World Development Perspectives最新文献

{"title":"Children’s early foundational skills and education continuation in India: Heterogeneous analysis by caste, gender and location","authors":"Deepak Kumar ,&nbsp;Bhanu Pratap ,&nbsp;Archana Aggarwal","doi":"10.1016/j.wdp.2023.100502","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.wdp.2023.100502","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Despite near universal access to elementary education in India, children’s foundational literacy and numeracy skills remain low, particularly for disadvantaged groups. In this context, we examine how the early foundational skills (i.e., reading and math scores) is differently associated with the education continuation of SC/ST (i.e., Scheduled Castes/Tribes) and non-SC/ST children, and its variation by gender and location. Using India Human Development Survey panel (2005 &amp; 2011–12) data, we find that children from disadvantaged groups (such as SCs and STs) have significantly lesser chances of education continuation, post enrolment. The level of early reading and math scores are positively and significantly associated with the likelihood of students’ education continuation. In addition, using the interaction analysis, we find that the marginal effect of reading and math scores is significantly higher for SC/ST female and urban children than their non-SC/ST counterparts. The results of the study suggest that the increase in the level of children’s foundational literacy and numeracy skills will significantly reduce school dropout, particularly for disadvantaged groups.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":37831,"journal":{"name":"World Development Perspectives","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2023-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48533234","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Late banking transitions: Comparing Uzbekistan to earlier reformers","authors":"Davit Babasyan ,&nbsp;Yunfan Gu ,&nbsp;Martin Melecky","doi":"10.1016/j.wdp.2023.100493","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wdp.2023.100493","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>This paper compares the early experience of Uzbekistan with transitioning its banking system to market principles with the experience of former transition economies. To that effect, it uses novel data on Uzbekistan’s banking sector, data on former transition economies, and evidence from the literature. We find that the 2017 financial liberalization triggered a larger credit boom than former transition countries experienced. The Covid-19 pandemic helped tame the boom and secure a soft landing. Good capitalization of the largest state banks serves as a backstop against a systemic banking crisis. However, structural reform gaps need to be closed for financial deepening to continue sustainably. The state banks enjoy privileged access to longer-term financing, larger economies of scale, and bailout capital injections that inhibit banking competition. The human capital in banking appears lower than what the former transition countries started with and could deter FDI into banking. The small private sector, lacking commercialization, and slow privatization of state enterprises—as well as the state enterprise-state bank nexus—are other factors inhibiting fair banking competition. Financial sector institutions such as risk-based supervision, accounting and auditing, bank resolution, and deposit insurance still fall behind good international practices. The broader governance of state banks is one political economy factor hindering faster transformation of the banking sector in Uzbekistan.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":37831,"journal":{"name":"World Development Perspectives","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2023-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49858630","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A randomized trial of price subsidies for liquefied petroleum cooking gas among low-income households in rural India","authors":"Marc Jeuland ,&nbsp;Manish A. Desai ,&nbsp;Elizabeth F. Bair ,&nbsp;Nafeesa Mohideen Abdul Cader ,&nbsp;Durairaj Natesan ,&nbsp;Wilson Jayakaran Isaac ,&nbsp;Sankar Sambandam ,&nbsp;Kalpana Balakrishnan ,&nbsp;Gurusamy Thangavel ,&nbsp;Harsha Thirumurthy","doi":"10.1016/j.wdp.2023.100490","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.wdp.2023.100490","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>The use of solid fuels for cooking is a major contributor to mortality, disease burden, and environmental harm in many countries. To tackle the problem, India expanded access to a cleaner and often subsidized alternative, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), but solid fuels reliance has persisted. Aiming to inform LPG subsidy policy, we conducted a field experiment with low-income households in rural India to examine how LPG prices affect demand. Households (n = 580) were randomized to four groups: a control group that received no discount beyond the existing subsidy and three treatment groups that received discount vouchers worth US$1.7, US$3.4, and US$5.1 per cylinder refill. Purchases of LPG cylinders increased significantly with the size of the discounts. The findings indicate that higher LPG subsidy amounts will be necessary to achieve near exclusive use of this cleaner cooking fuel among low-income Indian households, in support of health and environmental goals.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":37831,"journal":{"name":"World Development Perspectives","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2023-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44776277","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Analysis of urban slum infrastructure projects financing in Ghana: A closer look at traditional and innovative financing mechanisms","authors":"G. Asumadu ,&nbsp;R. Quaigrain ,&nbsp;D. Owusu-Manu ,&nbsp;D.J. Edwards ,&nbsp;E. Oduro-Ofori ,&nbsp;S.M. Dapaah","doi":"10.1016/j.wdp.2023.100505","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.wdp.2023.100505","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p><span>Rapid urbanisation in developing countries has engendered unregulated slum development to provide residences for economic migrants who travel to cities to pursue hopes of a secure future. The development of new financial approaches could play a critical role in unravelling the issues associated with slum development, particularly in emerging economies such as Ghana. Hence, this study investigates slum emergence in Ghana and assesses traditional and innovative financing mechanisms to drive the country’s re-development. Specifically, the study assessed critical indicators of city-urban slums, established critical city-urban slums infrastructure requirements, and examined the traditional and innovative tools of financing city-urban slums to develop more socially equitable and inclusive infrastructure. This research adopted a quantitative research strategy couched within a positivist paradigm and deductive reasoning. Surveys were used to solicit responses from selected stakeholders using purposive sampling. Data was analysed using mean score ranking, one sample </span><em>t</em>-test and relative importance index (RII). Emergent findings revealed that <em>‘housing quality’</em> was the most critical measure of city-urban slum conditions, followed by <em>‘access to improved sanitation’</em>. Additionally, the findings also asserted <em>‘virtuous sanitation’</em> was the most important infrastructure requirement, followed by <em>‘appropriate disposal of waste facilities’</em><span><span>. Cumulatively, the findings suggest that the most prevalent and effective traditional financing tool was to incorporate a slums infrastructure development fund and use taxes and empower urban local bodies (ULB) with increased </span>municipal budgets<span><span>. Finally, in relation to innovative forms for financing, public–private partnership (PPP) was found to be most effective, followed by municipal bond. In conclusion, the study recommends the participation of industry professionals and governing agencies in the pursuance of these financing options to drive the re-development of slums to meet the UN’s </span>sustainable development goals (SDGs) of ensuring sustainable cities by 2030.</span></span></p></div>","PeriodicalId":37831,"journal":{"name":"World Development Perspectives","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2023-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45085060","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Improving migration experiences for workers: Recruitment practices along the Bangladesh–Qatar corridor","authors":"Laura G. Babbitt ,&nbsp;Drusilla Brown ,&nbsp;Ana Antolin ,&nbsp;Negin R. Toosi","doi":"10.1016/j.wdp.2023.100506","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.wdp.2023.100506","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Migrant workers are vulnerable to exploitation by recruiters, particularly if they lack control of official documents, incur recruitment-related debt, and are deceived about working and living conditions prior to the decision to migrate. Efforts to improve conditions for migrant workers include promoting fair recruitment. Fair recruitment implies that migrants are not charged recruitment fees, retain control of official documents, and are fully informed about employment terms before making the decision to migrate. We present findings from an impact evaluation of a recruitment intervention (2017–2020) designed to improve the recruitment process from the sending community to arrival in the destination country along the Bangladesh-Qatar corridor in the construction sector (n = 598). Following an intervention with the recruitment agency, migrants paid less money in recruitment fees and reported feeling less obligation to migrate as compared to conventionally recruited migrants. They also reported working fewer hours, better employment interactions with supervisors, better mental health, less organizational tolerance for abuse at work, and greater interest in migrating again. However, job satisfaction and trust in the employer were higher among conventionally recruited migrants, indicating that conventional recruitment practices may induce post-decision dissonance. Our findings provide evidence that recruitment practices are instrumental in outcomes for prospective migrants and can be improved with a recruiter intervention. We further identify aspects of conventional recruiting practices that entrap migrants. Eliminating recruitment fees and concern with debt, clearly explaining contract terms and pay calculations, and ensuring that migrants control the migration decision diminish the sunk cost effect and post-decision dissonance.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":37831,"journal":{"name":"World Development Perspectives","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2023-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42493087","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Care-based community communication, capacity, and agency during the COVID-19 pandemic: Evidence from the Complexo da Maré Favela, Brazil","authors":"Desiree Poets ,&nbsp;Catherine Grimes ,&nbsp;Max Stephenson Jr. ,&nbsp;Neda Moayerian ,&nbsp;Molly Todd","doi":"10.1016/j.wdp.2023.100508","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.wdp.2023.100508","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Scholars and officials have argued that the strengthening of communities and community-led development constitute an important policy goal in the fight against emergencies such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Nevertheless, most strategies to address such crises fail to consider the significance of community-driven solutions, community-level knowledge, and actors. At the same time, researchers have recognized that communication, such as through local newspapers, promotes community development by increasing communities’ social capital and cohesion. But the role of community communication in the encouragement and exercise of other levels of agency and in the development of community capacity, including to address emergencies, remains underexplored. This article investigates whether and how community journalists in a Rio de Janeiro favela have expressed and sought to develop favela residents’ individual and collective agency during the COVID-19 pandemic. We do so by analyzing thematically the COVID-19 virus-related articles that appeared in a community-based newspaper, Maré Online, between March and September 2020. We also conducted semi-structured interviews with Maré Online reporters to augment our analysis and supplemented that data with participant observation of relevant virtual community-led organizing meetings and events. Our study shows how community-based journalists revealed and promoted individual and collective agency through what we term a “care-based, participatory solutions journalism,” which supported favela residents’ “communicative freedom” as conceptualized by <span>Benhabib (2013)</span>. This analysis stresses the connection between communicative freedom and community capacity. It illustrates the importance of community-produced communication in development of and in community, especially when those populations are pejoratively framed in the media, public policy, and often also, research.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":37831,"journal":{"name":"World Development Perspectives","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2023-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10172970/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9479104","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The history of hunger: Counting calories to make global food security legible","authors":"Thor Olav Iversen ,&nbsp;Ola T. Westengen ,&nbsp;Morten Jerven","doi":"10.1016/j.wdp.2023.100504","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.wdp.2023.100504","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>The Prevalence of Undernourishment (PoU) is one of the most central indicators informing the international development agenda. Reported annually by the Rome-based UN agencies in their flagship report The State of Food Insecurity in the World, it is generally considered an authoritative statistic on world hunger. Based on archival research, this article chronicles and analyzes the development of its statistical model and the political and historical context of its revisions. We show that revisions to the PoU model have led to substantial changes in the estimates of the indicator and that this has underpinned shifting policy narratives and trends in the fight against hunger. Major changes in the statistical model inverted the PoU’s trend lines towards the end of the Millennium Development Goals period. In 2020, the year after China’s candidate became Director General of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the UN organization accessed new historical datasets from China and dramatically reduced PoU estimates for the country and consequently also the global figures. A number of ad-hoc revisions have been made to render food security crises - associated with inflation, economic recession, and the Covid-19 pandemic - legible. The indicator has thus been shaped by the political and economic structures within which FAO is situated, serving as an important tool to legitimize shifting ambitions and strategies of the post-World War II development agenda. At the same time, the lack of access to national household survey data from the countries with the highest measured undernutrition makes the PoU estimates fundamentally uncertain. At a technical level, this study highlights the need for greater transparency in the data and modelling basis for the PoU. The entanglement of technical and political factors illustrates the necessity of critical research on food insecurity quantification. More multifaceted approaches to measure food insecurity are needed.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":37831,"journal":{"name":"World Development Perspectives","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2023-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43426578","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Ethiopia needs peace to accelerate its SDG 7 achievements","authors":"Mulualem G. Gebreslassie,&nbsp;Solomon T. Bahta","doi":"10.1016/j.wdp.2023.100507","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.wdp.2023.100507","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Ethiopia has been striving to achieve its SDG 7 targets by heavily investing in the power sector. Large-scale dams have been developed and are currently under construction, including the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). These developments have supported the expansion of connectivity to millions of people. However, due to political differences between the Ethiopian federal government and the Tigray regional government, a devastating war broke out in November 2020, and the conflict has since expanded to other regions of Ethiopia. These conflicts have hindered Ethiopia’s economic development, derailing achievements of the SDG 7 targets. The negotiated peace settlement that was signed in Pretoria and Nairobi is encouraging and should be sustained. The government must use this opportunity and commit the country’s resources to the rehabilitation of damaged critical infrastructure and initiating large-scale projects to promote lasting peace by building confidence in the population. The conflicts of the last two years should be used as a lesson for Ethiopians to resolve political differences through constructive and equitable dialogue across the political spectrum. We need to develop a culture of resolving differences by ourselves through a) strengthening institutions and norms to nurture a political culture of resolving political differences through dialogues; b) developing and strengthening an independent judicial system; c) developing a culture of providing justice for those affected and introducing a true reconciliation process; and d) developing mechanisms to ensure and protect critical infrastructures during conflicts.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":37831,"journal":{"name":"World Development Perspectives","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2023-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48783635","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Impact of health insurance on adult mortality in rural areas: Evidence of Seguro Popular in Mexico using panel data","authors":"Erika Arenas ,&nbsp;Susan W. Parker ,&nbsp;Luis Rubalcava ,&nbsp;Graciela Teruel","doi":"10.1016/j.wdp.2023.100501","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.wdp.2023.100501","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>At the beginning of the 21st century, longstanding health inequality existing in developing countries prompted the adoption of public policies focused on increasing health insurance coverage (HIC). The adoption of these policies was based on the assumption that by expanding coverage, health outcomes of the uninsured population would improve, thus decreasing health inequalities. Yet, evidence from developing countries on the effect of HIC on health outcomes is scant. This paper contributes to this literature by studying the impact of health insurance on adult mortality in a developing country setting characterized by high income and health inequalities (Mexico). We examined <em>Seguro Popular</em> (SP) a public health intervention targeted towards workers in informal sector employment. We used longitudinal data from the Mexican Family Life Survey (MxFLS), a nationally representative survey of the Mexican population, that covered three important periods for the roll-out of SP: the year prior to the program’s implementation, the years of expansion, and the years when the program was approaching universal coverage. We merged SP administrative data to the MxFLS and exploited program coverage heterogeneity over time and across municipalities in the implementation of SP to examine its impact on mortality. Our findings demonstrate that SP decreased mortality among the population of adults above the age of 50 residing in rural areas with no preprogram access to medical benefits. We also showed that SP had larger effects for households not receiving benefits from <em>Prospera,</em> Mexico's well-known anti-poverty cash transfer program.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":37831,"journal":{"name":"World Development Perspectives","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2023-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41800575","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Forecasting recovery from COVID-19 using financial data: An application to Vietnam","authors":"Jesse Lastunen ,&nbsp;Matteo Richiardi","doi":"10.1016/j.wdp.2023.100503","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.wdp.2023.100503","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>We develop a new methodology to nowcast the effects of the COVID-19 crisis on GDP and forecast its evolution in small, export-oriented countries. To this aim, we exploit variation in financial indexes at the industry level in the early stages of the crisis and relate them to the expected duration of the crisis for each industry, under the assumption that the main shocks to financial prices in 2020 came from COVID-19. Starting from the latest official information available at different stages of the crisis on industry-level trend deviations of GDP, often a few months old, we predict the ensuing recovery trajectories using the most recent financial data available at the time of the prediction. The financial data reflect, among other things, how subsequent waves of infections and information about new vaccines have impacted expectations about the future. We apply our method to Vietnam, one of the most open economies in the world, and obtain predictions that are more optimistic than projections by the International Monetary Fund and other international forecasters, and closer to the realised figures. Our claim is that this better-than-expected performance was visible in stock market data early on but was largely missed by conventional forecasting methods.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":37831,"journal":{"name":"World Development Perspectives","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2023-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10030335/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9198682","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}