In this paper data from a school survey in India is used to ask whether there is evidence for the payment of performance related pay and whether such pay structures do impact on student achievement. It is shown that - after controlling for student ability, parental background and the resources...

Many variables have been proposed by past studies as significant determinants of corruption. This paper asks if their estimated impact on corruption is robust to alteration of the information set. A Global Sensitivity Analysis, based on the Leamer`s Extreme-Bounds Analysis give a clear answer:...

This paper reassesses the debate over the role of education in farm production in Bangladesh using a large dataset on rice producing households from 141 villages. Average and stochastic production functions are estimated to ascertain the effect of education on productivity and efficiency. A full...

Exploiting new data from a survey and behavioral experiment conducted in Peru we analyze indvidual`s preferences for securing income in old age. We identify a group that is unrationed by the mandate to save in Peru`s pension system, and draw insights from their affiliation and contribution...

A theory of decision making is proposed that supplies an axiomatic basis for the concept of satisficing postulated by Herbert Simon. After a detailed review of classical results that characterize several varieties of preference-maximizing choice behavior, the axiomatization proceeds by weakening...

Despite Uganda`s impressive reduction in monetary based poverty, during the 1990`s, recent evidence has shown there to be substantial mobility into and out of poverty. This paper represents on the first attempts to combine both qualitative and quantitative information to understand the factors...

This paper models firm survival in Kenyan manufacturing with a particular emphasis on the effect of credit on firm resilience. The paper explores how firms coped with the challenging economic environment that prevailed in the 1990s particularly the effect of the dramatic increase in interest...

We present a new procedure for detecting multiple additive outliers in GARCH(1,1) models at unknown dates. The outlier candidates are the observations with the largest standardized residual. First, a likelihood-ratio based test determines the presence and timing of an outlier. Next, a second...

The poor performance of many African economies has been associated with low growth of exports in general and of manufacturing exports in particular. In this paper we draw on micro evidence of manufacturing firms in five African countries - Kenya, Ghana, Tanzania, South Africa and Nigeria - to...

For over a quarter century anthropometric historians have struggled to identify and measure the numerous factors that affect adult stature, which depends upon diet, disease and physical activity from conception to maturity. I simplify this complex problem by assessing nutritional status in a...