There is a vast body of literature on performance-related pay (PRP), with strongly held views from opponents and proponents. This study reviews this literature, disaggregating the available evidence by the different public sector contexts, particularly the different types of public sector jobs, the quality of the empirical study, and the economic context (developing country or OECD settings), with the aim of distilling useful lessons for policymakers in developing countries. The overall findings of the review are generally positive across these contextual categories. In particular, the findings from high quality studies, based on a simple scoring method for internal and external validity, of PRP in public sector-equivalent jobs show that explicit performance standards linked to some form of bonus pay can improve the desired service outcomes, at times dramatically. This evidence primarily concerns craft jobs, such as teaching, health care, and revenue administration, apparently negating (at least in the short term) the behavioral economics concern about the crowding out of intrinsic incentives. The available evidence suggests that if policymakers are sensitive to design and vigilant about the risks of gaming, then PRP may result in performance improvements in these jobs in developing countries. However, it is difficult to draw firm conclusions from the review about the effect of PRP in core civil service jobs for three reasons. First, there are very few studies of PRP in these organizational contexts. The work of senior administrators in the civil service is very different from that of many private sector jobs and is characterized by task complexity and the difficulty of measuring outcomes. Second, although some studies have shown that PRP can work in even the most dysfunctional bureaucracies in developing countries, there are few cases illustrating its effectiveness or otherwise outside OECD settings. Finally, few studies follow PRP effects over time, providing little information on long-term effects and adjustments in staff behavior. The authors conclude that more empirical research is needed to examine the effects of PRP in the core civil service in developing countries.
{"title":"The Promise of Performance Pay? Reasons for Caution in Policy Prescriptions in the Core Civil Service","authors":"Zahid Hasnain, Nick Manning, Jan H Pierskalla","doi":"10.1093/WBRO/LKU001","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/WBRO/LKU001","url":null,"abstract":"There is a vast body of literature on performance-related pay (PRP), with strongly held views from opponents and proponents. This study reviews this literature, disaggregating the available evidence by the different public sector contexts, particularly the different types of public sector jobs, the quality of the empirical study, and the economic context (developing country or OECD settings), with the aim of distilling useful lessons for policymakers in developing countries. The overall findings of the review are generally positive across these contextual categories. In particular, the findings from high quality studies, based on a simple scoring method for internal and external validity, of PRP in public sector-equivalent jobs show that explicit performance standards linked to some form of bonus pay can improve the desired service outcomes, at times dramatically. This evidence primarily concerns craft jobs, such as teaching, health care, and revenue administration, apparently negating (at least in the short term) the behavioral economics concern about the crowding out of intrinsic incentives. The available evidence suggests that if policymakers are sensitive to design and vigilant about the risks of gaming, then PRP may result in performance improvements in these jobs in developing countries. However, it is difficult to draw firm conclusions from the review about the effect of PRP in core civil service jobs for three reasons. First, there are very few studies of PRP in these organizational contexts. The work of senior administrators in the civil service is very different from that of many private sector jobs and is characterized by task complexity and the difficulty of measuring outcomes. Second, although some studies have shown that PRP can work in even the most dysfunctional bureaucracies in developing countries, there are few cases illustrating its effectiveness or otherwise outside OECD settings. Finally, few studies follow PRP effects over time, providing little information on long-term effects and adjustments in staff behavior. The authors conclude that more empirical research is needed to examine the effects of PRP in the core civil service in developing countries.","PeriodicalId":47647,"journal":{"name":"World Bank Research Observer","volume":"57 1","pages":"1-30"},"PeriodicalIF":8.1,"publicationDate":"2014-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"75071376","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The authors examine differential progress on health Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) between the poor and the better off within countries. Their findings are based on an original analysis of 235 Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) and Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) surveys spanning 64 developing countries over the 1990–2011 period. The authors track five health status indicators and seven intervention indicators from all four health MDGs. In approximately three-quarters of countries, the poorest 40 percent have made faster progress than the richest 60 percent on MDG intervention indicators. On average, relative inequality in these indicators has been falling. However, in terms of MDG outcome indicators, in nearly half of the countries, relative inequality has been growing. Moreover, in approximately one-quarter of the countries, the poorest 40 percent have been slipping backwards in absolute terms on both MDG interventions and outcomes. Despite reductions in most countries, relative inequalities in MDG health indicators are still appreciable, with the poor facing higher risks of malnutrition and death in childhood and lower odds of receiving key health interventions.
{"title":"Progress on global health goals : are the poor being left behind?","authors":"A. Wagstaff, Caryn Bredenkamp, L. Buisman","doi":"10.1093/WBRO/LKU008","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/WBRO/LKU008","url":null,"abstract":"The authors examine differential progress on health Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) between the poor and the better off within countries. Their findings are based on an original analysis of 235 Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) and Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) surveys spanning 64 developing countries over the 1990–2011 period. The authors track five health status indicators and seven intervention indicators from all four health MDGs. In approximately three-quarters of countries, the poorest 40 percent have made faster progress than the richest 60 percent on MDG intervention indicators. On average, relative inequality in these indicators has been falling. However, in terms of MDG outcome indicators, in nearly half of the countries, relative inequality has been growing. Moreover, in approximately one-quarter of the countries, the poorest 40 percent have been slipping backwards in absolute terms on both MDG interventions and outcomes. Despite reductions in most countries, relative inequalities in MDG health indicators are still appreciable, with the poor facing higher risks of malnutrition and death in childhood and lower odds of receiving key health interventions.","PeriodicalId":47647,"journal":{"name":"World Bank Research Observer","volume":"89 1","pages":"137-162"},"PeriodicalIF":8.1,"publicationDate":"2014-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"74557378","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
An orderly sovereign debt restructuring should place the debtor nation's public debt on a sustainable trajectory while minimizing procrastination and contagion. However, the experiences with the debt crisis of the 1980s, Russia 1998, Argentina 2001, and Greece 2010 indicate that orderly debt restructurings remain elusive, even with high-powered official intervention. When solvency problems are present, the chances of success increase if official money is lent at the risk-free rate, reflecting its low risk, and if private creditors receive an upfront haircut. The paper examines the obstacles, which include moral hazard, difficulty in distinguishing between solvency and liquidity crises, and the "political economy" resistance to upfront haircuts. Orderly sovereign debt restructurings are likely to remain elusive notwithstanding recent evidence that the official mindset may be changing.
{"title":"Orderly Sovereign Debt Restructuring: Missing in Action! (And Likely to Remain so)","authors":"Otaviano Canuto, Brian Pinto, M. Prasad","doi":"10.1093/WBRO/LKT020","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/WBRO/LKT020","url":null,"abstract":"An orderly sovereign debt restructuring should place the debtor nation's public debt on a sustainable trajectory while minimizing procrastination and contagion. However, the experiences with the debt crisis of the 1980s, Russia 1998, Argentina 2001, and Greece 2010 indicate that orderly debt restructurings remain elusive, even with high-powered official intervention. When solvency problems are present, the chances of success increase if official money is lent at the risk-free rate, reflecting its low risk, and if private creditors receive an upfront haircut. The paper examines the obstacles, which include moral hazard, difficulty in distinguishing between solvency and liquidity crises, and the \"political economy\" resistance to upfront haircuts. Orderly sovereign debt restructurings are likely to remain elusive notwithstanding recent evidence that the official mindset may be changing.","PeriodicalId":47647,"journal":{"name":"World Bank Research Observer","volume":"24 1","pages":"109-135"},"PeriodicalIF":8.1,"publicationDate":"2014-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"85431513","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Government failures are widespread in Africa. Symptoms include absentee teachers, leakage of public funds, monopolized trucking, and employment-restricting regulations. Can civil society do anything about these failures? Will external donor support to civil society help? The authors argue that the challenge for civil society is to improve government functioning by strengthening political incentives - the underlying cause of government failure - rather than bypassing or supplanting the state. This paper reviews the available evidence on civil society interventions from this perspective. Although the current increase in political competition and extensive citizen engagement in Africa seems to create the potential for civil society influence, the authors find that there are large knowledge gaps regarding what works, where, and how. Some rigorous evaluations find significant impacts of civil society involvement on development outcomes, but these studies typically pay insufficient attention to the mechanisms. For example, are impacts due to overcoming government failure or to changing private household behavior, leaving the wasteful allocation of public resources untouched? The authors conclude that donor support to civil society should take an approach of learning by doing through ongoing experimentation backed by rigorous, data-based evaluations of the mechanisms of impact.
{"title":"Can civil society overcome government failure in Africa","authors":"Shanta Devarajan, Stuti Khemani, M. Walton","doi":"10.1093/WBRO/LKT008","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/WBRO/LKT008","url":null,"abstract":"Government failures are widespread in Africa. Symptoms include absentee teachers, leakage of public funds, monopolized trucking, and employment-restricting regulations. Can civil society do anything about these failures? Will external donor support to civil society help? The authors argue that the challenge for civil society is to improve government functioning by strengthening political incentives - the underlying cause of government failure - rather than bypassing or supplanting the state. This paper reviews the available evidence on civil society interventions from this perspective. Although the current increase in political competition and extensive citizen engagement in Africa seems to create the potential for civil society influence, the authors find that there are large knowledge gaps regarding what works, where, and how. Some rigorous evaluations find significant impacts of civil society involvement on development outcomes, but these studies typically pay insufficient attention to the mechanisms. For example, are impacts due to overcoming government failure or to changing private household behavior, leaving the wasteful allocation of public resources untouched? The authors conclude that donor support to civil society should take an approach of learning by doing through ongoing experimentation backed by rigorous, data-based evaluations of the mechanisms of impact.","PeriodicalId":47647,"journal":{"name":"World Bank Research Observer","volume":"67 1","pages":"20-47"},"PeriodicalIF":8.1,"publicationDate":"2014-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"81685237","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The literature is reviewed on the relationships between population, poverty, and climate change. While developed countries are largely responsible for global warming, the brunt of the fallout will be borne by the developing world, in lower agricultural output, poorer health, and more frequent natural disasters. Carbon emissions in the developed world have leveled off, but are projected to rise rapidly in the developing world due to their economic growth and population growth -- the latter most notably in the poorest countries. Lowering fertility has many benefits for the poorest countries. Studies indicate that, in high fertility settings, fertility decline facilitates economic growth and poverty reduction. It also reduces the pressure on livelihoods, and frees up resources to cope with climate change. And it helps avert some of the projected global warming, which will benefit these countries far more than those that lie at higher latitudes and/or have more resources to cope with climate change. Natural experiments indicate that family planning programs are effective in helping reduce fertility, and that they are highly pro-poor in their impact. While the rest of the world wrestles with the complexities of reducing emissions, the poorest countries will gain much from simple programs to lower fertility.
{"title":"Population, Poverty, and Climate Change","authors":"M. Gupta","doi":"10.1093/WBRO/LKT009","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/WBRO/LKT009","url":null,"abstract":"The literature is reviewed on the relationships between population, poverty, and climate change. While developed countries are largely responsible for global warming, the brunt of the fallout will be borne by the developing world, in lower agricultural output, poorer health, and more frequent natural disasters. Carbon emissions in the developed world have leveled off, but are projected to rise rapidly in the developing world due to their economic growth and population growth -- the latter most notably in the poorest countries. Lowering fertility has many benefits for the poorest countries. Studies indicate that, in high fertility settings, fertility decline facilitates economic growth and poverty reduction. It also reduces the pressure on livelihoods, and frees up resources to cope with climate change. And it helps avert some of the projected global warming, which will benefit these countries far more than those that lie at higher latitudes and/or have more resources to cope with climate change. Natural experiments indicate that family planning programs are effective in helping reduce fertility, and that they are highly pro-poor in their impact. While the rest of the world wrestles with the complexities of reducing emissions, the poorest countries will gain much from simple programs to lower fertility.","PeriodicalId":47647,"journal":{"name":"World Bank Research Observer","volume":"88 1","pages":"83-108"},"PeriodicalIF":8.1,"publicationDate":"2013-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"88680786","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2012-11-26DOI: 10.4324/9781315643014-12
J. Morduch
Most households in low-income countries deal with economic hardships through informal insurance arrangements between individuals and communities rather than through publicly managed programs or market-provided insurance schemes. Households may, for example, draw on savings, sell physical assets, rely on reciprocal gift exchanges, or diversify into alternative income-generating activities. These mechanisms can be highly effective in the right circumstances, but most recent studies show that informal insurance arrangements are often weak. Poor households, in particular, have substantial difficulties coping with even local, idiosyncratic risks. Public policy can help reduce vulnerability by encouraging private, flexible coping mechanisms while discouraging those that are fragile or that hinder economic and social mobility. Promising policies include creating self-regulating workfare programs and providing a supportive setting for institutions working to improve access to credit, crop and health insurance, an...
{"title":"Between the State and the Market","authors":"J. Morduch","doi":"10.4324/9781315643014-12","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315643014-12","url":null,"abstract":"Most households in low-income countries deal with economic hardships through informal insurance arrangements between individuals and communities rather than through publicly managed programs or market-provided insurance schemes. Households may, for example, draw on savings, sell physical assets, rely on reciprocal gift exchanges, or diversify into alternative income-generating activities. These mechanisms can be highly effective in the right circumstances, but most recent studies show that informal insurance arrangements are often weak. Poor households, in particular, have substantial difficulties coping with even local, idiosyncratic risks. Public policy can help reduce vulnerability by encouraging private, flexible coping mechanisms while discouraging those that are fragile or that hinder economic and social mobility. Promising policies include creating self-regulating workfare programs and providing a supportive setting for institutions working to improve access to credit, crop and health insurance, an...","PeriodicalId":47647,"journal":{"name":"World Bank Research Observer","volume":"62 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":8.1,"publicationDate":"2012-11-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"89329259","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This article reviews the evidence on the importance of finance for economic well-being. It provides data on the use of basic financial services by households and firms across a sample of countries, assesses the desirability of universal access, and provides an overview of the macroeconomic, legal, and regulatory obstacles to access. Despite the benefits of finance, the data show that use of financial services is far from universal in many countries, especially developing countries. Universal access to financial services has not been a public policy objective in most countries and would likely be difficult to achieve. Countries can, however, facilitate access to financial services by strengthening institutional infrastructure, liberalizing markets and facilitating greater competition, and encouraging innovative use of know-how and technology. Government interventions to directly broaden access to finance, however, are costly and fraught with risks, among others the risk of missing the targeted groups. The ...
{"title":"Access to Financial Services","authors":"S. Claessens","doi":"10.18356/eb3b5e8c-en","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.18356/eb3b5e8c-en","url":null,"abstract":"This article reviews the evidence on the importance of finance for economic well-being. It provides data on the use of basic financial services by households and firms across a sample of countries, assesses the desirability of universal access, and provides an overview of the macroeconomic, legal, and regulatory obstacles to access. Despite the benefits of finance, the data show that use of financial services is far from universal in many countries, especially developing countries. Universal access to financial services has not been a public policy objective in most countries and would likely be difficult to achieve. Countries can, however, facilitate access to financial services by strengthening institutional infrastructure, liberalizing markets and facilitating greater competition, and encouraging innovative use of know-how and technology. Government interventions to directly broaden access to finance, however, are costly and fraught with risks, among others the risk of missing the targeted groups. The ...","PeriodicalId":47647,"journal":{"name":"World Bank Research Observer","volume":"16 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":8.1,"publicationDate":"2012-11-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"75276797","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This article examines rationales for public intervention in health insurance markets from the perspective of public economics. It draws on the literature of organizational design to examine alternative public intervention strategies, including issues of contracting, purchaser provider splits, and regulation of competition. Health insurance reforms in four Latin American countries are then considered in light of the insights provided by the theoretical literature. Health care expenses and lost labor earnings due to illness—not to mention the direct effects of feeling lousy and dying young—represent a major source of risk for individuals and families. Exposure to such risks is costly in itself (if individuals are risk averse), but can also have long-term effects, especially on the poor. Selling assets, withdrawing children from school to care for ill parents, and exiting the labor market can leave low-income families trapped in poverty. This article addresses the role of government in spreading and reducing health risks with particular emphasis on the design and organization of the relevant institutions in Latin America. Faced with wide disparities in both health needs and access to medical care across regions and income groups, and with continuing pressures on public finances arising from the macroeconomic crises of the 1980s and 1990s, a number of countries in the region have adopted wide-ranging health sector reforms that continue today (Greene, Zevallos, and Suarez 1999). Generally, among the higher-income countries, there has been a move toward extending explicit insurance coverage to those outside the formal labor market. At the same time, these countries have examined the ways in which insurance and health care have been delivered and have instituted reforms that are meant to improve allocative and production efficiency in the sector. Lower-income countries in the region have not proceeded as far in terms of explicit health insurance reform, which requires a certain administrative capacity, and have tended to concentrate on running public hospitals and clinics better.
本文从公共经济学的角度考察了公共干预医疗保险市场的基本原理。它借鉴了组织设计的文献来研究替代性的公共干预策略，包括合同问题、采购供应商分裂和竞争监管。在四个拉丁美洲国家的医疗保险改革，然后考虑了由理论文献提供的见解。医疗费用和因疾病而失去的劳动收入——更不用说感觉糟糕和英年早逝的直接影响——是个人和家庭的主要风险来源。暴露于这种风险本身代价高昂(如果个人厌恶风险)，但也可能产生长期影响，尤其是对穷人。出售资产、让孩子辍学照顾生病的父母以及退出劳动力市场可能会让低收入家庭陷入贫困。本文论述了政府在传播和减少健康风险方面的作用，特别强调了拉丁美洲相关机构的设计和组织。面对不同区域和收入群体在保健需求和获得医疗保健方面的巨大差异，以及1980年代和1990年代宏观经济危机对公共财政造成的持续压力，该区域的一些国家采取了广泛的卫生部门改革，这些改革一直持续到今天(Greene, Zevallos, and Suarez 1999)。一般来说，在高收入国家中，有一种趋势是将明确的保险覆盖范围扩大到正规劳动力市场之外的人。与此同时，这些国家审查了提供保险和保健的方式，并进行了旨在提高该部门的分配和生产效率的改革。该区域的低收入国家在明确的医疗保险改革方面没有取得如此大的进展，这需要一定的行政能力，并且往往集中精力更好地经营公立医院和诊所。
{"title":"Public intervention in health insurance markets : theory and four examples from Latin America","authors":"William Jack","doi":"10.1093/WBRO/17.1.67","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/WBRO/17.1.67","url":null,"abstract":"This article examines rationales for public intervention in health insurance markets from the perspective of public economics. It draws on the literature of organizational design to examine alternative public intervention strategies, including issues of contracting, purchaser provider splits, and regulation of competition. Health insurance reforms in four Latin American countries are then considered in light of the insights provided by the theoretical literature. Health care expenses and lost labor earnings due to illness—not to mention the direct effects of feeling lousy and dying young—represent a major source of risk for individuals and families. Exposure to such risks is costly in itself (if individuals are risk averse), but can also have long-term effects, especially on the poor. Selling assets, withdrawing children from school to care for ill parents, and exiting the labor market can leave low-income families trapped in poverty. This article addresses the role of government in spreading and reducing health risks with particular emphasis on the design and organization of the relevant institutions in Latin America. Faced with wide disparities in both health needs and access to medical care across regions and income groups, and with continuing pressures on public finances arising from the macroeconomic crises of the 1980s and 1990s, a number of countries in the region have adopted wide-ranging health sector reforms that continue today (Greene, Zevallos, and Suarez 1999). Generally, among the higher-income countries, there has been a move toward extending explicit insurance coverage to those outside the formal labor market. At the same time, these countries have examined the ways in which insurance and health care have been delivered and have instituted reforms that are meant to improve allocative and production efficiency in the sector. Lower-income countries in the region have not proceeded as far in terms of explicit health insurance reform, which requires a certain administrative capacity, and have tended to concentrate on running public hospitals and clinics better.","PeriodicalId":47647,"journal":{"name":"World Bank Research Observer","volume":"2 1","pages":"67-88"},"PeriodicalIF":8.1,"publicationDate":"2012-11-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"75222563","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Three questions are frequently raised about the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Where do developing countries stand? What factors affect their rate of progress? Can lagging countries achieve these goals in the few years remaining until 2015? This paper examines these questions and takes a closer look at the variation in the rate of progress among developing countries. We argue that answers from the available data are surprisingly positive. In particular, three-quarters of developing countries are on target or close to being on target for all of the MDGs. Among the countries that are falling short, the average gap for the top half is about 10 percent. For those that are on target, or close to it, solid economic growth, policies, and institutions have been the key factors in their success. With improved policies and stronger growth, many countries that are close to being on target could achieve these targets by 2015 or soon after. Copyright 2012, Oxford University Press.
{"title":"The Odds of Achieving the MDGs","authors":"D. Go, J. A. Quijada","doi":"10.1093/WBRO/LKS005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/WBRO/LKS005","url":null,"abstract":"Three questions are frequently raised about the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Where do developing countries stand? What factors affect their rate of progress? Can lagging countries achieve these goals in the few years remaining until 2015? This paper examines these questions and takes a closer look at the variation in the rate of progress among developing countries. We argue that answers from the available data are surprisingly positive. In particular, three-quarters of developing countries are on target or close to being on target for all of the MDGs. Among the countries that are falling short, the average gap for the top half is about 10 percent. For those that are on target, or close to it, solid economic growth, policies, and institutions have been the key factors in their success. With improved policies and stronger growth, many countries that are close to being on target could achieve these targets by 2015 or soon after. Copyright 2012, Oxford University Press.","PeriodicalId":47647,"journal":{"name":"World Bank Research Observer","volume":"25 1","pages":"143-184"},"PeriodicalIF":8.1,"publicationDate":"2012-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"83441502","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
School feeding programs are politically popular interventions. They are, nevertheless, difficult to assess in terms of effectiveness since their impact is partially on education and partially on school health. They are, additionally, a means to augment consumption by vulnerable populations. The authors look at recent evidence from in-depth studies and argue that while school feeding programs can influence the education of school children and, to a lesser degree, augment nutrition for families of beneficiaries, they are best viewed as transfer programs that can provide a social safety net and help promote human capital investments. Copyright 2012, Oxford University Press.
{"title":"School Feeding Programs and Development: Are We Framing the Question Correctly?","authors":"H. Alderman, D. Bundy","doi":"10.1093/WBRO/LKR005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/WBRO/LKR005","url":null,"abstract":"School feeding programs are politically popular interventions. They are, nevertheless, difficult to assess in terms of effectiveness since their impact is partially on education and partially on school health. They are, additionally, a means to augment consumption by vulnerable populations. The authors look at recent evidence from in-depth studies and argue that while school feeding programs can influence the education of school children and, to a lesser degree, augment nutrition for families of beneficiaries, they are best viewed as transfer programs that can provide a social safety net and help promote human capital investments. Copyright 2012, Oxford University Press.","PeriodicalId":47647,"journal":{"name":"World Bank Research Observer","volume":"97 1","pages":"204-221"},"PeriodicalIF":8.1,"publicationDate":"2012-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"76012747","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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