World Bank Research E-Newsletter [July-August 2007]
http://newsletters.worldbank.org/external/default/main?menuPK=615...
Home · Site Map · Index · FAQs · Contact Us
About
Countries
Data & Research
Learning
News
Projects & Operations
Publications
Topics
Search Newsletters
Home > Newsletters > Research > World Bank Research E-Newsletter [July-A...
All Issues
World Bank Research E-Newsletter [July-August 2007]
Site Tools
***********************************************************************
Contact Us
Transparency and Trade Facilitation in the Asia Pacific: What's at Stake?
Privacy Policy
Climate Change: The Final Blow for Agriculture in Africa?
Brain Waste? Educated Immigrants in the US Labor Market -- and more articles in the latest
World Bank Research Digest
ADePT: User Friendly Tools for Poverty Analysis
Martin Ravallion, New Director of the World Bank's Development Research Group
Future Challenges facing the World Bank Group -- What do you think?
***********************************************************************
Transparency and Trade Facilitation in the Asia Pacific: What's at Stake?
***********************************************************************
A new World Bank-APEC study, "Transparency & Trade Facilitation in the Asia Pacific: Estimating the
Gains from Reform", estimates that the potential intra-regional gains in APEC from improved
transparency (the way in which trade reform measures are designed and administered) are
substantial--approximately $148 billion, which is 7.5 percent of 2004 trade. Action to improve
transparency could be undertaken in many forms, including within the current Asia-Pacific Economic
Cooperation framework or future talks on a Free Trade Area of the Asia Pacific. While reform must
continue to focus on traditional measures such as tariffs, transparency is also critical, say authors Helbe,
Shepherd and Wilson. APEC member economies already perform relatively well on trade policy
transparency compared with other regions, in part because of the effective use of information
technologies by member governments.
Featured Article | Download report
***********************************************************************
Climate Change: The Final Blow for Agriculture in Africa?
***********************************************************************
Even without climate change, African agriculture faces serious challenges--land degradation,
inadequate irrigation, rural-to-urban migration, political instability, and stagnant economies. Slow
technological progress and a lack of access to information on how to cope with climate change are
further constraints. In this brief, Ariel Dinar describes a recent study--the first to analyze climate impact
and adaptation across the African continent and to combine cross-country observed and simulated
data--that provides economic insights into the magnitude of the impact and the value of adaptation. The
results suggest that large regions of marginal agriculture in Africa may be forced out of production by
2100, while others will thrive. Millions of agriculture-dependent, water-deprived people in the most
vulnerable countries will need information, technologies, and supporting institutions to adapt to further
climate deterioration. Some countries being more vulnerable than others, help must be focused where it
is needed most.
Research Brief
***********************************************************************
Brain Waste? Educated Immigrants in the US Labor Market -- and more articles in the latest World Bank
Research Digest
***********************************************************************
Everyone in New York has a story about how their taxi driver was an Eastern European scientist. And taxi
drivers, in turn, claim that all their Indian passengers are computer professionals. Using US census data,
Mattoo, Neagu and Ozden investigate questions such as whether skilled employment of immigrants in
the United States really differs by country of origin. Preliminary results suggest that they do ­ for
example, a hypothetical 34-year-old Indian college graduate who arrived in 1994 has a 69 percent
probability of obtaining a skilled job, while for a Mexican immigrant of identical age, experience, and
education, the probability is only 24 percent. To find out more about the real numbers behind popular
perceptions and what they could imply for policymakers in developing countries, and a range of other
research articles, read the summer issue of the World Bank Research Digest.
Research Digest Vol. 1, No. 4
***********************************************************************
ADePT: User Friendly Tools for Poverty Analysis
***********************************************************************
The World Bank produces on average about 15 poverty assessments per year for developing countries,
nearly all of which entail significant time and resources to produce a reasonably standard set of tables
and graphs with basic statistics. Similar work is now done by country governments, such as within the
poverty reduction strategy paper (PRSP) process. ADePT is a new Stata software platform for automated
economic analysis designed by researchers Lokshin, Sajaia and Radyakin of the World Bank's
Development Research Group. ADePT simplifies and speeds up routine poverty analysis and helps to
minimize errors. It also introduces new techniques and methods of applied economic analysis to a wider
audience. It can be used as a tool for sensitivity analysis, data checking, and as an educational tool. By
producing a standard set of tables and graphs, the program allows comparisons of poverty statistics
across countries.
Modules based on ADePT
***********************************************************************
Martin Ravallion, New Director of the World Bank's Development Research Group
***********************************************************************
Martin Ravallion, formerly Senior Research Manager of the World Bank's Poverty Research team, is now
Director of the Bank's Development Research Group, comprising macroeconomics and growth, trade,
finance and private sector development, human development and public services, rural and urban
development and poverty. An Australian national whose main interests over the last 25 years have
1 of 4
04/12/2007 11:38 AM

---

World Bank Research E-Newsletter [July-August 2007]
http://newsletters.worldbank.org/external/default/main?menuPK=615...
concerned poverty and policies to fight it, Ravallion takes over from L. Alan Winters, who has returned to
the University of Sussex.
Martin Ravallion
***********************************************************************
Future Challenges facing the World Bank Group - What do you
think?***********************************************************************
As the global environment evolves, the World Bank Group has begun work on an options paper that lays
out future global scenarios and considers how the institution's long-term strategy might be adapted to
better respond to the needs of the clients and stakeholders it serves. This Long-Term Strategic Exercise
(LTSE) is being conducted by a team of Bank staff drawn from across the institution, guided by Francois
Bourguignon, World Bank Chief Economist and Senior Vice President, Development Economics. To read
the overview of the draft paper produced by this working group, and to provide online feedback, please
visit
www.worldbank.org/ltse
***********************************************************************
New Policy Research Working Papers
***********************************************************************
These papers, and all older papers, are also available using the Document Search on the Bank's
Development Economics Research website and on the Social Sciences Research Network.
4272. Migration, remittances, poverty, and human capital : conceptual and empirical challenges. (David
McKenzie, Marcin J. Sasin)
4273. Rules of origin and the web of East Asian free trade agreements. (Miriam Manchin, Annette O.
Pelkmans-Balaoing)
4274. Are labor regulations driving computer usage in India's retail stores? (Mohammad Amin)
4275. Can foreign lobbying enhance development ? The case of tourism in the Caribbean. (Kishore
Gawande, William Maloney, Gabriel V. Montes Rojas)
4276. Human capital, trade liberalization, and income risk. (Tom Krebs, Pravin Krishna, William Maloney)
4277. Climate change adaptation in Africa : a microeconomic analysis of livestock choice. (Sungno
Niggol Seo, Robert Mendelsohn)
4278. Endogenous irrigation : the impact of climate change on farmers in Africa. (Pradeep
Kurukulasuriya, Robert Mendelsohn)
4279. The impact of climate change on livestock management in Africa : a structural Ricardian analysis.
(Sungno Niggol Seo, Robert Mendelsohn)
4280. Governance Matters VI: Aggregate and Individual Governance Indicators, 1996-2006. (Daniel
Kaufmann, Aart Kraay, Massimo Mastruzzi)
4281. Credit growth in emerging Europe : a cause for stability concerns? (Sophie Sirtaine, Illias
Skamnelos)
4282. Are cash transfers made to women spent like other sources of income? (Norbert Schady, Jose
Rosero)
4283. Innovation shortfalls. (William Maloney, Andres Rodriguez-Clare)
4284. Customer market power and the provision of trade credit : evidence from Eastern Europe and
Central Asia. (Neeltje Van Horen)
4285. Poverty analysis using an international cross-country demand system. (J.A.L. Cranfield, Paul V.
Preckel, Thomas W. Hertel)
4286. Institutional effects as determinants of learning outcomes : exploring state variations in Mexico.
(Jesus Alvarez, Vicente Garcia Moreno, Harry Anthony Patrinos)
4287. A cross-country analysis of public debt management strategies. (Martin Melecky)
4288. Actual crop water use in project countries : a synthesis at the regional level. (Robina Wahaj,
Florent Maraux, Giovanni Munoz)
4289. Sensitivity of cropping patterns in Africa to transient climate change. (Alexander Lotsch)
4290. The impacts of climate change on regional water resources and agriculture in Africa. (Kenneth
Strzepek, Alyssa McCluskey)
4291. An empirical economic assessment of impacts of climate change on agriculture in Zambia. (Suman
Jain)
4292. Assessment of the economic impacts of climate change on agriculture in Zimbabwe : a ricardian
approach. (Reneth Mano, Charles Nhemachena)
4293. Assessing the economic impacts of climate change on agriculture in Egypt : a ricardian approach.
(Helmy M. Eid, Samia M. El-Marsafawy, Samiha A. Ouda)
4294. Scarperation : an empirical inquiry into the role of scarcity in fostering cooperation between
international river riparians. (Shlomi Dinar, Ariel Dinar, Pradeep Kurukulasuriya)
4295. Economic benefit of Tuberculosis control. (Ramanan Laxminarayan, Eili Klein, Christopher Dye,
Katherine Floyd, Sarah Darley, Olusoji Adeyi)
4296. When do creditor rights work? (Mehnaz Safavian, Siddharth Sharma)"
4297. Big dragon, little dragons : China's challenge to the machinery exports of southeast Asia. (Sjamsu
Rahardja)
2 of 4
04/12/2007 11:38 AM

---

World Bank Research E-Newsletter [July-August 2007]
http://newsletters.worldbank.org/external/default/main?menuPK=615...
4298. Yield impact of irrigation management transfer : story from the Philippines. (Sushenjit
Bandyopadhyay, Priya Shyamsundar, Mei Xei)
4299. Balancing expenditures on mitigation of and adaptation to climate change : an exploration of
Issues relevant to developing countries. (Franck Lecocq, Zmarak Shalizi)
4300. Country stakes in climate change negotiations : two dimensions of vulnerability. (Piet Buys, Uwe
Deichmann, Craig Meisner, Thao Ton-That, David Wheeler)
4301. India's journey toward an effective patent. (Bruce Abramson)
4302. Watching more than the Discovery channel : export cycles and diversification in development.
(Paul Brenton, Richard Newfarmer)
4303. Geographic inequity in a decentralized anti-poverty program : a case study of China. (Martin
Ravallion)
4304. China, India, and the future of the world economy : fierce competition or shared growth? (Betina
Dimaranan, Elena Ianchovichina, William J. Martin)
4305. A ricardian analysis of the impact of climate change on African cropland. (Pradeep Kurukulasuriya,
Robert Mendelsohn)
4306. The impact of climate change on African agriculture : a ricardian approach. (David Maddison,
Marita Manley, Pradeep Kurukulasuriya)
4307. Crop selection : adapting to climage change in Africa. (Pradeep Kurukulasuriya, Robert
Mendelsohn)
4308. The perception of and adaptation to climate change in Africa. (David Maddison)
4309. Strengthening China's technological capability. (Shahid Yusuf, Kaoru Nabeshima)
4310. Do overlapping property rights reduce agricultural investment ? evidence from Uganda. (Klaus
Deininger, Daniel Ayalew Ali)
4311. Development finance via diaspora bonds track record and potential. (Suhas L . Ketkar, Dilip Ratha)
4312. An emerging agricultural problem in high-performing Asian economies. (Yujiro Hayami)
4313. Entrepreneurship and firm formation across countries. (Leora Klapper, Raphael Amit, Mauro F.
Guillen, Juan Manuel Quesada)
4314. Labor regulation and employment in India's retail stores. (Mohammad Amin)
4315. How might climate change affect economic growth in developing countries ? a review of the growth
literature with a climate lens. (Franck Lecocq, Zmarak Shalizi)
4316. Who fears competition from informal firms ? evidence from Latin America. (Alvaro S. Gonzalez,
Francesca Lamanna)
4317. Managing the coordination of service delivery in metropolitan cities : the role of metropolitan
governance. (Enid Slack)
4318. Specialization and adjustment during the growth of China and India : the Latin American
experience. (Daniel Lederman, Marcelo Olarreaga, Eliana Rubiano)
4319. Product innovation by incumbent firms in developing economies : the roles of research and
development expenditures, trade policy, and the investment climate. (Daniel Lederman)
4320. The growth of China and India in world trade : opportunity or threat for Latin America and the
Caribbean? (Daniel Lederman, Marcelo Olarreaga, Isidro Soloaga)
4321. Strengthening the governance and performance of state-owned financial institutions. (David H.
Scott)
4322. Entry regulation and business start-ups : evidence from Mexico. (David S. Kaplan, Eduardo Piedra,
Enrique Seira)
4323. Determinants and consequences of land sales market participation : panel evidence from India.
(Klaus Deininger, Songqing Jin, Hari K. Nagarajan)
4324. Efficiency and equity impacts of rural land rental restrictions : evidence from India. (Klaus
Deininger, Songqing Jin, Hari K. Nagarajan)
4325. Managing agricultural risk at the country level : the case of index-based livestock insurance in
Mongolia. (Olivier Mahul, Jerry Skees)
4326. Innovative experiences in access to finance : market friendly roles for the visible hand? (Augusto
de la Torre, Juan Carlos Gozzi, Sergio L. Schmukler)
4327. Urbanization and productivity : evidence from Turkish provinces over the period 1980-2000.
(Souleymane Coulibaly, Uwe Deichmann, Somik Lall)
4328. Does IDA engage in defensive lending? (Carolin Geginat, Aart Kraay)
4329. Investing in Indonesia's education : allocation, equity, and efficiency of public expenditures. (F.
Javier Arze del Granado, Wolfgang Fengler, Andy Ragatz, Elif Yavuz)
4330. Big bad banks? The impact of US branch deregulation on income distribution (Thorsten Beck,
Ross Levine, Alexy Levkov)
4331. Infrastructure governance and corruption: Where next? (Charles Kenny)
4332. Exploring Lebanon's Growth Prospects (Jean-Claude Berthelemy, Sebastien Dessus, Charbel
Nahas)
3 of 4
04/12/2007 11:38 AM

---

World Bank Research E-Newsletter [July-August 2007]
http://newsletters.worldbank.org/external/default/main?menuPK=615...
4333. Oil spills on other commodities (John Baffes)
4334. The economic impact of climate change on Kenyan agriculture: a Ricardian approach (Jane
Kabubo-Mariara, Fredrick K. Karanja)
4335. Landlockedness, Infrastructure and Trade: new estimates for Central Asian countries. (Christopher
Grigoriou)
4336. European Community--Sugar: cross-subsidization and the World Trade Organization. (Bernard
Hoekman, Robert Howse)
4337. Canada--wheat: discrimination, non-commercial considerations, and state trading
enterprises. (Bernard Hoekman, Joel Trachtman)
4338. Corruption, the business environment, and small business growth in India. (Maddalena Honorati,
Taye Mengistae)
4339. Developing economies and international investors: do investment promotion agencies bring them
together? (Torfinn Harding, Beata Smarzynska Javorcik)
4340. Rural roads and poor area development in Vietnam (Ren Mu, Dominique van de Walle)


Please rate this page !
LOW
HIGH
Rate it!
The average votes will be displayed after 15
people have voted. 4 have voted so far.
Home | Site Map | Index | FAQs | Contact Us | Search | RSS
© 2007 The World Bank Group, All Rights Reserved. Legal
4 of 4
04/12/2007 11:38 AM

---