Does family planning help the employment of women? The case of India

This paper gives some insight into the existence of a positive effect of family planning programmes on women's employment in developing countries. We study married women aged 15–49 living throughout India using a sample drawn from the National Health Family Survey (NFHS-2) for 1998–1999. We focus on a programme of doorstep services delivered by health or family planning (FP) workers who are sent to visit women in their assigned areas. Results derived from the estimation of fixed effect linear probability and conditional logit models show a positive and significant correlation of the share of women living in a local area (village, town or city) that has been visited by FP workers with the probability of women's employment. A multinomial analysis also shows that the largest positive effect of FP in rural India is to be found on paid work, as opposed to unpaid work, suggesting a potential empowering feedback of demographic measures through labour earnings.     

The growth in U.S. male earnings inequality Changing wage rates or working time?

Increasing earnings inequality among working-age males since the early 1970s has been documented in several studies, some of which have also apportioned the change due to the inequality in wage rates and working time. This study presents an alternative decomposition using earnings capacity and earnings capacity utilization. We find that increases in the inequality of working time accounts for at least 30 percent and perhaps, as much as 60 percent of the increase in earnings inequality. We also show the sensitivity of measures of earnings inequality and its determinants to the exclusion of jobless males from the estimation.     

The gender wage gap in Myanmar: Adding insult to injury?

Using two surveys from 2017, we analyze the gender wage gap for urban workers in Myanmar. We start from a standard wage equation and condition on education, experience, health and a small set of household demographic attributes. Subsequently we control for differences in occupational choice and sector of employment. We estimate the models with sample selection correction and this leads to estimated average wage offers that are lower than the observed average wages for women. Selection into wage work results in a workforce where female wage-workers have higher levels of education compared to their male counterparts. However, average wages for female workers continue to be 29% lower than male average wages. Differences in observable attributes do not account for this gap. Instead, it is associated with a lower base wage and lower remuneration of women’s experience. Going beyond the traditional decomposition methods, we utilize our matched employer–employee survey to generate exact comparisons of female and male production workers with equal levels of education and experience, employed in the same enterprises. Even in this setting, we find a gender wage gap of 13%. Our analysis thus indicates discrimination against women in Myanmar’s labor markets.     

From financial repression to financial crisis? The case of China

This study explores the connections between financial repression policies and the possibility of financial crisis, a relationship that has been overlooked in previous literature. We focus on China, a country with one of the highest levels of financial repression in the world. China's case shows that when financial repression is maintained at a modest level, as the government did before 2008, the possibility of a financial crisis is low; however, when financial repression policies are pushed to an excessive level, as the government did after 2008, the national asset‐liability structure may be damaged to such an extent that a financial crisis becomes likely. The key to understanding the changing role of China's financial repression policies lies in the survival strategy of the Chinese party‐state, which regards finance as a powerful weapon and is eager to use it to address certain economic, political, or social problems that may endanger its rule.     

China’s expansion of higher education: The labour market consequences of a supply shock

In the decade 1998–2008 China expanded enrolment in higher education almost six-fold. For the examination of its short term labour market consequences, this unprecedentedly huge and sudden policy change might be regarded as a natural experiment. After providing a theoretical framework for analysis, the paper uses urban labour market surveys to analyse how the labour market adjusted to the supply shock. Three outcomes are examined: the effect of the expansion on wages, on unemployment, and on access to ‘good jobs’. The shock is found to reduce relative wages, raise the unemployment rate, and reduce the proportion in good jobs, but only for the entry-year or entry-period cohort of graduates. The effect is fairly powerful for entrants, especially university rather than college graduates, but incumbent graduates are largely protected from the supply shock. An attempt is made to examine the labour market effects of the quantitative expansion on educational quality. The paper provides insight into the operation of China's labour market in recent years.     

Basel regulations and banks’ efficiency: The case of the Philippines

Using stochastic frontier analysis, this paper has examined the impact of Basel II on the cost efficiency of Philippine commercial banks from 2001 to 2011. The overall mean cost efficiency estimate is 0.75, indicating substantial inefficiencies in the banks averaging to 25% of total costs. Findings show that higher capital requirement tends to improve the cost efficiency but more powerful supervisors can adversely affect the efficiency of the banks. The other potential correlates that may help explain the efficiency of the banks are risk and asset quality and bank-specific variables. From a policy perspective, this study is informative to policymakers on the general direction in which to proceed with reforms (i.e., maintain higher capital requirements, curtail powerful supervisors, and enhance private monitoring) and in identifying factors that could contribute to banks’ efficiency especially in light of the newly implemented Basel III in the country. In effect, this paper also assesses the readiness of the banks toward the implementation of Basel III.     

The Contribution of Childcare to Local Employment: Poor Work or Work for the Poor?

In recent years local economic development and regeneration agencies have begun to examine how locally based childcare can contribute to economic and social regeneration. This paper is based on current research by the authors and reports on the expectations and current realities of community based childcare as part of an economic regeneration strategy. It suggests that whilst the incorporation of childcare into urban regeneration strategy holds the potential to reduce the barriers to labour market involvement by mothers in low income households, less positive effects are also identifiable. Early evaluation is used to show that the commodification of care within urban regeneration policies reinforces care work as low paid, insecure gendered employment. It concludes by arguing that a more critical evaluation of both the economic and social impact of childcare on area regeneration is necessary.     

Simple analytics of segmented markets: What case for liberalization?

Discussion about the liberalization of controlled markets in developing countries frequently assumes that the removal of price or quantity restrictions will lead rapidly to increased marketed output. However, when parallel markets exist, market controls may not depress marketed output and may actually increase it. Conversely, liberalization may not increase marketed output much, if at all. The benefits of liberalization will be greater where parallel markets are costly to enter, so that decontrol increases efficiency, and scarce resources such as entrepreneurial and administrative ability are diverted into the rent-seeking activity of gaining access to illegal parallel markets. This paper employs partial equilibrium techniques to analyze market controls and liberalization in the presence of parallel markets for foodgrains, credit, labor, and foreign exchange.     

The paradox of developing agricultural mechanization services in China: Supporting or kicking out smallholder farmers?

Developing agricultural mechanization services (AMS) is commonly regarded as an important step in the modernization of smallholder farmers in China. However, given the increase in the opportunity costs of agriculture and the high cost of AMS, further study is needed to determine the relationship between AMS and smallholder farmers' exit from agricultural production. In this paper, data from the China Family Panel Survey collected in 2017 and 2019 are used to investigate this issue. Our findings show that the development of AMS reduces the probability that smallholder farmers exit from agricultural production though land abandonment, but increases the probability through land renting-out. Further analysis shows that with the emergence of large farm operators and the increase in land size rented by large farm operators, the development of AMS induces smallholder farmers' exit from agricultural production through both land abandonment and land renting-out. We also find that AMS can increase the market demand for land transfers and the marketization of land rentals, and as land markets develop, AMS induce smallholder farmers' exit through the abandonment of fragmented and distant land plots.     

Income distribution in the mirror of height differences: The case of Spain 1895–1950

Changes in the differences of heights among social groups could indicate shifts in income inequality. However, they can result from other factors as well. This article discusses which factors are these and, hence, which variables should we control for before taking height differences as a proxy for income inequality. An application to Spain from late nineteenth to mid-twentieth century seems to sustain the authors' contentions, and provide some conclusions for this country and time period. Given the scarcity of data on family incomes, this method could prove valuable for the study of the long-run evolution of income distribution in other countries.     

Job creation or job relocation? Identifying the impact of China's special economic zones on local employment and industrial agglomeration

Since the early 1980s, special economic zones (SEZs) in China have benefited from targeted place-based policies intended to promote local employment and economic growth. What remain poorly understood is whether SEZs serve to give birth to new firms, or rather attract and support the re-establishment of firms from other places. To address this question, this paper examines the impact of SEZs on employment growth in rural counties in China. Using ASIF panel data representing the activity of manufacturing firms for the period 1999 to 2008, this paper assesses the employment effects of SEZs according to firm births, relocation, expansion, and firm closure. By matching counties with future SEZs as comparison groups, the difference-in-differences estimates show that SEZs significantly increase employment in rural counties due to the creation of new firms and the expansion of existing large firms; in contrast, SEZs fail to promote firms to move in and restrain firms from moving out. Further, data analysis reveals significant regional heterogeneity, with the employment effects of SEZs on firm entry strongest for the eastern coastal region. Finally, we confirm that SEZs tend to reduce local industrial agglomeration in the eastern and central regions.     

Direct or indirect? The impact of political connections on export mode of Chinese private enterprises

The learning-by-exporting effect can vary by mode of export (direct or indirect via intermediaries), which raises the importance of understanding factors associated with how firms export. This paper investigates the effect of political connections, one form of informal institutions particularly important in China, on the choice of export mode by Chinese private enterprises. By using firm-level survey data and addressing endogeneity, we find that having political connections significantly increases the probability of direct exporting, while it has no effect on indirect exporting through trade intermediaries. We further test the underlying mechanisms behind these findings. The results show that corporate political connections can help alleviate financial constraints by promoting the (external) access to bank credits and by reducing the (internal) extra-tax burdens, which are disproportionately important for direct exporting relative to indirect exporting. In addition, we find limited evidence supporting the importance of contract enforcement and managerial efficiency as channels though which political connections affect the choice of export mode.     

Remittances and child labour in Ghana: Does the gender of the household head matter?

This study investigates the effect of remittance income on child labour and the role of gender in Ghana. Data were sourced from the Ghana Living Standards Survey Round 6. In order to solve the issue of endogeneity, we adopt the instrumental variable approach. The study finds evidence that, irrespective of whoever is the head of the household, the total effect of remittances on child labour is negative. However, the negative effect is much higher for female-headed households. It is recommended that more mobile money transfer outlets be established and the cost of transferring money be reduced to the barest minimum so as to enable households to maximise the benefits of the remittances they receive. Furthermore, financial transfers should be given to female household heads upon the condition of school attendance by their children so as to reduce child labour.     

The China money puzzle: will devaluation of the yuan help or hurt the Hong Kong dollar?

A Chinese yuan devaluation could affect the stability of the Hong Kong dollar. This paper studies two linkages. The first is that trade balance effect is studied through a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model. The result shows that the net change in Hong Kong's foreign reserve after a yuan devaluation is, in fact, negligible. The second is that psychological effect is studied by a survey of financial market participants. In spite of the small trade balance effect, all respondents believe that a yuan devaluation would lead to a panic selling of Hong Kong assets. Therefore, a yuan devaluation is bad for the Hong Kong dollar primarily through market psychology.     

The effect of foreign direct investment on firm growth: the case of Taiwan’s manufacturers

Foreign direct investment (FDI) can be roughly separated into an expansionary type and a defensive type. Expansionary FDI seeks to exploit the firm-specific advantage in the host country whereas defensive FDI seeks cheap labor in the host country to reduce the cost of production. Based on Taiwanese data, we examine the effects of these two types of FDI on survival and growth performance of investing firms. Both types of FDI are shown to be beneficial to the survival of firms. Expansionary FDI has the additional benefit of contributing to the sales growth of investing firms at home while defensive FDI is neutral to sales growth. Both types of FDI are also shown to be uncorrelated with job creation or job displacement at home. Our results suggest that FDI will strengthen rather than weaken the viability and competitiveness of domestic industries. It cannot be blamed for industrial ‘hollowing-out’.     

Does health insurance decrease health expenditure risk in developing countries? The case of China

This article studies the impact of health insurance on individual out‐of‐pocket health expenditures in China. Using China Health and Nutrition Survey data between 1991 and 2006, we apply two‐part and sample selection models to address issues caused by censored data and selection on unobservables. We find that, although the probability of accessing health care increases with the availability of health insurance, the level of out‐of‐pocket health expenditure decreases. Our results from a selection model with instrumental variables suggest that having health insurance reduces the expected out‐of‐pocket health expenditure of an individual by 29.42% unconditionally. Meanwhile, conditional on being subjected to positive health expenditure, health insurance helps reduce out‐of‐pocket spending by 44.38%. This beneficial effect of health insurance weakens over time, which may be attributable to increases in the coinsurance rates of health insurances in China.