World development report 2006: equity and development

Front Cover
......Page 1
Title Page
......Page 5
Copyright
......Page 6
Contents......Page 7
Foreword......Page 13
Acknowledgments......Page 15
Abbreviations and Data Notes......Page 16
Overview......Page 17
Within-country inequities have many dimensions......Page 20
3 Life expectancy improved and became more equal—until the onset of the AIDS crisis......Page 22
4 A long-run diverging trend in income inequality begins to reverse because of growth in China and India......Page 23
Leveling the economic and political playing field......Page 25
6 Catching up through early interventions......Page 27
Justice, land, and infrastructure......Page 29
Markets and the macroeconomy......Page 30
The global arena......Page 32
Equity and development......Page 33
Equity and inequality of opportunity: the basic concepts......Page 34
1.1 The interaction of political, economic, and sociocultural inequalities......Page 36
A brief preview of the Report......Page 39
Part I Inequity within and across countries......Page 41
focus 1 on Palanpur......Page 42
2 Inequity within countries: individuals and groups......Page 44
2.1 Unequal opportunities persist across generations in Brazil......Page 45
Trends......Page 48
2.4 Stunting and underweight in Cambodia......Page 49
2.3 Health improvements and greater health equity in Peru......Page 50
2.4 Child test scores in Ecuador: the role of wealth, parental education, and place of residence......Page 51
2.5 Education levels vary across countries, but they also depend on gender of household head......Page 52
2.8 Market capitalization controlled by the top 10 families in selected countries, 1996......Page 54
2.10 Between-group inequality decompositions: social group of the household head......Page 56
2.1 Decomposition of inequality between and within communities......Page 58
2.12 Location, education, and social groups can make a difference: regressions of total inequality on shares of between-group inequality of different household characteristics 43......Page 59
2.6 Revisiting the Kuznets hypothesis for economic growth and inequality......Page 60
2.7 Inequitable agencies and institutions in Pakistan......Page 64
2.8 Legacies of discrimination and the reproduction of inequalities and poverty among the Batwa in Uganda......Page 65
Changing between-group inequalities of agency and institutional power......Page 66
2.9 Sex ratios and “missing women”......Page 67
2.13 Women work longer hours than do men......Page 69
Examples and concepts......Page 71
Global inequalities in health......Page 72
3.1 Three competing concepts of inequality: global, international, and intercountry......Page 73
3.4 Mean years of schooling increased while inequality declined across birth cohorts......Page 76
3.6 Incomes range broadly across countries and individuals......Page 78
3.3 Mobility matrix in absolute country per capita incomes, 1980 to 2002......Page 82
A glimpse of the future......Page 84
focus 2 on empowerment......Page 86
Part II Why does equity matter?......Page 89
Ethical and philosophical approaches to equity......Page 92
4.1 A simple representation of different concepts of equity......Page 94
4.1 The distribution of observed offers in ultimatum games......Page 96
4.2 Capuchin monkeys don’t like inequity either . . .......Page 98
4.3 Worker perceptions of unfairness, product quality, and consumer safety......Page 99
4.2 Views on inequality from the World Values Survey......Page 100
The market for credit......Page 105
The market for insurance......Page 107
The market for land......Page 109
The market for human capital......Page 110
5.2 Children’s performance differs when their caste is made public......Page 112
5.5 Average returns for switching to pineapples as an intercrop can exceed 1,200 percent......Page 114
Human capital......Page 116
Inequalities and investment......Page 117
focus 3 on Spain......Page 121
The distribution of power and institutional quality: circles vicious and virtuous......Page 123
6.1 Banking in the nineteenth century, Mexico and the United States......Page 125
6.4 A worse environment for settlers is associated with fewer constraints on the executive at independence......Page 127
6.2 Growth with poor institutions does not last......Page 129
Shared growth in East Asia: the Republic of Korea, Taiwan (China), and Indonesia......Page 130
Agricultural pricing policies in Africa......Page 131
6.6 GDP per capita is rising in Mauritius, not in Guyana......Page 132
Implications......Page 133
6.3 Polarization, conflict, and growth......Page 134
Early modern Britain......Page 135
6.4 Aiding equitable growth in early modern Britain: the role of the Poor Laws......Page 136
China in the late twentieth century......Page 138
Conclusion......Page 140
focus 4 on Indonesia......Page 142
Part III Leveling the economic and political playing fields......Page 145
Early childhood development: a better start in life......Page 148
7.2 Early childhood interventions are good investments......Page 149
7.3 Catching up through early intervention......Page 150
Basic education: expanding opportunities to learn......Page 151
Expanding access, particularly for excluded groups......Page 152
7.2 School fees—an instrument of exclusion or accountability?......Page 153
7.3 Desegregating Roma schools in Bulgaria: the Vidin model......Page 154
7.4 Remedying education: the Balsakhi program in India......Page 156
7.5 School vouchers: efficient and equitable?......Page 157
7.6 Working with mothers to treat malaria......Page 158
7.7 Poor people and ethnic minorities receive lower-quality care......Page 159
7.8 Better maternal health in Malaysia and Sri Lanka......Page 160
7.9 Mobilizing support for universal coverage in Thailand......Page 162
Social protection: managing risk and providing social assistance......Page 164
7.5 Almost all countries spend more on social insurance than on social assistance (percent of GDP)......Page 165
7.1 Examples of social protection programs......Page 166
7.10 Public works programs: key issues......Page 168
7.2 Targeting performance of conditional transfer schemes......Page 169
Programs for special vulnerable groups......Page 170
7.11 Africa’s orphans and public action......Page 171
Combating elite capture and discrimination......Page 172
8.1 Increasing legal literacy and public awareness: “My Rights” on Armenian public television......Page 173
8.2 Affirmative action in India and the United States......Page 174
8.4 The impact of legal aid in Ecuador......Page 176
8.5 Bogota, Colombia: civic culture program......Page 177
Equity and effiiency reasons to address inequalities in land distribution......Page 178
8.1 Unequal initial land distributions go together with slower economic growth......Page 179
8.6 Land reform in South Africa: picking up steam......Page 180
8.7 Clarifying how customary rights fit with formal systems......Page 182
Options for cost-effective land redistribution to broaden access......Page 183
8.8 Land and output tax combinations......Page 184
More equitable access to infrastructure is good for growth and equity......Page 185
8.9 Lagging infrastructure in Africa......Page 186
8.10 The distributional impact of infrastructure privatization in Latin America: a mixed bag......Page 187
8.4 Poorer households have lower-quality water and pay more in Niger......Page 189
8.12 Addressing accountability and transparency in telecommunications in Brazil and Peru......Page 190
Summary......Page 191
Managing resource rents transparently and equitably......Page 193
focus 5 on taxation......Page 192
How markets relate to equity......Page 194
9.1 Two pathologies in the interaction between equity and growth......Page 195
9.1 Markets and development: policy, equity, and social welfare in China......Page 196
9.2 Too much and too little regulation: Russia before and after the transition......Page 198
Increasing access to finanial services: Technical design, accountability, and competition......Page 199
9.1 Poland’s stock market started slowly but then surpassed the Czech Republic’s......Page 201
Equity and effiiency reasons to intervene in the labor market......Page 202
9.2 Patterns of employment and unemployment vary widely across African countries......Page 203
9.3 Different labor market institutional setups can yield equally good productivity growth paths: Scandinavia versus the United States 188......Page 204
9.3 Organizing in the informal economy......Page 206
9.4 Employment protection legislation......Page 207
9.5 Two cases of labor market reform: One comprehensive, one partial......Page 208
Product markets and trade reform......Page 209
Domestic product markets and equity......Page 210
Safety nets and opportunity......Page 213
Macroeconomic instability is both a cause and consequence of inequity......Page 214
9.5 Weaker institutions are associated with macroeconomic volatility and crises......Page 215
9.7 In Argentina, the wealthy had a way out during the crisis......Page 217
Development of lagging regions in China......Page 221
focus 6 on regional inequality......Page 220
10 Achieving greater global equity......Page 222
10.1 International law, globalization, and equity......Page 223
10.1 Wage differentials are substantially larger today than at the end of the nineteenth century......Page 224
10.2 Making migrant worker schemes more development friendly......Page 226
10.3 Cotton subsidies are huge—and tenacious......Page 228
10.4 Will improved working conditions in Cambodia’s textile industry survive the end of the quota system?......Page 230
10.5 Expanding access to antiretroviral drugs in South Africa......Page 231
Rectifying past and present inequities in the use of natural resources......Page 232
Better development assistance......Page 234
Transitions to greater equity......Page 237
Summary......Page 239
focus 7 on drug access......Page 240
Epilogue......Page 242
Background Papers......Page 247
Endnotes......Page 249
References......Page 263
Selected Indicators......Page 291
Measuring Equity......Page 293
Technical notes......Page 302
Classifiction of economies and summary measures......Page 305
Technical notes......Page 306
Environmental Benefits tatement......Page 338
Index......Page 325
Figures......Page 10
1 Wealth matters for the immunization of children......Page 21
5 Children’s performance differs when their caste is made salient......Page 24
7 Better to be close to economic opportunities......Page 31
2.2 Stunting levels of children born in rural versus urban areas are far from the same......Page 46
2.3 Access to childhood immunization services depends on parents’ economic status......Page 47
2.7 The share of inequality in years of schooling attributable to differences between males and females has been declining......Page 53
2.9 Africa and Latin America have the world’s highest levels of inequality......Page 55
2.11 Between-group inequality decompositions: education of the household head......Page 57
3.1 Increases in life expectancy at birth slowed down dramatically in the 1990s......Page 74
3.2 Life expectancy is highly correlated with income, particularly in poor countries......Page 75
3.2 Mean years of schooling increased continuously while inequality declined......Page 77
3.8 Unlike relative inequality, absolute inequality has been steadily increasing......Page 79
3.9 The inequality decline between countries was neutralized by increases within countries......Page 80
3.10 Inequality between countries became much more important over the long run......Page 81
3.12 There is no one-to-one relationship between voice and income......Page 83
4.4 . . . and, on average, growth is distribution-neutral......Page 101
4.5 The national growth incidence curves for Tunisia 1980–1995 and Senegal 1994–2001......Page 102
4.6 Greater inequality reduces the power of growth to reduce poverty......Page 103
5.1 In rural Kerala and Tamil Nadu, the rich access most of the credit and pay relatively low rates......Page 106
5.3 Returns to capital vary with firm size: evidence from small Mexican firms......Page 113
5.2 Farm size productivity differences, selected countries......Page 115
6.1 Countries with more secure property rights have higher average incomes......Page 124
6.3 Worse environments for European settlers are associated with worse institutions today......Page 126
6.7 Inequality in Britain began to fall around 1870......Page 137
7.4 Boosting enrollments is not enough to overcome the learning gap......Page 155
8.2 Title to land increases investment and access to credit......Page 181
8.3 Poor families did not benefit from an expansion of access in Africa......Page 188
9.4 It’s better for household welfare to be close to economic opportunities......Page 211
9.3 Fiscal costs of selected banking crises......Page 216
10.1 ODA as a share of GNI, 2002, 2003, and simulation for 2006......Page 236
Tables......Page 12
2.2 Percentage of women who have ever experienced physical or sexual violence by an intimate partner......Page 70
5.1 The effect of income shocks on consumption, Côte d’Ivoire......Page 108
9.2 Financial policy and institutions are often captured by the few: case study evidence......Page 197
A1 Poverty......Page 294
A2 Income/consumption inequality measures......Page 296
A3 Health......Page 298
A4 Education......Page 300
Classification of economies by region and income......Page 307
1 Key indicators of development......Page 308
2 Poverty and income distribution......Page 310
3 Economic activity......Page 312
4 Trade, aid, and finance......Page 314
5 Key indicators for other economies......Page 316