Road development, economic growth, and poverty reduction in China

"Since 1978, China has adopted a series of economic reforms leading to rapid economic growth and poverty reduction. National Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew at about 9 percent per annum from 1978 to 2002, while per capita income increased by 8 percent per annum. The post-reform period was also characterized by an unprecedented decline in poverty. However, income inequality has worsened between coastal and interior provinces as well as between rural and urban areas. A number of factors contributed to this widening disparity in regional development in China, including differences in natural resources endowments, and infrastructure and human capital development... The objective of this study is to assess the impact of public infrastructure on growth and poverty reduction in China, paying a particular attention to the contribution of roads. ...The most significant finding of this study is that low quality (mostly rural) roads have benefit/cost ratios for national GDP that are about four times larger than the benefit/cost ratios for high quality roads. Even in terms of urban GDP, the benefit/cost ratios for low quality roads are much greater than those for high quality roads." from Authors' AbstractHuman capital ,

Road development, economic growth, and poverty reduction in China:

"Since 1985, the Chinese government has given high priority to building roads, particularly high-quality roads that connect industrial centers. This report evaluates the contribution roads have made to poverty reduction and economic growth in China over the last two decades. It disaggregates road infrastructure into different classes to account for differences in their quality, and then estimates the impact of road investments on overall economic growth, agricultural growth, urban growth, urban poverty reduction, and rural poverty reduction. The report makes the case for a greater focus on low-quality and rural roads in future infrastructure investment strategies in China. It does so by showing how investing in low-quality and rural roads will generate larger marginal returns, raise more people out of poverty per yuan invested, and reduce regional development disparity more sharply than investing in high-quality roads. The study's findings will have considerable implications for China's infrastructure policy." Authors' AbstractHuman capital,

Opportunities and Barriers to the American Dream: Impacts of In-State Tuition Policies on Higher Education Access for Undocumented and Documented Students

Because financial barriers are such a big obstacle to college access for students, and then even more so for vulnerable population such as undocumented immigrants who are unable to qualify for tuition benefits due to immigration status, the purpose of this dissertation is to explore what the effects of policies that extend in-state tuition to undocumented students and those that ban these benefits to undocumented students on their college access and persistence. This study also explores the impacts on documented immigrants as while this population isn’t the targeted population of these policies, they may also be impacted due to higher education being a limited good in terms of the total number of students they can admit each year. To do this, this study utilizes an original database built from combing through records of policies passed over the time period from 2000-2016 as well as an imputation strategy that has never been utilized to specifically study the impacts of these education policies. The results of the study are consistent with previous studies that have shown that policies banning in-state tuition have a detrimental impact on undocumented students’ college enrollment. However, this study shows that while enrollment of undocumented immigrants in states with these policies extending in-state tuition benefits to undocumented students was higher than enrollment of undocumented immigrants in states without these policies, states that implemented these policies had higher college enrollment of undocumented immigrants to begin with. These results differ from previous studies and seem to suggest reverse causality, where states with higher rates of undocumented immigrants in college may have introduced these policies as a consequence, not a cause, of this undocumented college enrollment. Or, perhaps more likely, states with relatively large Hispanic communities may have had higher undocumented college enrollment as well as a stronger “push” to pass the relevant legislation

R&D INVESTMENT AND PRODUCTIVITY GROWTH IN U.S. AND CANADIAN FOOD MANUFACTURING

Productivity growth in the Canadian processed food industry has lagged behind that in the United States because of a relatively low rate of R&D investment. Although U.S. firms generally have a technological advantage over Canadian firms, marginal rates of return to R&D are higher in Canada.Agribusiness, Productivity Analysis,

Rural and urban dynamics and poverty: Evidence from China and India

"Like many developing countries, China and India followed development strategies biased in favor of the urban sector over the last several decades. These development schemes have led to overall efficiency losses due to misallocation of resources among rural and urban sectors. It also led to large income gaps between rural and urban areas. The urban bias was greater in China than in India. Indeed, official data show that both the income gap and the difference in poverty rates between rural and urban areas are much larger in China than in India. Both countries have corrected the rural-urban divide to some extent as part of reform processes. But the bias still exists. Other studies also support the idea presented here that correcting this imbalance will not only contribute to higher rural growth, but also secure future urban growth (Fan and Chan-Kang 2005). More important, correcting the urban bias will lead to larger reductions in poverty as well as more balanced growth across sectors and regions. Correcting a government's bias towards investment in urban areas is one of the most important policies to pursue." from Authors' AbstractRural-urban linkages ,Poverty ,

National and international agricultural research and rural poverty: the case of rice research in India and China

The study attempts to measure the total benefits from rice varietal improvement research in China and India using variety adoption and performance data over the last two decades. It then uses genetic or pedigree information to partition the total benefits between these two countries and IRRI. Finally, the study uses reported elasticity of poverty reduction with respect to agricultural output growth to assess the effects of national and international research on poverty reduction in rural India and China. The results indicate that rice varietal improvement research has contributed tremendously to increase in rice production, accounting for 14-23 percent of total production value over the last two decades in both countries. Rice research has also helped reduce large numbers of rural poor. IRRI played a crucial role in these successes. In 1999, for every $1 million invested at IRRI, more than 800 and 15,000 rural poor were lifted above the poverty line in China and India, respectively. These poverty-reduction effects were even larger in the earlier years." Authors' AbstractRice Asia., Rice Research., Rice Varieties., Rice Yields., Poverty alleviation., genetically modified organisms,

ORGANIZING THE ECONOMICS ACADEMY: THE EVOLUTION OF PROFESSIONAL ECONOMICS ASSOCIATIONS, 1777-2000

Scholarly societies in economics (and many other professions) are clubs that provide members with a range of club goods, many of which have broader and economically significant spillover consequences for society at large. Yet surprisingly little is known about the historical evolution or current composition of these associations. This analysis of the development of professional economics societies worldwide provides perspectives on the evolution of the economics research industry they serve. Although the origins of current economic associations can be traced at least as far back as 1777, almost all of the growth in professional economics associations has been concentrated in the past 125 years and especially between 1945 and 2000. At the beginning of the 20th century almost all economic associations were general economics societies. The fractionalization of the profession, leading to a proliferation of associations with sub-disciplinary focus began in 1920 and accelerated after 1960. By 2000, almost two thirds of all economic associations served sub-disciplines ranging from law and economics through fisheries economics to public choice and game theory. There are comparatively few economic associations in the poorest parts of the world that are often most in need of the public goods economists can provide.Professional associations, club goods, economic societies, knowledge, Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession,

The Evolution of Economics Clubs: 1777-2000

Replaced with revised version of paper 01/30/06.Professional associations, club goods, economic societies, knowledge, Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession, A11, A12, D71, N011,

Interventions that can improve the retention in care among patients with HIV: A review

Corresponding Author: Seung Ah KangIntroduction: Despite the transformation in healthcare outcomes with the availability of effective antiretroviral therapy, retention in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) care remains a challenge. Patients with poor retention have higher rates of HIV-related complications and death. Materials and Methods: We conducted a literature search on PubMed, including articles that reported on the adult population in the United States and published between 2002-2022. The keywords used included HIV, retention in care, intervention, support services, missed appointments, barriers to care, text messages, mobile health, telehealth, and telemedicine. Results/Discussion: We found that interventions implementing supportive services such as patient navigators, counseling, HIV education, and providing transportation led to an increase in retention in care. Technological interventions have also improved retention in care and include patient portals, appointment reminders, telehealth, and clinic-based smartphone apps. Lastly, visual, and verbal messages that emphasize the importance of retention in care are easy, low-cost interventions to implement in the HIV clinic. Conclusion: Overall, higher levels of patient retention are needed to secure improved healthcare outcomes in patients with HIV. The diversifying population of people with HIV (PWH) calls for additional research that aims to address unmet patient needs.Seung Ah Kang (University of Missouri School of Medicine), Connie Cardona (University of Missouri School of Medicine)Includes bibliographical reference

Cost aspects of African agricultural research:

Spending per scientist declined precipitously within African agricultural R&D agencies over the past several decades. In 1991, average cost per researcher across 147 R&D agencies was $119,300 in 1985 international dollars — or US$59,500 when measured in United States rather than international dollars — 34 percent below the corresponding 1961 figure. This trend reflects the rapid growth in numbers of scientific staff compared with the slow growth in funds to support them. Comparatively low, and often shrinking, real salaries per scientist are a factor too. African scientists were paid an average of US$5,000 in 1991 (or roughly US$7,500 with fringe benefits included), while comparable average salaries for academic staff working in large public universities in the United States were $58,889 (or$72,667 with fringe benefits included. The new, agency-level data reported in this paper reveal significant variation in the costs per scientist not apparent from the country averages. There were 67 agencies (46 percent) that spent less than $100,000 per scientist per annum. Simple econometric procedures were applied to a sub-sample of 107 agencies in 21 countries to investigate reasons for the large variation in costs per scientist. The intensity of support staff per scientist and the intensity with which expatriate researchers are used are important sources of variation. Larger stations lowered the costs and having more stations raised costs, but not significantly so. An agency's organizational type had a significant influence on its costs. Semipublic agencies typically spent considerably more per scientist than government agencies with 1991 figures of$207,700 for the former, compared with around $104,600 for the latter (in 1985 international dollars). GDP per capita and various other unspecified, country-specific effects also accounted for much of the observed variation in costs per scientist.Research institutes., Research Economic aspects.,