Inter-industry labor mobility in Taiwan, China

Do flexible labor markets lubricate growth? Using data from Taiwan, China, to analyze the effects of labor market flexibility, the authors find that: 1) Workers are more likely to move to industries that tend to be similar to their industry of origin (including intrasectoral moves that would be considered intersectoraal if there were more sectoral disaggregation). The degree of similarity between two industries is measured in several ways, all of them based on the input-output flows across industries. Workers are more likely to move from industry"i"to industry"j"if"i"supplies a large share of"j's"inputs, receives a large share of its inputs from"j,"or uses many of the same inputs. 2) Moves to more similar industries produce larger wage gains. This is especially true when the industries'similarity is based on their using many of the same inputs. Thid may be partly because the close proximity of industries, occupations, and individuals provides an environment in which ideas flow quickly from person to person. 3) Gains are more likely to accrue to industries as a result of labor mobility.Labor Policies,Water and Industry,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Public Health Promotion,Environmental Economics&Policies,Water and Industry,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Environmental Economics&Policies,Industrial Management,Banks&Banking Reform

Is African manufacturing skill-constrained?

Total factor productivity has been low in most Sub-Saharan Africa. It is often said that the binding constraint on African industrial development is the inadequate supply of technologically capable workers. And many cross-country studies imply that the low level of human capital in Africa is an important source of low growth in per capita income. The results of the authors'study do not necessarily conflict with this view. They indicate that in non-competitive industrial sectors, with little inflow of new technology, the contribution of technological abilities, however it is measured, is limited. If liberalization of the economy generated greater competition, or if export growth were accelerated --permitting the import of inputs embodying new technology - local skills could contribute significantly more in raising output. The experience of other countries also suggests that as the economy opens to flows of international knowledge - whether through technology transfers or through informal transfers from purchasers of export - the technological capacity of local industry becomes important. The policy implications of this analysis are clear: Without the prospect of a more competitive environment, continued efforts to develop high-level industrial skills may be wasteful. But the absence of such skills may limit the benefits to the industrial sector from future liberalization, as a result of which the supply response toimproved incentives may be weak.Environmental Economics&Policies,Economic Theory&Research,Curriculum&Instruction,ICT Policy and Strategies,Small and Medium Size Enterprises,Economic Theory&Research,Environmental Economics&Policies,ICT Policy and Strategies,Curriculum&Instruction,Health Monitoring&Evaluation

Mortality, Income, and Income Inequality Over Time in Britain and the United States

We investigate age-specific mortality in Britain and the United States since 1950. Neither trends in income nor in income inequality provide plausible explanations. Britain and the US had different patterns of income growth but similar patterns of mortality decline. Patterns of income inequality were similar in both countries, but adult and elderly mortality rates declined most rapidly during the period when inequality increased. Changes in the rate of mortality decline in the US led changes in Britain by about four years, most notably for infant and older adult mortality where there have been significant technical improvements in treatment. British mortality is lower, but the schedules cross at around age 65. This pattern was established before Medicare, and most likely comes from rationing by age in Britain. Merged income, income inequality, and mortality data on an age/year (or cohort/year) basis show no evidence that income has any effect on mortality in Britain. Education is protective, but less so than in the US. Understanding the effect of income on mortality presents many puzzles, between countries, and between analyses at different levels of aggregation. Our results suggest an important role for medical technology in determining the rate of mortality decline since 1950.

Child health and the 1988-92 economic crisis in Peru

The effect of economic crises on child health is a topic of great policy importance. The authors use data from the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) to analyze the impact of the profound 1988-92 economic crisis in Peru on infant mortality and anthropometrics. They show that there was an increase in the infant mortality rate of about 2.5 percentage points for children born in late 1989 and 1990, implying that about 17,000 more children died than would have in the absence of the crisis. The authors also present suggestive evidence that the crisis affected children's nutritional status. In 1992 children under the age of 6 who had been exposed to the crisis were shorter than same-aged children in 1996 and 2000. The authors do not have data on child height prior to the crisis, but the age profile of changes in nutritional status and the fact that the 1996 and 2000 height-for-age schedules are very similar to each other both suggest that the 1992 values represent declines from previous levels. Accounting for the precise source of the increase in infant mortality and in malnutrition is difficult, but it appears that both the decrease in household incomes and the collapse in expenditures on public health played an important role.Early Child and Children's Health,Public Health Promotion,Early Childhood Development,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Health Systems Development&Reform,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Early Child and Children's Health,Early Childhood Development,Adolescent Health,Health Economics&Finance

Do school facilities matter? : the case of the Peruvian Social Fund (FONCODES)

Since its creation in 1991, the Peruvian Social Fund (FONCODES) has spent about US$570 million funding micro-projects throughout Peru. Many of these projects have involved building and renovating school facilities. The authors analyze the targeting and impact of FONCODES investments in the education sector, using data from FONCODES, Peru's population census, Peru's 1994 and 1995 Living Standards Measurement Surveys, and a 1996 household survey conducted by the Peruvian Statistical Institute. They present their results based on various descriptive and econometric techniques, including non-parametric regressions, differences-in-differences, and instrumental variablesestimators. They show that FONCODES projects in the education sector have reached poor districts and, to the extent they live in those districts, poor households. FONCODES has had a positive effect on school attendance rates for young children, but not on the likelihood that children will be at an appropriate school level for their age. Among other recommendations, they suggest that FONCODES consider random assignment of some education projects for a sub-sample of the population, to test the robustness of the study's assumptions and results. Lack of disaggregated data on such measures as the time children spend in school, pupil-teacher ratios, and scholastic achievement precluded analysis of the impact of FONCODES education projects on school quality. Collecting such data, and understanding how improvements in school infrastructure interact with other school-level changes to produce more learning, should be a research priority.Environmental Economics&Policies,Poverty Monitoring&Analysis,Public Health Promotion,Health Economics&Finance,Decentralization,Poverty Monitoring&Analysis,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Health Economics&Finance,Environmental Economics&Policies,Housing&Human Habitats

Mothers and Others: Who Invests in Children's Health?

We estimate the impact of family structure on investments made in children's health, using data from the 1988 National Health Interview Survey Child Health Supplement. Controlling for household size, income and characteristics, we find that children living with step mothers are significantly less likely to have routine doctor and dentist visits, or to have a place for usual medical care, or for sick care. If children living with step mothers have regular contact with their birth mothers, however, their health care does not suffer relative to that reported for children who reside with their birth mothers. In addition to health investments, we find a significant effect of step mothers on health-related behaviors: children living with step mothers are significantly less likely to wear seatbelts, and are significantly more likely to be living with a cigarette smoker. We cannot reject that investments for children living with birth fathers and step mothers are the same as those made by birth fathers living alone with their children. Who invests in children's health? It appears these investments are made, largely, by a child's mother, and that step mothers are not substitutes for birth mothers in this domain.

Stature and Status: Height, Ability, and Labor Market Outcomes

It has long been recognized that taller adults hold jobs of higher status and, on average, earn more than other workers. A large number of hypotheses have been put forward to explain the association between height and earnings. In developed countries, researchers have emphasized factors such as self esteem, social dominance, and discrimination. In this paper, we offer a simpler explanation: On average, taller people earn more because they are smarter. As early as age 3 %u2014 before schooling has had a chance to play a role %u2014 and throughout childhood, taller children perform significantly better on cognitive tests. The correlation between height in childhood and adulthood is approximately 0.7 for both men and women, so that tall children are much more likely to become tall adults. As adults, taller individuals are more likely to select into higher paying occupations that require more advanced verbal and numerical skills and greater intelligence, for which they earn handsome returns. Using four data sets from the US and the UK, we find that the height premium in adult earnings can be explained by childhood scores on cognitive tests. Furthermore, we show that taller adults select into occupations that have higher cognitive skill requirements and lower physical skill demands.

Does money matter ? The effects of cash transfers on child health and development in rural Ecuador

The authors examine how a government-run cash transfer program targeted to poor mothers in rural Ecuador influenced the health and development of their children. This program is of particular interest because, unlike other transfer programs that have been implemented recently in Latin America, receipt of the cash transfers was not conditioned on specific parental actions, such as taking children to health clinics or sending them to school. This feature of the program makes it possible to assess whether conditionality is necessary for programs to have beneficial effects on children. The authors use random assignment at the parish level to identify the program's effects. They find that the cash transfer program had positive effects on the physical, cognitive, and socioemotional development of children, and the treatment effects were substantially larger for the poorer children than for less poor children. Among the poorest children in the sample, those whose mothers were eligible for transfers had outcomes that were on average more than 20 percent of a standard deviation higher than those for comparable children in the control group. Treatment effects are somewhat larger for girls and for children with more highly-educated mothers. The authors examine three mechanisms-better nutrition, greater use of health care, and better parenting-through which the transfers might influence child development. The program appeared to improve children's nutrition and increased the chance they were treated for helminth infections. But children in the treatment group were not more likely to visit health clinics for growth monitoring, and the mental health and parenting of their mothers did not improve.Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Youth and Governance,Street Children,Adolescent Health,Educational Sciences

Returning to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina

We examine the determinants of returning to New Orleans within 18 months of Hurricane Katrina. Our theoretical framework predicts the probability of returning is positively associated with less hurricane damage and greater pre-hurricane levels of location-specific capital. We test these implications using data from a study of low-income parents—mainly African American women. We find that flood exposure is the most important factor in determining the decision to return. Among those who did not experience flooding, those who did not own homes or lived in the homes of relatives or friends were less likely to return.

Returning to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina

Hurricane Katrina displaced approximately 650,000 people and destroyed or severely damaged 217,000 homes along the Gulf Coast. Damage was especially severe in New Orleans, and the return of displaced residents to this city has been slow. The fraction of households receiving mail (which, in the absence of reliable population estimates, is a good indicator for returns) was 49.5 percent in August 2006, and 66.0 percent in June 2007 (Greater New Orleans Community Data Center, 2007). Low-income minority families appear to have been slower than others to return (William H. Frey and Audrey Singer, 2006). In this paper, we examine the determinants of returning to New Orleans in the 18 months after the hurricane. The data come from a study of low-income parents—mainly African American women—who were enrolled in a community college intervention prior to the hurricane. Although the sample is not representative of the pre-Katrina population of the city, it nonetheless is of great interest. The relatively slow return of low income, primarily African American, residents is a politically charged issue. One (extreme) view is that the redevelopment plans are designed to discourage low-income minority residents from returning. A quite different view is that members of this group have found better opportunities outside of New Orleans, and do not want to return. Because few data sets trace individuals from before to after the hurricane, this debate has taken place largely without the benefit of evidence.