International Center for Public Policy

When Does Foreign Direct Investment Lead to Inclusive Growth? This titular question is the subject of a study by Hyojung Kang and ICePP director Jorge Martinez-Vazquez that uses 1990-2015 data from 68 countries to explore conditions when FDI leads to growth. Some of the results question development strategies that rely on FDI as a sufficient policy for inclusive growth. Find out why here: https://icepp.gsu.edu//when-does-foreign-direct-investmen/

Expanding on a well-known model by Robert Barro, Jin Hui and ICePP director Jorge Martinez-Vazquez have released a paper exploring how high or low levels of expenditure decentralization reduce government efficiency. Their research attempts to find optimal expenditure decentralization levels to avoid adverse outcomes on national sustainable development. Learn more about their findings here: https://icepp.gsu.edu//sustainable-development-and-the-op/

Call for Papers: Researchers interested in topics related to subnational financing are encouraged to submit their proposals to be considered for presentation at the upcoming Ibero-American Conference on Local Financing (X-JIFL). ICePP, in partnership with the Ibero-American Association for Local Financing (AIFIL), the Inter-American Development Bank (IDP), the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), and the Fiscal Management Division of the Interamerican Development Bank (IDB), will be organizing this year’s Ibero-American Conference on Local Financing (X-JIFL). Learn more here https://icepp.gsu.edu//icepp-co-hosting-ibero-american-co/

The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) of 1996 was instituted to delegate greater welfare policy control to state governments via a federal block grant. In a paper analyzing the effects of the devolved welfare programs, Luis Ayala, Elena Barcena-Martin and Jorge Martinez-Vazquez measure the state-level impact of some strategies implemented to achieve the PRWORA. Among other questions, the paper addresses each state's contribution to inequality in adequacy rates and how an interpretation of this state-level decomposition. Learn about their findings here https://icepp.gsu.edu/2021/01/28/4754314/

An estimated 409,000 people died of malaria in 2019, according to the CDC. Over time, increasingly large institutional and public sector budgets are devoted to malaria control and treatment. A new paper by Elizabeth Gooch, Jorge Martinez-Vazquez, and Bauyrzhan Yedgenov examines the causal impact of institutional quality on economic development using a measure of historical malaria. Learn more about their findings linking malaria endemicity with contemporary economic growth: https://icepp.gsu.edu//the-role-of-historical-malaria-in-/