rafmacalaba/datause-encoder-data huggingface dataset:
Regionalism and trade facilitation :
            a primer
This paper investigates when trade
            facilitation reform should be undertaken at the regional
            level. First, looking at both efficiency and implementation
            considerations, it confirms the perception that the regional
            dimension matters. Investigating where efficiency gains can
            be made, this research explains why national markets alone
            fail to produce the full scale economies and positive
            externalities of trade facilitation reform. Second, because
            trade facilitation policies need to address coordination and
            capacity failures, and because of the operational complexity
            challenge, the choice of the adequate platform for
            delivering reform is crucial. The lessons are that regional
            trade agreements offer good prospects of comprehensive and
            effective reform and can effectively complement multilateral
            and national initiatives. However, examples of
            implementation of trade facilitation reform in regional
            agreements do not seem to indicate that regional integration
            approaches have been more successful than trade facilitation
            through specific cooperation agreements or other efforts,
            multilateral or unilateral. Customs unions may be an
            exception here, and the author suggests reasons why this
            could be the case.
Finance and economic opportunity
An influential body of theoretical
            research and an emerging line of empirical work suggest that
            the operation of the formal financial system affects the
            degree to which economic opportunities are defined by talent
            and initiative rather than by parental wealth and social
            connections. This paper discusses the theory of how
            financial markets influence economic opportunity and reviews
            recent empirical work on the relation between formal
            financial systems and poverty, income inequality, and
            economic opportunity. The authors consider recent efforts to
            measure the ability of households and small enterprises to
            access financial services, the impact of this access, and
            the mechanisms through which finance affects poverty and
            inequality. The authors argue that considerably more
            research is needed to identify which formal financial sector
            policies enhance the operation of the financial system in
            ways that expand the economic horizons of the economically disenfranchised.
Living on the edge -- risk,
            protection, behavior, and outcomes of Argentine youth
Risk and protective factors influence
            behaviors and outcomes for youth. While risk factors expose
            youth to risk-taking behavior that compromises well-being
            and hinders personal development, protective factors mediate
            risk and act as protective mechanisms that insulate youth
            from negative outcomes. This paper groups youth by risk
            levels using a cluster analysis methodology, and identifies
            the risk and protective factors that characterize these
            groups. Using data from a new household survey covering
            youth in four urban areas of Argentina in 2005, youth are
            clustered by characteristics in relation to family and
            health, education and income, substance abuse, and crime and
            violence as indicators of risk and protective factors, and
            behaviors and consequences. Almost half of Argentine youth
            are at an elevated risk level, and one in four is at serious
            risk of experiencing negative outcomes or already suffering
            the consequences. The findings show, for example, that
            higher income protects against risk factors, such as an
            insecure neighborhood, and facilitates youth attending
            school. Furthermore, parents' lack of education is
            negatively related to the behaviors and outcomes of their children.
How does bribery affect public
            service delivery micro-evidence from service users and
            public officials in Peru
When seeking a public service, users may
            be required to pay in bribes more than the official price.
            Consequently, some users may be discouraged and choose not
            to seek a service due to the higher price imposed by the
            bribery "tax."  This paper explores the price and
            quantity components of the relationship between governance
            and service delivery using micro-level survey data. The
            authors construct new measures of governance using data from
            users of public services from 13 government agencies in
            Peru.  For some basic services, low-income users pay a
            larger share of their income than wealthier ones do; that
            is, the bribery tax is regressive.  Where there are
            substitute private providers, low-income users appear to be
            discouraged more often and not to seek basic services.
            Thus, bribery may penalize poorer users twice - acting as a
            regressive tax and discouraging access to basic services.
            The paper explores the characteristics of households seeking
            public services.  Higher education and age are associated
            with higher probability of being discouraged. Trust in state
            institutions decreases the probability of being discouraged,
            while knowledge of mechanisms to report corruption and
            extent of social network increase it, suggesting that
            households may rely on substitutes through networks.  The
            study complements the household analysis with supply-side
            analysis based on data from public officials, and constructs
            agency-level measures for access to public services and
            institutional factors.  Econometric results suggest that
            corruption reduces the supply of services, while voice
            mechanisms and clarity of the public agency's mission
            increase it.
Subnational insolvency :
            cross-country experiences and lessons
Subnational insolvency is a reoccurring
            event in development, as demonstrated by historical and
            modern episodes of subnational defaults in both developed
            and developing countries. Insolvency procedures become more
            important as countries decentralize expenditure, taxation,
            and borrowing, and broaden subnational credit markets. As
            the first cross-country survey of procedures to resolve
            subnational financial distress, this paper has particular
            relevance for decentralizing countries. The authors explain
            central features and variations of subnational insolvency
            mechanisms across countries. They identify judicial,
            administrative, and hybrid procedures, and show how entry
            point and political factors drive their design. Like private
            insolvency law, subnational insolvency procedures
            predictably allocate default risk, while providing breathing
            space for orderly debt restructuring and fiscal adjustment.
            Policymakers' desire to mitigate the tension between
            creditor rights and the need to maintain essential public
            services, to strengthen ex ante fiscal rules, and to harden
            subnational budget constraints are motivations specific to
            the public sector.
How sensitive are Latin American
            exports to Chinese competition in the U.S. market
This paper estimates the elasticity of
            substitution of U.S. imports using detailed trade data over
            the 1990-2003 period. The authors use a two-stage least
            squares framework in order to identify the elasticity
            parameter of interest. The authors use the elasticity
            estimates to assess the extent to which Latin American and
            Chinese goods compete in the U.S. market by providing
            forecasts of how alternative policy scenarios may affect
            exports to the United States. The analysis considers the
            following scenarios: (i) currency revaluation in China; (ii)
            elimination of U.S. tariffs on Latin American exports under
            a hemispheric free trade agreement; and (iii) the
            elimination of quotas on apparel and textile exports under
            the Multi-Fiber Agreement. The findings show that a
            20-percent appreciation of the renminbi reduces Chinese
            exports to the United States by a fifth, although since
            other regions increase sales to that market (0.5 percent for
            Latin America), U.S. imports decline by only 1.7 percent.
            Hemispheric free trade would increase Latin America's
            exports to the United States by around 3 percent. The
            removal of the quotas would lead to a sharp increase in
            Chinese sales to the United States (40 percent), but Latin
            America would see its share of the U.S. market decline by
            around 2 percent (2.5 percentage points). China's gains
            would come mainly at the expense of other regions of the world.
Inequality in Latin America :
            determinants and consequences
Latin America is together with
            Sub-Saharan Africa the most unequal region of the world.
            This paper documents recent inequality trends in the Latin
            American region, going beyond traditional measures of income
            inequality. The paper also reviews some of the explanations
            that have been put forward to understand the current
            situation, and discusses why reducing income inequality
            should be an important policy priority. In particular, the
            authors discuss channels through which inequality can affect
            growth and output volatility. On the whole, the analysis
            suggests a two-pronged approach to reduce inequality in the
            region that combines policies aimed at improving the
            distribution of assets (especially education) with elements
            aimed at improving the capacity of the state to redistribute
            income through taxes and transfers.
Agency, education and networks :
            gender and international migration from Albania
This paper examines the causes and
            dynamics of the shift in the gender composition of
            migration, and more particularly, in the access of women to
            migration opportunities and decision making. The context of
            the analysis is Albania, a natural laboratory for studying
            migration developments given that out-migration was
            practically eliminated from the end of World War II to the
            end of the 1980s. The authors use micro-level data from the
            Albania 2005 Living Standards Measurement Study including
            migration histories for family members since migration
            began. Based on discrete-time hazard models, the analysis
            shows an impressive expansion of female participation in
            international migration. Female migration, which is shown to
            be strongly associated with education, wealth, and social
            capital, appears responsive to economic incentives and
            constraints. Yet, using unique data on the dependency of
            female migration to the household demographic structure as
            well as the sensitivity of female migration to
            household-level shocks, the authors show that it is the
            households themselves that are the decision-making agents
            behind this economic calculus and there is little to suggest
            that increased female migration signals the emergence of
            female agency.
Social interactions and student
            achievement in a developing country : An instrumental
            variables approach
This paper identifies endogenous social
            effects in mathematics test performance for eighth graders
            in rural Bangladesh using information on arsenic
            contamination of water wells at home as an instrument. In
            other words, the identification relies on variation in test
            scores among peers owing to exogenous exposure to arsenic
            contaminated water wells at home. The results suggest that
            the peer effect is significant, and school selection plays
            little role in biasing peer effects estimates.
Madrasas and NGOs : complements or
            substitutes non-state providers and growth in female
            education in Bangladesh
There has been a proliferation of
            non-state providers of education services in the developing
            world.  In Bangladesh, for instance, Bangladesh Rural
            Advancement Committee runs more than 40,000 non-formal
            schools that cater to school-drop outs from poor families or
            operate in villages where there's little provision for
            formal schools. This paper presents a rationale for
            supporting these schools on the basis of their spillover
            effects on female enrollment in secondary (registered)
            madrasa schools (Islamic faith schools). Most madrasa high
            schools in Bangladesh are financed by the sate and include a
            modern curriculum alongside traditional religious subjects.
            Using an establishment-level dataset on student enrollment
            in secondary schools and madrasas, the authors demonstrate
            that the presence of madrasas is positively associated with
            secondary female enrollment growth. Such feminization of
            madrasas is therefore unique and merits careful analysis.
            The authors test the effects of the Bangladesh Rural
            Advancement Committee primary schools on growth in female
            enrollment in madrasas. The analysis deals with potential
            endoegeneity by using data on number of the number of school
            branches and female members in the sub-district. The
            findings show that madrasas that are located in regions with
            a greater number of Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee
            schools have higher growth in female enrollment. This
            relationship is further strengthened by the finding that
            there is, however, no effect of these schools on female
            enrollment growth in secular schools.
Accessibility and affordability of
            tertiary education in Brazil, Colombia, Mexico and Peru
            within a global context
This paper examines the financing of
            tertiary education in Brazil, Colombia, Mexico and Peru,
            comparing the affordability and accessibility of tertiary
            education with that in high-income countries. To measure
            affordability, the authors estimate education costs, living
            costs, grants, and loans. Further, they compute the
            participation rate, attainment rate, and socio-economic
            equity index in education and the gender equity index as
            indicators of accessibility. This is the first study
            attempting to estimate affordability of tertiary education
            in Latin America within a global context. The analysis
            combines information from household surveys, expenditure
            surveys, and administrative and institutional databases. The
            findings show that families in Latin America have to pay 60
            percent of per-capita income for tertiary education per
            student per year compared with 19 percent in high-income
            countries. Living costs are significant, at 29 percent of
            gross domestic product per capita in Latin America (19
            percent in high-income countries). Student assistance
            through grants and loans plays a marginal role in improving
            affordability. Moreover, the paper confirms previous
            findings of low access to tertiary education in the region.
            One policy implication of the findings is that Latin
            American governments could take steps to make tertiary
            education more affordable through student assistance.
Risk-based supervision of pension
            funds in Australia
This paper examines the development of
            risk-based supervision of pension funds in Australia.  The
            large number of pension funds has meant that since the
            inception of pension fund supervision in the early
            1990's the regulator has sought to identify high risk
            funds and focus its attention on these funds.  However, the
            regulator developed a more sophisticated risk-rating model,
            known as PAIRS/SOARS, in 1992 in order to apply a more
            disciplined and consistent ratings methodology.  Four
            reasons are given for the move towards more sophisticated
            risk-based supervision: 1) creation of an integrated
            supervisor which allowed the use of techniques used in
            banking and insurance to be adopted for pension fund; 2) the
            need to better use available supervisory resources; 3)
            several pension fund failures; and 4) concerns about
            industry weaknesses.  Supervisory techniques used
            particularly in the banking industry, such as universal
            licensing, 'fit and proper' assessment, and risk
            management requirements were adopted for the pension sector
            between 2004 and 2006.  The paper provides an outline of the
            PAIRS/SOARS risk-rating model which was also adopted.  It
            observes that the approach provides an analytical discipline
            to risk assessment, strengthens the link between risk
            assessment and supervisory response, and allows better
            targeting of supervisory resources.
The fiscal impact of foreign aid in
            Rwanda : a theoretical and empirical analysis
The inflow of large quantities of
            foreign aid into Rwanda since 1994 can have potential
            adverse effects such as aid dependency via a significant
            negative effect on tax efforts and on public investments.
            This paper carries out a theoretical and empirical study to
            examine these issues. The theoretical part develops a model
            in which the recipient government decides on the optimal
            level of tax and optimally allocates total government
            revenue between current expenditure and public investment.
            The theoretical model makes it possible to empirically test
            whether an increase in aid is likely to reduce the optimal
            tax rate and the proportion of public expenditure allocated
            to public investment. The econometric analysis uses time
            series data on Rwanda to show, in line with other studies in
            the literature, a negative relationship between increased
            aid and the tax rate; but the magnitude of the effects are
            extremely small.  In the case of Rwanda, reforms to the tax
            administration and expansion of the tax base have had
            mitigating effects.  As far as the effect on public
            investment, the overall effect was negative in the past;
            however, since 1995 the direction of this effect has changed.
Responding to Afghanistan's
            Opium economy challenge : lessons and policy implications
            from a development perspective
Opium, Afghanistan's leading
            economic activity, lies at the heart of the challenges the
            country faces in state building, governance, security, and
            development.  With their narrow law enforcement focus and
            limited recognition of development, security, and political
            implications, current global counter-narcotics polices
            impose a heavy burden on Afghanistan. This paper first
            provides a summary overview of Afghanistan's opium
            economy and the factors determining rural households'
            decisions on cultivating opium poppy. It then discusses the
            dynamic evolution of the Afghan drug industry in recent
            years, in particular its consolidation around fewer,
            powerful, politically-connected actors and the associated
            compromising of parts of some government agencies by drug
            industry interests. The paper reviews the experience with
            different counter-narcotics interventions, analyzes some
            proposals not yet tried in Afghanistan, and draws lessons
            and policy implications.  Unfortunately there are no
            "silver bullets"-easy, quick, or one-dimensional
            solutions, and a longer-term horizon along with sustained
            commitment and resources will be required in order to phase
            out the opium economy over time. The paper concludes by
            putting forward some broad principles and approaches of a
            "smart strategy" against drugs in Afghanistan.
Heterogeneous quality firms and
            trade costs
There is increasing empirical evidence
            that vertical product differentiation is an important
            determinant of international trade. However, the economic
            literature so far has solely focused on the case in which
            quality trade stems from differences between countries. No
            studies investigate the role of quality trade between
            similar economies. This paper first develops a simple
            theoretical trade model that includes vertical product
            differentiation in a heterogeneous-firm framework. The model
            yields three main predictions for trade between similar
            economies. First, exported goods are of higher quality than
            goods sold on the domestic market. Second, larger economies
            have on average higher export qualities compared with
            smaller economies. Third, with increasing trade costs higher
            quality goods are exchanged. For all three effects, strong
            empirical support is found using detailed export trade data
            of the United States and 15 European Union countries.
Avian influenza and the poultry trade
Because of high mortality rates, high
            rates of contagion, and the possibility of cross-species
            infection to mammals including humans, high pathogenic avian
            influenza is a major concern both to consumers and producers
            of poultry. The implications of the avian influenza for
            international poultry markets are large and include the loss
            of consumer confidence, loss of competitiveness, loss of
            market shares, supply shortages, and disruptions of trade
            flows. This paper illustrates the effect that high
            pathogenic avian influenza has had on the trade flows of
            poultry products. The findings suggest that outbreaks of
            avian influenza have greatly restructured the international
            flow of poultry products. Consequent to high pathogenic
            avian influenze, Brazil has emerged as the world's
            largest supplier of frozen raw chicken products, while
            poultry industries in Southeast Asia have largely refocused
            their export markets by converting production from
            unprepared to prepared poultry meat.