rafmacalaba/datause-encoder-data huggingface dataset:
Regulation, trade and productivity
            in Romania : an empirical assessment
Inappropriate regulation can influence
            productivity performance by affecting incentives to invest
            and adopt new technologies, as well as by directly curbing
            competitive pressures. Results of a labor productivity
            growth model for European  countries suggest that improving
            the regulatory environment -- proxied by the Worldwide
            Governance Indicators regulatory quality indicator -- and
            boosting effective exposure to competition through
            increasing trade integration -- expressed as the ratio of
            exports plus imports to gross domestic product -- have
            positive effects on productivity growth. In Romania a 10
            percent increase in openness to global trade over 1995-2010
            would have boosted productivity growth by 9.7 percent per
            year. A 10 percent increase in openness to European Union
            trade, in particular, would have led to an annual increase
            in productivity of 7 percent. Realizing the benefits from
            trade integration depends to some extent on regulation. In
            this regard, the effects of regulation on productivity
            growth are found to be positive, regardless of the indicator
            used to measure regulation, and both through direct and
            indirect channels (by increasing the speed at which a
            country catches up with productivity leaders). Simulation
            results also show how countries with different levels of
            regulatory quality would benefit from a regulatory
            improvement: had Romania improved its regulatory environment
            to the same level as Denmark in 2010, its annual
            productivity growth would have been 14 percent higher over 1995-2010.
Expanding social insurance coverage
            in urban China
This paper first reviews the history of
            social insurance policy and coverage in urban China,
            documenting the evolution in the coverage of pensions and
            medical and unemployment insurance for both local residents
            and migrants, and highlighting obstacles to expanding
            coverage. The paper then uses two waves of the China Urban
            Labor Survey, conducted in 2005 and 2010, to examine the
            correlates of social insurance participation before and
            after implementation of the 2008 Labor Contract Law. A
            higher labor tax wedge is associated with a lower
            probability that local employed residents participate in
            social insurance programs, but is not associated with
            participation of wage-earning migrants, who are more likely
            to be dissuaded by fragmentation of the social insurance
            system. The existing gender gap in social insurance coverage
            is explained by differences in coverage across industrial
            sectors and firm ownership classes in which men and women work.
Impact evaluation of conflict
            prevention and peacebuilding interventions
The international community is paying
            increased attention to the 25 percent of the world's
            population that lives in fragile and conflict affected
            settings, acknowledging that these settings represent
            daunting development challenges. To deliver better results
            on the ground, it is necessary to improve the understanding
            of the impacts and effectiveness of development
            interventions operating in contexts of conflict and
            fragility. This paper argues that it is both possible and
            important to carry out impact evaluations even in settings
            of violent conflict, and it presents some examples from a
            collection of impact evaluations of conflict prevention and
            peacebuilding interventions. The paper examines the
            practices of impact evaluators in the peacebuilding sector
            to see how they address evaluation design, data collection,
            and conflict analysis. Finally, it argues that such
            evaluations are crucial for testing assumptions about how
            development interventions affect change -- the so-called
            "theory of change" -- which is important for
            understanding the results on the ground.
Should Zambia produce biodiesel from
            soybeans some insights from an empirical analysis
Facing a huge fiscal burden due to
            imports of entire petroleum despite the availability of a
            surplus of agricultural land to produce biofuels, Zambia, a
            country in Sub-Saharan Africa, has recently introduced a
            biofuel mandate. But, a number of questions, particularly
            those related to the economics of biofuels, have not been
            fully investigated yet. Using an empirical model this study
            analyzes the economics of meeting the biodiesel mandate
            through soybean feedstock. The study finds that meeting the
            biodiesel mandate with biodiesel from soybeans would reduce
            social welfare because the country's soybean imports
            would cost more than the expected reduction in petroleum
            imports. However, if Zambia increases its domestic soybean
            supply along with its capacity to convert soybean to
            biodiesel, as well as oil yield, soybean based biodiesel is
            likely to be welfare-beneficial, even if biodiesel prices
            are above diesel prices.  The study also finds that under
            current market prices and transportation costs and
            constraints, the same amount of biodiesel can be produced
            most cost-effectively with a tax exemption. A blend mandate
            would be less cost effective, while a biodiesel production
            subsidy represents the least efficient policy option.
Are biofuels economically
            competitive with their petroleum counterparts production
            cost analysis for Zambia
With increased global interest in
            biofuels, Zambia, a Sub-Saharan African country that
            entirely depends on imports for its petroleum supply, is
            planning to implement blending mandates for biofuels. But, a
            large number of issues -- including production costs of
            biofuels, land requirements to meet the mandates, and
            environmental benefits -- have not yet been explored. This
            study aims to contribute in filling this gap. It finds that
            depending on feedstock type, costs of ethanol production
            range from US$0.360 a liter to US$0.680 a liter while the
            costs for biodiesel production range from US$0.612 a liter
            to US$0.952 a liter. Even if lower energy contents of
            biofuels are taken into account, the analysis shows that
            biofuels are cheaper than their petroleum counterparts.
            Considering the cost advantage of these biofuels over
            petroleum products and the availability of surplus
            agricultural land, Zambia is likely to benefit from the
            development of a biofuel industry. Biofuels is expected to
            reduce Zambia's petroleum import bill, which currently
            stands at more than US$700 million, enhance food security by
            providing incentives to increase yields, and increase
            affordability and accessibility to modern energy in the
            country where 77 percent of the population still lacks
            access to modern energy. It could also stimulate rural
            employment and development.
Aid, disbursement delays, and the
            real exchange rate
Aid donors and recipients have long been
            concerned that aid inflows may lead to an appreciation of
            the real exchange rate and an associated loss of
            competitiveness. This paper provides new evidence of the
            dynamic effects of aid on the real exchange rate, using an
            identification strategy that exploits the long delays
            between the approval of aid projects and the subsequent
            disbursements on them. These disbursement delays enable the
            isolation of a source of variation in aid inflows that is
            uncorrelated with contemporaneous macroeconomic shocks that
            may drive both aid and the real exchange rate. Using this
            predetermined component of aid as an instrument, there is
            little evidence that aid inflows lead to significant real
            exchange rate appreciations.
Resource discoveries, learning, and
            national income accounting
Questions about the ultimate size of
            mineral and energy resource endowments and the degree of
            fiscal prudence which should be exercised by countries
            engaged in resource extraction have become central for many
            developing countries during the recent resource boom. To
            explore these questions, this paper develops a model of
            optimal resource extraction and discovery that combines two
            polar assumptions: (i) that discovering a resource today
            drives up the cost of future resource discoveries, and (ii)
            that extracting resources yields knowledge that reduces the
            cost of discovery. Although the model shows that resource
            discoveries should be valued at marginal discovery cost in
            measures of national saving and income, the ultimate size of
            the resource that can be exploited is the result of the
            interplay between rising discovery costs and accumulating
            knowledge. Empirical tests of the model show that the
            resulting income estimates would be extremely volatile for
            many extractive economies, owing to the lumpiness of
            resource discoveries. Two alternative accounting approaches,
            based on Hicksian concepts, yield more intuitive and less
            volatile income estimates. The question of fiscal prudence
            for extractive economies hinges on how optimistic countries
            are about the risks in future mineral and energy markets,
            and how far into the future these countries are willing to
            project optimistic trends when making decisions about how
            much to consume and how much to save of current resource revenues.
A global urban risk index
Which cities have the highest risk of
            human and economic losses due to natural hazards? And how
            will urban exposure to major hazards change over the coming
            decades? This paper develops a global urban disaster risk
            index that evaluates the mortality and economic risks from
            disasters in 1,943 cities in developing countries.
            Concentrations of population, infrastructure, and economic
            activities in cities contribute to increased exposure and
            susceptibility to natural hazards. The three components of
            this risk measure are urban hazard characteristics,
            exposure, and vulnerability. For earthquakes, cyclones,
            floods, and landslides, single hazard risk indices are
            developed. In addition, a multi-hazard index gives a
            holistic picture of current city risk. Demographic-economic
            projection of city population growth to 2050 suggests that
            exposure to earthquake and cyclone risk in developing
            country cities will more than double from today's
            levels. Global urban risk analysis, as presented in this
            paper, can inform the prioritization of resources for
            disaster risk management and urban planning and promote the
            shift toward managing risks rather than emergencies.
The impact of consulting services on
            small and medium enterprises: evidence from a randomized
            trial in Mexico
Using a randomized evaluation with 432
            Mexican small and medium enterprises, this paper shows that
            access to management consulting led to better firm
            performance: one-year results show positive effects on
            return-on-assets and total factor productivity. Owners also
            had large increases in "entrepreneurial spirit"
            (an entrepreneurs' managerial confidence index). Using
            Mexican social security data, the analysis finds a large
            increase in the number of employees and total wage bill
            several years after the program. The paper documents large
            heterogeneity in the specific managerial practices that
            improved as a result of the consulting, but there is no
            singular mechanism as a panacea for all firms.
Do elected councils improve
            governance experimental evidence on local institutions in Afghanistan
Using data from a field experiment in
            500 villages, this paper studies how local institutions
            affect the quality of governance, as measured by aid
            distribution outcomes. In villages where elected councils
            exist and manage distributions, aid targeting improves.
            However, if the distribution is not clearly assigned to
            either the council or customary leaders, the creation of
            elected councils increases embezzlement and makes
            decision-making less inclusive. Requiring that women manage
            the distribution jointly with customary leaders also
            increases embezzlement. Thus, while elected councils can
            improve governance, overlapping mandates between new and
            existing institutions may result in increased rent-seeking.
Understanding child labor beyond
            poverty : the structure of the economy, social norms, and no
            returns to rural basic education
Child labor is pervasive across
            sub-Saharan Africa. The common assumption is that monetary
            poverty is its most important cause. This paper investigates
            this hypothesis with empirical evidence by exploring
            structural, geographic, monetary, demographic, cultural,
            seasonal and school-supply factors simultaneously that can
            influence child labor. It is a first attempt in the
            literature to combine quantitative with qualitative methods
            to identify a broader range of potential factors—on the
            demand- and supply-side and at the micro and macro
            levels—for why children work in agrarian economies like
            Ghana. Interviews with the Minister of Education and with
            children enrich the multivariate regression results. The
            multiple sources of child labor appear to include, in
            particular, the structure of the economy, social norms and
            no returns to rural basic education. Policy responses are
            outlined especially on the demand side that are needed to
            help reduce harmful child labor that affects children's
            education and later opportunities.
Enduring impacts of aid quality on
            job choices : the case of the 2004 tsunami in Aceh
After the tsunami in Aceh, Indonesia,
            the recovery of fishing was limited while non-fishing
            sectors temporarily expanded. This paper shows that
            fishermen's ex-post labor supply responses continued to
            be constrained by the provision of low quality production
            assets. The average fishing productivity also declined for
            the negative selection in response to the aggregate shock.
            In a natural experiment set-up, it shows widening income
            inequality after the tsunami for income losses to the
            recipients of poor quality aid. It suggests the importance
            of quality monitoring and private market access to
            sustainably promote rural development after the tsunami.
Stress-testing Africa's recent
            growth and poverty performance
After an impressive acceleration in
            growth and poverty reduction since the mid-1990s, many
            African countries continue to register robust growth in the
            aftermath of the global financial crisis. Will this growth
            persist, given the tepid recovery in developed countries,
            numerous weather shocks, and civil conflicts in Africa? This
            paper "stress tests" African economies. The
            findings indicate that Africa's long-term growth is
            fairly impervious to a prolonged recession in high-income
            countries. Growth is, however, much more sensitive to a
            disruption of capital flows to the region, and to internal
            shocks, such as civil conflict and drought, even if the
            latter follow historical patterns. The broad policy
            implication is that with proper domestic production
            conditions African countries can sustain robust long-term
            growth. Because of the economic dominance of the agriculture
            sector and the share of food in household budgets, countries
            will need to increase the resilience of agriculture and
            protect it from unfavorable climate change impacts, such as
            drought. As in the past, civil conflicts and violence will
            pose by far the greatest threat to Africa's performance.
Understanding the sources of spatial
            disparity and convergence : evidence from Bangladesh
This paper utilizes the mixed effects
            model to measure and decompose spatial disparity in per
            capita expenditure in Bangladesh between 2000 and 2010. It
            finds a significant decline in spatial disparity in urban
            areas and the country as a whole but no substantial change
            in rural areas. The decomposition analysis indicates that
            average years of education, the percentage of households
            with electricity connections, and phone ownership account
            for most of the spatial variations in welfare. Spatial
            convergence in urban areas can be explained primarily by the
            expansion of electricity and phone networks for household
            use. Improved access to these services had little effect on
            spatial disparity in rural areas. This paper offers several
            explanations for the difference in convergence rates between
            urban and rural areas.
Trade and innovation in services :
            evidence from a developing economy
Studies on innovation and international
            trade have traditionally focused on manufacturing because
            neither was seen as important for services. Moreover, the
            few existing studies on services focus only on industrial
            countries, although in many developing countries services
            are already the largest sector in the economy and an
            important determinant of overall productivity growth. Using
            a recent firm-level innovation survey for Chile to compare
            the manufacturing and "tradable" services sector,
            this paper reveals some novel patterns. First, although
            services firms have on average a much lower propensity to
            export than manufacturing firms, services exports are less
            dominated by large firms and tend to be more skill intensive
            than manufacturing exports. Second, services firms appear to
            be as innovative as -- and in some cases more innovative
            than -- manufacturing firms, in terms of both inputs and
            outputs of "technological" innovative activity,
            although services innovations more often take a
            "non-technological" form. Third, services
            exporters (like manufacturing exporters) tend to be
            significantly more innovative than non-exporters, with a
            wider gap for innovations close to the global technological
            frontier. These findings suggest that the growing faith in
            services as a source of both trade and innovative dynamism
            may not be misplaced.
An economic model of Brazil's
            ethanol-sugar markets and impacts of fuel policies
The lack of growth in the Brazilian
            sugarcane-ethanol complex since the 2008 financial crisis
            has been blamed on policies: lower mandate, holding gasoline
            prices below world levels, high fuel taxes, and inadequate
            fuel tax exemptions for ethanol. This paper develops an
            empirical model of the Brazilian fuel-ethanol-sugar complex
            to analyze the impacts of these policies. Unlike biofuel
            mandates and tax exemptions elsewhere, Brazil's
            fuel-ethanol-sugar markets and fuel policies are unique such
            that each policy, in theory, has an ambiguous impact on the
            market price of ethanol and hence on sugarcane and sugar
            prices. The results indicate two policies that seemingly
            help the ethanol industry do otherwise in reality: low
            gasoline taxes and high anhydrous tax exemptions lower
            ethanol prices. But higher mandates, hydrous ethanol tax
            exemptions, and gasoline prices had the expected impact of
            increasing ethanol and sugar prices. Eliminating Brazilian
            ethanol tax exemptions and mandates reduces ethanol prices
            by 21 percent. Observed changes in prices are explained by
            outward shifts in fuel transportation and sugar export
            demand curves, and bad weather reducing sugarcane supply.
Explaining the last consumption
            boom-bust cyclein Ireland : the role of news and noise shocks
The objective of the paper is to explain
            the last boom and bust in consumption in Ireland by the
            failure of consumers to correctly distinguish permanent
            changes in productivity from temporary changes. It uses a
            business cycle model, where agents update their beliefs
            about long-run productivity using information -that they
            receive continuously- about the future state of the economy.
            The analysis finds that a large and prolonged disconnect
            between consumption and long-run productivity occurred in
            the years leading to the economic crisis, which led to --
            over-consumption -- for several quarters. A strong downward
            adjustment in 2008 followed when Irish consumers finally
            realized their mistake.