rafmacalaba/datause-encoder-data huggingface dataset:
The effects of conflict on fertility
            in Rwanda
The aim of this paper is to study the
            short and long-term fertility effects of mass violent
            conflict on different population sub-groups. The authors
            pool three nationally representative demographic and health
            surveys from before and after the genocide in Rwanda,
            identifying conflict exposure of the survivors in multiple
            ways. The analysis finds a robust effect of genocide on
            fertility, with a strong replacement effect for lost
            children. Having lost siblings reduces fertility only in the
            short term. Most interesting is the continued importance of
            the institution of marriage in determining fertility and in
            reducing fertility for the large group of widows in Rwanda.
Macroprudential regulation of credit
            booms and busts -- the case of Croatia
Croatia employed macroprudential
            measures to manage credit growth and capital inflows during
            the boom years of the 2000s, including reserve requirements
            on loan growth, a marginal reserve requirement on increases
            in foreign liabilities, foreign exchange liquidity minima,
            and elevated capital adequacy ratios. Although quantitative
            analysis is complicated by substantial overlaps among
            measures, the econometric results in this paper suggest that
            the measures were most effective in requiring banks to hold
            high liquidity and capital buffers, and less effective in
            slowing credit growth and capital inflows. Larger buffers
            seem to have helped Croatian banks weather the financial
            crisis, making the adjustments to capital and liquidity
            during the crisis smaller.
Ladies first firm-level evidence on
            the labor impacts of the East Asian crisis
In a crisis, do employers place the
            burden of adjustment disproportionately on female employees?
            Relying on household and labor force data, existing studies
            of the distributional impact of crises have not been able to
            address this question. This paper uses Indonesia's
            census of manufacturing firms to analyze employer responses
            and to identify mechanisms by which gender differences in
            impact may arise, notably differential treatment of men and
            women within firms as well as gender sorting across firms
            that varied in their exposure to the crisis. On average,
            women experienced higher job losses than their male
            colleagues within the same firm. However, the aggregate
            adverse effect of such differential treatment was more than
            offset by women being disproportionately employed in firms
            hit relatively less hard by the crisis. The 0 hypothesis
            that there were no gender differences in wage adjustment is
            not rejected. Analyzing how employer characteristics impact
            labor market adjustment patterns contributes to the
            understanding of who is vulnerable in volatile times.
Learning from developing country
            experience : growth and economic thought before and after
            the 2008-09 crisis
The aim of this paper is twofold. First,
            it documents the changing global landscape before and after
            the crisis, emphasizing the shift towards multipolarity. In
            particular, it emphasizes the ascent of developing countries
            in the global economy before, during, and after the crisis.
            Second, it explores what these global economic changes and
            the recent crisis imply for shifts in the direction of
            research in development economics. The paper places a
            particular emphasis on the lessons that developed countries
            can learn from the developing world.
On the implications of essential
            heterogeneity for estimating causal impacts using social experiments
Randomized control trials are sometimes
            used to estimate the aggregate benefit from some policy or
            program. To address the potential bias from selective
            take-up, the randomization is used as an instrumental
            variable for treatment status. Does this (popular) method of
            impact evaluation help reduce the bias when take-up depends
            on unobserved gains from take up? Such "essential
            heterogeneity" is known to invalidate the instrumental
            variable estimator of mean causal impact, though one still
            obtains another parameter of interest, namely mean impact
            amongst those treated. However, if essential heterogeneity
            is the only problem then the naïve (ordinary least squares)
            estimator also delivers this parameter; there is no gain
            from using randomization as an instrumental variable. On
            allowing the heterogeneity to also alter counterfactual
            outcomes, the instrumental variable estimator may well be
            more biased for mean impact than the naïve estimator.
            Examples are given for various stylized programs, including
            a training program that attenuates the gains from higher
            latent ability, an insurance program that compensates for
            losses from unobserved risky behavior and a microcredit
            scheme that attenuates the gains from access to other
            sources of credit. Practitioners need to think carefully
            about the likely behavioral responses to social experiments
            in each context.
After the microfinance crisis :
            assessing the role of government-led microcredit alternatives
In light of the recent microfinance
            crisis in South India, government-run institutions in
            general, and primary agricultural credit cooperatives in
            particular, may end up playing a larger role in the
            provision of financial services for the poor. Using survey
            data collected in 2007 from three districts in Andhra
            Pradesh, this paper assesses the performance of 72 primary
            agricultural credit cooperatives and finds lack of training
            among the management. In addition, primary agricultural
            credit cooperatives tend to be used as political instruments
            and, as a result, borrowers prioritize all debt obligations
            (microfinance institutions, informal lenders, etc.) before
            repaying their primary agricultural credit cooperative
            loans. The authors suggest that if the performance of
            primary agricultural credit cooperatives does not improve, a
            larger government role in the supply of credit may undermine
            the culture of repayment.
Export diversification in a
            transitioning economy : the case of Syria
How does the process of export
            diversification play out in a transitioning economy,
            especially in light of government policy aimed at trade
            liberalization? This paper examines this question by
            considering a directed policy effort by Syria -- an economy
            transitioning from both economic centralization and resource
            dependence -- to liberalize its trade in 2001. In addition
            to documenting the patterns of diversification at the
            aggregate level since the implementation of the policy, we
            also examine factors that are related to diversification at
            the sectoral level. Our findings suggest that, while Syria
            has achieved reasonably rapid export diversification, this
            may to a large extent be the result of structural
            transformations in the economy, and that further
            consolidation of diversification gains may require continued
            policy reform along the lines of strengthening Syria's
            weak institutional and business environment.
Angola's infrastructure : a
            continental perspective
Infrastructure made a net contribution
            of around 1 percentage point to Angola's improved per
            capita growth performance in recent years, despite
            unreliable power supplies and poor roads, which each holding
            back growth by 0.2 percentage points. Raising the
            country's infrastructure endowment to that of the
            region's middle-income countries (MICs) could boost
            Angola's annual growth by about 2.9 percentage points.
            As a resource-rich, postconflict country, Angola has shown
            an exceptionally strong commitment to financing the
            reconstruction and expansion of its infrastructure. It has
            recently expanded its generation capacity, embarked on an
            ambitious multibillion-dollar road rehabilitation program,
            begun to make investments aimed at easing congestion at the
            Port of Luanda, and embarked upon an ambitious
            rehabilitation program for urban water systems. Numerous
            challenges remain, however. Angola needs to upgrade its
            electricity transmission and distribution infrastructure,
            expand its urban water-supply system, improve efficiency at
            the Port of Luanda, and make policy and regulatory
            adjustments across the board. Angola presently spends around
            $4.3 billion per year on infrastructure, with $1.3 billion
            lost to inefficiencies. After taking sectoral allocations
            and inefficiencies into account, a modest funding gap of
            $115 million per year remains, which could be largely
            eliminated by focusing on lower-cost water and sanitation
            options. Angola's infrastructure needs are manageable
            relative to its fast-growing economy, as long as the country
            can address inefficiencies.
Senegal's infrastructure : a
            continental perspective
Infrastructure contributed 1 percentage
            point to Senegal's improved per capita growth
            performance between 2000 and 2005, placing it in the middle
            of the distribution among West African countries. Raising
            the country's infrastructure endowment to that of the
            region's middle-income countries (MICs) could boost
            annual growth by about 2.7 percentage points. Senegal has
            made significant progress in some areas of its
            infrastructure, including the transport, electricity, water,
            and information-and-communication-technology (ICT) sectors.
            But looking ahead, the country faces important
            infrastructure challenges, including improving road
            conditions, boosting air and rail traffic, updating
            electricity infrastructure, and boosting the pace of
            expansion of the water-and-sanitation network. Senegal
            currently spends around $911 million per year on
            infrastructure, with $312 million lost annually to
            inefficiencies. Comparing spending needs with existing
            spending and potential efficiency gains leaves an annual
            funding gap of $578 million per year. Senegal has the
            potential close this gap by bringing in more private-sector investment.
Global inequality : from class to
            location, from proletarians to migrants
Inequality between world citizens in
            mid-19th century was such that at least a half of it could
            be explained by income differences between workers and
            capital-owners in individual countries. Real income of
            workers in most countries was similar and low. This was the
            basis on which Marxism built its universal appeal. More than
            150 years later, in the early 21st century, the situation
            has changed fundamentally: more than 80 percent of global
            income differences is due to large gaps in mean incomes
            between countries, and unskilled workers' wages in rich
            and poor countries often differ by a factor of 10 to 1. This
            is the basis on which a new global political issue of
            migration has emerged because income differences between
            countries make individual gains from migration large. The
            key coming issue will be how to deal with this challenge
            while acknowledging that migration is probably the most
            powerful tool for reducing global poverty and inequality.
Can islands of effectiveness thrive
            in difficult governance settings the political economy of
            local-level collaborative governance
Many low-income countries contend with a
            governance syndrome characterized by a difficult combination
            of seeming openness, weak institutions, and strong
            inter-elite contestation for power and resources. In such
            countries, neither broad-based policy nor public management
            reforms are likely to be feasible. But are broad-based
            approaches necessary? Theory and evidence suggest that in
            such settings progress could be driven by "islands of
            effectiveness" -- narrowly-focused initiatives that
            combine high-quality institutional arrangements at the
            micro-level, plus supportive, narrowly-targeted policy
            reforms. This paper explores whether and how local-level
            collaborative governance can provide a platform for these
            islands of effectiveness. Drawing on the analytical
            framework developed by the Nobel-prize winning social
            scientist Elinor Ostrom, the paper reviews the underpinnings
            of successful collaborative governance. It introduces a
            simple model for exploring the interactions between
            collaborative governance and political economy. The model
            highlights the conditions under which coordination is
            capable of countering threats from predators seeking to
            capture the returns from collaborative governance for
            themselves. The relative strength in the broader environment
            of two opposing networks emerges as key -- "threat
            networks" to which predators have access, and
            countervailing "trumping networks" on which
            protagonists of effective collaborative governance can draw.
            The paper illustrates the potential practical relevance of
            the approach with three heuristic examples: the governance
            of schools, fisheries, and road construction and
            maintenance. It concludes by laying out an agenda for
            further empirical research, and suggesting what might be the
            implications of the approach for future operational practice.
Competition and innovation-driven
            inclusive growth
The paper investigates the strength of
            innovation-driven employment growth, the role of competition
            in stimulating and facilitating it, and whether it is
            inclusive. In a sample of more than 26,000 manufacturing
            establishments across 71 countries (both OECD and
            developing), the authors find that firms that innovate in
            products or processes, or that have attained higher total
            factor productivity, exhibit higher employment growth than
            non-innovative firms. The strength of firms'
            innovation-driven employment growth is significantly
            positively associated with the share of the firms'
            workforce that is unskilled, debunking the conventional
            wisdom that innovation-driven growth is not inclusive in
            that it is focused on jobs characterized by higher levels of
            qualification. They also find that young firms have higher
            propensities for product or process innovation in countries
            with better Doing Business ranks (both overall and ranks for
            constituent components focused on credit availability and
            property registration). Firms generally innovate more and
            show greater employment growth if they are exposed to more
            information (through internet use and membership in business
            organizations) and are exporters. The empirical results
            support the policy propositions that innovation is a
            powerful driver of employment growth, that innovation-driven
            growth is inclusive in its creation of unskilled jobs, and
            that the underlying innovations are fostered by a
            pro-competitive business environment providing ready access
            to information, financing, export opportunities, and other
            essential business services that facilitate the entry and
            expansion of young firms.
Financial sector ups and downs and
            the real sector : big hindrance, little help
This paper examines how financial
            expansion and contraction cycles affect the broader economy
            through their impact on eight real economic sectors in a
            panel of 28 countries over 1960-2005, paying particular
            attention to large, or sharp, contractions and magnifying
            and mitigating factors. Overall, the construction sector is
            the most responsive to financial sector growth, with a
            number of others -- such as government, public utilities,
            and transportation -- also exhibiting significant
            sensitivity to lagged financial sector growth. Sharp
            fluctuations in the financial sector have asymmetric
            effects, with the majority of real sectors adversely
            affected by contractions but not helped by expansions. The
            adverse effects of financial contractions are transmitted
            almost exclusively by the financial openness channel with
            foreign reserves mitigating these effects with a sizeable
            (10 to 15 times greater) impact during sharp financial
            contractions. Both effects are magnified during particularly
            large financial contractions (with coefficients on
            interaction terms two to three times greater than when all
            contractions are considered). Consequent upon a financial
            contraction, the most severe real sector contractions occur
            in countries with high financial openness; relative
            predominance of construction, manufacturing, and wholesale
            and retail sectors; and low international reserves. Finally,
            the analysis finds that abrupt financial contractions are
            more likely to follow periods of accelerated growth,
            indicative of "up by the stairs, down by the elevator dynamics."
The measurement of educational
            inequality : achievement and opportunity
This paper proposes two related measures
            of educational inequality: one for educational achievement
            and another for educational opportunity. The former is the
            simple variance (or standard deviation) of test scores. Its
            selection is informed by consideration of two measurement
            issues that have typically been overlooked in the
            literature: the implications of the standardization of test
            scores for inequality indices, and the possible sample
            selection biases arising from the Program of International
            Student Assessment (PISA) sampling frame. The measure of
            inequality of educational opportunity is given by the share
            of the variance in test scores that is explained by
            pre-determined circumstances. Both measures are computed for
            the 57 countries in which PISA surveys were conducted in
            2006. Inequality of opportunity accounts for up to 35
            percent of all disparities in educational achievement. It is
            greater in (most of) continental Europe and Latin America
            than in Asia, Scandinavia, and North America. It is
            uncorrelated with average educational achievement and only
            weakly negatively correlated with per capita gross domestic
            product. It correlates negatively with the share of spending
            in primary schooling, and positively with tracking in
            secondary schools.
Is optimization an opportunity an
            assessment of the impact of class size and school size on
            the performance of Ukrainian secondary schools
Using a rich data set of almost the
            entire population of Ukrainian secondary schools, the
            authors estimate the effect of school size and class size on
            the performance of secondary schools on Ukraine's
            External Independent Test. They find that larger schools
            tend to have somewhat better performance, both in terms of
            test scores and in terms of test participation. The size of
            this effect is relatively small, however, especially in
            rural areas for which the estimates are likely to be more
            clean estimates. Class size is found to be insignificant in
            most specifications and, if significant, of negligible size.
The impact of pro-vulnerable income
            transfers : Leisure, dependency and a distribution hypothesis
This paper studies a transmission
            mechanism through which pro-vulnerable income transfers may
            affect individual decision-making of non-beneficiaries in an
            extreme poverty context, leading to labor supply contraction
            and the so-called dependency syndrome. The argument is based
            on the distributional distortion this transfer may provoke
            to the relative quality of leisure, enjoyed by the
            population in an extreme poverty scenario. Assuming the
            existence of vulnerable individuals and different income
            groups based on certain physical, economic, or social
            characteristics, the author studies their decision processes
            and, in particular, their reactions to the aid program. The
            results of this theoretical research provide some insights
            on the conditions that an optimal pro-poor income transfer
            should present. A literature review is presented in support
            of the arguments made in the theoretical part.