Who Gains from Tariff Escalation?

escalation, tariff, developing country, WTO

Some welfare implications of who goes first? in WTO negotiations

We envisage a logical framework to explain why some trade negotiations are delayed because parties differ on who should ‘go first’. In our model, there are substantive welfare implications depending on which party sets tariff rates (or subsidies) first in a strategic optimization exercise. When knowledge about cost levels are incomplete or missing, and hence must be guessed with a probability, the chances of conflict regarding who goes first are extremely high in the situation modeled in this paper. As an institution with some power to set the rules of negotiations, the WTO should be able to anticipate such conflicts in upcoming negotiations. It can then set the rule (in this case, dictate who should go first) depending on whose interest it wants to protect. There is a wide range of choices for the WTO in this regard: OECD consumer’s surplus, OECD producers’ loss, net exports of developing countries, firm profits, or even, world welfare as the sum of all these components

Women's Status and Children's Food Security in Pakistan

This study examines the role of women's intra-household status relative to men in children's food security in Pakistan. Data from the 1991 Pakistan Integrated Household Survey (PIHS) yield a measure of evidence of a positive relation between women's intra-household status and children's food security.Pakistan, women, children, food security, anthropometric

Looking for Answers to the Food Security Problem: India under Current Compulsions

food insecurity, public works programmes, poverty alleviation, cereal consumption

Rights-based Approach to Development: Lessons from the Right to Food Movement in India

In April 2001 the People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) approached the Supreme Court of India arguing that the government has a duty to provide greater relief in the context of mass hunger. The litigation has now become the best known precedent on the right to food internationally. This paper reviews the litigation with a view to understand various strategies used by the litigants to create and enforce far-reaching entitlements in a near legal vacuum on the right to food. This is followed by a discussion on the lessons from this case for a rights-based approach to development at large.right to food, development, public interest litigation, food policy, law

Household Access to Microcredit and Children's Food Security in Rural Malawi: A Gender Perspective

Using data from the 1995 Malawi Financial Markets and Food Security Survey, this study seeks to discover if women's relative control over household resources or intra-household bargaining power in rural Malawi, gauged by their access to microcredit, plays a role in children's food security, measured by anthropometric nutritional Z-scores. Access to microcredit is assessed in a novel way as self-reported credit limits at microcredit organizations. Since credit limits, that is, the maximum sums that might be borrowed, hinge upon supply-side factors such as the availability of credit programs and the financial resources of lenders, it is plausible they are more exogenous than demand driven loan uptake or participation in microcredit organizations, the common ways of gauging access to microcredit. It is indicated that whereas the access to microcredit of adult female household members improves 0–6 year old girls', though not boys', long-term nutrition as measured by height-for-age, the access to microcredit of male members has no such salutary effect on either girls' or boys' nutritional status. This may be interpreted as evidence of a positive relation between women's relative control over household resources and young girls' food security. That women's access to microcredit improves young girls' long-term nutrition may be explained in part by the subsidiary finding that it raises household expenditure on food.intra-household distribution, bargaining, microcredit, gender, Malawi

Household Access to Microcredit and Children?s Food Security in Rural Malawi: A Gender Perspective

Using data from the 1995 Malawi Financial Markets and Food Security Survey, this study seeks to discover if women?s relative control over household resources or intra-household bargaining power in rural Malawi, gauged by their access to microcredit, plays a role in children?s food security, measured by anthropometric nutritional Z-scores. Access to microcredit is assessed in a novel way as self-reported credit limits at microcredit organizations. Since credit limits, that is, the maximum sums that might be borrowed, hinge upon supply-side factors such as the availability of credit programmes and the financial resources of lenders, it is plausible they are more exogenous than demand driven loan uptake or participation in microcredit organizations, the common ways of gauging access to microcredit. It is indicated that whereas the access to microcredit of adult female household members improves 0- to 6-year old girls?, though not boys?, long-term nutrition as measured by height-for-age, the access to microcredit of males has no such salutary effect on either genders? nutritional status. This may be interpreted as evidence of a positive relation between women?s relative control over household resources and young girls? food security. That women?s access to microcredit improves young girls? long-term nutrition may be explained in part by the subsidiary finding that it raises household expenditure on food.microcredit, gender, food security, Malawi

The Corporate Debt Market: A Firm-Level Panel Study for India

corporate debt, leverage, manufacturing firms, panel data, India

Urbanization and the South Asian Enigma: A Case Study of India

South Asia has the highest rate of child malnutrition in the world, despite rapid economic growth compared to other regions such as sub-Saharan Africa. Known as the ‘South Asian enigma’ this feature is partly attributed to the low status of women in South Asian societies. This paper examines this tenet in the context of India, with particular emphasis on possible differences between rural and urban scenarios. The empirical evidence reveals some important differences, which are relevant for policies relating to women’s empowerment against a backdrop of rapid urbanization.urbanization, women, malnutrition, slums, India