rafmacalaba/datause-encoder-data huggingface dataset:
Rural land certification in Ethiopia
            : process, initial impact, and implications for other
            African countries
WPS4218

**Rural land certification in Ethiopia:**

**Process, initial impact, and implications for other African countries**

Klaus Deininger<sup>1</sup> , Daniel Ayalew Ali<sup>1</sup> , Stein Holden<sup>2</sup> , and Jaap Zevenbergen<sup>3</sup> 1 World Bank, Washington DC, USA 2 Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Aas, Norway 3 Delft University of Technology, Delft, Netherlands

# World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 4218, April 2007

_The Policy Research Working Paper Series disseminates the findings of work in progress to encourage the exchange of ideas about development issues. An objective of the series is to get the findings out quickly, even if the presentations are less than fully polished. The papers carry the names of the authors and should be cited accordingly. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this paper are entirely those of the authors. They do not necessarily represent the view of the World Bank, its Executive Directors, or the countries they represent. Policy Research Working Papers are available online at http://econ.worldbank.org._

> We would like to thank EEA, especially B. Adenew, A. Admassie, and S. Gebre-Selassie for expert data collection and C. Augustinus, F. Byamugisha, J. Farrington, L. Holstein, G. Feder, J. Perumalpillai-Essex, and C. Toulmin for insightful comments. Financial support from the collaborative DFID-World Bank program on land policies and rural development and the Norwegian ESSD Trust Fund (Environment Window) is gratefully acknowledged.
Government expenditures on
            education, health, and infrastructure : a naive look at
            levels, outcomes, and efficiency
All interested parties seem to agree
            that it is important to be able to monitor public sector
            performance at the sectoral level, but most current work
            based on multi-country databases does not lend itself to
            country-specific conclusions. This is due to a large extent
            to major data limitations both on sectoral expenditures and
            on sectoral outcomes. This paper discusses the related
            issues and shows what we can do with the current data
            inspite of the drastic limitations. The main conclusions of
            the paper are that any efforts to assess country-specific
            performances in relative terms are likely to be difficult in
            view of the data problems. A rough sense of performance
            across sectors can be estimated for groups of countries,
            allowing some modest benchmarking exercises. These estimates
            show that low-income countries generally lag significantly
            behind higher-income countries. Efficiency has improved
            during the 1990s in energy and education but has not
            improved significantly in transport.
Government expenditures on
            education, health, and infrastructure : a naive look at
            levels, outcomes, and efficiency
WPS4219

# **Government Expenditures on Education, Health, and Infrastructure: A Naive Look at Levels, Outcomes, and Efficiency**

## **Antonio Estache Marianela Gonzalez Lourdes Trujillo ***

## **Abstract**

All interested parties seem to agree that it is important to be able to monitor public-sector performance at the sectoral level, but most current work based on multicountry databases does not lend itself to country-specific conclusions. This is due to a large extent to major data limitations both on sectoral expenditures and on sectoral outcomes. This paper discusses the related issues and shows what we can do with the current data in spite of the drastic limitations. The main conclusions of the paper are that any efforts to assess country-specific performances in relative terms are likely to be difficult in view of the data problems. A rough sense of performance across sectors can be estimated for groups of countries, allowing some modest benchmarking exercises. These estimates show that low-income countries generally lag significantly behind higher-income countries although not equally so in all sectors. They also show that efficiency has improved during the 1990s in energy and education but has not improved significantly in transport.

### World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 4219, May 2007

_The Policy Research Working Paper Series disseminates the findings of work in progress to encourage the exchange of ideas about development issues. An objective of the series is to get the findings out quickly, even if the presentations are less than fully polished. The papers carry the names of the authors and should be cited accordingly. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this paper are entirely those of the authors. They do not necessarily represent the view of the World Bank, its Executive Directors, or the countries they represent. Policy Research Working Papers are available online at http://econ.worldbank.org._

> * Estache works for the World Bank in Washington, DC.  Gonzalez is with the Universidad Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (ULPGC), Spain. Trujillo is affiliated with ULPGC and with the Center for Regulation and Competition Policy (CRCP), City University, London. We are grateful to Tim Coelli, Ariel Fiszbein, Ana Goicoechea, Pablo Gottfret, Santiago Herrera, Kai Kayzer, Eduardo Ley, Harry Patrinos, Sergio Perelman, Pierre Pestiau, Anand Rajaram, David Saal, Philippe Vanden Eeckaut, and participants at a seminar sponsored by the U.K. Department for International Development for useful discussions and reactions at various stages of the preparation of this paper.
Evaluating the trade effect of
            developing regional trade agreements : a semi-parametric approach
Many recent papers have pointed to
            ambiguous trade effects of developing regional trade
            agreements (RTAs), calling for a reassessment of their
            economic merits. The author focuses on seven such agreements
            currently in force in Sub-Saharan Africa (ECOWAS and SADC),
            Asia (AFTA and SAPTA) and Latin America (CACM, CAN, and
            MERCOSUR), estimating their impacts on their members'
            trade flows. Instead of the usual dummy variables for RTAs,
            he proposes a variable taking into account the number of
            years of membership. He then combines a gravity model with
            kernel estimation techniques to capture the non-monotonic
            trade effects while imposing minimal structure on the model.
            The results indicate that except for SAPTA, these RTAs have
            had a positive impact on their members' intra-trade
            over the estimation period (1960-99). AFTA seems to be the
            most successful among them, with an estimated positive
            impact on its members' imports from the rest of the
            world (hence no trade diversion), but its impact on their
            exports to the rest of the world is rather limited. During
            its first 10 years of existence, ECOWAS appears to have had
            a positive impact on its members' imports from the rest
            of the world (hence no trade diversion), but this positive
            impact vanished over time. SAPTA's negative impact on
            its members' intra-trade is probably an implicit effect
            of the India-Pakistan tensions over the estimation period.
Disarming fears of diversity :
            ethnic heterogeneity and state militarization, 1988-2002
The authors address the question of
            state militarization under conditions of ethnic and other
            diversity. "Primordialist" claims about ancient
            hatreds, fear, and insecurity in such societies would lead
            one to expect that fractionalization, polarization, and
            ethno-nationalist exclusion would prompt governments to
            militarize heavily. But contrary to such expectations, the
            authors find that higher levels of ethnic diversity predict
            lower levels of militarization, whereas higher polarization
            and ethno-nationalist exclusion trigger neither lower nor
            higher levels of militarization. If fractionalization lowers
            the hazard of civil war, as many find, then it does not
            happen by way of a "garrison state" effect. The
            authors discuss two potential explanations for their
            findings, one drawing from the empirical conflict
            literature, the other stemming from economists' study
            of public goods provision under conditions of diversity.
            They argue that their findings are best seen as consistent
            with and complementary to the empirical literature on
            conflict onset and duration.
Accounting for Mexican income
            inequality during the 1990s
The author implements several inequality
            decomposition methods to measure the extent to which total
            household income disparities can be attributable to sectoral
            asymmetries and differences in skill endowments. The results
            show that at least half of total household inequality in
            Mexico is attributable to incomes derived from
            entrepreneurial activities, an income source rarely
            scrutinized in the inequality literature. He shows that
            education (skills) endowments are unevenly distributed among
            the Mexican population, with positive shifts in the market
            returns to schooling associated with increases in
            inequality. Asymmetries in the allocation of education
            explain around 20 percent of overall household income
            disparities in Mexico during the 1990s. Moreover, the
            proportion of inequality attributable to education
            endowments increases during stable periods and reduces
            during the crisis. This pattern is explained by shifts in
            returns to schooling rather than changes in the distribution
            of skills. Applying the same techniques to decompose
            within-sector income differences, the author finds that
            skill endowments can account for as much as 25 percent of
            earnings disparities but as little as 5 percent of
            dispersion in other income sources.
Poverty, social divisions, and
            conflict in Nepal
The authors conduct an econometric
            analysis of the economic and social factors which
            contributed to the spread of violent conflict in Nepal. They
            find that conflict intensity is significantly higher in
            places with greater poverty and lower levels of economic
            development. Violence is higher in locations that favor
            insurgents, such as mountains and forests. The authors find
            weaker evidence that caste divisions in society are
            correlated with the intensity of civil conflict, while
            linguistic diversity has little impact.
Measuring microenterprise profits :
            don't ask how the sausage is made
A large share of the world's poor
            is self-employed. Accurate measurement of profits from
            microenterprises is therefore critical for studying poverty
            and inequality, measuring the returns to education, and
            evaluating the success of microfinance programs. But a
            myriad of problems plague the measurement of profits. The
            authors report on a variety of different experiments
            conducted to better understand the importance of some of
            these problems and to draw recommendations for collecting
            profit data. In particular, they (1) examine how far we can
            reconcile self-reported profits and reports of revenue minus
            expenses through more detailed questions; (2) examine recall
            errors in sales and report on the results of experiments
            which randomly allocated account books to firms; and (3) ask
            firms how much firms like theirs underreport sales in
            surveys like this, and have research assistants observe the
            firms at random times 15-16 times during a month to provide
            measures for comparison. The authors conclude that firms
            underreport revenues by about 30 percent, that account
            diaries have significant effects on both revenues and
            expenses but not on profits, and that simply asking profits
            provides a more accurate measure of firm profits than
            detailed questions on revenues and expenses.
Returns to capital in
            microenterprises : evidence from a field experiment
Small and informal firms account for a
            large share of employment in developing countries. The rapid
            expansion of microfinance services is based on the belief
            that these firms have productive investment opportunities
            and can enjoy high returns to capital if given the
            opportunity. However, measuring the return to capital is
            complicated by unobserved factors such as entrepreneurial
            ability and demand shocks, which are likely to be correlated
            with capital stock. The authors use a randomized experiment
            to overcome this problem and to measure the return to
            capital for the average microenterprise in their sample,
            regardless of whether they apply for credit. They accomplish
            this by providing cash and equipment grants to small firms
            in Sri Lanka, and measuring the increase in profits arising
            from this exogenous (positive) shock to capital stock. After
            controlling for possible spillover effects, the authors find
            the average real return to capital to be 5.7 percent a
            month, substantially higher than the market interest rate.
            They then examine the heterogeneity of treatment effects to
            explore whether missing credit markets or missing insurance
            markets are the most likely cause of the high returns.
            Returns are found to vary with entrepreneurial ability and
            with measures of other sources of cash within the household,
            but not to vary with risk aversion or uncertainty.
Work-related migration and poverty
            reduction in Nepal
Using two rounds of nationally
            representative household survey data in this study, the
            authors measure the impact on poverty in Nepal of local and
            international migration for work. They apply an instrumental
            variable approach to deal with nonrandom selection of
            migrants and simulate various scenarios for the different
            levels of work-related migration, comparing observed and
            counterfactual household expenditure distribution. The
            results indicate that one-fifth of the poverty reduction in
            Nepal occurring between 1995 and 2004 can be attributed to
            increased levels of work-related migration and remittances
            sent home. The authors also show that while the increase in
            work migration abroad was the leading cause of this poverty
            reduction, internal migration also played an important role.
            The findings show that strategies for economic growth and
            poverty reduction in Nepal should consider aspects of the
            dynamics of domestic and international migration.
Immigrant overeducation : evidence
            from Denmark
Anecdotes abound in the Danish public
            debate about well-educated immigrants that are in jobs they
            are formally overqualified for. Using a 1995-2002 panel data
            set based on Danish registers, this study attempts to find
            out how large a problem immigrant overeducation is in the
            context of the Danish labor market. More specifically, three
            questions are posed: First, to what extent are immigrants
            overeducated and are they more likely to be so than native
            Danes? Second, why are some immigrants more likely to become
            overeducated than others? And finally, what are the
            consequences of overeducation for individual wages? The
            authors find that among wage earners with at least a
            vocational education or higher, 25 percent of male
            non-Western immigrants are overeducated. The same applies
            for 15 percent of native Danes. Particularly immigrants with
            a foreign-acquired education risk becoming overeducated -
            here the share is 30 percent among those with a vocational
            education or higher. The authors find that Danish labor
            market experience is extremely important in reducing the
            likelihood of becoming overeducated. Years spent in the
            country without accumulating labor market experience do not
            improve an individual's chances of an appropriate
            job-to-education match. In terms of earnings consequences,
            the study concludes that years of overeducation do increase
            wages for immigrants, but much less so than years of
            adequate education. This is also true for native Danes, but
            the relative penalty for overeducation is much larger for
            immigrants than for Danes.
Immigrant overeducation : evidence
            from Denmark
WPS 4234

# **Immigrant Overeducation: Evidence from Denmark**<sup>*****</sup>

## Chantal Pohl Nielsen AKF

## Danish Institute of Governmental Research

### **Abstract**

Anecdotes abound in the Danish public debate about well-educated immigrants that are in jobs they are formally overqualified for. Using a 1995-2002 panel data set based on Danish registers, this study attempts to find out how large a problem immigrant overeducation is in the context of the Danish labor market. More specifically, three questions are posed: First, to what extent are immigrants overeducated and are they more likely to be so than native Danes? Second, why are some immigrants more likely to become overeducated than others? And finally, what are the consequences of overeducation for individual wages? We find that among wage earners with at least a vocational education or higher, 25% of male non-Western immigrants are overeducated. The same applies for 15% of native Danes. Particularly immigrants with a foreign-acquired education risk becoming overeducated – here the share is 30% among those with a vocational education or higher. We find that Danish labor market experience is extremely important in reducing the likelihood of becoming overeducated. Years spent in the country without accumulating labor market experience do not improve an individual’s chances of an appropriate job-to-education match. In terms of earnings consequences, the study concludes that years of overeducation do increase wages for immigrants, but much less so than years of adequate education. This is also true for native Danes, but the relative penalty for overeducation is much larger for immigrants than for Danes.

### World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 4234, May 2007

_The Policy Research Working Paper Series disseminates the findings of work in progress to encourage the exchange of ideas about development issues. An objective of the series is to get the findings out quickly, even if the presentations are less than fully polished. The papers carry the names of the authors and should be cited accordingly. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this paper are entirely those of the authors. They do not necessarily represent the view of the World Bank, its Executive Directors, or the countries they represent. Policy Research Working Papers are available online at http://econ.worldbank.org_

> * Contact Information: Danish Institute of Governmental Research, Nyropsgade 37, 1602 Copenhagen V, Denmark. Phone: (+45) 33 14 59 49 ext.156. E-mail: <u>CPN@akf.dk.  I would like to thank Caglar Ozden and an anonymous</u> referee for comments and the World Bank for financial support under the Danish Trust Fund.
Giving children a better start :
            preschool attendance and school-age profiles
The authors study the effect of
            pre-primary education on children's subsequent school
            outcomes by exploiting a unique feature of the Uruguayan
            household survey (ECH) that collects retrospective
            information on preschool attendance in the context of a
            rapid expansion in the supply of pre-primary places. Using a
            within household estimator, they find small gains from
            preschool attendance at early ages that magnify as children
            grow up. By age 15, treated children have accumulated 0.8
            extra years of education and are 27 percentage points more
            likely to be in school compared with their untreated
            siblings. Instrumental variables estimates that control for
            nonrandom selection of siblings into preschool lead to
            similar results. The authors speculate that early grade
            repetition harms subsequent school progression and that
            pre-primary education appears as a successful policy option
            to prevent early grade failure and its long lasting consequences.
Democratic Jihad Military
            intervention and democracy
Democracies rarely if ever fight one
            another, but they participate in wars as frequently as
            autocracies. They tend to win the wars in which they
            participate. Democracies frequently build large alliances in
            wartime, but not only with other democracies. From time to
            time democracies intervene militarily in ongoing conflicts.
            The democratic peace may contribute to a normative
            justification for such interventions, for the purpose of
            promoting democracy and eventually for the promotion of
            peace. This is reinforced by an emerging norm of
            humanitarian intervention. Democracies may have a motivation
            to intervene in non-democracies, even in the absence of
            ongoing conflict, for the purpose of regime change. The
            recent Iraq War may be interpreted in this perspective. A
            strong version of this type of foreign policy may be
            interpreted as a democratic crusade. The paper examines the
            normative and theoretical foundations of democratic
            interventionism. An empirical investigation of interventions
            in the period 1960-96 indicates that democracies intervene
            quite frequently, but rarely against other democracies. In
            the short term, democratic intervention appears to be
            successfully promoting democratization, but the target
            states tend to end up among the unstable semi-democracies.
            The most widely publicized recent interventions are targeted
            on poor or resource-dependent countries in non-democratic
            neighborhoods. Previous research has found these
            characteristics to reduce the prospects for stable
            democracy. Thus, forced democratization is unpredictable
            with regard to achieving long-term democracy and potentially
            harmful with regard to securing peace. But short-term
            military successes may stimulate more interventions until
            the negative consequences become more visible.