Browsing ZEF Discussion Papers on Development Policy by Title
Now showing items 1-20 of 348
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A back-door brain drain
(2012-04)In this paper we study the impact of the international migration of unskilled workers on skill formation and the average skill level in the home country. We analyze what appears to be the least threatening scenario from ... -
A bitter choice turned sweet: How acknowledging individuals’ concern at having a low relative income serves to align utilitarianism and egalitarianism
(2015-03)When individuals’ utility is a convex combination of their income and their concern at having a low relative income (the weights attached to income and to the concern at having a low relative income sum up to one), the ... -
A class of proximity-sensitive measures of relative deprivation
(2017-09)We introduce a new class of generalized measures of relative deprivation. The class takes the form of a power mean of order <em>p</em> . A characteristic of the class is that depending on the value of the proximity-sensitive ... -
A concern about low relative income, and the alignment of utilitarianism with egalitarianism
(2011-10)A utilitarian social planner who maximizes social welfare assigns the available income to those who are most efficient in converting income into utility. However, when individuals are concerned about their income falling ... -
A critical comparison of migration policies: Entry fee versus quota
(2017-07)We ask which migration policy a developed country will choose when its objective is to attain the optimal skill composition of the country’s workforce, and when the policy menu consists of an entry fee and a quota. We ... -
A gain with a drain?: Evidence from rural Mexico on the new economics of the brain drain
(2005-10)Evidence is presented in support of the “brain gain” view that the likelihood of migrating to a destination wherein the returns to human capital (schooling) are high creates incentives to acquire human capital in migrant-sending ... -
A generic model for analyzing nexus issues of households’ bioenergy use
(2016-01)Bioenergy is a major source of energy in developing countries. However, increasing demand for agricultural commodities can lead to a stronger competition for natural resources with the bioenergy production. The nexus among ... -
A journey through the history of commodity derivatives markets and the political economy of (de)regulation
(2018-12)The present study examines the dynamics and regulatory regimes of commodity derivatives markets through time. The historical perspective allows to identify the reasons behind the use of derivatives and the impact of changing ... -
A note on Sen’s representation of the Gini coefficient: Revision and repercussions
(2024-02)Sen (1973 and 1997) presents the Gini coefficient of income inequality in a population as follows. “In any pair-wise comparison the man with the lower income can be thought to be suffering from some depression on finding ... -
A policy response to a downside of the integration of economies: An impossibility theorem
(2014-05)Recent research shows that the merger of economies increases aggregate stress. This paper shows that there is no income distribution policy which will ensure that the wellbeing of the individuals belonging to merging ... -
A pure theory of population distribution when preferences are ordinal
(2023-01)We model an environment in which individuals prefer to be in a space in which their rank is higher, be it a social space, a geographical space, a work environment, or any other comparison sphere which we refer to in this ... -
A reluctance to assimilate
(2006-10)Quite often, migrants appear to exert little effort to absorb the mainstream culture and to learn the language of their host society, even though the economic returns (increased productivity and enhanced earnings) to ... -
A roller coaster ride: an empirical investigation of the main drivers of wheat price
(2013-02)Over the last decade, commodity prices have registered substantial booms and busts marked by extreme volatility. Wheat in particular, one of the main non-oil commodities, has registered a roller-coaster in price levels ... -
A social-psychological reconstruction of Amartya Sen’s measures of inequality and social welfare
(2021-09)The Gini coefficient features prominently in Amartya Sen’s 1973 and 1997 seminal work on income inequality and social welfare. We construct the Gini coefficient from social-psychological building blocks, reformulating it ... -
A theory of migration as a response to relative deprivation
(2000-03)We model migration as a response to relative deprivation. We present a specific configuration of incomes in which the process of migration in response to relative deprivation reaches a steady state. However, for the general ... -
Agglomeration, pollution, and migration: A substantial link, and policy design
(2022-12)We study a developing countries setting in which agglomeration efficiency of urban production attracts rural-to-urban migration, whereas urban pollution deters rural-to-urban migration. By means of a general equilibrium ... -
Agricultural commodity prices, governance, and land supply in the Tropics
(2023-04)Sustainable use of land resources is at the core of the bioeconomy, and it is of central importance for development in the coming decades. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals reflect this aspect of development ... -
The Agricultural mechanization in Africa: micro-level analysis of state drivers and effects
(2019-04)This paper examines the state, drivers and, consequently, the impacts of agricultural mechanization in eleven countries in Africa. Using representative multistage stratified household survey data and robust analytical ... -
Agricultural policies in Vietnam: Producer support estimates, 1986-2002
(2004-12)Since 1986, Vietnam has moved from a centrally planned towards a market-oriented system through several major economic and trade reforms. First positive results of the reform process became visible in the early 1990s when ... -
Allocation of children's time endowment between schooling and work in rural Ethiopia
(2002-02)Children have always been part of the economic life of societies. Historical evidence indicates that the contribution of children to family income in cash or in kind has been consistently significant. Currently, the issue ...
