Import substitution as a strategy of economic development

The reasons for the slowdown in Russia’s economic growth in 2012–2014 are considered. Different forms of modern import-substitution practices are analyzed.     

Income diversification before and after economic shocks: evidence from urban and rural Zimbabwe

The article examines changes in income and activity diversification in Zimbabwe before and after macroeconomic policy changes and the droughts of the early 1990s. Data from two comparable national surveys straddling a period of economic volatility show that the percentage of households earning income from private and informal sources grew considerably, while income from government and formal sources declined. In general, rural households tend to have a more diversified portfolio of income than urban households, and the degree of income diversification decreases with the level of urbanisation. Following the shocks, there was a marked reduction in income diversification, notably among the poor. The findings thus strengthen the need for public provision of well-designed safety nets.     

Zimbabwe national conservation strategy and sustainable rural development

For rural development to be sustainable in southern Africa it must go hand in hand with environmental conservation, which has been neglected. The author draws on first‐hand professional experience in Zimbabwe as a member of a UN technical assistance team to examine how the internationally recognised concepts of environmental management can be translated into a coherent planning approach through which disadvantaged rural communities can break out of their socio‐economic deprivation and environmental decline. The article emphasises the need to seek the most appropriate local solutions for environmental problems and stresses that satisfactory theoretical understanding of these problems has yet to be matched by comprehensive and workable development strategies.     

Broiler production in an urban and peri-urban area of Zimbabwe

ABSTRACT

Broiler chicken production is an important livelihood option for urban households in Zimbabwe. A study was carried out to document the technical, demographic and socio-economic parameters characterising the production of broilers in an urban area of Zimbabwe. Findings showed that producers have quite diverse livelihoods and broiler production is not restricted to a survival strategy for the urban poor with no livelihood alternatives, but mostly involved the more privileged. Access to start-up capital and property ownership were pre-requisites for the business. Broiler units were small-scale, informal, backyard businesses dominated by women. Flock sizes averaged 398 (range 25–3500) birds per cycle. However, 79% of the producers kept at most 200 birds per cycle. The mean stocking density was 9.5?birds/m² and reported mortality averaged 7.4%. Respondents have ad hoc marketing arrangements, and face constraints with regard to lack of sectoral support, shortage of capital, prohibitive council by-laws, market access and disease. Poultry production is therefore an important livelihood and business option in the urban and peri-urban area studied.     

Decomposing wage differentials between migrant workers and urban workers in urban China's labor markets

This paper looks at wage discrimination faced by China's rural–urban migrants. Using data from the China Urban Labour Survey, it uses standard wage decomposition techniques to measure the extent wage gaps between migrants and locals are attributable to migration. Because the survey covers five cities, the results allow for an investigation regarding how much variation in discrimination there is. Unlike previous studies of wage discrimination in China, this research includes a more full measure of remuneration by including non-financial benefits as well as bonuses earned. The results suggest that migrants still face a significant amount of discrimination, but that this varies a lot between cities.     

Wage differentials between urban and rural-urban migrant workers in China

Since the end of the 1980s, the number of migrants working in the urban labor market has increased dramatically. However, migrant workers are treated differently from urban workers. In this paper we examine the labor market discrimination against rural migrants from the point of view of wage differentials using CHIP-2007 data. We apply Jann pooled method to deal with index number problem and use Heckman two step model to correct selection problem when decomposing the wage gap. The decomposition results show that a significant difference in wage gains persists between the two groups as late as 2007. In 2007 migrants only earned 49% of urban workers' income and 17% of the wage gap cannot be explained by observed factors. In detail, differences in educational attainment, work experience and distribution across industry, occupation, and ownership of enterprises account for most of the explained wage gap.     

Producer cooperative resettlement projects in Zimbabwe: Lessons from a failed agricultural development strategy

Zimbabwe epitomizes the contradictions driving the failure of state-directed agricultural development policies. In its second decade of independence, the government takes the credit for the country's agricultural and rural development success. Zimbabwe's “Green Revolution” record in Africa is enviable. Yet, this peasantry-led success story is problematic. It hides serious policy flaws in development strategy, namely, lack of performance and waste characterizing the Model B producer cooperative resettlement projects. Individually and collectively, the cooperatives, the government's preferred mode of production, are a complete failure. Lessons for development programs elsewhere, and in emergent South Africa, in particular are clear. The political economy of government assistance is not sufficient to produce agricultural surpluses and sustainable development. The social economy of cooperation in production organization by Africa's traditional farmers also does not, necessarily, translate into modern cooperatives, as Zimbabwe's policy makers assumed. Producer cooperatives are unproductive because of the prevailing organizational culture which enables leading members to seek individual self-interest and private gain, making it hard for the rank and file to cooperate and work for the common good.     

Understanding urban poverty in two high-density suburbs of Harare,Zimbabwe

ABSTRACT

Urban communities are heterogeneous and averages mask inequities and deprivations among poor and rich urban communities. This article examines the situation of households residing in two low-income, high-density suburbs of Harare, Zimbabwe. The aim of the research was to contextualise urban poverty by looking at selected urban communities and vertically analysing the patterns and determinants of poverty. A household survey was administered to 1000 households and qualitative data were collected through focus group discussions and key informant interviews. The study found high levels of income poverty and also found differences in poverty experiences between the two suburbs. The major proximate determinants of poverty were large family size; low education level of the household head; lack of income from permanent employment; low cash transfers; and short length of residence in the suburb. Increasing household income consumption can be addressed through scaling-up industries, which would result in more quality employment.     

School attendance and economic shocks: Evidence from rural Zimbabwe

Unpredicted shocks such as weather, pests or price changes affect agricultural households negatively or positively. The shocks have two opposite effects (income and substitution) on parents’ investments in the human capital of their children, and it is not predictable from theory whether the income effect or the substitution effect of a shock has a greater impact on the investments. Therefore, it is unknown whether human capital investments (i.e. sending children to school rather than having them work) are procyclical or countercyclical. In this paper we show how hyperinflation may affect investments in the education of children by their parents using three data-sets from Zimbabwe. We find that human capital investments are countercyclical (the substitution effect dominates) in rural areas of Zimbabwe during a shock. Therefore, policymakers in Zimbabwe need to be worried about decreased schooling of children during positive shocks in the rural areas.     

重庆一小时经济圈与城乡统筹:历史合力下的低熵经济战略

根据恩格斯著名的"历史合力论"思想,结合重庆一小时经济圈和城乡统筹发展的规划和实施,同时借鉴东西方早期高熵经济发展策略带来的社会问题,以戈特曼的"大都市连绵带"为理论起点,探索重庆一小时经济圈和城乡统筹发展必然走低熵经济战略路线,对于和谐社会的建设和中华民族的复兴具有不可估量的价值,足以使中国重现"中华帝国"风采。     

浅议深圳的城市发展战略

一、深圳的成就和问题23年前,中国改革开放的总设计师邓小平,用他那高扬的巨手在中国的南海边划了一个圈,由此开启了深圳城市发展的序幕。在小平同志提议“设立经济特区,在靠近香港的地方搞试验”的指引下,指挥者和建设者们开始摸索经济体制改革的道路,在这个过程中,中央和深圳     

Repositioning the urban environment question in Zimbabwe: a review of the context,conditions and processes

This analysis is a reappraisal of two perspectives in urban development in Zimbabwe: environmental sustainability and human sustenance. The discussion seeks to reposition the conservation–survival debate by broadening it to the wider urban and national macroeconomic and sociopolitical context. It re‐examines Zimbabwe's environmental problems by examining the challenges posed by urbanisation, industrialisation and informalisation. To these ‘permanent’ strands are added the ‘transient’ phenomena of structural adjustment and indigenisation. The analysis is done within the overall national macroeconomic and sociopolitical environment. The article examines environmental sustainability and human sustenance as the two policy challenges that have to be reconciled in the quest for sustainable urban settlements in Zimbabwe. The analysis stresses that the exercise of striking a balance between the needs of humankind and those of nature has to take cognisance of the complexity of issues and the processes going on elsewhere in the urban and national context.     

Local economic strategy and local coalition-building

This paper considers the increasing prevalence of coalition-building in urban politics, associated characterisations of local public-private relations, and the developing function of local economic strategy in such processes. It concludes with a discussion of local economic strategy-making by Norwich City Council, which emphasises the distinctiveness of local policy and the limits of coalition politics.     

Import substitution as a complementary strategy

Import substitution policy in various countries is often used not as an alternative, but rather as a complement to export promotion policy. The article shows that, without such a complement, the outward-oriented strategy is often incapable of ensuring economic growth. The work is based on an analysis of a wide range of the literature on the relationship between export orientation and economic growth, as well as on applying elements of the import substitution strategy in various countries.     

Foreign aid as a promotional strategy

Developed countries are motivated by several forces when allocating aid to developing countries. The forces could be humanitarian in one country, and commercial self-interests in another. The principal objective of this study was to determine the effectiveness of aid as a promotional strategy for trade, and to investigate whether major donor countries are optimally allocating their aid resources to increase their export and total trade. Models were developed to explore the effectiveness of aid as a promotional instrument for exports and total trade. Donor exports and total trade were expressed as functions of aid, per capita GNP of the recipient country, and aid from competing donors. The study showed that exports and total trade responded to total expected aid contributions and per capita GNP of the recipient countries. Also, all donors, but one, were maximizing the returns to aid, given the level of trade with recipient countries and will be reluctant to increase aid flows, given the current trade level.     

SWOT分析在城市发展战略上的应用

SWOT分析法是战略研究的一种分析技术,指的是优势（Strength）、劣势（Weakness）、机遇（Opportunity）、挑战（Threat）的分析,本文结合阜新市城市建设与发展的实际,对SWOT分析方法进行了应用,探讨了该方法在城市发展战略所起的作用。     

Integrating the economic and the social. Policy and institutional change in local economic strategy

Since the mid-1990s policy “integration” has become an increasingly salient theme within central government and local government policy-making. In this paper we report survey findings tracing the recent emergence of explicitly “integrated” local economic and social strategies, and the evolving position of ostensibly social themes in local economic strategies. These highlight some of the more important policy and institutional changes that have characterised local economic strategy in the post-Thatcher era. Subsequently, in the light of this initial data we outline a number of possible directions for further research.