Search

Begin New Search Topic Developing World

21. Electoral Competition and Social Spending in the Argentine Provinces

Author:
Lucas Gonzalez
Publication Date:
01-2017
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
German Institute of Global and Area Studies
Abstract:
What is the effect of political competition on subnational social spending? Using descriptive statistics and regression models for original budget panel data for the 24 Argentine provinces between 1993 and 2009, the study finds that social spending increases the more electorally secure governors are and the longer they have been in office. It also finds that other arguments in the literature are relevant in explaining variations on types of spending, such as partisan fragmentation in the districts. The article discusses these findings for the Argentine provinces and explores their implications with regard to the debates on the effects of electoral competition and the design of social policies, especially in developing countries and federal democracies.
Topic:
Developing World, Elections, Democracy, Local, and Social Spending
Political Geography:
Argentina, South America, and Latin America

22. The Big Stuck in State Capability for Policy Implementation

Author:
Matt Andrews, Lant Pritchett, and Michael Woolcock
Publication Date:
01-2016
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University
Abstract:
We divide the 102 historically developing countries (HDCs) into those with ‘very weak’, ‘weak’, ‘middle’, and ‘strong’ state capability. Analyzing the levels and recent growth rates of the HDCs’ capability for policy implementation reveals how pervasively “stuck” most of them are. Only eight HDCs have attained strong capability, and since most of these are small (e.g., Singapore, UAE), less than 100 million (or 1.7%) of the roughly 5.8 billion people in HDCs currently live in high capability states. Almost half (49) of these countries have very weak or weak capability, and thus their long-run pace of acquiring capability is also very slow. Alarmingly, three quarters of these countries (36 of 49) have experienced negative growth in state capability in recent decades, while more than a third of all countries (36 of 102) have low and (in the medium run at least) deteriorating state capability. At current rates, the ‘time to high capability’ of the 49 currently weak capability states and the 36 with negative growth is obviously “forever”. But even for the 13 with positive growth, only three would reach strong capability by the end of the 21st century at their current medium run growth.
Topic:
Developing World, International Development, State, and Public Policy
Political Geography:
Global Focus and United States of America

23. Losing Our Minds? New Research Directions on Skilled Migration and Development

Author:
Michael Clemens
Publication Date:
09-2015
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Global Development
Abstract:
This paper critiques the last decade of research on the effects of high-skill emigration from developing countries, and proposes six new directions for fruitful research. Design/methodology/approach: The study singles out a core assumption underlying much of the recent literature, calling it the Lump of Learning model of human capital and development, and describes five ways that research has come to challenge that assumption. It assesses the usefulness of the Lump of Learning model in the face of accumulating evidence. The axioms of the Lump of Learning model have shaped research priorities in this literature, but many of those axioms do not have a clear empirical basis. Future research proceeding from established facts would set different priorities, and would devote more attention to measuring the effects of migration on skilled-migrant households, rigorously estimating human capital externalities, gathering microdata beyond censuses, and carefully considering optimal policy—among others. The recent literature has pursued a series of extensions to the Lump of Learning model: This study urges instead discarding that model, pointing toward a new paradigm for research on skilled migration and development.
Topic:
Migration, Refugee Issues, and Developing World

24. Aid procurement and the development of local industry: A question for Africa

Author:
Christine Zhang and Jeffrey Gutman
Publication Date:
06-2015
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Brookings Institution
Abstract:
Economic development is often tied to the evolution of local industry. One way to assess a country’s emergence as a major player in the global economy is by examining the ability of its domestic firms to compete on the global market. Public procurement—the purchase of goods, works, and services by governments—represents a significant portion of this market, making up an estimated average of 15 to 30 percent of a country’s GDP. Procurement in the developing world is especially noteworthy, since large projects are often partially or wholly financed by external donors such as the World Bank and other international financial institutions (IFIs), which encourage developing country governments to internationally advertise the goods, works, or services they require and to select the most competitive bid they receive. Yet the role of IFI-funded procurement in the emergence of global markets, particularly for and among developing countries, is seldom a topic of empirical study, despite its linkages to global growth.
Topic:
Development, Economics, Emerging Markets, World Bank, and Developing World
Political Geography:
Global Focus

25. Early, Old, New and Comparative Regionalism: The Scholarly Development of the Field

Author:
Fredrik Soderbaum
Publication Date:
10-2015
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Kolleg-Forschergruppe (KFG)
Abstract:
By tracing the intellectual roots and main characteristics of the scholarly debates on regionalism in different time periods, this Working Paper seeks to contribute to the consolidation of a fragmented field of study in search of its own intellectual history. The paper identifies four main intellectual phases: early regionalism, old regionalism (in both Europe and the developing world), new regionalism, and the current phase of regionalism, referred to as comparative regionalism. It argues that progress in the study of (comparative) regionalism requires a better understanding of the intellectual roots of the field and an acknowledgment of the many types of regions that have occurred in many different historical contexts.
Topic:
Regional Cooperation, Developing World, Intellectual History, and Regionalism
Political Geography:
Europe and Global Focus

26. Low-Level Corruption Tolerance: An “Action-Based” Approach for Peru and Latin America

Author:
Joseph Pozsgai Alvarez
Publication Date:
08-2015
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
German Institute of Global and Area Studies
Abstract:
Since the beginning of the past decade, the tolerance of cor- ruption by citizens of most Latin American countries has become a con- cept in its own right within the broader study of corruption. This con- struct, however, lacks a systematic approach and is yet to account for specific types of corruption tolerance or identify appropriate indicators to measure them. The present study addresses these voids by analyzing data provided by LAPOP’s AmericasBarometer 2006 for Peru (a typical case for the incidence of bribery in Latin America) and the Global Cor- ruption Barometer against a carefully constructed framework for the understanding of the phenomenon of corruption tolerance. The results indicate that attitudes toward specific types of low-level corruption should not be equated to citizens’ decisions to engage in such behavior. They further suggest that the study of corruption tolerance has the po- tential to greatly improve our understanding of the determinants of cor- ruption in developing countries.
Topic:
Corruption, Developing World, and Accountability
Political Geography:
South America, Latin America, and Peru

27. Estimating Illicit Flows of Capital via Trade Mispricing: A Forensic Analysis of Data on Switzerland

Author:
Alex Cobham, Petr Janský, and Alex Prats
Publication Date:
01-2014
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Global Development
Abstract:
This paper assesses the role of Switzerland as the leading hub for global commodities trading, in terms of the patterns of prices received by original exporting countries and subsequently by Switzerland and other jurisdictions. We find support for the hypotheses that (i) the average prices for commodity exports from developing countries to Switzerland are lower than those to other jurisdictions; and that (ii) Switzerland declares higher (re-)export prices for those commodities than do other jurisdictions. This pattern implies a potential capital loss for commodity exporting developing countries and we provide a range of estimates of that loss - each of which suggests the scale is substantial (the most conservative is around $8 billion a year) and that the issue merits greater research and policy attention. An important first step would be a Swiss commitment to meet international norms of trade transparency.
Topic:
Economics, Industrial Policy, International Trade and Finance, Markets, and Developing World
Political Geography:
Europe and Switzerland

28. Women, Sports, and Development: Does It Pay to Let Girls Play?

Author:
Barbara Kotschwar
Publication Date:
03-2014
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Peterson Institute for International Economics
Abstract:
From the pulse-racing fi ght for hockey gold between Team Canada and Team USA, to Darya Domracheva's three straight biathlon wins, to Dutch speed skater Ireen Wüst becoming the most decorated athlete at the Games, the Winter Olympics in Sochi in February reminded us that women have come a long way in the world of sports. First allowed to join men in 1900, female Olympians were initially limited to lawn tennis, croquet, and golf. By 2014 ski jumping has followed boxing as the newest sport open to women, and women and men now compete in nearly all the Olympic sporting events.
Topic:
Education, Gender Issues, Health, Culture, and Developing World
Political Geography:
Canada

29. Does Development Reduce Migration?

Author:
Michael Clemens
Publication Date:
03-2014
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Global Development
Abstract:
The most basic economic theory suggests that rising incomes in developing countries will deter emigration from those countries, an idea that captivates policymakers in international aid and trade diplomacy. A lengthy literature and recent data suggest something quite different: that over the course of a "mobility transition", emigration generally rises with economic development until countries reach upper-middle income, and only thereafter falls. This note quantifies the shape of the mobility transition in every decade since 1960. It then briefly surveys 45 years of research, which has yielded six classes of theory to explain the mobility transition and numerous tests of its existence and characteristics in both macro- and micro-level data. The note concludes by suggesting five questions that require further study.
Topic:
Economics, Migration, Social Stratification, Social Movement, and Developing World
Political Geography:
United States, Canada, and Mexico

30. The BRICS Development Bank: A New Tool for South-South Cooperation?

Author:
Jan Schablitzki
Publication Date:
12-2014
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Institute for Development and Peace
Abstract:
The Sixth BRICS Summit, held in July 2014 in Fortaleza, Brazil, resulted in agreements to establish a New Development Bank (NDB) as well as a Contingent Reserve Arrangement (CRA). This Policy Brief discusses the impact of the NDB on the existing architecture of development finance, focusing on the bank’s potential contribution to the BRICS’ South-South cooperation. The first section outlines the BRICS countries’ rational for establishing the NDB. In the following section potential development paradigms that are likely to be adopted by the NDB are addressed. Since no decision has been taken on the bank’s future governance, this section will be based on the experiences from the BRICS’ national development banks. Once the NDB’s governance is agreed upon, it will impact whether and to what extent the new bank will cooperate with the existing international system of development finance. A third section discusses the NDB’s potential appeal for the Global South. The Global South shares with the BRICS a disappointment with the existing system, and connects specific hopes and expectations with the foundation of the NDB. Examining the Banks effect on South-South cooperation, the section includes prospects on the Bank’s capital potential and by that its potential contribution to the prevalent demand for infrastructure financing in developing countries. A final section summarises the points made and aims to put the present perceptions of the NDB in rather cautious perspectives.
Topic:
Economics, International Trade and Finance, Infrastructure, and Developing World
Political Geography:
Global Focus