Topic: Development - CIAO Search Results

3401. The Structure and Performance of Ethiopia's Financial Sector in the Pre- and Post-Reform Period with a Special Focus on Banking

Author:: Alemayehu Geda
Publication Date:: 10-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: Since 1992 Ethiopia has been engaged in liberalizing its financial sector. The hallmark of the strategy is gradualism. The approach is not without problems especially from Bretton Woods Institutions that saw the reform as a sluggish process. This study examines this liberalization program by analyzing the performance of the sector before and after the reform. The study notes that given the nascent development of the financial sector in the country, the relatively good shape in which the existing financial institutions find themselves, and given that supervision and regulation capacity of the regulating agency is weak, the government's strategy of gradualism and its over all reform direction is encouraging. However, we argue for charting out clearly defined time frame for liberalization and exploring the possibility of engaging with foreign banks to acquire new technology that enhance the efficiency of the financial sector in general and the banking sector in particular.
Topic:: International Relations, Development, and International Political Economy
Political Geography:: Africa and Ethiopia

3402. Gender, HIV/AIDS and Rural Livelihoods: Micro-Level Investigations in Three African Countries

Author:: Esther Wiegers, John Curry, Alessandra Garbero, Shannon Stokes, and John Hourihan
Publication Date:: 10-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: HIV/AIDS has a severe impact on food security, affecting all of its dimensions: availability, stability, access, utilization. FAO recognizes that HIV/AIDS is a determining factor for, as well as a consequence of, food insecurity. Although the relationships among gender, food security and rural livelihoods have been acknowledged in the growing literature on HIV/AIDS impacts, relatively few studies provide adequate focus and empirical evidence on the gender aspects of these interrelationships among vulnerable rural households. Such gender aspects of these relationships have been explored in detail by FAO in Namibia, Uganda and Zambia This paper presents the main findings of the four baseline studies and discusses the methodologies used to identify vulnerable households and document changes in resource availability, household labour force, livelihood strategies, coping strategies and food security status. These findings offer useful insights for policy formulation purposes and for the development of mitigation strategies that respond to the food security challenges of the epidemic.
Topic:: Development and Gender Issues
Political Geography:: Uganda, Africa, Zambia, and Namibia

3403. International Organizations as a Profession: Professional Mobility and Power Distribution

Author:: Jean-Marc Coicaud
Publication Date:: 09-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: The role of international organizations grows with the acceleration of globalization and the increasing importance of global governance. However, thus far, only limited and rather narrow research has been generated on the subject. It is a state of affairs that reflects on international studies, as well as on the power realities of the world. By assessing international organizations through the career prospects that they offer to skilled professionals, this paper is an attempt to remedy this situation. As such it unveils some of the internal dynamics of international organizations and explores their external consequences in terms of the relations between international organizations, the people employed by these, and the power play (economic, social, political and even cultural) at the national and international level.
Topic:: Development, Globalization, International Cooperation, and United Nations

3404. Food Retailing, Supermarkets and Food Security: Highlights from Latin America

Author:: Mehmet Arda
Publication Date:: 09-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: The importance of supermarkets in the world food economy has increased radically since the early 1990s. They are now major sellers and buyers of food items not only in developed but also in developing countries. Urbanization and the liberalization of the services sector have been important facilitators of this process.
Topic:: Development, Economics, and Human Welfare
Political Geography:: Latin America and Central America

3405. Credit Constraints as a Barrier to Technology Adoption by the Poor: Lessons from South-Indian Small-Scale Fishery

Author:: Xavier Giné and Stefan Klonner
Publication Date:: 09-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: We study the diffusion of a capital intensive technology among a fishing community in south India and analyze the dynamics of income inequality during this process. We find that lack of asset wealth is an important predictor of delayed technology adoption. During the diffusion process, inequality follows Kuznets' well-known inverted U-shaped curve. The empirical results imply that redistributive policies favouring the poor result in accelerated economic growth and a shorter duration of sharpened inequality.
Topic:: Development, Poverty, and Science and Technology
Political Geography:: India and Asia

3406. Stock Market Development and Economic Growth

Author:: Salvatore Capasso
Publication Date:: 09-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: Since the 1990s economists have devoted considerable attention to the study of the relationship between financial markets development and economic growth. In particular, the emergence of stock markets with economic development is an intriguing and interesting aspect of such a relationship, and yet relatively unexplored. This paper examines the most recent findings in the theoretical and empirical literature trying to determine the rationale behind the development of stock markets along the path of growth and the nature of the interrelationship between real and financial variables.
Topic:: Development, Economics, Emerging Markets, and Markets

3407. Institutions and Economic Growth: The Successful Experience of Switzerland (1870-1950)

Author:: André Mach and Thomas David
Publication Date:: 09-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: This research paper discusses the role of institutions in the rapid growth and successful international integration of Switzerland during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. In analysing the emergence and consolidation of the institutions whose existence was crucial, the paper looks both at the political institutions that managed conflicts and promoted cooperation between private and public actors and the economic institutions that, on the one hand, compensated the groups that fell behind in the developmental process (e.g., agricultural subsidies, high tolerance for domestic cartels, tariffs for some industries, institutions for labour representation) and, on the other hand, enhanced productivity. In addition, the absence of some institutions such as a patent law and an independent central bank was also crucial in the Swiss case, even though these two institutions are regarded as pre-requisites of development by today's economic orthodoxy. The paper concludes by drawing lessons for today's developing countries.
Topic:: International Relations, Development, and Economics
Political Geography:: Europe and Switzerland

3408. Financial Reform and the Mobilization of Domestic Savings: The Experience of Morocco

Author:: Mina Baliamoune-Lutz
Publication Date:: 09-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: Using a vector error-correction model, I explore the short-run dynamics and long-run linkages between financial reform and the mobilization of domestic saving in Morocco. In the short run, financial depth (volume of intermediation) is shown to have a positive influence on private saving, while increases in real interest rates have a negative impact. The effectiveness of financial intermediation does not seem to have a direct effect on saving but has a significant influence on the volume of intermediation. In the long run, savings have a stable relationship with financial reform but the influence of interest rates remains negative, implying that the income effect dominates in the long run as well.
Topic:: Development and Economics
Political Geography:: Africa and Morocco

3409. Estimating the Balance Sheet of the Personal Sector in an Emerging Market Country: South Africa 1975-2003

Author:: Johan Prinsloo, John Muellbauer, and Janine Aron
Publication Date:: 09-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: Official balance sheet estimates for the household sector are not currently available in South Africa, yet, with the country's well developed financial sector and deep capital markets, asset market channels are likely to be important determinants of aggregate consumer spending and saving, consumer demand for credit and their broad money holdings. The current paper aims to produce comprehensive estimates of household balance sheets for South Africa. The paper draws, where feasible, on best practice from the Office of National Statistics of the UK and assesses the quality of the data sources and suggests areas where additional surveys or improvements in data collection procedures would be helpful to further improve the quality of the balance sheet estimates. Furthermore, quarterly balance sheet measures to 2003 are provided, and linked to quarterly measures. The main balance sheet categories are liquid assets, household debt and various categories of illiquid financial and tangible assets, including pension wealth, directly held shares and bonds, and housing. Revised debt estimates and new estimates of tangible assets for households and unincorporated businesses are provided. The paper describes the trends of the estimates of the household sector's balance sheets and of total net wealth. The paucity of data for developing and emerging market countries is illustrated by means of a survey, and lessons are drawn from the South African research for the compilation of household sector balance sheets.
Topic:: Development, Emerging Markets, and Third World
Political Geography:: Africa, United Kingdom, and South Africa

3410. Financial Development and Income Inequality in Rural China 1991-2000

Author:: Zhicheng Liang
Publication Date:: 09-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: Financial development can exert a significant influence on the distribution of income. In this paper, using Chinese provincial data over the period of 1991-2000 and applying the generalized method of moment (GMM) techniques, we investigate the relationship between finance and inequality in rural China by testing alternative existing theories concerning the finance-inequality nexus. A negative and linear relationship between finance and inequality is found in our estimations. The empirical results show that financial development significantly reduces income inequality in post-reform rural China.
Topic:: Demographics, Development, and Economics
Political Geography:: China and Asia

3411. Fiscal Decentralization and Political Centralization in China: Implications for Growth and Inequality

Author:: Xiaobo Zhang
Publication Date:: 09-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: China's current fiscal system is largely decentralized while its governance structure is rather centralized with strong top-down mandates and a homogenous governance structure. Due to large differences in initial economic structures and revenue bases, the implicit tax rate and fiscal burdens to support the functioning of local government vary significantly across jurisdictions. Regions initially endowed with a broader nonfarm tax base do not need to rely heavily on preexisting or new firms to finance public goods provision, thereby creating a healthy investment environment for the nonfarm sector to grow. In contrast, regions with agriculture as the major economic activity have little resources left for public investment after paying the expenses of bureaucracy. Consequently, differences in economic structures and fiscal burdens may translate into a widening regional gap.
Topic:: Development, Economics, and Politics
Political Geography:: China and Asia

3412. The Impacts of Growth and Inequality on Rural Poverty in China

Author:: Guanghua Wan and Yin Zhang
Publication Date:: 08-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: This paper analyzes the evolution of poverty in China from the late 1980s to the late 1990s, employing a version of Shapley decomposition tailored to unit-record household survey data. The changes in poverty trends are attributed to two proximate causes— income growth and shifts in income distribution. Different datasets, poverty lines, poverty measures, and equivalence scales are used to examine the robustness of the results. Potential biases arising from ignoring differential regional prices and inflation are also investigated. Notwithstanding some ambiguities in the results, it is consistently found that rural poverty increased in the second half of the 1990s and adverse distributional changes are the main cause.
Topic:: Demographics, Development, and Poverty
Political Geography:: China and Asia

3413. The Inequality-Growth Nexus in the Short and Long Runs: Empirical Evidence from China

Author:: Guanghua Wan, Zhao Chen, and Ming Lu
Publication Date:: 08-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: This paper argues that the conventional approach of data averaging is problematic for exploring the growth—inequality nexus. It introduces the polynomial inverse lag (PIL) framework so that the impacts of inequality on investment, education, and ultimately on growth can be measured at precisely defined time lags. Combining PIL with simultaneous systems of equations, we analyze the growth—inequality relationship in postreform China, finding that this relationship is nonlinear and is negative irrespective of time horizons.
Topic:: Civil Society, Development, and Education
Political Geography:: China and Asia

3414. Household Financial Assets in the Process of Development

Author:: Patrick Honohan
Publication Date:: 08-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: Systematic information on household financial asset holdings in developing countries is very sparse; we review some available data and current policy debates. Although financial asset holdings by households are highly concentrated, deeper financial systems are correlated with improved income distribution. For low-income countries, the relevant question for poor households is not how much financial assets they have, but whether they have any access to financial products at all. Building on and synthesizing disparate data collection efforts by others, we produce new estimates of access percentages for over 150 countries. Across countries, access is negatively correlated with poverty rates, but the correlation is not a robust one, thus the supposed anti-poverty potential of financial access remains econometrically elusive. Despite policy focus on the value of credit instruments, it is deposit products that tend to be the first to be used as prosperity increases, before more sophisticated savings products and borrowing.
Topic:: Civil Society, Development, Economics, and Poverty

3415. Financial Development, Growth, and Regional Disparity in Post-Reform China

Author:: Zhicheng Liang
Publication Date:: 08-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: Deepening financial development and rapid economic growth in China have been accompanied by widening income disparity between the coastal and inland regions. In this paper, by employing panel dataset for 29 Chinese provinces over the period of 1990-2001 and applying the generalized method of moment (GMM) techniques, we examine the impacts of financial development on China's growth performance. Our empirical results show that financial development significantly promotes economic growth in coastal regions but not in the inland regions; the weak finance-growth nexus in inland provinces may aggravate China's regional disparities.
Topic:: Conflict Resolution, Development, and Economics
Political Geography:: China and Asia

3416. Spatial Convergence in China: 1952-99

Author:: Geoffrey J.D. Hewings, Dong Guo, and Patricio Aroca
Publication Date:: 08-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: The purpose of this paper is to examine the convergence process in China by taking into account the spatial interaction between factors. The paper shows that there has been a dramatic increase in the spatial dependence of China's per capita GDP in the last 20 years. The consequence of space plays an important role, which is reflected in the influence of a neighbour's condition on the mobility of a province's income distribution from one category to another. The dynamics of the process showed evidence that China's distribution has gone from one of convergence to stratification, and from stratification to polarization.
Topic:: Demographics, Development, and Economics
Political Geography:: China and Asia

3417. Institutional Analysis of Financial Market Fragmentation in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Risk-Cost Configuration Approach

Author:: Machiko Nissanke and Ernest Aryeetey
Publication Date:: 08-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: The paper examines the source of financial market fragmentation in sub-Saharan Africa in the framework of institutional economics. Based on fieldwork data from Ghana, Malawi, Nigeria, and Tanzania, it analyses financial risk management, the transaction costs for loan screening and monitoring, and contract enforcement. It shows how, faced with various institutional constraints, the range of clientele selected by formal and informal lenders becomes both narrow and at the extreme market-ends. It evaluates the prevailing state of managing risks for market structure, and binding institutional constraints for market transformation and deepening in sub-Saharan Africa.
Topic:: Development, Economics, and Markets
Political Geography:: Africa, Tanzania, Nigeria, Ghana, and Malawi

3418. Financial Sector Development and Growth: The Chinese Experience

Author:: Mingming Zhou and Iftekhar Hasan
Publication Date:: 08-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: This paper documents the financial and institutional developments of China during the past two decades, when China was successfully transformed from a rigid centralplanning economy to a dynamic market economy following its unique path. We empirically examine the relationship between financial development and economic growth in China by employing a panel sample covering 31 Chinese provinces during the important transition period 1986-2002. Our evidence suggests that the development of financial markets, institutions, and instruments have been robustly associated with economic growth in China.
Topic:: Development, Economics, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:: China and Asia

3419. The Rise and Halt of Economic Development in Brazil, 1945-2004: Industrial Catching-up, Institutional Innovation and Financial Fragility

Author:: Nelson H. Barbosa-Filho, José A.P. de Souza, and Leondardo Burlamaqui
Publication Date:: 08-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: This paper seeks to explain the dynamics of Brazilian industrial catch-up in the last 60 years by discussing its background institutional conditions as well as its main macroeconomic features. After a brief introduction, the second section describes how after the institutional innovations introduced during the Vargas' and Kubitschek's administrations, a Brazilian version of the Developmental State was created, releasing the growth potential of the economy during the 1950s. The third section analyses the inflationary crisis and institutional inertia of the mid-1960s, and its solution through the introduction of a new of wave of institutional innovations and conflict management devices, which lead to the Brazilian growth miracle, until the debt crisis of early 1980s signaled its end. The fourth section analyses why the financial crisis, coupled with ineffective institutional changes and unsuccessful macroeconomic stabilization plans lead growth to a halt. It also includes an analysis of the pro-market reforms from the early 1990s onwards. The fifth section concludes the paper offering a brief sketch on how the analytical narrative fits the conceptual framework within which it was performed.
Topic:: Conflict Resolution, Development, and Economics
Political Geography:: Brazil and South America

3420. Primary Education in India: Prospects of Meeting the MDG Target

Author:: Bernarda Zamora and Sonia Bhalotra
Publication Date:: 07-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: This paper uses two large repeated cross-sections, one for the early 1990s, and one for the late 1990s, to describe growth in school enrolment and completion rates for boys and girls in India, and to explore the extent to which enrolment and completion rates have grown over time. It decomposes this growth into a component due to changes in the characteristics that determine schooling, and another associated with changes in the responsiveness of schooling to given characteristics. Our results caution against the common practice of using current data to make future projections on the assumption that the model parameters are stable. The analysis nevertheless performs illustrative simulations relevant to the question of whether India will be able to achieve the Millennium Development Goal of realising universal primary education by the year 2015. The simulations suggest that India will achieve universal attendance, but that primary school completion rates will not exhibit much progress.
Topic:: Civil Society, Development, and Education
Political Geography:: India and Asia

3421. Reconstruction from Breakdown in Northeastern India: Building State Capability

Author:: M. Sajjad Hassan
Publication Date:: 07-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: The northeast region of India remains fraught with severe violence, poor growth and acute frustration among its youth. Success of policies to resolve the region's crisis has proved less than encouraging. What could be the way out of the violence–poor growth trap? This paper argues that a key determinant of the instability in the region is the absence of the effective role of the state: to provide security and opportunities for social and economic wellbeing equitably to all sections of society; and to uphold the rule of law. For reconstruction to work the state must act to provide key political goods to all its citizens, and restore its legitimate authority by implementing policies and enforcing laws cleanly and transparently. Political leaders can contribute to this endeavour by organizing politics inclusively.
Topic:: Conflict Resolution, Development, and Government
Political Geography:: India and Asia

3422. Institutionalism Ancient, Old and New: A Historical Perspective on Institutions and Uneven Development

Author:: Eric S. Reinert
Publication Date:: 07-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: This paper argues for an 'ancient' institutional school, predating Thorstein Veblen's 'old' institutionalism. In this view, going back as far as the thirteenth century, institutions tended to be seen as specific to a mode of production. Here both institutions and development itself are context-specific and activity-specific. Much clearer than today the arrows of causality of economic development go from the mode of production to the institutional setting, not vice versa. In order to understand development, institutions can also usefully be divided into Hayekian institutions that facilitate equilibrium and Schumpeterian institutions that enable the dynamics of development and structural change.
Topic:: Development, Economics, and Education

3423. Rethinking Import-substituting Industrialization: Development Strategies and Institutions in Taiwan and China

Author:: Tianbiao Zhu
Publication Date:: 07-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: Conventional explanations of Taiwan and China's economic success point to the shift from an import-substituting industrialization (ISI) strategy to an export-oriented industrialization (EOI) strategy. This paper argues that the development strategies in Taiwan and China have always been a combination of ISI and EOI strategies during their entire miracle-creating period; far from the shift from ISI to EOI strategies, export promotion was used in both cases to sustain ISI, which has always been the central focus of development. Behind this strategy there is a set of institutions in both Taiwan and China, which has played a key role in supporting ISI, in particular, the government, the bank sector, public enterprises, and their relationship.
Topic:: Development and Industrial Policy
Political Geography:: China, Israel, Taiwan, East Asia, and Asia

3424. The Formation of a Mercantilist State and the Economic Growth of the United Kingdom 1453-1815

Author:: Patrick Karl O'Brien
Publication Date:: 07-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: New institutional economics lacks a theory of state formation which could help us to deal with the mega question of why some states became more efficient than others at establishing and and sustaining institutions. Some kind of middle range theory could be formulated based upon historical case studies. This paper considers the case of Britain and as its title suggests degrades the myth of the United Kingdom as the paradigmn example of liberalism and laisser faire. In making its precocious transition to and industrial market economy the kingom's history is best represented as a case of successful mercantilism.
Topic:: Development, Economics, and Sovereignty
Political Geography:: Britain, United Kingdom, and Europe

3425. The Political Economy of Taxation and Tax Reform in Developing Countries

Author:: Jonathan Di John
Publication Date:: 07-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: Taxation provides one of the principal lenses in measuring state capacity, state formation and power relations in a society. This paper critically examines three main approaches (economic, administrative and political economy) to understanding taxation. It also examines differences in tax composition across middle-income developing regions and finds that Latin American economies tax upper income groups much less than in East Asia and Eastern Europe, and explores the political economy and policy implications of these differences. The paper also examines issues of tax reform in low income/post-war economies and explores the problem that capital flight poses for less developed countries.
Topic:: Development, International Trade and Finance, Political Economy, and Third World
Political Geography:: Eastern Europe, East Asia, and Latin America

3426. Institutions and Economic Performance in Africa: A Comparative Analysis of Mauritius

Author:: Julius Kiiza
Publication Date:: 07-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: This paper examines the relationship between institution building and economic performance in Mauritius, Botswana and Uganda. The rationale for comparing these cases is simple. While the three have been super-economic stars in their own right, they have achieved substantially different outcomes. Mauritius has achieved Asia-type rapid growth, backed by the structural transformation of the economy from colonial commodity production (sugar) to postcolonial higher value-added industrial and information outcomes. Botswana has delivered rapid and sustained growth with no structural economic transformation. Uganda has attained rapid growth for a shorter postcolonial period (since 1992) and with no structural transformation. This paper contends that these cross-national differences largely arise from the presence of developmental nationalism plus Weberian bureaucracies in Mauritius and Botswana, and their absence in Uganda.
Topic:: Development, Economics, and Nationalism
Political Geography:: Uganda, Africa, Mauritius, and Botswana

3427. The Role of Federalism in Developing the US during Nineteenth-century Globalization

Author:: Eric Rauchway
Publication Date:: 07-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: During its development into a continental empire, the US, like other countries relied on the investment of capital and labour from abroad; unlike other countries, the US had a peculiar political institution, federalism, which channeled these resources and also determined the course of protest against these resources. The paper argues that federalism played a key role in determining the course of US economic development and reaction to this early instance of globalization, a role with possible lessons for other countries today.
Topic:: Development, Globalization, and Politics
Political Geography:: United States

3428. Corporate Governance, Innovative Enterprise, and Economic Development

Author:: William Lazonick
Publication Date:: 07-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: The notion that good corporate governance means maximizing shareholder value derives from the neoclassical theory of the market economy. I explain why this perspective is highly problematic for understanding the operation and performance of the business corporation and hence the institutions that, for the sake of economic development, should govern it. The main problem is that the market-economy perspective cannot comprehend the process of innovation, including the role of the business corporation. I construct a theory of the innovating firm that, when embedded in comparative-historical analysis, provides a basis for analyzing the relation between corporate governance institutions and economic development.
Topic:: Development, Economics, Government, and Markets

3429. Gender, Local Knowledge, and Lessons Learnt in Documenting and Conserving Agrobiodiversity

Author:: Regina Laub and Yianna Lambrou
Publication Date:: 06-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: This paper explores the linkages between gender, local knowledge systems and agrobiodiversity for food security by using the case study of LinKS, a regional FAO project in Mozambique, Swaziland, Zimbabwe and Tanzania over a period of eight years and now concluded. The project aimed to raise awareness on how rural men and women use and manage agrobiodiversity, and to promote the importance of local knowledge for food security and sustainable agrobiodiversity at local, institutional and policy levels by working with a diverse range of stakeholders to strengthen their ability to recognize and value farmers' knowledge and to use gender-sensitive and participatory approaches in their work. This was done through three key activities: capacity building, research and communication. The results of the LinKS study show clearly that men and women farmers hold very specific local knowledge about the plants and animals they manage. Local knowledge, gender and agrobiodiversity are closely interrelated. If one of these elements is threatened, the risk of losing agrobiodiversity increases, having negative effects on food security. Increased productivity, economic growth and agricultural productivity are important elements in poverty reduction. The diverse and complex agroecological environment of Sub-Saharan Africa requires that future efforts be based on more localized solutions while maintaining a global outlook. Food security will have to build much more on local knowledge and agrobiodiversity with a clear understanding of gender implications while keeping in mind the continuously changing global socioeconomic and political conditions.
Topic:: Agriculture, Development, and Gender Issues
Political Geography:: Africa, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, and Swaziland

3430. Food Security in Vietnam during the 1990s: The Empirical Evidence

Author:: Vasco Molini
Publication Date:: 06-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: Analysing the performance of ten developing countries, Hoddinot and Yohannes (2002) find a strong association between two measures of food security (calorie intake and mostly dietary diversity) and the increase in expenditures per capita. Using various indicators of food security, we describe the changes in food balances in Vietnam and find evidence of a substitution of poor micronutrients items (rice and cereals) with rich ones like fruit, vegetables fish and meat. Poor households, while increasing the amount of calories consumed, still lack vitamins, iron, calcium, etc. A preliminary assessment of the food security variation showed that improvements were, as expected, more concentrated among the richer Vietnamese households than the poor ones, although there was some improvement among poorer strata as well. We also focus on the calorie/expenditure elasticity and compare results for the years 1993 and 1998. Our findings confirm that this link is strong, and show that calorie income elasticity changed in the expected direction. We conclude that in general food security improved in Vietnam during 1990s although considerable differences still remain among expenditure deciles and among regions due to the accentuated spatial difference.
Topic:: Security, Development, and Human Welfare
Political Geography:: Asia and Vietnam

3431. Development of Financial Intermediation and the Dynamics of Rural-Urban Inequality: China, 1978-98

Author:: Qi Zhang, Mingxing Liu, and Yiu Por Chen
Publication Date:: 06-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: Using China as a test case, this paper empirically investigates how the development of financial intermediation affects rural-urban income disparity (RUID). Using 20-year province level panel data, we find that the level of financial development is positively correlated with RUID. Examining two subperiods, 1978-88 and 1989-98, we test several competing hypotheses that may affect RUID. We find that the increase of RUID may be explained by fiscal policy during the first period and financial intermediates during the second period. In addition, we show that the direction of the Kuznets effect on RUID is sensitive to changes in government development policies. The rural development policies during the first period may have enhanced the rural development and reduced RUID. However, the financial intermediary policy during the second period focused on urban development and increased both urban growth and intra-urban inequalities, thus leading to an increase in RUID. Finally, we show that RUID is insensitive to the provincial industrial structure (the share of primary industry in GDP). These results are consistent with the traditional urban-bias hypothesis and are robust to the inclusion of controls for endogeneity issues. This study adds to the economic inequality literature by clarifying the effects of government policies on the underlying dynamics on convergent and divergent effects on rural-urban inequality.
Topic:: Development, Economics, and Government
Political Geography:: China and Asia

3432. How Should We Measure Global Poverty in a Changing World?

Author:: Kuan Xu and Lars Osberg
Publication Date:: 06-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: Before effective anti-poverty policy can be designed and implemented, the extent, trend and distribution of poverty must be identified. In this sense, poverty measurement is a crucial intermediate step in public policymaking and development planning. This paper asks whether the estimated proportion of the world's population with income below US$1 (adjusted according to purchasing power parity) per day is a good measure of trends in global poverty. We argue that the answer depends on two important issues in the measurement of poverty—the definition of the poverty line, and how best to summarize the level of poverty In this paper, we survey the literature on poverty measurement, demonstrate the importance of considering poverty incidence, depth and inequality jointly, present a simple but powerful graphical representation of the Sen and SST indices of poverty intensity (the poverty box) which is the FGT index of order 1 and extend our empirical work to China using the commonly accepted international poverty line definition of one half median equivalent income.
Topic:: International Relations, Development, and Poverty
Political Geography:: China and Asia

3433. Poverty Accounting by Factor Components: With an Empirical Illustration Using Chinese Data

Author:: Guanghua Wan
Publication Date:: 06-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: The purpose of this paper is to develop two poverty decomposition frameworks and to illustrate their applicability. A given level of poverty is broadly decomposed into an overall inequality component and an overall endowment component in terms of income or consumption determinants or input factors. These components are further decomposed into finer components associated with individual inputs. Also, a change in poverty is decomposed into components attributable to the growth and redistributions of factor inputs. An empirical illustration using Chinese data highlights the importance of factor redistributions in determining poverty levels and poverty changes in rural China.
Topic:: Development, Economics, and Poverty
Political Geography:: China and Asia

3434. The Gender Dimensions of Post-Conflict Reconstruction: The Challenges in Development Aid

Author:: Elaine Zuckerman and Marcia E. Greenberg
Publication Date:: 06-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: Based on analysing World Bank and other donor post-conflict reconstruction (PCR) loans and grants from rights-based, macroeconomic and microeconomic perspectives, we conclude that few PCR projects identify or address gender discrimination issues. Bank PCR investments hardly reflect Bank research recognizing that gender inequality increases the likelihood of conflict and gender equality is central to development and peace. Our conceptual framework examining women's programmes, gender mainstreaming, and gender roles in transforming violent into peaceful societies, leads to recommending that PCR projects systematically address gender issues and promote gender equality to make peace work.
Topic:: Development, Gender Issues, Humanitarian Aid, and International Trade and Finance

3435. Asia's Labour-Driven Economic Development, Flying-Geese Style: An Unprecedented Opportunity for the Poor to Rise?

Author:: Terutomo Ozawa
Publication Date:: 06-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: The notion of 'shared growth' was introduced by the World Bank in recognition of East Asia's rapid growth accompanied by poverty reduction. It emphasizes the criticality of pro-poor policies and institutional setups in the fast-developing East Asian economies. The efforts of these individual countries are, however, a necessary but not sufficient condition (explanation). There is a more essential, underlying region-wide mechanism that simultaneously promotes regionalized growth and specifically favours Asia's working mass of unskilled labour. Such an efficacious mechanism is posited in the 'flying-geese paradigm of comparative advantage recycling in labour-intensive goods'. The paper argues that a number of favourable factors have fortuitously coalesced to engender a considerably favourable condition for Asia's rapid catch-up growth in which unskilled labour (the poor) can participate as their countries' most vital input in labour-driven development.
Topic:: Development, Economics, and Poverty
Political Geography:: East Asia and Asia

3436. Trade, Migration, and Poverty Reduction in the Globalizing Economy: The Case of the Philippines

Author:: Jonna P. Estudillo and Yasuyuki Sawada
Publication Date:: 06-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: This paper investigates how the two types of globalization—i.e., integration of international trade and emigration—affected poverty reduction in the Philippines. Using the Family Income and Expenditure Surveys from 1985 to 2000, we found that both nontransfer and transfer incomes decreased poverty significantly but transfer income exerted greater impact. External openness reduced poverty significantly before the Asian currency crises but its impact had been reversed since. The effect of land reform in inducing transfer income from abroad was significant only in the 1990s. Yet, the ultra poor were bypassed in the land reform-credit-emigration-transfer nexus.
Topic:: Development, Globalization, International Trade and Finance, and Migration

3437. Pro-Poor Growth: The Asian Experience

Author:: Hyun H. Son and Nanak Kakwani
Publication Date:: 06-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: This paper looks into the interrelation between economic growth, inequality, and poverty. Using the notion of pro-poor growth, this study examines to what extent the poor benefit from economic growth. First, various approaches to defining and measuring pro-poor growth are scrutinized using a variety of criteria. It is argued that the satisfaction of a monotonicity axiom is a key criterion for measuring pro-poor growth. The monotonicity axiom sets out a condition that the proportional reduction in poverty is monotonically an increasing function of the pro-poor growth measure. This paper proposes a pro-poor growth measure that satisfies the monotonicity criterion. This measure is called the 'poverty equivalent growth rate', which takes into account both the magnitude of growth and how the benefits of the growth are distributed to the poor and the non-poor. As the new measure satisfies the criterion of monotonicity, it is indicative that to achieve a rapid poverty reduction, the poverty equivalent growth rate ought to be maximized rather than the actual growth rate. The methodology developed in the paper is then applied to Asian countries, including the Republic of Korea, Thailand, and Vietnam.
Topic:: Development, Economics, and Poverty
Political Geography:: Asia, Vietnam, Korea, and Thailand

3438. From Seers to Sen: The Meaning of Economic Development

Author:: Wayne Nafziger
Publication Date:: 01-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: The paper compares perspectives on the meaning of development in the late 1970s and early 1980s to the contemporary period, with a focus on the works of Dudley Seers and Amartya Sen. Both men were critical of the development literature of their times. Seers was especially critical of neoclassicism's universal claims and economic growth as the prime objective. For Sen, development involves reducing deprivation or broadening choice. One challenge for future work is for development economists, similar to Seers and Sen, to be more holistic, integrating economic development, human rights, and conflict reduction.
Topic:: Development, Economics, and Poverty

3439. Central Banks as Agents of Economic Development

Author:: Gerald Epstein
Publication Date:: 05-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: In the last two decades, there has been a global sea change in the theory and practice of central banking. The currently dominant 'best practice' approach to central banking consists of the following: (1) central bank independence (2) a focus on inflation fighting (including adopting formal 'inflation targeting') and (3) the use of indirect methods of monetary policy (that is, short-term interest rates as opposed to direct methods such as credit ceilings). This paper argues that this neo-liberal approach to central banking is highly idiosyncratic in that, as a package, it is dramatically different from the historically dominant theory and practice of central banking, not only in the developing world, but, notably, in the now developed countries themselves. Throughout the early and recent history of central banking in the US, England, Europe, and elsewhere, financing governments, managing exchange rates, and supporting economic sectors by using 'direct methods' of intervention have been among the most important tasks of central banking and, indeed, in many cases, were among the reasons for their existence. The neo-liberal central bank policy package, then, is drastically out of step with the history and dominant practice of central banking throughout most of its history.
Topic:: Development and Economics
Political Geography:: United States, Europe, and England

3440. The Rule of Law, Legal Traditions, and Economic Growth in East Asia

Author:: Meredith Woo-Cumings
Publication Date:: 05-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: This paper examines the literature on the rule of law and economic development, and in particular the influential argument by La Porta et al., on the superiority of the Anglo-American common law system in fostering financial development. In this paper I show that however compelling their argument might be, legal traditions and institutions do not determine the nature of the state, nor its likely role in the economy—nor do they critically determine the course of economic development. I build my case by examining the real and informal mechanisms of state intervention in the economy in East Asia.
Topic:: Development, Economics, and International Law
Political Geography:: America, Israel, and East Asia

3441. Modern Bureaucracy

Author:: Joseph Toye and John Toye
Publication Date:: 05-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: Max Weber believed that bureaucracy could be understood by analysing its ideal-typical characteristics, and that these characteristics would become more pervasive as the modern age advanced. Weber's horizontal account of bureaucracy can be criticised on various grounds, including its unrealistic notion of bureaucratic rationality. An alternative view is proposed, namely, that the development of state bureaucracies is driven by the trajectory of the highpower politics in which they are nested.
Topic:: Development, Economics, and Politics

3442. Finance and Poverty in Ethiopia: A Household Level Analysis

Author:: Alemayehu Geda, Daniel Zerfu, and Abebe Shimeles
Publication Date:: 05-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: In this paper, using the rich household panel data of urban and rural Ethiopia that covers the period from 1994 to 2000, we attempted to establish the link between finance and poverty in Ethiopia. Our results show that access to finance is an important factor in consumption smoothing and hence poverty reduction. We also found evidence for a poverty trap due to liquidity constraints that limits the ability of the rural households from consumption smoothing. The empirical findings from this study could inform finance policies aimed at addressing issues of poverty reduction.
Topic:: Development, Economics, and Poverty
Political Geography:: Africa and Ethiopia

3443. Manufacturing, Services and Premature Deindustrialization in Developing Countries: A Kaldorian Analysis

Author:: Ajit Singh and Sukti Dasgupta
Publication Date:: 05-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: This paper uses a Kaldorian framework to examine the evidence of deindustrialization in developing countries at low levels of income, the jobless growth in these economies and the fast expansion of the informal sector. The questions are specifically examined for the Indian economy, using state level data but the analysis has a wider application for economic policy in developing countries.
Topic:: Development, Economics, Industrial Policy, and Third World
Political Geography:: India

3444. Development Strategy, Viability, and Economic Institutions: The Case of China

Author:: Mingxing Liu, Pengfei Zhang, Shiyuan Pan, and Justin Yifu Lin
Publication Date:: 05-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: This paper explores the politically determined development objectives and the intrinsic logic of government intervention policies in east developed countries. It is argued that the distorted institutional structure in China and in many least developed countries, after the Second World War, can be largely explained by government adoption of inappropriate development strategies. Motivated by nation building, most least-developed countries, including the socialist countries, adopted a comparative advantage defying strategy to accelerate the growth of capital-intensive, advanced sectors in their countries. In the paper we also statistically measure the evolution of government development strategies and the economic institutions in China from 1950s to 1980s to show the co-existence and coevolution of government adoption of comparative advantage defying strategy and the trinity system.
Topic:: Development, Economics, and Government
Political Geography:: China and Asia

3445. Absorptive Capacity and Achieving the MDGs

Author:: Mark Sundberg and Franois Bourguignon
Publication Date:: 05-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: The ability of low-income countries to productively absorb large amounts of external assistance is a central issue for efforts to scale-up aid. This paper examines absorptive capacity in the context of MDG-based development programmes in low-income countries. It first defines absorptive capacity, and proposes a framework for measuring it. Applying a dynamic computable general equilibrium model to link the macro framework to sector results, the paper simulates MDG scenarios for Ethiopia and examines the role of infrastructure, skilled labour, macroeconomic, and other constraints on absorptive capacity. The main policy conclusions are that careful sequencing of public investment across sectors is key to minimizing the costs of reaching the MDGs; the macro impact of large aid flows on the tradeables sector can potentially be serious in the short run; large-scale frontloading of aid disbursements can be costly as it pushes against absorptive constraints; and that improvement of governance and institutional structures can significantly reduce the cost of achieving the MDGs.
Topic:: International Relations, Development, Humanitarian Aid, and Third World

3446. A Quest for Pro-Poor Globalization

Author:: Erik Thorbecke and Machiko Nissanke
Publication Date:: 05-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: While the opportunities offered by globalization can be large, the question is often raised whether the actual distribution of gains is fair and, in particular, whether the poor benefit proportionately less from globalization and could under some circumstances actually be hurt by it. The paper discusses channels and transmission mechanisms through which the process of globalization affects different aspects and dimensions of poverty in the developing world. It examines how these numerous channels interact, as the net effects on poverty depend on the relative strength of the positive and negative forces of globalization. On the basis of our analysis of these transmission mechanisms from globalization to the world's poor, the paper discusses what may constitute a policy framework for encouraging globalization to be pro-poor.
Topic:: Development, Globalization, Human Welfare, and Poverty

3447. Trade Liberalization, Environment and Poverty: A Developing Country Perspective

Author:: M.S. Quresh
Publication Date:: 04-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: This paper revisits the pollution haven hypothesis in the context of Pakistan by offering a systematic analysis of its trade and production patterns. Using bilateral trade statistics from 1975-2003, we test the hypotheses that Pakistan's net exports of pollutionintensive products have increased to the OECD countries. We also investigate if the stringency of environmental governance in the importing countries plays a role in determining Pakistan's exports of pollution-intensive products. The results reveal that there has been a change in the composition of output and exports towards pollutionintensive manufacturing that parallels the opening of the economy. Overall, the findings appear to be in favour of the pollution haven hypothesis and call for effective environmental policy response for poverty alleviation and sustainable development.
Topic:: Development, International Trade and Finance, and Poverty
Political Geography:: Pakistan and Asia

3448. Economic Development Strategy, Openness and Rural Poverty: A Framework and China's Experiences

Author:: Justin Yifu Lin and Peilin Liu
Publication Date:: 04-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: This paper argues that both openness and poverty in a country are endogenously determined by the country's long-term economic development strategy. Development strategies can be broadly divided into two mutually exclusive groups: (i) the comparative advantage-defying (CAD) strategy, which attempts to encourage firms to deviate from the economy's existing comparative advantages in their entry into an industry or choice of technology; and (ii) the comparative advantage-following (CAF) strategy, which attempts to facilitate the firms' entry into an industry or choice of technology according to the economy's existing comparative advantages.
Topic:: Development, Economics, and Poverty
Political Geography:: China and Asia

3449. Globalization, Growth and Poverty in India

Author:: Arup Mirtra and N.R. Bhanumurthy
Publication Date:: 04-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: In this paper an attempt is made to assess the impact of economic reforms on the incidence of poverty by decomposing the change in poverty ratio between two time points into growth/mean effect, inequality effect and the population shift effect. Based on the National Sample Survey data an analysis has been carried out for two time periods: (i) 1983 to 1993-94 and (ii) 1993-94 to 1999-2000, broadly representing the pre-reform and reform-period respectively, for the rural and urban areas of the fifteen major states, and also for the all-India level. The growth/mean effect, which determines the extent of fall (rise) in poverty incidence due to rise (fall) in mean per capita consumption expenditure, dominates in both the periods over the inequality effect, that estimates the rise (fall) in poverty due to rise (fall) in inequality. It also dominates over the population shift effect, which assesses the net impact on all-areas combined poverty, of a decline (rise) in rural (urban) poverty caused possibly by rural-urban migration. The growth effect, which is beneficial for poverty reduction, seems to have gone up in the reform period. The adverse inequality effect also fell in magnitude in the second period compared to the first. States with a greater beneficial growth effect in the second period relative to the first, also show a fall in the magnitude of an adverse population shift effect in the urban areas, i.e., a relatively less rise in the incidence of urban poverty caused by rural-urban migration.
Topic:: Development, Globalization, and Poverty
Political Geography:: India and Asia

3450. Vulnerability to Globalization in India: Relative Rankings of States Using Fuzzy Models

Author:: Brinda Viswanathan and S. Kavi Kumar
Publication Date:: 04-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: The net impact of globalization on developing countries, and more specifically on the poorer sections of population in these countries, is complex and context dependent, and hence needs to be analysed empirically. This study in the context of globalization attempts to develop regional level indices of vulnerability with respect to welfare loss in India using a methodology based on fuzzy inference systems. The vulnerability of an entity is conceptualized (following the practice in global climate change literature) as a function of its exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity. Empirical analysis based on such multidimensional conceptualization demands use of indicator-based approach which is attempted in this study and uses fuzzy models that adequately capture vagueness inherent in such approaches.
Topic:: Development, Economics, and Globalization
Political Geography:: India and Asia

3451. Measuring Pro-Poor Progress towards the Non-Income Millennium Development Goals

Author:: Stephen Klasen, Kenneth Harttgen, and Melanie Grosse
Publication Date:: 04-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: In order to track progress in MDG1 and explicitly link growth, inequality, and poverty reduction, several measures of 'pro-poor growth' have been proposed in the literature and used in applied academic and policy work. These measures, particularly the ones derived from the growth incidence curve, allow a much more detailed assessment of the distributional impact of growth and its link to poverty reduction. However, there are no corresponding measures for tracking the distribution of progress in non-income dimensions of poverty, and thus the distribution of progress towards MDGs 2-7. In this paper, we propose to extend the pro-poor growth measurement to non-income dimensions of poverty (particularly health and education). We empirically illustrate the approach for Bolivia and show that it allows a much more detailed assessment of progress towards MDGs 2-7 by focusing on the distribution of progress. Furthermore, this extension also allows an explicit assessment of the linkage between progress in MDG1 and MDGs 2-7 as well as extends traditional incidence analysis by quantifying outcomes in non-income dimensions of poverty along the income distribution.
Topic:: Development, Economics, and Poverty
Political Geography:: Europe and Bolivia

3452. Gender and Growth in Sub-Saharan Africa: Issues and Evidence

Author:: Stephen Klasen, David Lawson, Sudharshan Canagarajah, and Mark Blackden
Publication Date:: 04-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: The study suggests that gender inequality acts as a significant constraint to growth in sub-Saharan Africa, and that removing gender-based barriers to growth will make a substantial contribution to realizing Africa's economic potential. In particular we highlight gender gaps in education, related high fertility levels, gender gaps in formal sector employment, and gender gaps in access to assets and inputs in agricultural production as particular barriers reducing the ability of women to contribute to economic growth. By identifying some of the key factors that determine the ways in which men and women contribute to, and benefit (or lose) from, growth in Africa, we argue that looking at such issues through a gender lens is an essential step in identifying how policy can be shaped in a way that is explicitly gender-inclusive and beneficial to growth and the poor. We also argue that in some dimensions and channels of the gender-growth nexus, the evidence is only suggestive and needs further detailed research and analysis. Investigations of the linkage between gender inequality and growth should therefore be a priority for development economics research in coming years.
Topic:: Development, Economics, and Gender Issues
Political Geography:: Africa

3453. Do We Need a New "Great Transformation"? Is One Likely?

Author:: Frances Stewart
Publication Date:: 04-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: Karl Polanyi wrote The Great Transformation in 1944 which analysed the double movement Europe experienced, from a situation where the market was heavily regulated and controlled in the eighteenth century to a virtually unregulated market in the nineteenth century, and the huge transformation in which the market was once more brought under control as a reaction to the poverty, unemployment and insecurity brought about by the unregulated market. Yet in both developed and developing countries there has since been a reaction with a new move towards the market. This paper analyses such processes in contemporary developing countries, and considers whether, in the light of the consequences of the unregulated market, a new Great Transformation is needed. It also considers whether such a transformation is likely, reviewing moves towards increased regulation of the market, and also the challenges faced by any contemporary great transformation arising from globalization and the nature of politics.
Topic:: Development, Markets, and Poverty
Political Geography:: Europe

3454. International Risk Tolerance, Capital Market Failure and Capital Flows to Emerging Markets

Author:: Valpy FitzGerald
Publication Date:: 04-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: The level, tenor and instability of capital flows from global financial markets towards developing countries are a major source of concern for macroeconomic managers, while their causes remain largely unexplained by economic theory. Country 'fundamentals' (such as economic growth, monetary stability and institutional capacity) as sources of default risk have been the main focus of economic research and policy prescriptions. However, recent empirical research on the determinants of capital flows and the roots of market failure indicate that much of the explanation lies in the nature of the home (that is, the developed country) demand for emerging market assets. In this paper, the microeconomic roots of home bias and demand instability are explained in terms of investor risk perception and credit rationing, exacerbated by traders' behaviour. The consequences for host country macroeconomic balances and income distribution of varying investor risk tolerance are then demonstrated. Although the net impact also depends upon the host policy response, this transmission mechanism means that host 'fundamentals' are themselves strongly affected by capital flows and thus cannot be considered as to be independent of home asset demand. The paper concludes by examining the implications of these findings for the future of development economics in general and for policy response in particular.
Topic:: Development, Emerging Markets, Markets, and Third World

3455. Three Decades of Rural Development Projects in Asia, Latin America, and Africa: Learning From Successes and Failures

Author:: Annelies Zoomers
Publication Date:: 03-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: This article aims to contribute to the discussion about how to make development interventions more effective by analyzing the factors contributing to the success or failure of rural development projects. We made an aggregate level analysis of 46 projects in the field of agricultural research (AR), water management (WM), natural resource management (NRM), and integrated rural development (IRD), financed by the Netherlands' Directorate-General for International Cooperation (DGIS) and carried out between 1975-2005 in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Making a distinction between the successful projects and failures, we showed the possibilities and limitations of evaluating projects on the basis of the official criteria (relevance, efficiency, effectiveness, sustainability and impact and/or using criteria such as poverty, gender, institutional development, governance and environment). We learned that project performance very much depends on whether interventions 'keep track' with local priorities and trends. This is much more important than 'measuring output' (are results in line with the project goal?) which is wrongly presented as a priority in monitoring and evaluation practices.
Topic:: Development
Political Geography:: Africa, Asia, and Central America

3456. Investing in Health for Economic Development: The Case of Mexico

Author:: Nora Lustig
Publication Date:: 03-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: Health is an asset with an intrinsic value as well as an instrumental value. Good health is a source of wellbeing and highly valued throughout the world. Health is not only the absence of illness, but capacity to develop a person's potential. Health is also an important determinant of economic growth. Given the importance of health, both as a source of human welfare and a determinant of overall economic growth, the Popular Health Insurance (Seguro Popular) was first introduced in Mexico as a pilot programme by the federal government in 2001, becoming part of the formal legislation in 2003. This study looks at the current situation, and some of the early findings and improvements made so far with regard to public health coverage in Mexico.
Topic:: Development, Economics, and Health
Political Geography:: Central America and Mexico

3457. Development through Globalization?

Author:: Deepak Nayyar
Publication Date:: 03-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: This paper seeks to analyze the prospects for development in a changed international context, where globalization has diminished the policy space so essential for countries that are latecomers to development. The main theme is that, to use the available policy space for development, it is necessary to redesign strategies by introducing correctives and to rethink development by incorporating different perspectives, if development is to bring about an improvement in the well-being of people. In redesigning strategies, some obvious correctives emerge from an understanding of theory and a study of experience that recognizes not only the diversity but also the complexity of development. In rethinking development, it is imperative to recognize the importance of initial conditions, the significance of institutions, the relevance of politics in economics and the critical role of good governance. Even if difficult, there is also a clear need to create more policy space for national development, by reshaping the rules of the game in the world economy and contemplating some governance of globalization.
Topic:: International Relations, Development, Globalization, and Government

3458. Innovations, High-Tech Trade and Industrial Development: Theory, Evidence and Policy

Author:: Lakhwinder Singh
Publication Date:: 03-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: Innovations spur science-based trade and industrial development in a fast changing pace of globalization. Knowledge accumulation and diffusion have been increasingly recognised as fundamental factors that play an important role in long-run economic growth. This paper focuses on the long-term innovation strategy of industrial and technological development in developing countries. Growth theory, empirical evidence and several indicators of innovation have been pressed into service to draw important lessons from historical experience of the developed and newly industrializing countries for the industrial development of the developing economies. Technology development and public technology policy experience of the East Asian countries have been examined to reinvent the role of public technology policy that can be adopted to develop national innovation system to nurture and build innovative capabilities in the developing economies in the dynamic global economy.
Topic:: Development, Economics, Industrial Policy, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:: East Asia

3459. Decomposing Growth: Do Low-Income and HIPCs Differ from High-Income Countries? Growth, Technological Catch-up, Technological Change and Human and Physical Capital Deepening

Author:: Heli Virta and Pertti Haaparanta
Publication Date:: 03-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: This paper studies the distribution of output per worker between the years 1980 and 2000 in different country groups. The study uses data envelopment analysis (DEA) to decompose the changes in the distribution of labour productivity into changes in productive efficiency, changes in best practice technology, accumulation of physical capital, and accumulation of human capital. The study focuses on low-income countries and within them on highly indebted poor countries (HIPCs), which has not been possible in earlier studies.
Topic:: Civil Society, Development, Economics, and Science and Technology

3460. Is Social Capital Part of the Institutions Continuum and is it a Deep Determinant of Development?

Author:: Stephen Knowles
Publication Date:: 03-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: There is a growing literature which analyses, using cross-country data, whether institutions or geography is the most important deep determinant of economic development. The empirical proxies for institutions used in this literature focus on the definition of institutions, formal and informal. This study argues that the concept of informal institutions is similar to social capital. However, the social capital and 'institutions as a deep determinant' literatures rarely acknowledge the existence of the other. It is argued that social capital meets the criteria for being a deep determinant of development and that both the cross-country literature on social capital, and the deep determinants of development literature, could be enriched by empirically modelling social capital as a deep determinant of development.
Topic:: Civil Society, Development, and Economics

3461. Applying Behavioural Economics to International Development Policy

Author:: Kostas Stamoulis and Leigh Anderson
Publication Date:: 03-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: Many development policies and programmes are premised on a traditional economic model of rationality to predict how individuals will respond to changes in incentives. Despite the emphasis of these programmes on poverty reduction, economists and the development community in general are still unable to fully understand how the poor make decisions, especially under uncertainty and over time. Individuals avail themselves less than predicted in health programmes, participate less than expected in market opportunities, under or over insure themselves, and make short-run decisions that are inconsistent with their long-run welfare. The rise and fall of different descriptive models and paradigms of poor household behaviour can partly be attributed to this limited understanding. More helpful answers may lay within behavioural economics, that these insights are particularly important for poor populations, and that they can improve the future design, implementation and subsequent effectiveness of development programmes. Behavioural economics is an approach that rigorously combines the insights of psychology and economics to try to better understand and predict human decision making. Empirical evidence is helping us learn, for example, how cognitive limitations, fairness, loss aversion, framing of choices, variable discount rates, and the qualitative dimensions of risk—such as proximity and control—affect decision making. The regularity of many of these anomalies suggests that these behaviours are anomalous only to traditional models, but that they may otherwise be the norm.
Topic:: Foreign Policy, Development, Economics, and International Cooperation

3462. A Wider Approach to Aid Effectiveness: Correlated Impacts on Health, Wealth, Fertility and Education

Author:: Mark McGillivray, Sebastian Torres, and David Fielding
Publication Date:: 02-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: In this paper we discuss the results of research into the impact of foreign aid on human development. Rather than focussing on per capita income, as is common in the existing literature, we look at how aid impacts on a range of human development indicators, including measures, of health, education and fertility, and allow for the fact that these different dimensions of wellbeing are likely to interact with each other. Overall, aid is found to have a substantial positive impact on many development outcome.
Topic:: Development, Economics, Health, and Humanitarian Aid

3463. The Human Dimensions of the Global Development Process in the Early Part of the 21st Century: Critical Trends and New Challenges

Author:: Mihly Simai
Publication Date:: 02-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: At the beginning of the twenty -first century there is a rare coincidence of profound transformations in a number of areas, in population dynamics, in human settlements, in science and technology, economics, social stratification, in the role and functions of the states and in the global power structure and in governance. The systemic transformation of the former socialist countries is an important component of the ongoing changes Political, economic, and social conditions vary immensely throughout the world, influenced by the size, natural endowments, development level, economic structure, political and institutional patterns, and competitiveness of the countries. The new state and non-state actors make the system of interests and values more diverse. All these have a major influence on the future of the global development process. The paper concludes that developing societies do not need old textbook models, neoliberal or other utopias. There is widespread demand for a new scientific thinking on development, with realistic and humanistic alternatives helping collaborative global and national actions.
Topic:: Development, Economics, Globalization, and Government

3464. Institutions, Policies and Economic Development

Author:: Grzegorz W. Kolodko
Publication Date:: 02-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: Institutions are not only created and built, but al so, and especially, need to be learnt. It is a process which takes place in all economies, but acquires a special importance in less advanced countries. Not only theoretical arguments, but also the practical experience over the past 15 years demonstrates that faster economic growth, and hence also more broadly, socioeconomic development, is attained by those countries which take greater care to foster the institutional reinforcement of market economy. However, progress in market-economy institution building is not in itself sufficient to ensure sustained growth. Another indispensable component is an appropriately designed and implemented economic policy which must not confuse the means with the aims.
Topic:: Development, Economics, Globalization, and International Trade and Finance

3465. Migration in the Development Studies Literature: Has It Come Out of Its Marginality?

Author:: Arjan de Hann
Publication Date:: 02-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: This paper explores the role migration has played in development studies, and in debates on economic growth and poverty. It argues that, despite a recent surge of interest in international migration and remittances, research on human mobility particularly for labour within poor countries does not have the place it deserves, and that it used to have in the classical development literature. Review of the empirical literature suggests that in fact much is known about the migration–development relationship, provided we are careful with definitions, and allow for context-specificity to be a key component of analyses. Against this richness of empirical detail, the paper reviews theoretical models of migration, finding significant differences in understandings of migration and its role in shaping wellbeing, but also complementarities. This highlights the importance of interdisciplinarity, and institutional understanding of processes of economic growth. In particular, it stresses that development economics need to draw more strongly on the insights by and approaches of non-economist social sciences.
Topic:: Development, Economics, Education, and Migration

3466. Violence in Peace: Understanding Increased Violence in Early Post-Conflict Transitions and Its Implications for Development

Author:: Marcia Byrom Hartwell
Publication Date:: 02-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: A key issue for development in the late twentieth and early twenty -first centuries has been an escalation of violence during post-conflict transitions. A long-term goal for international donor involvement is to assist in building legitimate and effective political, economic, and legal institutions. However, research and observation has revealed that increased violence is commonplace during peace processes and strongly influences the ways in which these institutions are formed. In turn post-conflict violence itself is strongly influenced and motivated by the way in which peace agreements have been negotiated. This study addresses some of the reasons for escalation of violence following peace agreements. It describes the underlying dynamics including the relationship between perceptions of justice as fairness, formation of post-conflict identity, political processes of forgiveness and revenge; and the policy implications for development particularly in relation to peace conditionality tied to aid.
Topic:: Conflict Prevention, Development, International Trade and Finance, and Peace Studies

3467. Credit Co-operatives in Locally Financed Economic Development: Using Energy Efficiency as a Lever

Author:: Robert J. McIntyre
Publication Date:: 02-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: In most transitional and many developing countries institutions capable of supporting economic development with localized saving-investment cycles have not developed. This crucial gap is in no way addressed by either country-level macro programmes dealing with 'development finance' or by donor-driven 'micro credit' schemes of Grameen and other types operating at a lower (local) level. The latter seldom evolve into financial institutions able to sustain themselves on the basis of local resources, do not operate on a sufficient scale to trigger dynamic local-level economic growth, and are ultimately artificial manifestations of concessional or charitable aid. The advantages of credit co-operatives in mobilizing and financing local economic development a contrasted with the disadvantages of both conventional micro credit and the most recent neoliberal fashion of so-called 'new wave financial institutions'. Both precedent and the structural logic suggest that this is a promising space for the development of a localized financial system based on credit co-operatives, which elsewhere have overcome the SME credit famine and stimulated local saving-investment cycles. Recent Russian developments are placed in the context of earlier experience in structurally similar conditions. These lessons apply to all other former Soviet Union states, as well as other countries.
Topic:: Development, Economics, Humanitarian Aid, and Third World
Political Geography:: Russia

3468. Patterns of Rent-Extraction and Deployment in Developing Countries: Implications for Governance, Economic Policy and Performance

Author:: Richard M. Auty
Publication Date:: 02-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: Rents tend to be relatively high in developing countries and also very fungible, so that differences in the scale of the rent and in its distribution among economic agents profoundly affect the nature of the political state and the development trajectory. This paper identifies two basic trajectories to a high-income democracy linked to the scale and deployment of rents. Low-rent countries tend to engender developmental political states that competitively diversify the economy and sustain rapid per capita GDP (PCGDP) growth, which strengthens three key sanctions against anti-social governance (political accountability, social capital and the rule of law) to achieve endogenous democratization that is incremental. In contrast, rent-rich countries are likely to experience a slower and more erratic transition. This is because high rents tend to nurture non-developmental (predatory) politic al states whose deployment of the rent locks the economy into a staple trap, which carries a high risk of a growth collapse. The events presaging a growth collapse weaken sanctions against anti-social governance. However, a growth collapse may abruptly trigger democracy if exogenous factors are favourable, although such a change is likely to prove unstable and prone to regression. Very preliminary tests of the link between PCGDP growth and sanctions against anti- social governance suggest that social capital and law strengthen as predicted by the models for low-rent countries, but political accountability lags. Rent-rich countries exhibit the expected weaker link between PCGDP growth and democratization, an outcome consistent with a more erratic transition towards a high-income democracy.
Topic:: Development, Economics, Politics, and Third World

3469. International Convergence or Higher Inequality in Human Development? Evidence for 1975 to 2002

Author:: Farhad Noorbakhsh
Publication Date:: 02-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: The concept of convergence is extended to the human development index. Evidence of weak absolute convergence is found over 1975-2002. The results are robust and verified by various conditional β -convergence models and also supported by the evidence of weak σ -convergence. Population weighted analyses provide support for polarization in the human development index amongst developing countries but a slight reduction in world inequality. The dynamics of regional analysis reveal a movement of sub-Saharan Africa towards the low band of human development with Asia and Latin America making progress. High immobility of the early part of the period is followed by considerable upward and downward mobility in the latter part indicating a possible case of the 'twin peaks' type of polarization.
Topic:: International Relations, Civil Society, Development, and Education

3470. Development Questions for 25 Years

Author:: Lance Taylor
Publication Date:: 02-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: Recent growth experience in developing countries is reviewed, with an emphasis on structural change and sources of effective demand. Ho w policy influences such outcomes is analyzed in light of historical experience. Options are discussed for macro and industrial/commercial policy, and how they may influence the growth process. The recent 'institutional turn' in development theory may obfuscate serious policy analysis.
Topic:: International Relations, Foreign Policy, Development, and Third World

3471. Development in Chile 1990-2005: Lessons from a Positive Experience

Author:: lvaro Garca Hurtado
Publication Date:: 02-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: Chile, in the last 15 years, has shown remarkable results in terms of growth, poverty reduction and democratic governance. This pa per reviews the structural changes that were behind these positive outcomes, as well as the pending challenges for Chile's development. Also shows that Chile did better in terms of growth than social integration and that this is related to the weak representation and participation of a wide majority in the national debate and decision making process. It also draws conclusions valid for other Latin American countries' development.
Topic:: International Relations, Development, and Economics
Political Geography:: South America and Chile

3472. Why Have All Development Strategies Failed in Latin America?

Author:: Guillermo Rozenwurcel
Publication Date:: 02-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: After the Great Depression and throughout the rest of the twentieth century, Latin American countries basically approached economic development following two successive and quite opposed strategies. The first one was import substitution industrialization. The second was the so-called Washington Consensus approach. While the two views were founded on quite opposite premises, neither the import substitution industrialization nor the Washington Consensus managed to deliver sustained economic development to Latin American countries. Two domestic elements are crucial to understand this outcome. One is the failure of the state. The second is the inability to achieve mature integration into the world economy.
Topic:: Development, Economics, and Government
Political Geography:: Washington, South America, and Latin America

3473. Health Improvements and Health Inequality during the Last 40 Years

Author:: Giovanni Andrea Cornia and Leonardo Menchini
Publication Date:: 02-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: This paper juxtaposes changes over the last forty years in income growth and distribution with the mortality changes recorded at the aggregate level in about 170 countries and at the individual level in 26 countries with at least two demographic and health surveys covering the last twenty years. Over the 1980s and 1990s, the infant mortality rate, under-5 mortality rate, and life expectancy at birth mostly continued the favourable trends that characterized the 1960s and 1970s. Yet, especially in the 1990s, the pace of health improvement was slower than that recorded during the prior decades. In addition, the distribution between countries of aggregate health improvements became markedly more skewed. These trends are in part explained by the negative changes recorded in sub-Saharan Africa and Eastern Europe, but are robust to the removal of the two regions from the sample. This tendency is observed also at the intraregional level, with the exception of Western Europe. Thirdly, demographic and health survey data for 26 developing countries point to a frequent divergence over time in the within-country distribution of gains in the infant mortality and under-5 mortality rates among children living in urban versus rural areas and belonging to families part of different quantiles of the asset distribution. The paper concludes by underscoring the similarities and linkages between changes in income inequality and health inequality and suggests some tentative explanations of these trends without, however, formally testing them.
Topic:: Development, Health, and Human Welfare
Political Geography:: Europe and Eastern Europe

3474. International Finance and the Developing World: The Next Twenty Years

Author:: Tony Addison
Publication Date:: 02-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: Much has changed in international finance in the twenty years since UNU-WIDER was founded. This paper identifies five broad contours of what we might expect in the next twenty years: the flow of capital from ageing societies to the more youthful economies of the South; the growth in the financial services industry in emerging economies and the consequences for their capital flows; the current strength in emerging market debt, and whether this represents a change in fundamentals or merely the effect of low global interest rates; the impact of globalization in goods markets in lowering inflation expectations, and therefore global bond yields; and the implications of the adjustment in global imbalances between Asia (in particular China) and the United States for emerging bond markets as a whole. The paper ends by noting the paradox that today we see ever larger amounts of capital flowing across the globe in search of superior investment returns, and yet the financing needs of the poorer countries are still largely unmet.
Topic:: Development, Economics, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:: United States, China, and Asia

3475. Turning Points in Development Thinking and Practice

Author:: Louis Emmerij
Publication Date:: 02-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: Why and when do turning points occur? How are they prepared? What are the choices before us when it comes to economic and social development policies? What is the role of culture in development? Do ideas play a role? What are the interests behind the ideas? The present paper tries to answer these and other questions and compares the advantages and disadvantages of global development theories with regional and local development policies that put more emphasis on the role of culture in economic development.
Topic:: International Relations, Development, Economics, and United Nations

3476. Aid Allocation and Aid Effectiveness: An Empirical Analysis

Author:: George Mavrotas and Alessia Isopi
Publication Date:: 01-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: The paper performs aid allocation analysis using OECD-DAC data covering 20 aid donors and 176 recipients over the period 1980-2003. We improve upon earlier work in this area by employing inter alia the variable 'past outcome' measuring aid effectiveness in order to link together aid allocation and aid effectiveness. In line with previous work, we also account for both altruistic and selfish donor motives in the empirical analysis. As expected, empirical results based on To bit estimates of aid allocation for individual donors vary quite significantly among donors. We also test the robustness of our results by estimating individual regressions for the major donors over the period 1990-2003 in view of major events in the aid arena during that time that could potentially have an impact on the aid allocation process. Our results seem to be similar to those derived over the 1980-2003 period, thus implying that this was not the case. Overall, both altruistic and selfish donor motives seem to motivate aid allocation for most donors over the two periods under examination. However, when we further restrict our time dimension to the 1999-2003 period, some important policy changes with regard to selectivity seem to emerge for a small group of donor countries.
Topic:: International Relations, Development, Economics, and Humanitarian Aid

3477. Decentralizing Aid with Interested Parties

Author:: Ira N. Gang and Gil S. Epstein
Publication Date:: 01-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: This paper analyses the decentralization of decisionmaking in aid-giving in a theoretical rent-seeking framework. In this analysis the root donor establishes a necessary criterion for potential recipients: good governance. The potential recipients compete in hierarchal contests for funds. The paper investigates whether, under certain reasonable conditions, fashionable aid procedures will lead to the development of a poverty trap.
Topic:: Development, Economics, Humanitarian Aid, and Politics

3478. On the Empirics of Aid and Growth: A Fresh Look

Author:: George Mavrotas and Jan-Erik Antipin
Publication Date:: 01-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: The paper contributes to the empirics of aid and growth by taking a fresh look at the aid-policies-growth nexus emanating from the very influential but also debatable paper on the subject by Burnside and Dollar: 'Aid, Policies and Growth'. We employ three different datasets (including the one used in the Burnside and Dollar paper) and Bayesian instrumental variable methods to test the robustness of the central finding of the Burnside and Dollar paper related to the aid and policy interaction coefficient. In doing so, we applied Bayesian instrumental variable technique s to find the most probable parameter values in the growth equation. We also test for the exogeneity of the instrumental variables used. We find that the marginal effect of the disputed (Aid/GDP) x Policy variable on real per capita GDP growth is substantially smaller than in Burnside and Dollar, thus casting serious doubts on the robustness of their findings, and most importantly, on the validity of the policy lessons emerged from the Burnside- Dollar study.
Topic:: Development, Economics, and Humanitarian Aid

3479. Tax Policy Reforms in Nigeria

Author:: Ayodele Odusola
Publication Date:: 01-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: Nigeria is governed by a federal system, hence its fiscal operations also adhere to the same principle, a fact which has serious implications on how the tax system is managed. The country's tax system is lopsided, and dominated by oil revenue. It is also characterized by unnecessarily complex, distortionary and largely inequitable taxation laws that have limited application in the informal sector that dominates the economy. The primary objective of this paper is to prepare a case study on tax policy reforms in Nigeria, with the specific objectives of examining the main tax reforms in the country; highlighting tax revenue profile and composition; analysing possible distributional impacts on the poor; discussing major problems that could prevent effective tax implementation in the country; and offering suggestions for reforms.
Topic:: Development, Economics, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:: Africa and Nigeria

3480. Taxation in Developing Countries: Case Study of Cameroon

Author:: Samuel Fambon
Publication Date:: 01-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: In the beginning of the 1980s, Cameroon witnessed a sustained rate of growth, associated essentially with the boom in the oil sector. Increased budgetary and extra-budgetary resources generated by this sector helped to raise the investment rate in the economy, and to maintain a reasonable level of external indebtedness. But after this period of expansion, the country experienced unfavourable economic development caused by a successive decline in the terms of trade, leading to profound imbalances, notably in public finance and the external account. The government subsequently initiated a series of measures to reform its tax system and to adapt it to national economic realities. An efficient and equitable taxation encourages production and the accumulation of national wealth stimulates saving and investments and hence job creation. Such a tax system could, therefore, ensure sustainable growth and development in Cameroon.
Topic:: Development, Economics, Political Economy, and Third World

3481. Millennium Development Goal 7: An Assessment of Progress With Respect to Water and Sanitation: Legacy, Synergy, Complacency or Policy?

Author:: P.B. Anand
Publication Date:: 01-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: United Nations University
Abstract:: Access to water and sanitation (target 10) is an important ingredient of quality of life. As per WHO-UNICEF assessments, globally, 77 per cent of population had access to water in 1990. This proportion has increase d to 83 per cent in 2002, thus, on track to achieve the target of halving the proportion of population without safe access by 2015. However, there is considerable regional disparity in progress which remains significantly low in many countries in sub- Saharan Africa. Also, the question remains whether increased access is same as sustainable access. In 2002, some 2.6 billion people worldwide did not have access to safe sanitation options. Of these, nearly 2 billion were in the rural areas. While in almost all countries, the proportion of people having access to improved sanitation in 2002 has increased compared to the status in 1990, in 27 countries including India, Ne pal, Lao PDR, Namibia, Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Yemen, two out of three people did not have access to improved sanitation in 2002.
Topic:: Development, Health, and Human Welfare
Political Geography:: India, Yemen, Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Namibia

3482. Contending Approaches To Water Disputes In Transboundary River Basins: What Can The Discipline Of International Relations Offer?

Author:: Aysegül Kibaroglu and Vakur Sümer
Publication Date:: 12-2006
Content Type:: Journal Article
Institution:: Uluslararasi Iliskiler
Abstract:: The vital role of water for human beings and development has received worldwide attention. Through activities of intergovernmental and nongovernmental organizations since the beginning of the 1970s, much emphasis was placed on the global status of water, namely water scarcity in absolute terms, and a lack of access to clean water and sanitation. Later on, some specific regions of the world were identified as the scarcest regions with shared surface and groundwater resources between two or more countries, which received much more attention than other parts of the globe. Under such striking developments, there has arisen an ongoing debate among scholars on the issue of management and utilization of water resources, as well as on the likelihood of a conflict that would be a result of the worsening situation of water supply and demand. In the debate one can delineate basically three groups of scholars and experts whose views can be associated with the leading schools of thought in international relations (IR) theory, namely realism and liberal institutionalism, and the leading sub-branch of the IR discipline, namely international (liberal) political economy. The paper will discuss the contending approaches to water disputes in transboundary river basins with particular references to the international relations discipline.
Topic:: International Relations and Development

3483. Governance in Areas of Limited Statehood – New Modes of Governance?

Author:: Thomas Risse and Ursula Lehmkuhl
Publication Date:: 12-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Collaborative Research Center (SFB) 700
Abstract:: The governance problematique constitutes a central research focus in contemporary social sciences. Yet, the debate remains centered on an „ideal type“ of the modern nation-state – with full sovereignty and a legitimate monopoly over the use of force. From a global as well as a historical perspective, however, the Western modern nation-state is an exception rather than the rule. Outside the developed world, we find areas of “limited statehood”, from developing and transition countries to „failing“ and „failed states“ in today's conflict zones and – historically – in colonial societies. Our Research Center focuses on these areas of limited statehood which lack the capacity to implement and enforce central decisions or even lack the monopoly over the means of violence. We ask: How can effective and legitimate governance be sustained in areas of limited statehood? Which problems emerge under these conditions? We assume that “multi-level governance” is the rule in areas of limited statehood, linking the local with the national, regional, and global levels. We also assume that governance in areas of limited statehood involves a variety of public and private actors, such as states, international organizations, firms, and civil society. Governance entails negotiations, bargaining, and arguing among these actors rather than hierarchical „command and control“.
Topic:: Democratization, Development, International Cooperation, Political Economy, and Governance

3484. Globalization And Military-Industrial Transformation In South Asia: An Historical Perspective

Author:: Emrys Chew
Publication Date:: 04-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies
Abstract:: This paper attempts to demonstrate the relevance of the historical method and the importance of identifying long-term globalizing patterns in understanding the military-industrial transformation and militarization of South Asia. Out of this particular historical matrix would flow the events of 9/11, as well as ongoing developments in the global 'war on terror', fought out in the wider periphery of South Asia.
Topic:: Development, Globalization, and Poverty
Political Geography:: Asia

3485. Myanmar and Argument for Engagement: A Clash of Contending Moralities?

Author:: Christopher B. Roberts
Publication Date:: 03-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies
Abstract:: The domestic environment of Myanmar, in the wake of half a century of civil war and instability, has not shown any sign of an improvement. The Generals remain in control; the health and education systems are collapsing; and the people in the borderlands live under some of the worst conditions of poverty imaginable. Meanwhile, a clash of contesting moralities has emerged through a growing fissure (at least until recently) between those in favour of engagement (ASEAN) and those wanting to isolate and sanction (the West). Of these contesting moralities the most damaging has been economic isolation. Today, Myanmar receives less Official Development Assistance (ODA) per capita than any other developing country in East Asia. Laos, by contrast, is arguably little better in terms of governance yet it receives nineteens times more ODA per capita. Nevertheless, during the course of the past two decades neither engagement nor isolation has produced a tangible shift towards better governance and/or democracy. Through an analysis of the consequences of isolation and instability in Myanmar this paper argues that the international community needs to overcome its policy divide by embracing a combination of diplomatic pressure and targeted engagement designed to enhance, in the long-term, the security and stability of Myanmar and its people. Given the dire nature of the economy in Myanmar, large scale aid packages designed to alleviate the humanitarian crisis and also build the capacity of the state need to be implemented. For the purpose of capacity building and engagement, broad sweeping sanctions targeting the economy in general should be abolished while targeted sanctions (directed at the leadership) should have clear benchmarks for their removal. While the idea of even limited engagement may be repugnant to some; the analysis will show that the "middle path" advocated by this paper represents the best sustainable option to resolve the crisis in Myanmar.
Topic:: Development, Humanitarian Aid, and Poverty
Political Geography:: Israel

3486. Securitizing/Desecuritizing the Filipinos' 'Outward Migration Issue' in the Philippines' Relations with Other Asian Governments

Author:: José N. Franco
Publication Date:: 01-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies
Abstract:: Today's outward migration of millions of Filipinos has rendered international borders porous and blurred the already thin-line between legal and illegal overseas workers, making both documented and undocumented migrants from the Philippines a responsibility of their government. Every case affecting Filipinos abroad, therefore, is a potential non-traditional security issue because, while migration poses no direct threat to the territorial security of sovereign states, it could threaten the survival of government if left unattended. It could make or unmake politicians, remove officials from public office, or, at worst, strain diplomatic relations between labor-sending and -receiving countries. It's also an economic issue that spills over to other related cases, such as human rights, sexual and reproductive health topics, national politics, and foreign affairs. The concept of securitization and desecuritization—as advanced by the Euro-centric Copenhagen School and adopted, with some modifications, by the Asia-centric Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies, in Singapore—is a powerful tool used by actors in identifying an existential threat to a referent object in migration cases, and in resolving the issue at hand.
Topic:: Security, Development, and Government
Political Geography:: Singapore and Southeast Asia

3487. Re-conceptualising the Military-Industrial Complex: A General Systems Theory Approach

Author:: Adrian Kuah
Publication Date:: 01-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies
Abstract:: This paper examines the prevailing model by which the interplay between defence establishments and defence industries–the military-industrial complex–has been understood, focusing primarily on the defence industrial base. It argues that give global change drivers such as the end of the Cold War and the concomitant reduction in the geostrategic threat level, as well as defence globalization, post-industrialism and the revolution in military affairs (RMA), the old model has ceased to have utility for both researchers and policymakers. Instead, this paper suggests an approach that goes beyond conventional economic analyses and draws on organization theory to develop a dynamic model that better reflects the current realities in defence industrial sector. This paper articulates what a general systems conception of the defence industrial system might consist in, and highlight its potential in informing the defence industrial policy process as well as agenda for future research.
Topic:: International Relations, Defense Policy, Development, and Industrial Policy

3488. Bandung And The Political Economy of North-South Relations: Sowing The Seeds For Revisioning International Society

Author:: Helen E.S. Nesadurai
Publication Date:: 01-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies
Abstract:: This paper revisits the 1955 Bandung Conference in an effort to identify and evaluate the legacy of Bandung for the international political economy. James Mayall interpreted the Bandung movement as a revisionist alliance that sought to restructure international society, most notably through the principle of non-alignment. This paper argues that the 1955 Bandung Conference sowed the seed for revisioning international society in two further ways. Bandung's call for equitable representation in international decision-making for newly independent states was essentially a call to take seriously international justice principles, particularly that of procedural justice, in the management of world affairs. Bandung participants also articulated an alternative set of principles for inter-state engagement that emphasised dialogue and accommodation, collective problem-solving and the search for consensus or compromise, principles that were regarded as more suited to the increasingly plural international society of states following decolonisation, and a necessary alternative to the power politics and coercion that had been the basis of colonialism and that threatened to dominate international relations in a world of superpower bloc politics. Fifty years on, these principles remain salient. Procedural justice remains curtailed for developing states, particularly in the key institutions of global economic governance, while the emergence of a range of justice claims articulated by a wider cast of actors beyond states has not led to the emergence of a genuine 'world society' based on a consensus of values. By drawing on insights from the English School of International Relations and Jurgen Habermas's theory of communicative action, the paper suggests that Bandung's endorsement of dialogue over coercion and confrontation may be the best option to reach a reasoned consensus on values, agendas and in problem-solving. Although existing power disparities will continue to intrude, dialogue processes merit greater attention as a necessary (though not sufficient) step in negotiations. In the end, Bandung's lasting legacy for a plural world, yet one that is fast integrating, could well be its endorsement of deliberative politics.
Topic:: International Relations, Security, Development, and Political Economy

3489. Living with Hugo: U.S. Policy Toward Hugo Chávez's Venezuela

Author:: Richard Lapper
Publication Date:: 11-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Council on Foreign Relations
Abstract:: The popularity of the new political and economic model being developed in Venezuela has been a consistent source of aggravation for the U.S. government. Since first winning the presidency in December 1998, Hugo Chávez has been able through repeated electoral victories and radical constitutional reform to dominate Venezuela's government and public institutions. Undaunted by stiff U.S. opposition, President Chávez has launched what he calls a Bolivarian revolution, named after Simón Bolívar, a nineteenth-century leader of Latin America's independence wars. Chávez has reasserted the role of the state in the Venezuelan economy and developed extensive social programs to advance an anti- U.S., anti-capitalist crusade. New or newly reinvigorated alliances with established U.S. adversaries have helped internationalize Chávez's aims. Most alarming to those concerned with the health of Venezuelan democracy, Chávez and his allies have concentrated political power in the hands of the executive, curtailed the independence of the judiciary, shown limited tolerance for domestic critics, and openly intervened in the electoral politics of neighboring states.
Topic:: Conflict Prevention, Foreign Policy, Development, Economics, and Politics
Political Geography:: United States, South America, and Latin America

3490. Avoiding Conflict in the Horn of Africa: U.S. Policy Toward Ethiopia and Eritrea

Author:: Terrance Lyons
Publication Date:: 12-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Council on Foreign Relations
Abstract:: In 2006, the Horn of Africa witnessed major escalations in several conflicts, a marked deterioration of governance in critical states, and a general unraveling of U.S. foreign policy toward the strategically located region. The U.S.-brokered Algiers Agreement to end the 1998–2000 border war between Ethiopia and Eritrea is at a crossroads. Ethiopia has resisted implementing the decisions made by the Eritrea-Ethiopia Border Commission (EEBC), Eritrea has imposed unilateral restrictions on the United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE), and both states have rejected the EEBC's plans to demarcate the border unilaterally. In Sudan, implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement remains incomplete, and the violence in Darfur continues to rage and spill into Chad. In Somalia, the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) has failed to establish itself outside of Baidoa and its rival, the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC), has seized control of Mogadishu and much of southern Somalia. The rapid rise of the UIC in mid-2006 in particular amplified prospects for regional conflict as Ethiopia and Eritrea sent significant military support to the opposing sides. On December 6, 2006, the UN Security SudanCouncil unanimously endorsed Resolution 1725, a plan supported by Washington to deploy African troops to prop up the authorities in Baidoa. The Islamic Courts have stated that this intervention will be regarded as an invading force and will escalate, rather than reduce, the conflict.
Topic:: International Relations and Development
Political Geography:: Uganda, Africa, United States, Washington, Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia, and Eritrea

3491. Reforming U.S. Patent Policy: Getting the Incentives Right

Author:: Keith E. Mascus
Publication Date:: 11-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Council on Foreign Relations
Abstract:: America's robust economic competitiveness is du e in no small part to a large capacity for innovation. That capacity is imperiled, however, by an increasingly overprotective patent system. Over the past twenty-five years, American legislators and judges have operated on the principle that stronger patent protection engenders more innovation. This principle is misguided. Although intellectual property rights (IPR) play an important role in innovation, the recent increase in patent protection has not spurred innovation so much as it has impeded the development and use of new technologies.
Topic:: Development, Economics, and Markets
Political Geography:: United States, China, and America

3492. Afghanistan's Uncertain Transition From Turmoil to Normalcy

Author:: Barnett Rubin
Publication Date:: 03-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Council on Foreign Relations
Abstract:: Before the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and all that followed, Afghans and the handful of internationals working on Afghanistan could hardly have imagined being fortunate enough to confront today's problems. The Bonn Agreement of December 2001 providing for the "reestablishment of permanent government institutions" in Afghanistan was fully completed with the adoption of a constitution in January 2004, the election of President Hamid Karzai in October 2004, and the formation of the National Assembly in December 2005.
Topic:: Development and War
Political Geography:: Afghanistan, United States, and Asia

3493. What can European leaders learn from Koizumi?

Author:: Ángel Ubide
Publication Date:: 03-2006
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS)
Abstract:: Following a long period of stagnation, Japan is growing again. The key to this success story is Koizumi's relentless focus on structural reform, with two objectives: breaking the structural trap of political constituencies defending old and unproductive economic sectors; and adopting a two-pronged macromicro approach to make reform unavoidable. This paper argues that Europe should follow a similar strategy whereby financial market integration, and not the EU bureaucracy and grandiose political declarations, should become the main driving force of national economic reforms, pressuring liberalisation in goods and services markets and making labour market reforms unavoidable.
Topic:: Development, Government, and Politics
Political Geography:: Japan and Europe

3494. From Neighbourhood to Integration Policy: Are there concrete alternatives to enlargement?

Author:: Eneko Landaburu
Publication Date:: 03-2006
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS)
Abstract:: The answer to the question posed in the subtitle is yes, indeed, there are concrete alternatives to enlargement. As there must be. Enlargement has been a key tool in projecting stability across our continent. But it is a reality that the EU cannot expand ad infinitum – everything has its limits. We must honour our present basic commitments, while strictly insisting on the criteria. One of these criteria is our own absorption capacity – it is clear that in some member states the pace and scale of enlargement is approaching the limits of what public opinion will accept. To overstretch, rather than consolidate, the Union would be detrimental not only for us but also our partners. These are all issues with which our leaders will struggle in Vienna in a few months time.
Topic:: International Relations, Security, and Development
Political Geography:: Europe and Vienna

3495. Employment and Competitiveness: The Key Role of Education

Author:: Daniel Gros
Publication Date:: 02-2006
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS)
Abstract:: More than half way into the decade, it is clear that the ambitious goal to make the EU the 'most competitive economy' by 2010 will be missed. This contribution shows that investing more in education would be the key in terms of employment, a central element in the Lisbon goal. Improving the skills of the EU's population would have, inter alia, a direct impact on the employment rate. Reaching the Lisbon goal of an employment rate of 70% would be possible even without labour market reforms if the average level of qualification of the EU were to reach the benchmarks in this area (which in turn are very close to the values reached by the best performing member states).
Topic:: Development, Economics, and Human Welfare
Political Geography:: Europe and Lisbon

3496. An Interim Plan for South-East Europe: Customs Union with the EU and a Regional Schengen for the Free Movement of People

Author:: Michael Emerson
Publication Date:: 01-2006
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS)
Abstract:: The central recommendation of the Amato report of April 20051 set the year 2014 as the target accession date for the whole of the Western Balkans, which would take the EU from the 27 (in 2007 or 2008) to 32 member states minimally, 33 with Turkey, and 35 in the event of independence for Montenegro and Kosovo. This scenario is in contradiction with the present mood of the EU following the French and the Dutch referenda, which rejected the Constitution that was itself designed to pave the way institutionally for further enlargement. The EU has now officially entered a period of profound reflection on its future, a process which cannot be hurried.
Topic:: International Relations and Development
Political Geography:: Turkey, Eastern Europe, Kosovo, and Montenegro

3497. Oxfam Publishing: Girls' Education in South Asia

Author:: Nicola Swainson
Publication Date:: 02-2006
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:: Because of deep-rooted gender inequalities, and because of the large population of South Asia, the region has the highest number of out-of-school girls in the world. This paper outlines some of the issues confronting practitioners, policy makers, and researchers in girls' education in South Asia, and explores what they can do to move towards high-quality and gender-equitable education for all.
Topic:: Development, Education, and Gender Issues
Political Geography:: South Asia

3498. Aceh's Local Elections: The Role of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM)

Publication Date:: 11-2006
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: International Crisis Group
Abstract:: On 11 December 2006 local elections will take place in Aceh, the once war-torn region of Indonesia where exguerrillas are now running for office. The logistical challenges have been huge, particularly in registering so many people displaced by the December 2004 tsunami. But the political challenge has been even greater: how to ensure that the elections facilitate the transition of the former insurgency, the Free Aceh Movement (Gerakan Aceh Merdeka, GAM) from an armed struggle to a political movement, thereby reinforcing its 15 August 2005 peace agreement with the Indonesian government. A rift that has emerged within the GAM leadership has complicated that transition.
Topic:: Conflict Prevention, Development, and Politics
Political Geography:: Indonesia and Asia

3499. Serbia's New Constitution: Democracy Going Backwards

Publication Date:: 11-2006
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: International Crisis Group
Abstract:: Premier Vojislav Kostunica won a high stakes gamble with passage of Serbia's draft constitution in the 28-29 October referendum. However, numerous credible reports indicate the process was deeply flawed and the result falsified. The referendum cannot be characterised as either free or fair. The new constitution could prove a step away from European values. It opens the door to increased centralisation of the state, curtailment of human and minority rights, destruction of judicial independence and potentially even a parliamentary dictatorship. The process used to pass the constitution illustrates how Kostunica continues to transform Serbia into something closer to illiberal authoritarianism than liberal democracy; yet, the referendum was welcomed by the Council of Europe, the European Union and the United States.
Topic:: Democratization, Development, and Government
Political Geography:: United States, Europe, Eastern Europe, and Serbia

3500. Geeing up the G-20

Author:: Mark P Thirlwell and Dr. Malcolm Cook
Publication Date:: 05-2006
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Lowy Institute for International Policy
Abstract:: Globalisation implies a big increase in the payoffs from successful cross-border economic cooperation. Yet the main international institutional mechanisms designed to facilitate such cooperation, the G7 and the IMF, are not up to it. Both the G7’s membership and the IMF’s governance structure significantly under-represent several key players in the modern global economy, a potentially fatal handicap when it comes to tackling some of the most pressing challenges now facing policymakers. Moreover, neither gives Australia a permanent seat at the top table.
Topic:: International Relations, Development, and Economics
Political Geography:: Australia/Pacific

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COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS