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Data from 19 African nations is used to investigate the hypothesis that monetary union—represented in this case by the CFA Franc Zone—augments the extent of macroeconomic integration. The paper covers two key dimensions of integration: the volume of bilateral trade, and the magnitude of cross-country business cycle correlation. Restricting our attention to a part of the world in which (for historical reasons) monetary union membership is exogenous to economic characteristics, we can test whether the large single-currency effects claimed by A. Rose apply within a sample of less developed countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to go beyond the narrow focus of the current institutional economics literature in development on the institutions protecting individual property rights, and to look at the economic effects of some other aspects of institutional quality on the development process (like democratic participation rights and institutions to address coordination failures). Another purpose is to suggest an alternative instrumental variable in quantifying the effects of property rights institutions. Finally, we speculate how, on account of distributive conflicts, institutions that have an adverse effect on economic performance often tend to persist for long periods of time in many poor countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper contributes to the ongoing discussion about amenity-driven rural development strategies by examining the relationship between quality of life amenities and rural economic development in the Southeast USA. The premise is that what is true at a national level may provide a partial or misleading picture when we look at particular areas. Additionally, data available at the county level can often provide richer and more precise information than what is found at the national level. The paper estimates spatial regression models using county-level data. For the most part, the results suggest that the differences in quality of life and amenities factors can explain a large portion of the trend in per capita income, employment and population change across counties in the Southeast USA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the interactions between uncertainty, investment and economic growth. Utilizing panel data for a sample of 59 industrial and developing countries between 1966 and 1992, we estimate reduced form equations to explore the possible effects of uncertainty on economic growth and investments. Uncertainty reduces both investment and growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reports on the importance of international development targets and education in ending poverty in developing countries. Education targets that have been discussed in policy arenas in 2005; Importance of poverty reduction targets to developing countries; Advantages of International Development Education Targets and Millennium Development Goals which has been redefined in different arenas.

After brief discussion of the general losses refugees incur in connection with displacement, the paper examines empirically the structural and institutional factors that discourage refugees from taking initiatives to recoup their losses and to construct sustainable livelihoods in countries of asylum, as well as the conditions that perpetuate poverty, vulnerability, and marginalisation. The paper argues that in developing countries refugee status, regardless of duration, leads to the acquisition of neither nationality nor denizenship. Basic rights and sources of livelihoods are apportioned on the basis of nationality and not residence. Lack of belonging to a spatially bounded community or geo-political state entity is therefore the single most important factor that prevents formulation and implementation of long-term development programmes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Empirical investigation of the link between financial development and economic growth has established that finance exerts a significant and positive influence on growth. This paper extends this line of analysis by examining the contribution that financial development makes to poverty reduction in low-income countries. The results reported support the contention that financial sector development policy can contribute to achieving the goal of poverty reduction in developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The initiation and implementation of development programmes in developing countries places demands on professional staff to acquire new skills and adopt new approaches to drive new development paradigms. It has been found that formal training plays a relatively small part in learning new skills in the workplace, compared with informal learning-by-doing within a supportive institutional environment. This paper describes and contrasts the ways in which two donor funded technical assistance projects in Namibia applied four learning support strategies identified in the literature. The experiences described suggest that resident technical assistance can offer types of support for workplace learning and institutional development through mentoring and backstopping, that alternative short term assistance or training course oriented projects lack. It is concluded therefore, that in seeking alternatives to capacity building through resident technical assistance, donors and recipient countries should assess the options not only in terms of skills transferred, but also in terms of building confidence to undertake new areas of work and the development of institutional processes supportive of workplace learning. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents abstracts of articles on poverty and economic development. "Broadening the Agenda for Poverty Reduction: Opportunity, Empowerment, Security," by Nora Lustig and Nicholas Stern, published in the 2000 issue of "Finance and Development"; "Building on Poor People's Capacities: The Case of Common Property Resources in India and West Africa," by Tony Beck and Cathy Nesmith, published in the 2001 issue of "World Development"; "Economic Mobility and Poverty Dynamics in Developing Countries," by Bob Baulch and John Hoddinott," published in the 2000 issue of "Journal of Development Studies"; "From the Culture of Poverty to Inclusive Cities: Re-framing Urban Policy and Politics," by Jo Bealt, published in the 2000 issue of "Journal of International Development.

This paper examines investment decisions in an economy with two financial markets: an official market, which is subject to rationing due to an interest rate ceiling, and an unrestricted market, with a higher interest rate. In this context, the long-run equilibrium aggregate capital stock is unambiguously higher than in the absence of the interest rate ceiling, even though its relationship with the ceiling is non-monotonic. Empirical results using aggregate panel data from 52 developing countries for the period 1974-1988 provide support for the model, particularly in economies that have some access to international capital markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a list of books and papers about economic development and aid. The books and papers include "Development Planning," by Albert Waterston, C.J. Martin, August T. Schumacher and Fritz A. Steuber, "Unsolved Problems of International Development," published in "International Development," "Patterns of Economic Growth," "Developing Countries," published in "Realites," "What Do We Know About Planning," published in "International Development Review," and "Development Finance: Planning and Control," by Ursula K. Hicks.

This paper investigates the channels through which the middle class may matter for consumption growth. Using several different middle-class measures and a panel of 105 developing countries spanning the period 1985-2013, we find that a larger middle class influences consumption growth primarily through higher levels of human capital accumulation. There is also a significant direct effect of middle-class size on consumption growth, which is more pronounced in the latter half of the sample, the 2000-2013 period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the effect of foreign direct investment (FDI) on economic growth conditional on the institutional quality of host countries. We first develop several theoretical arguments to show that institutional heterogeneity may be an explanation for the mixed results of previous empirical studies. Second, using a panel smooth regression model on a large sample of developing countries, we show that FDI has a positive effect on growth only beyond a certain threshold of institutional quality. To benefit from FDI-led growth, institutional reforms should thus precede FDI attraction policies. Additionally, some reforms seem to promote faster marginal effects of FDI, while institutional complementarities may lead to an incremental effect on growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper conducts tests of the export-led growth and the import-compression hypotheses for four less developed countries (LDCs) - India, Nigeria, Fiji and Papua New Guinea (PNG). Based on Johansen's multiple cointegration test preceded by unit root tests, we test for cointegration between real output, exports and imports. Non-rejection of cointegration between the variables excludes the possibility of Granger non-causality and suggests at least one way Granger causality. Real output, exports and imports are found to be cointegrated in two of the countries and the resulting error-correction models suggest that Granger causality runs from exports and imports to real output in these cases. Exogeneity tests are conducted for exports with respect to real output. However, while the assumption of weak exogeneity is validated in two of the countries, the null hypothesis of super exogeneity is rejected. The test results therefore cast doubts on policy recommendations for the LDCs based on the export-led growth hypothesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the developer's dilemma—a seeming quandary emerging from the fact that developing countries simultaneously pursue two different developmental goals: (a) seeking economic development through structural transformation and (b) reducing income inequality. However, the proclivity of increasing income inequality while pursuing structural transformation is often referred to as the developer's dilemma. This study investigates for the presence of this dilemma in Africa using sample splitting and threshold estimation technique. While we find support for the existence of a developer's dilemma, suggesting that structural transformation induces income inequality, the income inequality‐widening effect is disproportionate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the association between gender gap and economic progress. Using a panel VAR study as well as a comprehensive gender gap index and its sub‐indices from the World Economic Forum, the study confirms the existence of bidirectional Granger causality between gender gap and economic progress, for OECD countries and developing countries. On the one hand, economic progress encourages equity for both sexes. On the other hand, gender equity helps developing nations prosper and significantly improve their human capital, which, in turn, drives long‐run economic progress. By contrast, closing the gender gap negatively affects OECD output. For the sample of developing countries, the aforementioned results are robust to sub‐indices measured by gender gap in economic participation as well as opportunity, educational attainment, and political empowerment. We recommend that gender policies specifically aim at eliminating gaps in female education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Population & Development Review is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Many of the problems of privatization in developing countries result from the lack of information about the situation of the economy and from the lack of determination on their path of privatization. This paper addresses the lack of information by presenting a theory of incomplete privatization contracts. It then turns to the lack of determination, dealing with particular problems of partially privatized firms and, finally, postulating an elaborate system of price regulation of privatized monopolies, which typically is missing in developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Capital inflows to emerging markets in recent years have generated opportunities for economic development and problems for economic management. The exchange market crisis in Mexico and the lingering negative impact on the Mexican economy have led to renewed calls for greater official participation and control of international capital movements. In fact, many developing countries have imposed controls designed to reduce or alter the composition of capital inflows. In this paper we review familiar arguments about capital controls and attempt to evaluate a 'new' distortion that might justify government interventions in international capital markets. The idea is straight forward. Emerging markets inherited distorted domestic credit markets from a model of economic development that placed the state in the centre of financial intermediation. Liberalization of these domestic markets is proceeding but far from complete. During the transition, incentives can emerge that make capital inflows welfare reducing. Free deposit insurance is an obvious distortion. But less obvious chains of implicit 'insurance' can also cause problems. We argue that fixed exchange rates and solvency can be a deadly combination for governments with a history of heavy involvement with domestic financial markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper compares the politics of agenda setting in international health policy, for the issues of child health and adult health, along five political streams: organizational, symbolic, economic, scientific and politician politics. The approach is a modified version of Kingdon's 'garbage can model' of how public policy agendas are set. The analysis shows that the five political streams all favoured child health over adult health as an issue on the international health policy agenda, until recently. In the early 1990s, the World Bank has asserted greater influence on this agenda than previously, with a concerted effort to shift the focus from child health to adult health and to give greater attention to the preventive aspects of adult health in poor countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper applies the standard 2 x 2 trade model to an inter-temporal context, to demonstrate that previous (macro) optimization models of international borrowing for LDCs are special cases of a more general (and more flexible) model of optimal borrowing. It demonstrates that previous models involve only inter-temporal consumption smoothing and prohibit inter-temporal specialization in production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper endeavours to sketch out the main implications of so-called 'new growth theory' for the study of economic development. New growth theory endogenizes the sources of growth by attributing growth in production to externalities created by investments in human capital and in technology; some versions also introduce policy variables. The empirical evidence on determinants of growth is reviewed. The new growth theories caution against excessive protection of intellectual property rights, but suggest that in an environment of wide and growing information asymmetries between developed and developing countries, some restrictions to free trade may be justified. In addition, autonomous increases in real wages may have a positive and permanent effect on real per capita income, echoing a conclusion of the 'under-consumptionist' literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years concern over environmental issues have moved high up the political agenda. This has accelerated particularly in the run up to the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development. Two sets of concerns have dominated attention: the problem of degrading environments within developing countries and global issues such as climate change and ozone depletion. The prime focus of attention in the developing countries has traditionally been on the former. Concerns over the latter originated primarily in the industrialised world but the issue is now recognised to have important implications also for the developing countries. New aid mechanisms are being formed to assist these countries address global environmental issues. This paper discusses economic approaches to assessing environmental impacts and attempts to examine the trade-offs which developing countries face in addressing national as compared international environmental problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Authors of recent case studies of the political and administrative practices of small developing states continue to disagree about the consequences of 'smallness' in promoting development. This paper reviews these arguments and attempts to clarify the issues surrounding the factor of state size and its impact on the relationship between politics and administration. The most important difficulty with providing any resolution to these arguments is the continued lack of comparative studies of administrative problems and potentials in small developing states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SUMMARY This lecture on some problems araising from the international economic relations of developing countries, delivered in a developing country aims at giving a concise compendium of the principal propositions and findings of recent international trade theory. Particular emphasis is lied on the importance of pulling together commercial policy, foreign exchange policy and fiscal policy (internal taxes and subsidies) in a comprehensive scheme which was qualified by H arryH. B ell, Research Director of the UNCTAD, as a 'unified theory of protection'. In fact, the author, who is working in the praxis of international monetary and financial questions but likes personally to make 'excursions' to international trade theory and public finance, felt compelled to break down the artificial compartmentalization between the various sub-disciplines of political economy. A first attempt of this kind necessarily cannot go down into all details and necessarily rests to be completed. On this conceptual background the paper deals with the influence of inflation on development, fixed versus floating rates, tariff arguments, the attempt to construct a scientific tariff, the costs of selfsufficiency, the combined net effective rate of protection, quantitative restrictions and monetary trade biasing, the question whether import restriction or export promotion, invisibles in a unified theory of protection, capital movements and multiple exchange rates, the influence of the taxation system on relative prices and exchanges and last but not least the skeleton of a typical reform program. Admittedly, in praxis there will be as long difficulties concerning the application of the projected scientific system of protection as long as no one seems to have elaborated a satisfying empirical method in which tariffs, exchange rates and fiscal instruments are all expressed in terms of comparable units on a comparable scale. But does this matter? Praxis will follow theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Negotiations around Sustainable Development Goals and the post-2015 development agenda should go beyond just re-writing goals and targets that adhere to 'sustaining' the same old economic and social models. Instead, societies and governments should take this as an opportunity to advance more radical conceptual and practical approaches that challenge this reductive understanding of 'sustainability'. The paper argues that we should turn our attention to prosperity rather than to development per se, recognising the critical role political and social innovation should have in unleashing individuals' potential to flourishing in a context of finite resources. The interwoven, interdependent and ever-evolving nature of socio-ecological systems, together with the uncertainties and 'unknowns' that characterise contemporary reality, questions the relevance of one-size-fits-all goals. There is no single route to prosperity; diversity of objectives is essential and fundamental. Learning from initiatives in the Global South, such as the case of agroecology, might pave the way towards this paradigm shift. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a substantial theoretical literature now on the factors determining the incidence of corruption, suggesting some policies to fight it, but we do not have a great deal of empirical evidence on the effectiveness of these policies. This paper is a brief overview, drawing upon some of the salient features of the literature and with several examples from the Indian case where corruption has become a major issue of public debate, to make remarks that may be more generally relevant for policies in developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the issues concerning the impact of globalization on developing countries, the measurement of regional trade agreements' (RTAs') costs and benefits, and the global welfare consequences of agricultural subsidies in developed countries. It has been found out that there is a connection between poverty-reduction and trade liberalization, and that the economic opportunities provided by trade liberalization can affect institutional change in developing countries. This implies that success must be attained in the Doha Round of World Trade Organization to counter the proliferation of RTAs. However, making farm policies of developed countries less trade-distorting is now being considered in many debates.

This special issue aims at advancing the debate about the interpretative power of evolutionary perspectives on economic development and institutional change. In the introduction, we argue that the interpretative power of the current evolutionary approach can be improved by elaborating an 'augmented' perspective to economic development, which explicitly integrates the role of institutions and the dynamics of natural resource sectors (e.g. agro-food) into the analysis. We maintain that such a theoretical and empirical advancement can help to define a conceptual framework that is more suitable to analyse innovation-driven change, differentiated development patterns, opportunities and constraints for developing countries in the globalised knowledge economy. A collection of papers that adopt this perspective are discussed in order to prove the interpretative power of this approach in a variety of development contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Regional Science Policy & Practice is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper studies the impact of remittances on cross-country poverty using a panel data set from 65 developing counties over a long period 1970-2008. This study differs from the existing literature on poverty impact of remittances by explicitly noting the importance of financial development in shaping the link. This analysis shows that the effect of remittances on poverty depends on the level of financial development of a remittances receiving economy. Those economies that have a low level of financial development seem to acquire an unfavourable effect of remittances while economies with comparatively developed financial systems do not suffer from the adverse effects of remittances. In sum, remittances accentuate not ameliorate poverty in countries with the low level of financial development. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Canadian Journal of Economics is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper explores the drivers of the volatility of international trade. It decomposes trade growth into six components that have gained attention in the literature and studies their contribution to overall volatility. It yields three main findings. First, trade volatility in the 1990–2015 period is mostly explained by a common factor, changes in the gravity‐related characteristics of a country's trading partners and country‐specific factors. Product composition and the identity of trading partners appear to be less important in explaining volatility. Second, the pre‐2009 decline in volatility and the post‐2009 increase in volatility appear to be driven by different factors. The former is mostly explained by a decline in the variance of country‐specific factors; the latter appears to be driven by an increase in the volatility of common factors. Third, diversification is a likely force behind the steady decline in the volatility stemming from country‐specific factors, especially in developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Preferential trade agreements have become a major source of international intellectual property regulation. This paper analyses the preferential trade agreements notified to the World Trade Organization and identifies which among them regulate intellectual property in a significant manner, which is the level of development of treaty members, what the general structure of the covenants is, what categories of intellectual property are covered and what areas of intellectual property enforcement are addressed in each treaty. The objective is to present the wider picture, describe the characteristics of intellectual property regulation via PTAs, and facilitate future research in particular areas of interest. The analysis of the 141 PTAs that regulate intellectual property in a meaningful allows drawing the attention on aspects such as the transplantation of intellectual property law and the increasingly detailed and demanding content of the treaties, as well as observing other probably unexpected features, particularly concerning intellectual property enforcement and the interests of developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the effects of EU integration on intra- EU trade volumes with a special focus on the evolution of trade within and between the core and the periphery countries. In the early phases of EU integration, there have been sizable trade creation and diversion effects with respect to EFTA countries. Both the creation and the diversion effects of EU membership have declined as the EU and EFTA have integrated. In all phases of EU integration, both core-periphery and intraperiphery growth of trade have experienced stronger positive effects than intracore trade. Hence, the EU enlargements did not cause any kind of intra- EU 'peripherality'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose that the limited financial development of emerging markets is a significant factor behind the large share of dollar-denominated external debt present in these markets. We show that when financial constraints affect borrowing and lending between domestic agents, agents undervalue insuring against an exchange rate depreciation. Since more of this insurance is present when external debt is denominated in domestic currency rather than in dollars, this result implies that domestic agents choose excessive dollar debt. We also show that limited financial development reduces the incentives for foreign lenders to enter emerging markets. The retarded entry reinforces the underinsurance problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent work suggests that financial development is important for economic growth, since financial markets more effectively allocate capital to firms with high value projects. For firms in poorly developed financial markets, implicit borrowing in the form of trade credit may provide an alternative source of funds. We show that industries with higher dependence on trade credit financing exhibit higher rates of growth in countries with weaker financial institutions. Furthermore, consistent with barriers to trade credit access among young firms, we show that most of the effect that we report comes from growth in the size of preexisting firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a result of the Asian crisis, both the virtues of domestic savings and the risks of foreign savings have been emphasized in the debate on development finance. In particular, East Asia, with its enviable saving rates, it has been argued by economists such as Joe Stiglitz and Jagdish Bhagwati, does not need foreign funds for investment and growth. This paper explores the benefits of private capital inflows by reviewing the analytical arguments advanced in the literature and by building fresh empirical evidence. Par-ticular attention is given to the independent growth impact of the various broad categories of flows in the recipient emerging markets. The paper provides panel data analysis covering 44 countries over the period 1986–97; correcting for standard growth determinants, it measures the independent growth effect of foreign direct investment, portfolio equity investment, bond flows, as well as short-term and long-term bank lending. The findings suggest that developing countries should not solely rely on national savings, but rather should encourage foreign direct investment and portfolio equity inflows so as to stimulate long-term growth prospects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to the economic literature, high-skilled emigration may either harm or benefit developing economies. Recent research highlighted several positive and negative channels through which the brain drain operates. This paper aims at evaluating the relative magnitudes of various brain drain channels and quantifying their global impact on migrants' sending countries. For this purpose, we develop a 10-region general equilibrium model of the world economy characterized by overlapping-generations dynamics. Our findings suggest that the short-run impact of brain drain on resident human capital is extremely crucial, as it affects not only the number of high-skilled workers available to domestic production, but also the sending economy's capacity to innovate/adopt modern technologies. This latter effect is particularly important in globalization, where capital investments are made in places with high production efficiencies. Hence, despite positive feedback effects, those countries facing prevalent high-skilled emigration are the most candid victims to brain drain. ( JEL F22, J24, O57) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Institutional quality has been increasingly identified as crucial for economic development. In line with previous work which has explored the determinants of good institutions, this paper examines the impact of economic and social inequalities between ethnic groups on government quality. I hypothesize that greater inequalities between groups will tend to undermine institutions both because they tend to legitimize corruption in the eyes of disadvantaged groups and because of the efforts of better-off groups to maintain their privileges. Based on a panel of 29 developing countries, I find that socio-economic ethnic group inequalities reduce government quality, something which suggests the convenience of policies that can level the playing field in ethnically heterogeneous societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the effect of foreign aid on poverty. The impact of aid on poverty is assessed using dynamic panel estimation techniques, which enable us to control for time-invariant country-specific effects and endogeneity of aid. The results suggest that aid has a significant poverty-reducing effect even after controlling for average income. Specifically, foreign aid is associated with a decline in poverty as measured by the poverty rate, poverty gap index and squared poverty gap index. We also find that the composition of aid matters-multilateral aid and grants do better in reducing poverty than bilateral aid and loans. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two main contributions to literature on foreign direct investment (FDI) and economic growth are made in this paper. First, the paper examines the effect of FDI on economic growth for 44 developing countries using heterogeneous panel cointegration techniques that are robust to omitted variables and endogenous regressors. The main result is that FDI has, on average, a negative effect on growth in developing countries, but there are large differences in the effect across countries. Second, a general-to-specific model-selection approach is used to systematically search for country-specific factors explaining the cross-country differences in the growth effects of FDI. The results suggest that the cross-country heterogeneity in the growth effect of FDI can be explained mainly by cross-country differences in freedom from government intervention, business freedom, FDI volatility, and primary export dependence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The link between foreign aid and economic growth has been a controversial issue with no strong consensus so far. This paper argues that a possible reason why some studies may conclude that aid is ineffective in promoting economic growth might be that not all aid is given for development purposes (i.e. aid given for strategic considerations, humanitarian reasons or emergency relief). This study classifies foreign aid into four subcategories: agricultural aid, social infrastructure aid, investment aid, and non-investment aid. Using the generalized method of moments (GMM) estimation technique on a Barro type growth regression with panel data from the aid recipient economies, this paper finds that when aid is directed to the agricultural sector of the developing countries, it is positively and significantly related to growth and can affect economic growth in the short run. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explains the export promotion measures that can be utilised by developing countries under the current World Trade Organization (WTO) system and compares the WTO Members' proposals on modification of export promotion provisions in the Doha Development Agenda negotiations. Non-reciprocity between developed countries and developing countries in favour of the latter needs to be strengthened in modifying the current WTO regulations, because of the very different levels of economic development between those two groups of countries. Therefore, from the viewpoint of 'distributional fairness', it suggests ways of modifying special and differential treatment provisions applied to export promotion policies of developing economies in the Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures of the WTO. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, using a theoretical model with endogenous capital depreciation, we study the effects of climate change and adaptation on long-run development. We show that climate change affects economic growth depending on climate exposure and adaptation efficiency, which are asymmetric between different countries. Poor countries are likely to be hurt more, because of the negative effects of climate change on the rate of depreciation of the assets that represent the engine of growth. These asymmetries generally induce growth deficits and unsustainability traps in less-developed economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates empirically the relationship between two channels of external openness: international trade, foreign direct investment (FDI), and the rate of economic growth implied by the leader-follower model. The predictions of the theory are tested for the group of 97 developing countries in the period of 1974-2006 using static and dynamic panel data estimation methods. The estimation results show that both international trade and FDI positively contribute to growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the emergence of developing countries from a development trap. It shows that countries whose dynamics exhibits several growth peaks can be considered as cases of equilibrium jump. Applying this criterion to a sample of 65 countries that were initially very poor in 1950, it identifies 13 such countries, called 'emerging economies'. Comparing emerging and non-emerging economies in the 1950s and early 1960s, it shows that economic take-offs starting in the 1960s can be related to health and education in the early 1950s, while other possible factors, such as savings, openness and democracy are not significant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The pervasive existence of government-owned banks in emerging economies is often justified by their provision of access to credit in remote and underdeveloped regions that are ignored by private banks. This paper analyses whether credits provided by government-owned and private banks have a significant role in regional growth and whether this role changes in politically connected areas in Turkey. Our findings imply that private banks significantly improve the economic well-being in all Turkish provinces regardless of their development level or their political connection with the ruling party. However, credits by government-owned banks are found to be positively related to the per capita growth rate only in the less developed provinces that are advocates of the ruling political party and also developed but not politically connected provinces. These results suggest that government-owned bank credits, as implied by the political view, are used for funding politically desirable projects or politically connected borrowers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study attempts to reassess the relationship between economic growth and inequality using an up to date data set, 2003-2007, for a sample of seventy-four developed and developing countries. Average economic growth during this studied period is regressed against the 2003 values of inequality, growth, education, human development, inflation and governance quality using OLS cross-country models. The findings support a negative impact of inequality on economic growth for the entire sample. In particular, an increase (decrease) in inequality would lead to greater deterioration (expansion) in economic development in low-income countries than in high- and middle-income countries. Furthermore, improvement in governance does not either stimulate or hinder the economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]