Questions on the presentations
Note: your answer to any given question should not exceed one page.
1. David McKenzie and Hillel Rapoport: "Self-selection patterns in Mexico-US
migration: the role of migration networks".
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=959764
a) Are migration costs constant across education levels, and how does the answer
affect the expected pattern of migrants' self-selection? Illustrate your answer
graphically.
b) In a setting with intermediate self-selection of migrants, how do networks
theoretically affect the pattern of self-selection? Base your argumentation on a
diagrammatic exposition.
c) Why is it important to instrument for migration networks when looking at the
effect of education on migration?
d) What are the three main empirical findings of this study?
2. K. Basu: "Globalization, poverty and inequality", World Development, 2006.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2005.10.009 Presenter: B. Elani.
a) What do we learn from this paper on the World Distribution of Income and its
evolution over the past decades?
b) What is "the quintile axiom"? Give a verbal explanation and a numerical
example.
c) Summarize the model graphically and show on the graph the preferred
solution.
d) What are the expected effects of globalization in this model? Briefly present
and discuss (i.e., criticize) them verbally.
3. A. Hillman: "Nietschean Development Failures", Public Choice, 2004.
http://www.springerlink.com/content/n758pxu35527h586/fulltext.pdf
a) What is a "Nietschean" behavior?
b) Illustrate the interaction between the strong and the weak in a game-theoretic
framework, and show why the equilibrium outcome is both inefficient and
unfair when the strong behaves as a "roving bandit".
c) Roving and stationary bandits: definition and application to today's developing
countries.
4. L. Azarnet: "Child mortality, fertility and human capital formation", Journal of
Population Economics, 2006.
http://www.springerlink.com/content/p851066744127476/
a) Why is the timing of mortality relative to education important in the model?
How the alternative assumption that mortality takes place after the costs of
education had been incurred will change the basic result of the model?
b) What is the role of improving in the productivity of human capital production
function in decreasing mortality?
c) Suppose we assume that children's survival probability is no more related to
parental level of human capital. Will it affect the major result of the paper?
5. K. Basu and H. Morita: "International credit and welfare", Europ. Ec. Review, 2006
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.euroecorev.2005.04.005 Presenter: N. Goldstein.
a) Using a brief verbal exposition explain the basic intuition for the "paradox of
benevolence" described in the paper.
b) Summarize the intuition for the "paradox of benevolence" described in the
paper using a diagrammatic exposition.
c) What are the policy implications of the analysis?
6. R. Adams: "Do International migration and remittances reduce poverty in
developing countries", World Development, 2005.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2005.05.004 Presenter: M. Turchak.
a) Why do OLS results on the effects of remittances (or of migration) on
poverty raise endogeneity concerns?
b) What are the three main empirical findings of this study?
7. A. Kraay: "When is growth pro-poor? Cross-country evidence", IMF WP 04/47.
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/wp/2004/wp0447.pdf Presenter: E. Marchasin.
a) How does the author suggest to decompose the effect of growth on poverty?
Explain carefully.
b) Comment the graph below to explain the evolution of poverty in China and
Indonesia over the periods considered.
8. Kristin Mammen and Christina Paxson: "Women's work and economic
development", Journal of Economics Perspective, 2000. Presenter: M. Shaul.
a) The relationship between economic development and women's participation in
the labor force maybe characterized by a U-shaped pattern. What are the
driving forces behind such a pattern?
b) Is recent evidence from India and Thailand in line with the general pattern of a
U-shaped pattern between economic development and women's participation
in the labor force?
9. Taylor and Wyatt: "The shadow value of migrant remittances", Journal of
Development Studies, 1996. Presenter: D. Nechama.
http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~content=a787114208~db=all~order=page
a) What do migrants' remittances have a "shadow value"?
b) How do remittances affect inequality in migrants' receiving communities?
10. J. Svenson: "Eight questions about corruption", Journal of Econ. Perspectives,
2005. http://www.atyponlink.com/AEAP/doi/pdf/10.1257/089533005774357860?cookieSet=1
Presenter: E. Titiovnik.
a) Corruption and growth: micro stories versus macro evidence.
b) How did Hong Kong and Singapore succeed in their fight against corruption?
11. W. Easterly: "Inequality does cause underdevelopment", JDE 2007.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jdeveco.2006.11.002. Presenter: Rachel Azulay
"Inequality Does Cause Under- ‫ במאמרו‬Easterly ‫א) מהו המשתנה עזר החדש שמציע‬
?‫פיתוח‬-‫שוויון ותת‬-‫" ? מדוע משתנה זה מתאים לבדיקת הקשר הסיבתי בין אי‬development
"Inequality Does Cause Under- ‫ במאמרו‬Easterly ‫ב) מה שלושת הממצאים העיקריים של‬
?"development
12. M. Rosenzweig: "When investing in education matters and when it does not",
Challenge, 1996. Presenter: E. Or-Zach.
a) What does the experience of the "green revolution" in India tell us on the links
between education and technical progress?
b) Which countries provide a "fertile ground" for public investment in education?
13. E. Gould and O. Moav: "Israel's brain drain", Israel Economic Review, 2007.
http://www.bankisrael.gov.il/deptdata/mehkar/iser/09/iser_1.htm. Presenter: E. Tsror.
a) What are the three main empirical findings of the paper?