C. Journal articles published externally
2,064 items available
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These are journal articles by World Bank authors published externally.
Items in this collection
1 - 10 of 32
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Publication
Designing for Sustainable Outcomes: Espousing Behavioural Change into Co-production Programs
(Taylor and Francis, 2017-10-12)This paper uses a policy design perspective with which to examine the formulation of programs that are based on the concept of co-production. In doing so, the paper reviews essential literature on policy design and co-production to identify that a limited focus on outcomes and specifically how behavioral change can make these outcomes sustainable represents a major gap in the current discussion of co-production. We firstly argue that in designing programs involving co-production, outcomes need to be considered at the initial design stages where broad policy objectives are being defined. Secondly, we argue that for these outcomes to be sustainable, behavioral change on the part of policy targets needs to be an important objective of a co-production program. To illustrate our point, we use the example of rural sanitation programs from three developing countries to specifically demonstrate how the absence or inclusion of behavioral change considerations in the early phases of policy design can elicit different levels of success in achieving desired policy outcomes. -
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The Role of Preschool Quality in Promoting Child Development: Evidence from Rural Indonesia
(Taylor and Francis, 2017-06-11)This article examines the relationship between preschool quality and children’s early development in a sample of over 7900 children enrolled in 578 preschools in rural Indonesia. Quality was measured by: (1) classroom observations using the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale-Revised (ECERS-R); (2) teacher characteristics; and (3) structural characteristics of preschools. Children’s development was measured using the Early Development Instrument (EDI). The article proposes two methodological improvements to preschool quality studies. First, an instrumental variable approach is used to correct for measurement error. Second, ECERS-R is adjusted to the local context by contrasting items with Indonesia’s national preschool standards. Results show that observed classroom quality is a significant and meaningful positive predictor of children’s development once models correct for measurement error and apply a locally-adapted measure of classroom quality. In contrast, teacher characteristics and structural characteristics are not significant predictors of child development, while holding observed classroom quality constant. -
Publication
Poverty, Disputes, and Access to Justice in Two Indonesian Provinces
(Taylor and Francis, 2017-02-07)This analysis explores the determinants behind the unequal access to justice services among poor Indonesians. The study analyzes the stock of observed past disputes by socioeconomic group and the demand for conflict resolution services for unresolved conflicts or “trajectories.” It also models the hypothetical demand of justice services for future disputes. Results suggest that unequal access to justice might go beyond the financial costs of seeking justice and also depends on individual preferences and community infrastructure. These findings warn against focusing exclusively on formal justice costs to improve the equal access of the poor to conflict resolution services. -
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Book Review of Managing Globalization in the Asian Century: Essays in Honour of Prema-Chandra Athukorala
(Taylor and Francis, 2017)Asia is a region of economic miracles, and this festschrift for the esteemed development economist Prema-Chandra Athukorala highlights a major driver of Asia’s success: globalization. Economic progress in Asia cannot be separated from globalization’s role in industrializing the region’s agrarian economies. Most countries in Asia have, to varying degrees, embraced globalization by opening up to foreign direct investment (to stimulate markets and to transfer know-how) and facilitating the growth of export-oriented industries. -
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Unpacking the Effect of Decentralized Governance on Routine Violence: Lessons from Indonesia
(Elsevier, 2016-10-18)We study the effect of decentralization on routine violence in Indonesia. We unpack decentralization along multiple dimensions and consider the individual effects of local elections, the creation of new administrative units, fiscal transfers, and local public service delivery. We use comprehensive data from Indonesia’s National Violence Monitoring System (NVMS), a new dataset that records the incidence and impact of violence in Indonesia. We use these data to examine the relationship between the different dimensions of decentralization and different types of local violence in Indonesian districts during 2001–10. Our analyses suggest that there is a positive association between local service delivery and at least some forms of violence. We argue that the positive effect of service delivery on violence is due to newly generated distributive conflicts among local ethnic groups around the control over and access to services. By comparison, district splitting and the introduction of direct elections of district heads are negatively associated with some forms of violence. There is little evidence that fiscal transfers, in general, mitigate conflict. -
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Village Governance, Community Life, and the 2014 Village Law in Indonesia
(Taylor and Francis, 2016-08-14)In January 2014, the Government of Indonesia issued Law 6/2014 on Villages, aiming to address weaknesses in the decentralisation paradigm, including providing villages with increased budget allocations and improved governance arrangements. Using longitudinal data from forty Indonesian villages in the three-round Local Level Institution studies, fielded in 1996, 2001 and 2012, the article investigates the effects that prior policy has had on village life and the likely implications of the new Village Law for village governance. The focus is on shifts in capacities, constraints and opportunities for the improved responsiveness of local governments toward community needs. We suggest that there is potential for the Law to increase responsiveness – through a combination of strong financial management systems, new national institutional arrangements, and empowered citizens that can create pressures on the village government to work in the interest of the community – but that substantial risks and obstacles remain. -
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Long-term Impacts of Global Food Crisis on Production Decisions: Evidence from Farm Investments in Indonesia
(Taylor and Francis, 2016-05-12)This paper estimates farmers’ investment response to food price spikes using household panel data collected before and after the 2007/08 food price crisis in Indonesia. We found that an increase in farmers’ terms-of-trade allowed relatively large crop-producing farmers to increase their investments at both extensive and intensive margins. Food price spikes had a significant income effect among farmers whose production surplus is large for market sales. During the food price crisis, large farmers particularly increased machine investments, which saved some labour inputs, pointing to the importance of complementarities between land and machine investments. -
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The Effects of Improved Roads on Wages and Employment Evidence from Rural Labor Markets in Indonesia
(Taylor and Francis, 2016-03-30)This paper examines the impact of road quality on labour supply and wages using household panel data from rural Indonesia. The analysis uses fixed-effect instrumental variable estimation by first differencing two-round panel data. First, road projects are found to increase the transportation speed. Second, the empirical results from intra-village variations of household endowments and labour-market behaviour show that an increase in transportation speed raised wages in both non-agricultural and agricultural employment, and was associated with a decline in working time in agricultural employment, for the households whose members are relatively educated. The findings support potential complementarity between road quality and education, implying that the government’s public investments in roads and education should be coordinated to capture cross-augmenting positive impacts in the long run. -
Publication
The Impact of Early Childhood Education on Early Achievement Gaps in Indonesia
(Taylor and Francis, 2015-09-16)This study assesses whether the Indonesia Early Childhood Education and Development (ECED) project had an impact on early achievement gaps as measured by an array of child development outcomes and enrolment. First, using a fixed-effects model with a difference-in-difference estimator that compares children in project villages with those in non-project villages, we find that the positive impacts are concentrated among poor children. Second, extending our fixed-effects model, we also find that the achievement gap between richer and poorer children in project villages decreased on many dimensions compared with the achievement gap in non-project villages. -
Publication
The Impact of Monetary Policy on Financial Markets in Small Open Economies: More or Less Effective During the Global Financial Crisis?
(Elsevier, 2015-06)This paper estimates the impact of monetary policy on exchange rates and stock prices of eight small open economies: Australia, Canada, the Republic of Korea, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand. On average across these countries in the full sample, a one percentage point surprise rise in official interest rates leads to a 1% appreciation of the exchange rate and a 0.5–1% fall in stock prices, with somewhat stronger effects in OECD countries than non-OECD countries (though differences are sometimes not significant). We find little robust evidence of a change in the effect of monetary policy surprises during the recent financial crisis.