Download or read book Income Convergence During the Disintegration of the World Economy 1919 39 written by Branko Milanovi? and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2003 with total page 40 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Some economists have argued that the process of disintegration of the world economy between the two world wars led to income divergence between the countries. This is in keeping with the view that economic integration leads to income convergence. The paper shows that the view that the period 1919-39 was associated with divergence of incomes among the rich countries is wrong. On the contrary, income convergence continued and even accelerated. Since the mid-19th century, incomes of rich countries tended to converge in peacetime regardless of whether their economies were more or less integrated. This, in turn, implies that it may not be trade and capital and labor flows that matter for income convergence but some other, less easily observable, forces like diffusion of information and technology.

Download or read book Income Convergence During the Disintegration of the World Economy 1919 39 written by Branko Milanovic and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 35 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Some economists have argued that the process of disintegration of the world economy between the two world wars led to income divergence between the countries. This is in keeping with the view that economic integration leads to income convergence. The paper shows that the view that the period 1919-39 was associated with divergence of incomes among the rich countries is wrong. On the contrary, income convergence continued and even accelerated. Since the mid-19th century, incomes of rich countries tended to converge in peacetime regardless of whether their economies were more or less integrated. This, in turn, implies that it may not be trade and capital and labor flows that matter for income convergence but some other, less easily observable, forces like diffusion of information and technology.This paper - a product of the Poverty Team, Development Research Group - is part of a larger effort in the group to study global inequality.

Download or read book Flat World Big Gaps written by United Nations and published by Zed Books. This book was released on 2007-03 with total page 456 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This publication sets out an empirical analysis of the impact of economic liberalisation and globalisation on inequality, poverty and development, including recent trends in economic growth, income distribution and global inequalities, and the comparative experiences of countries that have pursued different economic policies.

Download or read book Understanding Economic Development written by Colin White and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2009 with total page 413 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An invaluable survey of the literature on growth. Colin White argues persuasively and expertly that any attempt to solve the profound mystery of economic growth at the large scales of world history must move beyond the limited vision of neo-classical economic theory, and incorporate the narrative methods and perspectives of history as well. This is a superb overview and critique of contemporary attempts to explain economic growth, and a perceptive re-examination of the whole issue of growth in human history. David Christian, Macquarie University, Australia Colin White transcends a number of false dichotomies in this work. He shows that we need both theory and history in order to comprehend the transition to modern economic growth. He appreciates that this transition was neither inevitable as many theorists argue nor entirely contingent as historical treatments often suggest. He argues that advice to present-day less developed countries should combine a general understanding of the process of transition with detailed analysis of the history and conditions of the country in question. He appreciates that it makes sense to speak of an Industrial Revolution while also recognizing that this was a gradual process that in turn built upon even more gradual changes in earlier centuries in the British economy. Less obviously but importantly he realizes that we can best understand economic growth if we recognize the limitations of each scholarly approach in order to integrate the best of these. Rick Szostak, University of Alberta, Canada This fascinating book considers one of the most important problems in economics: the inception of modern economic development. There is at present no satisfactory explanation of the inception of modern economic development; an excessive focus on either pure theory or on unique histories limits the explanatory power. This book realises the need to integrate the two approaches, moving beyond the proximate causes of economic theory to review the role in an analytic narrative of significant ultimate causes geography, risk environments, human capital, and institutions. Colin White distils the conclusions of a vast literature, drawing from economics, economic history and business and management, exploring economic theory, demonstrating limitations and highlighting alternative approaches. Particular attention is paid to the appropriate role of innovative entrepreneurs and of government, and three case studies illustrate how to build an analytic narrative. Showing how far we can generalise about the determinants of economic development and in particular how to understand the specific determinants in individual countries, this book will prove a stimulating and thought provoking read to academics, students and researchers with an interest in economics and economic development.

Download or read book Globalization in Question written by Paul Hirst and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2015-01-28 with total page 247 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'Globalization' is one of the key concepts of our time. It is used by both the right and the left as the cornerstone of their analysis of the international economy and polity. In both political and academic discussions, the assumption is commonly made that the process of economic globalization is well under way and that this represents a qualitatively new stage in the development of international capitalism. But is there in fact such a thing as a genuinely global economy? Globalization in Question investigates this notion, providing a very different account of the international economy and stressing the possibilities for its continued and extended governance. The new edition of this best-selling text has been thoroughly revised and updated to take into account new issues which have become salient in the period since the first and second editions were published. Several new chapters have been added and others combined or re-written to assess the growing supra-national regionalization of the international economy, the emergence of India and China as new super-powers, and the possibilities for the continued governance of the global system. A new author has been added to strengthen the analytical embrace of the book given the untimely death of Paul Hirst in 2003. Globalization in Question's third edition is a continuing intervention into current discussions about the nature and prospects of globalization. The book has far-reaching implications which will be of interest to students and academics in a number of disciplines including politics, sociology, economics and geography, as well as to journalists and policy-makers.

Download or read book Survey Compliance and the Distribution of Income written by Johan A. Mistiaen and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2003 with total page 36 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: While it is improbable that households with different incomes are equally likely to participate in sample surveys, the lack of data for nonrespondents has hindered efforts to correct for the bias in measures of poverty and inequality. Mistiaen and Ravallion demonstrate how the latent income effect on survey compliance can be estimated using readily available data on response rates across geographic areas. An application using the Current Population Survey for the United States indicates that compliance falls as income rises. Correcting for selective compliance appreciably increases mean income and inequality, but has only a small impact on poverty incidence up to commonly used poverty lines in the United States. This paper - a product of the Poverty Team, Development Research Group - is part of a larger effort in the group to develop better methods of measuring poverty and inequality from survey data.

Download or read book Mexico in firm training for the knowledge economy written by Hong Tan and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2003 with total page 44 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Is the Emerging Nonfarm Market Economy the Route Out of Poverty in Vietnam written by Dominique Van de Walle and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2003 with total page 36 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Are the household characteristics that are good for transition to a more diversified market-oriented development process in Vietnam also important for reducing poverty? Or are there tradeoffs? The determinants of both poverty incidence and participation in rural off-farm activities are modeled as functions of household and community characteristics using comprehensive national household surveys for 1993 and 1998. Despite some common causative factors, such as education and region of residence, the processes determining poverty and inhibiting diversification are clearly not the same. Participation in the emerging rural nonfarm market economy will be the route out of poverty for some, but certainly not all, of Vietnam's poor. This paper--a product of Public Services, Development Research Group--is part of a larger effort in the group to understand how to reduce poverty.

Download or read book Challenges of CAFTA written by Daniel Lederman and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2006-01-01 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The report provides a preliminary assessment of DR-CAFTA, with particular attention to three key themes: (i) expected trade and non-trade benefits, (ii) actions that Central American countries need to pursue to capitalize optimally on the new opportunities, and (iii) identification of the population groups that may require assistance to adapt to a more competitive environment. The Introductory Chapter reviews the main findings of the report. Chapter II places DR-CAFTA in the historical context of the economic reforms that Central America has been undertaking since the late 1980s. Chapter III provides a summary overview of the recently negotiated DR-CAFTA. Chapter IV reviews various analyses that assess the potential impacts of DR-CAFTA in Central American countries. Chapter V focuses on the identification of potentially affected populations from the easing of trade restrictions in sensitive agricultural products and analyzes policy options to assist vulnerable groups. Chapter VI reviews evidence related to key macroeconomic implications of DR-CAFTA, namely the potential revenue losses and effect on the patterns of business-cycle synchronization. Chapter VII reviews evidence from each Central American country in the areas of trade facilitation, institutional and regulatory reforms, and innovation and education, in order to identify key priorities for the complementary agenda for DR-CAFTA."

Download or read book Dar Al Islam the Mediterranean the World System and the Wider Europe written by Peter Herrmann and published by Nova Publishers. This book was released on 2005 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With the process of a 'wider Europe' (EU-Commission President Romano Prodi's 'ring of friends') that extends from Marrakech in Morocco to St Petersburg in Russia gathering speed, the growing rift between Europe and America also is about how to deal politically with the countries of the Mediterranean-Muslim world. The house of Islam (Dar al Islam) was pivotal to the European path to the Renaissance and to the re-discovery of classic Greek philosophy. The Mediterranean policy of the European Union aims at a positive and co-operative relationship with the region. A successful integration of the Mediterranean South would have tremendous and positive repercussions for regional and world peace. World-wide leading experts from the field of world systems analysis, economics, integration theory, political science, theology and area studies, agnostics, Christians, Jews and Muslims alike discuss the issue with European decision makers. The outcome is an interdisciplinary evaluation of this projected export of peace, co-operation, dialogue and stability in the framework of world centre-periphery relationships.

Download or read book Globalization and Workers in Developing Countries written by and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on with total page 44 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Malnutrition and Poverty in Guatemala written by Michele Gragnolati and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2003 with total page 60 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The objective of this paper is to document the extent and distribution of child and adult malnutrition in Guatemala; to analyze the relationship between selected child, maternal, household and community characteristics and children's nutritional status; and to outline the implications of the most important findings for nutritional policy. The prevalence of chronic malnutrition among Guatemalan children in 2000 was the highest in Latin America and among the highest in the world. The data show very strong socioeconomic and geographic inequality. The econometric analysis reveals a strong impact of income and of intergenerational effects. Education of adults in the household and the availability of infrastructure are other important determinants of children's growth attainment. Finally, even controlling for income and other household and community characteristics, ethnicity remains an important determinant of child nutritional status. The study also reveals an increasing prevalence of excess weights and obesity among children and adults. Overnutrition tends to be higher among individuals living in urban areas and among non-poor and non-indigenous households. This paper-a product of the Human Development Sector Unit, Latin America and the Caribbean Region-is part of a larger effort in the region to study poverty and human development processes.

Download or read book Wages and Productivity in Mexican Manufacturing written by Gladys Lopez Acevedo and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2003 with total page 44 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The author identifies the determinants of wages and productivity in Mexico over time using national representative linked employer-employee databases from the manufacturing sector. She shows that both employers and employees are benefiting from investments in education, training, work experience, foreign research and development, and openness after the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Additional years of schooling have a higher impact on wages and productivity after NAFTA than before. Endogenous training effects are larger for productivity than for wages, suggesting that the employers share the costs and returns to training. The author also finds that investment in human capital magnifies technology-driven productivity gains. By comparing four regions of Mexico-north, center, south, and Mexico City-regional wage and productivity gaps are found to have increased over time.

Download or read book Catastrophe Insurance Market in the Caribbean Region written by Philippe Auffret and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2003 with total page 36 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Caribbean region suffers from a high degree of economic volatility. A history of repeated external and domestic shocks has made economic insecurity a major concern across the region. Of particular concern to all households, especially the poorest segments of the population, is the exposure to shocks that are generated by catastrophic events or natural disasters. The author develops a conceptual framework for risk management and shows that the insurance market for catastrophic risk in the Caribbean region remains a "thin" market characterized by "high" prices and "low" transfer of risk. He analyzes the possible market failures which could explain the lack of development of the catastrophe insurance market. Finally he outlines a set of recommendations for public sector interventions.

Download or read book Strategic Planning for Poverty Reduction in Vietnam written by Rob A. Swinkels and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2003 with total page 64 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This paper discusses the progress that Vietnam has made toward meeting a core set of development goals that the government recently adopted as part of its Comprehensive Poverty Reduction and Growth Strategy (CPRGS). These goals are strongly related to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), but are adapted and expanded to reflect Vietnam's national challenges and the government's ambitious development plans. For each Vietnam Development Goal, the authors describe recent trends in relation to the trajectories implied by the MDGs, outline the intermediate targets identified by the government, and discuss the challenges involved in meeting these. Relative to other countries of similar per capita expenditures, Vietnam has made rapid progress in a number of key areas. Poverty has halved over the 1990s, enrollment rates in primary education have risen to 91 percent (although there is a quality problem), indicators of gender equity have been strengthened, child mortality has been reduced, maternal health has improved, and real progress has been made in combating malaria and other communicable diseases. In contrast, Vietnam scores worse than other comparable countries in the areas of child malnutrition, access to clean water, and combating HIV/AIDS. A number of important crosscutting issues emerge from this analysis that need to be addressed. One such challenge is improving equity, both in terms of ensuring that the benefits of growth are distributed evenly across the population and in terms of access to public services. This will involve addressing the affordability of education and curative health care for poor households. Improvements in public expenditure planning are needed to align resources better to stated desired outcomes and to link nationally-defined targets to subnational planning and budgeting processes. There is also a need to address capacity and data gaps which will be crucial for effective monitoring. This paper--a product of the Poverty Reduction and Economic Management Sector Unit, East Asia and Pacific Region--is part of a larger effort in the region to help governments move toward outcome-based planning for poverty reduction.

Download or read book The Effects of a Fee waiver Program on Health Care Utilization Among the Poor written by Nazmul Chaudhury and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2003 with total page 44 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This study examines the impact of a fee-waiver program for basic medical services on health care utilization in Armenia. Because of the reduction in public financing of health services and decentralization and increased privatization of health care provision, private out-of-pocket contributions are increasingly becoming a significant component of health costs in Armenia. To help poor families cope with this constraint, the Armenian government provided a free-of-charge basic package service to eligible individuals in vulnerable groups, such as the disabled and children from single parent households. Drawing on the 1996 and 1998-99 Armenia Integrated Survey of Living Standards (AISLS), which allows the identification of eligible individuals under this program, the authors estimate the impact of the fee-waiver program on utilization of health services, particularly among the poor. Across the two survey rounds utilization rates have indeed declined despite comparable levels of income, and this decline has occurred among both the poor and the rich, with average utilization falling by 12 percent between the two surveys. But families with four or more children, the largest beneficiary group under the "vulnerable population" program, have decreased their use of health care services in a disproportionate manner--21 percent reduction in use between the two survey rounds. This precipitous drop in health care use by this vulnerable group, despite being eligible for free medical services, suggests that the program was inadequate in stemming the decline in the use of health services. The authors further present evidence to suggest that the free-of-charge eligibility program acts more like an income transfer mechanism, particularly to disabled individuals. This paper--a joint product of Public Services, Development Research Group, and the Human Development Sector Unit, Europe and Central Asia Region--is part of a larger effort in the Bank to understand the impact of health sector reform on health care utilization and poverty.

Download or read book Land Allocation in Vietnam s Agrarian Transition written by Martin Ravallion and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2003 with total page 32 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Abstract: While liberalizing key factor markets is a crucial step in the transition from a socialist control-economy to a market economy, the process can be stalled by imperfect information, high transaction costs, and covert resistance from entrenched interests. Ravallion and van de Walle study land-market adjustment in the wake of Vietnam's reforms aiming to establish a free market in land-use rights following de-collectivization. Inefficiencies in the initial administrative allocation are measured against an explicit counterfactual market solution. The authors' tests using a farm-household panel data set spanning the reforms suggest that land allocation responded positively but slowly to the inefficiencies of the administrative allocation. They find no sign that the transition favored the land rich or that it was thwarted by the continuing power over land held by local officials. This paper"a joint product of the Poverty Team and the Public Services Team, Development Research Group"is part of a larger effort in the group to understand the welfare impacts of major policy reforms.