property rights

Do Things Have to Get Worse for Women Before They Get Better?

While the U.S Presidential Debate on Tuesday night brought to the fore issues of gender equity in the U.S.

Why does the legal environment matter for women’s access to capital?

When asked about what she thought was key in advancing women’s rights, Cherie Blair, lawyer and founder of the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women, replied, “I believe that actually financial independence is very important so we need a financial framework that recognizes women as equals, that enables them to have access to finance, access to capital to have their own financial independence.” For women in the developing world, property rights can be a factor in getting access to finance. (Credit: World Bank Photos)

And this brings to the table another question: What are the hurdles that women face when trying to access capital?

For many women entrepreneurs across the world, getting a loan to start or expand their business can prove challenging. This is particularly true in the developing world where banks often require borrowers to pledge their home or land as collateral. Women, who tend to lack such assets, are placed at a disadvantage. Legal restrictions on women’s property rights can exacerbate the problem.

The effects of land tenure regularization in Rwanda

So I come back from vacation to find out that I was part of a randomized experiment in my absence. No, this had nothing to do with the wonders of airline travel in Europe (which don’t add that frisson of excitement through random cancellations like their American brethren), but rather two of our co-bloggers trying to figure out if the blog actually makes people recognize me and Jed more (here are links to parts

China's revolution in access to finance

China looks set to see a boom in access to finance since the passage in 2007 of the Property Rights Law. Last week, the Financial Times reported on the newfound ability of farmers to monetise their land. Some farmers are selling to larger, more efficient companies, while others are taking advantage of the opportunity to use their land as collateral:

The Access to Justice Programme in Pakistan

To reduce the enormous backlog of court cases, Pakistan enacted the “Access to Justice Programme” in 2002. Case-flow management techniques were taught to judges in 6 pilot districts out of 117, with the aim of facilitating rapid case disposal. Beyond this immediate aim, a more efficient judiciary can also have important economic effects by, for example, providing more secure property rights and better enforcement of creditor rights.

A Development 2.0 manifesto

Inspired by the 45 propositions for social media, below is a modest attempt at putting together some initial thoughts for a Development 2.0 (the application of web 2.0 principles to the development sector) manifesto. This is very much a work in progress, so feel free to add your comments and point out gaps:

Do we need to worry about enforcement of laws?

It goes without saying that rules, laws and regulations are meaningless if they are not enforced. Yet, the bulk of the literature on the effects of various laws is completely silent on the enforcement issue. The implicit assumption is that measures based on laws on the books are a reasonably good proxy for actual enforcement of laws and so an explicit reference to enforcement is not required. Is there any reason to think this is a plausible assumption?

Dead Aid at the World Bank

Dambisa Moyo is a formidable critic - this much I learned from her presentation at the World Bank earlier this week. Moyo is the author of

The heavy hand of regulation and the hidden cost of information

In his presidential address to the American Economic Association, Avinash Dixit (2009) notes that laws and regulations are necessary for security of property rights, enforcement of contracts and overcoming collective action problems – something that the private sector cannot function without. However, laws and regulations are unlikely to have much beneficial effect if private agents are simply not aware of them. How easy is it for firms to obtain information on laws and regulations?

Microfinance and the very poor

...the overriding importance of rules and management practices emerging from our data suggests that...even groups comprised of very poor borrowers in high risk conditions can achieve high repayment rates if proper rules and management practices are adopted.

What is missing in development policy debates?

Good policy making – in the development field or in any field for that matter – involves three steps. First, a problem must be identified or a goal needs to be set. Second, policy measures that can take us to the stated goal need to be identified. The third step is to find the “least costly” policy measure, or what is called the “first-best” policy for achieving the goal.

Dutch Disease in the Himalayas?

Is Bhutan suffering from an acute case of Dutch Disease? Despite its status as the Shangri-La destination for A-list tourists, Bhutan’s land-locked status and nascent private sector pose enormous challenges for a country that is gradually moving to a more market-based economy. Thinking about this question is enough to transform one Bhutanese MP’s happiness to

Looking beneath the surface

Existing studies on business regulation – its determinants and effects – are largely focused on aggregate level measures. These aggregate level measures attempt to summarize many different types of regulations into a single monolithic whole. The key question then is how similar the underlying sub-components are in terms of their effects on economic activity and their determinants.

Crime, security and firms in Latin America: How do firm characteristics matter?

In response to a comment on my previous post on this topic, the table below the jump shows how the incidence and burden of crime, security and bribery (as points of comparison) vary by selected firm characteristics. (Differences that are significant at the 5% level are marked with an asterisk.)