Improving Institutional Performance: Foreign Aid Evaluation and Determinants of Foreign Aid Project Success Ratings
by Susan Sawyer O’Keefe
Abstract
In this paper, I use a regression model to predict project outcome ratings for international aid projects by 12 multilateral and bilateral aid agencies taking place in 183 recipient countries. The influential factors considered are project duration, project size, evaluation type, evaluation lag, donor ratings, and country-level indicators of development. I find a significant relationship supporting differences in project outcome ratings for projects evaluated by an independent evaluation agency, a resource that some banks use to access project performance by an unbiased party. I also examine the significance of other project-level factors and compare these to trends identified in past literature on foreign aid project effectiveness.
Professor Michelle Connolly, Faculty Advisor
JEL Codes: H43, O22
Effect of Slum Redevelopment on Child Health Outcomes: Evidence from Mumbai
By Suhani Jalota
As the population of urban poor living in slums increases, governments are trying to relocate people into government–provided free housing. Slum redevelopment affects every part of a household’s livelihood, but most importantly the health and wellbeing of younger generations. This paper investigates the effect of slum redevelopment schemes on child stunting levels. Data was collected in forty–one buildings under the slum–redevelopment program in Mumbai. The study demonstrates through a fixed effect regression analysis that an additional year of living in the building is associated with an increase in the height–for–age Z–score by 0.124 standard deviations. Possible explanations include an improvement in the overall hygienic environment, sanitation conditions, indoor air pollution, and access to health and water facilities. However, anecdotal evidence suggests that water contamination, loss of livelihood and increased expenses could worsen health outcomes for residents. This study prompts more research on the health effects of slum redevelopment projects, which are becoming increasingly common in the rapidly urbanizing developing world.
Advisor: Erica Field, Michelle Connolly | JEL Codes: O12, O14, O17, O18, O22 | Tagged: Urban infrastructure, Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development, Child health, Informal settlements, Project Analysis
Women’s Land Rights and Empowerment: Impact of the Land Tenure Regularization Reform (LTR) on Contraceptive Use and Domestic Violence in Rwanda
by Winnie Biwott
Abstract
The Rwandan Land Tenure Regularization reform (LTR) was implemented in 2007 to clarify land ownership in the country especially for women. Specifically, the reform enabled women in married unions to obtain joint titles with their partners as proof of land ownership. Using data from the 2010 Rwandan Demographic and Health Surveys (RDHS) and the LTR progress report, I investigate the potential effect the reform could have on women’s level of empowerment within the household. The underlying assumption for this study is that joint land titling will increase the bargaining power of the woman and consequently enhance her empowerment status. I explore three forms of empowerment, all of which tell an inconsistent story. LTR does not seem to have an overall effect on women’s use of modern contraceptives, perception and incidence of physical violence among them. However, LTR has a negative impact on incidence of sexual violence. In addition, LTR positively influences women landowners’ chances of using modern methods of contraception.
Advisors: Amar Hamoudi, Kent Kimbrough | JEL Codes: O17; O22: J120
The Impact of Micro-Banking on Health: Evidence from Self-Help Group Involvement and Child Nutrition
By Madeline Mckelway
Low income is only one nancial problem that poor families in developing countries face; impoverished households must also face irregularity of their low incomes. Self-help groups (SHGs) can enhance consumption stability by relaxing savings and credit constraints. In this study, I investigate the extent to which SHGs improve a particular dimension of household wellbeing: child nutrition. I analyze households aliated with the SHGs started by the People’s Education and Development Organization (P.E.D.O.) in rural Rajasthan, India. Children who had greater levels of exposure to household SHG membership at a young age have healthier anthropometric statuses than their siblings who had relatively less. This relationship does not appear to be driven by events coinciding with SHG involvement or by the tendency for certain children, who were also exposed to SHGs, to receive better nutrition than their siblings. These endings suggest that SHGs could improve child nutrition.
Advisor: Erica Field, Michelle Connolly | JEL Codes: O1, O12, O15, O16, O22 | Tagged: Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development; Human Resources for Economic Development; Financial Markets in Economic Development; Project Analysis
