Download or read book Is Inequality Bad for Business written by Alice Mesnard and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2001 with total page 34 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Data on occupational choice among return migrants in Tunisia reveal that higher inequality of wealth reduces the level of new business activity. The effect is not large, however. Even dramatic redistributions of wealth would not provide much stimulus to entrepreneurship.

Download or read book Is Inequality Bad for Business A Nonlinear Microeconomic Model of Wealth Effects on Self Employment written by Martin Ravallion and published by . This book was released on 1999 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: January 2001 Data on occupational choice among return migrants in Tunisia reveal that higher inequality of wealth reduces the level of new business activity. The effect is not large, however. Even dramatic redistributions of wealth would not provide much stimulus to entrepreneurship. It is widely assumed that pervasive credit market failures mean that a person's current wealth is critical to whether or not that person takes up opportunities to start a new business. Mesnard and Ravallion show that inequality in wealth can be either good or bad for the level of entrepreneurship in an economy, depending on how diminishing returns to capital interact with borrowing constraints at the microeconomic level. They use nonparametric regression methods to study wealth effects on business start-ups among migrants returning to their home country, Tunisia. They include controls for heterogeneity, with specification tests for the nonseparable effects with wealth and for selection bias. There is no evidence of increasing returns at low wealth. The aggregate number of business start-ups is an increasing function of aggregate wealth but a decreasing function of wealth inequality. In other words, at any given mean, the higher the initial inequality of wealth, the lower the rate of new business start-ups, through the existence of diminishing returns to capital given liquidity constraints. In this sense, the results suggest that inequality is bad for business--but the size of this effect is small. The findings do not constitute a case for public redistribution of wealth as a means of stimulating business activity. There should probably be more research on interventions to reduce liquidity constraints. This paper--a product of Poverty and Human Resources, Development Research Group--is part of a larger effort in the group to understand how the distribution of wealth in an economy influences macroeconomic activity and occupational structure. Martin Ravallion may be contacted at [email protected].

Download or read book Market presence contestability and the terms of trade effects of regional integration written by Maurice Schiff and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 1994 with total page 32 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The World Bank Research Program 2001 written by World Bank and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2001-01-01 with total page 186 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This publication is a compilation of reports on research projects initiated, under way, or completed in fiscal year 2001 (July 1, 2000 through June 30, 2001). The abstracts cover 150 research projects from the World Bank and grouped under 11 major headings including poverty and social development, health and population, education, labor and employment, environment, infrastructure and urban development, and agriculture and rural development. The abstracts detail the questions addressed, the analytical methods used, the findings to date and their policy implications. Each abstract identifies the expected completion date of each project, the research team, and reports or publications produced.

Download or read book The Role of Nongovernmental Organizations in Primary Education written by Shanti Jagannathan and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2001 with total page 62 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Nongovernmental organizations working in education in India are professional resource centers and innovators able to reach children who are educationaly disadvantaged. The Indian government could improve the effectiveness of primary education by increasing its collaboration with such organizations.

Download or read book Indigenois Ethnicity and Entrepreneurial Success in Africa written by Taye Mengistae and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 1999 with total page 32 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: January 2001 Manufacturing businesses owned by an indigenous ethnic group, the Gurage, typically perform better than those of members of any other (major or minority) groups in Ethiopia. Gurage-owned businesses are normally larger and grow faster. Yet Gurage business owners typically are less educated than their counterparts in other groups and have less formal vocational training. Researchers have recently been asking why Asian and European minorities in Africa seem to be more successful in business than are people of indigenous ethnicity. Mengistae draws attention to the significant disparity in business ownership and performance that seems to exist among African ethnic groups as well. After analyzing a random selection of small to medium-size manufacturers in Ethiopia, he finds that establishments owned by an indigenous minority ethnic group, the Gurage, typically perform better than those owned by other (major or minority) groups. Other things being equal, Gurage-owned businesses are normally larger, partly because they are bigger as start-ups and partly because they grow faster. And yet Gurage business owners are the least educated ethnic group in the sample. Because the size and growth rate of a business also increases with the entre-preneur's education, the performance of other businesses would have been even worse if their owners hadn't been better educated than the Gurage. Indeed, dropping education variables from the size determination equation drastically reduces the estimated advantage of Gurage-run businesses. This suggests that the observed effect of ethnicity could be indicative of intergroup differences in unmeasured ability. More important, it means that whether or not the effect will persist in the long run will depend on the trend in interethnic differences in investment in education. This paper--a product of Macroeconomics and Growth, Development Research Group--is part of a larger effort in the group to investigate the microeconomic foundation of the association between ethnic diversity and the poor growth performance that seems to characterize Sub-Saharan Africa. The study was funded by the Bank's Research Support Budget under the research project "The Economics of Ethnicity and Entrepreneurship in Africa." The author may be contacted at [email protected].

Download or read book Checks and Balances Private Information and the Credibility of Monetary Commitments written by Philip Keefer and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2001 with total page 46 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In economically volatile conditions in which it is more difficult for the public to distinguish inflation deliberately generated by government from inflation created by unanticipated economic shocks, the anti-inflationary effect of central bank independence will be unchanged but the effectiveness of exchange rate pegs will be significantly improved. Keefer and Stasavage develop and test several new hypotheses about the anti-inflationary effect of central bank independence and exchange rate pegs in the context of different institutions and different degrees of citizen information about government policies.

Download or read book Growth Implosions Debt Explosions and My Aunt Marilyn written by William Russell Easterly and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2001 with total page 40 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The worldwide slowdown in growth after 1975 played an important role in the debt crisis of the middle-income countries in the 1980s, the crisis of the heavily indebted poor countries in the 1980s and 1990s, and the increased public debt burden of the industrial countries in the 1980s and 1990s.

Download or read book Recapitalizing Banking Systems written by Patrick Honohan and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2001 with total page 52 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: After a banking crisis, when authorities have decided to use budgetary funds to help restructure a large failed bank or banking system, apparent conflicts between various goals (involving incentives for the new bank management, for the government's budget, and for monetary stability) can be resolved by suitably designing financial instruments and appropriately allocating responsibility between different arms of government.

Download or read book Poverty and Public Celebrations in Rural India written by Vijayendra Rao and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2001 with total page 30 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The author examines the paradox of very poor households, spending large sums on celebrations. Using qualitative, and quantitative data from South India, the author demonstrates that spending on weddings, and festivals can be explained by integrating an anthropological understanding of how identity is shaped in Indian society, with an economic analysis of decision-making under conditions of extreme poverty, and risk. The author argues that publicly observable celebrations have two functions: they provide a space for maintaining social reputations, and webs of obligation, and, they serve as arenas for status-making competitions. The first role is central to maintaining the networks essential for social relationships, and coping with poverty. The second is a correlate of mobility that may become more prevalent as incomes rise. Development policies that favor individual over collective action, reduce the incentives for the networking function, and increase the incentives for status-enhancing functions - thus reducing social cohesion, and increasing conspicuous consumption. Market-driven improvements in urban employment, for example, could reduce a family's dependence on its traditional networks, could reduce incentives to maintain these networks, and could reduce social cohesion within a village, and thus its capacity for collective action. In contrast, micro-finance programs, and social funds try to retain, and even build a community's capacity for collective action.

Download or read book Mutual Fund Investment in Emerging Markets written by Graciela Laura Kaminsky and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 1999 with total page 44 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: January 2001 How do mutual funds behave when they invest in emerging economies? For one thing, mutual funds' flows are not stable. Withdrawals from emerging markets during recent crises were large, which squares with existing evidence of financial contagion. International mutual funds are one of the main channels for capital flows to emerging economies. Although mutual funds have become important contributors to financial market integration, little is known about their investment allocation and strategies. Kaminsky, Lyons, and Schmukler provide an overview of mutual fund activity in emerging markets. First, they describe international mutual funds' relative size, asset allocation, and country allocation. Second, they focus on fund behavior during crises, by analyzing data at the level of both investors and fund managers. Among their findings: Equity investment in emerging markets has grown rapidly in the 1990s, much of it flowing through mutual funds. Collectively, these funds hold a sizable share of market capitalization in emerging economies. Asian and Latin American funds achieved the fastest growth, but are smaller than domestic U.S. funds and world funds. When investing abroad, U.S. mutual funds invest more in equity than in bonds. World funds invest mainly in developed nations (Canada, Europe, Japan, and the United States). Ten percent of their investment is in Asia and Latin America. Mutual funds usually invest in a few countries within each region. Mutual fund investment was very responsive to the crises of the 1990s. Withdrawals from emerging markets during recent crises were large, which squares with existing evidence of financial contagion. Investments in Asian and Latin American mutual funds are volatile. Because redemptions and injections are large relative to total funds under management, funds' flows are not stable. The cash held by managers during injections and redemptions does not fluctuate significantly, so investors' actions are typically reflected in emerging market inflows and outflows. This paper--a product of Macroeconomics and Growth, Development Research Group--is part of a larger effort in the group to understand the operation of financial markets and the effects of financial globalization. The study was funded by the Bank's Research Support Budget under the research project "Mutual Funds in Emerging Markets." The authors may be contacted at [email protected], lyons@haas. berkeley.edu, or [email protected].

Download or read book Trade Policy Reform in the East Asian Transition Economies written by Will Martin and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 1999 with total page 44 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: January 2001 There has been no single magic formula for the success of the East Asian transition economies (Cambodia, China, Lao People's Democratic Republic, and Vietnam), whose performance in export and income growth has been strikingly better than that of transition economies in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. Most of the trade policy problems that remain in these East Asian economies appear to be problems more of development than of transition. The performance of the East Asian transition economies in export and income growth has been strikingly better than that of countries in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. The East Asian economies have achieved remarkably high growth rates in outputs and exports without the often large declines in output and exports observed in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. East Asian reformers have successfully made many of the parallel changes needed in both domestic and trade policies to secure export and income growth. (It makes no sense, for example, to introduce the trade policy instruments of a market economy when the domestic economy is still based on central planning.) But there has been no single magic formula for their success. Martin discusses what each of the economies (Cambodia, China, Lao People's Democratic Republic, and Vietnam) has done. China experienced an extended transition process; the transition was much shorter in other East Asian transition economies--especially Cambodia. Several of the East Asian transition economies used accession to a regional arrangement as part of their reform strategy. China focused mainly on unilateral reforms and, more recently, reforms associated with its accession to the World Trade Organization. Most have made extensive use of policies to attract foreign investment and to mitigate the burden of protection on manufacturing exporters. Most of the remaining trade policy problems, although difficult, appear to be problems more of development than of transition. This paper--a product of Trade, Development Research Group--is part of a larger effort in the group to understand the role of trade reform in successful development and poverty alleviation. The author may be contacted at [email protected].

Download or read book Regulatory Reform in Mexico s Natural Gas Industry written by Juan Rosellón and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2001 with total page 42 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Liberalization of the natural gas industry is complex because the sector combines activities with natural monopoly characteristics with activities that are potentially competitive. The challenges are compounded when the state opts to retain vertically integrated monopolies in otherwise contestable segments of the industry. Regulatory issues associated with partial liberalization of natural gas markets are analyzed through a case study of Mexico.

Download or read book Household Schooling Decisions in Rural Pakistan written by Michael Lokshin and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 1999 with total page 36 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: February 2001 An analysis of a field survey to investigate household decisions about schooling in rural Pakistan suggests that hiring more female teachers and providing more primary schools for girls closer to villages will improve the chances of rural Pakistani girls entering school and staying enrolled. Human capital investments in Pakistan are performing poorly: school enrollment is low, the high school dropout rate is high, and there is a definite gender gap in education. Sawada and Lokshin conducted field surveys in 25 Pakistani villages and integrated their field observations, economic theory, and econometric analysis to investigate the sequential nature of education decisions--because current outcomes depend not only on current decisions but also on past decisions. Their full-information maximum likelihood estimate of the sequential schooling decision model reveals important dynamics affecting the gender gap in education, the effects of transitory income and wealth, and intrahousehold resource allocation patterns. They find, among other things, that in rural Pakistan: * There is a high educational retention rate, conditional on school entry, and that male and female schooling progression rates become comparable at higher levels of education. * A household's human and physical assets and changes in its income significantly affect children's education patterns. Birth order affects siblings' competition for resources. * Serious supply-side constraints on village girls' primary education suggest the importance of supply-side policy interventions in Pakistan's rural primary education--for example, providing more girls' primary schools close to villages and employing more female teachers. This paper--a product of Poverty and Human Resources, Development Research Group--is part of a larger effort in the group to study the role of gender in the context of the household, institutions, and society. The authors may be contacted at [email protected] or [email protected].

Download or read book Malaysian Capital Controls written by Ron Hood and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2001 with total page 22 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Late in the Asian crisis, Malaysian authorities implemented controls on international capital flows, providing insurance against the consequences of possible further disturbances and creating a breathing space for essential reforms. Both the benefits from and the costs of the controls have been modest.

Download or read book Links Between Growth Inequality and Poverty A Survey written by Ms. Valerie Cerra and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2021-03-12 with total page 54 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Is there a tradeoff between raising growth and reducing inequality and poverty? This paper reviews the theoretical and empirical literature on the complex links between growth, inequality, and poverty, with causation going in both directions. The evidence suggests that growth can be effective in reducing poverty, but its impact on inequality is ambiguous and depends on the underlying sources of growth. The impact of poverty and inequality on growth is likewise ambiguous, as several channels mediate the relationship. But most plausible mechanisms suggest that poverty and inequality reduce growth, at least in the long run. Policies play a role in shaping these relationships and those designed to improve equality of opportunity can simultaneously improve inclusiveness and growth.

Download or read book World Bank Policy Research Bulletin written by World Bank and published by . This book was released on 1999 with total page 156 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: