Monday, March 21, 2011

Big Bag of Development: Good ideas and bad

What is rigorous impact evaluation and when is it not really needed? A Clemens video.

Unintended consequences: low flow toilets edition. Too little water per flush is ruining the sewer system.

Really bad idea: a tax on remittances to Mexico proposed in Texas. Remittances are one of the chief forms of aid, we know it gets to individuals, and it hurts legal immigrants who are making significant contributions to the country. We should be trying to reduce the costs of remittances, not increasing them. Here is an example of a business born from remittances, a group of women growing organic cacti commercially.  The effort is being credited with social transformation and significant public and private benefits.

Trust and development, Japan edition: why is there no looting

Hidden taxes: control of land prices as a means of lowering taxes in Hong Kong.
But this does not imply that the revenue system of Hong Kong creates `”huge distortions”. Quite the contrary. Taxes on land create almost no distortions because they have no effect on supply or demand.
The development of a low corruption pension system in Mexico City

The resource curse appears to be alive and well in Africa as the most resource rich countries fared worse than average from 1990-2008. 21 countries’ wealth grew faster than the global average and that growth has been associated with increasing human capital and institutional quality.

1 comment:

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