World Bank Research Observer

doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1596/39317

Journal:
World Bank Research Observer

Publisher

World Bank

The World Bank Research Observer seeks to inform readers about research from both within and outside the World Bank, in areas of economics relevant for development policy. Requiring only a minimal background in economic analysis, its surveys and overviews of key issues in development economics research are intended for policymakers, project officers, professors and students of development economics and related disciplines, nonspecialists, and journalists keeping up to date.

Papers for the Observer are not sent out to referees, but all articles published are assessed and approved by the Editorial Board, which includes three to four distinguished economists from outside the Bank.

Published twice per year (three times until volume 16) 1996 to Present

Editor: Peter Lanjouw

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Now showing1 - 10 of 239

The Power and Roots of Aspirations
(Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the World Bank, 2025-01-24) Fruttero, Anna; Muller, Noel; Calvo-González, Óscar
Aspirations have become a common theme in empirical economics studies but there is no unified understanding of the range of outcomes they influence, the factors that shape them, and how to measure them. We survey this growing literature. We argue that there is compelling evidence to consider aspirations as a useful lens to analyze human behavior and development outcomes, at the individual and aggregate levels, in poorer and richer countries. The empirical evidence aligns with the theory that high aspirations can lead individuals to achieve better educational, labor market, and other outcomes and can contribute to making countries more equal and prosperous. The empirical evidence also confirms that the mix of social and circumstantial factors shaping aspirations tends to hinder the aspirations of the disadvantaged—such as the poor, immigrants, and women—and can contribute to vicious circles of poverty, high inequality, low social mobility, and low growth. However, high aspirations should not be considered an end in themselves as they can backfire, with deleterious effects, if unmatched with opportunities. Further, we argue that definitional and measurement issues can affect the understanding of the topic and that studies should more explicitly describe their measures of aspirations to ensure that divergent underlying concepts are not mistaken.
Land Policies and Institutions for Equitable and Resilient Growth in Africa
(Oxford University Press on behalf of the World Bank, 2025-01-24) Deininger, Klaus; Goyal, Aparajita
In coming decades, Africa's urban populations will expand, and the effects of climate change be more keenly felt. Land policies and institutions will be key for urban dwellers to be able access productive jobs, breathe clean air, and live in decent housing; for entrepreneurs, especially women, to leverage land for productive investment; and for farmers to diversify, insure against shocks, and accumulate capital. Yet, many African land registries perform poorly, command little trust, and have failed to capitalize on opportunities to improve quality, relevance, and outreach via digital interoperability, use of earth observation, and connectivity. Literature highlights scope for regulatory and institutional reforms to (a) expand property taxation and land value capture and to improve urban service delivery, planning, and land use regulations; (b) increase quality and affordability of land services and access to land price and ownership data; (c) guide issuance of rural land use rights to reduce barriers to rural factor markets, including by spatially enabling farmer registries to improve subsidy targeting and effectiveness; and (d) demarcation and transparent decentralized management of public land to attract investment, including in climate finance, without fueling corruption, and to manage disputes before they escalate into ethnic violence.
Impacts of Extreme Weather Events on Education Outcomes: A Review of Evidence
(Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the World Bank, 2024-04-08) Venegas Marin, Sergio; Schwarz, Lara; Sabarwal, Shwetlena
Extreme weather events are increasingly disrupting schooling. Yet, these are underrepresented in the climate change literature. Of 15 review articles on the economic impacts of climate change published since 2010, only three mention the impacts of climate change on education. We review available literature on the effects of weather extremes on education. We outline key pathways through which these events impact education outcomes, as well as the magnitude of those impacts. Evidence implies a significant and adverse relationship between heat and learning. Studies suggest surpassing a high temperature threshold makes learning difficult and results in learning losses. Across studies, each additional day subject to extreme heat reduces learning. Tropical cyclones, floods, and wildfires precipitate school closures, which halt learning. Evidence suggests that one day of school closures leads to one day of learning lost. Weather extremes also negatively impact education outcomes through health, nutrition, poverty, and fragility, among other distal pathways. We discuss the implications of this evidence for policy, including the need to adapt education systems to climate change. Mitigation and adaptation are both urgently needed as extreme weather events become more frequent and severe in the context of climate change.
Social Norms and Gender Disparities with a Focus on Female Labor Force Participation in South Asia
(Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the World Bank, 2023-09-23) Bussolo, Maurizio; Ezebuihe, Jessy Amarachi; Muñoz Boudet, Ana Maria; Poupakis, Stavros; Rahman, Tasmia; Sarma, Nayantara
Despite decades of economic growth, gender disparities in South Asia remain remarkably high. Although not the only one, social norms are a crucial driver of various gender outcomes, including differential economic participation. Using repeated cross-sectional data from nationally representative surveys, this study explores long-term trends across gender outcomes and social norms(contrasting attitudes and social normative expectations towards gender roles) in South Asia. The results corroborate the evidence that there has been almost no progress in gender disparities in South Asia over the past half-century. There has been little progress in female labor force participation, age at first birth, agency, and intimate partner violence, while (basic) education is an important exception. The lack of progress is apparent among all layers of society, including women who live in urban areas, are educated, and have higher incomes. Gender attitudes also remain unchanged, while for some issues, they have become more conservative and have a negative relationship with gender outcomes. This negative relationship is even stronger when social normative expectations are considered. More data on social norms and a better understanding of their constraining role may be critical for achieving gender equality in the region.
EdTech in Developing Countries: A Review of the Evidence
(Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the World Bank, 2021-08-02) Rodriguez-Segura, Daniel
The emergence of educational technology (“EdTech”) in developing countries has been received as a promising avenue to address some of the most challenging policy questions within educational systems. In this paper, I review and synthesize all existing studies with credible causal identification frameworks of EdTech interventions in developing countries. While other studies review the evidence for EdTech interventions in developed countries, there is currently no equivalent study for developing contexts, in spite of the rising number of studies being produced. I classify studies into four thematic categories based on the type of EdTech intervention analyzed: Access to technology; technology-enabled behavioral interventions; improvements to instruction; and self-led learning. I find that EdTech interventions centered around self-led learning and improvements to instruction are the most effective forms of EdTech at raising learning outcomes. Similarly, technology-enabled behavioral interventions are less promising for generating large effects but highly cost-effective given their typically low marginal costs. Although expanding access to technology alone is not sufficient to improve learning, it is a necessary first step for some other types of interventions. More broadly, the overall success of interventions rests on the thoughtful customization of the EdTech solution to the policy constraints at hand. Finally, EdTech interventions across all thematic areas can and should act as complements by leveraging their respective comparative advantages to address deficiencies within educational systems in developing countries.
Does Trade Reform Promote Economic Growth? A Review of Recent Evidence
(Published by Oxford University on behalf of the World Bank, 2025-01-27) Irwin, Douglas A
Do trade reforms that significantly reduce import barriers lead to faster economic growth? In the twenty-five years since Rodríguez and Rodrik's (2000) critical survey of empirical work on this question, new research has tried to overcome the various methodological problems that have plagued previous attempts to provide a convincing answer. I examine three strands of recent work on this issue: cross-country regressions focusing on within-country growth, synthetic control methods on specific reform episodes, and empirical country studies looking at the channels through which lower trade barriers may increase productivity. A consistent finding is that trade reforms have had a positive impact on economic growth, on average, although the effect is heterogeneous across countries. Overall, these research findings should temper some of the previous agnosticism about the empirical link between trade reform and economic performance.
The Effect of Lead Exposure on Children’s Learning in the Developing World: A Meta-Analysis
(Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the World Bank, 2024-08-16) Crawfurd, Lee; Todd, Rory; Hares, Susannah; Sandefur, Justin; Bonnifield, Rachel Silverman
Around half of children in low-income countries have elevated blood-lead levels, raising concerns about the role of lead exposure in explaining poor educational outcomes in these settings. This study presents a new systematic review and meta-analysis of observational research on the relationship between lead exposure and learning outcomes. After adjusting for observable confounds and publication bias, the benchmark estimate indicates a −0.12 standard-deviation reduction in learning per natural log unit of blood lead. Since all estimates are non-experimental, the paper also examines the likely impact of unobserved confounding and summarizes findings from a smaller set of natural experiments. The benchmark estimate accounts for over one-fifth of the learning gap between rich and poor countries and suggests that targeted interventions for highly exposed groups could yield moderate learning gains (approximately 0.1 standard deviations), while broader public health campaigns may result in more modest improvements (less than 0.05 standard deviations).
The Impact of Climate Change on Work: Lessons for Developing Countries
(Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the World Bank, 2025-01-24) Feriga, Moustafa; Lozano Gracia, Nancy; Serneels, Pieter
We identify five areas where climate change may impact work and draw lessons for developing countries by reviewing the evidence. Firstly, demand for labor is unevenly affected, with agriculture, heat-exposed manufacturing, and the brown energy sector experiencing downturns, while other sectors may see a rise, resulting in an uncertain overall impact. Secondly, climate change impacts labor supply through absenteeism, shirking, and altering work-time patterns, depending on the activity and sector. Thirdly, productivity may decline, especially in heat-exposed industries, primarily due to health reasons. Fourthly, heightened earnings variability likely increases vulnerability among the self-employed. Fifthly, climate change can influence labor allocation and catalyze sectoral reallocation. Higher temperatures are also linked to increased migration. But caution is needed in interpreting these findings, as studies across these topics predominantly use fixed effect estimation and concentrate on short-term impacts, neglecting adaptation. Emerging research on adaptation indicates that workplace cooling is unappealing for firms with narrow profit margins, while coping strategies of farms and households have unclear optimality due to adoption barriers. Government responses remain understudied, with six potential areas identified: green jobs, green skills, labor-oriented adaptation, flexible work regulation, labor market integration, and social protection. We conclude by outlining future research directions.
The Role of Fathers in Promoting Early Childhood Development in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Review of the Evidence
(Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the World Bank, 2024-06-10) Evans, David K.; Jakiela, Pamela
The role of fathers in parenting young children varies significantly across societies. In low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), policymakers are increasingly focused on enhancing early childhood stimulation and other investments to boost human capital, promote school readiness, and improve long-term outcomes. Historically, few interventions targeted fathers, and many impact evaluations assumed fathers had little involvement in parenting. This paper reviews emerging literature on fathers’ participation in early childhood stimulation and parenting in LMICs, summarizing findings from rigorous impact evaluations. It reveals that fathers generally spend less time stimulating their children's development than mothers or other household adults, although mothers’ and fathers’ investments are positively correlated. Additionally, while fathers’ participation in parenting programs tends to be low, such programs have shown success in improving fathers’ knowledge and, to a lesser extent, their behaviors.
The Impact of Private Schools, School Chains and PPPs in Developing Countries
(Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the World Bank, 2023-04-12) Crawfurd, Lee; Hares, Susannah; Todd, Rory
The private school sector has expanded with almost no public intervention to educate half of primary school children in many urban centers in Africa and Asia. Simple comparisons of test scores would suggest that these private schools may provide better quality than public schools, but how much of this difference is due to selection effects is unclear. Much donor and policymaker attention has proceeded on the basis that private schools do perform better, and focused on models of public subsidy to expand access, and investment in networks or chains to encourage expansion. The authors review the evidence of the effects of private schools on learning, and how that effect translates to public-private partnerships (PPPs). The authors also study the effects of private school chains. They conduct a systematic review for eligible studies, with transparent search criteria. The search resulted in over 100 studies on low-cost private schools and PPPs, with a large majority being on low-cost private schools. Their meta-analysis shows moderately strong effects from private schooling, although the limited number of experimental studies find much smaller effects than quasi-experimental studies. This advantage, though, is not nearly enough to help most children reach important learning goals. Turning to policy goals, we find that the private school advantage has not translated to public private partnerships, which have shown limited value in improving quality. They can however represent a lower-cost means of increasing access to school. We also find that private school chains perform little better than individual private schools and have little scope for achieving meaningful scale.