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2571. The Distribution of Household Wealth in India

Author:
D. Jayaraj and S. Subramanian
Publication Date:
10-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
United Nations University
Abstract:
This paper reviews the principal source of India's wealth distribution statistics, which is constituted by the five decennial Reserve Bank of India National Sample Survey Organization Surveys on Debt and Investment of 1961-62, 1971-72, 1981-82, 1991-92, and 2002-03. The data available are described, critically appraised, and analyzed to present some salient findings in terms of the levels of debt, the levels of asset-holdings across the states of the Indian Union and over time, wealth composition, and aspects of vertical and horizontal inequality in the distribution of wealth. The centrality of land and real estate in the wealth status of India is underlined, and some broad aspects of redistributive anti-poverty policy are spelt out.
Topic:
International Relations, Development, and International Political Economy
Political Geography:
India and Asia

2572. Gender and the Distribution of Wealth in Developing Countries

Author:
Cheryl R. Doss and Carmen Diana Deere
Publication Date:
10-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
United Nations University
Abstract:
Only recently has it been recognized that women may not share in the wealth of men, even within the same household or family. Moreover, there is growing evidence that the gender distribution of wealth matters. This paper first reviews the available evidence for developing countries on the gender asset gap and finds that it is significant. It then considers the constraints on women's asset ownership with particular attention to the role of legal marital and inheritance regimes. The paper then turns to a more detailed examination of women's land ownership in Latin America and Africa. The final section considers the impact of women's land ownership on household income and welfare.
Topic:
International Relations, Development, International Political Economy, and Third World
Political Geography:
Africa and Latin America

2573. Household Wealth in Latin America

Author:
Seymour Spilerman and Florencia Torche
Publication Date:
10-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
United Nations University
Abstract:
This paper provides a descriptive analysis of wealth ownership and wealth inequality in Latin American countries, using diverse published sources and primary data analysis for 16 nations. We produce estimates of the distribution of home ownership, land, and financial assets, and find very high wealth concentration in all these types of assets, with the partial exception home ownership. The relevance of informal assets and the historical patterns of wealth accumulation and concentration since colonial times are discussed. Mechanisms of intergenerational wealth transmission are analyzed for the Chilean case.
Topic:
International Relations, Development, and International Political Economy
Political Geography:
South America and Latin America

2574. The Structure and Performance of Ethiopia's Financial Sector in the Pre- and Post-Reform Period with a Special Focus on Banking

Author:
Alemayehu Geda
Publication Date:
10-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
United Nations University
Abstract:
Since 1992 Ethiopia has been engaged in liberalizing its financial sector. The hallmark of the strategy is gradualism. The approach is not without problems especially from Bretton Woods Institutions that saw the reform as a sluggish process. This study examines this liberalization program by analyzing the performance of the sector before and after the reform. The study notes that given the nascent development of the financial sector in the country, the relatively good shape in which the existing financial institutions find themselves, and given that supervision and regulation capacity of the regulating agency is weak, the government's strategy of gradualism and its over all reform direction is encouraging. However, we argue for charting out clearly defined time frame for liberalization and exploring the possibility of engaging with foreign banks to acquire new technology that enhance the efficiency of the financial sector in general and the banking sector in particular.
Topic:
International Relations, Development, and International Political Economy
Political Geography:
Africa and Ethiopia

2575. Gender, HIV/AIDS and Rural Livelihoods: Micro-Level Investigations in Three African Countries

Author:
Esther Wiegers, John Curry, Alessandra Garbero, Shannon Stokes, and John Hourihan
Publication Date:
10-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
United Nations University
Abstract:
HIV/AIDS has a severe impact on food security, affecting all of its dimensions: availability, stability, access, utilization. FAO recognizes that HIV/AIDS is a determining factor for, as well as a consequence of, food insecurity. Although the relationships among gender, food security and rural livelihoods have been acknowledged in the growing literature on HIV/AIDS impacts, relatively few studies provide adequate focus and empirical evidence on the gender aspects of these interrelationships among vulnerable rural households. Such gender aspects of these relationships have been explored in detail by FAO in Namibia, Uganda and Zambia This paper presents the main findings of the four baseline studies and discusses the methodologies used to identify vulnerable households and document changes in resource availability, household labour force, livelihood strategies, coping strategies and food security status. These findings offer useful insights for policy formulation purposes and for the development of mitigation strategies that respond to the food security challenges of the epidemic.
Topic:
Development and Gender Issues
Political Geography:
Uganda, Africa, Zambia, and Namibia

2576. International Organizations as a Profession: Professional Mobility and Power Distribution

Author:
Jean-Marc Coicaud
Publication Date:
09-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
United Nations University
Abstract:
The role of international organizations grows with the acceleration of globalization and the increasing importance of global governance. However, thus far, only limited and rather narrow research has been generated on the subject. It is a state of affairs that reflects on international studies, as well as on the power realities of the world. By assessing international organizations through the career prospects that they offer to skilled professionals, this paper is an attempt to remedy this situation. As such it unveils some of the internal dynamics of international organizations and explores their external consequences in terms of the relations between international organizations, the people employed by these, and the power play (economic, social, political and even cultural) at the national and international level.
Topic:
Development, Globalization, International Cooperation, and United Nations

2577. Food Retailing, Supermarkets and Food Security: Highlights from Latin America

Author:
Mehmet Arda
Publication Date:
09-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
United Nations University
Abstract:
The importance of supermarkets in the world food economy has increased radically since the early 1990s. They are now major sellers and buyers of food items not only in developed but also in developing countries. Urbanization and the liberalization of the services sector have been important facilitators of this process.
Topic:
Development, Economics, and Human Welfare
Political Geography:
Latin America and Central America

2578. Credit Constraints as a Barrier to Technology Adoption by the Poor: Lessons from South-Indian Small-Scale Fishery

Author:
Xavier Giné and Stefan Klonner
Publication Date:
09-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
United Nations University
Abstract:
We study the diffusion of a capital intensive technology among a fishing community in south India and analyze the dynamics of income inequality during this process. We find that lack of asset wealth is an important predictor of delayed technology adoption. During the diffusion process, inequality follows Kuznets' well-known inverted U-shaped curve. The empirical results imply that redistributive policies favouring the poor result in accelerated economic growth and a shorter duration of sharpened inequality.
Topic:
Development, Poverty, and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
India and Asia

2579. Stock Market Development and Economic Growth

Author:
Salvatore Capasso
Publication Date:
09-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
United Nations University
Abstract:
Since the 1990s economists have devoted considerable attention to the study of the relationship between financial markets development and economic growth. In particular, the emergence of stock markets with economic development is an intriguing and interesting aspect of such a relationship, and yet relatively unexplored. This paper examines the most recent findings in the theoretical and empirical literature trying to determine the rationale behind the development of stock markets along the path of growth and the nature of the interrelationship between real and financial variables.
Topic:
Development, Economics, Emerging Markets, and Markets

2580. Institutions and Economic Growth: The Successful Experience of Switzerland (1870-1950)

Author:
André Mach and Thomas David
Publication Date:
09-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
United Nations University
Abstract:
This research paper discusses the role of institutions in the rapid growth and successful international integration of Switzerland during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. In analysing the emergence and consolidation of the institutions whose existence was crucial, the paper looks both at the political institutions that managed conflicts and promoted cooperation between private and public actors and the economic institutions that, on the one hand, compensated the groups that fell behind in the developmental process (e.g., agricultural subsidies, high tolerance for domestic cartels, tariffs for some industries, institutions for labour representation) and, on the other hand, enhanced productivity. In addition, the absence of some institutions such as a patent law and an independent central bank was also crucial in the Swiss case, even though these two institutions are regarded as pre-requisites of development by today's economic orthodoxy. The paper concludes by drawing lessons for today's developing countries.
Topic:
International Relations, Development, and Economics
Political Geography:
Europe and Switzerland