vigorous than expected, as buoyant household demand has reinforced the stimulatory effect of the large-scale aluminium-related investment projects underway. Imbalances in the economy – specifically, the large current account deficit and inflation pressures – have mounted and – with GDP growth averaging over 5% in 2004-06 – they may well be similar in size to those seen in the last overheating episode in 2000-01, which resulted in a mild recession. Limiting instability over the next few years is a demanding task for macroeconomic policymakers, and efforts underway in this regard need to be strengthened. There are also challenges for structural policies, notably with respect to the proper assessment of future investment projects and in the environ-mental area. In a longer-term perspective, sustaining the faster productivity growth that structural reforms in the 1990s have brought about will require further action, especially in the education and competition policy fields.
Topic:: Development, Economics, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:: Europe

5224. (Danish) Economic Survey Denmark 2005

Publication Date:: 02-2005
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Abstract:: Danmark har i mange år ligget nær toppen på OECD's rangliste over BNP pr. indbygger. Danmark har den mest lige indkomstfordeling blandt medlemslandene, delvist so m følge af dets vidtfavnende velfærdsstat. I lyset af befolkningsaldringen er den primære økonomiske udfordring at fastholde væksten i levestandarden og samtidig bevare velfærdssystemet. For at opnå dette er det nødvendigt at øge arbejdsudbuddet og væksten i produktiviteten. Uden forbedringer på disse to områder vil væksten i BNP pr. indbygger fa lde til blot ½ procent om året i løbet af et par årtier.
Topic:: Development, Economics, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:: Europe and Denmark

5225. Economic Survey of Australia, 2004

Publication Date:: 01-2005
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Abstract:: Recent and prospective performance is good. The Australian economy is still benefiting from the programme of widespread and deep reforms that started in the 1980s and was especially intensive in the 1990s. These made it easier to set macro policies in a stability-oriented medium-term framework. The combination resulted in a thirteen year long economic expansion accompanied by low inflation, high resilience to external and domestic shocks, and very healthy public finances. The short term outlook is for continuing brisk low- inflationary growth.
Topic:: Economics, Government, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:: Australia and Australia/Pacific

5226. Economic Survey of Japan, 2005

Publication Date:: 01-2005
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Abstract:: The strengthening of the economy has raised hopes that Japan is emerging from a decade of stagnation. Output has been increasing at a more than 2 per cent annual rate since 2002, reflecting strong external demand and the progress made in corporate restructuring and economic reform. However, Japan still faces a number of serious headwinds to sustained growth, notably entrenched deflation and continued declines in bank lending and land prices. Meanwhile, the government's financial position continues to deteriorate, raising concerns about fiscal sustainability at the same time that population ageing is increasing demands for public spending. Addressing these challenges requires a combination of well-designed macroeconomic policies and structural measures to boost the growth potential and ensure rising living standards in the face of rapid population ageing.
Topic:: Economics, Government, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:: Japan and Israel

5227. What Makes a Difference in Achieving Higher Labor Productivity? The Case of Low-Income Countries in Latin America

Author:: Osvaldo Nina
Publication Date:: 12-2005
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Institute for Advanced Development Studies (INESAD)
Abstract:: This paper uses firm level surveys from Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua to estimate the determinants of labor productivity. This study started out with the hypothesis that the adverse external business conditions that firms in poor Latin American countries face, may be an important explication of the generally low levels of productivity. However, the empirical results, based on the survey of more than 1300 businesses, do not confirm this hypothesis. Compared to all the variables that are under the firms control, such as capital intensity, energy use, and worker skills, the external business environment (macroeconomic instability and labor regulations) has very little impact on productivity.
Topic:: Development, Economics, Labor Issues, Productivity, and Income
Political Geography:: Latin America, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, and Ecuador

5228. Taxing Business-to-Consumer Interstate Remote Retail Sales: Economics v. Jurisprudence in the Battle Over Tax Jurisdiction

Author:: Jeptha Nafziger
Publication Date:: 05-2005
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA), Princeton University
Abstract:: Retail sales and use taxes constitute a major component of state and local tax bases, providing critical funds for many public programs. The continued and increasing significance of nontaxed remote retail sales—interstate sales of goods by firms without sufficient presence in the destination jurisdiction—has put the long-term solvency of these tax bases and the public programs they fund in jeopardy. To a considerable extent, this problem is attributable to the oft-criticized “nexus” standard, a legal concept that limits a jurisdiction’s ability to tax remote transactions based on constitutional and stare decisis grounds. This paper offers a summary of the jurisprudence that has yielded the current nexus interpretation, an economic critique of its underlying principles, and several recommendations that could serve as policy alternatives to the status quo.
Topic:: Economics, Business, Tax Systems, Jurisdiction, Retail, Consumer Behavior, and Jurisprudence
Political Geography:: North America and United States of America

5229. Trends in Competitive Balance: Is there Evidence for Growing Imbalance in Professional Sport Leagues?

Author:: Arne Feddersen and Wolfgang Maennig
Publication Date:: 01-2005
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Chair for Economic Policy, University of Hamburg
Abstract:: The concept of competitive balance is a central aspect in the literature of sports economics. A popular argumentation of sport functionaries is that dominance of one or a few teams could lead to unequal incomes for the clubs, restrictions in the clubs’ ability to improve sporting performance and ultimately to a loss of attractiveness and loss of income for the league. Following this line of reasoning and alleging a negative trend in competitive sports functionaries often try to implement regulations in team sport leagues. The aim of this paper is to analyze for eight different leagues if there is such a trend existing. For an empirical test for trends in competitive balance of four European soccer leagues (ENG, ESP, GER, ITA) and four US Major Leagues (MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL), OLS regressions with a constant were carried out. For the entire observation period from 1969/70 to 2003/2004, of 48 trends ascertained, only 12 could be observed as being significantly positive (i.e. growing imbalance) with 19 significantly negative (i.e. growing balance). The remaining 17 trends were insignificantly different from zero.
Topic:: Economics, Sports, Soccer, Competitive Balance, and Sports Leagues
Political Geography:: Europe, Global Focus, and United States of America

5230. Slow Passthrough Around the World: A New Import for Developing Countries?

Author:: Jeffrey Frankel, David Parsley, and Shang-Jin Wei
Publication Date:: 02-2005
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University
Abstract:: Developing countries traditionally experience passthrough of exchange rate changes that is greater and more rapid than high-income countries experience. This is true equally of the determination of prices of imported goods, prices of local competitors’ products, and the general CPI. But developing countries in the 1990s experienced a rapid downward trend in the degree of passthrough and speed of adjustment, more so than did high-income countries. As a consequence, slow and incomplete passthrough is no longer exclusively a luxury of industrial countries. Using a new data set -- prices of eight narrowly defined brand commodities, observed in 76 countries -- we find empirical support for some of the factors that have been hypothesized in the literature, but not for others. Significant determinants of the passthrough coefficient include per capita incomes, bilateral distance, tariffs, country size, wages, long-term inflation, and long-term exchange rate variability. Some of these factors changed during the 1990s. Part (and only part) of the downward trend in passthrough to imported goods prices, and in turn to competitors’ prices and the CPI, can be explained by changes in the monetary environment – including a fall in long-term inflation. Real wages work to reduce passthrough to competitors’ prices and the CPI, confirming the hypothesized role of distribution and retail costs in pricing to market. Rising distribution costs, due perhaps to the Balassa-Samuelson-Baumol effect, could contribute to the decline in the passthrough coefficient in some developing countries.
Topic:: Economics, Markets, Developing World, Tariffs, Exchange Rate Policy, and Inflation
Political Geography:: Global Focus

5231. Contractionary Currency Crashes In Developing Countries

Author:: Jeffrey Frankel
Publication Date:: 02-2005
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University
Abstract:: To update a famous old statistic: a political leader in a developing country is twice as likely to lose office in the 6 months following a currency crash as otherwise. This difference, which is highly significant statistically, holds regardless whether the devaluation takes place in the context of an IMF program. Why are devaluations so costly? Many of the currency crises of the last ten years have been associated with output loss. Is this, as alleged, because of excessive reliance on raising the interest rate as a policy response? More likely it is because of contractionary effects of devaluation. There are various possible contractionary effects of devaluation, but it is appropriate that the balance sheet effect receives the most emphasis. Passthrough from exchange rate changes to import prices in developing countries is not the problem: this coefficient fell in the 1990s, as a look at some narrowly defined products shows. Rather, balance sheets are the problem. How can countries mitigate the fall in output resulting from the balance sheet effect in crises? In the shorter term, adjusting promptly after inflows cease is better than procrastinating by shifting to short-term dollar debt, which raises the costliness of the devaluation when it finally comes. In the longer term, greater openness to trade reduces vulnerability to both sudden stops and currency crashes.
Topic:: Debt, Economics, Developing World, Exchange Rate Policy, Currency, and Devaluation
Political Geography:: Global Focus

5232. Why is Mobility in India so Low? Social Insurance, Inequality, and Growth

Author:: Kaivan Munshi and Mark Rosenzweig
Publication Date:: 07-2005
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University
Abstract:: This paper examines the hypothesis that the persistence of low spatial and marital mobility in rural India, despite increased growth rates and rising inequality in recent years, is due to the existence of sub-caste networks that provide mutual insurance to their members. Unique panel data providing information on caste loans and sub-caste identification are used to show that households that out-marry or migrate lose the services of these networks, which dampens mobility when alternative sources of insurance or finance of comparable quality are unavailable. At the aggregate level, the networks appear to have coped successfully with the rising inequality within sub-castes that accompanied the Green Revolution. Indeed, this increase in inequality lowered overall mobility, which was low to begin with, even further. The results suggest that caste networks will continue to smooth consumption in rural India for the foreseeable future, as they have for centuries.
Topic:: Economics, Inequality, Economic Growth, Mobility, and Insurance
Political Geography:: South Asia and India

5233. The challenge of United Nations reform

Author:: Christian Reus-Sumit, Marianne Hanson, Hilary Charlesworth, and William Maley
Publication Date:: 11-2004
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Australian National University Department of International Relations
Abstract:: The first half of the twentieth century saw multiple crises in the expanding international system, characterised most tragically and dramatically by two world wars, the Great Depression, and the Holocaust. In response, the international community engaged in history's most ambitious program of international institution building, a program that centred on the creation of the United Nations, the Bretton Woods institutions, and a plethora of functional regimes governing everything from arms control to the prohibition of genocide. Despite the impediments imposed by four decades of Cold War, these institutions have evolved into a complex global architecture of institutions which can claim partial yet significant credit for the decline in traditional interstate warfare, the containment of nuclear proliferation to a handful of states, management of the world economy, and the prosecution of an ever more comprehensive humanitarian agenda.
Topic:: Security, Development, Economics, and United Nations

5234. Rentier Shifts, Legitimacy, and the Social Sources of International Financial Hegemonie

Author:: Leonard Seabrooke
Publication Date:: 09-2004
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Australian National University Department of International Relations
Abstract:: This paper provides an analysis of the domestic legitimation of 'financial reform nexuses' during two periods of English and US international financial hegemony. Following Max Weber's work on the state and finance, I argue that positive state intervention is required to legitimise a 'financial reform nexus' (the interrelation of credit, property, and tax politics) for people on below median income. I hypothesise that sufficient legitimation of a financial reform nexus provides the means to generate and sustain international financial hegemony, including the capacity to tailor the structure of the international financial order to suit the hegemon's interests. Conversely, if the hegemon is unable to sustain the legitimation of its domestic financial reform nexus-a choice that correlates with negative state intervention that supports a 'rentier shift'-its capacity to maintain international financial hegemony wanes. I draw from examples of the legitimation of financial reform nexuses in England (1900-15) and the US (1985-2000), linking domestic legitimation to consequent changes in the structure of the international financial order. Through this analysis of the social sources of English and US international financial hegemonies, I differentiate the English 'international rentier economy' from the US 'international creditor economy'. Finally, I stress the importance of positive state intervention for the legitimation of the US financial reform nexus.
Topic:: Development, Economics, Government, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:: England

5235. Homes for an Inclusive City: A Comprehensive Housing Strategy for Washington, D. C.

Publication Date:: 06-2004
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Brookings Institution
Abstract:: The growth and movement of jobs and population in the Washington, DC metropolitan area and the persistence of the booming housing market in the city have created both a crisis of affordability and an opportunity to strengthen and rebuild portions of the District of Columbia.
Topic:: Civil Society, Economics, Government, and Human Welfare
Political Geography:: Washington and Colombia

5236. The Role of Perceived Opportunity in Fertility Choice: Evidence from Latin America

Author:: Louise C. Keely and Margaret MacLeod
Publication Date:: 06-2004
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Brookings Institution
Abstract:: We hypothesize that the perceived returns to human capital and to income uncertainty are important determinants of recent cross-sectional variation in Latin American fertility. An empirical study of cross-country individual level data supports the hypothesis. In particular, we find that a higher perceived return to human capital and higher income uncertainty both lead to higher fertility, all else equal. We interpret the evidence to suggest that increasing economic opportunity in Latin America should be accompanied by institutions that provide social protection in order to promote further decreases in fertility toward the replacement rate.
Topic:: Economics, Gender Issues, and Human Welfare
Political Geography:: South America, Latin America, Central America, and Caribbean

5237. Well Being and Unemployment in Russian in the 1990's: Can Society's Suffering Be Individuals' Solace?

Author:: Andrew; Gaddy Eggers
Publication Date:: 04-2004
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Brookings Institution
Abstract:: This paper studies the effect of regional unemployment rates on subjective well-being in post-Soviet Russia. Research conducted in Europe and the United States has documented that higher unemployment rates lead to lower reported life-satisfaction. By contrast, our Russian study finds a small but significant effect in the other direction. We estimate that du ring the period of our study (1995-2001), each percentage point increase in the local unemployment rate was correlated with the average well-being of people in the region increasing by an amount equivalent to moving 2% of the population up one level in life satisfaction measured on a five-point scale. Our intuition is that the so-called comparison effect drives this result: when individuals observe their peers suffering in a troubled economy, they lower their standards of what is good enough. All else equal, they thus perceive themselves to be better off in worse times. In highlighting the dependence of subjective well-being scores on expectations and reference groups, we sound a note of caution against using happiness data from economies in crisis to draw macroeconomic policy conclusions.
Topic:: Economics and Human Welfare
Political Geography:: Russia, United States, Europe, Asia, and Soviet Union

5238. The Challenge of Achieving High Work Participation Rates in Welfare Programs

Author:: LaDonna Pavetti
Publication Date:: 10-2004
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: The Brookings Institution
Abstract:: Efforts to reform the welfare system over the last two decades have largely focused on reducing welfare dependency by getting welfare recipients to work. By the time the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program was created by the welfare reform law of 1996, there was widespread agreement in the states that welfare recipients should be required to look for work and to do so shortly after (or even before) they began receiving cash assistance. Once TANF was implemented, work became a central focus of local welfare offices. However, as shown by the recent debates on the reauthorization, consensus on work requirements remains elusive.
Topic:: Economics, Government, Human Welfare, and Poverty

5239. Financial Access for Immigrants: Learning from Diverse Perspectives

Author:: Audrey Singer and Anna Paulson
Publication Date:: 10-2004
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: The Brookings Institution
Abstract:: Policymakers and academics are now catching up to financial institutions in their desire to understand how and why immigrants use U.S. financial markets. “Financial Access for Immigrants: Learning from Diverse Perspectives,” a conference co-sponsored by the Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program formerly the Center on Urban and Metropolitan Policy) and the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, was held at the Chicago Fed on April 15-16, 2004. It included presentations from scholars and practitioners who discussed recent research on the financial practices of immigrants as well as the practical experiences of for-profit and nonprofit institutions working to provide financial services to the immigrant community.
Topic:: Economics, International Trade and Finance, and Migration
Political Geography:: United States and Chicago

5240. Law of the Sea Convention: Should the U.S. Join?

Author:: David B. Sandalow
Publication Date:: 08-2004
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: The Brookings Institution
Abstract:: The United States has vital interests in the oceans. U.S. national security depends on naval mobility. U.S. prosperity depends on underwater energy resources. Ocean fisheries help feed the United States and much of the world. On February 25, 2004, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee unanimously recommended that the United States accede to the Law of the Sea Convention, which sets forth a comprehensive framework of rules for governing the oceans. The recommendation followed two hearings in which the committee heard testimony supporting the Convention from the Bush administration, the armed services, ocean industries, and environmental groups, among others. Following the favorable report from Foreign Relations, other congressional committees held hearings at which several lawmakers raised concerns about the treaty. The United States should promptly join the Law of the Sea Convention. Doing so would help protect U.S. national security, advance U.S. economic interests, and protect the marine environment. Prompt action is needed to ensure that the United States is a party by November 2004, when the Convention is open to amendment for the first time.
Topic:: Economics and International Law
Political Geography:: United States

5241. Offshoring, Import Competition, and the Jobless Recovery

Author:: Charles L. Schultze
Publication Date:: 08-2004
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: The Brookings Institution
Abstract:: Until the end of 2003, the United States had been experiencing a “jobless” recovery, with employment stagnating at levels well below those in 2000. A widespread perception has arisen that a major culprit behind the dearth of jobs was the growing practice of U.S. firms to relocate part of their domestic operations to lower-wage countries abroad. “Offshoring” presumably caused a reduction in U.S. output and a corresponding loss of jobs.
Topic:: Economics, Government, and Human Welfare
Political Geography:: United States

5242. Improving the Saver's Credit

Author:: William G. Gale and Peter R. Orszag
Publication Date:: 07-2004
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: The Brookings Institution
Abstract:: For decades, the U.S. private pension system has provided preferential tax treatment to employer-provided pensions, 401(k) plans, and individual retirement accounts relative to other forms of saving. The effectiveness of this system of subsidies is controversial. Despite the accumulation of vast amounts of wealth in pension accounts, concerns persist about the ability of the pension system to raise private and national saving, and in particular to improve saving outcomes among those households most in danger of inadequately preparing for retirement.
Topic:: Economics, Government, and Human Welfare
Political Geography:: United States

5243. Development and Foreign Investments: Lessons Learned from Mexican Banking

Author:: Jacob Steinfeld
Publication Date:: 07-2004
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Abstract:: FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT (FDI) HAS TRANSFORMED MEXICO'S BANKING SYSTEM during the past decade, making it the second largest in Latin America with $165 billion in commercial assets in 2003. In the past four years, Mexico received $25.3 billion of FDI into its financial sector. This composes nearly 40 percent of total FDI inflows into the country. As a result of FDI flowing into the country's financial sector, the Mexican banking system has the highest ratio of foreign ownership in Latin America.
Topic:: Economics, International Trade and Finance, and Political Economy
Political Geography:: Latin America and Mexico

5244. Job Anxiety Is Real-And It's Global

Author:: Sandra Polaski
Publication Date:: 05-2004
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Abstract:: These are not normal times. Two changes in the past decade have produced a huge global oversupply of labor and intense competition for an expanding array of jobs. First, the Cold War's end threw millions of workers, who formerly produced only for the socialist bloc, onto the global labor market. And second, that market has become integrated by technological change that now permits outsourcing of service as well as manufacturing jobs. The current economic recovery will not solve the resulting global mismatch of supply and demand, and it cannot be addressed by the United States alone. Many current policies aggravate the problem. This paper proposes that the United States revise its policies and devote a concerted effort to get the major countries to work together to expand employment at that global level.
Topic:: Economics, Globalization, and Industrial Policy
Political Geography:: United States

5245. Small Enterprises and Economic Policy

Author:: Simon Johnson and Anders Åslund
Publication Date:: 03-2004
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Abstract:: Institutions such as strong property rights and the rule of law are important for both long-run economic performance and short-run volatility. Developing good institutions is generally viewed as a desirable goal, but there is no agreed road map for such changes.
Topic:: Economics
Political Geography:: Israel, Eastern Europe, East Asia, and Latin America

5246. The Dominican Republic: Resolving the Banking Crisis and Restoring Growth

Author:: Steve H. Hanke
Publication Date:: 07-2004
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: The Cato Institute
Abstract:: After a decade of rapid economic growth, the Dominican Republic entered a downward spiral in 2003. The economy shrank for the first time since 1990, the inflation rate quadrupled, the Dominican peso collapsed, government debt more than doubled, interest rates soared, and the central bank incurred large losses.
Topic:: Economics, International Trade and Finance, and Political Economy
Political Geography:: Latin America and Caribbean

5247. CATO Institute: Rethinking Electricity Restructuring

Author:: Peter Van Doren and Jerry Taylor
Publication Date:: 11-2004
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Cato Institute
Abstract:: Electric utility restructuring was initiated in the 1990s to remedy the problem of relatively high electricity costs in the Northeast and California. While politicians hoped that reform would allow low-cost electricity to flow to highcost states and that competition would reduce prices, economists wanted reform to eliminate regulatory incentives to overbuild generating capacity and spur the introduction of real-time prices for electricity.
Topic:: Economics, Energy Policy, Government, and Politics
Political Geography:: California

5248. CATO Institute: Implementing Welfare Reform: A State Report Card

Author:: Jenifer Zeigler
Publication Date:: 10-2004
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Cato Institute
Abstract:: In 1996 the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act was signed into law, and the nation waited to see if welfare reform would truly “end welfare as we know it.” Block grant funding and administrative devolution gave the states a chance to move beyond pilot programs and prove that they could transition people off welfare more efficiently and effectively than the federal government. As a result, caseloads have dropped by more than half.
Topic:: Economics, Government, and Human Welfare
Political Geography:: United States

5249. CATO Institute: Fannie May, Freddie Mac, and Housing Finance: Why True Privatization is Good Public Policy

Author:: Lawrence J. White
Publication Date:: 10-2004
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Cato Institute
Abstract:: The Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac) are the two dominant entities in the secondary residential mortgage markets of the United States. They are an important and prominent part of a larger mosaic of extensive efforts by governments at all levels to encourage the production and consumption of housing.
Topic:: Economics, Government, and Industrial Policy
Political Geography:: United States

5250. CATO Institute: Health Care Regulation: A $169 Billion Hidden Tax

Author:: Christopher J. Conover
Publication Date:: 10-2004
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Cato Institute
Abstract:: Students of regulation have known for decades that the burden of regulation on the U.S. economy is sizable, with the latest figures suggesting this cost may approach $1 trillion in 2004. Surprisingly, given that the health industry is often viewed as among the most heavily regulated sectors of the U.S. economy, previous estimates generally have ignored the cost of regulating health care services.
Topic:: Economics, Government, and Human Welfare
Political Geography:: United States

5251. CATO Institute: Iraq's Odious Debts

Author:: Patricia Adams
Publication Date:: 09-2004
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Cato Institute
Abstract:: Most debts created by Saddam Hussein in the name of the Iraqi people would qualify as “odious” according to the international Doctrine of Odious Debts. This legal doctrine holds that debts not used in the public interest are not legally enforceable.
Topic:: Economics and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:: United States, Iraq, and Middle East

5252. CATO Institute: A Lesson in Waste: Where Does All the Federal Education Money Go?

Author:: Neal McCluskey
Publication Date:: 07-2004
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Cato Institute
Abstract:: Since the 1965 passage of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which concentrated unprecedented authority over American education in the hands of the federal government, federal lawmakers have passed increasingly restrictive laws and drastically escalated education spending, which ballooned from around $25 billion in 1965 (adjusted for inflation) to more than $108 billion in 2002.
Topic:: Economics, Education, and Government
Political Geography:: United States and America

5253. CATO Institute: Deficits, Interest Rates, and Taxes: Myths and Realities

Author:: Alan Reynolds
Publication Date:: 06-2004
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Cato Institute
Abstract:: The federal government's swing from budget surpluses to budget deficits has raised concerns about possible negative economic effects. Some economists have argued that deficits will raise interest rates, reduce economic growth, increase trade deficits, and possibly create a financial crisis.
Topic:: Debt, Economics, and Government
Political Geography:: United States

5254. CATO Institute: Downsizing the Federal Government

Author:: Chris Edwards
Publication Date:: 06-2004
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Cato Institute
Abstract:: The federal government is headed toward a financial crisis as a result of chronic overspending, large deficits, and huge future cost increases in Social Security and Medicare. Social Security and Medicare would be big fiscal challenges even if the rest of the government were lean and efficient, but the budget is littered with wasteful and unnecessary programs.
Topic:: Conflict Resolution, Economics, and Government
Political Geography:: United States

5255. South Africa's War against Malaria: Lessons for the Developing World

Author:: Roger Bate and Richard Tren
Publication Date:: 03-2004
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Cato Institute
Abstract:: Malaria imposes enormous human suffering and economic costs on many poor countries. For South Africa, which has a relatively minor malaria problem for a developing country, from 2000 to 2002 the economic cost ranged between US$15 million and US$41 million, excluding estimates of the human suffering and estimates of lost investment in malarial areas..
Topic:: Economics, Environment, and Human Welfare
Political Geography:: Africa and United States

5256. Transforming Competitiveness in European Transition Economies: The Role of Foreign Direct Investment

Author:: Jasminka Sohinger
Publication Date:: 05-2004
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Institute of European Studies (IES), UC Berkeley
Abstract:: Foreign direct investment (FDI) has become one of the main drivers of globalization and integration of the European transition economies into the world economy, especially the European Union. Its growth enhancing capacity has played a significant role in transforming their competitiveness, both locally and on international markets, and its propensity to stimulate institution buliding is changing both economic and political landscapes in the region. The economic conditionality of FDI and the EU access-driven reforms are working hand in hand in helping the goals of transition and the convergence process. The achievement of both goals is seen as the best guarantor of peace and security in the region.
Topic:: Security, Economics, Emerging Markets, Globalization, International Trade and Finance, and Foreign Direct Investment
Political Geography:: Europe

5257. Copying the Nasdaq Stock Market in Europe: Supranational Politics and the Convergence-Divergence Debate

Author:: Elliot Posner
Publication Date:: 04-2004
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Institute of European Studies (IES), UC Berkeley
Abstract:: Financial arrangements reflect political bargains. Like national labor regimes, the formal and informal rules and relationships governing the allocation of financial resources distinguish one type of capitalist society from another. How firms are financed shapes companies and industries and affects the risks citizens must bear, how they save for retirement, where they work, their job security and ability to buy homes, and the disparity between rich and poor. Leading theories provide increasingly inadequate explanations for changing institutional arrangements in western European finance. They emphasize convergence to global standards and the causal effects of either increased levels of mobile capital or the diffusion of ideas. Or else they describe change within a national trajectory and attribute it primarily to domestic politics, national historical institutions and path dependency. They exclude the possibility of independent regional-level causes. My empirical study of changing financial arrangements for smaller European companies between 1977 and 2003 reveals causes rooted firmly in European Union politics. Neither global forces nor national institutions were primarily responsible for drawing the stock exchanges of Europe into cross-border competition and prompting them to create new US-style markets. Instead, supranational political entrepreneurs, acting with relative autonomy, largely drove this pattern of institutional change. In pushing beyond the international-domestic dichotomy and emphasizing the independent effects of European-level politics, my argument contributes to a growing body of detailed empirical research on the national and global impact of the EU. It also provides more sustained analysis of the causes, mechanisms and effects of adopting US institutional forms outside American borders.
Topic:: Conflict Resolution, Economics, and Politics
Political Geography:: America and Europe

5258. Industrialization and Urbanization: Did the Steam Engine Contribute to the Growth of Cities in the United States?

Author:: Sukkoo Kim
Publication Date:: 09-2004
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Institute of European Studies (IES), UC Berkeley
Abstract:: Industrialization and urbanization are seen as twin processes of economic development. However, the exact nature of their causal relationship is still open to considerable debate. This paper uses firm-level data from the manuscripts of the decennial censuses between 1850 and 1880 to examine whether the adoption of the steam engine as the primary power source by manufacturers during industrialization contributed to urbanization. While the data indicate that steam-powered firms were more likely to locate in urban areas than water-powered firms, the adoption of the steam engine did not contribute substantially to urbanization.
Topic:: Development, Economics, and Industrial Policy
Political Geography:: United States and Europe

5259. A New Form of Governance? Comparing the Open Method of Coordination to Multilateral Surveillance by the IMF and the OECD

Author:: Armin Schäfer
Publication Date:: 09-2004
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies
Abstract:: The Open Method of Coordination (OMC) has received much attention in the recent EU-literature. The predominant view claims that the OMC is not only a new but also an effective policy-making instrument. This paper raises doubts about both claims by offering a comparison of soft law policy coordination in three international organizations. More specifically, this paper compares the European Employment Strategy – which was the first use of the OMC – to the Broad Economic Policy Guidelines of the EU, the OECD Economic Surveys, and the IMF Article IV Consultations. Based on expert interviews, it seeks to demonstrate that these procedures are forms of multilateral surveillance that do not differ in kind. Such a comparative analysis of the OMC refutes claims to its novelty. Having compared the four procedures, a more general model of multilateral surveillance consisting of six elements is generated that facilitates further comparisons. This paper concludes that governments select voluntarist procedures mainly to secure their own competencies rather than to realize common goals. Effective problem-solving is therefore not necessarily the dominant objective of soft law.
Topic:: Economics, International Law, and International Organization
Political Geography:: Europe

5260. Political Conditionality of Economic Interactions in the Middle East; Turkey's Relations with Iran, Iraq, and Syria

Author:: Mustafa Aydin and Damla Aras
Publication Date:: 06-2004
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Institution:: Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Abstract:: The political logic (i.e., political perceptions of the ruling elite in a given country and nature of the political relations with other countries) determines economic activity, not the other way around, among the proto-capitalist states of the Middle East. As the political ties has primacy in the region in determining the course of economic relations, even market oriented democratic (or quasi-democratic) countries have to accept the prominence of political-strategic relations when dealing with such states. This paper will examine the interrelated fluctuation of trade and political tensions between Turkey and its immediate Middle Eastern neighbours - Iran, Iraq, and Syria. It will highlight the political determinants of the relationship between these countries; will discuss the role of the US as the independent variable; and will assess the possible effects of the emergence of Justice and Development Party government in Turkey on country's political and economic relations with its Middle Eastern neighbours.
Topic:: International Relations, Economics, and International Political Economy
Political Geography:: United States, Iraq, Europe, Iran, Turkey, Middle East, and Syria

5261. Chaos in Internationality, A Civilizational Evolution and an Islamic (F)actor: The Case of MÜSİAD in Turkey

Author:: Sennur Özdemir
Publication Date:: 09-2004
Content Type:: Journal Article
Institution:: Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Abstract:: A radical crisis in capitalist system has been determined in the first part of the study, in relation with the present chaotic international atmosphere, resulting in a civilisational turn (from the West to the East). The dominant role attributed to the (Islamic) East in this process will be argued in the second section. Lastly, this argument will be discussed around the MÜSİAD in Turkey, as an organisation (with an Islamic reputation) in recently declared 'model country' for the Islamic Middle East. The MÜSİAD has stamped on the agenda of 1990's in many respects with its multi-functional and multilateral positioning determined by the kinds of activities intersecting economic and socio-cultural (indirectly political as well) fields. This organisation is representative in reflecting Turkey's overall transformation in its multidimensionality (from a specific form of state capitalism to a specific form of market capitalism).
Topic:: Economics, Islam, and Religion
Political Geography:: Turkey and Middle East

5262. Immanuel Wallerstein: Reapproaching Social Sciences

Author:: Elçin Aktoprak
Publication Date:: 12-2004
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Institution:: Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Abstract:: Immanuel Wallerstein is one of the distinguished social scientists differentiating our general way of understanding and perceiving the world by developing the thesis that is based on world-system analysis. The aim of this article is limited to a short explanation of his approach. In this context, in the first chapter Wallerstein's world-system analysis and social sciences approach will be dealt with and in the second chapter modern world-system will be examined. Wallerstein considers modern world-system as a capitalist world-economy. Hence, Wallerstein's perception on capitalism and geoculture and his opinions on class, race, national and ethnic identity will be held in the second chapter.
Topic:: Civil Society, Economics, and Globalization

5263. Globalization, Western Modernization and Terrorism: Political Islam Against the West

Author:: Rasim Özgür Dönmez
Publication Date:: 12-2004
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Institution:: Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Abstract:: The aim of the article is to evaluate the relationship between globalization, modernity and violence in the context of the antagonistic relationship between political Islam and the West. To put it more succinctly, this study seeks an answer for the question "why and how do globalization and modernity breed global political violence?" It tries to answer this question by means of evaluating the formation, the development and the transformation process of political Islam by considering and examining the role of the West, modernity and the changing political, economic and psychological conditions stemming from globalization. In this framework, this study consists of two sections. The first section evaluates the effects of globalization and modernity on the formation of political violence. The second section explains and examines the relationship between globalization, modernity, violence and political Islam.
Topic:: Development, Economics, Globalization, Islam, and Terrorism

5264. The Unique Evolution of the State in the Turkic Republics of the Caspian Sea

Author:: Mert Bilgin
Publication Date:: 12-2004
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Institution:: Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Abstract:: Post-Soviet countries are either passing through a transition period, or have already completed it, as an outcome of the neoliberal pressures of international actors. The attempts have focused on reconstruction of the state because of its being conceived as an impediment in front of political and economic liberalization. The states of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan resemble other transition economies in the sense that they share a similar Soviet legacy. Nevertheless, they deviate from the rest by the virtue of natural resources which endow the state the ability to re-produce itself. The state of Azerbaijan has liberated itself from the society by using the natural resource rents, which in turn outmode taxation as an instrument of revenue. Despite Kazakhstan's discernible progress in launching economic reforms, the state has politically kept its solid structure. The Kazakh state has preferred to allocate the natural gas revenues for economic transformation with no political liberalization. Under an autocratic regime, the Turkmen state has strengthened its positioning vis-à-vis the society with no economic and political transformation.
Topic:: Communism, Development, and Economics
Political Geography:: Central Asia, Kazakhstan, Soviet Union, Azerbaijan, and Turkmenistan

5265. Globalization and Regional Income Inequality: Evidence from within China

Author:: Guanghua Wan, Zhao Chen, and Ming Lu
Publication Date:: 11-2004
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: China's recent accession to the WTO is expected to accelerate its integration into the world economy, which aggravates concerns over the impact of globalization on the already rising inter-region income inequality in China. This paper discusses China's globalization process and estimates an income generating function, incorporating trade and FDI variables. It then applies the newly developed Shapley value decomposition technique to quantify the contributions of globalization, along with other variables, to regional inequality. It is found that (a) globalization constitutes a positive and substantial share to regional inequality and the share rises over time; (b) capital is one of the largest and increasingly important contributor to regional inequality; (c) economic reform characterized by privatization exerts a significant impact on regional inequality; and (d) the relative contributions of education, location, urbanization and dependency ratio to regional inequality have been declining.
Topic:: Economics and Globalization
Political Geography:: China and Asia

5266. Development Policy: An Introduction for Students

Author:: Tony Addison
Publication Date:: 10-2004
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: This paper discusses development policy objectives, noting how these have changed over the years, with a more explicit focus on poverty reduction coming recently to the fore. It also examines the relationship between economic growth and poverty reduction. The paper then discusses how to achieve economic growth, starting with the caveat that growth must be environmentally sustainable, and moves on to the big question of the respective roles for the market mechanism and the state in allocating society's productive resources. The paper next discusses how economic reform has been implemented, and the political difficulties that arise. It concludes that getting development policy right has the potential to lift millions out of poverty.
Topic:: Development, Economics, and Politics
Political Geography:: United States

5267. Income Risk and Welfare Status of Rural Households in Nigeria: Ekiti State as a Test Case

Author:: B. Oluwatayo
Publication Date:: 09-2004
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: This paper examines the impact of income risk on the level of well-being of rural households in Nigeria. While income risk is defined as the risks associated with variability in income well-being is defined in terms of the level of utility reached by a given individual. This level is a function of goods and services that the individual consumes. The study is based on primary data collected from a sample of 285 households in Ekiti State, Nigeria. Analysis of the data revealed that household heads' age, years of formal education, household size, size of land cultivated and total expenditure (on food and non-food items) are major determinants of income risks among households in the study area. Also, going by the indices of various social indicators of well-being considered, it was revealed that income risk impacts negatively on the well-being of households in the study area.
Topic:: Demographics, Economics, and Human Welfare
Political Geography:: Africa and Nigeria

5268. A Contract Perspective on the International Finance Facility

Author:: George Mavrotas and Tun Lin
Publication Date:: 09-2004
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: The present paper is a first attempt to develop a theoretical model using a short-term vis-á-vis long-term contract framework within which donor countries' endorsement or rejection decision towards the recently proposed International Finance Facility (IFF) is rationalized. The current foreign aid system is portrayed as being similar to a series of short-term contracts, where donor countries are able to adjust the aid amount to reflect environmental change (broadly defined to take into account changes in public opinion, domestic situation, etc.). The benefit of this system is in its flexibility. Frontloading aid, on the other hand, as proposed by the IFF proposal, has the benefit of smoothing out the flows over time. In the model presented in this paper, donor countries balance these two contract schemes to determine the endorsement or rejection of the IFF proposal. By using historical aid data covering the period 1990-2003 for all DAC donor countries, our empirical analysis shows the payoffs and relative advantages of these two contract schemes.
Topic:: Debt, Economics, International Political Economy, and International Trade and Finance

5269. Social Groups and Economic Poverty: A Problem in Measurement

Author:: S. Subramanian
Publication Date:: 09-2004
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: This paper points to some elementary conflicts between the claims of interpersonal and intergroup justice as they manifest themselves in the process of seeking a real-valued index of poverty which is required to satisfy certain seemingly desirable properties. It indicates how 'group—sensitive' poverty measures, similar to the Anand-Sen (1995) 'Gender Adjusted Human Development Index' and the Subramanian-Majumdar (2002) 'Group-Disparity Adjusted Deprivation Index', may be constructed. Some properties of a specific 'group-sensitive' poverty index are appraised, and the advantage of having a 'flexible' measure which is capable of effecting a tradeoff between the claims of interpersonal and inter-group equality is spelt out. The implications of directly incorporating group disparities into the measurement of poverty for poverty comparisons and anti-poverty policy are also discussed.
Topic:: Development, Economics, Human Welfare, Poverty, and International Affairs

5270. Participatory Approaches and the Measurement of Human Well-being

Author:: Sarah White and Jethro Pettit
Publication Date:: 08-2004
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: This paper considers the use of participatory methods in international development research, and asks what contribution these can make to the definition and measurement of well-being. It draws on general lessons arising from the project level, two larger-scale policy research processes sponsored by the World Bank, and the experience of quality of life studies. It also considers emerging experiments with using participatory methods to generate quantitative data. The paper closes by assessing the future trajectory of participatory approaches in well-being research, and reflects on some dilemmas regarding the use of participatory data on well-being in the policymaking process.
Topic:: Development, Economics, Human Welfare, and International Cooperation

5271. Output and Price Fluctuations in China's Reform Years: What Role did Money Play?

Author:: Guanghua Wan and Yin Zhang
Publication Date:: 08-2004
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: The Chinese economy underwent cyclical fluctuations in growth and inflation in the reform period. Contrasting views exist on the role of money in such fluctuations. This paper assesses these views employing structural VEC models based on the exchange equation. It is found that in the long run money accommodates, rather than causes, changes in output and prices. In the short run, price fluctuations are mostly attributable to shocks that have permanent effects on prices and money but not on real output. These shocks also account for a large proportion of fluctuations in money, and strongly influence the movements of output.
Topic:: Economics, Emerging Markets, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:: China and Asia

5272. What Accounts for China's Trade Balance Dynamics?

Author:: Guanghua Wan and Yin Zhang
Publication Date:: 08-2004
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: This paper proposes a structural VAR model which extends the frameworks of Hoffmaister and Roldós (2001) and Prasad (1999). The model is then used to analyse the sources of China's trade balance fluctuations in the period of 1985–2000. Efforts are made to distinguish the forces which underlie the long-run trend in trade balance from those with transitory impacts. The effects of four types of shock are examined—the foreign supply shock, the domestic supply shock, the relative demand shock, and the nominal shock. Among other findings, two emerge as important. First, the movements in China's trade are largely the result of real shocks. Second, the Renminbi is undervalued, yet changes in the exchange rate bear little on the trade balance. Therefore, monetary measures would not suffice to redress China's trade 'imbalance'.
Topic:: Economics, Emerging Markets, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:: China and Asia

5273. China's Business Cycles: Perspectives from an AD–AS Model

Author:: Guanghua Wan and Yin Zhang
Publication Date:: 08-2004
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: This paper represents a first attempt to study China's business cycles using a formal analytical framework, namely, a structural VAR model. It is found that: (a) demand shocks were the dominant source of macroeconomic fluctuations, but supply shocks had gained more importance over time; (b) the driving forces of demand shocks were consumption and fixed investment in the first cycle of 1985–90, but shifted to fixed investment and world demand in the second cycle of 1991–96 and the post-1997 deflation period; and (c) macroeconomic policies did not play an important part either in initiating or counteracting cyclical fluctuations.
Topic:: Demographics, Economics, and Emerging Markets
Political Geography:: China

5274. Decomposing Spatial Differences in Poverty in India

Author:: Shatakshee Dhongde
Publication Date:: 08-2004
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: Over the last decade, India has been one of the fastest growing economies, and has experienced considerable decline in overall income poverty. However, in a vast country like India, poverty levels vary significantly across the different states. In this paper, we analyze the differences between poverty at the state and national level, separately for the rural and urban sector, in the year 1999-2000. Instead of following the usual practice of decomposing the changes in poverty over time, we decompose the changes in poverty across regions. Such decomposition reveals that differences in state and national poverty levels were largely explained by differences in the state and national mean income levels. Differences in the state and national distributions of income were less important in explaining spatial differences in poverty. An important policy implication of our results is that states with extremely high levels of poverty would have reduced poverty significantly by raising their mean income levels to the national mean income, instead of changing their distribution of income to match the national income distribution.
Topic:: Demographics, Economics, and Poverty
Political Geography:: India and Asia

5275. Divergent Means and Convergent Inequality of Incomes among the Provinces and Cities of Urban China

Author:: John Knight, Li Shi, and Zhao Renwei
Publication Date:: 08-2004
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: Two precisely comparable national household surveys relating to 1988 and 1995 are used to analyse changes in the inequality of income in urban China. Over those seven years province mean income per capita grew rapidly but diverged across provinces, whereas intra-province income inequality grew rapidly but converged across provinces. The reasons for these trends are explored by means of various forms of decomposition analysis. Comparisons are also made between the coastal provinces and the inland provinces. The decompositions show the central role of wages, and within wages profitrelated bonuses, together with the immobility of labour across provinces, in explaining mean income divergence. The timing of economic reforms helps to explain the convergence of intra-province income inequality. Policy conclusions are drawn.
Topic:: Demographics, Development, and Economics
Political Geography:: China and Asia

5276. Income Inequality in Rural China: Regression-based Decomposition Using Household Data

Author:: Guanghua Wan and Zhangyue Zhou
Publication Date:: 08-2004
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: A considerable literature exists on the measurement of income inequality in China and its increasing trend. Much less is known, however, about the driving forces of this trend and their quantitative contributions. Conventional decompositions, by factor components or by population subgroups, only provide limited information on the determinants of income inequality. This paper represents an early attempt to apply the regression-based decomposition framework to the study of inequality accounting in rural China, using household level data. It is found that geography has been the dominant factor but is becoming less important in explaining total inequality. Capital input emerges as a most significant determinant of income inequality. Farming structure is more important than labour and other inputs in contributing to income inequality across households.
Topic:: Demographics, Development, and Economics
Political Geography:: China and Asia

5277. Fifty Years of Regional Inequality in China: A Journey through Central Planning, Reform, and Openness

Author:: Ravi Kanbur and Xiaobo Zhang
Publication Date:: 08-2004
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: This paper constructs and analyses a long-run time-series for regional inequality in China from the Communist Revolution to the present. There have been three peaks of inequality in the last fifty years, coinciding with the Great Famine of the late 1950s, the Cultural Revolution of the late 1960s and 1970s, and finally the period of openness and global integration in the late 1990s. Econometric analysis establishes that regional inequality is explained in the different phases by three key policy variables; the ratio of heavy industry to gross output value, the degree of decentralization, and the degree of openness.
Topic:: Development, Economics, Industrial Policy, and Political Economy
Political Geography:: China and Asia

5278. Industrial Location and Spatial Inequality: Theory and Evidence from India

Author:: Somik V. Lall and Sanjoy Chakravorty
Publication Date:: 08-2004
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: We argue that spatial inequality of industry location is a primary cause of spatial income inequality in developing nations. We focus on understanding the process of spatial industrial variation—identifying the spatial factors that have cost implications for firms, and the factors that influence the location decisions of new industrial units. The analysis has two parts. First we examine the contribution of economic geography factors to the cost structure of firms in eight industry sectors and show that local industrial diversity is the one factor with significant and substantial cost reducing effects. We then show that new private sector industrial investments in India are biased toward existing industrial and coastal districts, whereas state industrial investments (in deep decline after structural reforms) are far less biased toward such districts. We conclude that structural reforms lead to increased spatial inequality in industrialization, and therefore, income.
Topic:: Development, Economics, Industrial Policy, and Political Economy
Political Geography:: South Asia and India

5279. Commune-Level Estimation of Poverty Measures and its Application in Cambodia

Author:: Tomoki Fujii
Publication Date:: 07-2004
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: In this study, we combined the Cambodian socioeconomic survey for 1997 and the country's population census of 1998 to produce poverty measures at the commune-level in Cambodia using the small-area estimation technique developed by Elbers, Lanjouw and Lanjouw. While there are a number of communes for which the standard errors associated with the estimates are too high, we found that they are on average small enough to be useful. We illustrate the application of poverty maps with reference to education programmes.
Topic:: Economics, Education, and Poverty
Political Geography:: Cambodia and Southeast Asia

5280. Multiactor Global Funds: New Tools to Address Urgent Global Problems

Author:: Jeremy Heimans
Publication Date:: 07-2004
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: Multiactor global funds (MGFs) are emerging as important new mechanisms for the financing of development and other global priorities. MGFs like the Global Fund for AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria are distinctive because they are administered and financed by multiactor coalitions of governments, international organizations, the private sector and civil society, they operate independently of any one institution and are tied to particular issue or policy areas. This paper considers the desirability of MGFs as instruments for international financial mobilization, resource allocation and as a form of experimentation in global governance. It is argued that MGFs hold considerable promise as focal points for generating additional public and private resources to address urgent global problems and to finance global public goods. They may be more operationally nimble than traditional mechanisms and capture some of the benefits of collaboration among different actors. However, MGFs may also result in a less coherent response to global problems, duplicate existing structures and be weakly democratically accountable.
Topic:: International Relations, Economics, International Trade and Finance, and Non-Governmental Organization

5281. The Transition from Official Aid to Private Capital Flows: Implications for a Developing Country

Author:: Renu Kohli
Publication Date:: 07-2004
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: India's capital account displays a sharp swing in external financing from official assistance to private capital transfers in the 1990s. This paper examines the implications of this transition for the country. An analysis of the private resource transfer reveals that unlike official flows, private capital flows are associated with real exchange rate appreciation, expansion in domestic money supply and stock market growth, liquidity and volatility. The paper concludes with a discussion on the implications of the transition for economic policy.
Topic:: Economics, International Trade and Finance, and Political Economy
Political Geography:: South Asia and India

5282. Foreign Aid Resurgent: New Spirit or Old Hangover?

Author:: Peter Burnell
Publication Date:: 07-2004
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: This study is premised on the view that reports circulating in the 1990s, claiming foreign aid was in terminal crisis, were premature. Aid's reviving fortunes are explained in terms both of a growing awareness of the uneven implications of globalization and the after-effects of the terrorist events of 11 September 2001. However these two 'drivers' make uneasy partners. Furthermore, aid for democratization, argued in the 1990s to be an instrument for indirectly addressing socioeconomic weakness and improving development aid's effectiveness—making it a positive feature in a bleak decade—is increasingly seen as problematic. For now, aid's resurgence should target pro-poor development rather than democratic reform, although the likelihood is that old fashioned determinants of realpolitik will continue to get in the way.
Topic:: International Relations, Economics, Human Welfare, and Poverty

5283. Prospects for 'Pro-Poor' Growth in Africa

Author:: Abebe Shimeles and Arne Bigsten
Publication Date:: 07-2004
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: This paper examines trends in income distribution and its linkages to economic growth and poverty reduction in order to understand the prospects for achieving poverty reduction in Africa. We examine the levels and trends in income distribution in some African countries and calculate pro-poor growth indices. Different growth patterns are simulated for Ethiopia, Uganda, Mozambique, and South Africa. We conclude that the balance between policies aimed at growth and measures aimed at redistribution should depend on the elasticity of the growth-equity tradeoff. We also discuss what the appropriate ingredients of a pro-poor strategy would be in the African setting.
Topic:: Economics, Human Welfare, and Poverty
Political Geography:: Uganda, Africa, South Africa, Mozambique, and Ethiopia

5284. Dynamics of Poverty in Ethiopia

Author:: Abebe Shimeles and Arne Bigsten
Publication Date:: 06-2004
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: This paper addresses issues related to the dynamics of income poverty using unique household panel data for urban and rural areas of Ethiopia covering the period 1994-97. The percentage of households that remained in poverty was twice as large in urban areas as in rural areas. This suggests that income variability is a serious problem in rural areas, while the persistence is a key feature of urban poverty. The paper also discusses household characteristics that are correlated with the incidence of chronic poverty as well as vulnerability to poverty. A strategy that promotes consumption smoothing through say access to credit can work well in rural areas, while income or employment generation are required for poverty alleviation in urban areas.
Topic:: Economics, Human Welfare, and Poverty
Political Geography:: Africa and Ethiopia

5285. On the Arbitrariness and Robustness of Multi-Dimensional Poverty Rankings

Author:: Mozaffar Qizilbash
Publication Date:: 06-2004
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: It is often argued that multi-dimensional measures of well-being and poverty—such as those based on the capability approach and related views—are ad hoc. Rankings based on them are not, for this reason, robust to changes in the selection of weights used. In this paper, it is argued that the extent of potential arbitrariness and the range of issues relating to robustness have been underestimated in this context. Several issues relating to both the identification of the poor and the use of dimension-specific data are distinguished. These issues are then discussed in the context of the inter-provincial ranking of poverty in South Africa in 1995-6. It turns out that this ranking is fairly robust, and that some important policy-relevant results about the distinction between 'income'/'expenditure' and 'human' poverty for the South African context are reinforced rather than undermined by checking for robustness. In particular, while KwaZulu Natal is in the best three in terms of the standard expenditure measures for various choices of poverty line, it is third worst in terms of all the multi-dimensional rankings presented here.
Topic:: Economics, Human Welfare, and Poverty
Political Geography:: Africa and South Africa

5286. Spatial Inequality and Development in Central Asia

Author:: Kathryn Anderson and Richard Pomfret
Publication Date:: 06-2004
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: This paper focuses on inequality in living standards across oblasts and regions within Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Regional inequality is an important area of research and policy development. Inequality in income and consumption are logical outcomes in a market-based economic system. If inequality within countries exists because of barriers to competition, then inequality can foment internal tension, and economic and social development within countries is negatively affected. We examine Living Standards Measurement data from Tajikistan, Kyrgystan, and Kazakhstan and additional survey data from Uzbekistan. We find that the most important explanations for the variation in expenditures per capita in the region are household location, household composition, and education. We find large variation in per capita expenditure by location within each country, and the differences go beyond the simple rural-urban distinction. Family structure is also important, and in all countries, having a university educated household head significantly improves household welfare; expenditures are higher in these households than in households with less educated heads. We examine inequality in access to community services and find that provision of public goods reinforces regional inequality patterns in expenditures that we measure among households. The poorest households are likely to live in communities with the lowest access to public services.
Topic:: Economics, Human Welfare, and Poverty
Political Geography:: Central Asia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan

5287. Trade Liberalization and Spatial Inequality: A Methodological Innovation in Vietnamese Perspective

Author:: Henning Tarp Jensen and Finn Tarp
Publication Date:: 06-2004
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: In this paper we calibrate two static computable general equilibrium (CGE) models with respectively 16 and 5,999 representative households. Aggregated and disaggregated household categories are consistently embedded in a 2000 social accounting matrix for Vietnam, mapping on a one-to-one basis to each other. Distinct differences in poverty assessments emerge when the impact of trade liberalization is analyzed in the two models. This highlights the importance of modeling micro household behavior and related income and expenditure distributions endogenously within a static CGE model framework. Our simulations indicate that poverty will rise following a revenue-neutral lowering of trade taxes. This is interpreted as a worst case scenario, which suggests that government should be proactive in combining trade liberalization measures with a propoor fiscal response to avoid increasing poverty in the short to medium term.
Topic:: Economics, Human Welfare, and Poverty
Political Geography:: Vietnam and Southeast Asia

5288. Microsimulation, CGE and Macro Modelling for Transition and Developing Economies

Author:: James B. Davies
Publication Date:: 06-2004
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: Alternative approaches to modelling distributional and welfare effects of changes in policy and the economic environment in developing and transition countries are surveyed. Microsimulations range from pure accounting approaches to models with behavioural equations based on econometric estimates and various dynamic models. Microsimulation accounting models are key to analysing the impact effects of tax and benefit changes and are becoming widespread. Computable general equilibrium (CGE) modelling endogenizes price changes and changes in industry and labour market structure. An essential CGE input is a social accounting matrix (SAM), which can be used to do simple multiplier analyses. A wide range of macroeconomic models have also been used in developing countries, endogenizing variables like interest rates and exchange rates.
Topic:: Development, Economics, and Human Welfare

5289. Changes in Spatial Income Inequality in the Philippines: An Exploratory Analysis

Author:: Arsenio M. Balisacan and Nobuhiko Fuwa
Publication Date:: 05-2004
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: The purpose of this paper is to establish some basic facts about income inequality in the Philippines, with a special focus on the importance of spatial income inequality. Despite major fluctuations in macroeconomic performances, income inequality remained relatively stable during the years 1985-2000. Spatial inequality accounts for a sizable but not overwhelming portion of the national-level income inequality, and the relative importance of spatial inequality was declining over time. We also find that mean income levels across provinces were converging at a much faster rate than those observed in currently developed countries.
Topic:: Development, Economics, and Human Welfare
Political Geography:: Philippines and Southeast Asia

5290. The Medium- and Long-term Effects of an Expansion of Education on Poverty in Côte d'Ivoire: A Dynamic Microsimulation Study

Author:: Michael Grimm
Publication Date:: 05-2004
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: I use a dynamic microsimulation model to analyse the distributional effects of an expansion of education in Côte d'Ivoire in the medium and long term. The simulations are performed in order to replicate several policies in force or subject to debate in this country. Various hypotheses concerning the evolution of returns to education and labour demand are tested. The direct effects between education and income as well as the different transmission channels, such as occupational choices, fertility, and household composition, are analysed. The effects of educational expansion on the growth of household incomes, their distribution and poverty depend very crucially on the hypothesis made on the evolution of returns to education and labour demand. If returns to education remain constant and the labour market segmented, the effects will be very modest.
Topic:: Economics, Education, and Human Welfare
Political Geography:: Africa

5291. Economic Well-being and Non-economic Well-being: A Review of the Meaning and Measurement of Poverty

Author:: Andrew Sumner
Publication Date:: 04-2004
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: This paper discusses the measurement of poverty and well-being. A historical overview is given of the last fifty years. This is followed by discussion of three groupings of indicators: those measures based primarily on economic well-being; those based on non-economic well-being and composite indicators. It is argued that the choice of indicator should reflect its purpose and that economic measures are best when quick, rough-and-ready, short run, aggregate inferences are required. In contrast, non-economic measures are better when greater depth on medium- or longer-term trends and/or dis-aggregation are required.
Topic:: Demographics, Economics, Human Welfare, and Poverty

5292. Well-being and the Complexity of Poverty: A Subjective Well-being Approach

Author:: Mariano Rojas
Publication Date:: 04-2004
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: This investigation studies human well-being from a subjective well-being approach. On the basis of a Mexican database the investigation shows that there is a weak relationship between subjective well-being and indicators of well-being such as income and consumption. Therefore, subjective well-being provides additional useful information to study human well-being and, in consequence, poverty.
Topic:: Economics, Human Welfare, and Poverty
Political Geography:: Latin America, Central America, North America, and Mexico

5293. Income-based Measures of Average Well-being

Author:: Steve Dowrick
Publication Date:: 03-2004
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: Internation comparisons of average national incomes omit important information about leisure, home production, health, etc. They are also bedevilled by index number problems. This paper suggests ways of combining working hours and life-expectancy with income comparisons, and shows that the fixed-price indexes of real income, such as those in the Penn World Table, substantially understate the income gaps between the poorest and richest countries.
Topic:: Demographics, Economics, Human Welfare, and Poverty

5294. The Characteristics of Macroeconomic Shocks in the CFA Franc Zone

Author:: David Fielding, Kevin Lee, and Kalvinder Shields
Publication Date:: 03-2004
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: In this paper we fit a VECM in output and prices to data from ten countries of the CFA Franc Zone. This model allows for various cross-country interactions in both the short run and the long run. The VECM parameters are used to estimate persistence profiles of different kinds, in order to identify the degree of homogeneity in the way in which the countries respond to macroeconomic shocks. In this way we can shed light on questions about the likely size of the costs incurred from these countries' membership of a monetary union.
Topic:: Economics, International Organization, International Political Economy, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:: Africa

5295. Monetary Policy in the Franc Zone: Estimating Interest Rate Rules for the BCEAO

Author:: Anja Shortland and David Stasavage
Publication Date:: 02-2004
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: This paper examines to what extent the central bank for the West African Economic and Monetary Union (BCEAO) has used interest rate policy in response to domestic economic developments. We show that while in the long run the BCEAO matches changes in French (Eurozone) interest rates one for one, in the short run it retains freedom to react to domestic economic variables, such as inflation, the output gap, its foreign exchange position and government borrowing.
Topic:: Economics, International Organization, International Political Economy, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:: Africa, France, and West Africa

5296. Poverty and Growth in the WAEMU after the 1994 Devaluation

Author:: Jean-Paul Azam
Publication Date:: 02-2004
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: This paper brings out that poverty increased massively in the wake of the 1994 devaluation of the CFA franc, despite a significant recovery of economic growth. Although this increase affected all the social groups, it fell mostly on the urban poor. An analytical model is presented, which explains this puzzle by the stratification of the labour market, assuming that the formal sector workers are at the same time the investors in the informal sector. Then, capital intensity in the latter increases as the former anticipate the cut in formal sector wages that the long-awaited devaluation brings about. Ex post, they run down their assets for consumption-smoothing purposes, thus de-capitalizing the informal sector firms, with a negative impact on incomes in the (urban) informal sector.
Topic:: Economics, International Organization, International Political Economy, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:: Africa

5297. The Impact of Monetary Union on Macroeconomic Integration: Evidence from West Africa

Author:: David Fielding and Kalvinder Shields
Publication Date:: 02-2004
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: In this paper we use data from 17 African nations in order to investigate the hypothesis that monetary union – represented in this case by the CFA Franc Zone – augments the extent of macroeconomic integration. The paper covers a number of dimensions of integration including the volume of bilateral trade, real exchange rate volatility and the magnitude of cross-country business cycle correlation.
Topic:: Economics, International Organization, International Political Economy, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:: Africa

5298. Monetary Policy in the CFA Zone: Country-level Credit Policy

Author:: Anja Shortland and David Stasavage
Publication Date:: 02-2004
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: This paper examines whether the BCEAO has made use of the various policy instruments at its disposal for steering credit in the individual CFA zone member countries to complement interest rate policy at the zone level. We estimate whether private sector credit has responded systematically to different monetary policy variables using iterated 3-stage least squares regressions for Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Mali, Senegal and Togo. If we constrain the coefficient estimates there is some support for the hypothesis that the BCEAO has contracted private sector credit in response to a higher inflation differential with France. However, there seems to be no policy rule to restrict private sector credit in response to increasing government borrowing from the central bank or increased foreign borrowing. If the coefficient estimates are unconstrained, there does not appear to be any systematic policy to control credit expansion at the domestic level.
Topic:: Economics, International Organization, International Political Economy, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:: Africa and France

5299. The Costs and Benefits Analysis of CFA Membership: The Choice of an Exchange Rate Regime for the CFA Countries Zone

Author:: Mireille Linjouom
Publication Date:: 02-2004
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: The paper determines an analytical framework defining the choice of an optimal exchange rate regime for a typical CFA country. The policymakers behave strategically to decide to adopt alternative exchange rate regime by minimizing their loss function under specific constraints like economic characteristics and political consideration. One concludes a CFA economy with less inflationary propensity and greater external shocks volatility will tend to select a flexible exchange rate regime. Moreover, the model suggests that a CFA country with a more unstable political system and a higher propensity to apply inflationary policies will prefer a flexible arrangement than a fixed one.
Topic:: Economics, International Organization, International Political Economy, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:: Africa

5300. An Aggregate View of Macroeconomic Shocks in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Comparative Study Using Innovation Accounting

Author:: Simeon Coleman
Publication Date:: 02-2004
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: This paper investigates the impacts and responses of macroeconomic shocks in some domestic economies in Sub-Saharan Africa over the period 1961-99; more specifically, it seeks to answer the question of whether there are any systematic differences in the responses of the CFA franc zones and the non-CFA franc zone countries to macroeconomic shocks. Based on the Blanchard-Quah methodology, we identify shocks to the changes in real exchange rate and output using a structural VAR (SVAR) model for these small open economies. Our finding that the real exchange rate innovations in the CFA franc zones are largely independent of domestic variables suggests that external influence is more important in the CFA zones. There is also some evidence that money demand shocks are more significant in the non-CFA franc zone countries.
Topic:: Economics, International Political Economy, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:: Africa

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COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS