rafmacalaba/datause-encoder-data huggingface dataset:
Innovative Tokyo
This paper compares and contrasts
            Tokyo's innovation structure with the industrial
            districts model and the international hub model in the
            literature on urban and regional development. The Tokyo
            model embraces and yet transcends both industrial districts
            and international hub models. The paper details key elements
            making up the Tokyo model-organizational knowledge creation,
            integral and co-location systems of corporate R&D and
            new product development, test markets, industrial districts
            and clusters, participative consumer culture, continuous
            learning from abroad, local government policies, the
            national system of innovation, and the historical genesis of
            Tokyo in Japan's political economy. The paper finds
            that the Tokyo model of innovation will continue to evolve
            with the changing external environment, but fundamentally
            retains its main characteristics. The lessons from the Tokyo
            model is that openness, a diversified industrial base, the
            continuing development of new industries, and an emphasis on
            innovation, all contribute to the dynamism of a major
            metropolitan region.
Measuring empowerment in practice:
            structuring analysis and framing indicators
This paper presents an analytic
            framework that can be used to measure and monitor
            empowerment processes and outcomes. The measuring
            empowerment (ME) framework, rooted in both conceptual
            discourse and measurement practice, illustrates how to
            gather data on empowerment and structure its analysis. The
            framework can be used to measure empowerment at both the
            intervention level and the country level, as a part of
            poverty or governance monitoring. The paper first provides a
            definition of empowerment and then explains how the concept
            can be reduced to measurable components. Empowerment is
            defined as a person's capacity to make effective
            choices; that is, as the capacity to transform choices into
            desired actions and outcomes. The extent or degree to which
            a person is empowered is influenced by personal agency (the
            capacity to make purposive choice) and opportunity structure
            (the institutional context in which choice is made). Asset
            endowments are used as indicators of agency. These assets
            may be psychological, informational, organizational,
            material, social, financial, or human. Opportunity structure
            is measured by the presence and operation of formal and
            informal institutions, including the laws, regulatory
            frameworks, and norms governing behavior. Degrees of
            empowerment are measured by the existence of choice, the use
            of choice, and the achievement of choice. Following the
            conceptual discussion and the presentation of the analytic
            framework, this paper illustrates how the ME framework can
            be applied, using examples from four development
            interventions. Each example discusses how the framework
            guided analysis and development of empowerment indicators.
            The paper also presents a draft module for measuring
            empowerment at the country level. The module can be used
            alone or be integrated into country-level poverty or
            governance monitoring systems that seek to add an
            empowerment dimension to their analysis.
Infrastructure performance and
            reform in developing and transition economies: evidence from
            a survey of productivity measures
The authors review about 80 studies on
            electricity and gas, water and sanitation, and rail and
            ports (with a footnote on telecommunications) in developing
            countries. The main policy lesson is that there is a
            difference in the relevance of ownership for efficiency
            between utilities and transport in developing countries. In
            transport, private operators have tended to perform better
            than public operators. For utilities, ownership often does
            not matter as much as sometimes argued. Most cross-country
            studies find no statistically significant difference in
            efficiency scores between public and private providers. As
            for the country-specific studies, some do find differences
            in performance over time but these differences tend to
            matter much less than a large number of other variables.
            Across sectors, private operators functioning in a
            competitive environment or regulated under price caps or
            hybrid regulatory regimes tend to catch up best practice
            faster than public operators. There is a very strong case to
            push regulators in developing and transition economies
            toward a more systematic reliance on yardstick competition
            in a sector in which residual monopoly powers tend to be common.
Reforms and infrastructure
            efficiency in Spain's container ports
This paper quantifies the evolution of
            technical efficiency in port infrastructure service
            provision in the major Spanish port authorities involved in
            container traffic. The paper also analyzes the extent to
            which port reforms that took place in the 1990's had an
            impact on the efficiency of the Spanish container ports.
            Because of the multi-output nature of port activities, we
            have estimated a distance function, which is a novel
            methodology in the study of the port industry. The results
            show that the reforms resulted in significant improvements
            in technological change, but that technical efficiency has
            in fact changed little on average. However, there is a
            significant movement of the efficiency within ports over
            time as a result of these reforms.
Reforms and infrastructure
            efficiency in Spain's container ports
# **Reforms and Infrastructure Efficiency in Spain’s Container Ports ***

# MARÍA MANUELA GONZÁLEZ LOURDES TRUJILLO

Departamento de Análisis Económico Aplicado Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria

# Abstract

This paper quantifies the evolution of technical efficiency in port infrastructure service provision in the major Spanish port authorities involved in container traffic. The paper also analyzes the extent to which port reforms that took place in the 1990’s had an impact on the efficiency of the Spanish container ports. Because of the multi-output nature of port activities, we have estimated a distance function, which is a novel methodology in the study of the port industry. The results show that the reforms resulted in significant improvements in technological change, but that technical efficiency has in fact changed little on average. However, there is a significant movement of the efficiency within ports over time as a result of these reforms.

# World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 3515, February 2005

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

* Contact author. Departamento de Análisis Económico Aplicado, Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Edificio de Ciencias Empresariales, Campus de Tafira, 35017 Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. E-mail: mmgonzalez@daea.ulpgc.es.

We are grateful to Antonio Álvarez, Javier Campos, Antonio Estache, Andrés Gómez-Lobo, Rafael Myro, Luis Orea, Sergio Perelman and Ana Rodríguez for useful discussions, comments and suggestions. We are also grateful to the BBVA for partial financing of this research activity.

1
Sustainability of microfinance self
            help groups in India: would federating help
The major form of microfinance in India
            is that based on women's Self Help Groups (SHGs), which
            are small groups of 10-20 members. These groups collect
            savings from their members and provide loans to them.
            However, unlike most accumulating savings and credit
            associations (ASCAs) found in several countries, these
            groups also obtain loans from banks and on-lend them to
            their members. By 2003, over 700,000 groups had obtained
            over Rs.20 billion (US$425 million) in loans from banks
            benefiting more than 10 million people. Delinquencies on
            these loans are reported to be less than 5 percent. Savings
            in these groups is estimated to be at least Rs.8 billion
            (US$170 million). Despite these considerable achievements,
            sustainability of the SHGs has been suspect because several
            essential services required by the SHGs are provided free or
            at a significantly subsidized cost by organizations that
            have developed these groups. A few promoter organizations
            have, however, developed federations of SHGs that provide
            these services and others that SHG members need, but which
            SHGs cannot feasibly provide. Using a case study approach,
            Nair explores the merits and constraints of federating.
            Three SHG federations that provide a wide range of services
            are studied. The findings suggest that federations could
            help SHGs become institutionally and financially sustainable
            because they provide the economies of scale that reduce
            transaction costs and make the provision of these services
            viable. But their sustainability is constrained by several
            factors-both internal, related to the federations
            themselves, and external, related to the other stakeholders.
            The author concludes by recommending some actions to address
            these constraints.
The role of importers and exporters
            in the determination of the U.S. tariff preferenes granted
            to Latin America
This paper investigates the role played
            by domestic importers and foreign exporters in improving
            preferential access to the domestic market. To this end, the
            framework used in this paper extends the protection for sale
            analysis to explicitly model the role of domestic importers
            and foreign exporters in the determination of preferential
            trade treatment. The predictions of the model are tested
            using data on preferential trade between the United States
            and Latin American countries. The results suggest that Latin
            American exporters and U.S. importers' lobbying efforts
            have a significant and important role in determining the
            extent of preferential access granted by the United States.
            More interestingly, these findings also show that U.S.
            importers capture a very substantial share of the rents
            generated by tariff preferences. These results therefore
            shed a pessimistic view on preferential trade schemes as a
            reliable source of gains for developing countries.
China's employment challenges
            and strategies after the WTO accession
Although China has made impressive
            progress in economic development and improving social
            well-being, it is facing many daunting challenges while
            transforming toward a knowledge and service-based economy
            and further opening up to international competition after
            its WTO accession in the context of knowledge revolution.
            One of the biggest challenges is how to create 100-300
            million new jobs in the coming decade to absorb the millions
            of laid-offs, rural emigrants and newly added labor force.
            China has been successful in building high-tech parks and
            ICT industries, but they are limited in terms of employment
            generation, while most of the traditional labor-intensive
            industries are losing competitiveness due to low
            productivity. In order to combat the unprecedented
            employment challenge, China must implement a systemic and
            sustained strategy, which may consist of the following
            policy thrusts: encouraging the private sector; promoting
            small and medium enterprises; expanding the service sector;
            reforming the state-owned enterprises; strengthening the
            social security system; improving labor market flexibility;
            and establishing mass retraining programs.
Schools meals, educational
            achievement and school competition: evidence from a
            randomized evaluation
This paper examines the effects of
            subsidized school meals on school participation, educational
            achievement, and school finance in a developing country
            setting. The paper uses data from a program that was
            implemented in 25 randomly chosen preschools in a pool of
            50. Children's school participation was 30 percent
            higher in the treatment group than in the comparison group.
            The meals program led to higher curriculum test scores, but
            only in schools where the teacher was relatively experienced
            prior to the program. The school meals displaced teaching
            time and led to larger class sizes. Despite improved
            incentives, teacher absenteeism remained at a high level of
            30 percent. Treatment schools raised their fees, and
            comparison schools close to treatment schools decreased
            their fees. Some of the price effects are due to a
            combination of capacity constraints and pupil transfers that
            would not happen if the school meals were offered in all
            schools. The intention-to-treat estimator of the effect of
            the randomized program incorporates those price effects, and
            therefore it should be considered a lower bound on the
            effect of generalized school meals. This insight on price
            effects generalizes to other randomized program evaluations.
Sowing and reaping: institutional
            quality and project outcomes in developing countries
Much of the academic debate on the
            effectiveness of foreign aid is centered on the relationship
            between aid and growth. Different aid-growth studies find
            conflicting results: aid promotes growth everywhere; aid has
            a zero or negative impact on growth everywhere; or the
            effect of aid on growth depends on recipient-specific
            characteristics, such as the quality of institutions and
            policies. Although these studies fuel an interesting debate,
            cross-sectional macroeconomic studies cannot be the last
            word on the topic of aid effectiveness. In this paper,
            Dollar and Levin introduce microeconomic evidence on factors
            conducive to the success of aid-funded projects in
            developing countries. The authors use the success rate of
            World Bank-financed projects in the 1990s, as determined by
            the Operations Evaluation Department, as their dependent
            variable. Using instrumental variables estimation, the
            authors find that existence of high-quality institutions in
            a recipient country raises the probability that aid will be
            used effectively. There is also some evidence that geography
            matters, but location in Sub-Saharan Africa is a more robust
            indicator of lower project success rate than tropical
            climate. The authors proceed to disaggregate the success
            rate of World Bank projects by lending instrument type and
            by investment sector, finding that different institutions
            are more important for different types of projects. The
            finding of a strong relationship between institutional
            quality and project success serves to provide further
            support to the hypothesis that aid effectiveness is
            conditional on institutions and policies of the recipient country.
Sowing and reaping: institutional
            quality and project outcomes in developing countries
# **_Sowing and Reaping:_**

# **_Institutional Quality and Project Outcomes in Developing Countries_**

## **_By David Dollar and Victoria Levin_**

Much of the academic debate on the effectiveness of foreign aid is centered on the relationship between aid and growth. Different aid-growth studies find conflicting results: aid promotes growth everywhere; aid has a zero or negative impact on growth everywhere; or the effect of aid on growth depends on recipient-specific characteristics, such as the quality of institutions and policies. Although these studies fuel an interesting debate, cross-sectional macroeconomic studies cannot be the last word on the topic of aid effectiveness. In this paper, Dollar and Levin introduce microeconomic evidence on factors conducive to the success of aid-funded projects in developing countries. The authors use the success rate of World Bank-financed projects in the 1990s, as determined by the Operations Evaluation Department, as their dependent variable. Using instrumental variables estimation, the authors find that existence of high-quality institutions in a recipient country raises the probability that aid will be used effectively. There is also some evidence that geography matters, but location in Sub-Saharan Africa is a more robust indicator of lower project success rate than tropical climate. The authors proceed to disaggregate the success rate of World Bank projects by lending instrument type and by investment sector, finding that different institutions are more important for different types of projects. The finding of a strong relationship between institutional quality and project success serves to provide further support to the hypothesis that aid effectiveness is conditional on institutions and policies of the recipient country.

World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 3524, February 2005 _The Policy Research Working Paper Series disseminates the findings of work in progress to encourage the exchange of ideas about development issues. An objective of the series is to get the findings out quickly, even if the presentations are less than fully polished. The papers carry the names of the authors and should be cited accordingly. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this paper are entirely those of the authors. They do not necessarily represent the view of the World Bank, its Executive Directors, or the countries they represent. Policy Research Working Papers are available online at http://econ.worldbank.org._
A model on knowledge and endogenous growth
The authors present a model of
            endogenous growth in which the main engine of economic
            development is knowledge. Using a two-sector closed economy
            model that comprises of a conventional goods-producing
            sector and a research and development sector, their model
            incorporates two key aspects of knowledge: technology and
            human capital. Steady-state equilibrium conditions show that
            the growth rate of per capita income hinges on the growth
            rate of human capital. While the growth rate of human
            capital has been previously shown to affect the growth of
            the economy in transition between steady states or balanced
            growth paths, the authors are the first to link the growth
            rate of human capital to the steady-state growth rate of
            productivity and output per worker. Furthermore, this result
            does not exhibit scale effects or policy invariance, both of
            which have been longstanding concerns with the predictions
            of endogenous growth models developed in the 1990s.
Trade remedies and World Trade
            Organization dispute settlement : Why are so few challenged
Antidumping and related trade remedies
            are the most popular policy instruments that many of the
            largest importing countries in the World Trade Organization
            (WTO) system use to restrict international trade. While such
            trade remedies are also frequent targets of dispute
            settlement activity under the WTO, given that Panel and
            Appellate Body rulings have almost invariably found that
            some aspect of each reviewed remedy was inconsistent with
            WTO obligations, an open research question is why
            aren't more remedies targeted by dispute settlement?
            The author provides a first empirical investigation of the
            trade remedy and WTO dispute settlement interaction by
            focusing on determinants of WTO members' decisions of
            whether to formally challenge U.S. trade remedies imposed
            between 1992 and 2003. He provides evidence that it is not
            only the size of the economic market at stake and the
            capacity to retaliate under potential DSU (dispute
            settlement understanding)-authorized sanctions that
            influence the litigation decision of whether to formally
            challenge a measure at the WTO. The author also finds that
            if the negatively affected foreign industry has the capacity
            to directly retaliate through a reciprocal antidumping
            investigation and measure of its own, its government is less
            likely to pursue the case on its behalf at the WTO. This is
            consistent with the theory that potential complainants may
            be avoiding WTO litigation in favor of pursuing reciprocal
            antidumping and hence "vigilante justice."
Learning-by-doing,
            learning-by-exporting, and productivity : evidence from Colombia
The empirical evidence on whether
            participation in export markets increases plant-level
            productivity has been inconclusive so far. The authors
            explain this inconclusiveness by drawing on Arrow's
            (1962) characterization of learning-by-doing, which suggests
            focusing on young plants and using measures of export
            experience rather than export participation. They find
            strong evidence of learning-by-exporting for young Colombian
            manufacturing plants between 1981 and 1991: total factor
            productivity increases 4-5 percent for each additional year
            a plant has exported, after controlling for the effect of
            current exports on total factor productivity.
            Learning-by-exporting is more important for young than for
            old plants and in industries that deliver a larger
            percentage of their exports to high-income countries.