Seminari Orto Bimensile - 2005

Seminari 2005:

Francesca Francavilla Does household labour composition affect child work and school attendance? Empirical results from Côte d'Ivoire

Abstract

This paper provides a descriptive analysis of the extent and nature of the child labour phenomenon in Côte d'Ivoire using the Living Standard Measurement Survey. A Multinomial Logit in which the outcomes are the activities performed by children is estimated. Children's activities are four mutually exhaustive categories: children working full-time, children studying full-time, children combining work and study and children who neither work nor study. First the poverty explanation is tested, then we assume that some types of parents' work may have an externality effect on children's productivity and make it more likely for children to work. The estimation shows that household labour force composition is related to the probability that a child works or attends school.

Luca Tiberti, 'Health sector reform in transition economies: the case of Vietnam'

Abstract

How to provide basic social services represents a critical issue for the growth process. But, how should the investments in primary social services be financed? Through general taxation, or through fees paid by the users of health and education services? And who should provide the service, the State, the NGO's or the private sector? Several of these issues have become acutely important in transition economies that have all undergone important changes in the organization and financing of their social services, health care in particular. Vietnam is no exception to this rule and, as shown below, has introduced throughout the 1990s profound changes to its health sector. During the central planning period, the health services had problems of low quality and efficiency, but provided universal coverage. Following the changes of the 1990s, some of these problems have disappeared but there is now marked inequality in access to essential services. This study is basically divided into two parts: the first is devoted to the analysis of health financing patterns in developing countries. The second focuses on the analysis of the impact on health care access of the changes in health financing that were introduced in Vietnam over 1987-2002, on the basis of an analysis of "Vietnam Living Standard Surveys" (VLSS) for 1993 and 1998. The analysis conducted in this paper would suggest that, although a general increase in average per-capita incomes over 1993-98, the access to good quality health services has fallen and has become less equally distributed. The introduction of health insurance in 1993 limited to few individuals, the decrease of public subsidies to commune health centres, the increase of user fees in public health facilities, the uncontrolled liberalisation of private and pharmaceutical sectors, seem to have caused a shift in health care demand towards less quality services and advantaged a limited number of persons. The study was conducted at urban and rural level. This distinction will allow us to estimate the effects of the reforms in these two very different areas.

Leonardo Menchini e Gerry Redmond,'Child Income Poverty in CIS and SEE'

Abstract

This paper examines consumption poverty and deprivation in recent years among children in 19 countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States and South Eastern Europe. The analysis is placed within the wider conceptual framework of debates about economic well- being, deprivation and capabilities, and on the particularities of poverty as it applies to children. Current patterns of child poverty and deprivation are greatly influenced by macro and microeconomic trends during the late communist and Transition periods. Children in the countries of the Caucasus and Central Asia experience particularly high poverty rates. In several countries, notably Bulgaria, within country regional differences in child poverty rates are large. In Moldova and Tajikistan on the other hand, it is possible that remittances from migrant parents may be reducing levels of consumption poverty among children who live with just one or neither parent. However, while consumption poverty generally declined between the late 1990s and 2002/03, not all child deprivation indicators have improved. Progress in reducing infant mortality has in many cases been slow, and secondary school enrolments have not always increased. In some countries, moreover, indicators of inadequate nutrition among children remain worryingly high, and in other countries, food consumption, measured in terms of expenditure on food, is less than national subsistence minimums allow for. While inadequate nutrition is an issue of deprivation, 'food poverty' (low expenditure on food) is characterized in the paper also as an issue of capability, and raises important and policy relevant questions about parental choice and child wellbeing. The paper concludes with some policy recommendations relevant to poverty reduction among children in the CIS and SEE.

Giorgio Ricchiuti, 'Time and Currency Crises: a duration approach'

Abstract

This paper analyses the role of time in determining currency crises. Using a Panel of 27 countries from 1970 to 2002, and the Exchange Market Pressure Index defined by Eichengreen et al. (1994, 1996), we test whether time already spent on a tranquil period affects the likelihood to exit into a currency crisis state. The results show that increases in both growth and export rate and a strong surplus of the state budget determine a lower probability of crises. Moreover, a more opened economy, an increase in the import growth rate and a misalignment real exchange rate increase the probability of exit into currency crises. Finally the hazard function shows two interesting results: the probability to have a crisis closed with the previous one increases in the first years; after this period, the country begins to recover credibility: the more it is in the tranquil state the less the possibility to have a crisis is.

Paolo Sospiro, 'Le determinanti delle rimesse degli immigrati: il caso dei tunisini impiegati nel settore della pesca ad Ancona'

Abstract

Nella presentazione si intende evidenziare le determinanti delle rimesse dal punto di vista teorico e la relativa verifica per mezzo di un'indagine che ha coinvolto degli immigrati tunisini impiegati nel settore della pesca ad Ancona. L'approccio teorico utilizzato è la nuova teoria economica  delle migrazioni da lavoro. In particolare si intende verificare il ruolo  dello stato sociale tra le determinanti delle rimesse e la reale motivazione  che spinge gli immigrati a trasferire denaro in patria. Infatti, secondo la  teoria, il migrante è motivato a trasferire denaro, in alcuni casi, per la semplice volontà di aiutare i propri cari residenti in patria. In questo caso la motivazione è puramente altruistica mentre, in altri, la motivazione potrebbe essere egoistica. Tuttavia i due casi estremi raramente sono rappresentati nella realtà. Infatti, gran parte dei migranti intervistati tendono a trasferire denaro o altro in patria sia per i propri familiari che per investimenti personali. Quindi le motivazioni che spingono gli immigrati tunisini a trasferire denaro in patria, l'indagine  sembrerebbe confermare che è più l'aspetto egoistico piuttosto che quello altruistico a prevalere. Nel lavoro chebpresenterò, il ruolo dello stato sociale come il godimento dell'alloggio di edilizia popolare, il diritto agli assegni familiari o di invalidità sembrerebbe avere un effetto, in alcuni casi positivo ed, altri, negativo.

Nicola Doni, 'Sustainable public procurement'

Abstract

The recent EU Directives place emphasis on the possibility to consider environmental and social aspects in public procurement. This opportunity represents an interesting instrument to cope with the externalities associated to PA's purchases. In this paper we analyse the comparative benefits associated to this policy with respect to different approach, such as command and control or incentive taxes. We investigate also the economic consequence of the limit imposed by the legal requirement of a strict linking between awarding criteria and contract's object. Finally, we examine the conditions under which it is better to consider environmental or social aspects in a different phase of a procurement procedure.

Giovanna Hirsch ,'Internal Labour Migration in China:Social and Economic Implications for the Guangdong Province'

Abstract

A crucial consequence of the economic reforms in China has been the rising voluntary internal labour migration - which was strictly controlled under the planned system - and the emergence of the phenomenon of floating population and temporary migrant workers. The rapid rise in rural-to-urban migration is tightly linked to the structural change of the Chinese economy and the shift of labour force allocation from lower productivity occupations in agriculture to higher productivity jobs in the secondary and tertiary industries. However, this phenomenon in China is characterised by a so vast proportion and by specific institutional features and mechanisms that make it a peculiar and remarkable study case. The objective of the research is to investigate the case of floating population and especially of migrant workers looking at the main dynamics underlying their outward movements, their economic role at the place of destination and the institutional mechanisms that may influence their working and living conditions. In particular, in order to understand the unique features and role that workers' internal migration assumes in the Chinese context, we analyse the case of Guangdong; - one of the fastest growing provinces in China and one of the most attractive areas of destination for migrant workers. After an outline of the peculiar path of economic and industrial progress undertaken by this province in the last twenty five years, the role played by migration in the different areas and in the different regional patterns of development will be examined giving evidence on how the migrant workers' disciplined, flexible and low cost labour supply met the growing labour demand in labour intensive industry in Guangdong contributing to its regional development. Moreover, some empirical evidence on the poor labour conditions and discrimination of migrant workers in terms of increasing wage gap between them and regular workers is discussed. Then, a specific study case of migrant workers in three industrial clusters located in the province will be presented, underlying the relevance of both the type of industrial organisation and the local government behaviour in affecting migrants workers' labour and living conditions.

Emanuele Ferrari , 'Structuralist Models: A Critical Review'

Abstract

Main objects of this work are principally three:
Describing a brief history of structuralism, from Prebisch to nowadays;
Sketching base characteristics of structuralist models, both "philosophically" and economically different from neoclassical approach and the strategy that comes from them. Structuralism is based on a deep study of structures and institutions of each economy, that boils down in a SAM, from which a CGE model is constructed. These models can take into account economic factors, such as informal sector, gender division, income distribution, which are often forgotten by neoclassical ones;
Trying to elaborate a taxonomy of models fitted for different kind of developing economies. Structuralist economy is based on the study of dualistic economy: formal-informal, rural-urban, economies characterized by mining resources.

Giovanni Canitano , 'Analisi dei meccanismi di aggiustamento contrattuale nelle concessioni idriche: aspetti normativi e strategie empiriche'

Abstract

The overall objective of the research is to contribute to the explanation of the causes, implications and remedies for contractual instability of WSS concessions in developing countries. It is also expected to add to the debate about the choice between contract and discretionary regulation, and on the degree of such discretion. In particular, the research will analyse the dispute arisen over contractual terms of the concession in San Pedro Sula (Honduras), which has forced the parties to resort to arbitration/mediation and later to renegotiation of the original agreement. First, the main issues at stake and the alternative options (judicial or administrative dispute, renegotiation, termination) that the parties faced will be highlighted and discussed. Then, the immediate and likely outcomes of occurred renegotiation will be singled out and assessed in terms of their expected impact on productive efficiency, overall welfare, the incentive structure, and the allocation of quasi-rents between the firm, the public authority and the consumers. Finally, some improvements on regulatory governance and contractual design will be suggested, with a view of enhancing the stability of the concession over time. The analysis will be mainly qualitative and will be based on the theoretical and empirical literature, and on sector laws, regulatory frameworks and the concession contract of the chosen case. Facts occurred and positions alleged will be also analysed, retrieving them from local press and possibly interviews to people directly involved in the dispute. The relevant theoretical literature will be thoroughly reviewed; the aim is to single out those elements that systematically have an impact on contractual stability - i.e. on the occurrence of disputes and renegotiations - and their expected outcomes. Useful insights will be also derived from other important cases of disputes and renegotiations of other concessions. Normative and positive prescriptions will be then applied to the case-study, in order to detect the underlying determinants of dispute, and the pros and cons of the chosen and the alternative renegotiation strategies. The focus is on: the overall institutional framework for economic regulation and PSP; regulatory agencies and bureaucracies; bidding rules and award procedures; concession design and allocation of risk; bonuses and penalties for performance achievements; remedies for breach and dispute resolution mechanisms, including the economic implications of resorting to judicial, administrative or private tribunals; termination and compensation arrangements; social perception and politicisation.

Elisa Ticci, 'How much do environmental and public goods matter? Rural spending allocation and poverty in Latin America'

Abstract

The present work aims to illustrate the research plan for PhD thesis "How much do environmental and public goods matter? Rural spending allocation and poverty in Latin America". The thesis will focus on two main issues:  the role of public goods and free or semi free access resources in the development process focusing on poverty and distribution evolution and impact of public expenditure structure as determinant of public goods endowments. A theoretical analysis will be proposed and discussed in the light of achievements that Chile and Peru have experienced for the latest Eighties.