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作者：Cashin, P; McDermott, CJ; Scott, A
作者单位：International Monetary Fund; Reserve Bank of New Zealand; Bank of England
摘要：This paper examines the duration and magnitude of cycles in world commodity prices. Cycles are a dominant feature of commodity prices, and dealing with the economic consequences of booms and slumps in prices continues to be one of the most challenging issues facing policymakers in commodity-exporting developing countries. We find that there is an asymmetry in commodity price cycles, as price slumps last longer than price booms. How far prices fall in a slump is found to be slightly larger than...
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作者：Schweinberger, AG
作者单位：University of Konstanz
摘要：The possibility of transfer paradoxes or immiserizing growth in tariff ridden, small, open, developing countries with a nontraded goods sector is analysed in four models: a (short-run) sector-specific factor model, a dual economy model (capital is mobile between some but not all sectors), a long-run model (factors are mobile between all sectors) and a model with public goods. Several results of the received literature on transfer paradoxes and/or immiserizing growth in distorted small open eco...
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作者：Ray, I; Williams, J
作者单位：University of California System; University of California Berkeley; University of California System; University of California Davis; University of California System; University of California Davis
摘要：Illegal water diversions and lax rule-enforcement are common on irrigation canals. We present a mathematical programming model of a watercourse, calibrated to a canal in Maharashtra on which farmers voted to cooperate to control water theft. The model solution computes the crop choices and profits of individually optimizing farmers who differ in their location. It reveals the spatial distribution of gains and losses from cooperation. It illuminates why voluntary bargaining will rarely achieve ...
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作者：Gustafsson, B; Shi, L
作者单位：University of Gothenburg; IZA Institute Labor Economics; Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
摘要：Using household data from samples covering 18 provinces in 1988 and 1995, income inequality within and between counties in rural China is assessed. The approach enables us to aggregate average income and income inequality to the levels of provinces and the three regions comprising eastern, central and western China. Most of income inequality in rural China in 1995 was found to be spatial and the uneven development of mean income across counties stood for most, but not all, of the rapid increas...
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作者：Hammer, J; Jack, W
作者单位：The World Bank; Georgetown University
摘要：In many developing country settings, and particularly in rural areas, the implementation of anything more than very rudimentary contracts for medical care providers, including public employees, is virtually impossible. In this paper, we examine the kinds of policy levers that governments might conceivably have available to induce physicians to serve in rural areas. Using simple models of screening and spatial competition, we investigate how the government can sort between physicians with low a...
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作者：Bedi, AS; Edwards, JHY
作者单位：Tulane University
摘要：The expansion of education has been widely adopted as a key element in the development strategies of low-income countries. While there is substantial evidence on the benefits of greater educational attainment for subsequent labor market earnings, empirical evidence on the role played by school quality is scarce. This paper combines household survey data with unique data on school quality, from Honduras, to study the importance of school quality as a determinant of earnings. Our objective measu...
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作者：Robertson, R; Dutkowsky, DH
作者单位：Macalester College; Syracuse University
摘要：Rodrik [Rodrik, D., 1997. Has Globalization Gone Too Far? Institute for International Economics, Washington, DC.] argues that firms use the threat of moving to low-cost (generally developing) markets to make employment more flexible at home. Although a large literature documents significant adjustment costs in developed countries, we know little about their size and importance in developing countries that receive capital. We employ monthly Mexican data from the GATT-NAFTA period to estimate ad...
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作者：Block, SA
作者单位：Tufts University
摘要：This paper presents cross-country evidence that political business cycles are alive and well in the nascent democracies of the developing world. Africa provides fertile ground for the study of political business cycles. This paper uncovers systematic electorally timed interventions in five monetary and four fiscal policy variables in a panel of African countries. These findings are consistent with the predictions of rational opportunistic political business cycle theory. If Africa's increasing...
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作者：Greenaway, D; Morgan, W; Wright, P
作者单位：University of Nottingham
摘要：Trade liberalisation in developing countries over the last 20 years has often been implemented with the expectation of growth being stimulated; yet the evidence on its growth enhancing effects is mixed. This paper argues that problems with mis-specification and the diversity of liberalisation indices used are in part responsible for the inconclusiveness. Using a dynamic panel framework and three different indicators of liberalisation, the paper finds that liberalisation does appear to impact u...
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作者：Tabuchi, T; Thisse, JF
作者单位：University of Tokyo; Universite Catholique Louvain; Centre for Economic Policy Research - UK
摘要：This paper investigates the impact of the heterogeneity of the labor force on the spatial distribution of activities. This goal is achieved by applying the tools of discrete choice theory to an economic geography model. We show that taste heterogeneity acts as a strong dispersion force. We also show that the relationship between the spatial distribution of the industry (the wage differential) and trade costs is smooth and bell-shaped. Finally, while Rawlsian equity leads to the dispersion of i...
