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An aspect of the Covid-19 pandemic that merits attention is its effects on marriage and childbirth. Although the direct fertility effects of people getting the virus may be minor, the impact of delayed marriages due to the first preventive lockdown, such as that imposed in Pakistan from March 14 to May 8 2020, and the closure of marriage halls that lasted till September 14 may be non-negligible. These demographic consequences are of particular import to developing countries such as Pakistan where birth rates remain high, marriage is nearly universal, and almost all child-bearing takes place within marriage. Based on historic marriage patterns, we estimate that the delay in nuptiality during the first wave of the coronavirus outbreak may affect about half of the marriages that were to take place during the year. In Pakistan, childbearing begins soon after marriage, and about 37% of Pakistani married women give birth to their first child within twelve months of marriage. A sizeable number out of these, around 400,000 annual births that occur within twelve months of the marriage, may consequently be delayed. Postponement of marriages due to the accompanying difficult economic situation and employment precariousness will accentuate this fertility effect. The net fertility impact of the Covid-19 outbreak will ultimately depend not only on the delay in marriages but also on the reproductive behavior of existing couples.

The paper studies symptoms of Dutch disease in the Pakistani economy arising from international remittances. An IV Bayesian analysis is carried out to take care of the endogeneity and uncertainty due to the managed float of Pakistani Rupee. We find evidence for both spending and resource movement effects in both the short and the long-run. These impacts are stronger and different from those the Official Development Assistance and the FDI exert. We find that while aggregate remittances and the remittances from Persian Gulf contribute to the Dutch disease in Pakistan, those from North America and Europe do not. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]

Does access to microfinance improve household welfare? We seek the answer to this question using data on 2,060 borrower and nonborrower households based in six major urban centers of Djibouti. We construct a composite index of multidimensional poverty that captures various aspects of household well-being, including ownership of agricultural and livestock assets, land, transportation, employment, quality of housing, and sanitation facilities. We carry out estimations using an instrumental variable–based empirical strategy and a number of econometric techniques. Our results show that neither access to microcredit nor its ostensibly productive use is significantly associated with poverty regardless of the duration of time since the loan was acquired. This holds for both access to and the amount of microcredit obtained. The results are robust across specifications and econometric techniques employed. The lack of significant beneficial effect of microfinance found in the study adds to the growing literature questioning the effectiveness of microfinance as a tool for poverty alleviation. The findings raise doubts on the usefulness of Djibouti's microfinance program.

This paper studies the impact of fdi inflows on higher education in developing countries for the period 1998-2008. A large panel of developing countries is analyzed using different econometric techniques and specifications. We find evidence of short-term negative effects of fdi on tertiary education measured by school enrolment. The negative effect of fdi is confirmed for both secondary and tertiary education when measured in terms of adult educated population. gdp, demographic growth and the services sector value added seem to have a significant impact on higher education. gdp and services value-added show the expected positive impact, while population growth has a negative impact on education enrolment and attainment.Classification JEL : F21, I21, O11

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyze differential consumption patterns of Pakistani migrant households resulting from foreign and domestic remittances. Design/methodology/approach Using the Working-Leser model and a number of matching techniques, the authors analyze a representative household survey carried out in 2010–2011 to compare various expenditure categories of recipient and non-recipient households across different income brackets. Findings Results show that foreign remittances lead to significant consumption changes. Contrary to the widely held view, remittances do not raise the budget share on consumer goods and recreation, while allocation on education increases substantially. Households receiving domestic remittances also reflect strong focus on human capital with significantly higher shares of health and education. Recipients of international transfers living below one dollar a day spend proportionally more on food compared with their non-recipient counterparts whereas their education and health budget shares are not dissimilar. Practical implications The positive effect of remittances on expenditures on human capital coupled with a lack of evidence suggesting an increase in the share of conspicuous spending resulting from remittances highlights the beneficial role that remittances play in a developing country. Originality/value Extant literature lacks consensus on whether migrant remittances should be treated as a temporary or permanent source of household income. In this study, the authors argue and empirically show that the two need not be mutually exclusive, and may co-exist depending on the nature of remittances and household characteristics.

Purpose – This paper aims to examine the Indian migrants' role in attracting outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) from India to their respective host countries. Diasporas play a crucial role in augmenting trade, foreign direct investment and prosperity of a country. They facilitate acquisition and exchange of technical knowhow, market information and physical capital, and are therefore considered as social capital. Design/methodology/approach – This paper employs mixed effect model using data for the period 1999-2008. Findings – This paper finds that the presence of Indian diaspora has a substantial positive effect on the volume of Indian overseas investments in the developed countries. This is particularly the case with Indian OFDI to Asia Pacific, whereas those to Europe appear to be affected by the Indian migrant community only in the presence of bilateral investment treaties (BITs). The author findings highlight the role of Indian diaspora in promoting trade and investment links between India and other Asia Pacific countries. Originality/value – This is the first empirical analysis of the role of Indian overseas community in attracting Indian OFDI.

Cet article étudie l’impact des ide sur l’enseignement supérieur dans les pays en voie de développement pour la période 1998-2008. Un vaste panel de pvd est analysé en utilisant différentes techniques économétriques et spécifications, surtout pour tenir compte de l’endogénéité de certaines variables. Nous trouvons que l’effet des ide sur la scolarisation est négatif à court terme. L’effet négatif des ide est confirmé aussi pour l’éducation supérieure mesurée en termes de population adulte ayant acquis une éducation supérieure. Le pib et la valeur ajoutée dans le secteur des services montrent un impact positif significatif, tandis que la croissance démographique affecte négativement la scolarisation et la population adulte ayant acquis une éducation supérieure. The role of foreign direct investment in higher education in the developing countriesThis paper studies the impact of fdi inflows on higher education in developing countries for the period 1998-2008. A large panel of developing countries is analyzed using different econometric techniques and specifications. We find evidence of short-term negative effects of fdi on tertiary education measured by school enrolment. The negative effect of fdi is confirmed for both secondary and tertiary education when measured in terms of adult educated population. gdp , demographic growth and the services sector value added seem to have a significant impact on higher education. gdp and services value-added show the expected positive impact, while population growth has a negative impact on education enrolment and attainment.Classification JEL  : F21, I21, O11

In this study, we draw a theoretical model to demonstrate that small farms achieve lower total factor productivity (TFP) compared to large farms, even though their yield may be higher. We argue that taking into account family labor modifies the farm size-productivity relationship. We test our hypotheses on geocoded data from 5,645 agriculture farms in Pakistan using Pakistan household integrated economic survey 2018-19 and labor force survey 2018 combined with remote sensing data to account for farm-specific topographic features. We base our analysis on OLS and stochastic frontier analysis. We find that family labor is the key to understanding the nature and strength of the farm size-productivity relationship. Farm size's association, both with yield and TFP, turns positive when we measure family labor in terms of market wage rate rather than marginal product. Farm yield decreases by-0.07% with a one percent increase in farm size but gets insignificant or increases by 0.034% when family labor cost is measured at market wages rather than the marginal product. We find that higher family labor intensity, labor market distortion due to the notion of family dishonor, and suboptimal crop selection by small farms play a crucial role in this context.

An aspect of the Covid-19 pandemic that merits attention is its effects on marriage and childbirth. Although the direct fertility effects of people getting the virus may be minor, the impact of delayed marriages due to the first preventive lockdown, such as that imposed in Pakistan from March 14 to May 8 2020, and the closure of marriage halls that lasted till September 14 may be non-negligible. These demographic consequences are of particular import to developing countries such as Pakistan where birth rates remain high, marriage is nearly universal, and almost all child-bearing takes place within marriage. Based on historic marriage patterns, we estimate that the delay in nuptiality during the first wave of coronavirus outbreak may affect about half of the marriages that were to take place during the year. In Pakistan, childbearing begins soon after marriage, and about 37% of Pakistani married women give birth to their first child within twelve months of marriage. A sizeable number out of these around 400,000 annual births that occur within twelve months of the marriage may consequently be delayed. Postponement of marriages due to the accompanying difficult economic situation and employment precariousness should accentuate this fertility effect. The net fertility impact of the Covid-19 outbreak would ultimately depend not only on the delay in marriages but also on the reproductive behavior of existing couples.