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This paper compares how results using various methods to construct asset indices match results using per capita expenditures. The analysis shows that inferences about inequalities in education, health care use, fertility, child mortality, as well as labor market outcomes are quite robust to the specific economic status measure used. The measures-most significantly per capita expenditures versus the class of asset indices-do not, however, yield identical household rankings. Two factors stand out in predicting the degree of congruence in rankings between per capita expenditures and an asset index. First is the extent to which per capita expenditures can be explained by observed household and community characteristics. In settings with small transitory shocks to expenditure, or with little measurement error in expenditure, the rankings yielded by the alternative approaches are most similar. Second is the extent to which expenditures are dominated by individually consumed goods such as food. Asset indices are typically derived from indicators of goods which are effectively public at the household level, while expenditures are often dominated by food, an almost exclusively private good. In settings where private goods such as food are the main component of expenditures, asset indices and per capita consumption yield the least similar results, although adjusting for economies of scale in household expenditures reconciles the results somewhat.

Affiliated organizations --- Assets --- Debt Markets --- Durable goods --- Economic Theory and Research --- Expenditures --- Finance and Financial Sector Development --- Health Systems Development and Reform --- Health, Nutrition and Population --- Human Development --- Income --- Investment and Investment Climate --- Labor market --- Macroeconomics and Economic Growth --- Population Policies --- Public Disclosure --- Statements --- Yield

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To utilize public resources efficiently, it is required to take full advantage of competition in public procurement auctions. Joint bidding practices are one of the possible ways of facilitating auction competition. In theory, there are pros and cons. It may enable firms to pool their financial and experiential resources and remove barriers to entry. On the other hand, it may reduce the degree of competition and can be used as a cover for collusive behavior. The paper empirically addresses whether joint bidding is pro- or anti-competitive in Official Development Assistance procurement auctions for infrastructure projects. It reveals the possible risk of relying too much on a foreign bidding coalition and may suggest the necessity of overseeing it. The data reveal no strong evidence that joint bidding practices are compatible with competition policy, except for a few cases. In road procurements, coalitional bidding involving both local and foreign firms has been found pro-competitive. In the water and sewage sector, local joint bidding may be useful to draw out better offers from potential contractors. Joint bidding composed of only foreign companies is mostly considered anti-competitive.

Access to Markets --- Affiliated --- Affiliated organizations --- Auction --- Bidding --- Competition --- Competition policy --- Decentralization --- Finance and Financial Sector Development --- Foreign companies --- Foreign firms --- ICT Policy and Strategies --- Information and Communication Technologies --- International Economics & Trade --- Investment and Investment Climate --- Macroeconomics and Economic Growth --- Markets and Market Access --- Microfinance --- Public disclosure --- Public Sector Corruption and Anticorruption Measures

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This paper complements the cross-country approach by examining the correlates of growth acceleration in per capita gross domestic product around "significant" public expenditure episodes by reorganizing the data around turning points, or events. The authors define a growth event as an increase in average per capita growth of at least 2 percentage points sustained for 5 years. A fiscal event is an increase in the annual growth rate of primary fiscal expenditure of approximately 1 percentage point sustained for 5 years and not accompanied by an aggravation of the fiscal deficit beyond 2 percent of gross domestic product. These definitions of events are applied to a database of 140 countries (118 developing countries) for 1972-2005. After controlling for the growth-inducing effects of positive terms-of-trade shocks and of trade liberalization reform, probit estimates indicate that a growth event is more likely to occur in a developing country when surrounded by a fiscal event. Moreover, the probability of occurrence of a growth event in the years following a fiscal event is greater the lower is the associated fiscal deficit, confirming that success of a growth-oriented fiscal expenditure reform hinges on a stabilized macroeconomic environment (through a limited primary fiscal deficit).

Debt Markets --- Economic Conditions and Volatility --- Finance and Financial Sector Development --- Fiscal Adjustment --- Fiscal Deficit --- Fiscal Expenditure --- Fiscal Policy --- Gross Domestic Product --- Growth Rate --- Macroeconomic Environment --- Macroeconomic Stability --- Macroeconomics and Economic Growth --- Poverty Reduction --- Pro-Poor Growth --- Public Disclosure --- Public Expenditure --- Public Sector Expenditure Analysis and Management

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The goal of this paper is to understand better, at the empirical level, how public spending contributes to growth by focusing on both the level and composition of public spending, in connection to the dynamics of GDP per capita growth. It attempts to answer two specific questions: (a) What are the policy conditions under which public spending contributes positively to growth? and (b) What are the public spending components that have a stronger and longer-lasting impact on growth? The analysis is applied to a sample of seven fast-growing developing countries: Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Botswana, and Mauritius, which have been among the top performers in the world in terms of GDP per capita growth during the period (1960-2006). The rationale for this country sample selection is twofold. The first hypothesis is that, given their positive growth achievements over a relatively long time period, perhaps it is more straightforward to establish a link to public spending in those countries. Second, it is expected that the findings of the analysis will provide lessons regarding the level and composition of public spending that can be useful for other countries where growth has been less rapid. Assessing what role public spending has played in a dynamic growth context may indeed be enlightening for other cases as well. The paper is structured as follows. The first section is an introduction that provides relevant facts and information about the seven countries during the period of analysis, based on seven individual country case studies. Section II presents the theoretical background behind the empirical analysis. Section III focuses on the empirical methodology, function specification, and variables selected. Section IV is dedicated to the results obtained with the cross-country analysis and some specific country results, as well as some comparisons with previous findings by other authors. Finally, Section V draws policy implications and concludes.

Allocation --- Composition of public spending --- Debt Markets --- Economic Theory and Research --- Finance and Financial Sector Development --- Fiscal policy --- Government expenditure --- Inequality --- Macroeconomics and Economic Growth --- Poverty Reduction --- Poverty reduction --- Pro-Poor Growth --- Public disclosure --- Public expenditure --- Public finance --- Public Sector Economics and Finance --- Public Sector Expenditure Analysis and Management --- Public spending --- Uncertainty

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This paper complements the cross-country approach by examining the correlates of growth acceleration in per capita gross domestic product around "significant" public expenditure episodes by reorganizing the data around turning points, or events. The authors define a growth event as an increase in average per capita growth of at least 2 percentage points sustained for 5 years. A fiscal event is an increase in the annual growth rate of primary fiscal expenditure of approximately 1 percentage point sustained for 5 years and not accompanied by an aggravation of the fiscal deficit beyond 2 percent of gross domestic product. These definitions of events are applied to a database of 140 countries (118 developing countries) for 1972-2005. After controlling for the growth-inducing effects of positive terms-of-trade shocks and of trade liberalization reform, probit estimates indicate that a growth event is more likely to occur in a developing country when surrounded by a fiscal event. Moreover, the probability of occurrence of a growth event in the years following a fiscal event is greater the lower is the associated fiscal deficit, confirming that success of a growth-oriented fiscal expenditure reform hinges on a stabilized macroeconomic environment (through a limited primary fiscal deficit).

Debt Markets --- Economic Conditions and Volatility --- Finance and Financial Sector Development --- Fiscal Adjustment --- Fiscal Deficit --- Fiscal Expenditure --- Fiscal Policy --- Gross Domestic Product --- Growth Rate --- Macroeconomic Environment --- Macroeconomic Stability --- Macroeconomics and Economic Growth --- Poverty Reduction --- Pro-Poor Growth --- Public Disclosure --- Public Expenditure --- Public Sector Expenditure Analysis and Management