rafmacalaba/datause-encoder-data huggingface dataset:
Signaling and technological
            marketing tools for exporters
Besides superior productivity, what
            other firm characteristics are associated with export
            success? This empirical study identifies the effects of
            signaling tools (foreign technical license, International
            Standards Organization certification, and review of
            financial statements) and Internet tools (email and website)
            on export frequency and intensity of firms in developing
            countries. Using data from the World Banks Enterprise
            Survey, the author finds that productivity, size, foreign
            ownership, International Standards Organization
            certification, and the use of Internet tools have positive
            effects on the probability of exporting and on the intensive
            margin of trade. International Standards Organization
            certified firms are 22 percent more likely to be exporters,
            whereas firms that use their own website to communicate with
            clients and suppliers increase the likelihood they export by
            11 percent. Among exporting firms, those that are
            International Standards Organization certified sell 41
            percent more abroad than firms that are not certified. Firms
            that use email sell 31 percent more in foreign markets than
            exporting firms that do not.
Design and implementation of
            environmental performance rating and public disclosure
            programs : a summary of issues and recommendations based on
            experiences in East Asian countries
A number of countries around the world
            have in recent years implemented environmental performance
            rating and public disclosure programs, and, where evidence
            is available, these programs have been shown to induce
            pollution reduction. Based on previous research and
            practical experiences from several Asian countries, this
            paper provides a systematic review and discussion of the
            practical issues involved in designing and implementing
            environmental performance rating and public disclosure
            programs, including the legal and institutional framework,
            scope and coverage determination, performance rating
            methodology, data collection and verification, disclosure
            strategy, credibility assurance, program set-up and
            expansion, etc. The authors offer comments and
            recommendations, where appropriate, for environmental
            regulators to tackle these practical issues. The reviews and
            discussions are intended to be concise, simple, and
            systematic, and alternative options are discussed in a
            succinct manner, so that they can be readily used by
            interested environmental regulators and researchers.
Agriculture and development : a
            brief review of the literature
After 20 years of neglect by
            international donors, agriculture is now again in the
            headlines because higher food prices are increasing food
            insecurity and poverty. In the coming years it will be
            essential to increase food productivity and production in
            developing countries, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa and
            with smallholders. This however requires finding viable
            solutions to a number of complex technical, institutional
            and policy issues including land markets, research on seeds
            and inputs; agricultural extension; credit; rural
            infrastructure; storage; connection to markets; rural
            nonfarm employment and food price stabilization. This paper
            reviews what the economic literature has to say on these
            topics. It discusses in turn the role played by agriculture
            in the development process and the interactions between
            agriculture and other economic sectors; the determinants of
            the Green Revolution and discuss the foundations of
            agricultural growth; issues of income diversification by
            farmers; approaches to rural development; and finally issues
            of international trade policy and food security which are at
            the root of the crisis in agricultural commodity volatility
            in the past few years.
Mapping vulnerability to climate change
This paper develops a methodology for
            regional disaggregated estimation and mapping of the areas
            that are ex-ante the most vulnerable to the impacts of
            climate change and variability and applies it to Tajikistan,
            a mountainous country highly vulnerable to the impacts of
            climate change. The authors construct the vulnerability
            index as a function of exposure to climate variability and
            natural disasters, sensitivity to the impacts of that
            exposure, and capacity to adapt to ongoing and future
            climatic changes. This index can inform decisions about
            adaptation responses that might benefit from an assessment
            of how and why vulnerability to climate change varies
            regionally and it may therefore prove a useful tool for
            policy analysts interested in how to ensure pro-poor
            adaptation in developing countries. Index results for
            Tajikistan suggest that vulnerability varies according to
            socio-economic and institutional development in ways that do
            not follow directly from exposure or elevation: geography is
            not destiny. The results indicate that urban areas are by
            far the least vulnerable, while the eastern Region of
            Republican Subordination mountain zone is the most
            vulnerable. Prime agricultural valleys are also relatively
            more vulnerable, implying that adaptation planners do not
            necessarily face a trade-off between defending vulnerable
            areas and defending economically important areas. These
            results lend support to at least some elements of current
            adaptation practice.
The impacts of climate variability
            on welfare in rural Mexico
This paper examines the impacts of
            weather shocks, defined as rainfall or growing degree days
            more than a standard deviation from their respective
            long-run means, on household consumption per capita and
            child height-for-age. The results reveal that the current
            risk-coping mechanisms are not effective in protecting these
            two dimensions of welfare from erratic weather patterns.
            These findings imply that the change in the patterns of
            climatic variability associated with climate change is
            likely to reduce the effectiveness of the current coping
            mechanisms even more and thus increase household
            vulnerability further. The results reveal that weather
            shocks have substantial (negative as well as positive)
            effects on welfare that vary across regions (North vs.
            Center and South) and socio-economic characteristics
            (education and gender). The heterogeneous impacts of
            climatic variability suggest that a "tailored"
            approach to designing programs aimed at decreasing the
            sensitivity and increasing the capacity of rural households
            to adapt to climate change in Mexico is likely to be more effective.
Impact of migration on economic and
            social development : a review of evidence and emerging issues
This paper provides a review of the
            literature on the development impact of migration and
            remittances on origin countries and on destination countries
            in the South. International migration is an ever-growing
            phenomenon that has important development implications for
            both sending and receiving countries. For a sending country,
            migration and the resulting remittances lead to increased
            incomes and poverty reduction, and improved health and
            educational outcomes, and promote economic development. Yet
            these gains might come at substantial social costs to the
            migrants and their families. Since many developing countries
            are also large recipients of international migrants, they
            face challenges of integration of immigrants, job
            competition between migrant and native workers, and fiscal
            costs associated with provision of social services to the
            migrants. This paper also summarizes incipient discussions
            on the impacts of migration on climate change, democratic
            values, demographics, national identity, and security. In
            conclusion, the paper highlights a few policy
            recommendations calling for better integration of migration
            in development policies in the South and the North,
            improving data collection on migration and remittance flows,
            leveraging remittances for improving access to finance of
            recipient households and countries, improving recruitment
            mechanisms, and facilitating international labor mobility
            through safe and legal channels.
The possibility of a rice green
            revolution in large-scale irrigation schemes in Sub-Saharan Africa
This paper investigates the potential of
            and constraints to a rice Green Revolution in Sub-Saharan
            Africa's large-scale irrigation schemes, using data
            from Uganda, Mozambique, Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, and
            Senegal. The authors find that adequate irrigation, chemical
            fertilizer, and labor inputs are the key to high
            productivity. Chemical fertilizer is expensive in Uganda and
            Mozambique and is barely used. This is aggravated when water
            access is limited because of the complementarities between
            fertilizer and irrigation. Meanwhile, in the schemes located
            in four countries in West Africa's Sahel region, where
            water access is generally good and institutional support for
            chemical fertilizer exists, rice farmers achieve attractive
            yields. Some countries' wage rate is high and thus
            mechanization could be one solution for this constraint.
            Improvement of credit access also facilitates the purchase
            of expensive fertilizer or the employment of hired labor.
How business is done and the
            'doing business' indicators : the investment
            climate when firms have climate control
This paper examines de jure and de facto
            measures of regulations, finding the relationship between
            them is neither one for one, nor linear. "Doing
            Business" provides indicators of the formal time and
            costs associated with fully complying with regulations.
            Enterprise Surveys report the actual experiences of a wide
            range of firms. First, there are significant variations in
            reported times to complete the same transaction by firms
            facing the same formal policy. Second, regulatory compliance
            appears "under water" as firms report actual times
            much less than the Doing Business reported days. Third, the
            data reveal substantial differences between favored and
            disfavored firms in the same location. Favored firms show
            minimal variation, so Doing Business has little predictive
            power for the times they report. For disfavored firms, the
            variation is greater, although still not significantly
            correlated with Doing Business. Fourth, where multiple
            Enterprise Surveys are available, there is little
            association over time, with reductions in Doing Business
            days as likely to be accompanied by increases in Enterprise
            Surveys days. Comparing these two types of measures suggests
            very different ways of thinking about policy versus policy
            implementation, what "a climate" for firms in a
            country might mean, and what the options for "policy
            reform" really are.
How do governments respond after
            catastrophes natural-disaster shocks and the fiscal stance
Natural disasters could constitute a
            major shock to public finances and debt sustainability
            because of their impact on output and the need for
            reconstruction and relief expenses. This paper uses a panel
            vector autoregressive model to systematically estimate the
            impact of geological, climatic, and other types of natural
            disasters on government expenditures and revenues using
            annual data for high and middle-income countries over
            1975-2008. The authors find that, on average budget,
            deficits increase only after climatic disasters, but for
            lower-middle-income countries, the increase in deficits is
            widespread across all events. Disasters do not lead to
            larger deficit increases or larger output declines in
            countries with higher initial government debt. Countries
            with higher financial development suffer smaller real
            consequences from disasters, but deficits expand further in
            these countries. Disasters in countries with high insurance
            penetration also have smaller real consequences but do not
            result in deficit expansions. From an ex-post perspective,
            the availability of insurance offers the best mitigation
            approach against real and fiscal consequences of disasters.
Why Does cargo spend weeks in
            African ports the case of Douala, Cameroon
This paper investigates the main factors
            explaining long container dwell times in African Ports.
            Using original and extensive data on container imports in
            the Port of Douala, it seeks to provide a basic
            understanding of why containers stay on average more than
            two weeks in gateway ports in Africa while long dwell times
            are widely recognized as a critical hindrance to economic
            development. It also demonstrates the interrelationships
            that exist between logistics performance of consignees,
            operational performance of port operators and efficiency of
            customs clearance operations. Shipment level analysis is
            used to identify the main determinants of long cargo dwell
            times and the impact of shipment characteristics such as
            fiscal regime, density of value, bulking and packaging type,
            last port of call, and region of origin or commodity group
            on cargo dwell time in ports is tested. External factors,
            such as performance of clearing and forwarding agents,
            shippers and shipping line strategies, also play an
            important role in the determination of long dwell times.
            Cargo dwell time distribution has many specificities,
            including broad-tail, high variance or right-censoring,
            which requires in-depth statistical analysis prior to any
            design of policy recommendations.
The highway concession system in
            Italy : history, regulation and politics
This paper contains a critical
            discussion of the opening of the highway concession to the
            private sector in Italy over the past 20 years. It describes
            the political context, legal mechanisms and regulatory
            settings; offers an analysis of the changes in the equity
            composition of concessionaires after the introduction of
            public-private partnerships, quality standards, and tariff
            dynamics; and provides some examples. The Italian experience
            reflects the typical problems of the
            "build-now-regulate-later" approach recognized in
            the highway public-private partnership literature. The
            Italian model is also characterized by the existence of an
            overly complex regulatory framework, as well as the lack of
            a single agent in charge of contract enforcement and
            independent data collection. <BR>
The two poverty enlightenments:
            historical insights from digitized books spanning three centuries
Word searches of Google's library
            of digitized books suggest that there have been two
            "Poverty Enlightenments" since 1700, one near the
            end of the 18th century and the second near the end of the
            20th. The historical literature suggests that only the
            second came with a widespread belief that poverty could and
            should be eliminated. After the first Poverty Enlightenment,
            references to "poverty" (as a percentage of all
            words) were on a trend decline until 1960, after which there
            was a striking resurgence of interest, which came with
            rising attention to economics and more frequent references
            to both general and specific policies relevant to poverty.
            Developing countries also became more prominent in the
            literature. Both Enlightenments came with greater attention
            to human rights. The written record reflects the push-back
            against government intervention and the retreat from leftist
            economics and politics since the late 1970s. Although many
            debates from 200 years ago continue today, there is little
            sign that the modern revival of the classical 19th century
            views on the limitations of government has come with a
            revival of the complacency about poverty that was common
            early in that century.
Designing climate change adaptation
            policies : an economic framework
Adaptation has long been neglected in
            the debate and policies surrounding climate change. However,
            increasing awareness of climate change has led many
            stakeholders to look for the best way to limit its
            consequences and has resulted in a large number of
            initiatives related to adaptation, particularly at the local
            level. This report proposes a general economic framework to
            help stakeholders in the public sector to develop effective
            adaptation strategies. To do so, it lays out the general
            issues involved in adaptation, including the role of
            uncertainty and inertia, and the need to consider structural
            changes in addition to marginal adjustments. Then, it
            identifies the reasons for legitimate public action in terms
            of adaptation, and four main domains of action: the
            production and dissemination of information on climate
            change and its impacts; the adaptation of standards,
            regulations and fiscal policies; the required changes in
            institutions; and direct adaptation actions of governments
            and local communities in terms of public infrastructure,
            public buildings and ecosystems. Finally, the report
            suggests a method to build public adaptation plans and to
            assess the desirability of possible policies.
Sudden stops : are global and local
            investors alike
The main goal of this paper is to
            characterize the determinants of sudden stops caused by
            domestic vis-a-vis foreign residents. Are the decisions of
            domestic investors to invest abroad or of foreign investors
            to cut off funds from the domestic economy governed by the
            same set of determinants? Given the distribution of
            different types of sudden stop episodes over time and its
            different macroeconomic consequences, the authors argue that
            the determinants may not be alike. Using an effective sample
            of 82 countries with annual information over the period
            1970-2007, the analysis finds that global investors are less
            likely to stop bringing their capital when their economy is
            growing and the world interest rate is lower. Domestic
            agents are more willing to invest abroad if the
            macroeconomic performance of the domestic economy is poor
            (high inflation), the financial system is weak, and there
            are high external savings (current account surpluses).
            Increasing financial openness makes the domestic country
            more vulnerable to sudden stops caused by either local or
            global investors. Finally, countries with higher shares of
            foreign direct investment are less prone to inflow-driven
            sudden stops, whereas the opposite holds for outflow-driven
            sudden stops.
Gender and finance in Sub-Saharan
            Africa : are women disadvantaged
This paper assesses whether there is a
            gender gap in the use of financial services by businesses
            and individuals in Sub-Saharan Africa. The authors do not
            find evidence of gender discrimination or lower inherent
            demand for financial services by enterprises with female
            ownership participation or by female individuals when key
            characteristics of the enterprises or individuals are taken
            into account. In the case of enterprises, they explain this
            finding with selection bias -- females are less likely to
            run sole proprietorships than men, and firms with female
            ownership participation are smaller, but more likely to
            innovate. In the case of individuals, the lower use of
            formal financial services by women can be explained by
            gender gaps in other dimensions related to the use of
            financial services, such as their lower level of income and
            education, and by their household and employment status.
What drives the development of the
            insurance sector an empirical analysis based on a panel of
            developed and developing countries
The insurance sector can play a critical
            role in financial and economic development. By reducing
            uncertainty and the impact of large losses, the sector can
            encourage new investments, innovation, and competition. As
            financial intermediaries with long investment horizons,
            insurance companies can contribute to the provision of
            long-term instruments to finance corporate investment and
            housing. There is evidence of a causal relationship between
            insurance sector development and economic growth. However,
            there have been few studies examining the factors that drive
            the development of the insurance industry. This paper
            contributes to the literature by examining the determinants
            of insurance premiums (both life and non-life premiums) and
            total assets for a panel of about 90 countries during the
            period 2000-08. The results show that life sector premiums
            are driven by per capita income, population size and
            density, demographic structures, income distribution, the
            size of the public pension system, state ownership of
            insurance companies, the availability of private credit, and
            religion. The non-life sector is affected by these and other
            variables. While some of these drivers are structural, the
            results also show that the development of the insurance
            sector can be influenced by a number of policy variables.