The role of politics in the migration of Zimbabwean teachers to South Africa

This paper contributes to the debate on the role played by the political crisis in Zimbabwe in causing teacher migration to South Africa in the presence of other social and economic drivers. The paper uses data collected through a questionnaire self-administered by 100 Zimbabwean teachers in South Africa (migrants) and another 100 in Zimbabwe (non-migrants). In-depth interviews with a few migrant teachers were used to supplement these data. Although it was the second most mentioned reason for the teachers' migration to South Africa, the role played by political violence or repression in Zimbabwe in causing this migration should not be downplayed. Most migrant teachers came from Zimbabwean schools affected by political violence to a large extent before or after the 2008 presidential elections, especially rural areas. Teachers that held positions or distributed opposition party regalia were mostly displaced by violence. There is an urgent need for political transformation to more democratic rule in Zimbabwe.     

Beyond the crisis in Zimbabwe: Sorting out the land question

The depth of political and economic despair in Zimbabwe is beyond dispute. This paper situates the unfortunate picture in its historical context – drawing particular attention to the role of land in setting the country on its tragic trajectory, and showing how land remains the most fundamental problem precluding the restoration of political coherence and economic recovery. It argues that political and economic stability will be elusive until there is definitive closure to Zimbabwe's unpleasant past and at the same time clarity about property rights. It offers in addition some necessary first steps for the day when a new government is finally able to address and rectify the current chaos.     

Lodging as a migrant economic strategy in urban Zimbabwe

The 1990s were a decade of rapid urbanisation and growth of squatter settlements in African cities. Given the severe shortage of affordable housing options, a large proportion of urban dwellers choose lodging as the only economically viable, legal shelter option. Lodging is thus an essential element of the economic survival strategy of the urban poor. Based on a longitudinal study of lodgers in a medium-sized Zimbabwean city during the mid-1990s, this article explores the economic characteristics and strategies of lodging households during a time of rapid urban growth and worsening economic conditions. The article outlines the way these changes affect lodging household composition, shelter features, economic coping mechanisms and overall vulnerability. It concludes with a brief examination of the present urban situation in Zimbabwe.     

Medical migration from Zimbabwe: magnitude,causes and impact on the poor

This article examines the migration of health professionals from Zimbabwe in the face of a worsening economic and political crisis. Drawing on data from selected health institutions, it shows that the magnitude of this migration is increasing, with no signs of slowing down, and that economic factors are largely responsible. This outflow has negatively affected the users of the health system, particularly the poor who cannot afford the alternative health services offered by the better-staffed and well-equipped private clinics and consequently have resorted to visiting traditional and faith healers. Based on the research findings, the study calls for a speedy resolution of the current economic and political crisis as a long-term solution for reducing the medical brain drain from Zimbabwe.     

POLITICAL LIBERALIZATION OR ARMED CONFLICTS? POLITICAL CHANGES IN POST–COLD WAR AFRICA

The African political scene after the end of the Cold War has been characterized by two major issues: the development of political liberalization and frequent outbreaks of armed conflict. The purpose of this paper is to reflect on the relationship between these two issues. Although political liberalization cannot directly explain the outbreak of armed conflicts, the relationship can be understood by taking patrimonial characteristics of the post‐colonial African states into account. The economic crisis and the change of the international environment after the 1980s compelled African states to launch the transformation, during which three results emerged: countries advancing successfully toward transformation into “polyarchy”; countries having fallen into severe armed conflicts; and countries in which authoritarian rulers managed to survive through introducing superficial measures of political liberalization. The characteristics of political change after the end of the Cold War can be therefore understood as transition processes of the post‐colonial African states.     

The COVID‐19 Pandemic and Its Impact on the Global Economy: What Does It Take to Turn Crisis into Opportunity?

The COVID‐19 pandemic broke out at a time when there were heightened uncertainties in the global economy. Understanding these uncertainties provides an important background for analyzing the impact of the pandemic on the global economy, assessing the effectiveness of policy measures in combating the pandemic and reviving the global economy, and predicting the trajectory of the economic recovery in the post‐pandemic era. We analyze how COVID‐19 would likely deepen an existing malaise in the global economy, and what could be done to address these problems while managing the economic recovery. We argue that three fundamental factors that could lead to a solid recovery in the post pandemic era are structural reform, new technology and re‐integration. They could be managed by instituting a new “global social contract.” Supported by strong public policies at all levels, especially at national level, these three factors could bring about the salvation of the global economy as it recovers or re‐emerges from the pandemic crisis.     

Making Negotiated Land Reform Work: Initial Experience from Colombia,Brazil and South Africa

The paper describes background, initial experience, and future challenges associated with a new “negotiated” approach to land reform. This approach has emerged as, following the end of the Cold War and broad macroeconomic adjustment, many countries face a “second generation” of reforms to address deep-rooted structural problems and provide the basis for sustainable poverty reduction and economic growth. It reviews possible theoretical links—through credit market or political channels—between asset ownership and economic performance. Program characteristics in each country, as well as lessons for implementation, and implications for monitoring and impact assessment are discussed.     

Cosmology and economics

Abstract

Economics has become the political magic of the twentieth century, and contention over economic policy is the political lifeblood of the modern state. The glare of publicity highlights the equilibrism of economic policy, leaving in the shade diplomacy and statecraft of former days. There is a consensus in modern society and in the modern state that political debate and economic discussion are two sides of the same coin, and that “economics”, like a second law of nature, sets the limits of the political options. Economic reform, economic adjustment, economic “rescue plans” and so on are synonyms for political strategies. Politics is the management of the “economy”, and at the same time “economics” is the authority to which all appeal as the “necessity”, as the authority that governs and legitimises policy.     

Determinants of return migration intentions: Evidence from Zimbabwean migrants living in South Africa

This paper uses a dataset of Zimbabwean migrants living in South Africa to examine the determinants of the probability of their returning to their country of origin. It analyses migrants' return migration intentions using a logistic regression that examines 10 demographic and socioeconomic factors. Six factors – reason for migrating, the number of dependants supported in the home country, the level of education, economic activity in the host country, the level of income and the duration of stay in the host country – are found to be statistically significant determinants of the return migration intentions. The main policy implication of these findings is that the chances of attracting back skills are high if political and economic stability can be achieved.     

Vernacular Models of Development: An Analysis of Indonesia Under the “New Order”

Official development discourses often differ from the everyday discussions and activities of development agents. If the former reflect an official model of development, then the latter could be said to reflect a “vernacular” model. The latter model is the focus of this analysis, taking as a case study development in Indonesia during the “New Order” regime (1966–98) of former President Suharto. Resource relations between the Indonesian state center and rural periphery are examined along with the norms that govern the flow of resources as well as information on resource-use. This vernacular model of resource and information flows helps to explain the economic, political, and environmental crisis that befell Indonesia in the late 1990s and is relevant to understanding the development dynamics of a number of other nations.     

The relationship between china and Siberia/Russian Far East: Economic cooperation and security conflicts*

This paper analyzes the current relationship between China and Siberia/Russian Far East from the economic and political‐security perspectives. The relationship between China and Siberia/Russian Far East is that of cooperation and conflict. China gains natural resources and energy from Siberia/Russian Far East, while Siberia/Russian Far East secures consumer goods, food and labor to fill its shortage from China. The two regions are in an economically complementary relationship. However, they show differences in their interests in issues such as the Tuman River Development Project. If their economic cooperation could be called the “bright” side of their relationship, there exists the “dark” side of their relationship, which is the border dispute. The paper argues that as a way to reduce conflict and increase cooperation in Northeast Asia, a multilateral security/economic organization, tentatively called the “Organization for Security and Cooperation in Northeast Asia,” should soon be established.     

Bank Indonesia and The Recent Crisis

This paper is a personal note describing the crisis as it unfolded while the writer was a key player in Indonesia's macroeconomic management. The crisis is seen as multi-faceted. It originated externally from a shock in the currency market that triggered a downward spiral from currency depreciation to fully-fledged crisis. The currency shock that hit the rupiah in July 1997 exposed in sequence the flaws embedded in the banking sector, the economic system, the social and the political system, flaws that had been obscured by long years of good economic performance. Through a complicated process of contagion and feedback effects—market disturbances, policy responses and market reactions—Indonesia deteriorated from a relatively well managed economy to the “worst case” among the Asian crisis economies. The paper discusses this process, the IMF's role, the bank closure issue, the currency board controversy and the author's dismissal as Governor of Bank Indonesia.     

From financial repression to financial crisis? The case of China

This study explores the connections between financial repression policies and the possibility of financial crisis, a relationship that has been overlooked in previous literature. We focus on China, a country with one of the highest levels of financial repression in the world. China's case shows that when financial repression is maintained at a modest level, as the government did before 2008, the possibility of a financial crisis is low; however, when financial repression policies are pushed to an excessive level, as the government did after 2008, the national asset‐liability structure may be damaged to such an extent that a financial crisis becomes likely. The key to understanding the changing role of China's financial repression policies lies in the survival strategy of the Chinese party‐state, which regards finance as a powerful weapon and is eager to use it to address certain economic, political, or social problems that may endanger its rule.     

The Political Limits to Nongovernmental Organizations in Jordan

Nongovermental organizations (NGOs) are frequently touted as important actors in democratization. Yet despite the proliferation of NGOs since the advent of political liberalization and democratization in Jordan, they remain circumscribed by the realities of continued state power. Because the political transition was informed by a desire to perpetuate regime survival in the midst of economic crisis, NGOs continue to experience political limits to their activities. The regime primarily relies upon three strategies to control the NGO community: (a) administrative repression and oversight; (b) civil society “infiltration” through royal nongovernmental organizations and other government NGOs; and (c) centralization through the General Union of Voluntary Societies.     

The lira and the pound in the 1992 currency crisis: Fundamentals or speculation?

The prevalent explanation of the Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM) currency crisis of September, 1992 is that myopic speculation prevailed over the “fundamentals.” Our paper explores the reasons why the Italian lira and the U.K. pound were attacked and, subsequently, forced out of the ERM. The crisis was sparked by a common awareness that political unification and the commitment to monetary union had petered out in the summer of 1992, leaving the field open to speculators to pick countries with the weakest fundamentals (Italy) or with policy makers who feared jeopardizing an economic recovery by keeping the currency in the ERM (the U.K.).     

Are local governments maximizing land revenue? Evidence from China

This paper examines how political considerations affect local officials' revenue maximization behaviors in the context of urban land conveyance in China. Particularly, we analyze government intervention based on local officials' choice of two land auction types, namely, “English auction” and “two-stage auction”. The latter presumably serves as a tool of government intervention. We aim to address the research question: “Are local governments maximizing land revenue?” The major findings are threefold. First, for cities with higher housing prices, two-stage auctions are adopted more frequently than English auctions. In addition, land parcels in these “hot” cities adopt two-stage auctions more frequently during sensitive political events, suggesting that local officials respond positively to the real estate regulation policy from central government. Second, when city leaders are more incentivized to promote economic performance, they respond less positively to rises in housing prices. Third, such interventionist behavior results in a significantly depressed land price and housing price. Despite its intention of improving public welfare, this interventionism can susceptibly cause problems of misallocation and corruption.     

National Concentration of High-tech Products: The Second Great Divergence?

Based on the product-country level trade data from 2004 to 2017, as well as the High-Tech Products Catalog from the US Census Bureau, this paper examines empirically the current phenomenon of “national concentration” in high-tech exports. The results show that the phenomenon of “national concentration” not only exists but also tends to be self-reinforcing. Compared with other products, the exports of high-tech products tend to be concentrated in certain countries, and this concentration trends were further strengthened after the global financial crisis of 2008–2009. The national concentration of R&D activities may be one of the important causes of the national concentration of high-tech products. This pattern remains robust when we further use the value-added export data and different definitions of high-tech products. We argue that the phenomenon of “national concentration” of high-tech exports may herald the arrival of the “Second Great Divergence” – the divergence between innovative and manufacturing activities – in the global economy.     

An introduction to problems of economic development in the CMEA countries

Through the Asian financial crisis, many key international economic issues have come to the forefront the stability of the international financial system under the IMF, “Asian values”, the universal validity of the Asian Economic Development Model, China's leadership in the regional world economy, Japan's role in the region, and the immunity of Greater China from the current financial crisis. Currently, most Asian countries seem eager to redress structural problems involving the government sector, banking, and corporate governance. In the process of this full scale restructuring, Korea must reevaluate its economic relationship with Central Asia. This paper argues that Korean financial crisis stems basically from the system failure. Furthermore, since a small open economy carries with it intrinsic vulnerabilities, the government should be more careful in securing optimal foreign exchange, opening capital markets based on the economy's absorption capacity. In this respect, the banking industry should be run based on the profitability of capital. Once banking industries are distorted by the practice of government‐led policy loans, it is more difficult to correct those customized distortions. The banking industry should play a larger role as the “brain of the economy”, sensing abnormalities of the economy. Moreover, in today's increasingly interdependent global economic system, no single country can solve its problems without close coordination of its policy with the outside world. An early warning system to signal financial instability would help developing economies in modernizing and strengthening their domestic financial institutions and would also work as a supplement to the IMF standby fund. Also, human resource management has proven too important to be neglected. Central Asia could derive lessons from the above Asian “failure”, not the Asian “miracle”, to avoid inappropriate policies and to deepen its economic development.     

The New Deal and Modern Memory

The “Great Recession,” which began at year‐end 2007, was precipitated by plunging real estate values, followed by borrower defaults and financial crisis for the public and private institutions that supplied loanable funds to the mortgage market. With economic growth not yet returned to trend, three years on more than 9% of the American labor force remains unemployed. Current macroeconomic events, perhaps inevitably, have been compared to those of the Great Depression of 1929–1933, both in terms of severity and of the efficacy of the public policies adopted ostensibly to restore prosperity. In this article, I review the literature on the New Deal, paying particular attention to modern scholarship emphasizing the role of presidential politics and antibusiness political rhetoric in deepening and prolonging the Great Depression. The parallels between then and now suggest that the two economic contractions had similar causes and elicited equally counterproductive policy responses.     

Do Female Managers Affect Productivity? Evidence from Zimbabwean Manufacturing Firms

Using a large dataset of Zimbabwean manufacturing firms extracted from the two waves of World Bank Enterprise Surveys of 2011 and 2016, the study investigates the impact of female management on firm's productivity in Zimbabwe's manufacturing firms. The study estimates a modified production function, to incorporate gender dimension, using a random effects estimation model. The results show that the effect of having a female manager on firm productivity varies by geographical location in the case of Zimbabwe. Specifically, the productivity of firms which have a female top manager, and are located in Harare, experience a negative productivity differential as they significantly reduce their productivity gap by 9.9 percent. On the other hand, the study found that having a female top manager in manufacturing firms located in Bulawayo significantly increases productivity by 7.9 percent compared to firms located in the Midlands area. We also find that the effect of a female manager on firm productivity differs by sectors, stressing the need for domestic economic policy to consider these dynamics. Given the importance of location in determining the contribution of a production manager on firm performance, the government may need to implement policies that consider location‐specific factors to enhance productivity of the manufacturing sector of Zimbabwe.