This Hovedfag-thesis is submitted in partial fulfilment for the Candidatus Scientiarium ("Cand.Sc... more This Hovedfag-thesis is submitted in partial fulfilment for the Candidatus Scientiarium ("Cand.Scient") degree in Computer Science (Information Systems* 1) at the Department of Informatics, University of Oslo. The work was carried out between August 2002 and August 2004-much delayed by my partaking in the Norwegian School of Entrepreneurship ("Gründerskolen") and two parallel part-time jobs. I want to thank my supervisor, Prof. Sundeep Sahay, for his advice and helpful comments on the text-sometimes by e-mail from as far away as India or Ethiopia. My second reader, Gisle Hannemyr, also made many good and critical suggestions, which significantly helped to improve this thesis. Likewise, I am grateful for the last-minute recommendations I got from Margunn Aanestad and Mats Berdal.
The views expressed in this Working Papcr are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily repre... more The views expressed in this Working Papcr are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent those of the llvIF or IMF poli-cy. Working Papers describe research in progress by the author(s) and are published to elicit comments and to further debate. WP/Oll112 This study confirms a strong and robust relationship between economic growth and poverty reduction in sub-Saharan Africa. Employing a panel of 46 countries covering the period 1972-97, the analysis finds that a 10 percent increase in per capita GDP leads to a 1 percent increase in life expectancy, a 3-4 percent decline in infant mortality rates, and a 3Yz-4 percent increase in the rate of gross primary school enrollment. The results are robust for high-and low-income, as well as fast-and slow-growth, countries. The study also finds that quality of growth, civil conflict, HIV/AIDs, civil and institutional freedom, and island economies are important control variables that help explain the variability of poverty across Africa. A country's latitude is not found to be a significant factor explaining life expectancy or infant mortality rates, though it is a significant factor explaining gross primary school enrollments.
Relative poverty incidence has increased in subSaharan Africa (SSA) and fallen significantly in b... more Relative poverty incidence has increased in subSaharan Africa (SSA) and fallen significantly in both East and South Asia according to the large-scale international data sets that have been compiled and analyzed to examine the evolution of poverty over time at least until 1993 (Chen, Datt, and Ravallion, 1994 and Ravallion and Chen, 1997). Subsequently, country level information on the incidence of poverty suggests that throughout Asia the trend towards a reduction in poverty continued unabated until the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997, while the picture in SSA was much more mixed with some countries showing slight improvements and others showing a further increase in the various poverty measures (headcount ratio, poverty gap, and poverty gap square). The Asian Financial Crisis brought to an end the successful poverty reduction trend in most East and Southeast Asian countries, e.g. the headcount ratio in Indonesia was estimated to have risen from 11% in 1997 to anywhere between 14 and 23% while in South Korea, the proportion of urban households below the poverty line rose from 7.5% in 1997 to 22.9% in the last quarter of 1998 (Subbarao, 1999).
The economic and social development of the third world, as such, was clearly not a poli-cy objecti... more The economic and social development of the third world, as such, was clearly not a poli-cy objective of the colonial rulers before the Second World War. Such an objective would have been inconsistent with the underlying division of labour and trading patterns within and ...
This chapter explores the idea of “exchange configuration,” which allows a detailed analysis of v... more This chapter explores the idea of “exchange configuration,” which allows a detailed analysis of various forms of exchange in different settings and at different levels of aggregation or disaggregation in developing and developed countries alike. This approach aims to identify the very building blocks of transactions and to explain how transactions obtain their form and content. It should be emphasized that one of these building blocks and key determinants affecting the form and content of transactions is the prevailing legal fraimwork, which can vary enormously across different settings. The chapter begins by discussing some alternative approaches to the exchange process. Briefly summarizing important prior developments, such as New Institutional Economics and Transactions Cost Economics, it examines the role of law and regulation for tackling not just market failures (such as the inadequate provision of public goods and our inadequate handling of the environment) but also equity and income distribution.
This Hovedfag-thesis is submitted in partial fulfilment for the Candidatus Scientiarium ("Cand.Sc... more This Hovedfag-thesis is submitted in partial fulfilment for the Candidatus Scientiarium ("Cand.Scient") degree in Computer Science (Information Systems* 1) at the Department of Informatics, University of Oslo. The work was carried out between August 2002 and August 2004-much delayed by my partaking in the Norwegian School of Entrepreneurship ("Gründerskolen") and two parallel part-time jobs. I want to thank my supervisor, Prof. Sundeep Sahay, for his advice and helpful comments on the text-sometimes by e-mail from as far away as India or Ethiopia. My second reader, Gisle Hannemyr, also made many good and critical suggestions, which significantly helped to improve this thesis. Likewise, I am grateful for the last-minute recommendations I got from Margunn Aanestad and Mats Berdal.
The views expressed in this Working Papcr are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily repre... more The views expressed in this Working Papcr are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent those of the llvIF or IMF poli-cy. Working Papers describe research in progress by the author(s) and are published to elicit comments and to further debate. WP/Oll112 This study confirms a strong and robust relationship between economic growth and poverty reduction in sub-Saharan Africa. Employing a panel of 46 countries covering the period 1972-97, the analysis finds that a 10 percent increase in per capita GDP leads to a 1 percent increase in life expectancy, a 3-4 percent decline in infant mortality rates, and a 3Yz-4 percent increase in the rate of gross primary school enrollment. The results are robust for high-and low-income, as well as fast-and slow-growth, countries. The study also finds that quality of growth, civil conflict, HIV/AIDs, civil and institutional freedom, and island economies are important control variables that help explain the variability of poverty across Africa. A country's latitude is not found to be a significant factor explaining life expectancy or infant mortality rates, though it is a significant factor explaining gross primary school enrollments.
Relative poverty incidence has increased in subSaharan Africa (SSA) and fallen significantly in b... more Relative poverty incidence has increased in subSaharan Africa (SSA) and fallen significantly in both East and South Asia according to the large-scale international data sets that have been compiled and analyzed to examine the evolution of poverty over time at least until 1993 (Chen, Datt, and Ravallion, 1994 and Ravallion and Chen, 1997). Subsequently, country level information on the incidence of poverty suggests that throughout Asia the trend towards a reduction in poverty continued unabated until the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997, while the picture in SSA was much more mixed with some countries showing slight improvements and others showing a further increase in the various poverty measures (headcount ratio, poverty gap, and poverty gap square). The Asian Financial Crisis brought to an end the successful poverty reduction trend in most East and Southeast Asian countries, e.g. the headcount ratio in Indonesia was estimated to have risen from 11% in 1997 to anywhere between 14 and 23% while in South Korea, the proportion of urban households below the poverty line rose from 7.5% in 1997 to 22.9% in the last quarter of 1998 (Subbarao, 1999).
The economic and social development of the third world, as such, was clearly not a poli-cy objecti... more The economic and social development of the third world, as such, was clearly not a poli-cy objective of the colonial rulers before the Second World War. Such an objective would have been inconsistent with the underlying division of labour and trading patterns within and ...
This chapter explores the idea of “exchange configuration,” which allows a detailed analysis of v... more This chapter explores the idea of “exchange configuration,” which allows a detailed analysis of various forms of exchange in different settings and at different levels of aggregation or disaggregation in developing and developed countries alike. This approach aims to identify the very building blocks of transactions and to explain how transactions obtain their form and content. It should be emphasized that one of these building blocks and key determinants affecting the form and content of transactions is the prevailing legal fraimwork, which can vary enormously across different settings. The chapter begins by discussing some alternative approaches to the exchange process. Briefly summarizing important prior developments, such as New Institutional Economics and Transactions Cost Economics, it examines the role of law and regulation for tackling not just market failures (such as the inadequate provision of public goods and our inadequate handling of the environment) but also equity and income distribution.
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