Process Approaches to Development: Theory and Sri Lankan Practice

Calls for “process projects” in the 1980s led to the development of a body of knowledge about process approaches and the implementation of innovative programs and projects. During the 1990s the focus has moved on to the narrower subject of beneficiary participation and much potential learning about how to promote development is being lost. This paper reviews the notion of process approaches and produces a conceptual framework that synthesizes these ideas. It then uses this framework to analyze 12 years of experience of a NORAD-financed IRDP in Sri Lanka. The findings point to the continued relevance of deepening the theory and practice of process approaches in development.     

Forecasting regional cellular communication markets

The paper examines the problem of modeling of regional cellular communication markets. It analyzes the situation in several regions to reveal common patterns, because knowledge of the dynamics of more advanced regions can be used as the basis of forecasts for other regions. A model is proposed to refine forecasts if some special changes are detected in the regional market behavior. The notion of “allied” market is introduced and a forecast based on the “allied” regional market path is offered using Kurgan oblast as a case study.     

Women’s Empowerment and Child Malnutrition: The Case of Mozambique

Using data from the 2011 Demographic and Health Survey in Mozambique this paper checks whether women empowerment has an impact on the nutritional status of children. We evaluate the degree of empowerment of women via multidimensional approaches, making a distinction between five domains: decision making, use of violence by husband/partner, attitude of the woman towards this use of violence, available information, material resources. Each domain includes several questions reflecting different aspects of empowerment. For each domain of empowerment, three different methods of aggregation are used: correspondence analysis, the so‐called Alkire and Foster methodology and the “fuzzy sets” approach. The impact of women empowerment on the nutritional status of children is analyzed via the MIMIC approach. No clear‐cut conclusion concerning the possible impact of women’s empowerment on the nutritional status of children could be drawn. But, ceteris paribus, the material wealth of the household, the educational level of the mother and her BMI are positively correlated with the nutritional status of children which is also higher when the child is female. Finally, there are important differences in the nutritional status of children between the various regions of Mozambique and this nutritional status is in most regions lower in rural areas.     

Accountability In Practice: Mechanisms for NGOs

This paper examines how accountability is practiced by nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). Five broad mechanisms are reviewed: reports and disclosure statements, performance assessments and evaluations, participation, self-regulation, and social audits. Each mechanism, distinguished as either a “tool” or a “process,” is analyzed along three dimensions of accountability: upward–downward, internal–external, and functional–strategic. It is observed that accountability in practice has emphasized “upward” and “external” accountability to donors while “downward” and “internal” mechanisms remain comparatively underdeveloped. Moreover, NGOs and funders have focused primarily on short-term “functional” accountability responses at the expense of longer-term “strategic” processes necessary for lasting social and political change. Key policy implications for NGOs and donors are discussed.     

Economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa, 1885–2008: Evidence from eight countries

Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has been absent from recent debates about comparative long-run growth owing to the lack of data on aggregate economic performance before 1950. This paper provides estimates of GDP per capita on an annual basis for eight Anglophone African economies for the period since 1885, raising new questions about previous characterizations of the region's economic performance. The new data show that many of these economies had levels of per capita income which were above subsistence by the early twentieth century, on a par with the largest economies in Asia until the 1980s. However, overall improvements in GDP per capita were limited by episodes of negative growth or “shrinking”, the scale and scope of which can be measured through annual data.     

Four Criteria of Development NGO Legitimacy

The increasing prominence of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) as agents of development raises normative questions concerning their involvement in this process. These questions can be grouped together as issues of “legitimacy.” This paper suggests four criteria of development NGO legitimacy, explained as either formal-procedural or substantive-purposive. It concludes by arguing that NGOs and governments each have distinctive roles and responsibilities in the development process.     

Village Banking and Maternal and Child Health: Evidence from Ecuador and Honduras

Many microcredit institutions bundle credit with health, education, or other programs. This paper reviews arguments on such “tie-ins” and concludes that net benefits are possible but requires empirical testing. Quasi-experimental data from Project HOPE's “health banks” and credit-only village banks are then examined. The paper presents evidence that health practices do not improve automatically with greater wealth. In Honduras, results show that health bank participation is robustly associated with reduced subsequent conditional child diarrhea probability, but in no specification does credit-only bank participation have this effect. In Ecuador, results suggest a larger effect of credit-only banks. In both countries, health bank participation significantly raises subsequent healthcare over credit-only participation, and at least reduces the tendency to switch from breast-feeding to bottle-feeding as income rises. Effects on expenditures are ambiguous. There is no clear link between tie-ins and bank performance.     

In the Eyes of the State: Negotiating a “Rights-Based Approach” to Forest Conservation in Thailand

Recent debates about governance, poverty and environmental sustainability have emphasized a “rights-based” approach, in which equitable development is strongly associated with individual and communal rights. This paper reviews this approach and explores its practical application to Thailand's “Community Forestry Bill,” which seeks to establish communal rights of access and conservation in forest reserve areas. The paper examines conflicts concerning watershed forests and mangroves in Thailand, and argues that efforts to support rural livelihoods through community rights have been undermined by a state that has frequently supported commercial interests or opposed decentralization to minority groups. The paper documents how civil society organizations may negotiate rights within the wider public spheres in which rules, rights, and “community” are established, and defended.     

The Second Demographic Dividend as a Driver of China's Growth

As China's demographic transition enters a new stage, the “first demographic dividend” – the economic advantage resulting from demographic changes in recent decades – is bound to disappear permanently. China's future development will be characterized by an aging population. The “second demographic dividend” refers to new sources of economic growth derived from this later population change. This paper reveals major constraints caused by aging in China, which is characterized by a tendency to grow old before becoming rich. As the population ages, human capital improvement slows, labor force participation declines and consumption power reduces. This paper suggests taking advantage of a population “echo effect” to improve human capital at all ages, to enhance workers’ ability to benefit from employment, and to improve the labor participation rate of the elderly, which in turn would increase the income and social security of the aged. These measures are conducive to future economic growth and to the cultivation of the second demographic dividend.     

Enchantment and Disenchantment: The Role of Community in Natural Resource Conservation

The poor conservation outcomes that followed decades of intrusive resource management strategies and planned development have forced policy makers and scholars to reconsider the role of community in resource use and conservation. In a break from previous work on development which considered communities a hindrance to progressive social change, current writings champion the role of community in bringing about decentralization, meaningful participation, and conservation. But despite its recent popularity, the concept of community is rarely defined or carefully examined by those concerned with resource use and management. We seek to redress this omission by investigating “community” in work concerning resource conservation and management. We explore the conceptual origins of the community, and the ways the term has been deployed in writings on resource use. We then analyze those aspects of community most important to advocates for community's role in resource management — community as a small spatial unit, as a homogeneous social structure, and as shared norms — and indicate the weaknesses of these approaches. Finally, we suggest a more political approach: community must be examined in the context of development and conservation by focusing on the multiple interests and actors within communities, on how these actors influence decision-making, and on the internal and external institutions that shape the decision-making process. A focus on institutions rather than “community” is likely to be more fruitful for those interested in community-based natural resource management.     

The Importance of Brand and Competition in Defining U.S. Religious Markets

Economic analysis of religious participation has been pursued mainly assuming very homogeneous religious markets and using highly aggregated units of measure. Utilizing a county-level data set, we explore the structure of U.S. religious markets and determine whether the impacts of the economic influences on religious participation are sensitive to the “brand” of religion chosen by consumers. We find that the directions of effects of wealth and death rates are largely independent of brand definition. However, the magnitudes of these effects along with the directions of effects of income, religious competition, and human capital are sensitive to brand. The impact of religious competition is particularly complex, with differences between “interbrand” and “intrabrand,” as well as extreme values where competition may be a defining feature of brand.     

AN INSTITUTIONAL ANALYSIS OF ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION DISPUTES IN TAIWAN: CASES OF “SELF‐RELIEF”

During the late 1980s and early 1990s in Taiwan, people's protests against environmental pollution often took the form of “self‐relief,” meaning that they attempted to fight polluters using their own resources, without relying on legal or administrative procedures. Why did such an extreme form of dispute become so widespread? What institutional changes did these movements bring about? These questions are analyzed using the analytical framework of “law and economics.” Our research shows that self‐relief functioned to a certain extent as a means of realizing quick compensation for victims, and for reflecting the opinions of local people concerning development projects; in addition, it served to promote the formulation of law and administrative systems. However, as it was based on direct negotiations between the parties concerned, the outcome of each dispute only reflected the transient balance of forces, and the experience gained in negotiations was not accumulated as a social norm.     

Is Globalization Reducing Poverty and Inequality?

Over the past 20 years or so India, China, and the rest of East Asia, experienced fast economic growth and falls in the poverty rate, Latin America stagnated, the former Soviet Union, Central and Eastern Europe, and sub-Saharan Africa regressed. But what are the net trends? The neoliberal argument says that world poverty and income inequality fell over the past two decades for the first time in more than a century and a half, thanks to the rising density of economic integration across national borders. The evidence therefore confirms that globalization in the context of the world economic regime in place since the end of Bretton Woods generates more “mutual benefit” than “conflicting interests.” This paper questions the empirical basis of the neoliberal argument.     

The caterpillar fungus boom on the Tibetan Plateau: Curse or blessing?

In the last two decades, the Tibetan regions of China have been experiencing a remarkable economic boom fueled by the caterpillar fungus, known in the West as the “Viagra of the Himalayas” or “Tibetan Gold.” This article examines the impacts of the caterpillar fungus boom on Tibetan pastoralists' current-day livelihood and the prospects of their future economic development. Our study is based on a household survey conducted in 2016 covering 58 villages across the Tibetan autonomous land area. Results show that the new stream of cash income from gathering and trading caterpillar fungus has had a strong short-term welfare-improving effect. Household consumption, healthcare spending, and religious charity have risen sharply with caterpillar fungus income. Unfortunately, the fungus boom has not brought about productive investment or human capital accumulation that is conducive to long-term growth. Rather, the resource windfall has created disincentives for school attendance, nonfarm labor participation, and productivity improvements in pastoralism. The resource boom-induced disinvestments, if persistent, will likely further limit the capabilities of rural Tibetans to compete in the urban labor market, reinforcing the emerging trend of socioeconomic marginalization. We contextualize these findings in terms of Tibetans' cultural and economic rationale, pointing out new directions for future research and policymaking.     

泰州沿江城乡一体化的实践

泰州市沿江以高港区和靖江市为主。泰州沿江城乡一体化的发展特色：工业化带动城镇化,致富农民成效显著;集中居住区初具规模,农民积极性很高;政府扶持,设施农业发展特色鲜明。泰州沿江城乡一体化面临的问题：集中区布局超前意识缺乏,易引发潜在问题;农业现代化过程中,政府财政扶持压力过大;城市化水平有待进一步提高;空间开发不够有序高效。泰州沿江城乡一体化进一步发展的思考：统筹城乡协调发展必须跳出传统的＂就农业论农业、就农村论农村、就农民论农民＂的局限,反弹琵琶,跳出“三农”来解决“三农”,积极寻求统筹城乡协调发展的新路径。     

Forced commerce and agrarian growth

The paper explains why contractually interlocked agrarian markets differ from price—and quantity—adjustments under pressures of excess demand/supply in neoclassical general equilibrium analysis. Such contractual interlocking, arising (say) from the indebtedness of the peasants, gives rise to a contrived system of “forced commerce”. This commercial mode of exploitation not only exhibits unequal relations of economic power, but more important, it is also a mechanism for maintaining such unequal power structure, often at the cost of retarding agrarian growth. The paper thus emphasizes the need to understand the very notion of “market exchange” and “commerce” in backward agriculture from an unconventional viewpoint.     

“Cautiously Optimistic” Comments on “Black Americans in the 21st Century: Should we be Optimistic or Concerned?”

This is a commentary on Angel Harris’ examination of the current state and challenges facing the black community. Harris provides a comprehensive overview of the socio-economic status of the black Americans and questions America’s ability to achieve the American “creed of opportunity”. My response to Harris’ question, “Should we be pessimistic or optimistic”, is that I am cautiously optimistic. My optimism is rooted in postsecondary progress of black despite challenges to affirmative action and the lingering test score gap between blacks and whites. However, I am “cautious” about the willingness of policy makers to use “race targeted” or “wealth-based-tested” programs to arrest practices which hinder employment, income and wealth opportunity.     

DUMPING AND "MATERIAL INJURY": A THEORETICAL NOTE

This paper looks at the notion of “material injury” when used as a condition for levying antidumping duties. Using a standard geometric model, we argue that the material injury suffered by import‐substituting industries is only one side of the dumping coin; it is necessary also to consider the possible benefits that other stakeholders, including consumers and other domestic producers, may derive from lower import prices. The decision whether to introduce antidumping duties should ideally be based on the net effect that dumping has on the social welfare of the broader community.     

The rising child penalty in China

The falling female labor force participation rate in China has raised the attention of labor economists and policymakers. In light of this, this paper documents the changes in labor force participation of mothers relative to fathers around first births (referred as the “child penalty”) in China from 1982 to 2015 using a pseudo event study approach. Our findings show that child penalty for Chinese women has not only been steadily increasing, but also persists over years. This pattern cannot be solely explained by the lifted birth quota since the implementation of the one-child Policy. We further show that the increasing child penalty coincides with the decreasing number of public kindergartens after the state-owned enterprise (SOE) reform. Using a standard Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition approach, we also find evidence of a high percentage of child-related gender inequality in labor force participation.     

Shareholder Empowerment and Board of Directors Effectiveness*

We develop a model to examine implications of empowering shareholders to replace directors. We find that shareholder empowerment functions as a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it can weaken ineffective boards' incentive to hold on to their position. On the other hand, it can induce both effective and ineffective boards to behave strategically to avoid a potential dismissal. As a result, empowerment does not necessarily increase firm value; in some cases, empowerment exacerbates the agency problem it is intended to address. Giving shareholders the power to set board compensation (have a “say on pay”) can mitigate these problems. However, even when empowerment benefits (harms) the shareholders, firm value may decrease (increase). Finally, we discuss empirical and policy implications of the main findings.