Quality Of Economic Policy Research Articles

Social Progress Index for Urban and Rural Areas of a Region: Evidence from Peru

The present study describes the methodological process proposed by the Social Progress Imperative Global Organization to calculate the Social Progress Index in urban and rural areas of the province of Huancayo, Peru, in 2020. The survey was based on 229 observations regarding basic human needs, foundations of well-being and opportunities. The result produced an index of 56.04 for urban areas and 53.98 for rural areas; results that are in the low and low middle range respectively, identifying deficiencies in the quality of economic policies, with respect to the sanitation service, where more than 30% do not have access to drinking water, and others. It was concluded that the index showed no improvement with respect to 2019, likewise the social gaps still persist and the well-being of the aforementioned population was not increased.

Is It the Journey That Matters? A Fresh Look at the Impact of World Bank Policy Lending

AbstractThis paper investigates the impact of World Bank policy lending on the quality of economic policy. A new econometric specification distinguishes among two effects that have been conflated hitherto: (i) marginal impacts of additional policy actions and (ii) the length of the policy engagement. Panel estimations on a revised data set indicate that development policy financing has a positive effect on the quality of economic policy. Results are robust to the use of different estimation techniques, sample restrictions, the inclusion of additional controls, omitted variable bias adjustment, a placebo test and a compound IV strategy. Next, the econometric work suggests that the quality of the engagement matters more than the sheer number of policy actions. We provide several arguments of why the process of engagement is key. Finally, there is evidence that longer engagements lead to lower policy impacts, which may be related to a change to more complex, second‐generation reforms. © 2020 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Russian enterprises in spring 2017: Slow restoration of investment activity against a background of economic stabilization

This paper has analyzed and commented on the results of the regular survey of Russian real sector enterprises, which was conducted by the Institute of Economic Forecasting of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The views of enterprises on the quality of economic policy of federal and regional authorities have been presented. Estimates have been obtained that reflect the dynamics of investment activity of enterprises and the dynamics of investment financing from various sources, as well as the need of enterprises to modernize production. The opinions of enterprises about the desirable dynamics of the ruble exchange rate are given. The current situation with the provision of enterprises with human resources has been reflected. Enterprises’ answers to questions about whether they have territorially detached subdivisions and their use of outsourcing have been considered.

World Bank Lending and the Quality of Economic Policy

This study investigates the impact of World Bank development policy lending on the quality of economic policy. It finds that the quality of policy increases, but at a diminishing rate, with the cumulative number of policy loans. Similar results hold for the cumulative number of conditions attached to policy loans, although quadratic specifications indicate that additional conditions may even reduce the quality of policy beyond some point. The paper measures the quality of economic policy using the World Bank’s Country Policy and Institutional Assessments of macro, debt, fiscal, and structural policies, and considers only policy loans targeted at improvements in those areas. Previous studies finding weaker effects of policy lending on macro stability have failed to distinguish loans primarily intended to improve economic policy from other loans targeted at improvements in sector policies or in public management. The paper also shows that investing in economic policy does not ‘crowd out’ policy improvements in other areas, such as public sector governance or human development. The results are robust to using alternative indicators of policy quality and correcting for endogeneity with system generalized methods of moments and cross-sectional two-stage least squares. The more positive results in the study relative to some previous studies are consistent with claims by the World Bank that it has learned from its mistakes with traditional adjustment lending.

Современный этап российской муниципальной реформы: содержание и ожидаемые эффекты

The dominant trend of Russian home policy currently is strengthening the political control of presidential power over lower levels of public authority hierarchy. At the same time in relation to the regions the strategy of partial decentralization of powers and increasing of responsibilities of state bodies of the Federation for the quality of economic policy and the implementation of social obligations to the population by the Federal Centre is implemented. This strategy involves the empowerment of regional authorities on the formation of institutional design and definition of the scope of the powers of local self-government within the selective choice established by the federal legislator. Using new opportunities regional authorities introduce management models in the municipalities, in which the heads of executive bodies are elected by the representative bodies on the contest. Application of these models reinforces the dependence of municipalities on authorities of the bodies of the Federation, creating opportunities for professionalization of management of executive structures of municipalities and reducing the direct accountability to the people of the past.

Wachstumsdivergenz zwischen Entwicklungsländern: Hat die Entwicklungsökonomie versagt?

Abstract While some developing countries caught up economically with advanced industrial countries, low or even negative growth of per capita incomes in various developing countries resulted in widening income gaps during the process of globalisation. This article explores three possible explanations for divergent growth patterns: (i) the reluctance of developing countries to implement the policy prescriptions of the so-called Washington consensus; (ii) the failure of traditional recipes of macroeconomic stabilisation and structural adjustment; and (iii) deep-rooted obstacles to growth that were ignored by many policy-advisers. According to the correlation results presented, the notion that economic policy matters for growth cannot simply be dismissed. However, there is little evidence supporting the view that lacking reform-mindedness explains the weak growth performance of most developing countries. Economic policy appears to be constrained in important ways, particularly in the poorest countries. Openness to trade and foreign direct investment turns out to be less effective in stimulating growth in this country group than in more advanced countries. Furthermore, it is mainly for poor countries that path-dependent institutional deficiencies and geographical disadvantages have a significant impact on the quality of economic policy and the growth performance. Hence, development cooperation must go beyond the Washington consensus for more developing countries to escape the poverty trap.

Investment and economic growth

The paper revisits the old question, how much does investment contribute to economic growth? Building on recent work of Maurice Scott, it suggests that the analysis of growth, in developing as in the industrial countries, would benefit from a capital accumulation approach. In the following analysis, economic growth is related to three variables, all greatly influenced by the quality of economic policies: the rate of investment, the social rate of return to investment, and the investment-induced returns to labor.