03. Journals

3,111 items available

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https://hdl.handle.net/10986/2210

These are journal articles published in World Bank journals as well as externally by World Bank authors.

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Now showing 1 - 10 of 39

Import Competition, Formalization, and the Role of Contract Labor
(Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the World Bank, 2024-02-28) Chakraborty, Pavel; Singh, Rahul; Soundararajan, Vidhya
Does higher import competition increase formalization and aggregate productivity Exploiting plausibly exogenous variation from Chinese imports, we provide empirical causal evidence that higher imports increase the share of formal manufacturing enterprise employment in India. This formal share increase is due to both the rise in formal-enterprise employment driven by high-productivity firms, and a fall in informal-enterprise employment. The labor reallocation is enabled by the formal firms’ hiring of contract workers, who do not carry stringent firing costs. Overall, Chinese import competition increased formal-sector employment share by 3.7 percentage points, and aggregate labor productivity by 2.87 percent, between the years 2000-2001 and 2005-2006.
Heuristics on Call: The Impact of Mobile-Phone-Based Business-Management Advice
(Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the World Bank, 2024-02-22) Cole, Shawn; Joshi, Mukta; Schoar, Antoinette
There is growing evidence that business training for micro-entrepreneurs can be effective. However, in-person training can be expensive and imposes costs on the target beneficiaries. This paper presents the results of a two-site randomized evaluation of a light-touch, mobile-phone-based business-training service for microentrepreneurs in India and the Philippines. The results show that the training had a statistically significant impact on the adoption of improved business practices, with an increase of 0.06 to 0.12 standard deviation points when considering a binary indicator of business practices. The study finds no evidence of impacts on business sales or profits, though the confidence intervals are wide enough to include meaningful effect sizes (positive or negative). These results suggest that mobile-phone-based training can be a cost-effective and scalable way to impart business skills to micro-entrepreneurs.
Public Child Care Provision: Unraveling the Consequences of Implementation Variations for Women’s Time Allocation
(Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the World Bank, 2024-02-06) Mata, Catherine
From analysis of the effects of a national childcare policy on women’s time allocation in Costa Rica, it is found that childcare services are associated with increased female labor force participation, greater educational enrollment, and reduced unpaid care work. However, a comparison of two implementing agencies indicates that the overall effects vary by agency. One agency’s services yield positive outcomes, such as increased labor force participation, reduced unpaid care work, and increased educational attendance; the other agency’s results are less favorable, particularly for part-time childcare users. These findings highlight the challenges governments face when scaling up interventions, as different implementing agencies may modify program criteria, serve distinct populations, and offer varying services. While policies can be effective on a smaller scale, impacts may differ when they are scaled up. Understanding these variations can help governments adapt policies and reallocate resources to achieve their intended goals.
How Much Are Government Jobs in Developing Countries Worth?
(Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the World Bank, 2024-01-22) Mangal, Kunal
Government jobs in developing countries are valuable not just because they pay relatively higher wages, but also because they provide many valuable amenities. How does the value of these amenities compare with the nominal wage itself The observed search behavior of candidates preparing for competitive exams for government jobs is used to infer a lower bound on the total value of a government job, including amenities. Based on a sample of 147 candidates preparing for civil service exams in Pune, India, the amenity value of a government job is estimated to comprise at least two-thirds of total compensation. The high amenity value is not driven by misinformed beliefs about the nominal wage, nor by a high value placed on the process of studying itself. Insights from focus group discussions help explain which government job amenities are most valued in this setting.
Job Loss and Household Labor Supply Adjustments in Developing Countries: Evidence from Argentina
(Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the World Bank, 2024-01-17) Ciaschi, Matias; Guido Neidhofer
Using longitudinal data for Argentina, this paper estimates the labor supply reaction of spouses and children, as well as the interactions between them, following the job loss of their husband or father. The findings show that job loss by the household head has a positive and significant impact on the labor supply of other household members. However, it increases the likelihood of spouses to switch to informal and downgraded employment, and of children to drop out from education. While effects are stronger among vulnerable households, coverage of social security does not provide enough support in coping with unemployment shocks. Mothers’ labor participation, however, may allow their daughters to continue their education.
Removing Barriers to Entry in Medicine: Evidence from Pakistan
(Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the World Bank, 2024-01-03) Aqeel, Fatima
In 1992, Pakistan equalized admissions criteria for women and men applying to medical schools, causing a rapid increase in the female share of medical graduates. Using birth cohort variation, I find that equalizing admissions criteria increased employment among female doctors by 21 percentage points and among doctors overall by 9 percentage points, even though female doctors are less likely to be employed than male doctors. Earnings for male medical graduates increased as lower ability males were crowded out. The 1992 reform led to increased gender diversification in a wide range of medical specialties, but it also concentrated doctors in urban districts where women prefer to practice.
Labor Market and Macroeconomic Dynamics in Latin America amid COVID: The Role of Digital-Adoption Policies
(Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the World Bank, 2023-12-01) Finkelstein Shapiro, Alan; Nuguer, Victoria; Novoa Gomez, Santiago
This paper analyzes how a policy that lowers firm digital-adoption costs shapes the labor-market and economic recovery from COVID-19 in Latin America (LA) using a framework with firm entry and unemployment, where salaried firms can adopt digital technologies and the employment and firm structure embodies key features of LA economies. Using Mexico as a case study, the model replicates the response of the labor market and output at the onset of the COVID recession and in its aftermath, including the dynamics of labor-force participation and informal employment. A policy-induced permanent reduction in the cost of adopting digital technologies at the trough of the recession bolsters the recovery of GDP, total employment, and labor income, and leads to a larger expansion in the share of formal employment compared to a no-policy scenario. In the long run, the economy exhibits a reduction in total employment but higher levels of GDP and labor income, greater average firm productivity, a larger formal employment share, and a marginally lower unemployment rate. Finally, as a side effect, the policy exacerbates the differential between formal and informal labor income, both as the economy recovers from the COVID recession and in the long run.
Social Protection amid a Crisis: New Evidence from South Africa’s Older Person’s Grant
(Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the World Bank, 2023-11-23) Alloush, Mo; Bloem, Jeffrey R.; Malacarne, J. G.
This study estimates the effects of South Africa’s Older Person’s Grant on well-being amid the COVID-19 pandemic. With household-level data collected before and during the pandemic, it leverages the age-eligibility threshold of the grant to estimate its effects on households in both periods. Prior to the pandemic, this study finds that grant receipt substantially improves economic well-being and decreases adult hunger at the household level. During the first 18 months of the pandemic, this study finds larger effects on both economic well-being and hunger than prior to the pandemic. Recipient households were less likely to report running out of money for food and hunger among either adults or children. These results, which are stronger when pandemic-related lockdown policies are in place and for more vulnerable households, provide critical insight into the effectiveness of one of the world’s most well-known cash-transfer programs during a massive global health crisis.
Social Protection and Foundational Cognitive Skills during Adolescence: Evidence from a Large Public Works Program
(Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the World Bank, 2023-11-13) Freund, Richard; Favara, Marta; Porter, Catherine; Behrman, Jere
Many low, and middle-income countries have introduced public works programs (PWPs) to fight poverty. This paper provides the first evidence that children from families who benefit from PWPs show increased foundational cognitive skills. The results, based on unique tablet-based data collected as part of a long-standing longitudinal survey, show positive associations between participation in the Productive Safety Net Program (PSNP) in Ethiopia during childhood with long-term memory and implicit learning, and suggestive evidence for working memory. These associations appear to be strongest for children whose households were still PSNP participants in the year of data collection. Evidence suggests that the association with implicit learning may be operating partially through children’s time reallocation away from unpaid labor responsibilities, while the association with long-term memory may in part be due to the program’s success in remediating nutritional deficits caused by early-life rainfall shocks.
The Short- and Longer-Term Effects of a Child Labor Ban
(Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the World Bank, 2023-11-08) Piza, Caio; Portela Souza, André; Emerson, Patrick M.; Amorim, Vivian
This paper investigates whether the 1998 Brazilian law that increased the minimum employment age from 14 to 16 lowered child labor and increased school attendance and whether those effects persisted beyond age 16. Using a regression discontinuity design, the results indicate that the ban had a significant impact on urban boys, a cohort that represents half of all paid child labor in Brazil. This cohort had a 35 percent decrease in paid labor, driven mainly by a decrease in informal work, and an 11 percent increase in the share of those only attending school. In addition, there is evidence that these effects persist past the age of enforcement where the affected cohort was less likely to work and more likely to be only attending school beyond age 16. Overall, the results suggest that enforced bans on child labor can have significant immediate and persistent impacts on affected populations.