ABSTRACTThe determinant of quality health outcomes is multidimensional, with GDP per head as one aspect. Due to the significance of quality health outcomes like life expectancy in developing countries, exploring health outcome determinants becomes crucial. In this study, we explore the Preston curve hypothesis by analysing GDP per capita and life expectancy interdependence in 102 developing countries between 1991 and 2023. We also consider exogenous factors such as public health spending and environmental pollution influencing the GDP per capita–life expectancy nexus. Disaggregating the panel data into a full panel, low, middle, and high‐income developing economies, we apply the two‐step Sys‐GMM, pooled‐FMOLS, and Dumitrescu–Hurlin (DH) causality techniques for data analysis. The result reveals that GDP per capita enhances life expectancy across all income levels in developing economies. However, for low‐income developing economies, public spending negatively impacts life expectancy but positively affects middle‐ and high‐income developing economies. For all categories of panels, environmental pollution proxied with CO2 reduces life expectancy. Our study concludes by offering a practical policy for developing economies to drive investment in health‐related human development crucial for quality‐of‐life improvement.

ABSTRACTThis study examines the impact of court‐enforced employment protection (EP) on total factor productivity (TFP) in India's formal manufacturing sector. Using high‐court judgments on labour disputes citing Chapters 5A and 5B of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, the study quantifies the extent of judicial enforcement of employment protection legislations (EPL) across states. Employing plant‐level unbalanced panel data (1999–2018) and addressing endogeneity through instrumental variable (IV) estimation using lawyer density, I find that EP negatively affects TFP, particularly in medium or large enterprises. However, my threshold regression analysis reveals that this negative effect emerges only when the de‐facto EP exceeds a certain level; below this threshold, it is positively correlated with TFP. These findings are further reinforced by the results of a quadratic regression model, which reveals an inverted U‐shaped relationship between EP and TFP. The results of the study remain robust across alternative model specifications and the inclusion of control variables, underscoring the need for a balanced approach to labour flexibility and job security.

ABSTRACTUsing the 2016 FinAccess Household Survey of Kenya, this article investigates the relationship between mobile money use for transactions and trade credit based on a sample of entrepreneurs who operate informal businesses. Our main findings are as follows. Informal firms that use mobile money for business transactions are more likely to receive goods and services on credit from suppliers and offer goods and services on credit to customers. The effect of mobile money use on the probability of regularly receiving goods and services on credit is higher among entrepreneurs with lower income, those without access to informal finance, and those with bank accounts. The effects of mobile money use on the likelihood of offering credit to most or all customers are higher among high‐income entrepreneurs, those with bank accounts, and those with access to informal loans. Mobile money use affects entrepreneurs likelihood to offer credit to customers because it enables them to receive credit from their suppliers. Transaction costs matter in the relationship between mobile money use and the likelihood of receiving or offering credit.

ABSTRACTHigh‐quality nonfarm employment is crucial for enhancing the livelihoods and well‐being of rural laborers in China. This paper investigates how internet use affects the nonfarm employment quality of rural laborers based on data from the China Family Panel Studies over the period 2014–2020. The results show that internet use strengthens the human and social capital of rural laborers, thereby improving their nonfarm employment quality. The effect of internet use varies across employment types and generations. Internet use exerts a stronger positive influence on local employment, younger rural workers, those in non‐western regions, and individuals with lower socioeconomic status. The paper provides a new perspective on the role of the internet in rural development and provides empirical evidence supporting the promotion of internet‐based high‐quality employment for rural laborers in China.

ABSTRACTThis study examined the impact of the state‐level inheritance rights reforms in India, which granted women the right to inherit joint family property, on the years of education and real wages of female wage earners. The reforms targeted Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, and Buddhists. Data from seven rounds of the Employment and Unemployment Survey (1983–2011/2012) from the Indian National Sample Survey were analyzed using difference‐in‐differences (DID). The treatment group comprised women who lived in the four reformed states (Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Maharashtra) and were young at the time of the reforms. Our findings demonstrate that within the subsample of female regular workers, the increase in years of education for the women exposed to the reforms was not statistically significant. Nevertheless, this group experienced a wage increase of around 15% after controlling for their education levels. This increase may be attributed to improvements in the quality of human capital that are not directly observable in the data. Placebo regression with a sample of other religious groups (Muslims and Christians) and DID with propensity score matching confirmed the robustness of our results. Nevertheless, the impact of the reform on the casual wage laborer remains ambiguous.

ABSTRACTReliable electricity is crucial for enhancing household living conditions and ensuring sustainable national development. Social networks, which influence household behavioral decisions, significantly contribute to the acquisition and reliability of household electricity. Based on data from rounds 3–8 of the Afrobarometer, this study investigated the influence of social networks on household electricity reliability in African countries. The results revealed that social networks markedly improved household electricity reliability. The analysis further identifies that these improvement effects are achieved through increasing employment opportunities, improving living conditions, and a greater willingness to participate in collective action. Moreover, social networks have a stronger influence than main grid supplies on the reliability of alternative electricity sources, with a notably higher impact coefficient in the North African region than elsewhere. The positive effects of social networks on electricity reliability are also more pronounced among those who have informal rather than formal education. These findings suggest that policies aimed at bolstering social networks should be implemented to promote household electricity reliability.

ABSTRACTWhile global efforts towards enhancing nutrition security have been accelerating through agricultural interventions, surprisingly little is known about the causal impacts of such targeted programmes on crop yields. Using longitudinal data from the ICRISAT‐DLD, we study India's flagship ‘Nutri‐Farms Scheme’ and find that the programme led to an increase in wheat yields to the tune of 6.4%. Our identification strategy relies on plausibly exogenous variation generated by the institutional features of implementation of the programme. As potential mechanisms for these effects, we find evidence of increased investments in inputs and changes in production technology. Our results are robust to various checks for threats to identification including event‐study analysis, alternate control group, test of randomisation, allowing for linear time trends and controlling for various potential confounders. Back‐of‐the‐envelope calculations suggest that these unintended spillovers can potentially recover approximately 2% of the costs of the programme annually.

ABSTRACTThis paper investigates the effects of formal and informal financing on the innovation‐generating activities of small‐ and medium‐scale enterprises (SMEs) in China. While formal finance mainly includes loans from banks, informal finance includes loans obtained outside the banking system—loans based on personal relationships, loans from online loan providers, and other informal institutions. Our assessment of SMEs' innovation encompasses both the input and output of innovative activities as well as their involvement in the One Belt One Road (OBOR) initiatives. Substantial empirical evidence suggests that formal and informal finance propel SMEs to innovate. These findings are robust to alternative measures of innovation and formal and informal finance. To address endogeneity concerns related to formal financing, we utilize two instrumental variables: firms' capacity to provide collateral and governmental support in securing bank loans. Additionally, we demonstrate that increased investment in research and development (R&D) serves as a pathway through which financing influences and enhances SMEs' innovation pursuits.

ABSTRACTUsing data on 118 developing countries over the period 1973 to 2019, this paper finds that FDI stocks have positive effects on school enrollment rates. The magnitude of the effects is modest. They are larger at the tertiary than at the secondary level. At both levels of education, females benefit more than males. The paper also explores the channels through which FDI might affect enrollment rates and finds that a well‐developed financial sector enhances the positive effects of FDI on schooling. In contrast to almost the entire literature, the paper uses data on stocks rather than inflows of FDI. FDI stocks are more likely to affect schooling decisions because they are much larger and less volatile than FDI inflows. Indeed, the paper finds that FDI inflows do not affect enrollment rates. Throughout, it accounts for endogeneity of FDI and controls for all major determinants of schooling.