The sequencing of agricultural market reforms in Malawi

The paper analyzes the welfare impacts of alternative sequencing scenarios of agricultural market reforms in Malawi using a profit maximization approach. The simulation results show that, contrary to the sequencing path adopted in the 1980's, Malawi's Government should have liberalized the maize sector first, followed by the groundnut export sector, and once a supply response was generated, input subsidies could have been phased out, without generating a negative impact on producers' welfare and food security.Agricultural economics. ,Food security Malawi. ,

Reforms and Counter-Reforms in Bolivia

This paper analyzes reforms and counter-reforms in Bolivia in recent decades and their effects on the policymaking process (PMP) and productivity. Bolivia’s PMP has shifted from a formal representative democracy to a “participative and direct type of democracy” where street protest and other non-conventional forms of political participation have become dominant. While reforms have increased productivity, they have failed to secure the political support necessary to assure long-term sustainability. In contrast, counter-reforms have so far enjoyed extensive political support, but productivity has stagnated since this process started, with declining economic growth and job creation—developments likely to undermine support for the counter-reform process. The document stresses the need to rebuild a consensus around a PMP capable of increasing productivity and employment creation while restoring social cohesion.Bolivia, Productivity, Policy Making Process, Reform, Counter-Reform

MARKET REFORMS VERSUS STRUCTURAL REFORMS IN RURAL CHINA

This paper adds to the debate on the impact of market reforms versus structural reforms in explaining agricultural output growth in China. A multiple-output stochastic frontier and a technical inefficiency equation are estimated using provincial data on the rural economy from 1986 to 1995. Grain self-sufficiency policies and incomplete market reforms in the 1980s and 1990s led to allocative inefficiency. Agricultural disinvestment shrunk the production frontier and the fragmentation of land holdings reduced technical efficiency. China's rural economic reform is far from being complete.Agricultural and Food Policy, O47, Q12, Q15,

Foreign Direct Investment and Structural Reforms: Evidence from Eastern Europe and Latin America

This paper investigates the role of structural reforms ñ privatization, financial reform and trade liberalizationñ as determinants of FDI inflows based on newly constructed dataset on structural reforms for 19 Latin American and 25 Eastern European countries between 1989 and 2004. Our main finding is a strong empirical relationship from reforms to FDI, in particular, from financial liberalization and privatization. These results are robust to different measures of reforms, split samples, and potential endogeneity and omitted variables biases.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/64417/1/wp906.pd

Do Choice & Speed of Reforms Matter for Human Rights During Transition?

Conventional wisdom posits absence of systematic relationship between economic reforms and human rights. Taking the case of transition economies, Vadlamannati & Soysa (2008) shows significant positive relationship between economic reforms and various forms of human rights. This brings us to the next question on the impact of choice and speed of reforms on human rights performance. In other words, does speed and choice of reforms increase or decrease government respect for human rights in transition economies? This is the question our paper tries to address. The Anglo-Saxon perspective is that speed of reforms lead to growth and development which inturn generates respect for human rights. While skeptics contend that rushing towards a free market economy would always be destructive as development process tends to be exclusive creating exogenous shocks leading to social and economic unrest. This leads to domestic violence and conflicts, allowing governments to resort to repressive measures. We use a new method to construct ëspeed of reformsí variable for transition economies for the period 1993 ñ 2006 to estimate its impact on all forms of human rights. Further, using the methodology of Wolf (1999) on discrete groupings of choice of reforms of transition economies, we classify the countries under radical, gradual and laggard reformer groups. We measure the impact of speed of reforms on human rights performance conditioned by choice of reforms. Our findings show that speed of reforms significantly improves government respect for all forms of human rights, while volatility in reforms is associated with human rights abuses. But the interesting finding is that, controlling for the speed of reforms attained, the choice with which the country has reformed plays pivotal role in determining human rights performance. While radical reforming countries are associated with better human rights performance, gradualists and laggards share poor human rights performance.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/64413/1/wp927.pd

Product market reform and innovation in the EU

European Union countries have implemented widespread reforms to productmarkets in order to stimulate competition, innovation and economic growth. We provideempirical evidence that the reforms carried out under the EU Single Market Programme(SMP) were associated with increased product market competition, as measured by areduction in average profitability, and with a subsequent increase in innovation intensityand productivity growth for manufacturing sectors. In our analysis we exploit exogenousvariation in the expected impact of the SMP across countries and industries to identify theeffects of reforms on average profitability, and the effects of profitability on innovationand productivity growth. European Union countries have implemented widespread reforms to productmarkets in order to stimulate competition, innovation and economic growth. We provideempirical evidence that the reforms carried out under the EU Single Market Programme(SMP) were associated with increased product market competition, as measured by areduction in average profitability, and with a subsequent increase in innovation intensityand productivity growth for manufacturing sectors. In our analysis we exploit exogenousvariation in the expected impact of the SMP across countries and industries to identify theeffects of reforms on average profitability, and the effects of profitability on innovationand productivity growth

Victim/survivor-focused justice responses and reforms to criminal court practice: implementation, current practice and future directions

Abstract: Reforms have been underway over the last three decades to address the disadvantages that victim/survivors of sexual assault face within the criminal justice system in Australia. Such reforms include expansion of advocate services, specialisation of police, alternative provisions for giving evidence at trial, and changes to jury instructions. This report was commissioned to examine the implementation of these reforms and their impact on the victim/survivor experience. Drawing on interviews with 81 criminal justice professionals including counsellors, lawyers, and judges, it looks at victim/survivor-focused approaches, promising and innovative practices, the take up of reforms, the factors that enable or inhibit victim-focused reforms being embedded in court practices, and the potential for future reform

Public distribution system reforms and consumption in Chhattisgarh

Chhattisgarh's public distribution system reforms have been lauded as a model for the National Food Security Act, and as one that other states can emulate. Previous research has shown that PDS rice consumption increased in Chhattisgarh following reforms by the Raman Singh government, which began in 2004. However, one-third of PDS rice consumption growth in Chhattisgarh took place before 2004. This finding suggests that the pre-2004 reforms to fair price shop ownership and state procurement by the Ajit Jogi government contributed to PDS consumption growth. Our findings suggest that sustained reforms, when coupled with political and social will, can improve PDS access, and that improvements may not be substantial or sustained in the absence of these factors

The reform of the NHS in Portugal

The objective of this article is to describe the Portuguese National Healthcare Service, giving a special emphasis to the recent reforms that have been introduced since the beginning of 2002. Its main argument is that there are two different (but connected) rationales that underpin the orientation of the current reforms. One the one hand, the explicit rationale that refers mainly to the ‘visible’ and stated causes and motivations of the reforms. On the other hand, the implicit rationale, whose influence over the government’s actions is not expressed as such, either because it is not perceived, or because it is not assumed. For this purpose, it is essential to start by giving an historical account of how the NHS started in Portugal and in which direction it has been evolving in the last four decades. This section has particular interest considering that it gives meaning, together with other arguments, to the implicit rationale, to the extent that the current reforms are product of the historical context in which the NHS was created and its subsequent developments. In the second part, the focus is on the reformation period, that started in 2002 and that is still going on at the moment. The main reforms that are being conducted are analysed, being this section mainly of a descriptive nature. What is considered to be important in this section is to give the government’s account of the reforms, in order to make clear what are its motivations and its goals. Furthermore, by doing this analysis it makes it possible to put forward what is meant by explicit rationale and identify its features. In section three, the reforms described in section two are analysed individually in a critical way. The objective of this section is to ‘make sense’ of the reforms being undertaken by the government and consider some aspects that are still unclear and that need further reflection. It is throughout this section that the main argument of this article is explored, by discussing, when applicable, what is the rationale underpinning the different reforms