THE WorldBank IN INDIA VOL 16 / NO 6 MAY 2018 INSIDE A new beginning for widows from fishing communities 1-5 Fishing for success: The Pathways to Prosperity – World Bank series 6-8 Development Dialogue: fish kiosk entrepreneurs India’s growth story 9-11 ICR Update: Assam Agricultural of Tamil Nadu Competitiveness Project 12-13 Face to Face 14-15 I t’s a hot day in Marthandam, a town in Tamil Nadu’s Kanyakumari district near the Kerala border, just a few kilometres from the coast. As evening sets in and the sun embarks on its final descent towards the western Lighthouse India 16 horizon, a dusty street near Marthandam junction comes alive. Men, women Recent Project Approvals & and children swarm out to kirana stores (grocery shops), vegetable vendors, Signings 17-19 fruit sellers and various other commercial establishments. New Additions to the Public Information Center 20-27 Amidst all the shops on the street, one particular establishment stands out, Contact Information 28 even to the casual eye. With its storefront painted in bright blue and green and a big cut-out of a merry fish hanging over the entrance, Marthandam’s Photo by the World Bank fish kiosk is unmissable. A gaggle of people stand at the kiosk’s The women would stay busy for the next counter. Inside, three women – Celine Mary, three hours. Mary Shanti and Chandra – move about busily. It’s 6 pm and peak hour for the kiosk. A new beginning for those Business is brisk. who have lost everything “Tastes like home food,” smiles a customer, The Marthandam fish kiosk is one of the when Celine Mary hands him a packet of fish 12 fish kiosks supported by the Tamil Nadu curry and rice. Department of Fisheries (TNDoF) across As the man pays up and leaves, another coastal Tamil Nadu as part of the World customer steps forward. He points to a bottle Bank-supported Coastal Disaster Risk of fish pickle at the counter and asks if he Reduction Project (CDRRP). The initiative is can get 100 of those before the end of the directed at widows from fishing families who week. “I am going to Dubai next week. This pickle is very popular with the Indian community over there,” he explains. Another customer waits as Mary Shanti packs 500 grams of seer fish, while another asks if the ‘fish fry’, a preparation popular with customers in the area, is ready yet. 12 2 The World Bank in India • May 2018 have lost their husbands at sea in isolated could branch out into other offerings such incidents or during disasters such as the as freshly prepared fish-based meals and 2004 Tsunami that claimed the lives of more snacks, and earn bigger margins. Irudaya than 8,000 people in Tamil Nadu and severely Mary, who runs one of the two kiosks in affected the livelihoods of thousands of Rameshwaram with three other women, coastal households. decided to stock shelf-stable products such as fish pickles and masalas produced by a Under the initiative, four or five women local Self-Help Group, and discovered that come together to run a kiosk. The Project they were an instant hit with the customers. provides them with a furnished space, Other kiosks quickly followed suit. shelves, and equipment such as freezers. Trainings are organized for the women in The women ensured that whatever they sold various technical areas like preserving fish was hygienic and of good quality. Word and other perishables, maintaining hygiene, about the kiosks spread, and before they and preparing value-added products such knew it, they had a loyal clientele. as pickles and masalas (spices). The women have also been linked to an entrepreneurship “Only half a kilometre away, there is a fish training program conducted by the market, with several vendors selling fish,” Entrepreneurship Development Institute (EDI). says Mary Shanti. “Despite this, we attract regular customers. This is because people The first few kiosks opened in August last know that we maintain hygiene and preserve year, with the core offering being fresh and the fish well. They know that they will find dry fish. Soon, the women realized that they more varieties of fish here than in the market. The World Bank in India • May 2018 12 3 That is how we are different from the fish have to go knocking on people’s doors. market.” Customers come to our kiosk instead. I earn a lot more than earlier too!” “That is our USP,” chips in Chandra with a smile, flaunting a business term she picked The big picture - making up at the EDI training program. fishing households resilient The kiosks earn up to Rs. 6,000 per day in revenues, with a profit margin of 20 percent However, depleting fish stocks on account to 30 percent – a vast improvement in income of overfishing is forcing fishermen to venture and quality of life for most of these women. further and further into the sea in search of a decent catch. These trips frequently span For Celine Mary, the kiosk represents a 500 nautical miles or more, which means turning point in a life marked by crushing fishermen spend as many as 20 days at sea. poverty and back-breaking struggle that was This significantly ups the risks, especially for thrust upon her when she lost her husband the small and marginal fishermen. 14 years ago to a disease he contracted due to spending weeks on end at sea. Suddenly, In September 2016, 19 Indian fishermen she was left with three young children and were arrested by the British navy near absolutely no idea of how to provide for them. Diego Garcia. Diego Garcia is an island on the other side of the equator almost 1000 “I began by working in others’ homes as nautical miles away from the Indian coast. a help,” says Celine Mary. “After a while, Earlier this year, Pakistani authorities released I decided to start selling fish. Every day, I several Indian fishermen they had arrested would haul a huge basket of fish on my head in Pakistani waters. Some among them were and go door-to-door for hours together in from Kerala. this merciless heat. I did this for 10 years. Today, thanks to the livelihood program of One of CDRRP’s objectives is to build the Department of Fisheries (DoF), I no longer resilience in fishing families by reducing their income dependence on fishing. The fish kiosk initiative is one among several women- focused initiatives aimed at diversification of livelihoods for fishing households. An initiative in Kanyakumari district has trained 25 women in developing innovative crafts products using coconut shells, and selling them in national and international markets through local entrepreneurs. Another initiative that is being implemented in multiple locations across the coast has trained more than 100 women in seaweed cultivation, provided them with necessary 12 4 The World Bank in India • May 2018 equipment and know-how, and linked and revenues, how to assess risk, how to them to the market by facilitating purchase use available government schemes to raise agreements with private sector buyers. An capital,” says Vinayak Ghatate, Senior Rural innovative pilot by TNDoF has developed Development Specialist, World Bank. an intensive 90-day program in partnership This was one of the several ideas that with Alagappa University’s Study Circle to were discussed at a brainstorming meeting coach youth from fishing households to clear between the project team and livelihood the Coast Guard entrance exam. Of the 36 experts from the World Bank early this year. boys who participated in the first batch, four have already attempted the entrance exam, “There is great demand for such fish-based and two have cleared it. Several students products in other parts of the country. There are being sounded out by hotels, adventure is no reason why we cannot emulate the sports bodies and other private organizations Amul model and create an umbrella brand to to work with them as lifeguards or trainers. take these products to the entire country,” says Rajendra Ratnoo, Project Director for “Women are the worst affected by the the FIMSUL-2 (Fisheries Management for risks and uncertainties of fishing. CDRRP’s Sustainable Livelihoods) initiatives under livelihood initiatives have shown significant CDRRP. promise in helping them diversify their income streams,” says Anup Karanth, Task The project team has identified Tamil Nadu Team Leader, CDRRP, World Bank. Fisheries Development Cooperation as a possible front-end agency that can brand and What’s next for the fish kiosk market these products. A detailed market entrepreneurs? study is being planned. A scale-up plan is being developed. What’s next? Ask them this question and the women reel off a bunch of ideas – catering, “Bigger things lie in store for the more shelf-stable products, multipurpose entrepreneurial women of coastal Tamil packaging equipment, home delivery and so Nadu and the Project is a testimony to the on. collaborative efforts of the Government of Tamil Nadu and the World Bank that started (Change background colour as needed) “To graduate to the next level, the women way back in 2005 after the devastating now need the tools to turn their operation Tsunami,” added Deepak Singh, Senior into an enterprise. This means learning how Disaster Risk Management Specialist of to write a business plan, how to project costs World Bank. The World Bank in India • May 2018 12 5 Pathways to Prosperity Tackling poverty in India: Key lessons on road to sharing prosperity A review of India’s experience over the last two decades confirms links between poverty and the lack of assets at the household level. But it also demonstrates the clear advantages some places have over others in helping lift populations out of poverty, and suggests possible interventions by the state and policymakers to go beyond simply investing in education and health, says Martin Rama, World Bank’s Chief Economist for the South Asia Region A thorough review of India’s experience in reducing poverty over the last two decades confirmed some of our previous other parts of the world, is associated with a lack of assets at the household level, and especially with limited human capital. understanding, but it also revealed new, unexpected insights. On the confirmation At the national level, 45 percent of India’s side, we found that poverty in India, as in poor are illiterate, whereas another 25 12 6 The World Bank in India • May 2018 percent have a primary education at most. in urban Gurgaon, its consumption would be Further down several Indian states, including more than four times greater, reaching a few high-income ones, show stunting Rs 13,554 per month. and underweight rates that are worse than Our findings show that across India, a range the averages for sub-Saharan Africa. While of top places offers much better opportunities multiple factors lie at the root of the nutrition to progress in life. These places are, however, challenge, the prevalence of diarrheal disease very unevenly distributed over the map. Most is thought to be one of the main culprits, and of them are to be found in the northwestern diarrhea is triggered by poor hygiene. Only part of the country, or along the western and 6 percent of India’s poor have tap water at southwestern coasts. In the Ganga basin, home, and a little more than a fifth have a on the other hand, and in low-income states latrine or some form of improved sanitation. more generally, such places are few and far From this perspective, investing in education, between. Interestingly, some of these top health and the delivery of basic services for places, like Delhi, spread their wealth over India’s most disadvantaged people remains vast catchment areas, while others, like a key priority. Investments of this sort would Bangalore, are more self-contained. enhance the human capital of the poor, hence Another important insight from this research increase their chances to prosper. is related to the nature of these top places in India. While large cities are clearly more However, one new insight that emerges prosperous than small villages, the overall from this review is that returns to household picture is more complex than the standard assets vary dramatically depending on where notion of the rural-urban divide would a household lives and that, given the right suggest. Granted, major cities are among environment, even those with limited human India’s top places. But quite a few top places capital can lift themselves out of poverty. are administratively rural, and some of the This finding will come as no surprise to best in terms of living standards are actually migrant workers, who know how much their secondary cities. Besides, the top places odds in life would improve if they could make often spread their opportunities far beyond it to a rich country. What is striking, however, their administrative boundaries, benefitting is how different the odds can be even within many villages that fall within their wider India. As pointed out in an earlier article in catchment areas. This may explain why urban this series, an ‘average’ Indian household growth has become such an important driver consumes Rs 2,928 per month in a small of rural poverty reduction over the past two village in the Malkangiri district of Odisha; but decades. Clear gains in top places and catchment areas 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Bottom places Average places Catchment areas Top places Main workers (% of workers) Regular wage workers (% of labor force) Female labor force paricipation (% of working-age) The World Bank in India • May 2018 12 7 What makes these top places and catchment characteristics in common. The most areas special is the job opportunities they important predictor of growth is belonging to provide. For, labor earnings are the primary an urban cluster – preferably one with a large drivers of poverty reduction in India. This is population, like Delhi and its surroundings. not to say that transfers and social programs The second most important predictor is are unimportant. But labor earnings, related to infrastructure, and includes access from both self-employment and wage to electricity and the density of roads. Places employment, account for nearly 90 percent with a larger share of medium and large size of household income. And their increase firms also grow faster, as do places with a has been the most significant contributor to more diversified economic structure. Last but higher household expenditures per capita not least, inclusion seems to contribute to in recent years. Important distinctions also faster growth: places with low literacy rates need to be made between types of jobs. and primary school enrollment, or with large Casual employment, such as daily work in gender gaps in education, grow more slowly. construction, has been instrumental in lifting It is equally important to identify who can households out of poverty. Regular wage actually help create more of these top employment, whether formal or informal, has locations across India. It is not enough to been the real ticket to the middle class. know that investments in infrastructure Top places are characterized by fewer and education, or a conducive business marginal jobs, and more regular wage environment, make a difference. A local employment. Importantly, while female labor authority also needs to be empowered to force participation rates decline when moving make the changes happen. Unfortunately, from rural to urban areas, they do not do that kind of empowerment is not consistently so when moving from bottom and average found across India’s rural-urban gradation. places to top places and their catchment Clearly, a lot lies in the hands of chief areas. ministers who have the power to engineer The question then is: what would be needed and lead their states’ turnaround. A lot also to create more of these top places across lies in the hands of urban authorities, who India, and to get living standards elsewhere can transform their cities into top places. to converge and catch up? This is a critically Bangalore and Delhi, for instance, have done important area for policy, but one that this successfully. For cities that are not state is intrinsically different from investing in capitals, however, this transformation can be education and health, or from providing more difficult, as they do lack the authority to transfers and social programs. Answering coordinate investments and spending across this question requires nailing down the sectors. characteristics of those places that have More worryingly, some places that are in dire seen their living standards grow faster than need of action do not seem to have anyone average. who is fully empowered to take it. Tribal At the state level, there is little convergence areas, and the many rural communities that in India. With the possible exception of could more fully benefit from the proximity of Rajasthan, and most recently Bihar, low- top places, fall into this category. income states grow more slowly than the rest Reference: Chatterjee, Urmila, Rinku Murgai, of the country. This is a matter of particular (Change background colour as needed) Ambar Narayan and Martin Rama (2016), concern, given that they are home to nearly “Pathways to reducing poverty and sharing 62 percent of its poor. Small rural places prosperity in India: Lessons from the last two are not catching up either. But household decades,” World Bank. expenditures per capita have grown faster in large rural places and small towns (the This article was originally published in the mid-range of the rural-gradation) than in large Indian Express on 17 August 2016 cities. The experience of the last decade reveals that places that did well have several 12 8 The World Bank in India • May 2018 Development Dialogue India’s remarkably robust and resilient growth story Our analysis of nearly five decades of data finds that India’s long-term growth process is steady, stable, diversified and resilient, says Poonam Gupta, Lead Country Economist, World Bank I ndia has achieved much in the last decades. Yet an economic deceleration in the past few quarters has generated worried for per capita GDP. The average pace of per capita growth was 5.5 percent a year in the last decade. Interestingly, when compared commentaries about India’s growth potential. with some of the world’s largest emerging However, our analysis of nearly five decades economies, this steady acceleration of of data finds that India’s long-term growth growth stands out as being unique to India. process is steady, stable, diversified and Second, India’s rate of growth has become resilient. Does this lay the groundwork for more stable. This is partly due to the a more sustained 8% growth in the future? stabilization of growth within each sector Yes, possibly, but more is needed. Let us – agriculture, industry and services – and elaborate. partly to the transition of the economy First, India’s long-term economic growth has toward the services sector, where growth is steadily accelerated over a fifty-year period, more stable. Particularly interesting is the without any prolonged reversals. Thus, while sharp increase in the stability of GDP growth growth averaged 4.4 percent a year during since 1991. Before this, growth accelerated the 1970s and 1980s, it accelerated to 5.5 episodically, was punctuated by large percent during the 1990s-early 2000s, and annual variations, and often failed to sustain. further to 7.1 percent in the past one decade. Thus, growth has not just accelerated post The acceleration of growth is evident not just liberalisation, it has also become more for aggregate GDP, but even more strongly stable. The World Bank in India • May 2018 12 9 Figure 1: India’s growth rate has consistently accelerated over the long run 1971 1973 1975 1977 1979 1981 1983 1985 1987 1989 1991 1993 1995 1997 1999 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011 2013 2015 2017 Real GDP Growth Third, growth has been broadly diversified. It can also be attributed to India’s diversified Growth has accelerated the fastest in trade basket and broad range of trading services, followed by industry, and less so partners, wherein a slowdown in any one part in agriculture. Over the long run, India’s of the world will not result in a large impact on growth has been driven by an increasing India. share of investment and exports, with a large The resilience of India’s growth process contribution from consumption. Growth has was on display in recent years when the also been characterized by productivity gains country recovered quickly from the impacts – both in labor productivity as well as in total of two major policy events – demonetization factor productivity. and the implementation of the Goods and Finally, growth has been broadly resilient to Services Tax (GST), an important indirect tax shocks, both domestic and external. The reform. We argue that the deceleration to resilience of India’s growth can be attributed growth rates below 7 percent between Q3 to the country’s large and spatially diversified 2016–17 and Q2 2017–18 was an aberration, economy, as well as to its diversified attributed to temporary disruptions in production structure that is not dependent economic activity as the economy adjusted on a few products, commodities, or natural to demonetization and businesses prepared resources. for the implementation of GST. At present, Figure 2: Growth acceleration has been faster in Per Capita Income 1971 1973 1975 1977 1979 1981 1983 1985 1987 1989 1991 1993 1995 1997 1999 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011 2013 2015 2017 Real per capita GDP Growth 12 10 The World Bank in India • May 2018 Figure 3: India’s long-term growth rate has become increasingly more stable 10-year rolling coefficient of variation 1980 1982 1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 there are indications that the economy has Going forward, sustaining a growth rate bottomed out and, in the coming quarters, higher than the trend growth rate of 7 to 7.5 economic activity should revert to the trend percent, and reaching a growth rate of 8 growth rate of about 7.5 percent. We project percent or higher, will require contributions GDP growth to be 6.7 percent in 2017- from all domestic sectors as well as support 18 and accelerate to 7.3 percent and 7.5 from the global economy. Achieving this percent respectively in 2018-19 and 2019- would require a concerted reform effort 20. that maintains the reform momentum and widens its scope, and succeeds in reversing Yet, our analysis shows that despite the the slowdown in investment, credit supply growth rate recovering, attaining a growth and exports. Maintaining the hard-won rate of 8 percent or higher on a sustained macroeconomic stability, arriving at a definite basis would depend on an effective and durable solution to banking sector structural reform agenda. issues, realizing the expected growth and Over the last five decades, there have been fiscal dividend from the GST, and regaining six episodes of high growth, about once in the momentum on the unfinished structural each decade, when growth rates exceeded reform agenda are other key components of 8 percent. Most such episodes lasted only attaining a growth rate of 8 percent or higher. one to two years, and corrected sharply To raise the income of at least 50 percent of in the years thereafter. In some of these Indians to levels of the global middle class, cases, high growth was due to a low base the economy not only needs to return to impact of slow growth in previous years 8 percent growth or higher but must also followed by unusually good agricultural maintain such growth for the next three output (1976, 1989); in others, it was due decades. Evidence from across the world to an unsustainable fiscal deficit or another highlights that this is no easy task; most macroeconomic policy (such as in 2010–11). countries that experienced high growth saw The only durable episode of growth decelerations a few years later. sustaining at levels above 8 percent for 5 Nonetheless, India’s remarkable growth continuous years is the one that lasted from experience lends credence to its long-term 2004 to 2008. This episode benefited from (Change background colour as needed) growth story. Further reform effort and the combined effect of important reforms removing bottlenecks to specific drivers of undertaken in the 1990s and early 2000s, growth can help accelerate growth rates to 8 and from an unusual buoyancy in the global percent or higher. economy and easy global liquidity, leading to high sustained growth across sectors and This article was originally published in the all components of GDP. online edition of Times of India on 11 April 2018 12 The World Bank in India • May 2018 11 ICR Update T his is a short summary of the Implementation Completion Report (ICR) of a recently- closed World Bank project. The full text of the ICR is available on the Bank’s website. To access this document, go to www.worldbank.org/reference/ and then opt for the Documents & Reports section. Assam Agricultural Competitiveness Project Context Assam Agricultural Competitiveness Assam was a low-income state and had Project high incidence of rural poverty. Agriculture Approval Date: 14 December, 2004 was the mainstay of the economy and about 87 percent of the state’s poor lived in rural Closing Date: 15 March, 2015 areas. Public investment in rural infrastructure Total Project Cost US$ 286 million such as roads, bridges and irrigation, and private investment in agriculture were very Bank Financing: US$ 190 million limited. Lack of irrigation was a major issue. Implementing Assam Rural Farmers had limited access to appropriate Agency: Infrastructure and technologies, institutional credit, and Agricultural Services markets. To address these challenges, the Society, Department of Agriculture, Government of Assam made several policy Government of Assam initiatives to create an enabling environment. Outcome: Satisfactory Objectives Risk to Development Low The primary objective of the Project was Outcome: to increase the productivity and market Overall Bank Satisfactory access of targeted farmers and community Performance: groups through increased crop yields, fish and livestock products, and increases in the Overall Borrower Satisfactory Performance: proportion of marketed surplus. 12 The World Bank in India • May 2018 Achievements five districts of the state. The FPOs were The Project objectives were fully achieved linked to wholesale distributors of agriculture with a substantive increase in agricultural inputs, including fish feed, thus facilitating production, and livelihood opportunities. competitive access of FPO members to input markets. Agriculture Productivity: Yield of all key crops exceeded their targets between 10 An innovative community-procurement and 40 percent, with yields of high value system under the Project not only enhanced crops increasing the most. Cropping community role in procurement decision intensity in areas under high value crops making, but also brought in the economies (mainly vegetables and oilseeds) exceeded of scale that enabled beneficiary farmers to its target by 75 percent. At project buy pumps at rates cheaper than the market completion, the total number of direct rates without compromising on the quality. project beneficiaries reached 565,745 The success of this initiative is evident exceeding its target by 38 percent. Around from the fact that the state government has 15 percent of direct project beneficiaries now mainstreamed this process in their were women. programs. Irrigation: Water shortage during the dry About 1,793 kilometers of rural roads season was a major concern for the farmers. were upgraded and rehabilitated, thereby, The Project successfully promoted simple improving the connectivity for 1,423 and cost-effective irrigation and agricultural villages and nearby centers. This helped in technologies including shallow tube wells connecting farmers to markets and providing (STWs), low lift pumps, and targeted farm rural residents with better access to health, mechanization. At Project closing, a total of education, and other social services. 100,000 STWs were installed in the project Lessons Learnt area exceeding its target by 11 percent. This Identifying the most important constraints brought additional 281,706 ha of land under and addressing them through well-tested assured irrigation (exceeding the target by technical solutions. The lack of irrigation 11 percent). water during the dry season was identified Agriculture Diversification and Trade: as the principal constraint limiting The Project helped farmers diversity into agriculture productivity. The Project tackled fish cultivation. Average productivity in this challenge through simple technical ponds increased from 0.5 tons/ha to 3.5 solutions, supported by improved extension tons/ha. About 3,200 fish farmer’s groups services and rural infrastructure. were established with more than 72,000 Strong commitment on the part of the members. All project beneficiaries under Government of Assam. Ownership of the ponds, community tanks, and beels Project and political commitment to its schemes reported increased productivity, objectives made it a flagship for the chief exceeding their target by 28 percent. ministers and secretaries of Assam. The Project supported the formation of Implementing project activities through 1,300 livestock producer groups. These government agencies helped advance major comprised some 18,000 beneficiaries, policy reforms and mainstream innovations. enhancing their access to informal and By effectively embedding project activities formal markets, and input supply services. within the operations of line departments, It made a significant contribution to market the Project could promote sector-wide policy development particularly for the dairy sector. improvements and reforms. The Project The dairy producer groups helped farmers (Change background co Management Unit also housed middle- sell their products at higher prices. to-senior managers from all implementing The Project also supported some 17,000 agencies, thus allowing for better Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) in coordination among multiple agencies. 12 The World Bank in India • May 2018 13 Face to Face Can India adopt existing technologies and avoid ‘The Innovation Paradox’? Returns on technological adoption are thought to be extremely high, yet developing countries appear to invest little, implying that this critical channel of productivity growth is underexploited. A recent World Bank study – The Innovation Paradox: Developing-Country Capabilities and the Unrealized Promise of Technological Catch-Up – sheds light on how to address this paradox. In this interview, William Maloney Chief Economist, Equitable Finance and Institutions Practice Group, World Bank Group, calls upon developing country public and private-sector leaders to pursue a more focused approach to innovation policy. What is the new study Innovation Paradox all about? T he potential gains from bringing existing technologies to developing countries are vast, much higher for poor countries than for rich countries. Yet developing-country firms and governments invest relatively little to realize this potential. That’s the origin of what we are calling ‘The Innovation Paradox’. Why do firms in developing countries lag behind when it comes to innovation? The Innovation Paradox, argues that developing country firms choose not to invest heavily in adopting technology, even if they are keen to do so, because they face a range of constraints that prevent them from benefitting from the transfer. Developing country firms are often constrained by low managerial capability, find it difficult to import the necessary technology, to contract or hire trained workers and engineers, or draw on the new organizational techniques needed to maximize the potential of innovation. Moreover, they are often inhibited by a weak business climate. For example, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are constantly in a situation where they are putting out fires, they don’t have a five-year plan, they don’t have somebody keeping track of what new technology has come out of some place that they could bring to the firm. How can developing economies catch up with the developed world on innovation? The rates of return to investments and innovation of various kinds appear to be extremely high, yet we see a much smaller effort in these areas. In the developing countries, we need to think not only about barriers to accumulating knowledge capital, we have to think about all the barriers to accumulating all of the 12 14 The World Bank in India • May 2018 January 2015 complementary factors—the physical capital. So, if I have a lousy education system, it doesn’t matter if I get a high-tech firm because there won’t be any workers to staff it. Innovation requires competitive and undistorted economies, adequate levels of human capital, functioning capital markets, a dynamic and capable business sector, reliable regulation and property rights. Richer countries tend to have more of these conditions. This is at the root of Paradox. Even though follower countries have much to gain from adopting existing technologies from the advanced countries, in practice, missing and distorted markets, weak management capabilities and human capital prevent them from taking advantage of these opportunities. How is India placed? India is well placed to avoid some of these pitfalls. For instance, its educational and research institutions are capable of generating very high human capital. More such institutions, and better linkages between them and the private sector, would further enhance this capability. Recent improvements in India’s Doing Business rankings suggest that the legal and regulatory environment for investment is becoming more favorable to innovative firms. In other areas, however, the available indicators paint a mixed picture. Although Indian businesses invest more in R&D – 0.7 percent of GDP – than most countries at India’s income level, this is far below the levels of advanced countries, which typically invest 2-to-4 percent of GDP. And, while patenting has been rising sharply—a good sign—recent analysis suggests that in both India and China, much of the patent surge, and hence R&D, is driven by foreign multinationals. How much of this investment ends up benefiting the local economy is unclear. Further, data from the MIT-Stanford World Management Survey finds that Indian firms employ poor management practices on average, impacting their productivity and ability to innovate. While India has a broad range of companies, ranging from basic SMEs to true global leaders, even India’s better-managed firms trail the better-managed companies in the United States. What role can the private sector play? Our research suggests that a sophisticated, highly capable private sector is essential for R&D- centered initiatives to succeed. Firms need to have the ability to respond to market conditions, identify new technological opportunities, develop a plan to exploit them, and then cultivate the necessary human resources. They need to be able to walk before they can run. East Asian ‘miracle economies’ emphasized learning and raising the capabilities of the private sector. In Japan and Singapore, productivity movements made the people conscious of the need to improve quality to promote growth and generate good quality jobs. (Change background colour as needed) India has shown that such programs work. A study of 20 textile firms showed that firms which received management consultancy services reported a dramatic increase in the adoption of good management practices, and of productivity. After just one year, these firms saw a ten percent rise in productivity, enough to cover the full costs of the consultancy. TheThe World Bank World Bank in India in India 2015 15 • May 2018 • January 12 Lighthouse India Learning from first generation local governance programs in India O ne of India’s long-standing challenges has been to take forward the decentralization agenda with the aim of sharing in three key thematic areas: ● Effectiveness of the PBGs in improving local governance and service delivery levels; improving service delivery at the village level. ● Mechanisms for state government to Although the country formally devolved power to local governance institutions – the provide focused capacity building and Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) – through ground-level mentoring/handholding the 73rd amendment to the Constitution in support to local governments; 1992, progress has not been as rapid as was ● Institutional system development and initially hoped it would be. role of e-governance in improving local governance for effective planning, It has been widely felt that to devolve monitoring and delivery of services. authority and responsibility to the smallest unit of governance, the PRIs need to strengthened Although there are similarities between the four and skilled. Equally, local communities need states, there are also significant differences to be involved in the functioning of gram due to differing contexts and history, the panchayats, enabling them to contribute to various stages of development of local the effectiveness of their local governance governance systems, and the different levels institutions. of reforms undertaken by the states so far. The World Bank has been supporting India Bihar, for instance, focused entirely on take forward its decentralization agenda. strengthening gram panchayats and building Bank support in four Indian states – West their capacity, while Karnataka went a step Bengal, Kerala, Karnataka, and Bihar – has further by providing them with additional notched up a series of successes, and has funding for investments. Kerala and West demonstrated multiple good practices on key Bengal, on the other hand, adopted a full- local government functioning aspects relating fledged system of performance based grants to performance-based grants (PBGs), service coupled with capacity building support; yet delivery, institutional systems development, even they show variations. e-governance, capacity building, social Over the years, three states – West Bengal, accountability, environmental management, Kerala, and Karnataka – have shown participatory planning and the participatory considerable improvements in the ability of inclusion of vulnerable, low-income and their gram panchayats to budget, to utilize socially excluded people in service delivery. funds, and to improve services, with the result Some innovations have had ripple effects that they record higher citizen satisfaction. beyond the project area and are now being emulated widely. Even so, gram panchayats in India have a long way to go to fulfil the promise with which The good practices followed by these ‘first they were created. To achieve this, however, generation’ reformers have significant governments will need to fully commit to potential to help other Indian states move making panchayats an effective instrument of ahead on their decentralization agenda. To grassroots governance, and to find solutions (Change background colour as needed) help states learn from each other, the World for the various challenges remaining. Bank and India’s Ministry of Panchayati Raj held a workshop in New Delhi in January The workshop was attended by over 90 2018. The workshop focused on experience- participants from 21 states. 16 The World Bank in India • May 2018 12 Recent Project Approvals National Rural Economic Transformation Project T he World Bank Board of Executive Directors has approved a $250 million National Rural Economic Transformation The Project is an additional financing to the $500 million National Rural Livelihoods Project (NRLP) which is currently being Project (NRETP) to help rural households shift implemented across 13 states, 162 districts to a new generation of economic initiatives and 575 blocks. So far, the Project has by developing viable enterprises for farm and mobilized more than 8.8 million women from non-farm products. poor rural households into 750,000 self-help groups (SHGs). While these 13 states will A key focus of the Project will be to promote continue to be supported under the new women-owned and women-led farm and (Change background colour as needed) Project, 125 new districts will be added from non-farm enterprises across value chains; within these states, which is expected to enable them to build businesses that help increase the reach of the project to another them access finance, markets and networks; 5 million rural households. and generate employment. ICDS Systems Strengthening and Nutrition Improvement Project Additional Financing T he World Bank Board of Executive Directors has approved additional financing of $200 million to fund the districts across all states and union territories (UTs). With a focus on improving the coverage National Nutrition Mission and support the and quality of ICDS nutrition services to Government of India achieve its goal of pregnant and lactating women and children reducing stunting in children 0-6 years of age under 3 years of age, the Project will invest from 38.4 percent to 25 percent by the year in improving the skills and capacities of 2022. ICDS staff and community nutrition workers. Interventions supported by the ongoing It will mobilize the community for behavior World Bank assisted Integrated Child change communication, strengthen systems Development Services (ICDS) Systems of citizen engagement and grievance redress (Change background colour as needed) Strengthening and Nutrition Improvement and establish mobile technology based tools Project (ISSNIP) to all districts in the country for better outreach to beneficiaries during over a 3-year period. The additional financing the critical 1,000-day window for nutrition will support the first phase scale-up to 315 impact. 12 The World Bank in India • May 2018 17 Recent Project Signings Innovate in India for Inclusiveness Project (I3) T he Government of India and the World Bank have signed a $125 million agreement to support India in developing an facilities to conduct clinical validation; link clinical trial sites with networks of expert advisors and international bodies; and innovative biopharmaceutical and medical strengthen all institutions involved in the devices industry, which is globally competitive facilitation and adoption of global innovations, and addresses the country’s major concerns technologies, and licensing models. around barriers to affordable healthcare. The agreement for the Project was signed The Project will support Government of by Sameer Kumar Khare, Joint Secretary, India’s Biotechnology Industry Research Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry Assistance Program (BIRAC), set up five of Finance, on behalf of the Government years ago to support innovative start- of India; Mohd. Aslam, Managing Director, (Change background colour as needed) ups and collaborations through strategic Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance partnerships. Council (BIRAC); and Hisham Abdo, Acting Country Director, World Bank India, on behalf It will nurture next generation technical skills; of the World Bank. provide companies with advanced shared Madhya Pradesh Rural Connectivity Project T he Government of India, the Government of Madhya Pradesh and the World Bank have signed a $210 million loan agreement (CMGSY) program. Of this 10,000 km will be upgraded from existing gravel to bituminous surface roads, while 510 km of new roads for the Madhya Pradesh Rural Connectivity will be built to the same bituminous surface Project. The Project is expected to improve standard. the durability, resilience and safety of the On a pilot basis the Project will engage gravel surfaced rural roads and enhance women self-help groups (SHG) in the post the capacity of the state to manage its rural construction maintenance activity. This will roads network. (Change background colour as needed) involve routine maintenance of off-carriage It will cover 10,510 km stretch of rural way parts of the road, while the main roads in Madhya Pradesh that fall under carriageway maintenance will remain part of the Chief Minister’s Gram Sadak Yojana the original contractor’s contract. 18 The World Bank in India • May 2018 12 Meghalaya Community-Led Landscapes Management Project T he Government of India, the Government of Meghalaya and the World Bank have signed a $48 million loan agreement to of Finance, on behalf of the Government of India; P. Sampath Kumar Resident commissioner & CEO, Meghalaya Basin support select communities in Meghalaya Development Authority on behalf of the manage their natural resources using a Government of Meghalaya; and Hisham community-led landscape approach. Abdo, Acting Country Director, World Bank India, on behalf of the World Bank The Project will directly benefit at least one lakh rural people, half of whom are women. The Project will support the state’s unique In addition, some 30,000 youth will gain from community-based natural resource training, capacity-building and access to management (NRM) system, which relies (Change background colour as needed) knowledge, innovation, and technology. primarily on its population – the Khasi, the Garo, and the Jaintia tribes – to manage The agreement for the Project was signed its forests and natural resources through by Sameer Kumar Khare, Joint Secretary, customary laws. Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry Maharashtra Project for Climate Resilient Agriculture T he Government of India, Government of Maharashtra and the World Bank have signed a $420 million project to help small of the Government of Maharashtra; and Junaid Ahmad, Country Director, World Bank, India on behalf of the World Bank. and marginal farmers in the Marathwada and It will be implemented in rural areas largely Vidarbha regions of Maharashtra, increase dependent upon rainfed agriculture. The climate resilient practices in agriculture and Project will take up a series of activities at ensure that farming continues to remain a the farm and watershed level. It will scale up financially viable activity for them. climate-resilient technologies such as micro The Project is expected to benefit over 7 irrigation systems, expand surface water million people spread over an area of 3.0 storage, and facilitate aquifer recharge, million ha and cover 5,142 villages across which is expected to directly contribute 15 most climate vulnerable districts of the to a more efficient use of scarce water region. resources. The agreement for the Project was signed By adopting climate-resilient seed varieties (Change bac by Sameer Kumar Khare, Joint Secretary, which have short maturity, are drought and Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry heat resistant, and salt tolerant, the Project of Finance, on behalf of the Government will help reduce risks of climate-related crop of India; Bijay Kumar, Additional Chief failure, and help enhance farmer’s income. Secretary, Agriculture Department on behalf 12 The World Bank in India • May 2018 19 New Additions to the Public Information Center T his is a select listing of recent World Bank publications, working papers, operational documents and other information resources that are now available at the New Delhi Office Public Information Center. Policy Research Working Papers, Project Appraisal Documents, Project Information Documents and other reports can be downloaded in pdf format from ‘Documents and Reports’ at www.worldbank.org Publications may be consulted and copies India: Policy Research Working Papers of unpriced items obtained from: WPS 8339 The World Bank PIC Do management interventions last? Evidence from The Hindustan Times House (Press Block) India 18-20, Kasturba Gandhi Marg By Nicholas Bloom, Aprajit Mahajan, David J. Mckenzie New Delhi – 110 001, India and John Roberts Tel: +91-11-4294 7000, Ext. 753 Beginning in 2008, the authors conducted a Website: www.worldbank.org Facebook: www.facebook.com/WorldBankIndia randomized controlled trial in a set of Indian weaving Email: indiapic@worldbank.org firms. In 2017 the plants were revisited. The authors found half of the management practices adopted in the original experimental plants had been dropped and PRINCIPAL DISTRIBUTOR there was still a large and significant gap in practices Viva Books Pvt Ltd between the treatment and control plants. 4737/23 Ansari Road, Daryaganj New Delhi – 110 002 While few management practices had demonstrably spread across the firms, many had spread within firms, Tel: +91-11-4224 2200 from the experimental plants to the non-experimental Fax: +91-11-4224 2240 Email: vivadelhi@vivagroupindia.net plants, suggesting limited spillovers between firms but large spillovers within firms. Third, managerial turnover Other Preferred Stockist in India and the lack of director time were two of the most cited reasons for drop in management practices in Anand Associates experimental plants, highlighting the importance of key 1219 Stock Exchange Tower employees. 12th Floor, Dalal Street Mumbai – 400 023 Tel: +91-22-2272 3065/66 Email: thrupti@vsnl.com WPS 8350 Website: www.myown.org Wider economic benefits of investments in Fax: +91-11-2610 0573 (New Delhi) transport corridors and the role of complementary Fax: +91-80-4128 7582 (Bangalore) policies By Martin Melecky, Siddharth Sharma and Hari Allied Publishers Pvt Ltd Subhash Tel: +91-22-2261 7926/27 Email: mumbai.books@alliedpublishers.com This paper estimates the impact of the Golden Website: www.alliedpublishers.com Quadrilateral and North-South-East-West Highways in India on welfare, social inclusion, and environmental Bookwell quality. The analysis uses district-level data for 1994- 24/4800 Ansari Road, 2011 and the difference-in-difference method. The Daryaganj results suggest that the highways shifted employment New Delhi – 110 002 from the farm to the nonfarm sector, and that this shift Tel: +91-11-2326 8786; 2325 7264 was accompanied by an increase in output per capita. Email: bookwell@vsnl.net However, there is no evidence of an impact on household expenditure per capita, the poverty rate, or the incidence of regular wage employment. 12 20 The World Bank in India • May 2018 WPS 8356 WPS 8379 India’s internal labor migration paradox: The Reflections of employers’ gender preferences in job statistical and the real ads in India: An analysis of online job portal data By Gaurav Nayyar and Kyoung Yang Kim By Afra Rahman Chowdhury, Ana Carolina Areias, Saori Imaizumi and et.al. Labor mobility is higher than previously estimated – the stock of labor migrants increased from 16 million in Using online job portal data and probabilistic regression 2004-05 to 60 million in 2011–12. estimations, the paper investigates the explicit gender bias and salary gap in the Indian job market, reflected Tracking the same households between 2004–05 in more than 800,000 job recruitment advertisements. and 2011-12, empirical analysis highlights several socioeconomic factors associated with the migration Exploring formal and informal sector occupations, the decision: household income, the availability of study finds high existence of employers’ gender bias in information, as well as community networks in hiring. Explicit gender preferences are highly job specific, source and destination areas. There is also a possible and it is common to mention the preferred gender in job administrative dimension to interstate migration barriers, ads, which, in general, favor men over women. Although owing to domicile provisions for work and study, lack ads for professional occupations exhibit less explicit of portability of social benefits, and legal and other gender bias, they are not gender neutral. entitlements upon relocation. WPS 8401 WPS 8375 Closer, but no cigar: Intergenerational mobility Safety nets and natural disaster mitigation: Evidence across caste groups in India from cyclone Phailin in Odisha By Rishabh Sinha By Paul J. Christian, Eeshani Kandpal, Nethra This paper compares the intergenerational mobility of Palaniswamy and Vijayendra Rao educational and occupational attainment of men from Comparisons from household surveys across disadvantaged groups (Scheduled Castes (SC) and communities exposed to the storm before and after the Scheduled Tribes (ST)) in India with the intergenerational introduction of the program reveal that the storm led to mobility of men outside these groups during 1983- significant reductions in overall household expenditure, 2009. Although there has been a modest convergence and that these reductions were indeed the largest in mobility rates of non-SC/ST and SC/ST men in for women, adding to the emerging evidence for the educational attainment, there has been no significant frequently-posed hypothesis that women bear the brunt of convergence in the mobility rates of occupational the effects of disasters on overall household consumption. attainment. Upward mobility of SC/ST men remains Participation in the livelihoods program mitigated some much lower compared to non-SC/ST men. of the reductions in household nonfood expenditure and women’s consumption, but not on food expenditure. South Asia Publications WPS 8378 South Asia Economic Focus, Spring 2018: Jobless Asymmetric information on noncognitive skills in Growth? the Indian labor market: An experiment in online job By World Bank portal Available On-line By Futoshi Yamauchi, Shinsaku Nomura, Saori Imaizumi Published April 2018, and et.al. 80 pages This paper examines the impact of noncognitive English Version, Paperback (socio-emotional) skills on job market outcomes, using ISBN (electronic): 978-1- a randomized control trial implemented in an online job 4648-1284-2 portal in India. Job seekers who registered in the portal South Asia is again the were asked to take a Big-Five type personality test and, fastest growing region for a random subsample of the test takers, the results in the world. And growth were displayed to potential employers. should further strengthen to 7.1 percent on average The results show that employers are more interested in in 2019-20, reflecting an improvement across most of those for whom they can see personality test results. the region. But are countries generating enough jobs? The study also finds a significant impact among The demographic transition is swelling the ranks of the organized, calm, imaginative, and/or quiet applicants (no working-age population across most of South Asia. effect is detected among easy-going, sensitive, realistic, For this report, crucial information about employment and/or outgoing applicants), which seems to display in South Asia is extracted from over 60 surveys and employers’ preference. censuses covering the period from 2001 onwards. 12 The World Bank in India • May 2018 21 The analysis reveals that employment does respond Central to these efforts is the need to address to economic growth in the short term, implying that grievances around exclusion from access to power, growth is not jobless. It also appears that countries in opportunity and security. States hold the primary South Asia have created large numbers of jobs over the responsibility for prevention, but to be effective, civil years. However, the nature of the jobs created is not society, the private sector, regional and international fully encouraging, and the analysis shows that rapid organizations must be involved. Enhancing the growth alone will not be sufficient to bring South Asian meaningful participation of women and youth in employment rates to the levels observed elsewhere in decision making, as well as long-term policies to the developing world. In addition to high growth, more address the aspirations of women and young people and better jobs need to be created for every percentage are fundamental to sustaining peace. point of growth. Women, Business and the Law 2018 Other Publications By World Bank Group Available On-line The State of Social Safety Nets 2018 Published March 2018, By World Bank Group 188 pages Available On-line English Version, Paperback Published February 2018, ISBN (paper): 978-1-4648- 186 pages 1252-1 English Version, Paperback ISBN (electronic): 978-1- ISBN: 978-1-4648-1254-5 4648-1253-8 DOI: 10.1596/978-1-4648- Over the last decade, 1252-1 a policy revolution has been under way in the How can governments ensure that women have the developing and emerging same employment and entrepreneurship opportunities world. Country after country are systematically providing as men? One important step is to level the legal playing noncontributory transfers to poor and vulnerable people field so that the rules for operating in the worlds of work in order to protect them against economic shocks and to and business apply equally regardless of gender. enable them to invest in themselves and their children. Women, Business and the Law 2018, the fifth edition in Social safety nets or social transfers, as these are a series, examines laws affecting women’s economic called, have spread rapidly from their early prominence inclusion in 189 economies worldwide. It tracks in the middle-income countries of Latin America and progress that has been made over the past two years Europe increasingly to nations in Africa, Asia, and the while identifying opportunities for reform to ensure Middle East—and today, more than 130 developing economic empowerment for all. countries have made investments in social safety nets The report updates all indicators as of June 1, 2017 an important pillar of economic development policies. and explores new areas of research, including financial inclusion. Pathways for Peace: Inclusive Approaches to Preventing Violent Conflict The Rising Tide: A New Look at Water and Gender By United Nations and By Maitreyi Bordia Das World Bank Available On-line Available On-line Published March 2018, 71 Published March 2018, pages 80 pages English Version, Paperback English Version, Paperback Working Paper This is a joint United The report reviews a Nations and World Bank vast body of literature to study that looks at how present a “thinking device” development processes can that visualizes water as better interact with diplomacy and mediation, security an asset, a service, and a “space.” It shows water as and other tools to prevent conflict from becoming an arena where gender relations play out in ways that violent. To understand ‘what works,’ it reviews the often mirror inequalities between the sexes. And it experience of different countries and institutions to examines norms and practices related to water that highlight elements that have contributed to peace. often exacerbate ingrained gender and other hierarchies. 12 22 The World Bank in India • May 2018 Informal institutions, taboos, rituals, and norms all play Focusing on three regions— a part in maintaining these hierarchies and can even Sub-Saharan Africa, South reinforce gender inequality. Asia, and Latin America— the report warns that The report discusses examples of initiatives that have unless urgent climate and had intended and unintended consequences for gender development action is taken, equality, and makes the important point that gender these three regions could inequality does not always show up where we might be dealing with a combined expect. total of over 140 million internal climate migrants Groundswell: Preparing for Internal Climate by 2050. These people will be pushed out by droughts, Migration failing crops, rising sea levels, and storm surges. By Kanta Kumari Rigaud, Alex de Sherbinin, Bryan But there is still a way out: with concerted action Jones, Jonas Bergmann, Viviane Clement and Kayly – including global efforts to cut greenhouse gas Ober emissions, combined with robust development planning Available On-line at the country level—the number of people forced to Published February 2018, 256 pages move due to climate change could be reduced by as English Version, Paperback much as 80 percent—or 100 million people. India Project Documents Mid-Himalayan (HP) Watersheds Development Rajasthan Rural Livelihoods Project Project Date 06 March 2018 Date 15 March 2018 Project ID P102329 Project ID P093720 Report No RES30957 (Project Paper) Report No. ICRR00209 (Implementation Completion Report Review) Andhra Pradesh Integrated Irrigation and Agriculture Transformation Project Jharkhand Power System Improvement Project Date 01 March 2018 Date 13 March 2018 Project ID P160463 Project ID P162086 Report No. SFG4241, SFG4217 Report No. SFG4129 (Environmental Assessment) (Environmental Assessment) Technology Center Systems Project HP State Roads Project Date 09 March 2018 Date 27 February 2018 Project ID P145502 Project ID P162086 Report No. RES30302 (Project Paper) Report No. SFG4129 (Environmental Assessment) National Nutrition Mission Project National Rural Economic Transformation Project Date 09 March 2018 Date 26 February 2018 Project ID P121731 Project ID P166745 Report No. PAD2617 (Project Paper) Report No. PIDISDSA24200 (Project Information and Integrated Safeguards Data Sheet) Sustainable Urban Transport Project Madhya Pradesh Rural Connectivity Project Date 06 March 2018 Date 21 February 2018 Project ID P110371 Project ID P162086 Report No. RES30044 (Project Paper) Report No. PAD1813(Project Appraisal Document) 12 The World Bank in India • May 2018 23 World Bank Policy Research Working Papers WPS 8417 WPS 8405 Banking with agents: experimental evidence from Capital inflows, equity issuance activity, and Senegal corporate investment By Sinja Buri, Robert J. Cull, Xavier Gine, Sven Harten By Charles W. Calomiris, Mauricio Larrain and Sergio L. and et.al. Schmukler WPS 8416 WPS 8404 Impact of free trade agreement use on import prices The effects of cash transfers on adult labor market By Kazunobu Hayakawa, Nuttawut Laksanapanyakul, outcomes Hiroshi Mukunoki and Shujiro Urata By Sarah Jane Baird, David J. Mckenzie and Berk Ozler WPS 8415 WPS 8403 Jobs! Electricity shortages and unemployment in Africa To impute or not to impute? A review of alternative By Justice Tei Mensah poverty estimation methods in the context of unavailable consumption data WPS 8414 By Hai-Anh H. Dang Estimating intergenerational mobility with incomplete data: Co-residency and truncation bias in rank-based WPS 8402 relative and absolute mobility measures Returns to investment in education: A decennial By M. Shahe Emran and Forhad J. Shilpi review of the global literature By George Psacharopoulos and Harry Anthony Patrinos WPS 8413 Transport connectivity and health care access: WPS 8401 Evidence from Liberia Closer, but no cigar: Intergenerational mobility across By Atsushi Iimi and Kulwinder Singh Rao caste groups in India By Rishabh Sinha WPS 8412 Efficiency, legitimacy and impacts of targeting WPS 8400 methods: Evidence from an experiment in Niger Determinants and dynamics of business aspirations: By Patrick Premand and Pascale Schnitzer Evidence from small-scale entrepreneurs in an emerging market WPS 8411 By Patricio S. Dalton, Julius Ruschenpohler and Bilal Firm location, transport connectivity, and Husnain Zia agglomeration economies: Evidence from Liberia By Atsushi Iimi and Kulwinder Singh Rao WPS 8399 Communism as the unhappy coming WPS 8410 By Simeon Djankov and Elena Nikolova Place-based policies for development By Gilles Duranton and Anthony J. Venables WPS 8398 Interest rate caps: The theory and the practice WPS 8409 By Ferrari,Aurora ; Masetti,Oliver ; Ren,Jiemin The economics of the gender wage gap in Armenia By Lourdes Rodriguez Chamussy, Nistha Sinha and WPS 8397 Andrea Atencio Surviving firms of the Syrian Arab Republic: A rapid assessment WPS 8408 By Kinley Clemens Salmon, Nabila Assaf and David C. Electricity provision and tax mobilization in Africa Francis By Moussa Pouguinimpo Blimpo, Justice Tei Mensah, K. Ochieng’ Opalo and Ruifan Shi WPS 8396 Understanding effective teaching practices in Chinese WPS 8407 classrooms: Evidence from a pilot study of primary Why are connection charges so high? An analysis of and junior secondary schools in Guangdong, China the electricity sector in Sub-Saharan Africa By Andrew Moore Coflan, Andrew B. Ragatz, Amer By Moussa Pouguinimpo Blimpo, Shaun David Mcrae Hasan and Yilin Pan and Jevgenijs Steinbuks WPS 8395 WPS 8406 Does workfare work well? The case of the Sharing the benefits of innovation-digitization: A employment generation program for the poorest in summary of market processes and policy suggestions Bangladesh By Roumeen Islam By Yoonyoung Cho and Ummul Hasanath Ruthbah 12 24 The World Bank in India • May 2018 WPS 8394 WPS 8382 Lobbying for capital tax benefits and misallocation of Fiscal incentives and firm performance: Evidence from resources during a credit crunch the Dominican Republic By Gabriel Roberto Zaourak By Alessandra Amendola, Marinella Boccia, Gianluca Mele and Luca Sensini WPS 8393 The impact of interest rate caps on the financial WPS 8381 sector: Evidence from commercial banks in Kenya Unemployment and violent extremism: Evidence from By Mehnaz S. Safavian and Bilal Husnain Zia Daesh foreign recruits By Mohamed Abdel Jelil, Kartika Bhatia, Anne WPS 8392 Brockmeyer, Quy-Toan Do and Clement Jean Edouard Paris climate agreement and the global economy: Joubert Winners and losers By Muthukumara S. Mani, Zekarias Hussein, Badri WPS 8380 Narayanan Gopalakrishnan and Deepika Wadhwa Growth, safety nets and poverty: Assessing progress in Ethiopia from 1996 to 2011 WPS 8391 By Ruth Hill and Eyasu Tsehaye Taxation and the shadow economy: How the tax system can stimulate and enforce the formalization of WPS 8379 business activities Reflections of employers’ gender preferences in job By Rajul Awasthi and Michael Engelschalk ads in India: An analysis of online job portal data By Afra Rahman Chowdhury, Ana Carolina Areias, Saori WPS 8390 Imaizumi and et.al. Assessing fiscal space in Sub-Saharan Africa By Cesar Calderon, Punam Chuhan-Pole and WPS 8378 Yirbehogre Modeste Some Asymmetric information on noncognitive skills in the Indian labor market: An experiment in online job portal WPS 8389 By Futoshi Yamauchi, Shinsaku Nomura, Saori Imaizumi Peacekeeping and development in fragile states: and et.al. Micro-level evidence from Liberia By Eric Mvukiyehe WPS 8377 General equilibrium effects of targeted cash transfers: WPS 8388 Nutrition impacts on non-beneficiary children Why are so many water points in Nigeria non- By Deon P. Filmer, Jed Friedman, Eeshani Kandpal and functional? An empirical analysis of contributing factors Junko Onishi By Luis Alberto Andres, Gnanaraj Chellaraj, Basab Das Gupta and et.al. WPS 8376 Risk preferences and the decision to flee conflict WPS 8387 By Lidia Ceriani and Paolo Verme Too small to be beautiful: The farm size and productivity relationship in Bangladesh WPS 8375 By Madhur Gautam and Mansur Ahmed Safety nets and natural disaster mitigation: Evidence from cyclone Phailin in Odisha WPS 8386 By Paul J. Christian, Eeshani Kandpal, Nethra What investors want: Perceptions and experiences of Palaniswamy and Vijayendra Rao multinational corporations in developing countries By Peter Kusek and Andrea Antonia Lim Silva WPS 8374 Eyes in the sky, boots on the ground: Assessing WPS 8385 satellite-and ground-based approaches to crop yield Obstacles on the road to Palestinian economic growth measurement and analysis in Uganda By Roy Van der Weide, Bob Rijkers, Brian Blankespoor By David B. Lobell, George Azzari, Burke Marshall and and Alexei Sisulu Abrahams et.al. WPS 8384 WPS 8373 Public works programs and crime: Evidence for El Credit risk dynamics of infrastructure investment: Salvador Considerations for financial regulators By Pablo Ariel Acosta and Emma Mercedes Monsalve By Andreas Alexander Jobst Montiel WPS 8372 WPS 8383 The speed of justice Access to employment and property values in Mexico By Florence Kondylis and Mattea Stein By Laura H. Atuesta, J. Eduardo Ibarra-Olivo, Nancy Lozano Gracia and Uwe Deichmann 12 The World Bank in India • May 2018 25 WPS 8371 WPS 8360 An evaluation of the contributing factors of water Gender differences in poverty and household scheme failures in Nigeria composition through the life-cycle: A global By Luis Alberto Andres, Gnanaraj Chellaraj, Basab Das perspective Gupta and et.al. By Ana Maria Munoz Boudet, Paola Buitrago, Benedicte Leroy De La Briere and et.al. WPS 8370 The distributional impact of the fiscal system in WPS 8359 Albania The reallocation of district-level spending and natural By Maria Eugenia Davalos, Monica Robayo-Abril, disasters: Evidence from Indonesia Esmeralda Shehaj and Aida Gjika By Emmanuel Skoufias, Eric Strobl and Thomas Breivik Tveit WPS 8369 Long-run impacts of increasing tobacco taxes: WPS 8358 Evidence from South Africa “If it’s already tough, imagine for me...” A qualitative By Alan Fuchs Tarlovsky, Giselle Del Carmen and Alfred perspective on youth out of school and out of work in Kechia Mukong Brazil By Ana Luiza Machado and Miriam Muller WPS 8368 Resource misallocation and productivity gaps in WPS 8357 Malaysia Geo-spatial modeling of access to water and By Lay Lian Chuah, Norman V. Loayza and Ha Minh sanitation in Nigeria Nguyen By Luis Alberto Andres, Samir Bhatt, Basab Dasgupta an et.al. WPS 8367 Giving Sisyphus a helping hand: Pathways for WPS 8356 sustainable RIA systems in developing countries India’s internal labor migration paradox: The statistical By Peter Farup Ladegaard, Petter Lundkvist and and the real Jonathan Camillo Kamkhaji By Gaurav Nayyar and Kyoung Yang Kim WPS 8366 WPS 8355 Impact of US market access on local labor markets in The state of jobs in post-conflict areas of Sri Lanka Vietnam By David Locke Newhouse and Ani Rudra Silwal By Trung Xuan Hoang and Ha Minh Nguyen WPS 8354 WPS 8365 Gross capital flows, common factors, and the global International competition, returns to skill, and labor financial cycle market adjustment By Luis Diego Barrot Araya and Luis Serven By Rod Falvey, David Greenaway and Joana C. G. Silva WPS 8353 WPS 8364 Identifying catch-up trajectories in child growth: New Employment structure and returns to skill in Vietnam: methods with evidence from young lives Estimates using the labor force survey By Sam Jones, Jere R. Behrman, Hai-Anh H. Dang and By Gabriel Demombynes and Mauro Testaverde Paul Anand WPS 8363 WPS 8352 Size-dependent tax enforcement and compliance: Decentralization and redistribution: Irrigation reform in Global evidence and aggregate implications Pakistan’s Indus basin By Pierre Jean Bachas, Roberto N. Fattal Jaef and By Hanan G. Jacoby, Ghazala Mansuri and Freeha Anders Jensen Fatima WPS 8362 WPS 8351 The performance of a consumption augmented asset Governing the commons: Water and power in index in ranking households and identifying the poor Pakistan’s Indus basin By Diana Ngo and Luc Christiaensen By Hanan G. Jacoby and Ghazala Mansuri WPS 8361 WPS 8350 Analysis of the mismatch between Tanzania Wider economic benefits of investments in transport household budget survey and national panel survey corridors and the role of complementary policies data in poverty and inequality levels and trends By Martin Melecky, Siddharth Sharma and Hari Subhash By Nadia Belhaj Hassine Belghith, Maria Adelaida WPS 8349 Lopera, Alvin Etang Ndip and Wendy Karamba The roots of inequality: Estimating inequality of 12 26 The World Bank in India • May 2018 opportunity from regression trees motivations in health care By Paolo Brunori, Paul Hufe and Daniel Gerszon Mahler By Sheheryar Banuri, Philip E. Keefer and Damien B. C. M. De Walque WPS 8348 A skills-based human capital framework to WPS 8337 understand the phenomenon of youth economic Unlocking India’s logistics potential: The value of disengagement disaggregated macroscopic freight flow analysis By Diego Angel-Urdinola and Renata Mayer Gukovas By Bernard Aritua, Jan Havenga, Zane Paul Simpson and Esther Woon Lyn Chiew WPS 8347 Psychic vs. economic barriers to vaccine take-up: WPS 8336 Evidence from a field experiment in Nigeria Structural change in west Africa: A tale of gain and By Ryoko Sato and Yoshito Takasaki loss By Fiseha Haile Gebregziabher WPS 8346 Distribution-sensitive multidimensional poverty WPS 8335 measures The price elasticity of African elephant poaching By Gaurav Datt By Quy-Toan Do, Andrei A. Levchenko, Lin Ma, Julian Blanc and et.al. WPS 8345 Water when it counts: Reducing scarcity through WPS 8334 irrigation monitoring in Central Mozambique Human capital outflows: Selection into migration from By Paul J. Christian, Florence Kondylis, Valerie Martina the Northern Triangle Mueller and et.al. By Giselle Eugenia Del Carmen Hasbun and Liliana Do Couto Sousa WPS 8344 Hit and run? Income shocks and school dropouts in WPS 8333 Latin America Cash transfers increase trust in local government By Paula Maria Cerutti, Elena Crivellaro, German By David Evans, Brian Holtemeyer and Katrina L. Kosec Jeremias Reyes and Liliana Do Couto Sousa WPS 8343 The role of social ties in factor allocation By Ulrik Beck, Benedikte Alkjaersig Bjerge and Marcel Fafchamps WPS 8342 Finding the poor vs. measuring their poverty: Exploring the drivers of targeting effectiveness in Indonesia By Adama Bari Bah, xSamuel Ali Bah, Sudarno Sumarto and Julia Tobias WPS 8341 Urban transport infrastructure and household welfare: Evidence from Colombia By Tobias Pfutze, Carlos Rodriguez Castelan and Daniel Valderrama Gonzalez WPS 8340 Migrants, towns, poverty and jobs: Insights from Tanzania By Luc Christiaensen, Joachim De Weerdt, Bert Lodewijk M Ingelaere and Ravi Kanbur WPS 8339 Do management interventions last? Evidence from India By Nicholas Bloom, Aprajit Mahajan, David J. Mckenzie and John Roberts WPS 8338 Love the job... or the patient? 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