Incentive Effects of Transfers within the Extended Family: The Case of Indonesia

This study sheds light on the efficiency of informal mutual insurance systems. Evidence on the behavioral effects of remittances and inter-family transfers is still rare. This paper intends to analyse the incentive effects of inter-family transfers in Indonesia with improved econometric techniques. First differences and three-stage least squares are used to analyse incentive effects on working hours. The endogeneity of transfers received and of the number of migrants sent away are explicitly taken into account. Furthermore, different sectors of employment are distinguished in the analysis. The empirical analysis indicates that inter-family transfers have an adverse influence on work effort in the informal and non-agricultural sector of the economy. Precisely, household members of working age reduce normal hours worked. No evidence is found that child work is reduced. However, the negative incentive effect is partly compensated by migrants, who are recipients rather than providers of transfers in the short run.Remittances, Tran --Remittances,Transfers,Incentives,Three-Stage Least Squares

Income Diversification and Poverty in a Growing Agricultural Economy: The Case of Ghana.

This paper analyses changes in income portfolios of rural households and its determinants for the case of Ghana in the 1990s. Our analysis shows that, contrary to common beliefs, rural Ghana has seen major economic transformation, as households increasingly diversify their livelihoods by both increased migration and more local non-farm employment. These diversification decisions seem to be driven to a large extent by desperation rather than new opportunities, in particular with regard to migration. Low-income households increase their income share in particular from local non-farm activities through more participation while returns to diversifying activities stagnate or even decrease. Therefore households with a low non-labour asset-base are increasingly diversified and poor. In contrast, asset-rich households are more successful at either diversifying or specialising in those activities the household is relatively good at. They also tend to benefit more from agricultural growth.Income diversification; non-agricultural activities; remittances; migration; inequality; poverty; sub-Saharan Africa; Ghana;

Reforming the Gender-Related Development Index (GDI) and the Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM): Some Specific Proposals

In 2005 and 2006, the Human Development Report Office undertook a review of UNDP’s gender-related indicators, particularly the Gender-Related Development Index (GDI) and the Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM). Background papers as well as the results of the process were published in 2006 (e.g. Klasen 2006a), and summarized in the Human Development Report 2006. Here we extend this work by adjusting and extending some of the recommendations made there, by making concrete proposals for the two gender-related indicators and by presenting illustrative results for these proposed measures. The most important proposals include the calculation of a male and female HDI, as well as a gender gap index GGI to replace the GDI, that can be interpreted more directly as a measure of gender inequality. Regarding the GEM, the most important changes are different ways to deal with the earned income component and also to replace it with a more straight-forward procedure to calculate the measure. As shown below, the ranking of countries are very different for the new measures proposed here, compared to the current GDI and GEM.Gender inequality measures, GDI, GEM, UNDP

Income Diversification and Poverty in a Growing Agricultural Economy: The Case of Ghana

This paper analyses changes in income portfolios of rural households and its determinants for the case of Ghana in the 1990s. Our analysis shows that, contrary to common beliefs, rural Ghana has seen major economic transformation, as households increasingly diversify their livelihoods by both increased migration and more local non-farm employment. These diversification decisions seem to be driven to a large extent by desperation rather than new opportunities, in particular with regard to migration. Low-income households increase their income share in particular from local non-farm activities through more participation while returns to diversifying activities stagnate or even decrease. Therefore households with a low non-labour asset-base are increasingly diversified and poor. In contrast, asset-rich households are more successful at either diversifying or specialising in those activities the household is relatively good at. They also tend to benefit more from agricultural growth. --Income diversification,non-agricultural activities,remittances,migration,inequality,poverty,sub-Saharan Africa,Ghana

Ethnic fractionalisation, migration and growth

Growth, Ethnic fractionalisation, Migration, Cross-country regression,