Investigating the Determinants of Household Welfare in Cote D'Ivoire


Book Description

To predict the effect of economic policies on household welfare, one should first understand which characteristics of households and of the localities in which they live, enable them to raise their welfare levels. This paper outlines a simple procedure for investigating the determinants of household welfare and demonstrates its use with recent data from Cote d'Ivoire. Despite the relative simplicity, much information is obtained from its use on cross-sectional survey data. Results specific to Cote d'Ivoire include : high (low) returns to education in urban (rural) areas; high benefits from cocoa land relative to coffee land; a significant impact on economic welfare from the availability of medical services, and no apparent benefits from agricultural extension services.




Determinants of Fertility and Child Mortality in Côte D'Ivoire and Ghana


Book Description

Explains the broad range of financial instruments government policymakers can use to avoid commodity price risks caused by fluctuating prices. This hands-on book describes management techniques countries can use to avoid the financial risk that occurs when commodity prices fluctuate dramatically. It illustrates each technique in detail with practical case studies of Colombia, Costa Rica, Hungary, Papua New Guinea, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Venezuela. These financial techniques include short-term instruments and newer methods that let governments evade price risks over longer periods and raise finances that are linked to commodity prices. The new techniques include commodity loans, bonds, swaps, futures, forwards, and options. Policymakers receive clear information about how these financial instruments can manage price risk, provide access to external finance, and lower a country's credit risk. The workbook shows how risk instruments work within traditional stabilization schemes and explains which of the techniques protect against external risk. It also identifies the institutional changes and education requirements governments must meet to use the instruments effectively. This book advances the more theoretical work on the new, longer-term instruments that appears in Commodity Risk Management and Finance, published by the World Bank and Oxford University Press. Published for the World Bank by The Johns Hopkins University Press.




Poverty Comparisons and Household Survey Design


Book Description

World Bank Discussion Paper No. 356. The World Bank has become the world's largest lender in the health, nutrition, and population (HNP) sectors, requiring the institution to seek ever greater evidence that its work is effective on the ground. This paper reviews the literature on the causes of observed changes in health and fertility levels, on the evaluation of policies, and on programs designed to accelerate these changes. It presents a framework that delineates the relationships between Bank activities in the HNP sectors, the characteristics of a health care system, household behavior, and changes in health outcomes. The paper also describes a strategy for assessing the development effectiveness of the Bank's work in these sectors. The underlying thesis is that changes in health policy and improved outcomes depend on the the demand for health services and on institutional incentives that drive health care system performance.




Including the Poor


Book Description

Explores the role of government policy in economic development in the Republic of Korea. The Republic of Korea has achieved economic success on many fronts. Real GNP has tripled every decade since the 1960s. A dynamic and flexible manufacturing sector now dominates the economy. The benefits of growth have been widely distributed, with a sharp decrease in poverty. This study, like others in the series, seeks to draw lessons from such success and to identify and analyze the policies behind this strong economic performance. Koreas development strategy and macroeconomic performance are outlined in Part I. Several factors are seen to underlie strong growth, including the maintenance of a stable macroenvironment, flexible and pragmatic policies, and investment in infrastructure and human capital. Part II assesses the role played by industrial policy since 1961. Particular attention is given to the Heavy and Chemical Industry (HCI) drive, launched in 1973 to diversify and upgrade Koreas industrial sector. The authors note that while the HCI has been largely successful, it also has been very costly, particularly to the financial sector. Part III outlines the role of institutions and the close relationships among the government, the bureaucracy, and business. The key to Koreas rapid development, according to the authors, was the governments commitment to growth and its early focus on equity and wide distribution of the gains from growth. The authors also laud the efficiency and effectiveness of Koreas public and private sector institutions, which they see as models for all developing nations.




Knowing Poverty


Book Description

The use of participatory research techniques to provide policy-makers with information about poor people's perspectives on poverty became increasingly common in the 1990s. This book focuses on the use of participatory research in poverty reduction policies, and presents a series of participants' reflections on recent and ongoing processes. The 1990s witnessed a shift in the application of participatory methodologies, adding to the project planning approaches of the 1980s a new focus on participatory research for policy. Much of this centres on poverty issues. In this volume, contributions from researchers and practitioners in the field of poverty reduction examine how participatory research has affected the way poverty is understood, and how these understandings have been acted on in policy-making for poverty reduction. Coming from diverse backgrounds, the authors' critical reflections feature various aspects of the relationship between participation and policy, spanning different levels, from the individual researcher to the global institution. They address technical, ethical, operational, political and methodological problems. Through raising their concerns, they highlight lessons to be learnt from current practice, and challenges for the future. These include the balancing of knowledge, action and consciousness in participatory research processes which can effectively influence the development of policy that reflects and responds to the needs and priorities of poor people.




A Guide to Living Standards Measurement Study Surveys and Their Data Sets


Book Description

World Bank Discussion Paper No. 302. Presents an alternative way of financing development in Sub-Saharan Africa in order to address the shortcomings of past investment lending. This study discusses sector investment programs (SIPs) as an alternative way of financing development in Sub-Saharan Africa in order to address the shortcomings of past investment lending in the region. The report examines the nature and features of SIPs by drawing on the limited experience with such operations in a number of coutries to date, including Bangladesh, Mozambique, Pakistan, Tanzania, and Zambia. A SIP is distinguished by its comprehensive sector coverage, by close coordination among all parties, including stakholders and donors, and by the requirement that it be formulated under local ownership and management




Measuring the Effects of Geographic Targeting on Poverty Reduction


Book Description

This third and final volume from the City Study analyzes the structure of Bogota and Cali, Colombia by modelling different markets and the behavior of individuals, households, firms, and governments within these markets. Simple economic reasoning is used to understand the urban behavior that can determine a city's overall appearance and structure. The author underlines the importance of this understanding which, he argues, could lead to the creation of more effective urban policies. This study links infrastructure requirements and supply to the behavior of urban life and to the existing income distribution in the city. The author concludes that institutional responses to the rapidly changing and unpredictable demands of metropolitan residents must become an inherent part of city structure, and that this would be the most practical way of coping with urban growth.




Historical Dictionary of Cote d'Ivoire (The Ivory Coast)


Book Description

Côte d’Ivoire remains one of the most intriguing countries in sub-Saharan Africa. It appeared well on its way to becoming a model of development under its single political party and charismatic founding father, Félix Houphouët-Boigny, when it fell on hard economic times in the 1980s. Poor management of the socio-economic challenges by Houphouët-Boigny’s successors produced disastrous political consequences, including unprecedented political violence, the first-ever successful military coup, and two civil wars, culminating in former President Laurent Gbagbo being sent to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague to stand trial for war crimes. This third edition of Historical Dictionary of Cote d'Ivoire (The Ivory Coast) contains a chronology, an introduction, appendixes, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 700 cross-referenced entries on important personalities, politics, economy, foreign relations, religion, and culture. This book is an excellent access point for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about the Cote d'Ivoire.




Model Living Standards Measurement Study Survey Questionnaire for the Countries of the Former Soviet Union


Book Description

Living Standards Measurement Survey Working Paper No. 130.This document presents a set of Living Standards Measurement Study (LSMS) questionnaires that have been developed for use in the Russian-speaking countries of the former Soviet Union. The questionnaires are available in English and Russian, as well as in an electronic format. The document describes in detail how to modify the questionnaires for use in any specific country. The author guides the questionnaire writer through the modification process, illustrating the important aspects of LSMS surveys, the translation and field-testing procedures, and a section-by-section description of the types of modification that are likely to be required to suit particular goals and circumstances.Also available in Russian : (ISBN 0-8213-3935-4) / Stock No. 13935




Poverty, Inequality and Rural Development


Book Description

Poverty alleviation is a major objective of development. More than a fifth of the world's population lives in absolute poverty, and the majority of the poor live in rural areas. This volume studies what can be done for alleviating rural poverty. Four chapters address the measurement of poverty and inequality, including the use of household expenditure surveys and intra-household income distribution. Evidence is presented for India, Mauritania, Cte d'Ivoire and China. Other chapters present case studies on strategies for rural development: provision of rural credit in Bangladesh and India; technical change in Philippine agriculture; contract farming in Thailand; and banana growers in the Windwards. The contributions introduce the problems of rural development and show that effective rural development is assisted by investment in education and secure access to credit; that equity is important for incentives but not directly related to poverty; and that technical and institutional reform are essential, but require careful design and implementation.