Publications

Recognition of Volunteer Work

Date : Sep, 2010

The purpose of this award is to recognize the efforts of the IDB Group staff members and contractual employees who have distinguished themselves for their volunteer service to their communities.

The Role of Foreign Technology and Indigenous Innovation in the Emerging Economies

Pietrobelli, Carlo, Fu, X.; Soete, L.

Date : Sep, 2010

It is widely recognised that differences in productivity are a major source of cross-country income variations and that technological change drives productivity growth. Technological innovation is therefore a key element of industrialisation and catch-up in developing countries. One of the controversies is whether the sources of technological change are indigenous or based on foreign innovation efforts or a combination of the two, and if so, which combination.

A Cross-Country Analysis of the Risk Factors for Depression at the Micro and Macro Level

Melgar, Natalia; Rossi, Maximo

Date : Sep, 2010

Past research has provided evidence of the role of some personal characteristics as risk factors for depression. However, few studies have examined jointly their specific impact and whether country characteristics change the probability of being depressed. In general, this is due to the use of single-country databases. The aim of this paper is to extend previous findings by employing a much larger dataset and including the country effects mentioned above. The paper estimates probit models with country effects and explores linkages between specific environmental factors and depression using data from the 2007 Gallup Public Opinion Poll. Findings indicate that depression is positively related to being a woman, adulthood, divorce, widowhood, unemployment and low income. Moreover, there is evidence of the significant positive association between inequality and depression, especially for those living in urban areas. Finally, some population’s characteristics facilitate depression (age distribution and religious affiliation).

Measuring the Competitiveness of Selected CARICOM Countries

Margareta Drzeniek-Hanouz, Irene Mia, Eva Trujillo

Date : Aug, 2010

What Determines Investment in the Oil Sector?

Mercer-Blackman, Valerie Anne, Hvozdyk, Lyudmyla

Date : Aug, 2010

This paper discusses recent trends in investment in the oil sector, amid new challenges for national and international oil companies in an increasingly supply-constrained environment. After more than a decade of stagnant investment rates, nominal investment has picked up sharply over the three years ending in 2007, but soaring costs (including from higher tax rates and royalties) meant that investment growth was minimal in real terms. The paper performs econometric tests using the Arellano-Bond GMM technique. It finds that ‘below ground’ risks are statistically very important in deterring real investment. Companies are taking on increasingly complex geological challenges, which are putting upward pressure on production costs and are leading to greater project delays compared to the past. As many of these factors are expected to persist, supply constraints are likely to remain a dominant factor behind oil price fluctuations during the next several years.

Gender Earnings Gaps in the Caribbean: Evidence from Barbados and Jamaica

Bellony, Annelle; Hoyos, Alejandro; Nopo, Hugo

Date : Aug, 2010

This paper analyzes gender earnings gaps in Barbados and Jamaica, using amatching comparisons approach. In both countries, as in most of the Caribbean region, females’ educational achievement is higher than that of males. Nonetheless, males’ earnings surpass those of their female peers. Depending on the set of control characteristics, males’ earnings surpass those of females by between 14 and 27 percent of average females’ wages in Barbados, and between 8 and 17 percent of average females’ wages in Jamaica. In the former, the highest earnings gaps are found among low-income workers. Results from both countries confirm a finding that has been recurrent with this matching approach: the complete elimination of gender occupational segregation in labor markets would increase rather than reduce gender earnings gaps. The evidence is mixed regarding segregation by economic sectors. Occupational experience, in the case of Barbados, and job tenure, in the case of Jamaica, help to explain existing gender earnings gaps.

The Role of Relative Price Volatility in the Efficiency of Investment Allocation

Cavallo, Eduardo; Galindo, Arturo; Izquierdo, Alejandro; Leon, John Jairo

Date : Aug, 2010

This paper estimates the impact of relative price volatility on sector-level investment allocation using a panel of 65 countries with data for 26 manufacturing industries over the period 1985-2003. Results indicate that volatility distorts efficient investment allocation in that investment is not necessarily devoted to relatively more productive sectors, especially in emerging market economies that are highly exposed and may lack the necessary institutions to deal with it successfully. This is evidence in support of theories suggesting that relative price volatility provides incentives for entrepreneurs to adopt more “malleable” but less productive production technologies, enabling them to accommodate more easily abrupt and frequent changes in relative prices, but at the cost of using less productive technologies.

A Primer for Applying Propensity-Score Matching

C. Heinrich; A. Maffioli; G. Vázquez

Date : Aug, 2010

This document provides a guide to the key aspects of implementing Propensity-Score Matching (PSM) methodology. It summarizes the basic conditions under which PSM can be used to estimate the impact of a program and the data required, presenting examples of PSM applications. It explains how the Conditional Independence Assumption, combined with the Overlap Condition, reduces selection bias when participation in a program is determined by observable characteristics. It also describes different matching algorithms and some tests to assess the quality of the matching.

Turns and Directions. Changes in the Arts of Central America's Spanish-Speaking Nations and Panama During and After the ...

Angel, Felix Alberto,

Date : Aug, 2010 | ISBN: 1597821254

Featuring 27 pieces from the art collections of the IDB and the Organization of American States, it is one of several smaller exhibits on Latin American art from the second half of the 20th century, and forms part of an ambitious project, “About Change,” organized by the World Bank Art Program, in association with the IDB Cultural Center and other institutions. The main exhibition, which will open in 2011, focuses on the arts produced in Latin America and the Caribbean during the last decade through the works of artists 35 years of age or younger, exploring the changes that have resulted from economic globalization and information technology. This new IDB exhibition is designed to help create a context against which the changes observed over the last ten years can be gauged.

Component Analysis of Apparent Losses Belize

Cathala, Corinne, 2759

Date : Aug, 2010