Nussbaum’s capability approach and African environmental ethics: is the African voice heard?

ABSTRACT

Martha Nussbaum’s capability approach (CA) offers a framework for a universal conception of human development. This paper interrogates Nussbaum’s approach using African environmental ethics (AEE) to see if it captures African ways of valuing nature. It looks at two ways in which Nussbaum’s approach considers the value of the natural environment: a) by applying her list of capabilities to non-human animals and b) by including, what is here termed, an environmental capability in Nussbaum's list of ten central capabilities she deems necessary for a person to flourish. The author argues that, despite limitations and need for further exploration, the second way of ‘environment capability’ aligns well with how nature is valued in AEE. The author also shows that both Nussbaum and AEE value nature in a way that, while not necessarily intrinsic, goes beyond material instrumentality and opens avenues for further discussion of the capabilities approach in traditional value systems     

Factors influencing the decision to hire contract labour by Indian manufacturing firms

ABSTRACT

Over a third of workers employed in the Indian formal manufacturing sector are ‘contract’ workers – hired through the services of labour contractors, facing lower wages and no job security in relation to regular workers. We investigate the role of a variety of factors that influence the decision of employers to hire in contract workers, using information from a specially commissioned survey of manufacturing firms. While there are immediate cost advantages that tilt firms towards hiring in contract labour, a counterforce has employers favouring regular workers in firms that have a large proportion of their workforce concentrating on production activity – probably instances where long-term human capital investment by regular workers is important for the firm.

Abbreviation: CLA: Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1970 ASI: Annual Survey of Industries NIC: National Industrial Classification MSME: Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises SEZ: Special Economic Zone ICRIER: Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations     

Institutional attitudes to property investment in the UK — last waltz of the dinosaurs round the ‘prime property’ totem pole?

Summary

Institutions which own and develop property are just beginning to recognize that they are offering a product which no longer enjoys a guaranteed market with ever increasing returns. In the increasingly difficult and discerning letting markets of the 1980's they are having to accept that the price (both in rental and capital terms) of the product they own and offer will depend entirely on how it meets the needs of their customers, the tenants. Like many other quasi‐monopolists used to operating in protected markets in the past, they may find the process of adjusting to this new world goes further, last longer and hurts more than they expect. Against that background, the traditional distinctions between ‘prime’, ‘secondary’ and ‘tertiary’ property in the investment market, as well as the old dividing lines between the office, industrial and retail categories are beginning to break down. Hillier Parker, for example, have published research suggesting that rents of secondary shop properties grew much faster than ‘prime’ rents over the past five years. The lowest yields, and highest prices, rents and investment ratings must eventually come together to produce an explosion of relative value in the locations and buildings with the best record and prospect of growing tenant demand.     

Property finance in the UK in the post‐war period

Summary

This paper is intended to introduce readers to the subject of property finance and to provide a review of post‐war trends in property finance and investment. In particular, it considers the growth and influence of institutional investment. The property ‘myth’ is examined in the light of recent analysis of the rental performance of commercial and industrial property, and the obsolescence of buildings.     

Forecasting housing land requirements

Summary

Because of pressures on the countryside by private housing development, the Government and the planners have become increasingly involved in planning policy issues and in forecasting land requirements. The forecasting techniques used are examined, and their translation into local allocations through structure and local plans and land availability studies are looked at. The demand for more land releases is attributed more to structural changes in the housebuilding industry and local land shortages in the south‐east than to real shortfalls in housing provision. There is a need for improved monitoring systems for land resource management, particularly in balancing ‘green‐field’ releases against development/redevelopment in existing urban areas.     

An Analysis of Standards‐based Regulation in the EU Organic Sector, 1991–2007

Against the background of a discussion of recent analyses of capitalist subsumption of agriculture and of neo‐liberalism, the paper uses a ‘liberal governmentality’ framework to trace the development of the EU Regulation on organic agriculture from its adoption in 1991 to its recent repeal and replacement in 2007. The central argument is that regulatory development took the form of a cycle of elaboration, tightening, increasing deviation and finally a ‘return to principles’ in order to reduce deviation. At different stages in this cycle, different groups of ‘stakeholders’, including experts, were influential. Likewise, different forms of expertise became dominant or were sidelined. Meanwhile, ‘capital’ in its different incarnations remained marginal throughout. The paper leaves open the questions of the generalizability of this analysis to regulatory arenas other than the EU, as well as to regulatory objects more central than organic agriculture to capitalist accumulation.     

Historical grounding,political contexts,material hurdles: Towards more in-depth understandings of ‘finance going farming’

Two recently published books—Fairbairn's Fields of Gold and Ouma's Farming as a Financial Asset—now provide the first extensive investigations into finance's engagement with farmland. Both books set out to understand finance's growing interest in farmland from the perspective of the financial actors involved, and inquire how, why, and with what kind of challenges ‘finance has been going farming.’ This review essay discusses the two books in the context of the ‘land rush’ literature. It outlines how they contribute to an advanced understanding of the financialization of farmland in three ways, by (i) embedding finance-farmland intersections historically; (ii) scrutinizing the role of the state within financial farmland investments; and (iii) exploring the hurdles involved in ‘marrying’ finance with farmland. I then critically reflect on the areas that have not been covered by the authors. Critical agrarian studies need to investigate how financialization intersects with the digitization of agriculture, examine life expectancies and afterlives of financialized farms, further ground financial investment in concrete rural spaces, and explore individual motivations and belief systems of its proponents more seriously.     

Interactions between Brands and CO Labels: The Case of “Bavarian Beer” and “Munich Beer” – Application of a Conditional Logit Model

ABSTRACT

For the past four decades ‘country-of-origin’ (CO) research has been discussing the value of designations such as ‘Made in Germany’ or ‘Made in USA.’ However, published studies have not usually investigated brand-specific effects of ‘country-of-origin’ (CO labels). This article employs a choice experiment in order to analyse the impact of a CO label applied to branded food products. For this purpose, a nationwide survey was carried out in Germany to measure the effect of the geographical indications ‘Bavarian beer’ and ‘Munich Beer’ on brand choice. The results indicate that weak unknown brands can benefit especially from the labeling of geographical indications.     

How do producer organisations enhance farmers’ empowerment in the context of fair trade certification?

ABSTRACT

In the fair trade (FT) coffee sector, collective dynamics are viewed as a prerequisite for empowerment. The question of whether and how collective organisations empower farmers in the context of FT has yet to be fully explored. Using the concepts of collective agency and empowerment, this paper analyses the case of four farmers’ groups involved in two FT certified producer organisations in Peru. The results show that collective dynamics are drivers of change in this context oand help provide a ‘power to’ change coffee-related activities. They also generate a sense of ‘power with’, which improves group visibility and capacity to build new partnerships. Farmers gain the opportunity to develop their livelihood activities and women farmers develop ‘power from within’. TDespite that, collective action still focuses primarily on coffee and members-only projects. Inclusive rural development depends on extending ‘power with’ to other agricultural domains and to networks in the social and economic spheres.     

Functional Land Management for managing soil functions: A case-study of the trade-off between primary productivity and carbon storage in response to the intervention of drainage systems in Ireland

Globally, there is growing demand for increased agricultural outputs. At the same time, the agricultural industry is expected to meet increasingly stringent environmental targets. Thus, there is an urgent pressure on the soil resource to deliver multiple functions simultaneously. The Functional Land Management framework (Schulte et al., 2014) is a conceptual tool designed to support policy making to manage soil functions to meet these multiple demands. This paper provides a first example of a practical application of the Functional Land Management concept relevant to policy stakeholders. In this study we examine the trade-offs, between the soil functions ‘primary productivity’ and ‘carbon cycling and storage’, in response to the intervention of land drainage systems applied to ‘imperfectly’ and ‘poorly’ draining managed grasslands in Ireland. These trade-offs are explored as a function of the nominal price of ‘Certified Emission Reductions’ or ‘carbon credits’. Also, these trade-offs are characterised spatially using ArcGIS to account for spatial variability in the supply of soil functions.To manage soil functions, it is essential to understand how individual soil functions are prioritised by those that are responsible for the supply of soil functions – generally farmers and foresters, and those who frame demand for soil functions – policy makers. Here, in relation to these two soil functions, a gap exists in relation to this prioritisation between these two stakeholder groups. Currently, the prioritisation and incentivisation of these competing soil functions is primarily a function of CO₂ price. At current CO₂ prices, the agronomic benefits outweigh the monetised environmental costs. The value of CO₂ loss would only exceed productivity gains at either higher CO₂ prices or at a reduced discount period rate. Finally, this study shows large geographic variation in the environmental cost: agronomic benefit ratio. Therein, the Functional Land Management framework can support the development of policies that are more tailored to contrasting biophysical environments and are therefore more effective than ‘blanket approaches’ allowing more specific and effective prioritisation of contrasting soil functions.     

Telecommunications and the future of cities∗

Summary

This article examines the impact of new telecommunications technologies on urban growth and development. Contrary to the conventional wisdom, the author argues that new technologies are strengthening large ‘world cities’ that are centres for international finance and information services. The author describes the emerging telecommunications infrastructure in the US and analyses the distinctive roles of government and business in the planning and development of this infrastructure. Drawing upon data from major financial institutions, the author analyses the location of corporate headquarters and information processing centres. The conclusions suggest that there will be growing disparities between urban and rural telecommunications systems and the consequences for office development.     

Public space,private development and community welfare

Summary

The focus of this paper is on the public spaces associated with certain private developments, e.g. plazas, arcades, atria, etc. In many urban settings these spaces have become important amenities in their own right, with indoor spaces, in particular, often providing extensive and climatically controlled recreational opportunities free from the uncertainties of the external environment. Given the ‘public goods’ characteristics of these spaces, it is suggested that they deserve more detailed scrutiny since the potential ‘welfare’ benefits from increased provision might be considerable. To this end, it is argued that the planning authorities have both the duty and the power to ‘encourage’ private developers to not only extend provision but also improve accessibility.     

The impact of mediterranean land degradation on agricultural income: A short-term scenario

The present study estimates the potential costs of land degradation (LD) in agriculture at the national scale in Italy during 2000–2006 and provides a medium-term scenario for 2015 based on changes in climate conditions and human pressure. According to the user cost approach, a depletion factor (S) to agricultural income has been derived from the observed changes in a composite index of land sensitivity to degradation. Based on S figures, the investigated area has been classified into five risk categories from ‘negligible’ to ‘high’. Surface land classified as ‘high LD risk’ increased slightly from 1.1 per cent in 2000 to 4.4 per cent in 2006 ranging from 2.9 to 8.6 per cent in 2015. Eleven indicators have been used to identify the socioeconomic conditions which possibly discriminate districts in ‘high’ and ‘low’ LD risk in agriculture. The gap in LD risk observed in 2000 between developed and disadvantaged regions in Italy reduced significantly in 2006. This suggests that agriculture is sensitive to LD in both economically marginal and affluent areas where climate and soil conditions are turning towards the worse. These results support strategies improving sustainable agriculture–environment relationships and protecting the soil resource base at the local scale.     

Assessing cost‐effectiveness when environmental benefits are bundled: agricultural water management in Great Barrier Reef catchments

Using economic analysis to prioritise improvements in environmental conditions is particularly difficult when multiple benefits are involved. This includes ‘bundling’ issues in agricultural pollution management, where a change in management action or farming systems generates multiple improvements, such as reductions in more than one pollutant. In this study, we conceptualise and compare two different approaches to analysing cost‐effectiveness when varying bundles of benefits are generated for a single project investment. Each approach requires data to be transformed in some way to allow the analysis to proceed. The index approach requires the transformation on the benefits side so that the effects of multiple pollutant changes can be combined into a measure for each project which can then be compared to costs. By comparison, the disaggregation approach requires the transformation on the costs side where costs for each project have to be apportioned across the different pollutants involved. The paper provides novel insights with an application to agricultural water quality improvements into the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, demonstrating that while both approaches are effective in prioritising projects by cost‐effectiveness, the disaggregation approach provides more insightful results and values that may be relevant for use as upper value guidelines in future project selection.     

The case for property investment and the implications of a unitized property market

Abstract

It is well known that direct property investment has often provided a more attractive risk/return profile than gilts and yet it enjoys a comparatively small role in institutional portfolios. This paper begins by updating and confirming that position. It then considers why this should be the case and poses the question of whether the development of a unitized property market might alter institutions’ perceptions of property as an investment in such a way as to increase its portfolio importance.

Section 2 discusses the weighting attached to property in recent years and section 3 discusses the conventional methods of risk/return analysis which present property in a favourable light. The paper then asks why the weighting should be so low and begins (section 4) by looking at arguments that conventional methods of risk/return analysis are misleading when applied to property, leading to an overstatement of return and an underestimate of risk. If institutions are aware of these defects they may adjust their perceptions of risk/return appropriately. We are not, however, persuaded that this is the whole of the explanation. In section 5 we consider other disadvantages or costs of direct property investment which go unrecorded by conventional measures of risk but which might be important to institutions. We confirm there are peculiarities attaching to direct property investment but that these cannot wholly explain the high return that institutions seem to need to induce them to hold only a small proportion of their portfolio in property. We are left, therefore, with the conclusion that institutions’ perceptions of the merits of property investment are a significant factor. Thus, in section 6, we try to identify ways in which an active market in unitized property might encourage institutions to hold larger property portfolios in future.     

Can mining countries take advantage of their mining rents? A question of abundance,concentration and institutions

ABSTRACT

A common puzzle in economics is whether natural resources are a ‘curse’ or a ‘blessing’ for economic development. Previous studies have suggested that resource booms can promote growth, but private rent-seeking can turn these booms into a curse if institutions are weak. We argue that private incentives differ depending on whether rents are diversified across different commodities or concentrated in a few of them, because greater diversification implies higher appropriation costs. By using SITC-4 level of export disaggregation to measure within-sector concentration in 131 countries during 1991–2015, we show that the effect of mining rents on economic growth is conditional on the level of concentration within the mining sector. Mining rents enhance growth for economies with low concentration and strong institutions but reduce growth for economies with high-concentration and extremely weak institutions.     

Global Standards and the Dynamics of Environmental Compliance in India's Leather Industry

Abstract

The comments by Tsai illustrate some important points in the industrial policy debate, though they also reflect a misconception of the purposes of my paper. My rejoinder describes briefly the ‘revisionist’ case, noting that it provides grounds for careful government policies to overcome market failures and not for wholesale, inefficient intervention. It discusses why Tsai's critique of my interpretation of the Asian Tigers is misplaced, and goes on to argue that the ‘revisionist’ case does not underestimate the costs of government failure. It does, however, hold that selective interventions are feasible in certain circumstances, and that other developing country governments can leant from the East Asian experience.     

Economic Meltdown in Malaysia

Abstract

The economic downturn in Malaysia has encouraged a debate on the benefits of its export-oriented industrialisation strategy. There is renewed interest in the agricultural and livestock sectors. One of the beneficiaries of this policy change could be the dairy farming sector. Using desktop research and ‘key-informant’ techniques, this study reviews various factors that could influence the development of the dairy farming sector in Malaysia. The study concludes that the (a) Government may encourage the start-up of integrated plantation crop, animal feed and livestock farms, (b) investment and trade linkages with neighbouring countries could lead to diversification of import sources, and (c) consumption of dairy products may have matured, leading to increases in dairy self-sufficiency. It is postulated that these developments will produce a dynamic environment and significant threats to the interests of traditional dairy exporting countries.     

Decarbonisation and wholesale electricity market design

In recent decades, many power systems have introduced electricity generator competition. Market designs have varied with some countries adopting ‘energy‐only’ markets and others utilising capacity remuneration mechanisms. With increasing deployment of cost competitive renewable energy and the introduction of policy measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, concerns are emerging about the sustainability of these market designs. In Australia, wholesale electricity prices have increased markedly – the result of a ‘disorderly’ transition away from coal to new renewable energy. This paper critically examines the ‘energy‐only’ market in a high‐penetration renewables system, with a particular focus on the vertically and horizontally restructured National Electricity Market (NEM). We propose that the ‘energy‐only’ market can indeed work within a decarbonised energy system. But as renewables increasingly replace coal‐fired power stations, ‘unintended consequences’ will need to be addressed to facilitate an ‘orderly’ transition. It will be important that policy ensures appropriate new investment in firm capacity is forthcoming; and pricing outcomes are acceptable given political economy constraints.