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3042. Measuring Progress with Tests of Learning: Pros and Cons for "Cash on Delivery Aid" in Education
- Author:
- Marlaine Lockheed
- Publication Date:
- 06-2008
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Center for Global Development
- Abstract:
- This paper reviews, in non-technical terms, the case for and against using tests of learning for measuring annual educational progress within programs of “progress-based aid.” It addresses three questions about testing in developing countries. One, are valid and reliable measures of student learning currently available in developing countries? Two, are existing tests used in developing countries capable of registering the changes in educational results called for under “progress-based aid”? And three, do developing countries have the technical and administrative capacity to undertake annual assessments of learning? The paper includes a brief description of existing national, regional and international testing activities in developing and transition countries, a discussion of some technical topics related to testing and assessment, and various options for using learning assessments in the context of “progress-based aid.”
- Topic:
- Development, Education, and Non-Governmental Organization
3043. The Structural Transformation as a Pathway out of Poverty: Analytics, Empirics and Politics
- Author:
- Peter Timmer and Selvin Akkus
- Publication Date:
- 07-2008
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Center for Global Development
- Abstract:
- A powerful historical pathway of structural transformation is experienced by all successful developing countries, and this Working Paper presents the results of new empirical analysis of the process. Making sure the poor are connected to both the structural transformation and to the policy initiatives designed to ameliorate the distributional consequences of rapid transformation has turned out to be a major challenge for policy makers over the past half century. There are successes and failures, and the historical record illuminates what works and what does not. Trying to stop the structural transformation does not work, at least for the poor, and in fact can lead to prolonged immiseration. Investing in the capacity of the poor to cope with change and to participate in its benefits through better education and health does seem to work. Such investments typically require significant public sector resources and policy support, and thus depend on political processes that are themselves conditioned by the pressures generated by the structural transformation itself.
- Topic:
- Agriculture, Development, Economics, and Poverty
3044. Rails Won't Save America
- Author:
- Randal O'Toole
- Publication Date:
- 10-2008
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- The Cato Institute
- Abstract:
- Rising gas prices and concerns about greenhouse gases have stimulated calls to build more rail transit lines in urban areas, increase subsidies to Amtrak, and construct a large-scale intercity high-speed rail system. These megaprojects will cost hundreds of billions of dollars, but they won't save energy or significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
- Topic:
- Development, Economics, and Government
- Political Geography:
- United States
3045. Four “Poverty Traps” Are Part of Conundrum for Foreign Aid
- Author:
- Jim Kolbe
- Publication Date:
- 01-2008
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- European Affairs
- Institution:
- The European Institute
- Abstract:
- Muddled thinking is dangerous for international development. For one thing, cost benefit arguments neglect the high price exacted by failed states. For another, as noted in an important new book, The Bottom Billion, some countries are trapped by special circumstances that need special remedies.
- Topic:
- Foreign Policy, Development, Emerging Markets, Humanitarian Aid, and International Trade and Finance
- Political Geography:
- United States and Europe
3046. Development as a Human Right: Legal, Political, and Economic Dimensions
- Author:
- Sakiko Fukuda-Parr
- Publication Date:
- 03-2008
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Abstract:
- In the foreword to this volume, a Nobel Symposium Book from the Harvard School of Public Health, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour writes: There is growing support for the idea that global poverty is an affront to human rights, and that the realization of human rights for a life of freedom and dignity is inescapably a central purpose of development. Yet the right to development remains a politically divisive issue. The concept has its roots in the political economy of the 1970 s and 1980 s, when developing countries mobilized for a New International Economic Order in which countries of the North would actively facilitate growth and development in the South through aid, trade, and investment. While the right to development is still championed by developing countries and resisted by donor countries, it (and the broader concept of a human rights-based approach to development) is also controversial among theorists and practitioners in both the human rights and the development fields. Some human rights legal scholars challenge its usefulness, arguing that it brings together rights that already exist. In the development community, little attention has been paid to the right to development per se, and economists who dominate the mainstream of development theory and practice are somewhat puzzled by the idea that human rights in general should be a concern in development at all. They often question the relevance of human rights discourse on development and see it as idealistic and utopian, since it insists on the equal value of all rights. Given that economic policymaking is about setting priorities and considering trade-offs, ''rights talk'' seems to be an obstacle rather than an aid to the task of formulating policies and strategies.
- Topic:
- Development, Economics, Human Rights, and United Nations
3047. Briefly Noted
- Publication Date:
- 03-2008
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Abstract:
- This section contains a round-up of recent notable books in the field of international affairs.
- Topic:
- Development and Human Rights
- Political Geography:
- California
3048. Turkey-EU Relations: Beyond the Current Stalemate
- Author:
- Ziya Öniş
- Publication Date:
- 09-2008
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Insight Turkey
- Institution:
- SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research
- Abstract:
- The prospects for Turkey's ambitions for full EU membership do not appear to be very bright in the current conjuncture. The “grand coalition for special partnership” appears to be firmly entrenched. With key chapters for negotiation already suspended what is likely to happen is that the government in power is likely to pursue a loose Europeanization agenda of gradual reforms falling considerably short of deep commitment for full-membership. The paper investigates the underlying reasons for the decline of enthusiasm for EU membership following the golden age of Europeanization and reforms during the early years of the AK Party government. The article also points to domestic and external developments which may help to reverse the current stalemate and, hence, ends with an optimistic note concerning the future of Turkey-EU relations.
- Topic:
- Development
- Political Geography:
- Turkey
3049. Explaining Transformation of Turkish Civil Society in the EU Accession Process
- Author:
- Ahmet Arabaci
- Publication Date:
- 09-2008
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Insight Turkey
- Institution:
- SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research
- Abstract:
- This study investigates the relationship between the announcement of Turkey's EU candidacy status at the EU's Helsinki Summit in 1999, and the development and transformation of Turkish civil society organizations (CSOs). It is argued that theories of historical institutionalism and rational choice institutionalism provides a useful framework for explaining the changes that took place in the number and institutional structures of Turkish CSOs. Historical institutionalism helps explain how the EU's affirmation of Turkey's EU candidacy has served as a critical juncture for the evolution of path dependency for Turkish CSOs. The economic reforms and democratization driven by Turkey's accession process are given special attention in this respect. Rational choice institutionalism will be employed to explain structural transformations within Turkish CSOs, and their considerable dependence on the funds provided by the EU.
- Topic:
- Development
- Political Geography:
- Turkey
3050. The Legal Reasoning of ICSID Tribunals – An Empirical Analysis
- Author:
- Ole Kristian Fauchald
- Publication Date:
- 04-2008
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Abstract:
- This empirical analysis of the use of interpretive arguments by ad hoc tribunals of the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes covers almost 100 cases decided during the past 10 years. The cases are analysed with a view to determining which arguments the tribunals use and how the arguments are used in light of Articles 31 and 32 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties. The analysis provides a basis for addressing the extent to which ICSID tribunals contribute to creating a predictable legal framework in which the interests of investors, states, and third parties are taken properly into account; the extent to which ICSID tribunals contribute to a coherent development of international investment law; and whether ICSID tribunals contribute to a 'fragmentation' of international law. Despite ICSID tribunals being ad hoc tribunals that solve legal disputes on the basis of heterogeneous legal sources, the article indicates that there is a tendency among ICSID tribunals to contribute to a homogeneous development of the methodology of international law. Nevertheless, the article concludes that ICSID tribunals could do significantly more to align their approaches to interpretive arguments with those of other international tribunals.
- Topic:
- Development and Law
- Political Geography:
- Vienna