rafmacalaba/datause-encoder-data huggingface dataset:
Bank restructuring in Malaysia : 1985-88
Between 1983 and 1986, Malaysia embarked
            on a structural adjustment program to control its fiscal and
            balance of payments deficits. In reaction to the shock of
            sharply declining commodity prices, the Malaysian government
            drastically cut back on public spending and allowed the
            exchange rate to depreciate freely. A sharp decline in
            export income, combined with rising costs and reduced public
            spending, caused severe disinflation. This culminated in the
            failure of 24 deposit-taking cooperatives in mid 1986 and
            required the central bank to inject substantial fresh
            capital to aid three commercial banks. Losses to ailing
            financial institutions between 1985 and 1986 amounted to as
            much as 4.7 percent of 1986's GNP. The Malaysian
            authorities adopted several rescue packages and bank
            restructuring exercises to protect depositors.
            Malaysia's experience shows that structural adjustment
            to shocks emanating from changes in the external environment
            have pervasive microeconomic effects, particularly in the
            financial sector. Effectively tackling financial distress
            requires both macroeconomic policy adjustments and timely
            changes in banking legislation to address the problems of
            fraud and poor bank management that typically emerge in
            times of financial distress.
Do taxes matter A review of the
            effect of taxation on economic behavior and output
Economists have stressed that the
            efficiency costs of taxation are not the obvious costs to
            taxpayers of handing over payments to the government.
            Instead, the efficiency costs stem from the efforts of
            taxpayers to avoid paying money to the government, whether
            it is consuming less of the taxed good, producing less of
            the taxed good, smuggling, or just evading taxes. The
            purpose of this paper is to illustrate with historical
            examples the efficiency costs of taxation. Each type of tax
            (labor, capital, property) is shown to have particular
            disincentive effects, which, if the tax rates are
            sufficiently high, could be dramatic. The report concludes
            that the efficiency cost of taxation is often difficult to
            detect, and often takes a back seat to political
            considerations in tax policy.
Growth, external debt and the real
            exchange rate in Mexico
Can external restraints and internal
            balances be reconciled in Mexico at levels of savings and
            investment that allow satisfactory output growth? What is
            the role of fiscal policy, interest rates and exchange rates
            in bringing such a configuration about? How sensitive are
            the answers to external developments (oil prices, interest
            rates)? What would a cutoff from external capital markets
            imply for output growth in Mexico? What are the
            macroeconomic effects of debt equity swaps? This paper
            develops an analytical framework to address these issues and
            applies it econometrically to Mexico.
Macroeconomic policies for
            structural adjustment
Structural adjustment is an economy wide
            adjustment effort aimed at allocating resources better. The
            author contends that functioning markets and a low, stable
            inflation rate are two macroeconomic preconditions for
            implementing structural adjustment. He further concludes
            that in highly distorted economies the market system must be
            restored before adjustment efforts are undertaken. Fiscal
            deficits are probably a key determinant of trade deficits -
            particularly when the fiscal deficit is financed abroad.
            This paper is concerned with the identification of
            macroeconomic policies consistent with the long run
            sustainability of a stable market framework or with changes
            that may be required as a consequence of the implementation
            of the structural adjustment program. It is not directly
            concerned with issues of short run stabilization, although
            those issues, particularly that of the timing of policies
            are mentioned whenever relevant.
Developing a partnership of
            indigenous peoples, conservationists, and land use planners
            in Latin America
Illustrating from a rich body of case
            material, Poole's report reflects a shift away from the
            traditional view - represented by certain national parks and
            similar protected areas - that indigenous peoples be allowed
            to occupy and use an area's resources following rules
            set by conservationists.  Under the new paradigm  that is
            developing, indigenous peoples are seen as an integral part
            of protected area planning through agreements worked out in
            partnership with conservation authorities.  An example of
            this new approach is the role that indigenous peoples are
            playing in the design of biosphere reserves. Poole suggests
            that the Bank and other development organizations pay more
            attention to vernacular economies - economies based on local
            resources, used either for subsistence or as a source of
            revenue.  He also recommends more research into economics
            and resource implications of these local activities to
            harvest wild resources, especially in environmentally
            delicate areas such as tropical rainforests.
Urban property taxation : lessons
            from Brazil
Efforts to increase the responsiveness
            and accountability of local governments -- as well as fiscal
            constraints at the central level -- have prompted an
            interest in reviving the urban property tax as a major
            source of municipal revenue.  At present, the urban property
            tax is the most widely used municipal tax instrument in the
            developing world, but typically accounts for less than half
            of municipal recurrent revenues.  Property tax yields can be
            increased by either increasing tax rates or reducing losses
            arising from evasion and maladministration.  In the case of
            the property tax, there is a strong argument for beginning
            with the latter.  Efforts to increase rates alone would
            exaggerate the inequities arising from existing
            maladministration, placing the burden of the increase on
            those who already pay their fair share, whereas improvements
            in administration place the burden on those who evade.  A
            focus on administration achieves the objectives of
            increasing revenue while improving fairness.  Brazil's
            experience with urban property taxation yields several
            generalizable lessons on both the practice of property tax
            administration and the process of implementing
            administrative reforms. Brazilian municipalities have found
            solutions -- wholly or partly successful -- to the following
            problems confronting property taxation: (a) rapid urban
            growth; (b) scarcity of skills; (c) inaccessible market
            data; (d) inflation; (e) disputed liability; and (f) slow
            judicial procedures.
Considerations for the development
            of tax policy when capital is internationally mobile
For tax policy to encourage maximum
            investment of capital (both foreign and domestic) it is
            necessary to take into account the potential mobility of
            capital across international borders. Economic analysis of
            investment incentives should therefore incorporate the
            effects of variables such as source rules, nexus rules,
            attribution rules, foreign tax credits, and so on, in
            addition to traditional variables such as legal tax rates
            and the revenue implications of the distribution of the tax base.
Technological change from inside : a
            review of breakthroughs
This paper is a review of the book
            BREAKTHROUGHS!.  The book presents case studies of 12
            products and services; five consumer durables (cars, VCRs,
            walkmans, microwave ovens, Nike shoes); three services
            (Federal Express, Chem Lawn, Nautilus); two health care
            items (Tagamet, Cat Scans); an intermediate product
            (polyethylene); and the Post-it Note Pads.  The book details
            the development of these products.  While the authors
            applaud the tenacity and vision of the individual, they give
            some of the credit to the firms' marketing and
            manufacturing expertise.  Ironically, the reviewer says,
            there isn't much concern for economic principles.
Commodity indexed debt in
            international lending
Superficially, commodity-indexed bonds
            resemble a combination of a debt and a contract in futures.
            They are particularly useful in a country dependent on a
            single commodity for which prices are volatile. These
            financial instruments involve a tradeoff between gains in
            risk-sharing and a deterioration in incentives. The precise
            costs and benefits of commodity-contingent contracts in
            international lending depend on the model employed.
            Commodity indexing seems to work best when : (i) the
            borrower is heavily concentrated in a commodity for which
            prices are so volatile that income fluctuates greatly; (ii)
            information is fully available about how borrowed funds are
            used and thus whether conditionality is meaningful; the
            borrower has no control over the index used in the
            contingent contract; and (iv) there is a low
            "beta" between returns on the commodity and
            returns from the rest of the lenders portfolio. Many of the
            arguments made for a commodity-dependent borrower may also
            be made for countries subject to other risks, for example, a
            country that has borrowed largely in dollars and is thereby
            exposed to high currency risks.
Food security and storage in the
            Middle East and North Africa
In times of highly volatile commodity
            markets, governments often try to protect their populations
            from rapidly-rising food prices, which can be particularly
            harsh for the poor. A potential solution for food-deficit
            countries is to hold strategic reserves, which can be called
            on when international prices spike. But how large should
            strategic stockpiles be? This paper develops a dynamic
            storage model for wheat in the Middle East and North Africa
            (MENA) region, where imported wheat dominates the average
            diet. The paper uses the model to analyze a strategy that
            sets aside wheat stockpiles, which can be used when needed
            to keep domestic prices below a targeted price. This paper
            shows that if the target is set high and reserves are
            adequate, the strategy can be effective and robust. Contrary
            to most interventions, strategic storage policies are
            counter-cyclical and, when the importing region is
            sufficiently large, a regional policy can smooth global
            prices. This paper shows that this is the case for the MENA
            region. Nevertheless, the policy is more costly than the
            pro-cyclical policy of a targeted intervention that directly
            offsets high prices with a subsidy similar to food stamps.
Universities in Arab countries
Half the Arab universitiies in existence
            today were established after 1970. Enrolment has increased
            rapidly, leading to overcrowding, unqualified faculty, and
            insufficient equipment and facilities. Several Arab nations
            have moved to control (in some cases, to reduce) enrolment.
            They have done this partly because of the fall in oil
            revenues, and partly in recognition of the problems related
            to the rapid growth of the university systems. As student
            enrolment expanded rapidly, the quality of education
            suffered and many universities became less attractive to
            highly trained faculty. This pattern has contributed to the
            national and regional brain drain. The cost of underwriting
            university education at a time of slow economic expansion
            raises the issue of whether it is better to have unemployed
            high school graduates or unemployed university graduates.
Vocational education and training :
            a review of World Bank investment
In the past ten years the most striking
            achievement of vocational education and training (VET) has
            been the development of national training systems from
            nonformal training centres and post secondary technical
            education institutions. This has happened largely in middle
            income countries. Investments in low income countries,
            especially those in Sub Saharan Africa, have been less
            successful. In addition implementation weakness and
            stagnating economies have made it difficult to set up any
            type of training. Investment in national training programs
            has just begun in these poorer countries, and success is
            uncertain because of continuing economic constraints. These
            patterns suggest that the level of economic development and
            the consequent size and dynamism of industrial employment
            have a powerful influence on the outcome of investments in
            vocational education and training. In small low income
            countries, recent Bank experience suggests that resources be
            concentrated in nonformal training centres, training
            quality, development of management capacity in training
            institutions, and aggressive marketing of training
            opportunities and services.
Vocational secondary schooling in
            Israel : a study of labor market outcomes
This paper examines the efficacy of
            vocational school education in relation to that of the
            academic secondary school; the focus is on non-postsecondary
            school attenders. Given the relatively small fraction of
            youth that attend, and complete, tertiary education in
            developing countries, the secondary school completer
            population that does not continue into tertiary education
            plays an important role in economic development. Using data
            from the 1930 population census, the study shows vocational
            schooling to be more cost-effective than general academic
            education. These results are at odds with the predominantly
            held view that vocational schooling is a socially
            inefficient form of education. Too often however, the
            previous studies have concentrated on earnings, without
            taking into account such intervening variables as type of
            occupation and its relevance to vocational studies pursued.
            In this case study we are shown that such considerations are
            central to a proper understanding of the labor market
            outcomes of vocational schooling.
The private sector's response
            to financial liberalization in Turkey : 1980-82
Financial liberalization was carried out
            during a period when the nonfinancial corporate sector was
            in financial distress due to reduced profitability. The
            consequent emergence of substantial nonperforming loans in
            the banking sector, especially among smaller banks, created
            fierce competition for financial rates. Instead of forcing
            insolvent borrowers into bankruptcy, banks refinanced
            nonperforming loans as a way to prolong their own survival,
            and real credit in the private sector increased
            dramatically. An analysis of firm-level data reveals that
            nonfinancial corporations were subject to both an earnings
            shock and an interest rate shock. The Turkish experience
            suggests that financial liberalization may not produce
            desired results when it occurs in a period of major economic
            realignments that adversely affect the profitability of the
            corporate sector especially when it is implemented without
            an adequate regulatory framework.
Asia region population projections :
            1988-89 edition
Population projections are provided here
            for the individual countries comprising the Asia region. The
            projections cover the period 1985-2150. The length of the
            projection period was chosen to allow countries to approach
            stability, which for several is expected to take as long as
            two centuries. The paper begins with an introduction which
            explains what projection results are provided in the
            detailed tables, describes the projection methodology, and
            summarizes and interprets the main results.
Fiscal issues in macroeconomic stabilization
A key question for stabilization
            programs concerns how governments get into fiscal difficulty
            in the first place.  Accordingly, this paper is about fiscal
            policy issues that arise during such macroeconomic
            stabilization in developing economies. Specifically, this
            report sets out the basics, as they apply in the World
            Institute for Development Economics Research (WIDER) studies
            and takes up three theories about the fiscal deficit.
            According to these theories, deficits may arise because of
            political or structural reasons, or perhaps because the
            relevant authorities want to maximize revenue from the
            inflation tax.  The report also discusses the effects of
            deficit reduction, a central component of orthodox
            stabilization packages and examines other fiscal topics
            brought up in the WIDER country papers.
Welfare costs of U.S. quotas on
            textiles, steel, and autos
This paper deals with the problems of
            partial equlibrium analysis by presenting estimates from a
            static ten sector computable general equilibrium (CGE) model
            of the U.S. economy calibrated to the year 1984. Following
            the introduction, the paper is organized as follows. Section
            2 outlines the model. Section 3 details the sources of
            estimates of premia on preexisting QRs (quota rents) in 1984
            and the sources for the parameters describing demand and
            supply elasticities. Welfare and employment estimates of QR
            removal are presented by industry and in the aggregate in
            Section 4. Conclusions follow in Section 5.
Welfare dominance and the design of
            excise taxation in Cote d'Ivoire
Governments in developing countries are
            continuously searching for new and improved tax bases.
            Existing methods of taxation in these countries frequently
            fall short of meeting acceptable criteria of efficiency,
            equity and administrative ease.  This paper argues that
            there is a compelling fiscal rationale for encouraging
            greater reliance on taxing the consumption of electrical and
            telephone (ET) services. Greater emphasis on this selective
            commodity tax base would contribute to the achievement of
            taxpayer equity and would be administratively easy to
            impose. In addition, the efficiency characteristics of this
            form of taxation may also add to the attractiveness of the
            ET base.
Family background and student achievement
Past research from Third World countries
            shows that school related factors have stronger effects on
            student achievement than do family background factors.
            However this paper finds that prior work suffered from
            conceptual and methodological flaws, and it suggests that
            once these shortcomings are addressed, the influence of
            pupil background may be greater in developing countries than
            was earlier indicated. The first section of the paper
            reviews the literature on family effects on student
            achievement in developing countries. The second and third
            sections are studies on Thailand and Malawi, and the final
            section discusses the findings in relation to educational
            policy. In sum, these findings indicate that researchers
            should be more careful in their modeling of family and
            school characteristics in the developing world. Failure to
            recognize the family's early and apparently lasting
            influence is a failure to accommodate education programs to
            indigenous realities.
Housing and labor market distortions
            in Poland : linkages and policy implications
Poland's housing and macroeconomic
            policies have restricted investments in housing and urban
            infrastructure to a level well below that of other European
            countries. This has resulted in a shortage of housing
            typified by 15 to 20 year waits for government sponsored
            housing. Shortages of this magnitude are likely to cause
            distortions with impacts on patterns of savings and
            consumption, the price level, and on the functioning of
            labor markets. This paper focuses particularly on how
            housing market distortions are transmitted to labor markets,
            with impacts on rates of migration, relative wage levels
            among different regions, and, by implication, on the
            productivity of the Polish work force. The basic thesis of
            the paper is that if housing markets are prevented from
            reaching their competitive equilibrium that labor markets
            will similarly be prevented. Evidence is examined on the
            extent of housing and labor market disequilibria, and
            estimates econometric models that relate internal migration
            and relative wages to alternative measures of housing market
            disequilibria. From these analyses it is concluded that
            labor markets are in fact distorted by housing market
            distortions, with potentially major macroeconomic costs.
Farm-nonfarm linkages in rural
            sub-Saharan Africa
This paper is an accumulation, over the
            past 25 years, of a body of detailed work examining the
            structure of Africa's rural, nonfarm economy. First, it
            systematically reviews empirical evidence on the nature and
            magnitude of the African rural, nonfarm economy. It then
            explores differences across locality and size, across
            countries and over time, in an effort to assess likely
            patterns of growth. A subsequent review of key production
            and consumption parameters allows an estimate of the
            magnitude of the agricultural growth multipliers in Africa.
            The paper concludes with a brief discussion of policies and
            programs that will be necessary if farm-nonfarm growth
            linkages are to achieve their full potential.