1,720,985 research outputs found
The Distributional Impact of Taxes and Transfers: Evidence From Eight Developing Countries
No full textThe World Bank has partnered with the Commitment to Equity Institute at Tulane University to implement their diagnostic tool—the Commitment to Equity (CEQ) Assessment—designed to assess how taxation and public expenditures affect income inequality, poverty, and different economic groups. The approach relies on comprehensive fiscal incidence analysis, which measures the contribution of each individual intervention to poverty and inequality reduction as well as the combined impact of taxes and social spending.
The CEQ Assessment provide an evidence base upon which alternative reform options can be analyzed. The use of a common methodology makes the results comparable across countries. This volume presents eight country studies that examine the distributional effects of individual programs and policy measures—and the net effect of each country’s mix of policies and programs. These case studies were produced in the context of Bank policy dialogue and have since been used to propose alternative reform options
The Political Economy of Energy Subsidy Reform
No full textThis book proposes a simple framework for understanding the political economy of subsidy reform and applies it to four in-depth country studies covering more than 30 distinct episodes of reform. Five key lessons emerge. First, energy subsidies often follow a life cycle, beginning as a way to stabilize prices and reduce exposure to price volatility for low-income consumers. However, as they grow in size and political power, they become entrenched. Second, subsidy reform strategies vary because the underlying political economy problems vary. When benefits are concentrated, satisfying or isolating) interest groups with alternative policies is an important condition for effective reform. When benefits are diffuse, it can be much harder to identify and manage the political coalition needed for reform. Third, governments vary in their administrative and political capacities to implement difficult energy subsidy reforms. Fourth, improvements in social protection systems are often critical to the success of reforms because they make it possible to target assistance to those most in need. Finally, the most interesting cases involve governments that take a strategic approach to the challenges of political economy. In these settings, fixing energy subsidies is central
to the governments’ missions of retaining political power and reorganizing how the government delivers benefits to the population. These cases are examples of “reform engineering,” where governments actively seek to create the capacity to implement alternative policies, depoliticize tariffs, and build credibility around alternative policies.
The most successful reforms involve active efforts by policy leaders to identify the political forces supporting energy subsidies and redirect or inoculate them
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
Éliminer les inégalités structurelles pour accélérer la réduction de la pauvreté en Afrique
No full textStructural sources of Africa’s inequality are rooted in laws, institutions, and practices that create advantages for a few but disadvantages for many. They include differences in living standards that come from inherited or unalterable characteristics, such as where people are born and their parents’ education, ethnicity, religion, and gender. They also arise from market and institutional distortions that privilege some firms, farms, and workers to access markets, employment, and opportunities while limiting access for the majority and limiting earning opportunities.
"Leveling the Playing Field: Addressing Structural Inequalities to Accelerate Poverty Reduction in Africa" argues that policies to address high levels of structural inequality in Africa are also at the heart of what is needed to accelerate progress in reducing extreme poverty.
There is nothing inevitable about structural inequality. Economies that put up barriers to opportunities can also remove and replace them with policies that create a level playing field. Indeed, across the world, countries where opportunities are distributed more fairly grow faster and have lower poverty incidence. Broadening access to opportunities represents one of Africa’s key prospects for raising productivity and earnings and accelerating poverty reduction. Leveraging the most recent data available for the region, "Leveling the Playing Field" provides recommendations aimed at improving the productive capacity of the poor, the ability of poor individuals to use their capacities for well-paying job opportunities, and the design of fair fiscal policies.Les sources structurelles des inégalités en Afrique trouvent leur origine dans les lois, institutions et pratiques qui avantagent un petit nombre de personnes et désavantagent beaucoup d’autres. Les différences portent notamment sur les niveaux de vie qui découlent de caractéristiques héritées ou inaltérables, telles que le lieu de naissance, l’appartenance ethnique, la religion ou le genre, et le niveau d’études des parents. Les inégalités résultent aussi des distorsions du marché et des distorsions institutionnelles qui donnent à certaines entreprises, certaines exploitations agricoles et certains travailleurs un accès privilégié aux marchés, à l’emploi et aux débouchés, tout en limitant l’accès de la majorité et les perspectives d’activités rémunératrices. D’après la publication « Leveling the Playing Field : Addressing Structural Inequalities to Accelerate Poverty Reduction in Africa », les politiques visant à lutter contre les niveaux élevés d’inégalités structurelles en Afrique sont également au coeur des mesures qui doivent être prises pour accélérer la réduction de l’extrême pauvreté.
Les inégalités structurelles n’ont rien d’inévitable. Les économies qui créent des obstacles à l’égalité des chances peuvent également les supprimer et les remplacer par des politiques visant à réduire les inégalités. En effet, dans le monde entier, les pays où l’égalité des chances est la mieux répartie affichent un taux de croissance plus élevé et un recul de la pauvreté. L’élargissement de l’accès à l’égalité des chances représente l’une des principales chances pour l’Afrique d’accroître la productivité, d’augmenter les revenus et d’accélérer la réduction de la pauvreté. S’appuyant sur les données disponibles les plus récentes pour la région, la publication « Leveling the Playing Field » formule des recommandations visant à améliorer les capacités productives des pauvres et leur aptitude à utiliser ces capacités pour trouver un emploi bien rémunéré, et la conception de politiques fiscales équitables
Jobs and Transitions Out of Poverty : A Literature Review
Full text linkThis paper summarizes the existing literature on the links between labor and poverty reduction. The vast majority of studies find that more and better paid work is critical in lifting people out of poverty. Studies analyzing poverty dynamics and economic mobility find that improved returns to endowments, particularly the returns to human and physical capital, are critical for exiting poverty. Although non-labor incomes and demographic changes can help to lift the poor out of poverty, there is no substitute for providing an enabling environment that fosters better work and pay for the poor
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