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Poster Session for ACES

Poster Session

Friday, Jan. 4, 2019 10:15 AM - 12:15 PM

Hyatt Regency Atlanta, Hanover D & E
Hosted By: Association for Comparative Economic Studies
  • Chair: Daniel Berkowitz, University of Pittsburgh

Bringing Peace from Above? State Capacity, Civil War De-Escalation and The Composition of the Stock of Military Equipment

Nauro Campos
,
Brunel University
Martin Gassebner
,
University of Hannover
Tobias Korn
,
University of Hannover

Abstract

State capacity crucially affects the outset and duration of civil wars. The literature uses indirect measures (such as the capacity to tax) to proxy for a state’s ability to fight or prevent civil conflict. In this paper, we employ a new measure of state capacity and test its effect on the (de)escalation of civil violence. We assemble unique data for more than 120 countries, yearly 1989-2010, to estimate the effect of the composition of the military capital stock (e.g. the number of attack helicopters vis-à-vis tanks) on the onset, escalation, and dynamics of civil conflict. Our main finding is that attack helicopters are associated with the (de)escalation of civil wars. Yet this comes at the price of more indiscriminate violence against civilians.

The Evolution of the Gender Wage Gap in a Russian Firm during Transition: Evidence from Unique Personnel Data – 1990-2006

Hartmut Lehmann
,
University of Bologna and IZA
Thomas Dohmen
,
University of Bonn and IZA
Karolina Goraus
,
Warsaw University

When Do Gender Wage Differences Emerge? A Study of Azerbaijan’s Labor Market

Francesco Pastore
,
University of Campania and IZA
Sarosh Sattar
,
World Bank
Nistha Sinha
,
World Bank
Erwin R. Tiongson
,
Georgetown University and IZA

Doubling Up or Moving Out? The Effect of International Labor Migration on Household Size

Kseniia Gatskova
,
IOS-Regensburg
Vladimir Kozlov
,
National Research University Higher School of Economics

Natural Resources and Income Inequality: Synthetic Control Method Evidence

Christopher Hartwell
,
Bournemouth University
Roman Horváth
,
Charles University-Prague
Eva Horváthová
,
University of Economics-Prague
Olga Popova
,
Leibniz Institute for East and Southeast European Studies

Climate Change and Violence: Unequal Effects Across Age and Gender

Vladimir Otrachshenko
,
Nova School of Business and Economics-Lisbon
Olga Popova
,
Leibniz Institute for East and Southeast European Studies
José Tavares
,
Nova School of Business and Economics-Lisbon

Rivers and Trade

Jarko Fidrmuc
,
Zeppelin University-Friedrichshafen
Richard Frensch
,
University of Regensburg and Leibniz Institute for East and Southeast European Studies

Abstract

While rivers both impede and facilitate trade, the dual role of rivers has so far not been explicitly considered. We expand the existing bilateral geographical CEPII database by adding detailed information on bilateral river borders and indirect river linkages for 36 European countries, i.e., 1,260 (630 bidirectional) country pairs. Within a gravity framework, we assess the impact of international rivers on trade, using disaggregate trade data, both on trade flows and along the margins of trade. We find that river linkages are trade creating, working predominantly through the extensive margin. Substantial river borders, working predominantly through the intensive margin, are detrimental to trade. Our counterfactuals show that international rivers have a modest positive net impact on European trade. Preliminary further results suggest that what matters for trade are river basins rather than rivers. The positive net impact of international rivers on European trade includes historical legacy of geographical impact on economic activity.

Employment, Productivity and Wage Effects of FDI from Tax Havens

Solomiya Shpak
,
George Mason University

Grain, Export, and Logistics in Central and Eastern Europe

Razvan Dobrescu
,
Polytechnic University of Bucharest
Monika Jandová
,
Masaryk University
Marcin Król
,
Warsaw School of Economics
Larysa Nekrasenko
,
Poltava State Agrarian Academy
Tomas Paleta
,
Masaryk University

“Belt and Road”: The “China Dream”?

Karen Jackson
,
University of Westminster
Oleksandr Shepotylo
,
University of Bradford

Globalization and Its Discontents at Individual Level: How Does International Trade Affect Job and Life Satisfaction?

Irina Murtazashvili
,
Drexel University
Olena Nizalova
,
University of Kent
Maryna Osiichuk
,
University of Bradford
Oleksandr Shepotylo
,
University of Bradford

Gender Earnings Inequality and Wage Policy in Kyrgyzstan: Evidence from Household Surveys, 2010-2016

Kathryn H. Anderson
,
Vanderbilt University
Damir Esenaliev
,
Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI)

Examining Interrelation between Global and National Income Inequalities

Marek Dabrowski
,
Bruegel, Higher School of Economics, and Center for Social and Economic Research

Abstract

The last decade brought increasing attention to income and wealth inequalities in advanced
economies because of their increase in several countries and negative social and political implications. However, this debate is often limited to the single-country perspective, disregarding decreasing global income inequalities, i.e. inequalities between individuals
in the entire world. This paper focuses mainly on the g lobal dimension of the inequality
trends but also tries to update statistics on national inequality trends which, contrary
to the dominant narrative, seem to go in various directions depending on a concrete
country. Finally, an attempt is made to analyze the potential interrelation and trade-off
between decreasing global inequalities and increasing national inequalities and the role
of globalization, in its various forms, in such a trade-off.

Productivity Slowdown of the Russian Economy in the Comparative Perspective

Ilya B. Voskoboynikov
,
National Research University Higher School of Economics

Estimating Bribe Payment When Zero Values are Frequent and Economically Determined: An Application of Zero-Inflated Negative Binomial Model Using Firm-level Data from the Productivity and Investment Climate Surveys

Suryadipta Roy
,
Highpoint University

Digging deeper into the Dynamics of Female Ownership of Firms and Access to Finance: An Empirical analysis of Indian Firms

Nabamita Dutta
,
University of Wisconsin
Sushanta Mallick
,
Queen Mary University of London

Abstract

Access to finance for firms is a much explored topic in the development as well as entrepreneurship literature. Studies on these topics are relatively scant in the context of firms in emerging markets. Using World Bank Enterprise Survey (WBES) data for 9281 Indian firms during June 2013-December 2014, we explore the role of gender in explaining difficulty in accessing finance for start-up activity. Our baseline results show that female-owned firms actually face less obstacles in accessing finance compared to male owned firms. But on delving deeper, we find that the composition of firm ownership in terms of gender matters. Our results show that firms that are dominantly managed by females face greater difficulty in accessing finance compared to firms that have low levels of female leadership. This supports two strands of theoretical studies - ‘ownership signaling theory’ reflecting a venture’s viability and the entrepreneurs’ commitment to business, and ‘gender congruity theory’ suggesting stereotypical beliefs about the abilities of male and female entrepreneurs. Our results are robust to different identification strategies including propensity score matching. Further, we also explore possible channels explaining the negative impact of female dominated firms in accessing finance. These channels are greater government ownership of firms, funding investment through one’s own capital and higher level of sales at the national level, which lend support to our main result that women entrepreneurs, under certain circumstances, may not be as credit-constrained as male entrepreneurs.

Recent Changes in Uzbekistan’s Cotton Procurement: Implications and Reform Agenda Ahead

Nodir Djanibekov
,
IAMO & University of Halle
Martin Petrick
,
IAMO & Justus Liebig University Giessen, Germany

Abstract

Cotton in Uzbekistan is widely considered as one of the most regulated agricultural sectors in any of the post-Soviet countries. However, after the government liberalized foreign currency exchange and announced drastic increases in farm-gate cotton prices in recent months, substantial reform seems to be in the making. Based on a statement of the tax and subsidy flows in the existing cotton procurement system, this policy brief provides a tentative analysis of recent policy change and makes suggestions for the reform agenda ahead. So far, taxes of up to 40% of gross cotton revenues dwarf farmers’ incentives to increase productivity, diversify their crop portfolio and invent and adopt innovations. By redistributing cotton revenue from the government budget to farmers, higher procurement prices will strengthen these incentives. To mitigate the budgetary implications of reform, the government might increase direct land taxes and water charges and cut subsidized production loans. However, to reach the officially declared goals of farm mechanization and a deepening of domestic cotton processing, more thorough steps in liberalizing output and factor markets will be required. Kazakhstan’s reforms after independence exemplify how private contracting between farmers, ginners and exporters could boost cotton area expansion, yield growth and the adoption of mechanical harvesters.

Contract Choice Under Institutional Uncertainty: Evidence from Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan

Nozilakhon Mukhamedova
,
IAMO & University of Halle

Abstract

Sharecropping continues to be a widespread phenomenon, but its prevalence is often difficult to explain. This paper follows an evolutionary approach to investigate changes in contract choices that have occurred between Soviet and present times in two rural regions of Central Asia: South Kazakhstan and Samarkand province of Uzbekistan. Contractual relationships are placed in an uncertain environment over the last half century from the late-Soviet planned economy to different approaches to land reform in successor states. Actors can behave with limited rationality and might incline towards opportunism and contract failures, often found in manipulation of timelines, making payments, and farm maintenance. The study examines socio-economic factors (e.g. labour migration) as well as social capital (such as kinships and networks) and technical constraints associated with need for irrigation or choice of crops underlying households’ decisions. The main conclusion is that under institutional uncertainty and some combinations of these determinants, actors adopt variations of sharecropping arrangements as a second-best contractual arrangement.
JEL Classifications
  • P2 - Socialist Systems and Transitional Economies
  • P1 - Capitalist Systems