03. Journals
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These are journal articles published in World Bank journals as well as externally by World Bank authors.
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Publication
Income and Wealth Inequality in Hong Kong, 1981–2020: The Rise of Pluto-Communism?
(Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the World Bank, 2022-10-08)The objective of this paper is to better understand the evolution and institutional roots of Hong Kong's growing economic inequality and political cleavages. By combining multiple sources of data (household surveys, fiscal data, wealth rankings, national accounts) and methodological innovations, two main findings are obtained. First, he evidence suggests a very large rise in income and wealth inequality in Hong Kong over the last four decades. Second, based on the latest opinion poll data, business elites, who carry disproportionate weight in Hong Kong's Legislative Council, are found to be more likely to vote for the pro-establishment camp (presumably to ensure that policies are passed that protect their political and economic interests). This paper argues that the unique alliance of government and business elites in a partially democratic political system is the plausible institutional root of Hong Kong's rising inequality and political cleavages. -
Publication
Gender Biases in Resettlement Processes in Vietnam: Examining Women's Participation and Implications for Impact Assessment
(Taylor and Francis, 2021-07-18)The impacts of development-induced resettlement disproportionately affect women, as they frequently face more difficulties than men to cope with disruption and changes. Women’s situation might further deteriorate if there is no mechanism for affected households to enjoy meaningful participation and consultation in the resettlement process. This paper is the result of policy analysis, project implementation experience, and findings of a cross-sectional survey of 876 affected households in Vietnam. We examine women's participation in resettlement processes in large infrastructure projects in Vietnam. The survey findings revealed the limited participation of women in the resettlement processes from all perspectives (meeting attendance, resettlement implementation, and making decisions) at community and household levels. Gender-stereotyped prejudice from community members and the gender-ascribed household division of labor were key factors inhibiting women’s meaningful participation. The paper also discusses the implications of the findings for impact assessment practice. We call for a shift in how resettlement is prepared and implemented towards a more comprehensive and gender-informed approach, with a view to making affected people genuine beneficiaries of resettlement programs. -
Publication
Land Asset Securitization: An Innovative Approach to Distinguish between Benefit-sharing and Compensation in Hydropower Development
(Taylor and Francis, 2020-08-08)Development Project (DP) is creating the benefits for all and taking benefit-sharing (BS) as a goal. BS involves paying something above the fair market compensation or replacement value of the assets lost in the displacement and resettlement. BS becomes more important and complicated when the lost assets are not transacted as commodities in a market. BS is a key to resolve the challenges on impoverishment caused development induced displacement and resettlement globally. An innovated BS approach and methodology for land asset securitization (LAS) is proposed. It takes occupied lands as capital investment in the DP rather than for displaced assets’ compensation only based on natural resources transfer theory. LAS takes the approach in lands resourcing, land resources capitalization and land assets securitization. It establishes the mechanism to arrange additional benefits for resettlers. It enables rural resettlers to receive appropriate compensation to sustain basic livelihoods at the DP construction and early commercial operation stage as well as share profits equally during full operation. LAS will prevent either the hydropower developer or the government from having interests in securitized assets. LAS is a sustainable approach to promote win-win among resettlers, developers, governments, and civil society. -
Publication
Finding the Poor vs. Measuring Their Poverty: Exploring the Drivers of Targeting Effectiveness in Indonesia
(Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the World Bank, 2019-10)Centralized targeting registries are increasingly used to allocate social assistance benefits in developing countries. There are two key design issues that matter for targeting accuracy: (i) which households to survey for inclusion in the registry; and (ii) how to rank surveyed households. We attempt to identify their relative importance by evaluating Indonesia's Unified Database for Social Protection Programs (UDB), among the largest targeting registries in the world, used to provide social assistance to over 25 million households. Linking administrative data with an independent household survey, we find that the UDB system is more progressive than previous, program-specific targeting approaches. However, simulating an alternative targeting system based on enumerating all households, we find a one-third reduction in undercoverage of the poor compared to focusing on households registered in the UDB. Overall, there are large gains in targeting performance from improving the initial registration stage relative to the ranking stage. -
Publication
Supporting Pathways to Prosperity in Forest Landscapes – A PRIME Framework
(Elsevier, 2019-08-07)We develop a framework to conceptualize the multiple ways forests contribute to poverty reduction and inform development interventions in forest landscapes. We identify five key strategies for reducing poverty in forest landscapes: a) improvements in productivity (P) of forest land and labor; b) governance reform to strengthen community, household and women’s rights (R) over forests and land; c) investments (I) in institutions, infrastructure and public services that facilitate forest-based entrepreneurship; d) increased access to markets (M) for timber or non-timber forest products; and e) mechanisms that enhance and enable the flow of benefits from forest ecosystem services (E) to the poor. We test the utility of the framework through a review of the forestry portfolio of the World Bank Group, the largest public investor in forestry. Many of these projects include several, but not all, PRIME components. We devote particular attention to forest-related investments in two contrasting countries, Vietnam and Mexico, to examine synergies among the pathways. Results suggest that each strategy in the PRIME framework may play an important role in alleviating poverty, but pronounced impacts may require multiple pathways to be jointly pursued. The PRIME framework can guide research to address knowledge gaps on pathways to prosperity in forest landscapes, serve as an easily remembered checklist for managers, and nudge forest program designers in government and development organizations, who are interested in poverty reduction, to focus on the importance of both a comprehensive framework and synergies across different pathways. -
Publication
Migrant Labor Markets and the Welfare of Rural Households in the Developing World: Evidence from China
(Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the World Bank, 2018-02-01)Increased ability to migrate from China’s rural villages contributed to significant increases in the consumption per capita of both non-durable and durable goods, and these effects were larger in magnitude for households that were relatively poor before the easing of restrictions to migration. With increased out-migration, poorer households invested more in housing and durable goods than rich households,while richer households invested significantly more in non-agricultural production assets. As migration became easier, increased participation in migrant employment was greater among poorer households on both the extensive and intensive margins, and poorer households reduced labor days in agriculture. -
Publication
When the Cat’s Away ... The Effects of Spousal Migration on Investments on Children
(Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the World Bank, 2018-02-01)Household expenditures for children-related goods may change when one of the parent migrates and do so differently depending on whether it is the mother or the father that leaves. A sequential model that explains migration and budget allocation choices is proposed and its predictions are tested on data from Indonesia. Selection of households into female migration is accounted for using a set of instrumental variables derived from the model. Results show that when children are left with fathers, the household budget is significantly diverted toward the purchase of adult private goods, but the share of budget devoted to children remains unaffected because mothers compensate by giving up their own private consumption and sending home more remittances. -
Publication
The Impact of Rural Pensions in China on Labor Migration
(Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the World Bank, 2018-02-01)We study the impact of China’s new rural pension program on promoting migration of labor by applying a regression discontinuity analysis to this new pension program. The results reveal a perceptible difference in labor migration among adult children whose parents are just above and below the age of pension eligibility: The adult children with a parent just attaining the pension-eligible age are more likely to be labor migrants compared with those with a parent just below the pension-eligible age. We also find that with a pension-eligible parent, the adult children are more likely to have off-farm jobs. These abrupt changes in household behavior at the cutoff suggest that these households are credit constrained. In addition, we find that the pension’s effect on migration is greater among adult children with a parent in poor health; pension-eligible elderly report that they are more likely to use inpatient services when needed and less likely to rely on adult children for care when they are ill. These results suggest that (expectations regarding) providing care for elderly parents has constrained labor migration from China's rural areas to some extent, and that the new rural pension program has helped to relax this constraint. -
Publication
How and Why Does Immigration Affect Crime? Evidence from Malaysia
(Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the World Bank, 2018-02-01)The perception that immigration fuels crime is an important source of anti-immigrant sentiment. Using Malaysian data for 2003-10, this paper provides estimates of the overall impact of economic immigration on crime, and evidence on different socio-economic mechanisms underpinning this relationship. The IV estimates suggest that immigration decreases crime rates, with an elasticity of around −0.97 for property and -1.8 violent crimes. Three-quarters of the negative causal relationship between immigration and property crime rates can be explained by the impact of immigration on the underlying economic environment faced by natives. The reduction in violent crime rates is less readily explained by these factors. -
Publication
The Long-term Impacts of International Migration: Evidence from a Lottery
(Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the World Bank, 2018-02-01)We examine the long-term impacts of international migration by comparing immigrants who had successful ballot entries in a migration lottery program, and first moved almost a decade ago, with people who had unsuccessful entries into those same ballots. The long-term gain in income is found to be similar in magnitude to the gain in the first year despite migrants upgrading their education and changing their locations and occupations. This results in large sustained benefits to their immediate family who have substantially higher consumption, durable asset ownership, savings, and dietary diversity. In contrast we find no measurable impact on extended family.