Formal and Informal Markets for Water: Institutions, Performance, and Constraints

Water markets—either formal or informal—can be anefficient method for reallocating scarce water supplies. Atthe same time certain constraints can raise the transactioncosts of trading water. This paper reviews the conditions necessaryto establish successful water markets, identifies potentialproblems, and offers mitigating strategies. It also uses examplesof several informal and formal water markets already in operationto illustrate these problems and the solutions to them.      

Income Risk, Coping Strategies, and Safety Nets

Poor rural and urban households in developing countries facesubstantial risks, which they handle with risk-management andrisk-coping strategies, including self-insurance through savingsand informal insurance mechanisms. Despite these mechanisms,however, vulnerability to poverty linked to risk remains high.This article reviews the literature on poor households' useof risk-management and risk-coping strategies. It identifiesthe constraints on their effectiveness and discusses policyoptions. It shows that risk and lumpiness limit the opportunitiesto use assets as insurance, that entry constraints limit theusefulness of income diversification, and that informal risk-sharingprovides only limited protection, leaving some of the poor exposedto very severe negative shocks. Public safety nets are likelyto be beneficial, but their impact is sometimes limited, andthey may have negative externalities on households that arenot covered. Collecting more information on households' vulnerabilityto poverty—through both quantitative and qualitative methods—couldhelp inform policy.      

ON "HUNGER AND PUBLIC ACTION": A Review Article on the Book by Jean Dreze and Amartya Sen

Recent writings on poverty and hunger agree broadly on objectivesand means but diverge significantly in emphasis. Views differon the importance and function of economic growth and on howmuch weight to give to direct public support. These differencescan matter in policy choices. Hunger and Public Action, by JeanDrèze and Amartya Sen, is an important contribution tothe literature on antihunger policy. This article criticallyexamines the issues raised by the book, its differences withother recent writings, and the implications for both policyand future research on policy.      

The Costs and Benefits of Regulation: Implications for Developing Countries

The literature on the benefits and costs of regulation demonstratesthat this issue can be explored systematically using standardeconomic analysis. It also shows that regulation can have asignificant adverse impact on economic growth. Specifically,regulation aimed at controlling prices and entry into marketsthat would otherwise be workably competitive is likely to reducegrowth and adversely affect the average standard of living.In addition, process regulation can impose a significant coston the economy. Nonetheless, social regulations may have significantnet benefits for the average consumer if designed judiciously. There are several policies developing countries might consideradopting to improve their general approach to regulation. Theappropriate regulatory tools and framework will depend on manyfactors, including bureaucratic expertise, resource availability,political constraints, and economic impacts. There is a generalneed to enhance the capability for evaluating regulation atthe local and national levels.      

Contagion: Understanding How It Spreads

Much of the current debate on reforming the international financialarchitecture is aimed at reducing the risks of contagion—bestdefined as a significant increase in cross-market linkages aftera shock to an individual country (or group of countries). Thisdefinition highlights the importance of other links throughwhich shocks are normally transmitted, including trade and finance.During times of crisis, the ways in which shocks are transmitteddo seem to differ, and these differences appear to be important.Empirical work has helped to identify the types of links andother macroeconomic conditions that can make a country vulnerableto contagion during crisis periods, although less is known aboutthe importance of microeconomic considerations and institutionalfactors in propagating shocks. Empirical research has helpedto identify those countries that are at risk of contagion aswell as some, albeit quite general, policy interventions thatcan reduce risks.      

Public Social Spending in Africa: Do the Poor Benefit?

Education and health care are basic services essential in anyeffort to combat poverty and are often subsidized with publicfunds to help achieve that purpose. This paper examines theeffectiveness of public social spending on education and healthcare in several African countries and finds that these programsfavor not the poor, but those who are better-off. It concludesthat this targeting problem cannot be solved simply by adjustingthe subsidy program. The constraints that prevent the poor fromtaking advantage of these services must also be addressed ifthe public subsidies are to be effective.      

Deregulating the Transfer of Agricultural Technology: Lessons from Bangladesh, India, Turkey, and Zimbabwe

Many transition and developing economies have reduced directpublic involvement in the production and trade of seed and otheragricultural inputs. This trend creates opportunities for farmersto realize improved access to inputs, including technology frominternational private research. Unfortunately, input regulationsoften derail these opportunities by blocking private entry andthe introduction of private technology. This study looks atthe experience in Bangladesh, India, Turkey, and Zimbabwe tosee whether regulations make a difference in agriculture andinput industries in developing economies. In all countries,companies and farmers responded to regulatory reforms by introducingand adopting more new technology and by expanding the production,trade, and use of inputs. The increased use of private technologyhas brought higher yields and incomes, allowing farmers andconsumers to reach higher levels of welfare. These results challengegovernments to open their regulatory systems to allow marketentry and the introduction of private technology through seedsand other inputs.      

New Models for Old-Age Security: Experiments, Evidence, and Unanswered Questions

The escalating costs of traditional social security systemsare forcing countries to reevaluate the formal programs thatprovide income maintenance support to the aging. This articlesuggests a reform strategy built around three systems, or "pillars,"to provide old-age security—a public pillar with mandatoa private, mandatory savings plan, and a voluntary savings system.Three variations of this model are being implemented in differentcountries: the Latin American model, in which individual workerschoose an investment manager for their retirement finds; theOECD model, in which employers, union trustees, or both choosethe investment manager for an entire company or occupation;and the Swedish notional account model, a reformed pay-as-you-gofirst pillar that may be supplemented by a second, funded pillar.Preliminary empirical evidence on the efficiency and growtheffects of pension reform, mostly from Chile, indicates thatthe impact on national saving and financial market developmentand, through these, economic growth, has been positive and possiblylarge. Problems concerning high administrative costs and regulationsthat distort investment decisions remain to be resolved, however.      

FINANCIAL MARKETS, PUBLIC POLICY, AND THE EAST ASIAN MIRACLE

Many factors contributed to the rapid growth of the economiesof East Asia in the past quarter century. This article examinesone important aspect of that growth—commonly referredto as the "East Asian miracle"—public policies affectingthe financial markets. East Asian governments intervened extensivelyin financial markets at all stages of their development. Whatsets their actions apart from those of other developing countriesthat have not fared as well? We do not have the informationto answer conclusively what effect particular actions had (thatrequires a counterfactual test of what growth would have beenwithout the particular intervention). But we can identify themarket failures the East Asian governments addressed, assesssome of the theoretical reasons why each policy might be growthenhancing, and provide some data attesting to the impacts ofthe policy. Several characteristics of financial sector interventionsin East Asia stand out: they incorporated design features thatimproved the chances of success and reduced opportunities forabuse; interventions that did not work out were dropped unhesitatingly;and policies were adapted to reflect changing economic conditions.      

The Evolution of Poverty and Inequality in Indian Villages

This paper examines the evolution of poverty and inequalityin rural India by reviewing longitudinal village studies. Itexplores the main forces of economic change—agriculturalintensification, changing land relations, and occupational diversification—froma wide range of disciplinary perspectives, and it considersthe roles of various institutions as conduits of change. Althoughmost village studies support the survey-based judgment thatrural poverty declined in India during the 1970s and 1980s,they find that progress has been slow and irregular and thatinequalities within villages have persisted. These continuedinequalities may constrain both the scope for further povertyreduction from economic growth and the impact of policy interventions.      

SOME LESSONS FROM THE EAST ASIAN MIRACLE

The rapid economic growth of eight East Asian economies, oftencalled the "East Asian miracle, " raises two questions: Whatpolicies and other factors contributed to that growth? And canother developing countries replicate those policies to stimulateequally rapid growth? This article, based on case studies, econometric data, and economictheory, offers a list of the ingredients that contributed tothat success. But it is the combination of these ingredients,many of which involve government interventions acting together,that accounts for East Asia's success.      

THE DANGERS OF DECENTRALIZATION

Demand for decentralization is strong throughout the world.But the benefits of decentralization are not as obvious as thestandard theory of fiscal federalism suggests, and there areserious drawbacks that should be considered in designing anydecentralization program. An analysis of these dangers makesit easier to understand some of the real choices. These choicesare not so much whether to decentralize in general, but ratherwhat functions to decentralize, in which sectors, and in whichregions. In many cases the problem is not so much whether acertain service should be provided by a central, regional, orlocal government, but rather how to organize the joint productionof the service by the various levels. In many—if not most—cases, such measures have anenormous potential and could, if properly designed and implemented,significantly improve the efficiency of the public sector. Decentralizationmeasures are like some potent drugs, however: when prescribedfor the relevant illness, at the appropriate moment and in thecorrect dose, they can have the desired salutary effect; butin the wrong circumstances, they can harm rather than heal.This article looks at some of the negative effects of decentralizationin the hope that a better understanding of its dangers willcontribute to a wiser application of potentially desirable decentralizationprograms.      

Privatization and Corporate Governance: Principles, Evidence, and Future Challenges

Unless developing countries embrace a corporate governance perspective,privatization is unlikely to provide the benefits of improvedperformance with accountability. This article introduces theconcept of governance chains that can constrain the grabbinghands of public and private actors by providing informationand accountability mechanisms to help investors monitor managers.Empirical data on established firms from 49 countries provideestimates of the relative importance and strength of privateand formal chains of governance. The framework and empiricalbenchmarks help explain the outcomes of past privatizationsand suggest certain steps that governments can pursue to besure to get the most out of future privatization activity.      

Crisis, Adjustment, and Reform in Thailand's Industrial Firms

New data on Thailand's industrial firms shed light on the originsof the East Asian financial crisis and on the response of themanufacturing sector to the structural adjust-ment program supportedby the international financial institutions. Before the crisis,Thai firms had declining profitability, but they neverthelessmaintained high levels of investment, often in domesticallyoriented areas (notably the auto sector). Thai firms financedthese investments with short-term borrowing from financial institutions,which in turn borrowed short term on foreign markets. That only40 percent of firms provided audited financial statements totheir banks meant that the financial sector had poor informationfor assessing the true riskiness of these investments. The financialstructure was thus vulnerable even to small shocks. How well did the adjustment program deal with the crisis? Thaifirms had difficulty increasing their exports quickly becauseof investment in the wrong sectors, a decline in regional demand,and bottlenecks that included red tape and poor customs administration.Because of the poor export response, the brunt of adjustmenthad to come through compression of demand and of imports. Inretrospect, the macroeconomic program— which assumed quickexport recovery— was too tight.      

Targeting Outcomes Redux

A newly constructed comprehensive database of 122 targeted antipovertyinterventions in 48 countries is used to examine the contestedissue of the efficacy of targeting interventions in developingcountries. Though the median program transfers 25 percent moreto poor individuals (those in the bottom two quintiles) thanwould universal allocation, a quarter of the interventions areregressive. Targeting is better in richer countries, in countrieswhere governments are more likely to be held accountable, andin countries where inequality is higher. Interventions thatuse means testing, geographic targeting, and self-selectionbased on a work requirement are all associated with an increasedshare of benefits going to poor people. Proxy-means testing,community-based selection, and demographic targeting to childrenshow good results on average but with wide variation. Self-selectionbased on consumption, demographic targeting to the elderly,and community bidding show limited potential for good targeting.The substantial variation in targeting performance within specificprogram types and specific targeting methods suggests that differencesin implementation are also important factors in determiningthe success of targeting to poor individuals.      

THE ECONOMICS OF MALARIA CONTROL

Ideally, in devising and assessing policies to control disease,the rules and reasoning of economics should be combined withcomprehensive epidemiological information to arrive at the bestdecisions. Simple economic concepts can be of great practicalassistance to policymakers in disease control. This articledescribes the economic principles to be applied and the kindof information needed to make informed choices about the optionsfor controlling malaria. In this context, the article surveysthe research on the costs that malaria imposes on people andeconomies, discusses how to assess the costs and effects ofinterventions used to combat the problem, and identifies theconceptual difficulties and gaps in information that must bebridged before the marriage of the two disciplines can be effectivelyconsummated.      

融资约束、支付方式与并购绩效的关系研究

本文利用中国A股上市公司2008～2010年在国内并购的数据,实证检验融资约束是否影响并购支付方式以及公司并购绩效。研究结果发现,融资约束程度的提高增加了公司采用现金支付对价的可能性;收购公司规模和交易规模对支付方式选择也具有显著影响;融资约束公司并购绩效好于无融资约束公司并购绩效;现金支付引起公司并购绩效降低,但是,这种作用在不同融资约束程度公司中存在差异。本文研究意味着融资约束公司遵循融资优序理论;自由现金流假说对于融资约束公司可能不成立。     

Promoting Efficient Rural Financial Intermediation

Although governments have traditionally used subsidized creditprograms to promote agricultural growth, this approach has generallyfailed to improve incomes and alleviate poverty in rural areas.It has also led to the mistaken belief that rural credit programscannot be profitable. A new approach seeks to raise standardsof living in rural areas by casting the government in a veryd role—one of setting a favorable legal andpolicy environmentfor rural financial markets and addressing spec market failurescost effectively through well-designed and self-sustaining interventions.There is evidence that this approach can be highly successful.The Village Bank system of Bank Rakyat Indonesia has shown thatfinancial services can be extended to millions of low-incomerural clients without relying on subsidies. Indeed, the programhas generated enormous profits for the bank by using simple,innovative, and largely replicable techniques.      

Access to Financial Services: A Review of the Issues and Public Policy Objectives

This article reviews the evidence on the importance of financefor economic well-being. It provides data on the use of basicfinancial services by households and firms across a sample ofcountries, assesses the desirability of universal access, andprovides an overview of the macroeconomic, legal, and regulatoryobstacles to access. Despite the benefits of finance, the datashow that use of financial services is far from universal inmany countries, especially developing countries. Universal accessto financial services has not been a public policy objectivein most countries and would likely be difficult to achieve.Countries can, however, facilitate access to financial servicesby strengthening institutional infrastructure, liberalizingmarkets and facilitating greater competition, and encouraginginnovative use of know-how and technology. Government interventionsto directly broaden access to finance, however, are costly andfraught with risks, among others the risk of missing the targetedgroups. The article concludes with recommendations for globalactions aimed at improving data on access and use and suggestionson areas of further analysis to identify constraints to broadeningaccess.