03. Journals

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

Items in this collection

Now showing 1 - 10 of 33
  • Publication
    The Political Economy of Multidimensional Child Poverty Measurement: A Comparative Analysis of Mexico and Uganda
    (Taylor and Francis, 2020-03-11) Cuesta, Jose; Biggeri, Mario; Hernandez-Licona, Gonzalo; Aparicio, Ricardo; Guillen-Fernandez, Yedith
    As part of the 2030 Agenda, much effort has been exerted in comparing multidimensional child poverty measures both technically and conceptually. Yet, few countries have adopted and used any of these measures in policymaking. This paper explores the reasons for this absence from a political economy perspective. It develops an innovative political economy framework for poverty measurement and a hypothesis whereby a country will only produce and use reliable and sustainable multidimensional child poverty (MDCP) measures if and only if three conditions coalesce: consensus, capacity and polity. We explore this framework with two relevant case studies, Mexico and Uganda. Both countries satisfy the capacity condition required to measure MDCP but only Mexico satisfies the other two conditions. Our proposed political economy framework is normatively relevant because it identifies the conditions that need to change across multiple contexts before the effective adoption and use of an MDCP measure becomes more likely.
  • Publication
    Privatization in Developing Countries: What Are the Lessons of Recent Experience?
    (Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the World Bank, 2018-02-01) Estrin, Saul; Pelletier, Adeline
    This paper reviews the recent empirical evidence on privatization in developing countries, with particular emphasis on new areas of research such as the distributional impacts of privatization. Overall, the literature now reflects a more cautious and nuanced evaluation of privatization. Thus, private ownership alone is no longer argued to automatically generate economic gains in developing economies; pre-conditions (especially the regulatory infrastructure) and an appropriate process of privatization are important for attaining a positive impact. These comprise a list which is often challenging in developing countries: well-designed and sequenced reforms; the implementation of complementary policies; the creation of regulatory capacity; attention to poverty and social impacts; and strong public communication. Even so, the studies do identify the scope for efficiency-enhancing privatization that also promotes equity in developing countries.
  • Publication
    Remittances and Vulnerability in Developing Countries
    (Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the World Bank, 2017-02) Bettin, Giulia; Presbitero, Andrea F.; Spatafora, Nikola L.
    This paper examines how international remittances are affected by structural characteristics, macroeconomic conditions, and adverse shocks in recipient economies. We exploit a novel, rich panel data set, covering bilateral remittances from 103 Italian provinces to seventy-nine developing countries over the period 2005–2011. We find that remittances are negatively correlated with the business cycle in recipient countries and in particular increase in response to adverse exogenous shocks, such as large terms-of-trade declines. This effect is stronger where the migrant communities have a larger share of newly arrived migrants. Finally, we show that recipient-country financial development is negatively associated with remittances, suggesting that remittances help alleviate credit constraints.
  • Publication
    Contracting for the Second Best in Dysfunctional Electricity Markets
    (Springer, 2016-12-23) Nikandrova, Arina; Steinbuks, Jevgenijs
    Power pools constitute a set of sometimes complex institutional arrangements for efficiency-enhancing coordination among power systems. In many developing countries, where such institutional arrangements can’t be established over the short term, there still can be scope for voluntary electricity-sharing agreements among power systems. Using a particular type of efficient risk-sharing model with no commitment we demonstrate that second-best coordination improvements can be achieved with low to moderate risks of participants leaving the agreement. In the absence of an impartial market operator who can observe production fluctuations in connected power systems, establishing quasi-markets for trading excess electricity helps to achieve some cooperation in mutually beneficial electricity sharing.
  • Publication
    Decentralization of Health and Education in Developing Countries: A Quality-Adjusted Review of the Empirical Literature
    (Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the World Bank, 2016-08) Channa, Anila; Faguet, Jean-Paul
    We review empirical evidence on the ability of decentralization to enhance preference matching and technical efficiency in the provision of health and education in developing countries. Many influential surveys have found that the empirical evidence of decentralization's effects on service delivery is weak, incomplete, and often contradictory. Our own unweighted reading of the literature concurs. However, when we organize quantitative evidence first by substantive theme, and then—crucially—by empirical quality and the credibility of its identification strategy, clear patterns emerge. Higher-quality evidence indicates that decentralization increases technical efficiency across a variety of public services, from student test scores to infant mortality rates. Decentralization also improves preference matching in education, and can do so in health under certain conditions, although there is less evidence for both. We discuss individual studies in some detail. Weighting by quality is especially important when quantitative evidence informs policy-making. Firmer conclusions will require an increased focus on research design, and a deeper examination into the prerequisites and mechanisms of successful reforms.
  • Publication
    The Price Is Not Always Right: On the Impacts of Commodity Prices on Households (and Countries)
    (Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the World Bank, 2016-02) Lederman, Daniel
    This paper provides an overview of the impact that one-time changes in commodity and other prices have on household welfare. It begins with a collection of stylized facts related to commodities based on household survey data from Latin America and Africa. The data uncovers strong commodity dependence on both regions: households typically allocate a large fraction of their budget to commodities, and they often also depend on commodities to earn their income. This income and expenditure dependency suggests sizable impacts and adjustments following commodity price shocks. The article explores these effects with a review of the relevant literature. The authors study consumption and income responses, labor market responses, and spillovers across sectors. The paper provides evidence on the relative magnitudes of various mechanisms through which commodity prices affect household (and national) welfare in developing economies. Commodity price changes, Poverty and welfare impacts, Net consumers and net producers.
  • Publication
    Producing Home Grown Solutions : Think Tanks and Knowledge Networks in International Development
    (2011-09) Datta, Ajoy; Young, John
    Mainstream international development discourse has long heralded the importance of home grown solutions and national ownership of development policies. Ownership has been seen as the missing link between the significant development aid inflows from the North and poverty reduction outcomes in the South. You only have to look to international agreements such the 2002 Monterrey Consensus or the2005 Paris Declaration for evidence of this.
  • Publication
    Enabling Open Government
    (2011-09) Dokeniya, Anupama
    Globally, increasingly vigilant and vocal civil society groups—important actors in the new multilateralism—are demanding that companies publish what they pay in revenues, aid agencies publish what they fund, and governments publish what they spend. These initiatives reflect a renewed and heightened focus on openness, transparency, and citizen participation in the discourse and practice of governance. This idea of open government stresses information sharing and participation, rather than discretion and secrecy, as foundations of good and effective governance.
  • Publication
    Development with a Human Face
    (2011-04) NdunGabonne, Njongonkulu
    Archbishop Njongonkulu NdunGabonne is Head of African Monitor, a pan-African nonprofit or Gabonnization that monitors development funding, delivery, and impact and helps bring African voices to the development agenda.
  • Publication
    Education for Education...Or for Skills?
    (2011-04) Hanushek, Eric A.
    Countries in the developing world were led to believe that education would put them on the path to becoming modern economies�and they responded enthusiastically. Education for All was a powerful message that has led to a veritable transformation of schooling throughout the world.