Papers by Julie Litchfield
Overcoming Inequality in Latin America, 2007
Social networks play a key role in mitigating the risks of migration, with migrants typically mak... more Social networks play a key role in mitigating the risks of migration, with migrants typically making use of network and kinship capital in the decision of whether to migrate and to which destination. This paper adds to the empirical literature on the role of networks in migration decisions in Bangladesh using household survey data collected in Bangladesh in 2013. Our survey captures information on households and their migrant and resident members, migrant destinations and contacts at their destination. We distinguish between internal networks and international networks and analyse the importance of these in affecting the migration decision and destination choice. We also explore the gender dimensions of these decisions, finding that while male migration decisions are very sensitive to the existence and nature (internal or international), and even suggestive of a step-migration patterns of rural to urban to international destinations, women’s migration decisions are much more influen...
IZA Journal of Development and Migration, 2019
The original version of this article [1] has been published with an incorrect copyright holder an... more The original version of this article [1] has been published with an incorrect copyright holder and license text.
Water Policy, 2003
Irrigation projects have been the subject of much bad press coverage because of the sometimes ver... more Irrigation projects have been the subject of much bad press coverage because of the sometimes very damaging environmental and social impacts associated with large-scale projects such as dams, declining aid to agriculture and falling rates of economic returns to irrigation since the heyday of the 1970s. Yet irrigation remains one of the most crucial inputs into farming and therefore a potentially important poverty reduction tool for the 21st century. We review some of the evidence surrounding trends in investments in irrigation and the reasons behind the decline. We also provide a framework for analysing the positive and negative impacts of irrigation on poverty, how these might differ by the type of irrigation technology and review some of the evidence of these impacts. We reach a number of conclusions about the conditions under which irrigation is most likely to have a positive impact on the poor, but we also report that the evidence is patchy, and usually not gathered in such a wa...
IZA Journal of Development and Migration, 2019
We explore patterns of successive migration within rural households in Ghana and the impact that ... more We explore patterns of successive migration within rural households in Ghana and the impact that these successive migrants have on household welfare outcomes. Specifically, we use a household panel survey collected in 2013 and 2015. We exploit the panel nature of the data and a weighting method to overcome sources of bias. Welfare is measured with an index of housing quality. We find that successive migrants face lower migration costs, and few of them remit. We find no effect of sending a new migrant on the housing quality index. We conclude that the different nature of migration of successive migrants implies neither an economic gain for the household nor a loss. The reason is that the successive migration becomes less costly for migrants from households with prior migration experience, but at the same time, these migrants remit less or not at all compared to earlier waves of migrants.
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2015
We would also like to members of the Centre for Applied Social Sciences, University of Zimbabwe, ... more We would also like to members of the Centre for Applied Social Sciences, University of Zimbabwe, for supporting the fieldwork training and data entry and to member of the African Centre for Migration and Society for comments on early presentations of our preliminary. Special thanks to Mthente Consulting, Cape Town and in particular to Kudakwashe Matongo, for coordinating the preparation of survey instruments, facilitation of training and for overseeing data verification. The UK Department for International Development (DFID) supports policies, programmes and projects to promote poverty reduction globally. DFID provided funds for this study as part of that goal but the views and opinions expressed are those of the author(s) alone.
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2017
The New Economic Model in Latin America and its Impact on Income Distribution and Poverty, 1996
None of the characteristics of the New Economic Model (NEM) outlined in Chapter 1 were present in... more None of the characteristics of the New Economic Model (NEM) outlined in Chapter 1 were present in Brazil during the 1980s. The constitutional reforms proposed in 1995 by President Cardoso represent an important step in the introduction of such a model, and some features — such as openness of the current account — were introduced earlier. Yet even these came only after 1990. Because the latest household survey data for Brazil available to us are from 1990,1 it is impossible at this time to analyse the impact of any constituent element of the NEM on income distribution in the country.
Ekonomski anali, 2009
This paper uses the 2002 Albanian Living Standards Measurement Survey to model whether an individ... more This paper uses the 2002 Albanian Living Standards Measurement Survey to model whether an individual has attempted to migrate conditional on having previously considered migrating. The study addresses the methodological concerns that arise from potential selection bias and empirical issues associated with gender differences. We test for the presence of selection bias using a bivariate probit and apply an Oaxaca-style decomposition technique to analyze gender differentials in the conditional probability of attempted migration. We focus on the roles an individual's living standard, geographic location and local labour market conditions exert on the attempt to migrate. Our empirical findings suggest that there are significant differences in both the conditional probability of attempting to migrate and the relative importance of determining factors across gender.
IDS Working Papers, 2011
The Conflict, Violence and Development Research Cluster is part of the Vulnerability and Poverty ... more The Conflict, Violence and Development Research Cluster is part of the Vulnerability and Poverty Reduction Team at the Institute of Development Studies. The Cluster's main focus is to develop new insights into how people in contexts of conflict and violence live and interact, and what institutions help (or hinder) them. We aim to use our research findings to inform, identify and develop policies and practices that will strengthen people's own efforts to survive and make a living.
The World Bank Economic Review, 1999
After rising during most-but not all-^-ofthe 1960-85 period, inequality in Chile seems to have st... more After rising during most-but not all-^-ofthe 1960-85 period, inequality in Chile seems to have stabilized since around 1987. Following the stormy period of economic and political reforms of the 1970s and 1980s, no statistically significant Lorenz dominance results could be detected since 1987. Scalar measures of inequality confirm this picture of stability, but suggest a slight change in the shape of the density function, with some compression at the bottom being "compensated for" by a stretching at the top. As inequality remained broadly stable, sustained economic growth led to substantial welfare improvements and poverty reduction, according to a range of measures and with respect to three different poverty lines. Poverty mixed stochastic dominance tests confirm this result. All of these findings are robust to different choices of equivalence scales. Two "storms" have recently raged over the distribution of income in Chile. The first, and most important, was caused by a series of structural reforms of the economy-which started in 1974 and were largely completed by the late 1980sand by successive changes in political regime-which had important implications for, among other things, the regulation of labor markets. The economic reforms included trade liberalization, privatization of state-owned assets, deregulation of various markets, and reforms in the structure of taxes, subsidies, and benefits. They have been extensively discussed elsewhere, and are well beyond the scope of this paper. (See Edwards and Edwards 1987 and Scon 1996 for excellent summaries.) The political changes were fundamentally the military coup d'etat of 1973, which installed General Pinochet as president, and the restoration of democracy in 1990, with the election of President Aylwin. The second storm, closer to the "tea cup" variety, has raged in academic and policy circles, as the effects of the Chilean model on poverty and inequality have been hotly debated. This storm also had two separable components that, for
Review of Income and Wealth, 2008
This paper implements and adapts the conceptual framework developed by Winters (2002) that identi... more This paper implements and adapts the conceptual framework developed by Winters (2002) that identifies the transmission mechanisms between trade policy reform and household welfare outcomes. We make use of household panel data from Vietnam collected in two years, 1992-93 and 1997-98 that span the very earliest years of the reform period and its immediate after effects. Poverty dynamics are modeled using changes in consumption expenditure and poverty transition models. The trade effect is captured by a set of variables that are most likely to have an impact on rural poverty, namely prices of staples and employment in the export sector. We show that trade liberalization has a material and positive effect on rural household welfare and this trade effect is largely transmitted to the poor through the labor market channel.
Journal of Income Distribution, 1998
We develop novel methods for establishing coherency conditions in Static and Dynamic Limited Depe... more We develop novel methods for establishing coherency conditions in Static and Dynamic Limited Dependent Variables (LDV) Models. We propose estimation strategies based on Conditional Maximum Likelihood Estimation for simultaneous LDV models without imposing recursivity. Monte-Carlo experiments con…rm substantive Mean-Squared-Error improvements of our approach over other estimators. We analyse the impact of …nancing constraints on innovation: ceteris paribus, a …rm facing binding …nance constraints is substantially less likely to undertake innovation, while the probability that a …rm encounters a binding …nance constraint more than doubles if the …rm is innovative. A strong role for state dependence in dynamic versions of our models is also established.
Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 2012
This paper uses the nationally representative Albanian Living Standards Measurement Study survey ... more This paper uses the nationally representative Albanian Living Standards Measurement Study survey from 2005 to investigate the determinants of life satisfaction. In common with much of the existing empirical literature that models life satisfaction (or subjective well-being) this paper exploits an ordered probit model. In contrast to the existing literature, however, the current study places an important emphasis on regression model evaluation. Diagnostic testing revealed a number of econometric model deficiencies but the explicit incorporation of a variance function into the ordered probit model resolved all detected problems. The tenor of the key findings generally reflects that found in the literature on the determinants of life satisfaction for both advanced capitalist and transitional economies. However, a number of additional themes with a strong Albanian dimension were interrogated. In particular, our study revealed evidence of long memories among Albanian respondents with respect to the collapse of that country's notorious pyramid schemes and the scarring effects of the episode continue to impact on life satisfaction even with the passage of almost eight years. A sizeable effect for communal level criminal activity on life satisfaction was also detected. In addition, our econometric estimates also provided some empirical insights on the monetary value of friendship and the costs of children.
Journal of Southern Europe and the Balkans, 2005
... of individuals were clustered around the poverty line, and thus changes to the poverty situat... more ... of individuals were clustered around the poverty line, and thus changes to the poverty situation would be ... Inequality in Albania is moderate and similar to other transition countries in the region ... However, when we conduct a chi-squared test we obtain prob-values in excess of 0.05 ...
International Migration Review, 2011
This paper evaluates the impact of migrant remittances on human capital accumulation among youth.... more This paper evaluates the impact of migrant remittances on human capital accumulation among youth. An augmented human capital model with two outcomes, education attendance and education attainment, is estimated using a large nationally representative household survey from Jordan. Empirical results show that migrant remittance receipt has a positive effect on education attendance. This finding is obtained while controlling for other socio-economic determinants of schooling behavior and is robust to censorship and endogeneity bias. The results also indicate that the magnitude of the remittance impact on both education outcomes is larger for men compared with that of women.
Economic Systems, 2007
This study uses a regression-based framework to identify the key factors that determine the level... more This study uses a regression-based framework to identify the key factors that determine the level and changes in main job earnings inequality for men. A number of different inequality measures are used in our work. The analysis uses data for Serbia drawn from eight annual labour force surveys, which cover both the early episode of sluggish transition and a more recent concerted phase of economic reform. It thus provides some useful insights on the evolution of labour earnings inequality through an uneven transitional process and identifies factors likely to retain an influence on earnings inequality as the market reform processes take greater hold.
Eastern European Economics, 2007
This paper uses the Albania Living Standards Measurement Survey from 2002 to examine the factors ... more This paper uses the Albania Living Standards Measurement Survey from 2002 to examine the factors that render an individual most prone to the risk of international migration. The analysis uses novel data on whether individuals ever considered migrating abroad. The econometric models used provide good descriptions of the data and are well specified on the basis of a battery of diagnostic tests conducted. The estimated results are generally consistent with findings from the empirical literature on the willingness to migrate. The usual suspects emerge as determining factors with age, gender, employment status and education exerting predictable influences on migration risk. There is also a strong role for local labour market conditions and community level variables capturing, among other things, the prevalence of crime.
Cuadernos de economía, 2001
This paper presents an update on the poverty and income distribution situation in Chile during th... more This paper presents an update on the poverty and income distribution situation in Chile during the 90s. The analysis shows unambiguously that there was less poverty between 1994 and 1998 than in all earlier years, whether poverty is measured by the headcount, the poverty deficit or by any of the most sensitive poverty indices. The evidence also confirms that income inequality in Chile remains high by international standards. Nevertheless, notwithstanding the earlier observation, the overall picture on inequality is one of a fairly stable distribution for the period as a whole, with changes in income shares being relatively small in proportion to the size of the shares themselves. In addition, this study develops and applies a methodology for the estimation of the imputed income transfers from government subsidies in health, education, and housing, for the years 1990, 1994, 1996 and 1998. The analysis has confirmed that adjustments for in-kind income transfers substantially reduce the Gini coefficient on income inequality. For 1998, this coefficient falls from 0.56 (unadjusted) to 0.50 (adjusted) and the ratio of the highest (richest) to the lowest (poorest) quintile falls from 20 to 11. These results suggest that social policies in Chile have had a significant impact in reducing income inequality, in spite of the fact that such policies are oriented towards poverty reduction rather than reduction in inequality per se. * This paper is based on the World Bank report (2000). This report was prepared by a team led by Alberto Valdes and consisting of Julie Litchfield (
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Papers by Julie Litchfield