Improvements in the World Bank's ease of doing business rankings : do they translate into greater foreign direct investment inflows ?

The World Bank's Ease of Doing Business reports have been ranking countries since 2006. However, do improvements in rankings generate greater foreign direct investment inflows? This study is the first to test such a proposition empirically with Arellano-Bond dynamic panel estimators using the official rankings from 2006 to 2009. The paper shows this relationship is significant for the average country. However, when the sample is restricted to developing countries, the results suggest an improved ranking has, on average, an insignificant (albeit positive) influence on foreign direct investment inflows. Although robust, this result should be taken with caution given that it refers to the average developing country using data across a four-year time period. Finally, the paper demonstrates that, on average, countries that undertake large-scale reforms relative to other countries do not necessarily attract greater foreign direct investment inflows. This analysis may have important ramifications for developing country governments wanting to improve their Doing Business Rankings in the hope of attracting foreign direct investment inflows.Debt Markets,Competitiveness and Competition Policy,Business in Development,Business Environment,Emerging Markets

Female parliamentarians and economic growth: evidence from a large panel

This article investigates whether female political representation affects economic growth. Panel estimates for 119 democracies using fixed-effects specifications and a system generalized method of moments approach suggest that, over recent decades, countries with higher shares of women in parliament have had faster growing economies

Measurement invariance of the Hopkins Symptoms Checklist: A novel multigroup alignment analytic approach to a large epidemiological sample across eight conflict-affected districts from a nation-wide survey in Sri Lanka

Background: The alignment method, a novel psychometric approach, represents a more flexible procedure for establishing measurement invariance in geographically, ethnically, or linguistically diverse samples, especially in large epidemiological surveys. Although the Hopkins Symptoms Checklist (HSCL-25) has been used extensively in the field to assess anxiety and depressive symptoms, questions remain about the comparability of findings when the instrument is applied across regions in large-scale national surveys. Methods: The present study is the first in the field to apply the alignment method to test the structure and measurement invariance of the anxiety and depression dimensions of the HSCL-25 amongst Sri Lankan subpopulations (n = 8456) stratified by geographical regions, levels of past exposure to conflict, and ethnic composition. Results: Multigroup CFA analysis yielded non-converging models requiring substantial modifications to the models. As a result, multigroup alignment analysis was applied and the results supported the bifactorial structure and measurement invariance of the HSCL-25 across eight (severe and moderate) conflict-affected districts. The alignment analysis based on a good-fitting configural model yielded a metric non-invariance of 22.22% and scalar non-invariance of 5.88% (both under the established 25% threshold). The bifactorial model outperformed the tripartite and other models. In comparison to the anxiety items, the depressive items showed higher levels of metric non-invariance across districts. Conclusions: Our findings demonstrate the methodological feasibility of applying the alignment method to test the structure and invariance of the HSCL across ethnically diverse populations living in conflict-affected districts in Sri Lanka. Further studies are needed to examine ethnicity and language factors more criticallyThe Australian National Universit

Twelve-month trajectories of depressive and anxiety symptoms and associations with traumatic exposure and ongoing adversities: a latent trajectory analysis of a community cohort exposed to severe conflict in Sri Lanka

We conducted a 12-month follow-up of a population sample of adults from districts (Mannar, Killinochi, Mullaitivu and Jaffna) exposed to high levels of mass conflict in Sri Lanka, the aim of the present analysis being to identify trajectories of depression and anxiety symptoms and their associations with exposure to psychological trauma and ongoing living adversities. The cohort of 1275 adults (response 86%) followed-up in 2015 was a structured subsample drawn from the baseline nationally representative survey conducted in 2014 across 25 districts in Sri Lanka. Interviews were conducted using electronic tablets by field workers applying contextually adapted indices of trauma exposure, ongoing adversities and symptoms of depression and anxiety. Latent transition analysis revealed a three-class longitudinal model from which four composite trajectories were derived, comprising a persistent symptom trajectory (n = 555, 43.5%), an incident or new onset trajectory (n = 170, 13.3%), a recovery trajectory (n = 299, 23.5%) and a persistently low-symptom trajectory (n = 251, 19.7%). Factors associated with both the persistent symptom and incident trajectories were female gender, past trauma exposure and lack of access to health services. Loss of a job was uniquely associated with the persisting trajectory at follow-up. The recovery trajectory comprised a higher proportion of men, older persons and those without risk factors. Our findings assist in translating epidemiologic data into public policy and practice by indicating the importance of stable employment and the provision of healthcare as key factors that may act to reduce anxiety and depressive symptoms in the post-conflict phase. The findings also confirm that women are at high risk of mental distress. Brief screening for trauma exposure in populations with high levels of exposure to mass conflict may assist in defining those at risk of ongoing symptoms of anxiety and depression.We thank Australian National University for providing financial support

Investment and advisory: Case studies for private sector development in Papua New Guinea and China

The importance of the private sector in fostering economic development has been widely accepted. However, little has been written on the effectiveness of aid's support for private sector development. This paper presents case studies of how the International Finance Corporation, a member of the World Bank Group, supports two private institutions in Papua New Guinea and China to increase the access to finance to underserved groups. It will also highlight the benefits of IFC's combined approach of investing in the companies (investment services) and providing technical assistance (advisory services) to build organizational capacity

Influence of Posttraumatic Growth on Mental Health and Well-being Across Respondents Severely Affected by War in Post-conflict Sri Lanka

Previous studies have shown that trauma and stressors are negatively correlated with mental health outcomes in post-conflict environments. This paper investigates if posttraumatic growth (positive psychological change due to traumatic experiences) can be

Improvements in the World Bank's Ease of Doing Business Rankings: Do they translate into greater foreign direct investment inflows?

The World Bank's Ease of Doing Business reports have been ranking countries since 2006. However, do improvements in rankings generate greater foreign direct investment inflows? This study is the first to test such a proposition empirically with Arellano-Bond dynamic panel estimators using the official rankings from 2006 to 2009. The paper shows this relationship is significant for the average country. However, when the sample is restricted to developing countries, the results suggest an improved ranking has, on average, an insignificant (albeit positive) influence on foreign direct investment inflows. Although robust, this result should be taken with caution given that it refers to the average developing country using data across a four-year time period. Finally, the paper demonstrates that, on average, countries that undertake large-scale reforms relative to other countries do not necessarily attract greater foreign direct investment inflows. This analysis may have important ramifications for developing country governments wanting to improve their Doing Business Rankings in the hope of attracting foreign direct investment inflows.aid

Placing Sri Lankan maritime arrivals in a broadermigration context

Our examination of irregular maritime arrival (IMA) flows to Australia from Sri Lanka places emphasis on both origin country and global migration dynamics. This approach recognises broader migration and mobility that a more asylum-/refugee-specific focused approach has the potential to either underemphasise or miss entirely. Taking a broader view also has the potential to allow for a greater appreciation of Australia’s comparative position in a global context, which is perhaps useful given the, at times, ‘Australia-centric’ view of IMA flows