rafmacalaba/datause-encoder-data huggingface dataset:
The dynamics of ownership of durable
            goods in Bulgaria : from economic crisis to EU membership
The paper uses repeated cross-sections
            of Bulgaria's household survey data (1995, 1997, 2001,
            and 2003) and a comparable list of durable goods to
            investigate the dynamics and distribution of durable goods
            over time,  including during the economic crisis of
            1996-1997 and the subsequent period of relatively robust
            economic growth leading up to European Union membership. It
            examines the dynamics of the ownership of durable goods by
            wealth classes, geographic locations, and various ethnic
            groups, including the Roma. In the aggregate, there was
            convergence between the poorest and the richest classes in
            the ownership of durable goods between 1995 and 2003, with
            the poorest class making a significant gain between 2001 and
            2003 after having lost some ground between 1995 and 2001.
            There was also convergence in the ownership of durable goods
            between urban and rural residents. However, there appear to
            be some diverging tendencies between Bulgarians and the
            minority ethnic groups, particularly in the ownership of
            relatively more expensive goods such as personal computers
            and cars.
Financing lifelong learning
This paper describes and analyzes
            different financial schemes to promote lifelong learning.
            Considered are financial instruments to stimulate successful
            early learning, financial aid schemes and subsidization
            mechanisms.  Theoretical analyses about funding of early
            learning have mainly focused on vouchers. Yet, the available
            empirical evidence is more ambiguous about the effects of
            vouchers than about the effects of conditional cash
            transfers and financial incentives for pupils and teachers.
            Positive effects of financial incentives to pupils are not
            restricted to high ability pupils, as low ability students
            also seem to benefit.  The evidence regarding the effects of
            subsidy forms is limited.  The most prominent knowledge gaps
            regarding the effects of various financing schemes related
            to lifelong learning are the effects of vouchers in
            compulsory education; financial aid schemes for students;
            and entitlements and individual learning accounts.
Can cost-benefit analysis guide
            education policy in developing countries
Cost-benefit analysis in education is an
            important tool in the economists' arsenal.  However, it
            is essential that research, especially on the social
            benefits of education, make further progress to make
            cost-benefit more analysis.  There is a need for more
            research on the effects of policy interventions on outcomes
            beyond access to a year in school and what they earn as a
            result, such as on what children actually learn.  Such
            research should focus on ensuring that the interventions are
            attributable to outcomes.  Nevertheless, it is worthwhile to
            go through the discipline of noting the benefits and costs,
            even if social rates of return cannot be calculated robustly.
Regional household and poverty
            effects of Russia's accession to the world trade organization
This paper develops a seven-region
            comparative static computable general equilibrium model of
            Russia to assess the impact of accession to the World Trade
            Organization on these seven regions (the federal okrugs) of
            Russia. In order to assess poverty and distributional
            impacts, the model includes ten households in each of the
            seven federal okrugs, where household data are taken from
            the Household Budget Survey of Rosstat. The model allows for
            foreign direct investment in business services and
            endogenous productivity effects from additional varieties of
            business services and goods, which the analysis shows are
            crucial to the results. National welfare gains are about 4.5
            percent of gross domestic product in the model, but in a
            constant returns to scale model they are only 0.1 percent.
            All deciles of the population in all seven federal okrugs
            can be expected to significantly gain from Russian World
            Trade Organization accession, but due to the capacity of
            their regions to attract foreign direct investment,
            households in the Northwest region gain the most, followed
            by households in the Far East and Volga regions. Households
            in Siberia and the Urals gain the least. Distribution
            impacts within regions are rather flat for the first nine
            deciles; but the richest decile of the population in the
            three regions that attract a lot of foreign investment gains
            significantly more than the other nine representative
            households in those regions.
Partial peace rebel groups inside
            and outside civil war settlements
Previous research proposes that peace is
            more likely to become durable if all rebel groups are
            included in the settlement reached. The argument implies
            that if actors are excluded and continue to pursue the
            military course, this could have a destabilizing effect on
            the actors that have signed an agreement. This article
            argues that all-inclusive peace deals - signed by the
            government and all rebel groups - are not the panacea for
            peace that many seem to believe. Given that the parties are
            strategic actors who are forward-looking when making their
            decisions, the signatories should anticipate that the
            excluded parties may continue to fight. Therefore, the risk
            of violent challenges from outside actors is likely to
            already be factored into the decision-making calculus when
            the signatories decide to reach a deal, and so does not
            affect their commitment to peace. Implications from this
            theoretical argument are tested using unique data on the
            conflict behavior of the government and each of the rebel
            groups in internal armed conflicts during the post-Cold War
            period. The results are well in line with the theoretical
            expectations and show that whether an agreement leaves out
            some actor does not affect whether the signatories stick to
            peace. The results demonstrate that even when excluded rebel
            groups engage in conflict, this does not affect the
            signatories' commitment to peace. Hence, the findings
            suggest that partial peace is possible.
Linking African smallholders to
            high-value markets : practitioner perspectives on benefits,
            constraints, and interventions
This paper provides the results of an
            international survey of practitioners with experience in
            facilitating the participation of African smallholder
            farmers in supply chains for higher-value and/or
            differentiated agricultural products.  It explores their
            perceptions about the constraints inhibiting and the impacts
            associated with this supply chain participation. It also
            examines their perceptions about the factors affecting the
            success of project and policy interventions in this area,
            about how this success is and should be measured, and about
            the appropriate roles for national governments, the private
            sector, and development assistance entities in facilitating
            smallholder gains in this area.  The results confirm a
            growing 'consensus' about institutional roles, yet
            suggest some ambiguity regarding the impacts of smallholder
            participation in higher-value supply chains and the
            appropriateness of the indicators most commonly used to
            gauge such impacts.  The results also suggest a need to
            strengthen knowledge about both the 'old' and
            'new' sets of constraints (and solutions) related
            to remunerative smallholder inclusion,  in the form of the
            rising role of standards alongside more long-standing
            concerns about infrastructure and logistical links to markets.
Linking African smallholders to
            high-value markets : practitioner perspectives on benefits,
            constraints, and interventions
WPS4573 Policy ReseaRch WoRking PaPeR 4573 Linking African Smallholders to High-Value Markets: Practitioner Perspectives on Benefits, Constraints, and Interventions _Spencer Henson Steven Jaffee John Cranfield Jose Blandon Paul Siegel_ The World Bank Agriculture and Rural Development Department March 2008
Domestic constraints, firm
            characteristics, and geographical diversification of
            firm-level manufacturing exports in Africa
Using firm-level data on manufacturing
            sectors in Africa, this paper addresses how domestic supply
            constraints and other firm characteristics explain the
            geographical orientation of firms' exports and the
            overall market diversification of African manufacturing
            exports. The degree of market diversification, measured by
            the number of export destinations, is highly correlated with
            export intensity at the firm level, and both embody strong
            scale effects. Technological factors, such as new vintage
            capital and Internet access, which improve production
            efficiency and lower export costs, show strong effects on
            the firm-level export intensity. Some qualitative
            differences exist between Africa's regional exports and
            exports to the global markets. Foreign ownership is a
            significant factor in characterizing the intensity of global
            exports but not regional exports. The technological factors
            are significant in both cases, but more so in global
            exports. Public infrastructure constraints, such as inferior
            power services and customs delays, seem to have more
            immediate impacts on regional exports in general, implying
            the relevance of addressing behind-the-border constraints in
            fostering regional integration in Africa. Customs efficiency
            does matter for textile exports to the global markets,
            underscoring the importance of improving trade facilitation
            in Africa for competitive participation of African producers
            in global supply chain industries.
Human capital and the changing
            structure of the Indian economy
Using panel data for the fourteen major
            states of India over the 1980-2000 period, the authors
            estimate the effect of human capital endowment on the
            performance of the state economies. They find that greater
            availability of skilled workers had a positive and
            significant impact on output in the service sectors. They do
            not find any such effect for the manufacturing sectors. The
            paper shows that the differential effect on services and
            manufacturing arises because service sectors are more skill intensive.
Nonfarm microenterprise performance
            and the investment climate : evidence from rural Ethiopia
This paper uses uniquely matched
            household, enterprise and community survey data from four
            major regions in rural Ethiopia to characterize the
            performance, constraints and opportunities of nonfarm
            enterprises. The nonfarm enterprise sector is sizeable,
            particularly important for women, and plays an important
            role during the low season for agriculture, when alternative
            job opportunities are limited. Returns to nonfarm enterprise
            employment are low on average and especially so for
            female-headed enterprises. Women nevertheless have much
            higher participation rates than men, which attest to their
            marginalized position in the labor market. Most enterprises
            are very small and rely almost exclusively on household
            members to provide the required labor inputs. Few firms add
            to their capital stock or increase their labor inputs after
            startup. Local fluctuations in predicted crop performance
            affect the performance of nonfarm enterprises, because of
            the predominant role played by the agricultural sector.
            Enterprise performance is also affected by the localized
            nature of sales and limited market integration for nonfarm
            enterprises. The policy implications of these and other
            findings are discussed.
Insurers : too many, too few, or
            "just right" initial observations on a
            cross-country dataset of concentration and competition measures
In many markets, industry and
            policymakers agree that there may be too many insurers. In
            others, the consensus is that there could be benefit from
            more competition. But this broad consensus is often
            supported by evidence that is more qualitative, anecdotal,
            or judgmental despite being unanimous. What is less clear,
            however, is how far consolidation or liberalization will go,
            how fast, and when it will end. This paper presents some
            initial observations from a cross-country data set and
            proposes that individual country results can be interpreted
            against this data set to inform expectations regarding
            trends in competition, concentration and consolidation, to
            inform analysis of the sector, for individual firm strategic
            planning and wider market risk assessments. A "natural
            level" for measures is suggested as a starting
            hypothesis. Further consideration is then made of the role
            of absolute market size, stage of market development, and
            differentials between life and non life segments. Analysis
            of the natural level, adjusted for market conditions, can
            then be used to develop preliminary views on current and
            expected market dynamics, strategic planning, and to inform
            policy, regulatory and supervisory priorities.
The effectiveness of boards of
            directors of state owned enterprises in developing countries
This paper aims to shed some new light
            on the conditions needed to ensure the effectiveness of
            Boards of Directors of state owned enterprises with a focus
            on infrastructure sectors. In the case of developing
            countries, empirical studies have found evidence of positive
            links between the composition of the Board of Directors and
            financial performance. Yet the lack of solid theoretical
            foundations, and in some cases poor data availability, makes
            the conclusions of most studies weak. Several policy
            recommendations emerge from the review of the economic
            literature and evidence from case studies. First, the
            introduction of a sufficient number of independent directors
            emerges as an important corporate governance milestone.
            Empowering them to exercise effective monitoring of
            management, however, may prove to be a formidable challenge
            for of state owned enterprises. More attention to board
            procedures, particularly related to the Board selection and
            evaluation process, is essential, to produce the necessary
            insulation of Boards from government interference. Ensuring
            sufficient continuity of services to directors is
            particularly crucial to improve corporate governance.  In
            addition, other factors that may reduce directors'
            ability to monitor corporate activities, such as the age
            profile and the number of Boards on which they sit, need to
            be handled more carefully.
The demographic, economic and
            financial determinants of international remittances in
            developing countries
What causes developing countries to
            receive different levels of international remittances? This
            paper addresses this question by using new data on such
            variables as the skill composition of migrants, poverty, and
            interest and exchange rates to examine the determinants of
            remittances. The paper finds that the skill composition of
            migrants does matter in remittance determination. Countries
            which export a larger share of high-skilled (educated)
            migrants receive less per capita remittances than countries
            which export a larger proportion of low-skilled migrants. It
            also finds that the level of poverty in a labor-sending
            country does not have a positive impact on the level of
            remittances received.
Migrant labor markets and the
            welfare of rural households in the developing world :
            evidence from China
In this paper, the authors examine the
            impact of reductions in barriers to migration on the
            consumption of rural households in China. The authors find
            that increased migration from rural villages leads to
            significant increases in consumption per capita, and that
            this effect is stronger for poorer households within
            villages. Household income per capita and non-durable
            consumption per capita both increase with out-migration, and
            increase more for poorer households. The authors also
            establish a causal relationship between increased
            out-migration and investment in housing and durable goods
            assets, and these effects are also stronger for poorer
            households. The authors do not find robust evidence,
            however, to support a connection between increased migration
            and investment in productive activity. Instead, increased
            migration is associated with two significant changes for
            poorer households: increases both in the total labor
            supplied to productive activities and in the land per capita
            managed by the household. In examining the effect of
            migration, we pay considerable attention to developing and
            examining our identification strategy.
Evo, Pablo, Tony, Diego, and Sonny -
            general equilibrium analysis of the illegal drugs market
This paper presents a general
            equilibrium model for the production, trafficking, and
            consumption of illegal drugs which endogenously determines
            relative prices and quantities. The model is calibrated to
            characterize the market for cocaine and is used to analyze
            the effects of three types of policies: making the illegal
            activities riskier, increasing the penalties for conducting
            illegal activities, and legalizing previously illegal
            activities. Assessing the effects of these policies using
            the powerful tool of a general equilibrium model provides
            illuminating (and in cases surprising) results.
Rising growth, declining investment
            : the puzzle of the Philippines
The economy of the Philippines is open
            to trade and capital inflows, and has grown rapidly since
            2002. Over the last 10 years, however, domestic investment,
            while stagnant in real terms, has shrunk as a share of GDP.
            In an open and growing economy, why the decline? Three
            reasons explain the puzzle.  First, the public sector cannot
            afford expanding its investment at GDP growth rates.
            Second, the capital-intensive private sector does not find
            it convenient to raise investment at the economy's
            pace.  Third, fast-growing businesses in the service sector
            do not need to rapidly increase investment to enjoy rising
            profits. Yet, the economy keeps growing. On the demand-side,
            massive labor migration results in remittances that fuel
            consumption-led-growth. On the supply-side, free from
            rent-capturing regulations, a few non-capital-intensive
            manufactures and services boost exports. The economic system
            is in equilibrium at a low level of capital stock, where all
            economic agents have no incentive to unilaterally increase
            investment and the first mover bears short-term costs. As a
            consequence, growth is slower and less inclusive than it
            could be. To make it speedier and more sustainable, and to
            reduce unemployment and poverty, the economy needs to move
            to a "high-capital-stock" equilibrium. This would
            be attainable through better-performing eco-zones, a
            competitive exchange rate, greater government revenues, and
            fewer elite-capturing regulations.
Determinants of remittances : recent
            evidence using data on internal migrants in Vietnam
This paper examines the determinants of
            remittance behavior for Vietnam using data from the 2004
            Vietnam Migration Survey on internal migrants. It considers
            how, among other things, the vulnerability of a
            migrant's life at the destination, their link to
            relatives back home, and the time spent at the destination
            affect remittances. The paper finds that migrants act as
            risk-averse economic agents and send remittances back to the
            household of origin as part of an insurance exercise in the
            face of economic uncertainty. Remittances are also found to
            be driven by a migrant's labor market earnings level.
            The paper highlights the important role of remittances in
            providing an effective means of risk-coping and mutual
            support within the family.