The World Bank Research Observer - current issue

Cover Page

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 08:46:23 PDT

Editorial Board

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 08:46:23 PDT

Subscription Page

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 08:46:23 PDT

Aggregate Economic Shocks, Child Schooling, and Child Health

Ferreira, F. H. G., Schady, N. — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 08:46:23 PDT

Do aggregate income shocks, such as those caused by macroeconomic crises or droughts, reduce child human capital? The answer to this question has important implications for public policy. If shocks reduce investments in children, they may have a long-lasting impact on poverty and its intergenerational transmission. The authors develop a simple framework to analyze the effects of aggregate economic shocks on child schooling and health. They show that the expected effects are theoretically ambiguous because of a tension between income and substitution effects. They then review the recent empirical literature on the subject. In richer countries, like the United States, child health and education outcomes are counter-cyclical: they improve during recessions. In poorer countries, mostly in Africa and low-income Asia, the outcomes are procyclical: infant mortality rises and school enrollment and nutrition fall during recessions. In the middle-income countries of Latin America, the picture is more nuanced: health outcomes are generally procyclical and education outcomes counter-cyclical. Each of these findings is consistent with the simple conceptual framework. The authors discuss possible implications for expenditure allocation.

The Regulation of Entry: A Survey

Djankov, S. — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 08:46:23 PDT

Simplifying entry regulation has been a popular reform since the publication of Djankov and others (2002). The inclusion of business entry indicators in the World Bank's Doing Business project has led to an acceleration in reform: in 2003–08, 193 reforms took place in 116 countries. A large academic literature has followed: 201 academic articles have used the data compiled by Djankov and others (2002) and subsequently by the World Bank. The author identifies three theories as to why some countries impose burdensome entry requirements. He also surveys the literature on the effects of making business entry easier.

How Relevant Is Targeting to the Success of an Antipoverty Program?

Ravallion, M. — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 08:46:23 PDT

Policy-oriented discussions often assume that "better targeting" implies larger impacts on poverty or more cost-effective interventions for fighting poverty. The literature on the economics of targeting warns against that assumption, but evidence has been scarce and the lessons from the literature have often been ignored by practitioners. This paper shows that standard measures of targeting performance are uninformative or even deceptive about the impacts on poverty, and cost-effectiveness in reducing poverty, of a large cash transfer program in China. The results suggest that in program design and evaluation, it would be better to focus directly on the program's outcomes for poor people than to rely on prevailing measures of targeting.

Land Registration, Governance, and Development: Evidence and Implications for Policy

Deininger, K., Feder, G. — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 08:46:23 PDT

The developmental impact of institutions to establish and maintain secure property rights to land has been a subject of much debate. The authors review the literature on the impact of land administration interventions in specific contexts, highlighting the dependence of outcomes on the governance environment, the effectiveness of the state apparatus, and the distribution of socio-economic power. There is evidence, albeit not uniform, of enhancement of tenure security through land registration with benefits manifesting themselves in higher levels of investment and productivity and a reduced need to defend land rights. Land registration has also been shown to increase activity in land rental markets, leading to higher efficiency overall. Evidence of improved access to credit, due to formalization of land rights, is scant. Even in situations where land registration had positive benefits, the literature contains little rigorous analysis of cost-effectiveness and long-term sustainability of impacts. The authors conclude that formalization of land rights should not be viewed as a panacea and that interventions should be decided only after a careful diagnosis of the policy, social, and governance environment. If intervention is justified, the performance of land administration systems needs to be benchmarked in terms of coverage, cost-effectiveness, and quality of service provision.

Instructional Time Loss in Developing Countries: Concepts, Measurement, and Implications

Abadzi, H. — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 08:46:23 PDT

Students in developing countries are often taught for only a fraction of the intended number of school hours. Time is often wasted due to informal school closures, teacher absenteeism, delays, early departures, and poor use of classroom time. Since the 1970s, attempts have been made in several countries to measure the use of instructional time in schools and its impact on student achievement. Studies have been of variable quality and have used different definitions and methods. However, they have consistently shown that significant amounts of time are lost and that the amount of time spent engaged in learning tasks is related to student performance. The large losses in many countries raise issues of governance, monitoring, and validity of economic analyses. It is important to take instructional time wastage into account when considering public sector expenditures on education, teacher salary rates, unit costs, and the rates of return from graduates. Refining time-loss measurement methods and disseminating policy implications may improve the efficiency of educational systems worldwide.