How do International Financial Flows to Developing Countries Respond to Natural Disasters?

2011 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 1850243 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonio C. David

This paper uses multivariate dynamic panel analysis to examine the response of international financial flows to natural disasters. The models estimated for a large sample of developing countries point to differentiated responses of specific types of financial flows. The results show that remittance inflows increase significantly in response to shocks to both climatic and geological disasters, thus confirming their compensatory nature. The models suggest a nuanced role for foreign aid. While the responses of aid flows to natural disaster shocks in general tend not to be statistically significant, international assistance to low income countries increases following geological disaster shocks. Furthermore, the results show that typically, other private capital flows (bank lending and equity) do not attenuate the effects of disasters and in some specifications, even amplify the negative economic effects of these events.

Pathogens ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 520
Author(s):  
Roberto Cárcamo-Calvo ◽  
Carlos Muñoz ◽  
Javier Buesa ◽  
Jesús Rodríguez-Díaz ◽  
Roberto Gozalbo-Rovira

Rotavirus is the leading cause of severe acute childhood gastroenteritis, responsible for more than 128,500 deaths per year, mainly in low-income countries. Although the mortality rate has dropped significantly since the introduction of the first vaccines around 2006, an estimated 83,158 deaths are still preventable. The two main vaccines currently deployed, Rotarix and RotaTeq, both live oral vaccines, have been shown to be less effective in developing countries. In addition, they have been associated with a slight risk of intussusception, and the need for cold chain maintenance limits the accessibility of these vaccines to certain areas, leaving 65% of children worldwide unvaccinated and therefore unprotected. Against this backdrop, here we review the main vaccines under development and the state of the art on potential alternatives.


2014 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 99-120 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy Besley ◽  
Torsten Persson

Low-income countries typically collect taxes of between 10 to 20 percent of GDP while the average for high-income countries is more like 40 percent. In order to understand taxation, economic development, and the relationships between them, we need to think about the forces that drive the development process. Poor countries are poor for certain reasons, and these reasons can also help to explain their weakness in raising tax revenue. We begin by laying out some basic relationships regarding how tax revenue as a share of GDP varies with per capita income and with the breadth of a country's tax base. We sketch a baseline model of what determines a country's tax revenue as a share of GDP. We then turn to our primary focus: why do developing countries tax so little? We begin with factors related to the economic structure of these economies. But we argue that there is also an important role for political factors, such as weak institutions, fragmented polities, and a lack of transparency due to weak news media. Moreover, sociological and cultural factors—such as a weak sense of national identity and a poor norm for compliance—may stifle the collection of tax revenue. In each case, we suggest the need for a dynamic approach that encompasses the two-way interactions between these political, social, and cultural factors and the economy.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcela Santiago Pacheco De Azevedo ◽  
Daniela Gomes Ribeiro ◽  
Felipe Rocha Da Silva Santos ◽  
Siomar De Castro Soares ◽  
Vasco Ariston De Carvalho Azevedo ◽  
...  

UNSTRUCTURED From the bubonic plague on the 14th century to the new Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), pandemics have profoundly changed societies function. Infectious disease outbreaks are getting shorter and shorter due to our densely populated cities, global travel, and nature mass exploration. In this regard, there is a particular concern about fires occurring in Brazil's Amazon rainforest, one of the most biodiverse places on earth that facilitates cross-species transmission giving rise to the emergency of new virulent pathogens. Situation is further complicated because Amazon spans across eight developing countries with limited preventive health care services. In this perspective, this review highlights the role of new methodologies best suited for epidemiological monitoring in low-income countries, such as high-throughput serological tests. Phage immunoprecipitation sequencing (Phip-Seq), for example, can evaluate antibody-repertoire binding specificities using oligonucleotides libraries encoding epitopes covering the DNA sequences from all human pathogenic viruses or all Arboviruses already described. After incubation with an individual's serum, these libraries can be immunoprecipitated for subsequent analysis by DNA sequencing. Data are analyzed revealing peptides recognized by the antibodies present in the sample. Being a technique at a relatively low cost, its implementation in developing countries is feasible and can generate very interesting scientific information.


Author(s):  
Wee Chian Koh ◽  
Shu Yu

Emerging market and developing economies (EMDEs) weathered the 2009 global recession relatively well. However, the impact of the global recession varied across economies. EMDEs with stronger pre-crisis fundamentals — such as large foreign exchange reserves, sound fiscal positions, and low inflation — suffered milder growth slowdowns, in part due to their greater capacity to engage in monetary and fiscal stimulus. Low-income countries were also resilient, as foreign aid and inflows of remittances remained relatively stable. In contrast, EMDEs that were heavily dependent on short-term capital flows — such as portfolio investment and cross-border bank lending — fared less well, especially those in Europe and Central Asia. A key lesson for EMDEs is the need to strengthen macroeconomic frameworks and create policy space to prepare for future global downturns.


2016 ◽  
pp. 1208-1227
Author(s):  
Monica Gray

Diarrhea is the second leading cause of death and is the major cause of malnutrition in children under age 5 worldwide. More than 50 percent of the cases occur in developing countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia. Open defecation, substandard fecal disposal systems, and contaminated water supplies are the typical causes of diarrheal diseases. This public health crisis in low income countries mirrors the experiences of today's industrialized nations two centuries ago. The lessons learned from their sanitary evolution can be instructive in charting a sustainable path towards saving the lives of almost 2 million children annually. In this chapter a case study of Cuba's sanitary reformation is also presented to showcase successes, similar to those of developed countries, within a developing country and economically challenging context.


2020 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Johanna F. Lindahl ◽  
Florence Mutua ◽  
Delia Grace

Abstract Livestock interventions can improve nutrition, health, and economic well-being of communities. The objectives of this review were to identify and characterize livestock interventions in developing countries and to assess their effectiveness in achieving development outcomes. A scoping review, guided by a search strategy, was conducted. Papers needed to be written in English, published in peer-reviewed journals, and describe interventions in animal health and production. Out of 2739 publications systematically screened at the title, abstract, and full publication levels, 70 met our inclusion criteria and were considered in the study. Eight relatively high-quality papers were identified and added, resulting in 78 reviewed publications. Only 15 studies used randomized controlled trial designs making it possible to confidently link interventions with the resulting outcomes. Eight studies had human nutrition or health as outcomes, 11 focused on disease control, and four were on livestock production. Eight interventions were considered successful, but only four were scalable. We found good evidence that livestock-transfer programs, leveraging livestock products for nutrition, and helping farmers manage priority diseases, can improve human well-being. Our report highlights challenges in garnering evidence for livestock interventions in developing countries and provides suggestions on how to improve the quantity and quality of future evaluations.


2019 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 391-411 ◽  
Author(s):  
Saleh Ahmed ◽  
Elizabeth Eklund

Rural accessibility means more than just reliable roads and cost-effective transportation networks. Rural accessibility is critical for achieving social and economic development in low-income developing countries such as Bangladesh where both rural and urban development are constrained by significant infrastructural deficiencies. It is also an important factor that determines the effects of natural disasters on these resource-constrained societies, since both disaster responses and sustainable development are compromised by poor rural accessibility. Using two contrasting case studies from Bangladesh, this article reveals the significance of improved rural accessibility on rural development and the effects of natural disasters on rural areas. The findings of this article suggest that the improvement of rural accessibility should be a top national development priority, since it increases the opportunities for sustainable social and economic development and reduces the adverse effects of natural disasters on the rural areas in developing countries such as Bangladesh.


Policy Papers ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 17 (15) ◽  
Author(s):  

PRGT-related policies following the 2015 enhancement of the financial safety net for LICs, while options to better assist countries confronting sudden balance of payments needs due to large natural disasters are under consideration. Demand for PRGT resources has increased. Demand for concessional resources has exceeded historical averages in recent years, mainly in response to sustained low commodity prices and deteriorated global financial market conditions. Demand is expected to reach new highs in 2017 and longer-term estimates have been raised somewhat.


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