This thesis consists of four essays in empirical development economics. The first three essays focus on macroeconomic topics, examining issues related to the business cycle, fiscal and monetary policy, whereas the last one is focusing on a microeconomic topic, namely the relationship between schooling and child labor. The first contribution investigates the effectiveness of macroeconomic policies in the recoveries periods in the Middle East, North Africa and Pakistan (MENAP). It is found that fiscal policy played a key role during the recoveries to potential output, although with weaker effects for the countries in the region that are more open to trade; monetary policy is found to have been less effective. The second essay explores the effects of the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) adoption on the main fiscal performance indicators, finding a positive and encouraging impact on fiscal discipline, allocative efficiency and technical efficiency, although the last one is not always robust. The third essay aims at identify the nexus between the excess of liquidity and commodity prices; in particular, it assesses whether the commodity prices react more powerfully than the consumer goods’ prices to changes in real money balances. The results show a positive relationship between real money and real commodity prices and provide empirical evidence for a stronger response of commodity prices with respect to consumer goods’ prices. The last essay investigates the determinants of primary school enrollment, attendance and child labor in Bolivia, with a special attention at identifying the substitution and complementary relationships between schooling and working. The empirical findings reveal that the increase in enrollment is led by indigenous children and those living in urban areas. Moreover, contrary to common belief, being extremely poor and indigenous are the main determinants of school attendance; while extremely poor children increased their school attendance, they were not able to reduce child labor. On the other hand, indigenous children made them substitutes increasing schooling and reducing child labor. Different econometric techniques have been used, among which Ordinary Least Squares, Fixed Effects, Instrumental Variables, Generalized Methods of Moments estimations, Stochastic Frontier Analysis, Cointegrated Vector Autoregression and Multivariate Probit models.

Essays on development economics / Grigoli, Francesco. - (2011).

Essays on development economics.

Grigoli, Francesco
2011-01-01

Abstract

This thesis consists of four essays in empirical development economics. The first three essays focus on macroeconomic topics, examining issues related to the business cycle, fiscal and monetary policy, whereas the last one is focusing on a microeconomic topic, namely the relationship between schooling and child labor. The first contribution investigates the effectiveness of macroeconomic policies in the recoveries periods in the Middle East, North Africa and Pakistan (MENAP). It is found that fiscal policy played a key role during the recoveries to potential output, although with weaker effects for the countries in the region that are more open to trade; monetary policy is found to have been less effective. The second essay explores the effects of the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) adoption on the main fiscal performance indicators, finding a positive and encouraging impact on fiscal discipline, allocative efficiency and technical efficiency, although the last one is not always robust. The third essay aims at identify the nexus between the excess of liquidity and commodity prices; in particular, it assesses whether the commodity prices react more powerfully than the consumer goods’ prices to changes in real money balances. The results show a positive relationship between real money and real commodity prices and provide empirical evidence for a stronger response of commodity prices with respect to consumer goods’ prices. The last essay investigates the determinants of primary school enrollment, attendance and child labor in Bolivia, with a special attention at identifying the substitution and complementary relationships between schooling and working. The empirical findings reveal that the increase in enrollment is led by indigenous children and those living in urban areas. Moreover, contrary to common belief, being extremely poor and indigenous are the main determinants of school attendance; while extremely poor children increased their school attendance, they were not able to reduce child labor. On the other hand, indigenous children made them substitutes increasing schooling and reducing child labor. Different econometric techniques have been used, among which Ordinary Least Squares, Fixed Effects, Instrumental Variables, Generalized Methods of Moments estimations, Stochastic Frontier Analysis, Cointegrated Vector Autoregression and Multivariate Probit models.
2011
macroeconomia, politica monetaria, politica fiscale, educazione
Essays on development economics / Grigoli, Francesco. - (2011).
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11383/2090888
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