Lazy thinking, lazy giving? Examining the effects of Norwegian aid on forests in developing countries

2016 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristine Hermanrud ◽  
Indra de Soysa
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Greenhouse Gases ◽  
World Bank ◽  
Instrumental Variable ◽  
Fixed Effects ◽  
Forest Degradation ◽  
Bilateral Aid ◽  
Estimation Techniques ◽  
Step Selection ◽  
Climate Problem

The Norwegian government enthusiastically supports the protection of forests, which are important CO2 sinks. Given all the difficulty surrounding the reduction of greenhouse gases, funding the protection of forests is a sound proposition. Up to the present time, how well has Norwegian aid to forests and Norwegian bilateral aid affected the health of forests? Using World Bank data on forest degradation and change in forest area for roughly 130 developing countries from 1999 to 2013, we find that higher levels of Norwegian forest aid among recipient countries has generally had no effect on reducing degradation, while total Norwegian bilateral aid is associated with increased degradation, results that might very well be causal because they are robust to estimations using instrumental variable techniques. Two-step selection models show that forest aid also increases forest degradation, result that are quite unflattering of Norwegian aid. These results are robust to several alternative specifications of our models and to alternative estimation techniques including country fixed effects. Two clear lessons emerge from our findings; firstly, that Norwegian aid does not seem to be coordinated for addressing the problem of forest degradation; and secondly, aid as a means to solve the climate problem likely faces steep obstacles if even a non-strategic, aid-giving country, such as Norway, is capable of more harm than good.

Happiness in developing countries: can government competitiveness substitute for formal institutions?

2021 ◽  
pp. 002085232110004
Author(s):  
Kee Hoon Chung ◽  
Tobin Im
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Instrumental Variable ◽  
Fixed Effects ◽  
Panel Data Analysis ◽  
Judicial Independence ◽  
Democratic Institutions ◽  
Quality Of Democracy ◽  
Government Capacity

Accumulated empirical studies have examined how various qualities of governance affect happiness across countries. This study contributes to prior studies by testing a hypothesis that when developing countries lack effective legal and political institutions, capable government may substitute for their functions to promote happiness via effective policy planning and implementation. To test this expectation, this study compares which qualities of governance—government capacity, democracy, and legal system—matter for happiness in developing countries. While prior studies have overwhelmingly relied on the World Governance Indicator to measure government capacity, we introduce a new measure—government competitiveness—developed by the Center for Government Competitiveness, which overcomes some criticisms. Using this indicator, we employ pooled Ordinary Least Square and two-way fixed effects panel data analysis for 80 non-Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development countries spanning the years 2015–2018. As a robustness test, we conduct instrumental variable estimation, using geography as an instrument for government competitiveness. Our analysis shows that government competitiveness has a positive and statistically robust effect on happiness across all estimations, while quality of democracy and judicial independence display ambivalent effects. Our instrumental variable results suggest that judicial independence and quality of democracy display a substituting and complementing relationship with government competitiveness, respectively. Points for practitioners This article suggests that institutional arrangements for promoting happiness in developing countries differ from developed countries. In developing countries: (1) government competitiveness may play a more important role than judicial and democratic institutions; and (2) government competitiveness may complement democratic institutions but substitute for judicial institutions. For developing countries facing resource constraints, this article recommends policymakers to prioritize fostering competitive government for promoting happiness.

Conference on the Role of Industrialisation in Developing Countries

1964 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 440-442
Author(s):  
Ronald Robinson
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
United Nations ◽  
World Bank ◽  
Business Executives ◽  
Agricultural Revolution ◽  
The World Bank ◽  
The World ◽  
The United Nations

At the fourth Cambridge conference on development problems, the role of industry was discussed by ministers, senior officials, economic advisers, and business executives, from 22 African, Asian, and Caribbean countries, the United Nations, and the World Bank. Have some, if not all, of Africa's new nations now reached the stage when it would pay them to put their biggest bets on quick industrialisation? Or must they go on putting most of their money and brains into bringing about an agricultural revolution first, before striving for industrial take-off? These questions started the conference off on one of its big themes.

Impact of trade facilitation reforms on tax revenue

2017 ◽  
Vol 44 (5) ◽  
pp. 765-780 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sena Kimm Gnangnon
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Fixed Effects ◽  
Data Availability ◽  
Empirical Literature ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Tax Revenue ◽  
Trade Facilitation ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The World ◽  
The Impact

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the empirical literature of the macroeconomic effect of trade facilitation reforms by examining the impact of the latter on tax revenue in both developed and developing countries. The relevance of the topic lies on the fact that at the Bali Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2013, Trade Ministers agreed for the first time since the creation of the WTO (in 1995) on an Agreement to facilitate trade around the world, dubbed Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA). The study considers both at-the-border and behind-the border measures of Trade Facilitation. Design/methodology/approach To conduct this study, the authors rely on the literature related to the structural factors that explain tax revenue mobilization. The authors mainly use within fixed effects estimator. The analysis relies on 102 countries (of which 23 industrial countries) over the period 2004-2007 (based on data availability). A focus has also been made on African countries, within the sample of developing countries. Findings The empirical analysis suggests evidence of a positive and significant effect of trade facilitation reforms on non-resources tax revenue, irrespective of the sample of countries considered in the analysis. Research limitations/implications This finding should contribute to dampening the fear of policymakers in developing countries, including Africa that the implementation of the TFA would entail higher costs, without necessarily being associated with higher benefits. An avenue for future research would be to extend the period of the study when data would be available. Originality/value To the best of the authors knowledge, this study had not been performed in the literature of the determinants of tax revenue mobilization, although fact-based analysis was performed.

scholarly journals Electrification, Power Outages and Employment

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 147
Author(s):  
Josephine Ofori Adofo
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Fixed Effects ◽  
Small And Medium Enterprises ◽  
Poor Quality ◽  
Power Outages ◽  
Industrial Growth ◽  
Industrial Composition ◽  
Negative Implication ◽  
Medium Enterprises

Although electrification rates have increased in developing countries, the poor quality of electricity still remains a challenge. This paper studies the effects of electrification at the intensive margin, using a fixed effects approach. I find that power outages significantly reduce employment, earnings, and hours of work. A key channel through which outages affect employment is decreased prevalence of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) among households. Evidence indicates that severe outages reduce opportunities for households to indulge in income generating activities. The decrease in employment opportunities is further exacerbated by reduced industrial growth and changes in the industrial composition. The results suggest that unreliable electricity may have a negative implication for job creation in developing countries.

scholarly journals Foreign Lending Dilemma and Poverty in Pakistan, India and Bhutan: A Panel Data Analysis

2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-46
Author(s):  
Mariam Abbas Soharwardi ◽  
Hina Ali ◽  
Mujahid Ali
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
World Bank ◽  
Structural Adjustment ◽  
Poverty Reduction ◽  
Panel Data Analysis ◽  
Bank Lending ◽  
Structural Adjustment Programs ◽  
Foreign Lending ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Adjustment Programs

Purpose: In developing countries foreign lending becomes a problem now a day instead of spend this lending for the development purposes. Ultimately this problem causes poverty in these countries where usage of foreign lending is not in proper ways. The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of IMF and World Bank lending on poverty in Pakistan, India and Bhutan. In this study corruption, GDP, unemployment, secondary enrolment, and external debt are used as independent variables and poverty headcount ratio as dependent variable. Study finds out the relationship of corruption, unemployment and external debts with poverty and showing the positive relationship while secondary enrolment and GDP showing negative relation with poverty. Moreover study finds out that lending of IMF and WORLD BANK mostly causes poverty in these developing countries instead of reducing poverty because of corrupt government's weak policies for the distribution of loans. It is examined that the countries with strong policies and non-corrupt government can take full advantage of these lending for poverty reduction. But it is noticed that the countries which are the members of IMF structural adjustment programs are facing more poverty problems as compare to those countries which are not involved in these programs or even have less numbers of lending. Those countries are much better than the countries involve in structural adjustment programs.

scholarly journals Genetic instrumental variable regression: Explaining socioeconomic and health outcomes in nonexperimental data

2018 ◽  
Vol 115 (22) ◽  
pp. E4970-E4979 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas A. DiPrete ◽  
Casper A. P. Burik ◽  
Philipp D. Koellinger
Keyword(s):  
Instrumental Variable ◽  
Fixed Effects ◽  
Genome Wide Association Study ◽  
Body Height ◽  
Outcome Variable ◽  
Endogeneity Bias ◽  
Multiple Indicators ◽  
Instrumental Variable Regression ◽  
Genome Wide ◽  
Polygenic Scores

Identifying causal effects in nonexperimental data is an enduring challenge. One proposed solution that recently gained popularity is the idea to use genes as instrumental variables [i.e., Mendelian randomization (MR)]. However, this approach is problematic because many variables of interest are genetically correlated, which implies the possibility that many genes could affect both the exposure and the outcome directly or via unobserved confounding factors. Thus, pleiotropic effects of genes are themselves a source of bias in nonexperimental data that would also undermine the ability of MR to correct for endogeneity bias from nongenetic sources. Here, we propose an alternative approach, genetic instrumental variable (GIV) regression, that provides estimates for the effect of an exposure on an outcome in the presence of pleiotropy. As a valuable byproduct, GIV regression also provides accurate estimates of the chip heritability of the outcome variable. GIV regression uses polygenic scores (PGSs) for the outcome of interest which can be constructed from genome-wide association study (GWAS) results. By splitting the GWAS sample for the outcome into nonoverlapping subsamples, we obtain multiple indicators of the outcome PGSs that can be used as instruments for each other and, in combination with other methods such as sibling fixed effects, can address endogeneity bias from both pleiotropy and the environment. In two empirical applications, we demonstrate that our approach produces reasonable estimates of the chip heritability of educational attainment (EA) and show that standard regression and MR provide upwardly biased estimates of the effect of body height on EA.

Financial Nexus

2019 ◽  
pp. 70-129
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Capital Markets ◽  
Banking Sector ◽  
High Impact ◽  
Estimation Techniques ◽  
Large Sample ◽  
Empirical Results ◽  
Time Period ◽  
Bank Soundness

This book chapter investigates the financial nexus generated by bank soundness, concentration, and efficiency in the banking sector, as well as the development of the capital markets. The selected databases includes the time period between 1997 and 2010 for a large sample of 63 developed and developing countries. The empirical findings suggested that bank performance has a high impact on the relation between soundness, structural and functional characteristics of the banking sector. The econometric framework is complex and the empirical results appear to be robust for various measures of the selected variables and for distinct estimation techniques.

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