The Human Development Approach: An Overview

The human development (HD) approach puts the improvement of people’s lives as the central objective of development. This paper provides an overview of major aspects of the approach. It shows how it emerged with the evolution of development thought and a widening of development objectives The paper explores the two-way relationship between HD and the rival objective, economic growth, is explored and broad characteristics of countries that have been exceptionally successful or unsuccessful , countries with three country cases considered in greater depth. The paper identifies major dimensions of HD, beyond the three elements included in the Human Development Index (HDI) and shows they are poorly captured by the HDI. An overview of global change on HD dimensions from 1980 to 2015 gives a mixed picture with progress on basic HD, uneven trends in some areas, and notable worsening on the environmental dimension. In conclusion, the paper discusses some outstanding issues which need more attention.     

Achievements and gaps in tef productivity improvement practices in the marginal areas of Northern Ethiopia: implications for future research directions

Tef is the most important crop in Ethiopia and is well-adapted to growing environments, but grain yields are low. The government is therefore promoting the adoption of improved varieties, inorganic fertilizers and new planting techniques. This study gathered information on the use of new agronomic practices and barriers to their adoption through a semi-structured questionnaire administered to 60 farmers or respondents from each of 4 districts of Tigray region in northern Ethiopia viz Laelay-Maichew, Medebay-Zana, Ahferom and Alamata. Data were coded and analysed using SPSS software. Except for animal feed and crop rotation, there were significant differences between districts in the relative importance of several criteria for different uses. Improved varieties were used by the majority of respondents in all districts and fertilizers in all except Alamata where severe moisture stress dictated the choice of variety and reduced fertilizer application. Weed control was mainly by hand except in Alamata where chemical control was common because of the predominance of broad-leaved weeds. Transplanting maximized the yield of tef, but a cost–benefit analysis showed that row sowing was more profitable. The study concluded that new varieties better adapted to the likelihood of reduced rainfall and that respond efficiently to fertilizer inputs need to be developed. Until suitable technologies are available, high labour costs would in part dictate some agronomic practices, even if this led to lower yields.     

Impacts of considering climate variability on investment decisions in Ethiopia

Extreme interannual variability of precipitation within Ethiopia is not uncommon, inducing droughts or floods and often creating serious repercussions on agricultural and nonagricultural commodities. A dynamic climate module is integrated into an economy‐wide model containing a detailed zonal level agricultural structure. This coupled climate‐economic model is used to evaluate the effects of climate variability on prospective irrigation and infrastructure investment strategies, and the ensuing country‐wide economy. The linkages between the dynamic climate module and the economic model are created by the introduction of a climate‐yield factor (CYF), defined at the crop level and varied across Ethiopian zones. Nine sets of variable climate (VC) data are processed by the coupled model, generating stochastic wet and dry shocks, producing an ensemble of potential economic prediction indicators. Analysis of gross domestic product and poverty rate reveal a significant overestimation of the country's future welfare under all investment strategies when climate variability is ignored. The coupled model ensemble is further utilized for risk assessment to guide Ethiopian policy and planning.     

A typology of students based on academic entitlement

Two hundred ninety-three university business students were surveyed using an academic entitlement (AE) scale updated to include new technologies. Using factor analysis, three components of AE were identified: grade entitlement, behavioral entitlement, and service entitlement. A k-means clustering procedure was then applied to identify four groups based on the relative strength of the AE components: the model student, under the radar, instructor as servant, and the privileged. These groups were further characterized by additional demographic (i.e., parental income) and classroom variables (i.e., instructor response times). Findings can help business educators gain better insight into the AE construct and devise more effective instructional strategies.     

Identifying New Product Successes in China

To examine the generalizability of the work of Cooper regarding the correlates of new product success and failure, Mark Parry and Michael Song surveyed new product development managers at 129 state-owned enterprises in the People's Republic of China. Their analysis of 258 reported product successes and failures indicated that relative product advantage and the acquisition of marketing information were highly correlated with new product success, just as in Canada. In addition, several factors not significantly correlated with success in Canadian firms emerged as significant correlates of success in the PRC. These included the level of competitive activity, the timing of the product launch, and the level of proficiency in executing activities in the early stages of the product development process.     

Obtaining collaboration benefits: the role of collaboration-specific investment and absorptive capacity in China

This study examines the role of collaboration-specific investment and absorptive capacity on the attainment of interorganizational collaboration benefits. Grounded in the extended resource-based view, and using survey data from Chinese executives, we study the driver for, and test the impacts of, collaboration-specific investment and organizational learning on collaboration performance. Our findings indicate that resource similarity between the collaborative partners affects the level of collaboration-specific investment and learning, and demonstrate an approach that firms can use to obtain both abnormal common and private benefits from participation in an interorganizational collaboration. Specifically, the findings suggest that collaboration-specific investment has a direct effect on the enhancement of absorptive capacity and attainment of common and private collaboration benefits. Furthermore, due to the direct effect of absorptive capacity on attainment of collaboration benefits, commitment of collaboration-specific investment has an indirect effect on the attainment of common and private collaboration benefits. This study is the first to apply both the competence-capability framework and extended resource-based view to study interorganizational collaboration. In fact, this study aims to determine mechanisms for a collaboration-participating firm to obtain more benefit, whether common or private. Our findings provide support for the importance of learning capability as a factor in the acquisition of collaboration benefits.     

Personal Attachment to the Union in Small Bargaining Units

Union member attachment research has generally examined large unions organizing large employers. The present study presents a conceptual model and related data concerning various aspects of the union attachment expressed by individuals in small bargaining units. The results show differences among individuals in commitment based on their union experiences and demographic characteristics. Résumé Les études traitant de la loyatué qu'éprouvent les membres envers leur syndicats examinent généralement des syndicats importants au sein d'entreprises de taille. La présente étude offre un modèle conceptuel et les données relatives aux divers aspects de la loyauté exprimée par des individus appartenant à de petites unités de négociations. Les résultats démontrent les différences de loyauté chez les membres selon leur experience syndicale et les caractéristiques démographiques.     

ECONOMIC EFFECTIVENESS OF BRAND ADVERTISING PROGRAMMES FOR U.S. ORANGE JUICE IN THE EUROPEAN MARKET: AN ERROR COMPONENT ANALYSIS

An econometric model is used to measure the impact of the Three-Party Programme on European demand for U.S. orange juice. The results show that the programme has helped expand the demand for orange juice in European countries and, from the viewpoint of the U.S. citrus industry, is an economically preferred way of generating additional exports compared with using price reductions to achieve additional sales.     

Social Interaction Effects in Disability Pension Participation: Evidence from Plant Downsizing*

We estimate the magnitude of social interaction effects in disability pension participation among older workers in Norway. The problem of omitted variable bias is addressed using the exposure of an individual's neighbors to plant‐downsizing events as an instrument for the disability entry rate among the individual's previously employed neighbors. Our instrumental variable (IV) estimates suggest that an increase of one percentage point in the participation rate of previously employed neighbors increased the subsequent four‐year entry rate of older workers by about 0.4 percentage points. Numerous robustness and specification tests appear to support the validity of the identifying assumption in our IV strategy.     

On Education and Democratic Preferences

We make the point that preferences for democracy are positively correlated with level of education. This correlation is robust even after controlling for a range of personal characteristics, including country of residence, income, age, or using different definitions of preferences for democracy or using instrumental variables. Interestingly, the results hold across countries with different level of democracy. We use data from World Values Surveys and show that our results are consistent with a simple theoretical model in which education makes political accountability easier.