A QTL analysis for clubroot resistance (CR) of radish was performed using an F(2) population derived from a crossing of a CR Japanese radish and a clubroot-susceptible (CS) Chinese radish. F(3) plants obtained by selfing of F(2) plants were used for the CR tests. The potted seedlings were inoculated and the symptom was evaluated 6 weeks thereafter. The mean disease indexes of the F(3) plants were used for the phenotype of the F(2). The results of two CR tests were analyzed for the presence of QTL. A linkage map was constructed using AFLP and SSR markers; it spanned 554 cM and contained 18 linkage groups. A CR locus was observed in the top region of linkage group 1 in two tests. Therefore, the present results suggest that a large part of radish CR is controlled by a single gene or closely linked genes in this radish population, although minor effects of other genomic areas cannot be ruled out. The CR locus was named Crs1. Markers linked to Crs1 showed sequence homology to the genomic region of the top of chromosome 3 of Arabidopsis, as in the case of Crr3, a CR locus in Brassica rapa. These markers should be useful for breeding CR cultivars of radish. As Japanese radishes are known to be highly resistant or immune to clubroot, these markers may also be useful in the introgression of this CR gene to Brassica crops.

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Using Nepal's first nationwide household survey that incorporates a module (Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey Module 5, Nepal 2014) on children's working conditions, this paper investigates the factors that drive children into hazardous forms of labour. While the importance of eliminating the hazardous and worst forms of child labour has been addressed for many years, quantitative evidence on what household characteristics lead children to work in hazardous environments is scarce. The new finding from this paper is that, even among children who are engaged in child labour, children from poorer households are more likely to engage in hazardous forms of child labour. Similarly, household characteristics such as father's absence due to death, and children living without parental care result in higher risk of children engaging in hazardous labour. The evidence from the empirical analysis about associated factors for hazardous child labour helps policymakers identify families at high risk. Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Expanding small-scale interventions without lowering quality and attenuating impact is a critical policy challenge. Community monitoring overs a low-cost quality assurance mechanism by making service providers account-able to local citizens, rather than distant administrators. This paper provides experimental evidence from a home visit parenting program implemented at scale by the Nicaraguan government, with two types of monitoring: (a) institutional monitoring; and (b) community monitoring. We find d a positive intent-to-treat effect on child development, but only among groups randomly assigned to community monitoring. Our findings show promise for the use of community monitoring to ensure quality in large-scale government-run social programs.

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The Policy Research Working Paper Series disseminates the findings of work in progress to encourage the exchange of ideas about development issues. An objective of the series is to get the findings out quickly, even if the presentations are less than fully polished. The papers carry the names of the authors and should be cited accordingly. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this paper are entirely those of the authors. They do not necessarily represent the views of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/World Bank and its affiliated organizations, or those of the Executive Directors of the World Bank or the governments they represent.

Source: UEUS 2012 and LFS 2013. Note: The figure shows the location of towns where the data are collected (out of 659 towns). The red circles show towns where both LFS and UEUS data are collected. The smaller orange dots represent towns where either data are collected. Formal and informal jobsThis section discusses formal and informal jobs, with a presentation of the regression analysis about the association between their shares and town population size.Based on two dimensions, jobs are classified as (a) formal wage jobs, (b) formal self-employment jobs, (c) informal wage jobs, and (d) informal self-employment jobs. 1 While some studies equate wage jobs to formal jobs-and self-employment jobs to informal jobs-it is analytically useful to distinguish employment type and formality. Aside from formal wage jobs and informal selfemployment jobs, formal self-employment jobs do exist in the developing world, such as licensed street vendors. Similarly, some jobs can be informal wage jobs, in which employees work for firms that do not comply with formal registration to, for example, avoid costs for registration and taxation.Formal/wage jobs and informal/self-employment jobs often coexist in urban labor markets, and the former is not necessarily what is always desired by workers. Traditional dual labor market theories, starting with Lewis (1954), see the informal sector as inferior. The seminal models by Lewis, Harris, and Todaro (Harris and Todaro 1970;Lewis 1954) formulate that rural migrants survive in cities with informal jobs that provide subsistence wages while waiting for the opportunity to take better-paid formal jobs. Despite the prevalence of such low-wage jobs and unemployment risks, people continue to migrate from rural to urban areas as long as the gap in expected earnings between them persists. Thus, workers are rationed out of the formal sector, taking informal jobs just to avoid unemployment. In such exclusion hypotheses, those informal workers are poorly endowed with characteristics that generate high returns in the formal sector.By contrast, the exit hypothesis views that workers voluntarily choose informal jobs for pecuniary reasons (Maloney 2004). Various studies find that informal/self-employment jobs are not necessarily the last resort, as workers could earn better with informal/self-employment jobs than formal/wage jobs given their skills, capital, and preferences. Those studies include Nordman et al. (2016) for Madagascar; Yamada (1996) for Lima, Peru, Günther and Launov (2012) for Côte d'Ivore; Bargain and Kwenda (2011) for Brazil, Mexico, and South Africa;Falco et al. (2011) for Ghana and Tanzania;and Falco and Haywood (2016) for Ghana. In addition, a case study of industry jobs in Ethiopia by Blattman and Dercon (2018) shows that industrial wage jobs were not necessarily attractive to low-skilled workers for non-pecuniary reasons. In reality, self-employment workers are a mix of successful entrepreneurs and own-account workers who engage in low-productivity jobs by necessity, where the latter i...

Background Unmet need for family planning and unintended pregnancies are high in developing countries. Home pregnancy tests help women determine their pregnancy status earlier and the confirmation of a negative pregnancy status can facilitate the adoption of family planning. This study provides the first experimental evidence of the effect of access to pregnancy tests on women’s demand for modern family planning. Methods A randomized controlled trial was conducted among 810 women of reproductive age in northern Uganda. During a baseline survey, women were randomly allocated to either: (1) an offer to take a hCG urine pregnancy test during the survey (on-the-spot pregnancy test) (N = 170), (2) an offer of a home pregnancy test kit to be used at any time in the future (future-use pregnancy test) (N = 163), (3) offers of both on-the-spot and future-use pregnancy tests (N = 153), or (4) a control group (N = 324). Future-use pregnancy tests were offered either for free, or randomly assigned prices. Approximately 4 weeks after the baseline survey, a follow-up survey was conducted; modern contraception methods were made available at no charge at local community outreach centers. Results When offered a free, on-the-spot pregnancy test, 62 percent of women accepted (N = 200). Almost all, 97 percent (N = 69), of women offered a free future-use pregnancy test strip, accepted it. Purchases of future-use pregnancy tests declined with price. The offer of either on-the-spot, future-use tests, or both, have no overall large or statistically significant effects on the take-up of modern family planning. Conclusion Demand for pregnancy tests is high and access to pregnancy tests has the potential to facilitate the demand for family planning. At the same time, more research is needed to understand underlying beliefs about pregnancy status and risk that guide behaviors ultimately important for maternal and neonatal health. Trial registration The study was pre-registered in July 2018 for AEA RCT registry (AEARCTR-0003187) and clinicaltrials.gov (NCT03975933). Registered 05 June 2019, https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/record/NCT03975933