Proceedings of QG2010: The Third Workshop on Question Generation

These are the peer-reviewed proceedings of "QG2010, The Third Workshop on Question Generation". The workshop included a special track for "QGSTEC2010: The First Question Generation Shared Task and Evaluation Challenge". QG2010 was held as part of The Tenth International Conference on Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITS2010)

Signaling Credit-Worthiness: Land Titles, Banking Practices and Access to Formal Credit in Indonesia

It is often suggested that the poor are credit-rationed due to their lack of formal collateral. Using a household survey from Indonesia, we estimate the impact of having a land title on formal credit access. Adopting an instrumental variable approach, we find that having a formal title significantly increases a household's probability of ever having had a formal loan and the observed loan amount. Why land titles increase access to credit is still not clear. Incorporating data from a unique survey of bankers in Indonesia, we will argue that possessing a formal title increases a household's incidences of formal credit not because the value of the title as collateral but because of what possessing a title signals about the household to the banker. We apply a simple model of contract choice to show how title can act as an indirect signal.Land Economics/Use,

Signaling Credit-Worthiness: Land Titles, Banking Practices and Access to Formal Credit in Indonesia

Many land titling programs have produced lackluster results in terms of achieving access to credit for the poor. This may re ect insucient empha- sis on local banking practices. Bankers commonly use sophisticated methods other than collateral to ensure repayment. Some methods rely on ex-ante in- formation ows and formal land titles can improve these ows by signaling to the bank important characteristics about borrowers. Using a household survey from Indonesia, we provide evidence that formal land titles do have a positive and significant eect on access to credit and at least part of this effect is best interpreted as an improvement in ex-ante information ows. This result stands in contrast to the prevailing notion that land titles only function as collateral. Analysts who neglect local banking practices may misinterpret the observed effect of systematic land titling programs on credit access because these programs tend to dampen the signaling value of formal land titles.

The Effects of Early Maternal Employment on Child Development in the UK

This paper uses data from the ALSPAC cohort of 12000 births to explore the effects of early maternal employment on child cognitive and behavioural outcomes. The results indicate that full time maternal employment begun in the 18 months after childbirth has small negative effects on later child outcomes. Part-time work and work begun later than 18 months, however, do not seem to have any adverse consequences. We explore the issue of whether our results are biased by unobserved heterogeneity but find no evidence that our results are sensitive to the inclusion of controls for a wide range of background factors. We conduct sub-group analyses to investigate whether certain groups may be more vulnerable to the effects of early full time maternal employment than others. This paper also explores the mechanisms linking maternal employment to children's development. The mechanisms examined relate to the parenting behaviours of the mother and father, breastfeeding behaviour, maternal tiredness and stress, household income and the use of non-maternal childcare. We find that a number of factors work to minimise the effect of mothers' labour market participation on their children. Fathers are significantly more involved in child rearing in households where mothers return to work early and this more equal division of parenting has strongly beneficial effects on later child outcomes. Negative employment effects are concentrated in those families where mothers work full time and also rely on unpaid care by a friend or relative. The use of paid childcare protects children from these negative effects and attendance at a centre-based provider may actually lead to better cognitive outcomes than if the child were at home with a non-working mother.maternal employment, child development

Understanding the Relationship between Parental Income and Multiple Child Outcomes: a decomposition analysis

In this paper we explore the association between family income and children’s cognitive ability (IQ and school performance), socio-emotional outcomes (self esteem, locus of control and behavioural problems) and physical health (risk of obesity). We develop a decomposition technique that allows us to compare the relative importance of the adverse family characteristics and home environments of low income children in accounting for different outcomes. Using rich cohort data from the UK we find that poor children are disadvantaged at age 7 to 9 across the full spectrum of outcomes, the gradient being strongest for cognitive outcomes and weakest for physical health. We find that some aspects of environment appear to be associated with the full range of outcomes - for example, maternal smoking and breastfeeding, child nutrition, parental psychological functioning. We also find some some aspects of the environment of higher income households hinder child development. We conclude that many aspects of growing up in poverty are harmful to children’s development, and that narrowly-targeted interventions are unlikely to have a significant impact on intergenerational mobility.Child outcomes, income, pathways, mediating factors

Expenditure Patterns Post-Welfare Reform in the UK: Are low-income families starting to catch up?

In this paper we provide evidence on how the UK government's welfare reforms since 1998 have affected the material well-being of children in low-income families. We examine changes in expenditure patterns and ownership of durable goods for low- and higher-income families between the pre-reform period (1995-1998) and the post-reform period (2000-2003), using data from the Family Expenditure Survey. The methodological approach is a difference-in-difference-in-difference analysis that exploits the fact that age variation in the reforms favoured low-income families over higher-income ones and families with children age under 11 over those with older children. We find that low-income families with children are catching up to more affluent families, in their expenditures and their possession of durable goods. Moreover, expenditures on child-related items are increasing faster than expenditures on other items.child poverty, family expenditures, welfare reform, difference-in-difference

Understanding the relationship between parental income and multiple child outcomes: A decomposition analysis

In this paper we explore the association between family income and children's cognitive ability (IQ and school performance), socio-emotional outcomes (self esteem, locus of control and behavioural problems) and physical health (risk of obesity). We develop a decomposition technique that allows us to compare the relative importance of the adverse family characteristics and home environments of low income children in accounting for different outcomes. Using rich cohort data from the UK we find that poor children are disadvantaged at age 7 to 9 across the full spectrum of outcomes, the gradient being strongest for cognitive outcomes and weakest for physical health. We find that some aspects of environment appear to be associated with the full range of outcomes - for example, maternal smoking and breastfeeding, child nutrition, parental psychological functioning. We also find some some aspects of the environment of higher income households hinder child development. We conclude that many aspects of growing up in poverty are harmful to children's development, and that narrowly-targeted interventions are unlikely to have a significant impact on intergenerational mobility.child outcomes, income, pathways, mediating factors

Mantenerse público o privatizar? Análisis comparativo del servicio de agua entre Quito y Guayaquil

En el presente documento se analiza la evolución de algunos indicadores sobre la provisión de agua potable en las dos principales ciudades de Ecuador. En Quito, el agua potable ha sido administrada directamente por la municipalidad mientras que en Guayaquil estos servicios fueron privatizados. El estudio compara varios índices de cobertura, calidad, y precios del agua potable, antes y después de la privatización, y entre estas dos ciudades. Los resultados sugieren que después de la privatización, a) el nivel de cobertura de agua potable en Guayaquil ha disminuido en comparación con el de Quito, particularmente dentro del grupo económico más pobre (primer quintil del ingreso); b) la presión del agua en Guayaquil ha disminuido en comparación a la Quito; y, c) el precio promedio del agua es más alto y ha aumentado a un ritmo más elevado en Guayaquil. Se advierte que estos resultados deben ser interpretados con mucha cautela ya que Quito no constituye un grupo de control adecuado para identificar el efecto causal de la privatización. Para ilustrar este argumento, se describe que las tendencias de cobertura de agua potable y la tasa de migración urbano-rural han sido radicalmente diferentes en las dos ciudades. Así mismo, por medio de un análisis institucional exhaustivo, se determina que las dos compañías son muy diferentes y que, asimetrías en su estructura institucional podrían explicar una gran parte de los resultados. El artículo concluye que en la década pasada, los servicios de agua potable en Quito han mejorado relativamente a los de Guayaquil; sin embargo, se enfatiza que el atraso relativo de la empresa Guayaquileña no puede ser atribuido exclusivamente a su privatización.