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Child labor statistics are critical for assessing the extent and nature of child labor activities in developing countries. In practice, widespread variation exists in how child labor is measured. Questionnaire modules vary across countries and within countries over time along several dimensions, including respondent type and the structure of the questionnaire. Little is known about the effect of these differences on child labor statistics. This paper presents the results from a randomized survey experiment in Tanzania focusing on two survey aspects: different questionnaire design to classify children work and proxy response versus self-reporting. Use of a short module compared with a more detailed questionnaire has a statistically significant effect, especially on child labor force participation rates, and, to a lesser extent, on working hours. Proxy reports do not differ significantly from a child's self-report. Further analysis demonstrates that survey design choices affect the coefficient estimates of some determinants of child labor in a child labor supply equation. The results suggest that low-cost changes to questionnaire design to clarify the concept of work for respondents can improve the data collected.

Account --- Child labor --- Child work --- Children and Youth --- Distribution of children --- Employment --- Governance --- Household enterprise --- Household enterprises --- Household survey --- Household surveys --- Labor force --- Labor force participation --- Labor market --- Labor Markets --- Labor Policies --- Labor statistics --- Labor supply --- Labor surveys --- Living standards --- Productive activities --- Social Development --- Social Protections and Labor --- Street Children --- Unpaid family workers --- Urban Development --- Young children --- Youth and Governance

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A notable contrast in modern economic history has been the rapid economic growth of China and the slower and volatile economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa. As the engagement between the two continues to grows, there will be a greater cross-fertilization of experiences. Total factor productivity comparisons suggest that capital accumulation in China coupled with more efficient factor usage explains the differential with Africa. Although the two have similar populations and patterns of inequality, their growth trajectories have been divergent. What can Africa learn from China? Although the lessons vary depending on country location and resource endowment, seven basic lessons are visible. First, the political economy of Chinese reforms and the shared gains between political elites and the private sector can be partially transplanted to the African context. Second, the Chinese used diaspora capital and knowledge in the early reform years. Third, rural reforms in China helped accelerate economic takeoff through a restructuring of property rights and a boost to both savings rates and output. Fourth, Chinese growth has taken place in the context of a competitive exchange rate. Five, port governance in China has been exemplary, and African landlocked economies can benefit significantly from port reform in the coastal countries. Six, China has experimented with a degree of decentralization that could yield benefits for many Sub-Saharan African countries. Seventh, Africa can learn from China's policies toward autonomous areas and ethnic minorities to stave off conflict. Africa can learn from China's experiences and conduct developmental experiments for poverty alleviation goals.

Access to Finance --- Agriculture --- Banks & Banking Reform --- Centrally planned economy --- Debt Markets --- Decentralization --- Development strategy --- Economic expansion --- Economic growth --- Economic history --- Economic takeoff --- Economic Theory & Research --- Emerging Markets --- Exports --- Finance and Financial Sector Development --- GDP --- GDP per capita --- Growth rate --- International trade --- Living standards --- Macroeconomics and Economic Growth --- Natural resources --- Political economy --- Private Sector Development --- Property rights --- Real GDP --- Savings --- Total factor productivity

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Using a recently compiled dataset on migration and remittances in Ghana, this paper estimates the determinants of an individual's likelihood to be an internal migrant and the relationship between internal migration and welfare. The analysis finds that the likelihood to migrate is determined by a combination of individual (pull) and community-level (push) characteristics. The probability of migration is higher for younger and more educated individuals, but communities with higher levels of literacy, higher rates of subsidized medical care, and better access to water and sanitation are less likely to produce migrants. The analysis finds that households with migrants tend to be better off than similar households without migrants, even after controlling for the fact that households with migrants are a non-random sample of Ghanaians. However, the positive relationship is only true for households with at least one migrant in urban areas; the welfare of households with migrants exclusively in rural areas is no different from households without any migrants.

Anthropology --- Culture and Development --- Formal education --- Gender --- Gender and Development --- Health --- Household income --- Household size --- Internal migrants --- Internal Migration --- Labor supply --- Living Standards --- Macroeconomics and Economic Growth --- Medical care --- Migrant --- Migrants --- Number of migrants --- Nutrition and Population --- Policy Research --- Policy Research Working Paper --- Population Policies --- Progress --- Remittances --- Rural areas --- Rural origin --- Sanitation --- Social Development --- Urban areas --- Urban communities --- Voluntary and Involuntary Resettlement

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Countries are increasingly being ranked by some new "mashup index of development," defined as a composite index for which existing theory and practice provides little or no guidance to its design. Thus the index has an unusually large number of moving parts, which the producer is essentially free to set. The parsimony of these indices is often appealing - collapsing multiple dimensions into just one, yielding unambiguous country rankings, and possibly reducing concerns about measurement errors in the component series. But the meaning, interpretation and robustness of these indices are often unclear. If they are to be properly understood and used, more attention needs to be given to their conceptual foundations, the tradeoffs they embody, the contextual factors relevant to country performance, and the sensitivity of the implied rankings to changing the data and weights. In short, clearer warning signs are needed for users. But even then, nagging doubts remain about the value-added of mashup indices, and their policy relevance, relative to the "dashboard" alternative of monitoring the components separately. Future progress in devising useful new composite indices of development will require that theory catches up with measurement practice.

Agriculture --- Air pollution --- Competitive markets --- Decision making --- Development policy --- Economic competitiveness --- Economic resources --- Economic Theory & Research --- GDP --- GDP per capita --- Governance --- Governance Indicators --- Income --- Inflation rate --- Information and Communication Technologies --- Information Security & Privacy --- Living standards --- Macroeconomics and Economic Growth --- National income --- Poverty Reduction --- Property rights --- Purchasing power --- Regional Economic Development --- Rural Poverty Reduction --- Shadow prices --- Tradeoffs --- Unemployment --- Unemployment rate --- Wealth

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Child labor statistics are critical for assessing the extent and nature of child labor activities in developing countries. In practice, widespread variation exists in how child labor is measured. Questionnaire modules vary across countries and within countries over time along several dimensions, including respondent type and the structure of the questionnaire. Little is known about the effect of these differences on child labor statistics. This paper presents the results from a randomized survey experiment in Tanzania focusing on two survey aspects: different questionnaire design to classify children work and proxy response versus self-reporting. Use of a short module compared with a more detailed questionnaire has a statistically significant effect, especially on child labor force participation rates, and, to a lesser extent, on working hours. Proxy reports do not differ significantly from a child's self-report. Further analysis demonstrates that survey design choices affect the coefficient estimates of some determinants of child labor in a child labor supply equation. The results suggest that low-cost changes to questionnaire design to clarify the concept of work for respondents can improve the data collected.

Account --- Child labor --- Child work --- Children and Youth --- Distribution of children --- Employment --- Governance --- Household enterprise --- Household enterprises --- Household survey --- Household surveys --- Labor force --- Labor force participation --- Labor market --- Labor Markets --- Labor Policies --- Labor statistics --- Labor supply --- Labor surveys --- Living standards --- Productive activities --- Social Development --- Social Protections and Labor --- Street Children --- Unpaid family workers --- Urban Development --- Young children --- Youth and Governance