Journal Issue: World Bank Economic Review, Volume 38, Issue 4
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Volume
38
Number
4
Issue Date
2024-11
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
1564-698X
Journal
World Bank Economic Review
1564-698X
Journal Volume
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Articles
Positioning in Global Value Chains
(Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the World Bank, 2024-02-22) Mancini, M.; Montalbano, P.; Nenci, S.; Vurchio, D.
This work reviews and computes the
commonly used Global Value Chains (GVC) positioning
indicators found in the empirical literature, providing
scholars with a novel and comprehensive global dataset of
upstreamness and downstreamness measures. This dataset
covers a wide range of countries, including many developing
nations, and industries, and spans an extensive timeframe.
Specifically, it offers GVC positioning indicators for all
economies and industries included in prominent Inter-Country
Input-Output tables, such as ADB, EORA, OECD TiVA, WIOD, and
Long-run WIOD. This work also delves into the degree of
comparability across the different datasets, offering
informative comparisons of the GVC positioning measures
encompassing overlapping countries and periods, sectors,
geographical regions, and income levels. Notably, these
indicators are ready-to-use and open access, presenting an
exceptional opportunity for qualitative and quantitative
analyses of various economic dimensions on GVCs and for
informing policymaking.
Deep Trade Agreements and Firm Ownership in GVCs
(Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the World Bank, 2024-02-26) Egger, Peter H.; Masllorens, Gerard
This paper focuses on the effect of
preferential trade agreements and their depth on
firm-to-firm ownership, in particular, along global value
chains. It measures shareholder–affiliate ownership links at
the country-sector-pair level to distinguish between
vertical and horizontal links. The findings show that
preferential trade agreements boost vertical international
investment links (both backward and forward) while reducing
horizontal investment. Deep preferential trade agreements
stimulate investment particularly for sector pairs, where a
high input specificity prevails.
Is There a Bright Side to the China Syndrome? Rising Export Opportunities and Life Satisfaction in China
(Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the World Bank, 2024-02-27) Crozet, Matthieu; Hering, Laura; Poncet, Sandra
Export growth affects individuals
through numerous and contradictory channels. In China, the
development of exports has promoted economic development and
income growth, but it has also disrupted social structures
and work environments. This paper explores the overall
effect of exports on perceived well-being by combining
responses from a large longitudinal survey covering over
45,000 Chinese with a shift-share measure of local export
opportunities. Results show that individuals’ perceived life
satisfaction increases significantly in prefectures that
benefited from greater export opportunities, despite a
negative effect on self-reported health. The positive
well-being gains go beyond a simple income effect. These
non-monetary gains are related to the individuals’
professional life: export-related well-being gains are
stronger for working-age individuals (especially men and
low-skilled workers), are largest for workers in the
manufacturing sector (which produces the vast majority of
China’s exports), and are found when the satisfaction
indicator focuses on work but not on other aspects of daily life.
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.
Documenting Decentralization
(Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the World Bank, 2024-03-09) Cohen, Isabelle
Decentralization is an important and
commonplace type of reform, yet our understanding of its
effects remains limited. This paper documents the effects of
the 2009-10 wave of district creation in Uganda, which
increased the country’s districts by 42 percent, using rich
data on subdistrict units to assess the effects of district
creation on a broad range of post-decentralization outcomes
in a difference-in-differences framework. The effects of
decentralization are concentrated in newly split off, rather
than split from, districts and are heterogeneous across
outcome types. Newly split-off districts have more per
capita frontline workers but appear to have worse quality
infrastructure and lower economic development. The study
also presents suggestive evidence that administrative
capacity decreases for newly formed districts post-split.
These findings demonstrate the importance of considering a
broad range of outcomes when thinking about decentralization
Village Fairness Norms and Land-Rental Markets
(Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the World Bank, 2024-03-06) Krah, Kwabena; Maertens, Annemie; Mhango, Wezi; Michelson, Hope; Nourani, Vesall
This paper documents the role of
village fairness norms in land markets. A strong and robust
relationship is established between experimentally elicited
village-level fairness norms and land-rental rates across
250 Malawian villages. Stronger fairness norms correlate
with a tighter range in village rental rates. The study
suggests that the fairness norms for tenants appear to be
more important, constraining the land-rental price range by
a price ceiling rather than a price floor. The results
further indicate that rented-in fields are of lower
agronomic quality than owner-cultivated fields, but do not
find any statistically significant relationship between the
fairness norms and land-rental activity in the village.
Group Incentives for the Public Good
(Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the World Bank, 2024-03-12) Newman, Carol; Mitchell, Tara; Holmlund, Marcus; Fernandez, Chloë
What strategies can help communities
to overcome the public goods problem in the maintenance of
communal spaces and infrastructure in urban environments
This paper investigates whether an intervention targeted at
Community-Based Organizations can motivate them to make
increased contributions to the public good, thereby
improving outcomes for the community. Using a randomized
controlled trial conducted in Dakar, Senegal, the analysis
tests the effectiveness of a program that provides
incentives to community groups to encourage them to keep
their neighborhoods clean, with the ultimate goal of
reducing flooding. After one year, the intervention proved
to be effective in engaging communities, improving
cleanliness, and reducing flooding.
Public Child Care Provision
(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.
Measuring the Size of the “Third Pillar”
(Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the World Bank, 2024-03-22) Schiltz, Fritz; MacKay, Kelsey J.; Vandekerckhove, Philippe
Balancing the state and the market,
the third pillar (i.e., any association of people that is
neither public nor private) is a key sector in society. In
contrast to the first two pillars (the public sector and the
private sector), the third pillar has received very little
attention in academic and policy debates. This paper aims to
facilitate research on the third pillar’s relevance by
constructing the first global dataset on the size of the
third pillar, including estimates for 120 countries. Results
show that the size of the third pillar is substantial, both
when measured as third pillar time (TPT) or third pillar
participation (TPP). Global TPT is equivalent to 5.1 percent
of total employment, more than half of the global
agricultural sector. Moreover, findings indicate that TPP
equals 13.4 percent, suggesting that more than one person in
eight of the world’s adult population is active as a
volunteer in the third pillar.