Download or read book Behavioral Responses to Risk in Rural China written by Jyotsna Jalan and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 1998 with total page 39 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: September 1998 Does risk perpetuate poverty in a credit-constrained economy? Income risk appears not to discourage schooling but does inhibit the out-migration of labor. Only a small share of wealth is held in unproductive liquid forms to protect against income risk. Does risk perpetuate poverty in a credit-constrained economy? Jalan and Ravallion study portfolio and other behavioral responses to measured risk using household panel data for rural China. One-quarter of wealth is held in unproductive liquid forms. But only a small share of this appears to be a precaution against income risk. The authors estimate that eliminating income risk would reduce the share of wealth held in liquid form by less than 1 percentage point. Moreover, that effect is confined largely to middle-income groups; high-income households do not, it seems, need to hold unproductive precautionary wealth, and the poor probably cannot afford to do so. The authors find no evidence that income risk discourages schooling, but risk does inhibit the out-migration of labor. Generally, the results provide only limited support for the idea that uninsured risks promote unproductive portfolio behavior in this setting. There is such an effect, but it is small in magnitude and cannot be deemed an important cause of poverty. This paper-a product of Poverty and Human Resources, Development Research Group-is part of a larger effort in the group to better understand the causes of poverty. The study was funded by the Bank's Research Support Budget under the research project Dynamics of Poverty in Rural China (RPO 678-69). The authors may be contacted at [email protected] or [email protected].
Download or read book Behavioral Responses to Risk in Rural China written by Jyotsna Jalan and published by . This book was released on 2000 with total page 35 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Risk Shocks and Human Development written by R. Fuentes-Nieva and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-11-09 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sudden negative events are part of life, but some are more disastrous than others. This book analyzes the consequences of sudden negative shocks in the short and long term well being of people and how the policies implemented before, during and in the immediate aftermath of the event could help prevent these long lasting effects.
Download or read book Securing Property Rights in Transition Lessons from Implementation of China s Rural Land Contracting Law written by Songqing Jin and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2007 with total page 36 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Abstract: This paper is motivated by the emphasis on secure property rights as a determinant of economic development in recent literature. The authors use village and household level information from about 800 villages throughout China to explore whether legal reform increased protection of land rights against unauthorized reallocation or expropriation with below-average compensation by the state. The analysis provides nation-wide evidence on a sensitive topic. The authors find positive impacts, equivalent to increasing land values by 30 percent, of reform even in the short term. Reform originated in villages where democratic election of leaders ensured a minimum level of accountability, pointing toward complementarity between good governance and legal reform. The paper explores the implications for situations where individuals and groups hold overlapping rights to land.
Download or read book The Social and Behavioural Aspects of Climate Change written by Pim Martens and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-09-08 with total page 441 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Over the past few years, and certainly since the publication of the "Stern Report", there has been increasing recognition that climate change is not only an environmental crisis, but one with important social and economic dimensions. There is now a growing need for multi-disciplinary research and for the science of climate change to be usefully translated for policy-makers.Until very recently, scientific and policy emphasis on climate change has focused almost exclusively on mitigation efforts: mechanisms and regulations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The success of such efforts to date is debatable. In fact, the impact of ever more stringent emission control programmes could potentially have enormous social consequences. Little effort has been expended on the exploration of a systematic evaluation of climate stabilization benefits or the costs of adapting to a changed climate, let alone attempting to integrate different approaches. There is an increasing recognition that the key actors in the climate crisis also need to be preparing for change that is unavoidable. This has resulted in a greater consideration of vulnerability and adaptation.The book, based on the research programme "Vulnerability, Adaptation and Mitigation" (VAM) which ran from 2004 to 2010, funded by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO), presents a cluster of case studies of industries, communities and institutions which each show how vulnerability, adaptation and mitigation analyses can be integrated using social behavioural sciences. Each chapter makes specific recommendations for the studied industry sector, community or institution, analyses the latest research developments of the field and identifies priorities for future research. The book argues that the inherent complexity of climate change will ultimately require a much more integrated response both scientifically – to better understand multiple causes and impacts – as well as at the scientific/policy interface, where new forms of engagement between scientists, policy-makers and wider stakeholder groups can make a valuable contribution to more informed climate policy and practice.The book is particularly timely as the scientific research and policy debate is shifting from one of problem-framing to new agendas that are much more concerned with implementation, the improvement of assessment methodologies from a multi-disciplinary perspective, and the reframing of current scientific understanding towards mitigation, adaptation and vulnerability. A critical element in responding to the climate change challenge will be to ensure the translation of these new scientific insights into innovative policy and practice "on the ground". This book provides some fundamental elements to answer this need.The Social and Behavioural Aspects of Climate Change: Linking Vulnerability, Adaptation and Mitigation will be essential reading for social science researchers and policy managers in the area of climate change, as well as for those who want to know what the social and behavioural sciences can contribute toward coping with climate hazards. NGOs, law firms and businesses in the energy sector or other climate related fields will also find the book of great value.
Download or read book Reasserting the Rural Development Agenda written by Arsenio Molina Balisacan and published by Institute of Southeast Asian Studies. This book was released on 2007 with total page 436 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Presents a reinvigorated agenda on agricultural and rural development in Asia both for research and policy discussions in the coming decades.
Download or read book Understanding Poverty written by Abhijit Vinayak Banerjee and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2006-04-20 with total page 496 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume brings together essays by thirty-four leading economists about the most important things they have learnt from their research that relate to poverty. The essays range from the impact of colonialism and globalization to the future of micro-credit and the quest for new vaccines.
Download or read book Attacking Poverty written by and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2000 with total page 356 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At the start of each decade the World Development Report focuses on poverty reduction. The World Development Report, now in its twenty-third edition, proposes an empowerment-security-opportunity framework of action to reduce poverty in the first decades of the twenty-first century. It views poverty as a multidimensional phenonmenon arising out of complex interactions between assets, markets, and institutions. This Report shows how the experience of poverty reduction in the last fifteen years has been remarkably diverse and how this experience has provided useful lessons as well as warnings against simplistic universal policies and interventions. It shows how current global trends present extraordinary opportunities for poverty reduction but also cause extraordinary risks, including growing inequality, marginalization, and social explosions. The World Development Report 2000/2001 explores the challenge of managing these risks in order to make the most of the opportunities for poverty reduction.
Download or read book Contingent Government Liabilities written by Hana Polackova and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 1998 with total page 39 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: October 1998 Many governments have faced serious fiscal instabilities as a result of their growing contingent liabilities. But conventional fiscal analysis and institutions fall short in addressing contingent fiscal risks. What approaches in fiscal analysis and standards for public sector management would foster sound fiscal performance? And how can policymakers be made accountable for recognizing the long-term costs of both direct and contingent forms of government activity in their decisions? Governments are increasingly exposed to fiscal risks and uncertainties for three main reasons: * The increasing volume and volatility of international flows of private capital. * The state's transformation from financing services to guaranteeing that the private sector will achieve particular outcomes. * Moral hazards arising in markets because the government is perceived to have residual responsibility for market outcomes. Sources of fiscal risk may be direct or contingent (a liability only if a particular event occurs). Whether direct or contingent, they are either explicit (recognized as a government liability by law or by contract) or implicit (a moral obligation reflecting public expectations and pressure from interest groups). The recent Asian crisis revealed that major moral hazards exist in markets and that sizable hidden fiscal risks may arise from contingent forms of government support. Governments must understand and know how to handle contingent liabilities if they are to avoid the danger of sudden fiscal instability and realize their long-term policy objectives. They can reduce fiscal risks by incorporating contingent liabilities into their analytical, policy, and institutional public finance frameworks. Governments can address fiscal risk through three channels in particular, says Polackova: * By including contingent and implicit financial risks in their fiscal analysis and (to deter moral hazard in the market) by publicly acknowledging the limits of state responsibilities. * By reflecting the cost of contingent liabilities in policy choices, budgeting, financial planning, reporting, and auditing. * By developing institutional capacity to evaluate, regulate, control, and prevent financial risk in both the public and private sectors. Given the increasingly serious implications of contingent government liabilities for the fiscal outlook of countries, Polackova argues that it is time for the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and others to: * Incorporate government contingent fiscal risks in their analysis of a country's fiscal sustainability, policies, and institutions. * Require countries to disclose information regarding their exposure to contingent fiscal risks. * Help countries embrace contingent liabilities in their analytical, policy, and institutional public finance frameworks. This paper-a product of the Poverty Reduction and Economic Management Sector Unit, Europe and Central Asia Region-is part of a larger effort in the region to enhance the Bank's analytical and operational work in public finance. The author may be contacted at [email protected].
Download or read book The Institutions Curse written by Victor Menaldo and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2016-08-16 with total page 417 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The 'resource curse' is the view that countries with extensive natural resources tend to suffer from a host of undesirable outcomes, including the weakening of state capacity, authoritarianism, fewer public goods, war, and economic stagnation. This book debunks this view, arguing that there is an 'institutions curse' rather than a resource curse. Legacies endemic to the developing world have impelled many countries to develop natural resources as a default sector in lieu of cultivating modern and diversified economies, and bad institutions have also condemned nations to suffer from ills unduly attributed to minerals and oil. Victor Menaldo also argues that natural resources can actually play an integral role in stimulating state capacity, capitalism, industrialization, and democracy, even if resources are themselves often a symptom of underdevelopment. Despite being cursed by their institutions, weak states are blessed by their resources: greater oil means more development, both historically and across countries today.
Download or read book public expenditure and growth written by Santiago Herrera and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2007 with total page 68 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Abstract: Given that public spending will have a positive impact on GDP if the benefits exceed the marginal cost of public funds, the present paper deals with measuring costs and benefits of public spending. The paper discusses one cost seldom considered in the literature and in policy debates, namely, the volatility derived from additional public spending. The paper identifies a relationship between public spending volatility and consumption volatility, which implies a direct welfare loss to society. This loss is substantial in developing countries, estimated at 8 percent of consumption. If welfare losses due to volatility are this sizeable, then measuring the benefits of public spending is critical. Gauging benefits based on macro aggregate data requires three caveats: a) considering of the impact of the funding (taxation) required for the additional public spending; b) differentiating between investment and capital formation; c) allowing for heterogeneous response of output to different types of capital and differences in network development. It is essential to go beyond country-specificity to project-level evaluation of the benefits and costs of public projects. From the micro viewpoint, the rate of return of a project must exceed the marginal cost of public funds, determined by tax levels and structure. Credible evaluations require microeconomic evidence and careful specification of counterfactuals. On this, the impact evaluation literature and methods play a critical role. From individual project evaluation, the analyst must contemplate the general equilibrium impacts. In general, the paper advocates for project evaluation as a central piece of any development platform. By increasing the efficiency of public spending, the government can permanently increase the rate of productivity growth and, hence, affect the growth rate of GDP.
Download or read book Poverty Risk and Insurance Evidence from Ethiopia and Yemen written by Lei Pan and published by Rozenberg Publishers. This book was released on 2009 with total page 155 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Analyzing Financial Sectors in Transition written by Alan Roe and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 1998 with total page 58 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Banking on Crises written by Carmen M. Reinhart and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2009 with total page 37 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The historical frequency of banking crises is quite similar in high- and middle-to-low-income countries, with quantitative and qualitative parallels in both the run-ups and the aftermath. We establish these regularities using a unique dataset spanning from Denmark's financial panic during the Napoleonic War to the ongoing global financial crisis sparked by subprime mortgage defaults in the United States.Banking crises dramatically weaken fiscal positions in both groups, with government revenues invariably contracting, and fiscal expenditures often expanding sharply. Three years after a financial crisis central government debt increases, on average, by about 86 percent. Thus the fiscal burden of banking crisis extends far beyond the commonly cited cost of the bailouts. Our new dataset includes housing price data for emerging markets; these allow us to show that the real estate price cycles around banking crises are similar in duration and amplitude to those in advanced economies, with the busts averaging four to six years. Corroborating earlier work, we find that systemic banking crises are typically preceded by asset price bubbles, large capital inflows and credit booms, in rich and poor countries alike.
Download or read book The Informal Sector Firm Dynamics and Industrial Participation written by Alec Robert Levenson and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 1998 with total page 36 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Pension Reform in Small Developing Countries written by Thomas C. Glaessner and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 1998 with total page 70 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Financial Safety Nets and Incentive Structures in Latin America written by Philip Lawton Brock and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 1998 with total page 40 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: October 1998 Three principles that should govern the safety net for a country's financial system, altering bank behavior and deepening financial intermediation by shifting some risk to the government. Well-designed bank safety nets should alter bank behavior and deepen financial intermediation by shifting some risk to the government. It is often said that the best safety net for a financial system is one that makes market participants behave as if the safety net did not exist. Brock examines issues associated with safety nets for financial systems in small open economies such as those in Latin America. He stresses three principles that should guide the design and operations of a financial system safety net: * Safety nets should strengthen rather than supplant private capital, monitoring, and closure mechanisms. The presence of asymmetric information gives borrowers, bankers, and depositors incentives to voluntarily impose capital requirements, monitoring arrangements, and contractual provisions for the closure or recapitalization of firms and banks. Government regulations or safety net provisions should be designed to work in harmony with the incentives private agents already face. * Safety nets must take into account both aggregate risk and idiosyncratic risk. In particular, good safety nets must be designed to take into account large but infrequent macroeconomic shocks as well as to encourage prudential bank behavior during normal times. * Safety net design should be grounded in the historical and institutional framework of any given country. Safety nets evolve over time and must allow for problems that have existed for a long time-but must also take into account current political pressures and today's generally higher expectations about the government's ability to insure the financial system against aggregate shocks. This paper-a product of Finance, Development Research Group-is part of a larger effort in the group to study the role of incentives in finance. The author may be contacted at [email protected].
