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This paper studies the relationship between devolution, accountability, and service delivery in Pakistan. It examines the degree of accessibility of local policy-makers and the level of competition in local elections, the expenditure patterns of local governments to gauge their sector priorities, and the extent to which local governments are focused on patronage or the provision of targeted benefits to a few as opposed to providing public goods. The main findings of the paper are three-fold. First, the accessibility of policy-makers to citizens in Pakistan is unequivocally greater after devolution, and local government elections are, with some notable exceptions, as competitive as national and provincial elections. Second, local government sector priorities are heavily tilted toward the provision of physical infrastructure - specifically, roads, water and sanitation, and rural electrification - at the expense of education and health. Third, this sector prioritization is in part a dutiful response to the relatively greater citizen demands for physical infrastructure; in part a reflection of the local government electoral structure that gives primacy to village and neighborhood-specific issues, and in part a reaction to provincial initiatives in education and health that have taken the political space away from local governments in the social sectors, thereby encouraging them to focus more toward physical infrastructure.

Degree of accessibility --- E-Government --- Election --- Governance --- Government accountability --- Local elections --- National governments --- Policy implications --- Political Accountability --- Political leadership --- Public Sector Corruption and Anticorruption Measures --- Public Sector Economics and Finance --- Service Delivery --- Service providers --- Transport --- Transport Economics, Policy and Planning

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This Open-Access-Book analyzes the acceptance of sustainable freight transport and suggests a new framework for policy measures to decarbonize freight transport. Despite intense political endeavors, the environmental performance of the transport system has not improved in the previous years. It seems that the existing measures are not sufficient to motivate transport users to implement sustainable freight transport strategies. The case of three different strategies for sustainable freight transport is studied: horizontal collaboration in a Physical Internet network, multimodal freight transport and liquefied natural gas (LNG) as alternative truck fuel. Each of these three strategies falls within a different pillar of the avoid-shift-reduce framework. The determinants of acceptance and suggested policy measures in this study reflect transport users’ needs towards sustainable freight transport. This should support policy makers and the logistics industry to implement sustainable practices and achieve the ambitious emission targets by decarbonizing freight transport.

Business logistics --- Freight and freightage --- Transportation and state. --- Environmental aspects. --- State and transportation --- Transportation --- Transportation policy --- Affreightment --- Cargo --- Freight handling --- Freight transportation --- Freightage --- Materials handling --- Supply chain management --- Industrial management --- Logistics --- Government policy --- Freight --- Sustainable freight transport --- Acceptance --- Green logistics --- Policy implications --- Avoid-shift-improve --- Sticks-carrots-sermons --- Open Access

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Since the revision of the Japanese immigration law in 1990, there has been a dramatic influx of Latin Americans, mostly Brazilians, of Japanese origin (Nikkeijin) working in Japan. This is because the revision has basically allowed Nikkeijin to enter Japan legally even as unskilled workers, while the Japanese law, in principle, prohibits foreigners from taking unskilled jobs in the country. In response, the number of these Latin American migrants has increased from practically zero to more than 250,000. The migration of Nikkeijin is likely to have a significant impact on both the Brazilian and the Japanese economies, given the substantial amount of remittances they send to Brazil. The impact is likely to be felt especially in the Nikkeijin community in Brazil. In spite of their importance, the detailed characteristics of Nikkei migrants and the prospect for future migration and remittances are under-researched. The purpose of this paper is therefore to provide a more comprehensive account of the migration of Nikkeijin workers to Japan. The paper contains a brief review of the history of Japanese emigration to Latin America (mostly Brazil), a study of the characteristics of Nikkeijin workers in Japan and their current living conditions, and a discussion on trends and issues regarding immigration in Japan and migration policy. The final part of the paper briefly notes the limitation of existing studies and describes the Brazil Nikkei Household Survey, which is being conducted by the World Bank's Development Research Group at the time of writing this paper. The availability of the survey data will contribute to a better understanding of the Japan-Brazil migration and remittance corridor.

Communities & Human Settlements --- Government Policies --- Health, Nutrition and Population --- Home Countries --- Human Migrations and Resettlements --- Immigration --- Immigration Law --- Immigration Policy --- Labor Markets --- Living Conditions --- Migrant --- Migrant Workers --- Migrants --- Migration Policy --- Policies --- Policy Implications --- Policy Research --- Policy Research Working Paper --- Population Policies --- Progress --- Remittance --- Remittances --- Return Migration --- Skilled Workers --- Social Development --- Social Protections and Labor --- Voluntary and Involuntary Resettlement --- War

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The authors empirically examine the determinants of remittance flows at the cross-country level. They consider, among other things, the significance of the level of migration, the education level of migrants, and financial sector development in determining remittances. Given the potential endogeneity problems, the migration and financial development variables are instrumented in the estimation. They find that the migration level is the main driver of remittance flows, even after controlling for the endogeneity bias through instrumental variable estimation. The authors also find that the education level of migrants relative to the population in home countries, the size of the economy, and the level of economic development of recipient countries adversely affect remittance flows. While they find the effect of financial sector development to be positive, its significance is not strongly supported in their analysis.

Debt Markets --- Developing Countries --- Finance and Financial Sector Development --- Foreign Direct Investment --- Government Policies --- Health, Nutrition and Population --- Home Countries --- Household Surveys --- Macroeconomics and Economic Growth --- Migrant --- Migrant Workers --- Migrants --- Migration --- Number of Migrants --- Official Development Assistance --- Policy --- Policy Implications --- Policy Research --- Policy Research Working Paper --- Population --- Population Policies --- Progress --- Recipient Countries --- Remittance --- Remittances

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The paper assesses the costs and household level benefits of migrating overseas from Bangladesh. The authors survey households who have had overseas migrants to assess their characteristics compared to non-migrants. They also compute various types of migration and remittance related transaction costs and discuss the channels by which overseas migration is financed, remittances sent and the constraints faced by the poorest. Using the Propensity Score Matching method, the paper finds that overseas migration conveys substantial benefits to families as measured by household consumption, use of modern agricultural inputs, and level of household savings. The authors also offer some possible policy directions to strengthen the returns from migration as well as reduce some of the costs.

Access to Finance --- Banks and Banking Reform --- Debt Markets --- Finance and Financial Sector Development --- Health, Nutrition and Population --- Household income --- Household level --- Household surveys --- Impact of migration --- International food policy research institute --- International migration --- Labor market --- Labor markets --- Macroeconomics and Economic Growth --- Migrant --- Migrants --- Migration --- Migration process --- Policy implications --- Policy research --- Policy research working paper --- Population Policies --- Potential migrants --- Progress --- Remittance --- Remittances --- Returnee