rafmacalaba/datause-encoder-data huggingface dataset:
Productivity Convergence : Is Anyone
            Catching Up
Labor productivity in EMDEs is just
            under one-fifth of the advanced economy average, while in
            LICs, it is just 2 percent. Average productivity growth in
            EMDEs has picked up rapidly since 2000, renewing interest in
            the convergence hypothesis, which predicts that economies
            with low productivity should close productivity gaps over
            time. However, the average rate of convergence remains low,
            with current growth differentials halving the productivity
            gap only after over 100 years. Behind the low average pace
            of convergence lies considerable diversity among groups of
            countries converging toward different productivity levels
            (convergence clubs). Many EMDEs have moved into higher-level
            productivity convergence clubs since 2000, with 16 joining
            the highest club, primarily consisting of advanced
            economies. These transitioning EMDEs have been characterized
            by systematically better initial education levels, greater
            institutional quality, and high or deepening economic
            complexity relative to their income level, frequently aided
            by policies to encourage participation in global value
            chains. Countries seeking to replicate successes, or
            continue along rapid convergence paths, face a range of
            headwinds, including a more challenging environment to gain
            market share in manufacturing production or to increase
            global value chain integration.
Which Firms Benefit from Corporate
            QE during the COVID-19 Crisis The Case of the ECB's
            Pandemic Emergency Purchase Program : Which Firms Benefit
            from Corporate QE during the COVID-19 Crisis The Case of the
            ECB's Pandemic Emergency Purchase Program
Using an event study methodology, this
            paper examines how European firms have been affected by the
            announcement of the European Central Bank's Pandemic
            Emergency Purchase Program (PEPP). Firms with an investment
            grade rating benefit relatively more, as evidenced by higher
            share prices and lower credit default swap spreads, which
            reflects that the European Central Bank is restricted to
            purchasing investment grade corporate debt securities. The
            gains to shareholders relative to the total gains of
            shareholders and debtholders are negatively related to firm
            leverage, consistent with the existence of debt overhang.
            Firms that are more heavily impacted by the pandemic benefit
            relatively little from the PEPP, which could reflect that
            the business models of some of these firms heavily damaged
            by the pandemic. Monetary policy in the form of the PEPP and
            national fiscal responses to the pandemic are shown to be
            complements in the sense that a strong pre-PEPP fiscal
            response enhances the potential for the program to have a
            positive effect on equity and debt valuations.
Which Firms Benefit from Corporate
            QE during the COVID-19 Crisis The Case of the ECB's
            Pandemic Emergency Purchase Program : Which Firms Benefit
            from Corporate QE during the COVID-19 Crisis The Case of the
            ECB's Pandemic Emergency Purchase Program
Policy Research Working Paper 9379 Which Firms Benefit from Corporate QE during the COVID-19 Crisis? The Case of the ECB’s Pandemic Emergency Purchase Program _Asli Demirgüç-Kunt Bálint L. Horváth Harry Huizinga_ Europe and Central Asia Region Office of the Chief Economist September 2020
Talent Allocation and Post-Reform
            Growth in Central America
This paper examines the post-reform
            economic growth in three Central American economies -- Costa
            Rica, El Salvador, and Panama. From 1995 to 2015, each
            economy witnessed phenomenal shifts in labor market
            participation and occupational distribution of women. If the
            innate talent for a job did not change differently across
            genders, the occupational changes suggest that many talented
            women in the mid-1990s were in professions that did not
            conform to their comparative advantage. The paper studies
            the evolution of the occupational distribution using a model
            of occupational choice in which three forces create
            frictions to efficient allocation -- discrimination in labor
            markets, obstacles to human capital accumulation, and
            preferences (or social norms). The analysis shows that the
            underlying improvement in talent allocation over the past
            two decades had a quantitative impact on growth in Costa
            Rica and Panama. Decomposing the aggregate effects reveals
            that the gains were driven by declines in obstacles to human
            capital accumulation. In contrast, shifts in labor market
            discrimination created headwinds for expansion. The
            aggregate effects in El Salvador are relatively mild and
            noisy to the extent that the qualitative effect is difficult
            to pin down. Nonetheless, the analysis finds that the
            preference for market work has increased sharply in El
            Salvador for both genders and has proved to be a drag on growth.
Educator Knowledge of Early
            Childhood Development : Evidence from Eastern Nepal
Early childhood is a crucial period for
            the cognitive, social, emotional, physical, and language
            development of children. Of the 200 million children who do
            not reach their developmental potential worldwide, 66
            percent live in South Asia. This paper explores gaps in
            knowledge among educators in Eastern Nepal about the
            importance of early childhood. The results of a survey
            headteachers and teachers show that teachers often do not
            place enough weight on the importance of behaviors that
            contribute to the growth and development of children in
            early childhood. There are also large gaps in teachers'
            understanding and practice of classroom accommodations for
            children with disabilities. The paper illustrates that
            educators, who play a large role in children~^!!^s lives
            during early years, may be uninformed about the importance
            of early childhood development. The paper provides policy
            recommendations that can help policymakers target areas that
            lack understanding and improve early childhood development
            education and understanding among educators.
How Did Africa's Prospective
            Petroleum Producers Fall Victim to the Presource Curse
This paper reviews resource sector
            developments in 12 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa that made
            their first (major) petroleum discoveries during the most
            recent commodity boom. The analysis, which goes back to
            2001, looks at sector forecasts of international
            organizations, governments, and companies and compares them
            with the results that emerged. The paper finds that a third
            of the countries did not make any commercially viable
            discoveries. Among those that potentially had commercial
            finds, the latest timelines from discovery to production are
            73 percent longer on average than initially expected. In the
            six countries for which there are comparable data, revenue
            collected thus far or the most recent revenue projections
            for countries yet to reach production are 63 percent lower
            on average than the initial forecasts. All 12 countries
            experienced a disappointment in at least one of the three
            dimensions analyzed—and these disappointments are likely to
            be exacerbated by the recent price crash. The paper also
            documents the various policies adopted in response to the
            discoveries and -- with the benefit of hindsight -- finds
            that, in some cases, this over optimism contributed to the
            'presource curse~^!!^: suboptimal policymaking that did
            not align with the new realities. Some recommendations are
            provided on how better to navigate the inherent
            uncertainties in developing the sector.
Mining and the Quality of Public
            Services : The Role of Local Governance and Decentralization
This paper investigates the local
            effects of mining on the quality of public services and on
            people's optimism about their future living conditions.
            It also assesses the mediating role of local institutions
            and local governments~^!!^ taxing rights in shaping the
            proximity-to-mine effects. The empirical framework connects
            more than 130,000 respondents from the Afrobarometer survey
            data (2005-2015) to their closest mines based on the
            geolocation coordinates of the enumeration areas (EA) and
            data on the mines and their respective status from the SNL
            Metals & Mining. The geo-referenced data are matched
            with new indicators on local governments~^!!^ taxing rights
            across the African continent. The results suggest that
            citizens living near an active mine are less likely to
            approve government performance in key public goods and
            services -- including health, job creation and improving
            living standards of the poor. On the mediating role of local
            governance and local taxing rights, the findings point to a
            negative effect of local corruption, yet a positive effect
            of local authorities’ discretion over tax and revenues.
            However, the positive marginal effect of local taxing powers
            tends to reduce in environments with poor quality of local
            governance, high incidence of bribe payment and low level of
            trust in local government officials. Residents of mining
            communities with low corruption and comparatively high-level
            of raising revenue ability have the highest rate of positive
            appraisal compared to the other scenarios.
Broadband Internet and Household
            Welfare in Senegal
Senegal has experienced a rapid
            expansion in fixed and mobile broadband internet
            infrastructure over the past decade. This paper examines the
            relationship between access to broadband internet and
            household welfare between 2011 and 2018 by integrating the
            latest two rounds of household budget surveys with data on
            the location of fiber-optic transmission nodes and coverage
            maps of 3G mobile technology. The results show that 3G
            coverage is associated with a 14 percent increase in total
            consumption and a 10 percent decline in extreme poverty.
            These results are robust to controlling for household
            demographics and other spatial characteristics, such as
            region fixed effects, road density, nighttime lights, and
            elevation above sea level, as well as for access to
            complementary digital infrastructure, such as 2G coverage or
            fixed broadband internet. The findings are also robust to an
            instrumental variable approach that relies on distance to 3G
            coverage in neighboring areas. These effects are larger
            among households in urban areas and households headed by men
            or younger cohorts. Although they are in the same direction,
            the welfare effects of proximity to fixed broadband
            infrastructure are not statistically significant.
Bank Lending Rates and Spreads in
            EMDEs : Evolution, Drivers, and Policies
This paper analyzes the main trends and
            patterns of nominal lending interest rates and
            lending-deposit interest rate spreads in emerging markets
            and developing economies. Using data from 140 emerging
            markets and developing economies, analysis shows that
            nominal lending rates and spreads declined between 2003 and
            2017, with regional heterogeneity. In addition, it finds
            that less economically and financially developed countries
            tend to exhibit higher lending rates and spreads. These
            higher rates tend to be driven by higher spreads, not
            deposit interest rates. Also, illustrative regressions
            suggest that relevant correlates of nominal lending rates
            include inflation, public debt, and policy interest rate
            (macro-fiscal conditions); overhead costs, nonperforming
            loans, and non-interest income (banking characteristics);
            and credit bureau coverage and time to resolve insolvency
            (business environment). Finally, illustrative decompositions
            of the level and 10-year change between 2007 and 2017 of
            nominal lending rates find relative differences across
            regions. On the decline of nominal interest rates in that
            decade, rising public debt and nonperforming loans have
            pushed rates up, which was counterbalanced by a reduction in
            inflation, the policy interest rate, and overhead costs and
            a better business environment. Since the global financial
            crisis, a common global factor has increased in importance
            and has contributed to the downward trend in nominal lending rates.
Cross-Border Banking in EMDEs :
            Trends, Scale, and Policy Implications
Cross-border banking in emerging markets
            and developing economies has expanded across most World Bank
            regions and has become large relative to some home and host
            economies. This paper analyzes recent trends of bank
            activities of financial groups headquartered in 46 emerging
            markets and developing economies, as well as the ownership
            structure of 51 prominent financial groups from emerging
            markets and developing economies. The data suggest that
            cross-border groups in most regions have grown in size,
            geographical reach, range of activities, and group
            complexity. The increasing relevance and complexity of
            cross-border banking pose challenges for policy makers in
            home and host jurisdictions as well as for the groups
            themselves to maximize the benefits of international
            financial integration while mitigating the risks. This
            balance calls for stronger consolidated supervision, more
            regional coordination and harmonization, and better
            group-wide corporate governance and controls. However, key
            challenges include institutional capacity constraints and
            political factors.
Growth of Global Corporate Debt :
            Main Facts and Policy Challenges
This paper surveys the literature to
            document the main stylized facts, risks, and policy
            challenges related to the expansion of global nonfinancial
            corporate debt after the 2008–09 global financial crisis.
            Nonfinancial corporate debt steadily increased after the
            crisis, especially in emerging economies. Between 2008 and
            2018, corporate debt increased from 56 to 96 percent of
            gross domestic product in emerging economies, whereas this
            ratio remained stable in developed economies. Nonfinancial
            corporate debt was mainly issued through bond markets, and
            its growth can be largely attributed to accommodative
            monetary policies in developed economies. Whereas increased
            debt financing has some positive aspects, it has also
            amplified firms' solvency risks and exposure to changes
            in market conditions, such as the economic downturn
            triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic. Because capital markets
            have a larger role in firm financing, policy makers have
            limited tools to mitigate the risks of growing firm debt.
Recruitment, Effort, and Retention
            Effects of Performance Contracts for Civil Servants :
            Experimental Evidence from Rwandan Primary Schools
This paper reports on a two-tiered
            experiment designed to separately identify the selection and
            effort margins of pay-for-performance (P4P). At the
            recruitment stage, teacher labor markets were randomly
            assigned to a 'pay-for-percentile' or fixed-wage
            contract. Once recruits were placed, an unexpected,
            incentive-compatible, school-level re-randomization was
            performed, so that some teachers who applied for a
            fixed-wage contract ended up being paid by P4P, and vice
            versa. By the second year of the study, the within-year
            effort effect of P4P was 0.16 standard deviations of pupil
            learning, with the total effect rising to 0.20 standard
            deviations after allowing for selection.
Child Stature, Maternal Education,
            and Early Childhood Development
This paper uses Multiple Indicator
            Cluster Surveys data from the Republic of Congo and São Tomé
            and Príncipe to study the relationships between child
            stature, mother's years of education, and indicators of
            early childhood development. The relationships are
            contrasted between two empirical approaches: the
            conventional approach whereby control variables are selected
            in an ad-hoc manner and the double machine-learning approach
            that employs data-driven methods to select controls from a
            much wider set of variables. Overall, the findings based on
            the preferable double machine-learning approach differ
            across the two countries depending on the measures of early
            childhood development and child stature (height-for-age
            Z-score and stunting) used in the analysis. Double
            machine-learning estimates for the Republic of Congo suggest
            that height-for-age Z-score and stunting have a direct
            causal effect on early childhood development. In contrast,
            for São Tomé and Príncipe, no relationship is found. Thus,
            country-specific policy advice based on the relationships
            observed from data in other countries may be quite risky, if
            not misleading. Double machine-learning provides a practical
            and feasible approach to reducing threats to internal
            validity to derive robust inferences based on observational
            data for evidence-based policy advice.
A Structural Model of the Labor
            Market to Understand Gender Gaps among Marginalized Roma Communities
This paper constructs and estimates a
            household-level search model to analyze Roma spouses'
            utility maximization for leisure, home production, and work.
            The paper aims to explain labor market gender gaps in a
            marginalized Roma population with low labor market
            participation rates (males 53 percent and females 17
            percent). The analysis uses data from the 2017 Regional Roma
            Survey for six Western Balkan countries. The simulation
            results show that the main source for gender differentials
            in the labor market is the unequal opportunities in favor of
            males -- not gender preferences or differences in home
            production productivity. Therefore, most of the gender
            differences in the labor market can be closed by providing
            wives the same labor market conditions as husbands.
            Counterfactual policy experiments show that policies that
            increase the frequency of receiving a job offer, decrease
            the frequency of laying off workers, and reduce search
            increase Roma husbands' labor participation. Policies
            that equalize wages induces more wives to join the labor
            market and husbands to withdraw from it. This outcome
            signals that the wage gap is the dimension that deters the
            greatest number of Roma wives from joining the labor market.
Determinants of Property Tax Revenue
            : Lessons from Empirical Analysis
Many developing countries have struggled
            with realizing sufficient revenues from property tax.
            However, as developing countries experience economic growth,
            they are also seeing property values rising, providing a
            bigger tax base from which to realize revenues. Technology
            has made tax administration easier and more effective and
            developing country governments have been improving their
            quality of governance and considering introducing or
            enhancing property tax revenue collection to diversify their
            tax and fiscal revenues. This paper explores the
            determinants of property tax revenue using data from the
            United States, Canada, Australia, Chile, and the
            Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development for
            2006 to 2016, using a fixed effects model. The results show
            that increases in gross domestic product and population lead
            to increases in property tax revenue and an increase in
            federal transfers decreases it. The outcomes of the
            empirical analysis highlight the statistically significant
            impacts on property tax collection of a country's state
            of development and its demographic, fiscal, and property
            tax–specific characteristics. A critical question for
            further research is whether and how the empirical
            methodologies and specifications as applied to the set of
            developed economies would be replicated in the context of
            developing countries.