Paths to Prosperity: Interactions between Rule of law, Economic and Political Freedom
The Atlantic Council’s Freedom and Prosperity Center has awarded Ignacio P. Campomanes, resident fellow of the NCID at the University of Navarra, a Freedom and Prosperity Academic Grant to finance a research project titled “Paths to Prosperity: Interactions between Rule of Law, Economic and Political Freedom”.
Contributors: Ignacio P. Campomanes
Financing: Atlantic Council's Freedom and Prosperity Center, Acton Institute
Social aid, incentives and household behavior
Social assistance programs, including cash transfers, have grown rapidly in recent years and are now found in more than 130 developing countries. On the one hand, governments use cash transfers to enable poor households to reach a consumption floor and lift themselves out of poverty and, on the other hand, such transfers can also reduce incentives to work or invest as households fear losing government support if their incomes increase.
Contributors: Raúl Bajo Buenestado, Jaime Millán Quijano, Ignacio Peláez-Campomanes Guibert, Miguel Angel Borrella Mas, Anastasia Terskaya
Financing: Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación del Gobierno de España y Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER)
Optimal excise taxation: theoretical analysis, empirical estimation, and policy recommendations with tax-collection and environmental implications.
How should taxes be designed in order to achieve higher tax-collection while affecting consumption as little as possible? Is it possible to use taxes to discourage the consumption of certain goods (for example, those that exert negative environmental externalities) to a certain group of consumers, without harming the consumption of others? Or in other words, what rules allow us to design an optimal tax structure through which to achieve certain objectives while minimizing market distortions?
Contributors: Miguel Ángel Borrella Mas, Raúl Bajo-Buenestado
Financing: Fundación Ramón Areces (2020-2022)
Fractional integration: theoretical advances and empirical developments
This project is a continuation of the research line initiated by the Principal Investigator of this project, Luis Alberiko Gil Alaña, in 2002 in relation to the theoretical models of long memory and fractional integration and their empirical extension linked to the analysis of poverty. The project has two parts: one theoretical and another one practical.
Contributors: Luis Alberiko Gil-Alana
Financing: Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación del Gobierno de España y por el Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER)
Information Gaps and Irregular Migration
Irregular migration from West Africa to Europe across the Sahara and Mediterranean is extremely risky for the migrants and a key policy concern.
Contributors: Tijan L. Bah, Catia Batista, Flore Gubert, David McKenzie
Financing: European Commission, AMIF-2017-AG-INFO 824432
Evaluating the Impact of Alternative CCT Modalities in Macedonia
Conditional Cash Transfers (CCTs) for school attendance are used in different countries. Although there are several "first generation" impact evaluation studies assessing their impact on different outcomes, there are far fewer "second generation" studies focusing on the question of how to design CCTs more efficiently.
Contributors: Alex Armand (NCID), Pedro Carneiro (UCL), Nikica Mojsoska-Blazevski (University American College Skopje), Orazio Attanasio (UCL), Valerie Lechene (UCL)
Financing: 3ie Open Window Grant OW4/1022 awarded to Institute for Fiscal Studies
The Reach of Radio: Defection Messaging and Armed Group Behavior
There are very few studies intended to comprehend the incentives that agents that participate in conflicts have, as well as the formulation of viable policies for conflict resolution and peacemaking. In this project, we plan to use information from the most recent literature on labour economics and novel econometric methods to reduce this deficiency.
Contributors: Alex Armand, Joseph Gomes
Financing: Fundación Ramón Areces
Community toilet use in slums: willingness to pay and the role of informational and supply side constraints in Urban Uttar Pradesh
While urbanization can bring benefits for economic, cultural and societal development, the rapid pace of urbanization that is experienced is creating enormous challenges. Especially cities in developing countries are struggling to keep pace with necessary infrastructure investment. One consequence is a phenomena referred to as “urbanization of poverty”. United Nations Water (2013) estimates that 40% of the world’s urban expansion is taking place in slums.
Contributors: Alex Armand (NCID), Britta Augsburg (IFS)
Financing: 3ie Development Priority Window awarded to the Institute for Fiscal Studies (London, UK)
Towards an understanding of parental expectations of returns to education in developing countries
Education is a very important aspect of a country’s growth, and it is essential to understand how parents and/or children make decisions when making this type of investment in human capital.
Contributors: Alex Armand (NCID)
Financing: Fundación Ramón Areces
Understanding Agricultural Insurance in Bolivia
In developing countries, financial uncertainty has deep repercussions on both households' welfare and investment in productive activities. Bolivia is characterized by the prominence of agriculture in its economy. More than 30% of its labor force works in agriculture, and according to the last available agricultural census, 94% of Bolivian productive units are owned by families whose output surpasses 6 million tons. Thus, being of paramount importance for Bolivian food security.
Contributors: Alex Armand (NCID), Joseph F. Gomes (NCID), Sergio Daga (NCID) and Ivan Kim (NCID)
Financing: 3ie Thematic Window on Agricultural Insurance
The Geography of Ethno-linguistic Diversity and the Provision of Public Goods
Countries with a high degree of ethno-linguistic diversity are often associated with underdevelopment and the under-provision of public goods. However, the existing literature, which is at the cross country level, fails to take into account the effective contact between the different ethnic groups.
Contributors: Joseph Gomes
Financing: Fundación Ramón Areces
Technological Innovation in Developing Countries: Theoretical Analysis and Empirical Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa
Technological innovation constitutes a promising alternative to allow many people in developing countries to escape a situation of poverty. This project analyzes four basic questions. First, what are the characteristics of the firms that introduce new products and/or processes in developing countries. Second, how do these firms do innovation. Third, what are the consequences of technological innovation. Finally, what are the main obstacles to innovations that these firms must overcome.
Contributors: Strathmore University, NATECEM (Nigeria), HSRC (Sudáfrica)
Financing: Fundación Ramón Areces
On the mechanics of the political resource curse: information and local elite behavior in Mozambique
Mozambique discovered substantial natural resources in recent years. Known gas reserves in the Rovuma basin have the potential to transform Mozambique into a global player in Liquefied Natural Gas exports. Being a recent democracy, and with relatively weak institutions, Mozambique also faces considerable risks of resource and revenue mismanagement in the future, particularly since media independence and penetration are low and the level of political accountability is not improving.
Contributors: Alex Armand (NCID), Pedro Vicente (NOVAFRICA/Universidade Nova de Lisboa)
Financing: 3ie Transparency and Accountability Initiative (TW8) awarded to NOVAFRICA Mozambique
Identifying the effect of targeted money transfers on women’s empowerment
This project aims at identifying the empowerment effect of targeting transfers to women.
Contributors: Alex Armand (NCID), Ingvild Almas (IIES Stockholm), Pedro Carneiro (UCL), Orazio Attanasio (UCL)
Financing: NHH - Norwegian School of Economics supported the data collection
Restructured Electricity Markets: Competition and Regulation with Environmental and Development Goals
Before the nineties, electricity markets all around the world were dominated by vertically-integrated, monopolistic utilities. During the eighties/nineties, many countries initiated a process of privatization and liberalization of the electricity sector.
Contributors: Raúl Bajo Buenestado (NCID)
Financing: Fundación Ramón Areces