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November 2007

Fridays Academy: Land, Economic Growth and Poverty Reduction (VI)

Submitted by Ignacio Hernandez on Fri, 11/16/2007 - 10:48

As usual on Fridays, from Raj Nallari and Breda Griffith's lecture notes.

Land Inequality and Education

Empirical work on the relationship between land inequality and education focuses on land inequality and the public provision of education.  Mariscal and Sololoff (2000) in extending the work of Engerman and Sololoff (1997, 2000) find a negative relationship between the public provision of education and land inequality. Their hypothesis, reported in Erikson and Vollrath (2004) is “that greater land inequality creates collective action problems within the political units responsible for education funding” (p. 5). Similarly, Galor, Moav and Vollrath (2003) examine the incentives of landowners in providing education and predict based on their findings that the more unequal the land distribution the lower the provision of education. The authors suggest that landowners are reluctant to fund education because their view is that higher taxes outweigh the benefits of education, in particular in an agricultural setting. Deininger and Squire (1998) find a negative relationship between levels of education attained and land inequality that may be due to the fact that there was little or no public provision of education, thus making it impossible to increase levels of educational attainment.

Google maps + World Bank Data = Geo

Submitted by Ignacio Hernandez on Thu, 11/15/2007 - 19:08

Geo, a new tool (still Beta) to provide easy access to country data, including projects, news and statistics.

Very useful.

Africa's sustained growth: Can we be optimistic?

Submitted by Ignacio Hernandez on Thu, 11/15/2007 - 18:06

The World Bank's Africa Development Indicators (ADI 2007), launched yesterday in Johannesburg, would indicate that there is in fact reason to be optimistic.

During the last decade many African countries have achieved steady economic growth, much needed to reduce the levels of poverty in the continent. In the words of Obiageli Ezekwesili, World Bank Vice President for the Africa Region.

Over the past decade, Africa has recorded an average growth rate of 5.4 per cent which is at par with the rest of the world. The ability to support, sustain and in fact diversify the sources of these growth indicators would be critical not only to Africa’s capacity to meet the MDGs but also to becoming an exciting investment destination for global capital

ADI's main warning refers to Africa's growth volatility, a condition which remains a risk to investment. Some of the 50 factoids on Africa add some perspective and show that there is still a long way to go:

Building Knowledge Economies

Submitted by Ignacio Hernandez on Thu, 11/15/2007 - 08:56
The World Bank is presenting today its new publication: Building Knowledge Economies: Advances Strategies for Development. This book, produced by WBI's Knowledge for Development Program is the result of more than seven years of research and operational work on knowledge economy strategies and implementation in countries such as Brazil, China, India, Korea, Mexico or Russia.

The book argues that, whatever their level of development, countries should consider embarking on a knowledge- and innovation-based development process. In these times of accelerated globalization, “grey matter” is a country’s main durable resource. Its exploitation for economic and social well-being is increasingly at the center of development strategies.

Buy the book

More on Knowledge for Development: the Knowledge Assessment Methodology (KAM 2007)

Fridays Academy: Land, Economic Growth and Poverty Reduction (V)

Submitted by Ignacio Hernandez on Fri, 11/09/2007 - 08:58

As usual on Fridays, from Raj Nallari and Breda Griffith's lecture notes.

 

Land Inequalities and Economic Development

 

Land inequalities have been linked to low levels of economic development with consequent adverse impacts for the poor.  The aspects of economic development most associated with unequal distribution of land are education, institutions and finance. The hypothesis is that these elements of the economy do not develop optimally in the face of land inequalities and thus an economy is constrained in its growth potential. In other words, levels of income are lower than what they would be if a more equitable distribution of land prevailed. The theory is quite clear in differentiating between those who own land and those who are landless, yet the empirical work, until recently, failed to make this distinction. Cross country studies using a Gini coefficient to measure the distribution of land within groups of landowners across countries found a: 

Trade and Development Index 2007

Submitted by Ignacio Hernandez on Thu, 11/08/2007 - 10:12

UNCTADThe UNCTAD has launched its second Trade and Development Index, which is available on-line: Developing Countries in International Trade 2007.

The TDI publication is a comprehensive review of global trade and development performance, integrating almost all key factors and indicators affecting trade and development in countries of all levels of development. It was conceived to provide an innovative analytical and benchmarking tool to assess trade policies in interaction with development strategies at the national level, in order to promote balanced economic and social development in developing countries, least developed countries (LDCs) and countries with economies in transition. TDI looks at country-specific realities and points to the structural, institutional and financial bottlenecks, as well as shortcomings in trade policy and socio-economic well-being.

At WBI we are organizing a new edition of our Internet course on Trade, Growth and Poverty, starting in January. I will post the course announcement soon, but the on-line registration is already open.

Gary Becker receives the Medal of Freedom

Submitted by Ignacio Hernandez on Wed, 11/07/2007 - 17:54

Gary Becker has been awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

In the words of George Bush:

This longtime professor at the University of Chicago has helped train hundreds of talented economists. He has been a wise and challenging presence in the lives of his students, and they remain devoted to him. One close friend said, "A 15-minute conversation with Gary Becker can change your thinking forever." He is without question one of the most influential economists of the last hundred years. With today's honor, he is one of only two persons to have received both the Nobel Prize in Economics and the Medal of Freedom. The other was the late Milton Friedman. And I know that today Dr. Friedman would be very proud of his friend, and student, and colleague, Dr. Gary Becker.

Gary Becker is actually the third person to have received both the Nobel Prize in Economics and the Medal of Freedom. Nobel laureate Friedrich Hayek also received the Medal of Freedom in 1991, interestingly enough, from another George Bush. 

Congratulations to Gary Becker. He has also been an active blogger for a long time, with Richard Posner. Their Becker-Posner blog is worth checking.

(Hat tip to Greg Mankiw)

Making Poverty the Story

Submitted by Ignacio Hernandez on Wed, 11/07/2007 - 10:43
panos

A new report by Panos London, Making Poverty the Story: Time to Involve the Media in Poverty Reduction, argues that the time has come to recognize and support the potential crucial contribution of the mass media to efforts to reduce poverty in low-income countries. Policy change often follows changes in public opinion; the reach of mass media makes them a vital force in raising public awareness and debate.

 

Based on findings from six countries in Africa and South Asia, Making poverty the story analyses the serious political, commercial and professional obstacles to stronger media coverage, highlights where the media have played a part in raising debate, and identifies what civil society and other policy actors could do to support more effective reporting.

 

For more information and courses on Media and Development, check WBI's governance site.

 

(via Povertynet)

The IMF is blogging

Submitted by Ignacio Hernandez on Tue, 11/06/2007 - 12:17

When I mentioned last week that our colleagues from across the street are blogging I left out one their two blogs.

 

Besides the already mentioned Simon Johnson's IMF Research Blog, there is also the Public Financial Management Blog, which contains postings on the institutional aspects of public expenditure and debt management. In their own words "the first PFM blog ever".

 

Welcome to the blogosphere!

The econ-blogosphere

Submitted by Ignacio Hernandez on Thu, 11/01/2007 - 11:06

Blogs on economic development keep mushrooming. A great wealth of information and opinion at your fingertips.

 

A recent addition is ideas4development, a development blog in three languages with high-profile contributors. Our colleagues from across the street are also blogging.

 

Dani Rodrik thinks the econ-blogosphere is here to stay (although he had some doubts).