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Chapter 9 - Soap Operas for Female Micro Entrepreneur Training
- Edited by Alberto Chong, Mónica Yáñez-Pagans
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- Book:
- Information Technologies and Economic Development in Latin America
- Published by:
- Anthem Press
- Published online:
- 30 April 2020
- Print publication:
- 29 February 2020, pp 161-198
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Summary
Introduction
There is an increasing interest in understanding the role of micro enterprises in developing countries. First, they constitute the vast majority of firms in developing countries. For example, Li and Rama (2012) find that this group comprises 61 percent of firms in Chile; 83 percent in Turkey; 95 percent in South Africa; 85 percent in India and 84 percent in Pakistan. While certainly some of them will disappear, some others may transition into larger companies and will provide the foundation for a modern private sector. Second, they are also the most important source of employment: 72 percent of jobs are created in micro enterprises in developing countries. Third, they have relatively low productivity levels, and this is especially concerning given their large share of employment. In this line, Angelelli, Moudry and Llisterri (2006) calculate that, even though 77 percent of total employment is generated by micro and small enterprises in Latin America, they only contribute to 30– 60 percent of GDP.
The economic literature provides a long list of potential culprits for low levels of productivity of micro enterprises. A considerable proportion of previous studies have focused on the challenges that financial constraints can impose on small businesses: if firms are unable to borrow, they would be unable to finance optimal levels of capital (e.g., Banerjee, Duflo, Glennerster and Kinnan, 2013; de Mel, McKenzie and Woodruff, 2008; Evans and Jovanovic, 1989; Fafchamps, McKenzie, Quinn and Woodruff, 2014). Restuccia and Rogerson (2008) argue that policies that create other distortions in the input or output markets can lead to misallocation of resources and reductions in productivity. Low levels of human capital (at least, measured through formal schooling) has been another candidate to explain low levels of productivity in small firms in developing countries. De Soto (1989) argues that the regulatory framework in developing countries creates an unnecessary burden for businesses in developing countries and promote informality. More recently, another potentially constraining factor in micro enterprise development has gained attention: managerial capital (Bruhn, Karlan and Schoar, 2010). For example, Bloom and Reenen (2010) argue that persistent differences in firm productivity can be explained by management practices. The authors surveyed around six thousand firms in 17 countries and measure their practices in three broad areas: monitoring (e.g., production process tracking), targets (e.g., goal setting) and incentives (e.g., promotion workers with high performance).
NONPARAMETRIC ESTIMATION OF CONDITIONAL VALUE-AT-RISK AND EXPECTED SHORTFALL BASED ON EXTREME VALUE THEORY
- Carlos Martins-Filho, Feng Yao, Maximo Torero
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- Journal:
- Econometric Theory / Volume 34 / Issue 1 / February 2018
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 19 December 2016, pp. 23-67
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We propose nonparametric estimators for conditional value-at-risk (CVaR) and conditional expected shortfall (CES) associated with conditional distributions of a series of returns on a financial asset. The return series and the conditioning covariates, which may include lagged returns and other exogenous variables, are assumed to be strong mixing and follow a nonparametric conditional location-scale model. First stage nonparametric estimators for location and scale are combined with a generalized Pareto approximation for distribution tails proposed by Pickands (1975, Annals of Statistics 3, 119–131) to give final estimators for CVaR and CES. We provide consistency and asymptotic normality of the proposed estimators under suitable normalization. We also present the results of a Monte Carlo study that sheds light on their finite sample performance. Empirical viability of the model and estimators is investigated through a backtesting exercise using returns on future contracts for five agricultural commodities.
6 - Hunger and Malnutrition
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- By John Hoddinott, Poverty Health and Nutrition Division, International Food Policy Research Institute, Mark Rosegrant, Environment and Production Technology Division, International Food Policy Research Institute, Maximo Torero, nternational Food Policy Research Institute
- Edited by Bjørn Lomborg
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- Book:
- Global Problems, Smart Solutions
- Published online:
- 05 June 2014
- Print publication:
- 14 November 2013, pp 332-389
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Summary
Introduction: the challenge of hunger and undernutrition
Current estimates suggest that there are approximately 925 million hungry people in the world. Just under 180 million pre-school children are stunted – that is, they are the victims of chronic undernutrition. This deprivation is not because of insufficient food production. Approximately 2,100 kcal/person/day, provides sufficient energy for most daily activities; current per capita global food production, at 2,796 kcal/person/day, is well in excess of this requirement. Given that there is more than enough food in the world to feed its inhabitants, global hunger is not an insoluble problem.
Deprivation in a world of plenty is an intrinsic rationale for investments that reduce hunger and undernutrition; our focus in this chapter, as with previous Copenhagen Consensus papers on this topic, Behrman et al. (2004) and Horton et al. (2008), is on the instrumental case for doing so. In its simplest form, the central argument of this chapter is that these investments are simply good economics. Our solutions, however, represent a partial departure from those earlier Copenhagen Consensus papers. First, we re-introduce attention to solutions to hunger with a focus on investments that will increase global food production. This might seem strange given our observation that global food production exceeds global food needs. But as we argue in this chapter, these investments are needed for two reasons: to lower prices so as to make food more affordable; and because, given the consequences of climate change, there can be no complacency regarding global food production. Second, previous Copenhagen Consensus papers on hunger and undernutrition have considered very specific interventions that focus on single dimensions of undernutrition. In this chapter, we examine the economic case for bundling these. Our proposed investments are:
Investment 1: Accelerating yield enhancements
Investment 2: Market innovations that reduce hunger
Investment 3: Interventions that reduce the micronutrient malnutrition and reduce the prevalence of stunting
We begin with background material that contextualizes our proposed solutions:
What are the causes of hunger?
How many hungry and undernourished people are there in the world?
And what are the likely trends in hunger over the next twenty-five–thirty-five years?
We then describe our three proposed investments, explaining how each addresses the problems of hunger and undernutrition and describing their costs and benefits. Caveats and cautions are noted in the third section and our concluding section summarizes the case for these investments.