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Economists have had much to say about the impact of economic policies on growth, but little on their distributional consequences and poverty impact. The reorientation of development policy from structural adjustment to poverty reduction as the central objective thus called for new tools to examine distributional change. This book analyzes the poverty and distributional impact of policy changes and external shocks in three case studies from Latin America: Trade liberalization in Colombia and Brazil, and the gas boom in Bolivia. It uses an innovative approach that combines computable general equilibrium and microsimulation models. The country applications illustrate that distributional consequences depend very much on the nature of the shock or policy change as well as the characteristics of the country in question. The book issues a warning against policy prescriptions being based on oversimplifying assumptions and models.

Political science & theory --- Economic theory & philosophy --- Labour economics --- Development economics & emerging economies --- Brazil --- Colombia --- Bolivia --- Economic conditions --- Economic policy. --- America --- Approaches --- Armut --- Case --- Combining --- Distributional --- Economic --- External --- from --- Impact --- Income distribution --- Inzidenz (Wirtschaft) --- Kolumbien --- Latin --- Macro --- Macro-micro model --- Micro --- Microsimulation --- Policies --- Poverty --- Resource boom --- Shocks --- Studies --- Three --- Trade policy --- Political science --- Economics --- Labor economics. --- Development economics. --- Economic development --- Economic theory --- Political economy --- Social sciences --- Economic man --- Administration --- Civil government --- Commonwealth, The --- Government --- Political theory --- Political thought --- Politics --- Science, Political --- State, The

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This paper reviews the effectiveness and efficiency of key policy instruments for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG). Based on a simple cross-country regression analysis, the paper argues that average Millennium Development Goal progress is likely to be too slow to meet education and health sector targets in a number of developing countries. The paper further shows that MDG achievement can be described by a transition path with declining rates of progress. More detailed analysis reveals that the transition toward universal primary school enrollment in poor countries with low initial enrollment has accelerated considerably in the more recent past. The main part of the paper then focuses on the role of demand versus supply-side factors in social service utilization in education and health. The review arrives at the following rules of thumb that reflect some of the key determinants of achievement of the Millennium Development Goals: First, specific single policy interventions can have a considerable impact on social service utilization and specific human development outcomes. For example, improving access to basic health services, in particular to vaccination, has been a key factor in reducing child mortality rates in a number of very poor countries. Second, demand-side policies have proved extremely effective, for example in raising school enrollment and attainment levels. However, there may be more scope for targeting the demand-side in the health sector. Third, policy effectiveness and efficiency are highly dependent on initial conditions and the specificities of the respective policy. Fourth, complementarities between MDG targets, in particular social service utilization, are likely to be very important.

Aged --- Breastfeeding --- Clinics --- Education --- Education For All --- Exercises --- Families --- Health --- Health care --- Health interventions --- Health Monitoring & Evaluation --- Health outcomes --- Health policy --- Health services --- Health Systems Development & Reform --- Immunization --- Infant health --- Intervention --- Mortality --- Nutrition --- Nutrition and Population --- Pregnancy --- Primary Education --- Primary schools --- Public health --- Social services --- Teaching and Learning --- Vaccination

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Assessing the final impact of globalisation on poverty is a difficult task: i) globalisation affects poverty through numerous channels; ii) some linkages are positive and some are negative and therefore cannot be analysed qualitatively but require quantitative assessments, i.e. formal numerical models; and iii) trade expansion and growth (key aspects of globalisation) are essentially macro phenomena, whereas poverty is fundamentally a micro phenomenon. In this paper we use a new method that combines a micro-simulation model and a standard CGE model. These two models are used in a sequential fashion (as in a recent paper by Robilliard et al., 2002). The CGE model and the micro-simulation model are calibrated using a recent SAM and household survey for Colombia and together they capture the structural features of the economy and its detailed income generation mechanisms. We use this framework to analyse the important income distribution and poverty changes occurred with the great ...

Development --- Colombia

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This paper analyzes complementarities between different Millennium Development Goals, focusing on child mortality and how it is influenced by progress in the other goals, in particular two goals related to the expansion of female education: universal primary education and gender equality in education. The authors provide evidence from eight Sub-Saharan African countries using two rounds of Demographic and Health Surveys per country and applying a consistent micro-econometric methodology. In contrast to the mixed findings of previous studies, for most countries the findings reveal strong complementarities between mothers' educational achievement and child mortality. Mothers' schooling lifts important demand-side constraints impeding the use of health services. Children of mothers with primary education are much more likely to receive vaccines, a crucial proximate determinant of child survival. In addition, better educated mothers tend to have longer birth intervals, which again increase the chances of child survival. For the variables related to the other goals, for example wealth proxies and access to safe drinking water, the analysis fails to detect significant effects on child mortality, a finding that may be related to data limitations. Finally, the study carries out a set of illustrative simulations to assess the prospects of achieving a reduction by two-thirds in the under-five mortality rate. The findings indicate that some countries, which have been successful in the past, seem to have used their policy space for fast progress in child mortality, for example by extending vaccination coverage. This is the main reason why future achievements will be more difficult and explains why the authors have a fairly pessimistic outlook.

Child labor --- Child mortality --- Child survival --- Development strategies --- Early Child and Children's Health --- Educated mothers --- Female education --- Gender equality --- Health Monitoring and Evaluation --- Health services --- Health, Nutrition and Population --- Household income --- Longer birth intervals --- Millennium development goals --- Mortality rate --- Policy research --- Policy research working paper --- Population growth --- Population Policies --- Progress --- Resource requirements --- Safe drinking water --- Universal primary education --- Vaccines

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The empirical evidence of the economic benefits of different utilities such as electricity, telecommunications and water is mixed and, in the case of micro and small enterprises, relatively thin. This paper therefore revisits this issue. Based on a unique, albeit cross-sectional, micro data set of informal firms in West-Africa, we find hardly any evidence for a significant contribution of access to different infrastructure services on enterprise performance. This absence of a systematic influence is attributed to the large heterogeneity of activities, motives and resources with which these informal firms operate. However, concentrating on a more homogenous sample of tailors in Ouagadougou, we find that their performance is positively influenced by access to electricity. In conclusion, our findings stress the heterogeneity of the informal sector, implying that a 'one-size-fits all' approach to the development of this sector is of little help.

Access of Poor to Social Services --- Civic Participation and Corporate Governance --- E-Business --- Energy --- Energy Production and Transportation --- Informal Sector --- Infrastructure --- Microenterprises --- Poverty Reduction --- Private Sector Development --- Small and Medium Size Enterprises