Journal Issue: World Bank Research Observer, Volume 19, Issue 2
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Articles
Oil, Macroeconomics, and Forests : Assessing the Linkages
(World Bank, 2004-01-01) Wunder, Sven; Sunderlin, William D.
This article focuses mainly on the five
primary case study countries. For forest impacts, the
concentration is on forest conversion to other land uses and
deforestation, defined as a (temporary or permanent) removal
of trees to less than 10 percent crown cover, which is
similar to the Food and Agricultural Organization's
(FAO's) definition. Selective logging is thus not
deforestation but may degrade forests and enable conversion.
All of the case study countries are tropical countries that
export oil, a choice made for two reasons. First, the
macroeconomic 'laboratory' of oil exporters offers
a good opportunity to study links between external economic
changes and forests. Oil economies often fluctuate
dramatically due to heavy reliance on a single export
commodity with unstable world market prices. Second, earlier
studies provide support for the hypotheses that on average
oil- and mineral-exporting tropical countries have more
forests left and lose them at a slower rate than
non-mineral-exporting countries. The article briefly reviews
hypotheses and methodologies and outlines the deforestation
data problems and how they were dealt with. It presents
empirical results for the five primary case study countries
and takes a closer look at three of the key causal linkages
in the model. It then examines the role of different policy
instruments and finally discusses policy insights that
extend beyond the oil exporting countries.
Much Ado about Nothing? Do Domestic Firms Really Benefit from Foreign Direct Investment?
(World Bank, 2004-09-01) Görg, Holger; Greenaway, David
Governments the world over offer
significant inducements to attract investment, motivated by
the expectation of spillover benefits to augment the primary
benefits of a boost to national income from new investment.
There are several possible sources of induced spillovers
from foreign direct investment. This article evaluates the
empirical evidence on productivity, wage, and export
spillovers in developing, developed, and transition
economies. Although theory can identify a range of possible
spillover channels, robust empirical support for positive
spillovers is at best mixed. The article explores the
reasons and concludes with a review of policy aspects.
How Have the World's Poorest Fared since the Early 1980s?
(World Bank, 2003-01) Chen, Shaohua; Ravallion, Martin
A new assessment is made of the developing world’s progress against poverty. By the frugal $1 a day standard there were 1.1 billion poor people in 2001—almost 400 million fewer than 20 years earlier. During that period the number of poor people declined by more than 400 million in China, though half the decline was in the early 1980s and the number outside China rose slightly. At the same time the number of people in the world living on less than $2 a day rose, so that there has been a marked bunching up of people living between $1 and $2 a day. Sub-Saharan Africa has become the region with the highest incidence of extreme poverty and the greatest depth of poverty. If these trends continue, the 1990 aggregate $1 a day poverty rate will be halved by 2015, meeting the Millennium Development Goal, though only East and South Asia will reach this goal.
Vouchers for Basic Education in Developing Economies : An Accountability Perspective
(World Bank, 2003-01-01) Gauri, Varun; Vawda, Ayesha
Advocates argue that voucher programs
can correct the incentive problems of education systems in
developing economies. An accountability perspective, based
on a principal-agent framework, was developed to clarify the
arguments for and against education vouchers. An assessment
of findings on voucher programs in industrial countries and
a review of voucher or quasi-voucher experiences in
Bangladesh, Chile, Colombia, Côte d'Ivoire, and the
Czech Republic support the usefulness of the analytic
framework. The assessment concludes that the policy
relevance of voucher programs for developing economies
remains uncertain. Major voucher initiatives have been
attempted only in countries with a well-developed
institutional infrastructure. Some studies find favorable
benefits for at least some population groups, but others
find limited effects and evidence of increasing social
stratification in schools. Whether vouchers lead to better
outcomes or greater stratification appears related to
specific contexts, institutional variables, and program designs.
Policies on Managing Risk in Agricultural Markets
(World Bank, 2004-09-01) Anderson, Jock R.; Larson, Donald F.; Varangis, Panos
Over the past dozen years, policymakers
have largely abandoned long-standing popular approaches for
addressing risk in agriculture without fully resolving the
question of how best to manage the negative consequences of
volatile agricultural markets. The article reviews the
transition from past policies and describes current
approaches that distinguish between the trade-related fiscal
consequences of commodity market volatility and the
consequences of price and production risks for vulnerable
rural households and communities. Current policies rely more
heavily on markets, even though markets for risk are
incomplete in numerous ways. The benefits and limitations of
market-based instruments are examined in the context of risk
management strategies, and innovative approaches to extend
the reach of risk markets are discussed.