C. Journal articles published externally
2,064 items available
Permanent URI for this collection
These are journal articles by World Bank authors published externally.
Items in this collection
1 - 10 of 27
-
Publication
Education Systems and Foreign Direct Investment: Does External Efficiency Matter?
(Taylor and Francis, 2020-09-29)This paper examines the effect of the efficiency of the education system on Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). First, it applies a frontier-based measure as a proxy of the ability of countries to optimally convert the average years of schooling into income for individuals. Second, it shows the relationship between the external efficiency of the education system and FDI inflows. The results show that the efficiency level varies across regions and countries and appears to be driven by higher education and secondary vocational education. Similarly to other studies in the literature, there is no significant relationship between the average years of schooling and FDI inflows. However, the external efficiency of the education system is important for FDI inflows. Improving the external efficiency of the education system can play a role in attracting FDI especially in non-resource rich countries, non-landlocked countries and countries in the low and medium human development groups. -
Publication
A Test of the Alchian-Allen Conjecture with Transaction-level Trade Data
(Taylor and Francis, 2020-02)We use Kosovo’s transaction-level import value, tariff duties and transport cost data for very finely disaggregated products to test the Alchian–Allen conjecture. First, we show that the elasticity of freight costs to import prices is much lower than the unitary elasticity predicted by the iceberg transport cost hypothesis. Second, we find that import unit values rise with transport costs and decline with ad valorem tariffs. Our results confirm the Alchian–Allen conjecture that per-unit transport costs reduce the price of high-quality varieties relative to low-quality varieties, raising their relative demand in high freight cost destinations. -
Publication
Export Structure Upgrading and Economic Growth in the Western Balkan Countries
(Taylor and Francis, 2019)In this paper, we seek to analyze the impact that the ability to produce more sophisticated goods has on the economic performance of the Western Balkan region and to determine the factors fostering this process. To do so, we elaborate an export sophistication index, à la Hausmann. The outcomes obtained show that export sophistication has a positive and significant effect on growth in these economies. Additionally, we found that this process is driven more by the sophistication in medium-skill and technology-intensive manufactures goods rather than through sophistication in high-skill goods. Our findings also confirm that a greater participation in international production networks and a better institutional environment stimulates the upgrading of exports, and the subsequent economic growth of these economies. -
Publication
Explaining Recent Investment Weakness: Causes and Implications
(Taylor and Francis, 2019)This article investigates the drivers of investment growth in emerging market and developing economies with a focus on the most recent slowdown over the 2010–2015 period. Using panel regression techniques, we find that the recent investment slowdown in emerging market and developing economies is associated with a range of obstacles: weak economic activity, negative terms-of-trade shocks, declining foreign direct investment inflows, elevated private debt burdens, and heightened political risk. This stands in contrast with advanced economies, where weak economic activity is the most important factor. We briefly discuss policy implications of our findings. -
Publication
Decomposing the Labour Productivity Gap between Migrant-Owned and Native-Owned Firms in Sub-Saharan Africa
(Taylor and Francis, 2018-09-18)Migration studies have been primarily based on the movement of individuals from developing to developed economies, with a focus on the impact of migrants on host country wages. In this study we take a different angle by exploring the labor productivity of migrant-owned firms versus native-owned firms in 20 African economies using firm-level data. We find that labor productivity is 78 per cent higher in migrant-owned firms than native-owned firms. Using the Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition method we find that structural effects account for 80 per cent of the labor productivity gap. Returns to manager education largely explain the productivity advantage of migrant-owned firms over native-owned firms. Interactions with the government, access to finance, informality, and power outages are also considerable contributors to the labor productivity gap. -
Publication
Maize Value Chain Analysis: A Case of Smallholder Maize Production and Marketing in Selected Areas of Malawi and Mozambique
(Taylor and Francis, 2018-07-25)This article analyzes maize value chain performance in Malawi and Mozambique using data collected from a market study commissioned by the International Centre for Tropical Agriculture. The results show that although smallholder maize productivity is slightly higher in Malawi, a maize value chain analysis indicates that smallholder maize in Mozambique is more competitive. Mozambique has a relatively higher competitive advantage with regard to maize production because of the relatively lower input costs, perhaps due to its proximity to the coast, which invariably reduces input costs relative to its land-locked neighbor, Malawi. However, smallholder maize productivity is low in both countries, when compared to the regional average. The article concludes that interventions aimed at raising smallholder productivity would invariably make smallholder farmers more competitive. It proposes policy implications aimed at raising the productivity and trade competitiveness of maize, as this will ensure the overall productivity of the maize-based smallholder farming system in the two countries. -
Publication
Toward Economically Dynamic Special Economic Zones in Emerging Countries
(Taylor and Francis, 2018-05-23)Despite a massive recent proliferation of special economic zones (SEZs), there is virtually no quantitative research on what drives their dynamism. The aim of this article is to address this gap and analyze the factors influencing SEZ performance—proxied by economic growth—in emerging countries. The article relies on two novel data sets, using nightlights data to proxy for SEZ performance, and containing a wide range of SEZ policy variables and characteristics across a large number of countries. The main results of the analysis indicate that (1) zone growth is difficult to sustain over time; (2) trying to upgrade the technological component or value added of the economy through SEZ policies is often challenging; and (3) zone size matters: larger zones have an advantage in terms of growth potential. Furthermore, country context significantly determines SEZ performance. Firms look for low-cost locations but in close proximity to large cities. Proximity to large markets as well as preexisting industrialization also increase SEZ performance. In contrast, incentives and other program-specific variables are highly context specific and not structurally correlated with SEZ performance. -
Publication
Are Capital Flows Fickle? Increasingly? And Does the Answer Still Depend on Type?
(The MIT Press, 2018-02-22)According to conventional wisdom, capital flows are fickle. Focusing on emerging markets, we ask whether this conventional wisdom still holds in our contemporary world. Our results show that, despite recent structural and regulatory changes, much of it survives. Foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows are more stable than non-FDI inflows. Within non-FDI inflows, portfolio debt and bank-intermediated flows remain the most volatile. Whereas FDI inflows are driven mainly by pull factors, portfolio debt and equity are driven mainly by push factors; bank-intermediated flows are driven a combination of push and pull factors. Capital outflows from emerging markets behave differently, however. FDI outflows from emerging markets have grown and become significantly more volatile. There is similarly an increase in the volatility of bank-intermediated capital outflows from emerging markets. Our findings underscore that outflows from emerging markets, both FDI and bank-related flows, have come to play a growing role and warrant greater attention from analysts and policymakers. -
Publication
Export Destinations and Input Prices
(American Economic Association, 2018-02)This paper examines the relationship between the destination of exports and the input prices paid by firms, using detailed customs and firm-product-level data from Portugal. Both ordinary least squares regressions and an instrumental-variable strategy using exchange-rate movements (interacted with indicators for initial exports) as a source of variation in destinations indicate that exporting to richer countries leads firms to pay higher prices for inputs, other things equal. The results are supportive of what we call the income-based quality-choice channel: selling to richer destinations leads firms to raise the average quality of goods they produce and to purchase higher-quality inputs. -
Publication
Exporter Dynamics and Partial-Year Effects
(American Economic Association, 2017-10)Two identical firms who start exporting in different months, one each in January and December, will report dramatically different exports for the first calendar year. This partial-year effect biases down first-year export levels and biases up first-year export growth rates. For Peruvian exporters, the partial-year bias is large: first-year export levels are understated by 54 percent and the first-year growth rate is overstated by 112 percentage points. Correcting the partial-year effect dramatically reduces first-year export growth rates, raises initial export levels, and almost doubles the contribution of net firm entry and exit to overall export growth.