Temporal variation of capture of anti‐poverty programs: rural public works and food for work programs in rural India

Using National Sample Survey data for rural India we examine the incidence of capture in two workfare programs in rural India: the Rural Public Works and the Food for Work Programs for 1993–1994 and 2004–2005 respectively. We discover a high degree of program capture among the general population. Among the traditionally backward groups in Indian rural society – but with considerable variation in their living standards – there appears to be a higher degree of capture among SC (Scheduled Castes), than among ST (Scheduled Tribes). Targeting among SC worsened over time. There was an increase in capture by the fourth quintile (of household per capita expenditure) of SC, ST and landowners. This may be reflective of a varying degree of collusion between the elite and the program implementing agencies (e.g. village councils) over time. Thus, potential benefits of workfare get undermined. We also provide evidence to suggest that income‐based targeting could outperform social group based targeting.     

Assessing the effect of educational programs on public schools’ performance

This paper provides evidence on the effectiveness in the implementation of an educational program which offered public schools in Catalonia (Spain) the opportunity to improve the quality of educational provision. We employ a difference-in-differences approach on rich balanced panel data of public schools. The results confirm that the program did effectively improve students’ achievement and reduce absenteeism, albeit not for all modules and school types or across all years. Our results highlight that it is important to condition the delivery of resources upon specific academic goals depending on the characteristics of the treated population. Additionally, program results suggest the need to enhance educational program design in order to get better evaluation feedback.

Abbreviations: DoE: Department of Education; EU: European Union; PMQCE: Projecte per a la Millora de la Qualitat dels Centres Educatius; DiD: Differences-in-Differences; SFDC: Schools Facing Disadvantaged Conditions; OECD: Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development; REA: Regional Educational Authority     

The appeal of voluntary environmental programs: which firms participate and why?

Why do firms participate in the EPA's voluntary environmental programs? Possible reasons include: (1) to appeal to consumers who demand ‘green’ products; (2) to preempt government regulation; (3) to seek regulatory relief from the agency; and (4) to gain a competitive advantage over competitors. This article examines the determinants of participation in voluntary environmental programs, focusing on testing hypotheses 1 and 3. To test 2, a different approach is used than in previous literature. The focus is on a specified universe of firms (manufacturing firms in the Standard & Poor 500), and their participation in each of three EPA voluntary programs (33/50, Green Lights, and WasteWi$) referring to differently regulated pollutants is analyzed. Our empirical analyses reveal that (1) publicity is an important component of participation; (2) the worse the environmental track record of the firm, the more likely the firm is to participate, but only in programs directly related to highly regulated pollutants; and (3) firms that scrutinize their environmental performance more carefully are wary of newer programs with uncertain reach of the public and uncertain benefits. Firms appear to value the information/technology transfer aspect of joining a program.     

The persistence of regional new business formation-activity over time – assessing the potential of policy promotion programs

We investigate regional differences in the level and the development of regional new business formation activity. There is a pronounced variance of start-up rates across the regions. The level of regional new business formation is rather path-dependent so that changes are relatively small. The main factors determining the level of regional start-ups are innovation and an entrepreneurial climate. These factors also seem to be responsible for changes in the level of regional new business formation. In addition, unemployment plays a role. Steering innovation and creating an entrepreneurial atmosphere could be an appropriate starting point for policy measures that try to promote start-ups. Our empirical evidence strongly suggests that such measures may have significant effect only in the long run.

Do external interventions work? The case of trade reform conditions in IMF supported programs

Trade reform conditions are common in IMF supported programs. Of the 99 countries that had IMF programs during 1993-2003, 77 had trade reform conditions in their programs. Since the WTO has not been found especially effective in promoting trade openness for most developing countries, it is of great interest to see if the IMF has been more effective as it combines carrots and sticks not available to the WTO. Yet, the effectiveness of these trade conditions has not been systematically studied. Using a unique dataset, this paper provides such an assessment. It finds that trade conditions are indeed associated with an increase in trade openness on average, but the effect comes mostly from countries that can be characterized by a high degree of “willingness to reform.”     

Can U.S. Cities afford living wage programs? An examination of alternatives

Since 1994. so-called “living wage” ordinances have passed in 20 cities in the United States, and activists are advancing similar proposals throughout the country. These proposals are a response to the declining real wages of low-wage workers in the United States—what David Gordon termed “the wage squeeze” in Fat and Mean—and, in particular, to the 30 percent fall in the real value of the minimum wage from its peak in 1968. We consider here the main arguments advanced by opponents of living wage proposals: 1) they will place a heavy burden on municipal government budgets, forcing, among other things, cuts in vital city services that benefit low-income people; 2) they will encourage local businesses to relocate and discourage new businesses from investing within cities that have such ordinances; and 3) they will cause unemployment among low-wage workers. Examining these issues in the context of proposals that were either passed or considered in different cities, we find that none of the criticisms of living wage proposals stand up to careful scrutiny or evidence. Rather, living wage proposals are affordable and workable. They represent a small but significant step toward reversing the “wage squeeze” so carefully documented and analyzed in Fat and Mean.     

Must conditional cash transfer programs be conditioned to be effective? The impact of conditioning transfers on school enrollment in Mexico

A growing body of evidence suggests that conditional cash transfer (CCT) programs can have strong, positive effects on a range of welfare indicators for poor households in developing countries. However, there is little evidence about how important each component of these programs is towards achieving these outcomes. This paper tests the importance of conditionality on one specific outcome related to human capital formation, school enrollment, using data collected during the evaluation of Mexico's PROGRESA program. We exploit the fact that some beneficiaries who received transfers did not receive the forms needed to monitor the attendance of their children at school. We use a variety of techniques, including nearest neighbor matching and household fixed effects regressions, to show that the absence of these forms reduced the likelihood that children attended school with this effect most pronounced when children are transitioning to lower secondary school. We provide substantial evidence that these findings are not driven by unobservable characteristics of households or localities.     

On locally optimal programs in the Robinson–Solow–Srinivasan model

In the context of a model due to Robinson, Solow and Srinivasan (the RSS model), we report results on the existence and characterization of locally optimal programs, a concept taken from theoretical physics. In particular, we propose a (new) transversality condition under which all locally optimal programs are good. An extended introduction places our theorems in the context of previous work on the existence question, including that on agreeable programs. It appears that there is no completely rational way to attack [the] problem without considering development programmes over an infinite horizon (Gale in Rev Econ Stud 34:1–8, 1967). The analysis of simple models is essential if we are to understand the corresponding situation for more complex models of the economy (Mirrlees and Stern in J Econ Theory 4:268–288, 1972). The technical convenience, for clear and quantitative results, of using an infinite time horizon is rather great (Hammond and Mirrlees in Models of economic growth, Wiley, New York, pp 283–299, 1973).     

Expanding the US-China cooperation on service programs： New opportunities for both countries

For years, the US and China have cooperated closely on manufacturing programs, which helps China become the world manufacturing center. While they both have gained much from the cooperation, there are also increasing frictions, disputes, complains and dissatisfaction with each other because of the huge trade unbalance problem and other significant issues. The US is eager to expand export to China, but China seems hesitating to decide what to import from the US. This paper presents an analysis about the benefits of the US-China cooperation with a primary focus on the service sector, which remains a large and untapped opportunity for China. The goal of the paper is to explore a new route to relieve the trade balance issues as they separately impact both nations. While focusing on analyzing several immediate opportunities, the paper also investigates several new ideas that rest on technology as well as entrepreneurial development.     

Does more cash in conditional cash transfer programs always lead to larger impacts on school attendance?

There is considerable evidence that conditional cash transfer (CCT) programs can have large impacts on school enrollment, including in very poor countries. However, little is known about what features of program design account for the observed outcomes. In this paper we analyze the impact of a program in Cambodia that made payments of varying magnitude to otherwise comparable households. The identification is based on a sharp regression discontinuity design. We find that a modest cash transfer, equivalent to approximately 2% of the consumption of the median recipient household, had a substantial impact on school attendance, approximately 25 percentage points. A somewhat larger transfer did not raise attendance rates above this level.     

of China HydrologyJournal of China

ournal of China HydrologyJournal of China HydrologyJournal of China HydrologyJournal of Shanxi Finance and Economics UniversityJournal of Shanxi Finance and Economics UniversityJournal of Shanxi Finance and Economics UniversityJournal of Shanxi Finance and Economics UniversityJournal of Shanxi Finance and Economics UniversityJournal of Shanxi Finance and Econom     

The Analysis of Bases of Market Segmentation

This paper analyses the characters of different bases of market segmentation and classes the bases into four kinds： observable general bases, observable product-specific bases, unobservable general bases and unobservable product-specific bases. The result can be used in the future research of market segmentation.     

Transition programs for internationally educated nurses: what can the United States learn from the United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada?

It is critical to conduct competency assessments of internationally educated nurses (IENs) to ensure public safety, as well as uphold accountability to nursing as a regulated profession. Transition programs are needed because of the required proficiency of the working language, as well as differences in nursing education, national health care systems, nursing practice and culture, etc. Transition programs in the United States are grossly under-developed because of lack of recognition of their importance, lack of funding and standardization, and decentralized regulation in nursing. United States can learn from the United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada regarding how to best transition IENs. Its current hit-and-miss approach is inadequate and inconsistent with the emerging global trend to systematically deal with the transitional challenges of IENs at the national level.     

Analysis of the Evaluation Mechanism of the Stride Development System of the Enterprise

on the basis of the self-organizing theories the thesis analyzes how enterprises realize the stride development through the technology stride. At First the thesis sets up the stride development system of enterprises and then the thesis reveals the mechanism that the technology stride will give rise to the stride development of ente~fises. In the end the thesis puts forward the enlightenment for the stride development of enterprises from the stride development system of enterprises.     

Merger of Equals? Try Murder of Equals

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On the Fabrication of Structural Model of Quality System of Urbanization in China

This paper classifies the factors related with the quality system of the urbanization into three dimensions as quality planning, quality realization and quality improvement according to the relationship of their mutual actions. Then it fabricates a three-dimension space structural model. In order to achieve sustainable improvement on urbanization quality improvement, this paper puts forward the measures of controlling the operation of the quality system of urbanization to make it run effectively and smoothly.