Explore the vast range of titles available.

We investigate the relationship between inequality, redistribution, and growth using a recently-compiled dataset that distinguishes clearly between market (pre-tax and transfer) and net (post tax and transfer) inequality, and allows us to calculate redistributive transfers for a large number of advanced and developing countries. Across a variety of estiWe mation methods, data samples, and robustness checks, we find: (1) lower net inequality is robustly correlated with faster and more durable growth, controlling for the level of redistribution; (2) redistribution appears benign in terms of its impact on growth, except when it is extensive; and (3) inequality seems to affect growth through human capital accumulation and fertility channels.

Traditional models relying on standard variables like the U.S. Hispanic unemployment rate fared well in explaining remittances to CAPDR and Mexico during the pre-pandemic period. However, they fail to predict the sustained growth in remittances since June 2020, including the significant increase in the average amount remitted. Using data from over 300 remittances corridors (from 23 U.S. states to 14 Salvadoran departments), we find that this increase is primarily explained by the dynamics of U.S. states real wages, as well as more temporary factors like U.S. unemployment relief (including the extraordinary pandemic support), U.S. states mobility, and COVID-19 infections at home. The paper also analyses what role the change in the modes of transmission of remittances, additional U.S. fiscal stimulus and U.S. labor market developments, especially in the sectors were CAPDR and Mexican migrants preponderantly work, play in explaining aggregate remittances growth.

This paper analyzes the potential for fintech to facilitate cheaper and more efficient remittances, and to enhance financial inclusion in Central America. Digital remittances remain nascent in the region, primarily reflecting behavioral inertia, small cost advantages of digital over traditional channels, and inadequate financial literacy. Through expanded alliances between traditional and fintech operators, digital remittances can further reduce transaction costs and reach those remote, low-income households in a timely and secure manner. A meaningful expansion of fintech remittances necessitates an enabling regulatory environment for digital financial services, and KYC and AML/CFT requirements proportionate to the value of transfers.

This paper applies the work of Berg and Ostry (2011) to the SACU region, to identify how inequalities have played a role in growth in each of these countries, and elaborates policy options to mitigate the effects of inequalities and foster growth. Lower income inequalities could lead to significant gains, as SACU countries could almost double the duration of their growth periods, with much lower inequalities. While reducing inequalities may be desirable, the design of policies to achieve such objective is not trivial. Policies targeting income inequalities at the sources are expected to be the most effective to reduce inequalities and promote growth. However, direct redistribution, if carefully crafted can also be very effective in reducing inequalities while limiting its potentially negative impact on growth.

Reliable marketing opportunities in both interregional and international trade are an important precondition for further development of the agricultural sector. In this study we assess interregional integration of Kazakh wheat markets. We apply asymmetric threshold error correction models to assess the co-movement of elevator prices at three grain-trading spots in the northern and central parts of the country. Results suggest that markets of two northern grain-trading spots (Petropavlovsk and Kokshetau) are closely connected with each other while their connection with Karaganda in central Kazakhstan is much weaker. Here, levelling out price gaps through arbitrage trade only occurs after a threshold of considerable extent has been surpassed.

Reliable marketing opportunities in both interregional and international trade along with relatively low transportation [and transaction] costs are essential to profitability of wheat production. In this study we have investigated one aspect of the quality of marketing and trade opportunities in the Kazakh wheat sector, that is the extent and nature of integration among regional wheat markets. We applied threshold cointegration technique to assess the co-movement between time series of elevator prices at three grain-trading (and producing) spots in the northern and central parts of the country. Results suggest that markets of two northern grain trading spots (Petropavlovsk and Kokshetau) are closely connected with each other while their connection with Karaganda in central Kazakhstan is much weaker. Here, levelling out of price gaps through arbitrage trade only occurs after a threshold of considerable extent has been surpassed. ZUSAMMENFASSUNG Eine wichtige Voraussetzung fur die Wirtschaftlichkeit der Getreideproduktion sind verlassliche Vermarktungswege, die interregionalen und internationalen Handel zu relativ geringen Transport- und Transaktionskosten zulassen. Die Studie behandelt die Integration regionaler Weizenmarkte miteinander und beleuchtet damit, wie reibungslos Getreidehandel zwischen diesen Regionen moglich ist. Mit Hilfe von Verfahren der threshold cointegration analysis werden Zusammenhange in den Preisentwicklungen zwischen drei wichtigen Handelsplatzen in Nordund Zentralkasachstan untersucht. Die Markte der beiden nordlichen Marktorte Petropavlovsk und Kokshetau stehen in enger Verbindung zueinander, wahrend sie wesentlich unabhangiger von den Marktentwickungen im zentralkasachischen Karaganda sind. Ein Ausgleich von Preisunterschieden zwischen den nordlichen Markten und Karaganda findet erst statt, wenn diese Unterschiede einen betrachtlichen Schwellenwert (threshold) ubersteigen.

In this paper, we present the results of a two-stage expert elicitation (Delphi) study conducted to provide input to contingent valuation (CV) studies. These CV studies are designed to estimate the benefits of various public and private strategies for the control of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) across the study countries of Ethiopia, Ghana, Indonesia, Kenya, and Nigeria. The results of these CV studies are expected to feed into the cost-benefit and cost-effectiveness analyzes, which will be conducted to identify the effective HPAI control strategies in each study country. The information gathered through the Delphi study included (1) definitions of the small-scale producers (noncommercial/semicommercial and commercial) across the study countries, (2) estimations of the efficacy of various private and public control strategies in HPAI control, and (3) estimates of the proportion of poultry producers who are expected to adopt these control strategies under different scenarios. In this Delphi study, we collected data from 23 experts and analyzed the data by using statistical analysis methods. The results reveal that small-scale flocks are significantly larger in Indonesia, compared to the four African countries. The efficacy levels of both private and public HPAI control strategies investigated are significantly higher for commercial producers than for their noncommercial/semicommercial counterparts. Across private strategies and study countries, regular monitoring is thought to have the highest efficacy for those in the noncommercial/semicommercial sector, whereas regular disinfection and containment in hard material (as a combined strategy) was found to be the most effective strategy in minimizing risk in the commercial sector. Across public strategies and study countries, experts see surveillance by veterinary services as the most effective public sector HPAI control strategy in both the noncommercial/semicommercial and commercial sectors. Finally, according to the experts, small-scale poultry producers' likelihood of adoption is low overall, although adoption rates are higher for commercial producers than for noncommercial/semicommercial producers.

The World Bank and the IMF have adopted a debt sustainability framework (DSF) to evaluate the risk of debt distress in Low Income Countries (LICs). At the core of the DSF are empirically-based thresholds for each of five different measures of the debt burden (the â[euro]oedebt threshold approachâ[euro] DTA). The DSF contains a rule for aggregating the information contained in these five different variables which we label the â[euro]oeworst-case aggregatorâ[euro] (WCA) in view of the fact that the DSF considers a breach of any one of the thresholds sufficient to indicate a high risk of debt distress. However, neither the DTA nor the WCA has heretofore been subject to empirical testing. We find that: (1) the DTA loses information relative to a simple proposed alternative; (2) the WCA is too conservative (predicting crises too often) in terms of the loss function used in the DSF; and (3) the WCA is less accurate than some simple proposed alternative aggregators as a predictor of debt distress.

Because of the substantive role played by livestock in the income and asset portfolios of the poor, livestock diseases can be an important threat to livelihoods. Yet for a variety of reasons, there are few applicable methods and consequently scant literature to assess the impacts of livestock diseases on livelihood outcomes. Existing literature comprises small-area studies and computable models with wider geographic focus, both of which have limitations in this specific context. We propose an alternative approach for estimating the impacts of livestock diseases on livelihoods. This proposed approach is an adaptation of a quasi-experimental impact evaluation method, namely propensity score matching, which uses features available in large-scale datasets with wide geographic coverage to create counterfactual scenarios that could mimic outcomes of a disease outbreak. By its construction the method is well suited for ex ante impact assessment. As an illustration we apply the method to the hypothetical case of an avian flu outbreak in Kenya.