Are households with returnee migrants more entrepreneurial relative to household with non-migrants? We explore this question using household survey data from 31 districts in Nepal. Overall effect of returnee migrants on household's business ownership/entrepreneurship depends on result of two opposing forces at work: on one hand returnee migrants can bring savings, experience and skills needed to set up business, however there is loss of social capital (personal networks) when they are out of the country. Estimating this causal effect is challenging because self-selection of household into outward migration at initial stage and into return migration at final stage. We address self-selection of initial outward migration using instrumental variable approach and address the self-selection at return stage by exploiting the circumstances forced return migration to Nepal due to expiration of work permit/work contract and health reasons. We examine the impact of having returnee migrants on household owning business (general) and agri-business (farming and live-stock).Our result shows that having a returnee migrant increases the probability of household owning agribusiness by 0.16. On the other hand, having a returnee migrant on household decreases the probability of owning general businesses by 0.24.
Over the past couple of decades, global financing for development has changed dramatically. The biggest shifts have been the rapid increase of net private financing flows to developing countries, in particular to middle-income countries (MICs); the sustained growth of official development assistance (ODA) from Development Assistance Committee (DAC) members, even excluding debt relief; the emergence of MICs as growth poles and sources of ODA with different approaches to aid delivery than those of DAC donors; and the expanded role of private aid. In addition, past trends of proliferation, fragmentation and earmarking of aid have continued. This paper reviews broad trends in global financing for development, with a focus on ODA and the growing importance of new development partners such as the so-called BRICS. In this context, it discusses the implications of this changing landscape for aid effectiveness and the role of ODA going forward.
Owing primarily to extensive investment in new mining projects, Mongolia's economy is on a path of very rapid long-term growth. While financial intermediation in Mongolia has been growing fast, access to finance remains a critical constraint for enterprises, and especially for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). Improving access to financial services will require strengthening the legal and regulatory framework and financial infrastructure, including the secured transactions framework, creditor rights and insolvency regime, credit information sharing system, platform for technology-based banking products, regulation and supervision of nonbank financial institutions, and consumer protection in financial services. To realize fully its economic potential, Mongolia needs to build a diversified, efficient and stable financial system, capable of intermediating both on a large scale and in specific market segments. Due to its focus on the development agenda, and specifically on access to finance for the SME sector, capital markets development, and housing finance market development, this report does not address financial sector stability issues. Financial intermediation in Mongolia has grown significantly in recent years; credit and deposit penetration are on par with the average in the East Asia and the Pacific (EAP) region. Access to finance is particularly constrained for SMEs, which are also more sensitive to an unstable macroeconomic environment, characterized by high inflation and exchange rate fluctuations.
Monitoring and evaluation (M&E) is an extremely complex, multidisciplinary and skill intensive endeavor. Government-wide M&E is even more so because it requires detailed knowledge across and within sectors, as well as of interactions among planning, budgeting, and implementation functions in the public sector. The situation is complicated even further when the machinery of government is decentralized, with powers and functions distributed across three spheres of government. This paper outlines the process of implementing a government-wide monitoring and evaluation (GWM&E) system in South Africa. The first section sketches the context that created the impetus for establishing such a system. This context is clearly shaping the evolution of the system and influencing its longer-term sustainability. The second section outlines the various stages of conceptualizing and implementing the GWM&E system, which is currently very much a 'work in progress.' The third section reviews international experiences for lessons learned, which may also be germane to the South African context, noting similarities and differences in approach. Some of the critical implementation factors relate to the role of political leadership and championing of M&E, incentives for promoting usage of M&E findings, dealing with information and data constraints, capacity building, "ownership" of the M&E system by line ministries and other agencies, and managing the challenges of change. The fourth section examines a range of challenges and difficulties encountered in South Africa. The final section reflects on lessons distilled from the South African experience to date.
In June 2012, at the Rio+20 United Nations (UN) Conference on Sustainable Development (hereafter Rio+20), our eight Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) delivered a joint statement making a Commitment to Sustainable Transport (hereafter the Rio+20 Commitment). The aim was to draw attention to the critical role sustainable transport plays as an enabler of sustainable development, and to make known our intentions to support sustainable transport in developing countries in succeeding years. Building on our collective history of support for transport, the commitment outlined our expectation to provide more than $175 billion of loans and grants for transport in developing countries over the coming decade (2012-22). This funding has been increasingly supporting sustainable transport – transport that is accessible, affordable, efficient, financially sustainable, environmentally friendly, and safe.
This paper reviews Cambodia's economic development based on flows of foreign direct investment (FDI) and services sector liberalisation. It uses Cambodia's logistics industry as a case study. Services sector liberalisation in Cambodia has been mainly driven by its commitments under the World Trade Organization (WTO) framework and the ASEAN Framework Agreement on Services (AFAS). Logistics is one of the key contributors to economic growth and competitiveness. To improve the logistics sector, Cambodia needs to develop a comprehensive master plan and national council on logistics to overcome the main issues and challenges such as corruption and informal payments, lack of institutional capacity and coordination, low-quality transport infrastructure, weak urban–rural and cross-border transport networks, limited participation of the private sector, lack of skilled human resources, and low public and private investments. Promoting healthy competition in logistics and removing the impediments to investment are vital to improving the quality and coverage of logistics services.
This program document presents the World Bank Group (WBG) FY17-22 Country Partnership Framework (CPF) for Bulgaria. The timing of the new CPF follows the preparation of theSystematic Country Diagnostic (SCD) prepared in FY15, and informs the areas and objectives ofthe CPF in support of the WBG's twin goals to reduce poverty and boost shared prosperity1 for the bottom forty percent of the population. The CPF proposes to focus WBG support in selective areas aligned with the SCD, in response to clear Government demand, supporting and complementing Bulgaria's European Union agenda, and reflecting the WBG's comparative advantage. In addition, the CPF applies two key principles for engagement, including: (i) realism, recognizing that the WBG plays a selective role and that it will contribute most effectively by being strategic and catalytic in supporting key elements of Bulgaria's development agenda, and (ii) scalability, creating opportunities to engage in dialogue and analytical work that may create space for broader engagement in areas where there is potential for transformational impact, including IFC investments in private sector development. Government demand is focused primarily on the agenda to strengthen public institutions, notably in the financial and energy sectors. The WBG will complement that focus by investing its own resources to stay engaged in the inclusion agenda, which is critical to the WBG twin goals. CPF proposes to cover a six year period, with Progress Learning Reviews (PLRs) will facilitate a more proactive approach to monitoring results and ensure close alignment with the country-led strategy.
This paper analyzes recent automotive investment in the Slovak Republic and shows how the development of the automotive industry has influenced growth in productivity and output in the broader economy. The study also discusses the motivations for automotive investment, with the country evolving from a relative laggard in reform implementation and foreign direct investment in the late 1990s to one of the region's top performers and one of the fastest-growing economies. It is argued that strong reform implementation, together with continued and credible commitment to reforms, were both preconditions for attracting automotive investments and the key factors that enabled these investments to flourish. The reform efforts were made possible by strong political consensus on accelerating European Union (EU) accession and boosting living standards. Taking into account the specificity of the industry, other aspects related to factor endowments have also played a role. Generous investment incentives appear to have played an important role in swaying foreign investors in selecting the Slovak Republic within the broader region of central Europe. Once investment in automotive production started, it contributed to additional investment by suppliers that has helped generate locally owned suppliers. These, in turn, are beginning to supply car producers in neighboring countries. All told, the full impact of the original automotive investment will be felt only over several years, but even in the early years it has been substantial. With output at the existing three producers set to reach capacity only by 2010, the impact is likely to be more substantial still.
The Timor-Leste health resource tracking study was undertaken in order to improve the flow of critical cash and in-kind resources to districts and health centers by identifying, and proposing how to relieve, the most critical impediments in the public financial management (PFM) cycle. The study follows these three inputs backwards through every stage of the PFM cycle in order to unearth the pertinent issues that impede the timely and sufficient delivery of inputs to frontline providers. It required the collection of data from a wide variety of sources and the use of diverse methodological approaches, including semi-structured district- and facility level surveys, one-to-one interviews, transaction analysis, document review, and analysis of the government's financial management information system (FMIS). The study findings are presented in detail, together with the supporting evidence and key related recommendations, in chapter one, operating cash, chapter two, fuel budget, and chapter three, vehicle repairs and maintenance. Chapter four presents a set of cross-cutting findings that affect all areas of the goods and service budget.
Local and Community Driven Development (LCDD) is an approach that gives control of development decisions and resources to community groups and representative local governments. Poor communities receive funds, decide on their use, plan and execute the chosen local projects, and monitor the provision of services that result from it. It improves not just incomes but people's empowerment and governance capacity, the lack of which is a form of poverty as well. LCDD operations have demonstrated effectiveness at delivering results and have received substantial support from the World Bank. Since the start of this decade, our lending for LCDD has averaged around US$2 billion per year. Through its support to local and community-driven programs, the Bank has financed services such as water supply and sanitation, health services, schools that are tailored to community needs and likely to be maintained and sustainable, nutrition programs for mothers and infants, the building of rural access roads, and support for livelihoods and micro enterprise. This eBook brings together the thoughts and experiences of many of the leading proponents and practitioners of LCDD, a phrase that evolved from Community-Driven Development, and most clearly describes the process of empowering communities and their local governments so they drive economic and social development upwards and outwards. This, too many, appears as a new paradigm, though it has actually evolved over the decades, since it emerged from India in the 1950s. While many LCDD projects have taken root, the key challenge now is how such islands of success, that is, the discrete LCDD projects, can be scaled up into sustainable national programs that build skills in decision-making, management, and governance.
This study examines Public Expenditure Tracking Survey (PETS) and Quantitative Service Delivery Survey (QSDS) carried out in Africa with the objective of assessing their approaches, main findings, and contributions. Section 2 investigates the context, motivations, and objectives of PETS and QSDS that have been carried out in Sub-Saharan Africa. Section 3 examines the institutional arrangements for resource allocation and service delivery in social sectors. Section 4 presents some of the main findings of tracking surveys. Section 5 analyzes methodological approaches used in previous tracking surveys in order to identify factors that could explain the difference in past surveys' success, and identify potential methodological harmonization. Section 6 presents a series of good practice principles that arise from past experience, and discusses how they could be implemented. Section 7 proposes potential future surveys and endeavors.
As a normative principle, federalism describes "the method of dividing powers so that the general and regional governments are each, within a sphere, co-ordinate and independent" (Wheare 1963: 10). The federal principle thus prescribes subnational self-rule on matters of local and regional scope and shared rule of the subnational units and the federal government on matters that transcend regional capabilities and jurisdiction (Elazar 1987). To not confuse federalism with other means and ways to territorially distribute power, e.g. decentralization, the vertical division and diffusion of jurisdiction needs to be constitutionally enshrined and cannot be unilaterally altered (Hueglin 2013). The constitutional safeguard is the core of federations that are the empirical embodiments of the normative principle of subnational autonomy on the one hand and federally shared jurisdiction on the other. Hence, federations are states that possess a federal constitution, i.e. a written agreement enshrining the basic political order of a state (who does what), that necessitates the approval of all constitutive parts, i.e. the federal government and the subnational units (Watts 2008: 8–9). Since "federalism is some one or several varieties of political philosophy or ideology and […] federation […] some type of political institution" (King 1982: 75), the constitution and its political institutions are only the formal framework within which actors of different levels of government work. Thus, federalism does not only encompass structure (polities) but also processes and culture (politics). The latter describes the political actors' behavior according to the logic of compromise and accommodation but also a commitment of the people as a whole towards territorial power sharing and the aforementioned logic of "thinking federal" (Elazar 1987: 192–197; see also Duchacek 1970). Especially, processes and practices within and beyond the federal frame stand out. One procedural characteristic in multi-tiered, federal systems are intergovernmental relations (IGR) that describe "ways and means of operationalizing a system of government" (Elazar 1987: 16). In its broadest terms, IGR are formal and informal interactions of government units between and within layers of government (Poirier and Saunders 2015a). Intergovernmental agreements (IGAs) and intergovernmental councils (IGCs), the two central embodiments of IGR, come into play when self-rule or shared rule is granted but cannot be sufficiently or satisfactorily fulfilled (for a general introduction see Poirier et al. 2015; for an encompassing discussion of IGCs see Bolleyer 2009 and Behnke and Mueller 2017; for an introduction to IGAs see country specific literature). The dissertation project "Federal Reform and Intergovernmental Relations in Switzerland. An Analysis of Intercantonal Agreements and Parliamentary Scrutiny in the Wake of the NFA" starts from the conceptual dualism of federalism and IGR. It aims at answering crucial questions on the most recent developments in the Swiss federal system with respect to horizontal IGAs and the role of subnational legislatures when such IGAs are at stake. The basic and overall research question of the dissertation is directly derived from the underlying research project1 on "[t]he hidden political effects of the Swiss federal reform: The NFA and the changing power relations in the Swiss cantons": To what extent has the NFA affected the cantons and their political systems? The research strategy is twofold and so is the research question further split in two: A first preparatory part approaches the research objects at hand and a second part then aims at answering the basic research question. First, the dissertation asks for the significance of horizontal IGAs between the Swiss cantons and for the factors that explain their occurrence: (I) What is the state of intercantonal cooperation by means of IGAs and what explains the intensity of their use? While literature in the international (Parker 2015) and the Swiss context (Bochsler and Sciarini 2006) assign crucial importance to IGAs, barely anything is known about their empirical significance as well as the factors that drive it. Two exceptions stand out: the investigations by Frenkel and Blaser (1981) and Bochsler (2009) address both questions – state and explanatory factors of IGAs – within the Swiss federal system. However, research on the topic resides in the shadow. Answering research question (I) adds another point in time to the two existing ones – Frenkel and Blaser (1981) analyze IGAs as of 1980 and Bochsler (2009) as of 2005. The subsequent analysis checks whether the state of horizontal IGAs has changed and whether the explanatory factors tested are still of significance. Both is by no means certain: The most recent and encompassing federal reform, the Neugestaltung des Finanzausgleichs und der Aufgabenteilung zwischen Bund und Kantonen (NFA), took force on 1 January 2008 and, among others, strengthened intercantonal cooperation especially with reference to the conclusion of IGAs providing public goods and services that require the sharing of costs and burdens. Art. 48a para. 1 lit. a.–i. Cst prescribes the use of IGAs in certain policy areas, e.g. school and higher education, cultural infrastructure but also waste management and waste water treatment. The further institutionalization of IGAs by its strong codification in the federal constitution and the enshrined federal enforcement mechanisms were widely expected to spur intercantonal cooperation (see Bochsler and Sciarini 2006: 36). After around ten years since the NFA has taken force, the subsequent analysis investigates whether this expectation was right and whether the logic behind the conclusion of IGAs has changed or remained the same. Hence, it provides for the better understanding of state and occurrence of IGAs in general. Furthermore, it puts a special focus on such addressed by the NFA in particular. First, the descriptive analysis shows that there is no clear answer to the question on the development of IGAs: While the mere number of IGAs has not significantly changed of late but consolidated on a high level, other (fiscal) indicators point towards enhanced intercantonal cooperation. With respect to the explanatory model, applying cross-sectional regression analysis as well as the Quadratic Assignment Procedure (QAP) on dyadic data of intercantonal contracting, the subsequent analysis replicates but also expands the analysis of Bochsler (2009). One of the main findings is that intercantonal cooperation by IGAs mainly takes place within functional, geographically demarcated areas. Mobility plays a crucial role and is one of the main predictors of the intensity of horizontal contractual cooperation. To abstract from the Swiss case, a comparative analysis of the German Bundesländer and the U.S. states is conducted. The crucial question here is whether it exists a similar state and a common logic behind IGAs in other federations as well or whether country specific differences occur. The second part of the dissertation project deals with specific political effects of the NFA, namely effects on the cantonal parliaments as one of the core political institutions on the subnational level (Vatter 2002). While the first part approaches the topic by clarifying state and logic behind IGAs to assess its overall significance for the cantons, the second part directly addresses the basic research question on the political effects of the NFA on power relations within the cantons: (II) How do cantonal parliamentary rights of participation and scrutiny in intercantonal affairs have developed over time and what explains this development? Research on the Swiss cantons provides not only specific descriptive knowledge on singular cases (see Iff et al. 2010 for the canton of Berne and Schwarz et al. 2015 for the canton of Uri) but also on all cantons (Strebel 2014). However, both approaches lack a quantitative comparative and explanatory perspective. Towards answering question (II), it is hypothesized that the NFA and the accompanying public debates and executing national legislation2 triggered change in cantonal parliamentary rights of participation and scrutiny. As already pointed out, the reform heightened the expectation of more executive-driven intercantonal cooperation. Additionally, the federal government settled minimal standards for the conclusion of IGAs that lie within Art. 48a para. 1 lit. a.–i. Cst. Strebel (2014: 231ff.) discusses reforms on the cantonal level towards better parliamentary participation and scrutiny against the background of the NFA. However, a quantitative comparative analysis of the specific factors explaining institutional change stands out: Did the NFA trigger parliamentary reforms in the cantons and what role did other factors play, e.g. the institutional context and the parliaments itself as well as partisan actors within the cantonal arenas? The analysis builds on approaches testing similar effects in other contexts, e.g. the effects of increased activity of state officials on the European level on more parliamentary scrutiny of national governments 'at home' (Raunio and Hix 2000, O'Brennan and Raunio 2007, Winzen 2012, Auel et al. 2015). Methodically, the investigation in this second part makes use of time-series analysis on panel data to isolate the factors explaining institutional change. Besides, an in-depth discussion on a typical case (Lieberman 2005) gives further insights on the workings of the explanatory mechanisms. The dissertation closes by discussing the major implications that can be drawn from the analyses. While the first analysis addressed a trend within federations, i.e. increasing horizontal interactions, the second investigated a major challenge, i.e. efficiency versus democratic accountability (Poirier and Saunders 2015b). The concluding discussion links the two parts of the dissertation and hypothesizes the following: it was the very development towards enhanced parliamentary participation (second analysis) that has hampered the intensity of intercantonal contracting most recently (first analysis). Furthermore, the capability of cantonal political systems is critically discussed. 1 See the abstract of the research project The hidden political effects of the Swiss federal reform: The NFA and the changing power relations in the Swiss cantons (SNSF No. 159343; http://p3.snf.ch/Project-159343, accessed 31 March 2020). 2 i.e. the Bundesgesetz über den Finanz- und Lastenausgleich (FiLaG), in force since 1 April 2005, and the Rahmenvereinbarung über die interkantonale Zusammenarbeit mit Lastenausgleich (IRV), passed for ratification on 24 June 2005.
This note provides guidance on how to use social accountability (SA) approaches in oil, gas, and mining projects, with particular emphasis on World Bank projects in the extractive industry (EI) sectors. It highlights some consequences of poor transparency and accountability in EI sectors and identifies opportunities for addressing these issues. It demonstrates how the use of SA approaches and tools can improve the implementation and outcomes of EI projects. Although the note is written primarily for a World Bank/International Finance Corporation (IFC) audience and project cycle, it is hoped that it will be a resource for government, industry, and civil society partners as well.
This Systematic County Diagnostics is organized into six parts. The first part presents a brief overview of the country's recent socio-political and economic context. The second part examines the links between poverty, income distribution and economic growth, through the labor market, against the background of large changes in international capital flows and the unfinished structural reform agenda. The third part, examines the sustainability and vulnerability of the current growth model. The fourth part examines the structural constraints to sustainable and inclusive growth and poverty reduction, while the fifth part reviews the governance and the rule of law foundations. The assessment of each constraint is followed by a description of what the Government of Montenegro (GoM) is doing to address the issue. The sixth part examines priorities and opportunities.
This Systematic Country Diagnostic (SCD) aims to identify the major constraints on and opportunities for sustaining poverty reduction and shared prosperity in Serbia. The SCD serves as the analytic foundation on which the World Bank Group and the Government of Serbia will define a new Country Partnership Framework for FY2016 to FY2020. It is based on the best possible analysis, drawing on available evidence, and not limited to areas where the World Bank Group is currently engaged. The SCD is structured as follows: Chapter 2 presents the political and economic context. The economic context describes recent trends in growth, shared prosperity, and poverty reduction and briefly discusses factors behind them. Chapter 3 discusses pre-crisis patterns of growth and opportunities for future growth and inclusion in Serbia. Chapter 4 presents drivers of economic growth in Serbia and the principal constraints on growth and competitiveness. Chapter 5 discusses drivers of and constraints to economic inclusion. Chapter 6 outlines risks to sustainable shared prosperity and poverty reduction. Chapter 7 presents priorities for action.
