ALBERT

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: November 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 World Development, Volume 123〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Adriana Camacho, Emily Conover〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Small-scale farmers in developing countries often make production and sale decisions based on imprecise, informal, and out-of-date sources of information, such as family, neighbors, or tradition. Lack of timely and accurate information on climate and prices can lead to inefficiencies in the production, harvesting, and commercialization of agricultural products, which in turn can affect farmers’ revenues and well-being. We did a Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) experiment with 500 small-scale farmers in a rural area of Colombia where there is nearly full mobile phone usage and coverage. Treated farmers received around 8 text messages per week with prices in the main markets for crops grown in the region, and customized weather forecasts. Compared to a control group, we find that treated farmers were more likely to report that text messages provide useful information for planting and selling, and more likely to always read their messages, indicating an increase in appreciation and use of this type of technology. We also found heterogeneous effects by farmer size. Smaller farmers try to make use of the intervention by planting more crops for which they have price information. Larger farmers seek new markets and increase conversations with other producers. Despite these positive effects, we do not find a significant difference in farmers reporting a price, price differential with the market price, or sale prices received. Our results indicate that farmers are amenable to learning and using new technologies, but that the introduction of these technologies do not always translate into short-run welfare improvements for them. Given the increased interest in incorporating information and communication technologies into agriculture, our findings indicate that prior to a large-scale implementation it is necessary to better understand what prevents farmers from more directly profiting from this new information.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: November 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 World Development, Volume 123〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Alwin Keil, Archisman Mitra, Amit K. Srivastava, Andrew McDonald〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Sustainable intensification (SI) approaches to agricultural development are urgently needed to meet the growing demand for crop staples while protecting ecosystem services and environmental quality. However, SI initiatives have been criticized for neglecting social welfare outcomes. A recent review found that better-off farmers benefitted disproportionately from SI and highlighted the dearth of studies assessing the equity of outcomes. In this study, we explore the social inclusiveness of zero-tillage (ZT) wheat adoption in Bihar, India. ZT is a proven SI technology for enhancing wheat productivity while boosting profitability and reducing greenhouse gas emissions from agricultural machinery in the densely populated Indo-Gangetic Plains. With an average landholding size of 0.39 ha, most farmers in Bihar depend on custom-hiring services to access the technology. While service provision models should foster inclusive growth by reducing financial barriers to technology adoption, early evidence suggested that smallholders remained at a disadvantage. Building on this previous research, we use a panel dataset from 961 wheat-growing households that spans a six-year period to analyze ZT adoption dynamics over time while accounting for the role of social networks and access to service provision. Using a heckprobit approach to correct for non-exposure bias, we compare determinants of ZT awareness and use in 2012 and 2015. We apply a multinomial logit model to identify determinants of early adoption, recent adoption, non-adoption, and dis-adoption. Furthermore, we explore the quality of ZT services as an additional dimension of socially-inclusive technology access. We find that the strong initial scale bias in ZT use declined substantially as awareness of the technology increased and the service economy expanded. Land fragmentation replaced total landholding size as a significant adoption determinant, which also affected the quality of ZT services received. Hence, farmers with small but contiguous landholdings appear to have gained a significant degree of access over time. We conclude that early-stage assessments of SI may be misleading, and that private sector-based service provision can contribute to socially inclusive development outcomes as markets mature.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: November 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 World Development, Volume 123〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Chiara Ravetti, Mare Sarr, Daniel Munene, Tim Swanson〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉This paper analyses the ways in which ethnic identity and labour institutions shape favouritism and discrimination among workers. We conduct a lab experiment in the field with South African coal miners from various ethnic groups and with different trade union membership status. Our analysis suggests that union identity and ethnic identity are two social constructs that operate in a distinct and opposite fashion. Unionization acts as a factor of workers solidarity beyond the confine of union membership. Conversely, ethnicity operates as the linchpin through which discrimination among workers is infused not only between ethnic majority and minorities, but also within the majority group itself. We find that the widespread practice of subcontracting in the mining sector exacerbates ethnic discrimination among workers both between and within ethnic groupings.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: November 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 World Development, Volume 123〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Vanesa Jordá, Miguel Niño-Zarazúa〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Despite the growing interest in global inequality, assessing inequality trends is a major challenge because individual data on income or consumption is not often available. Nevertheless, the periodic release of certain summary statistics of the income distribution has become increasingly common. Hence, grouped data in form of income shares have been conventionally used to construct inequality trends based on lower bound approximations of inequality measures. This approach introduces two potential sources of measurement error: first, these estimates are constructed under the assumption of equality of incomes within income shares; second, the highest income earners are not included in the household surveys from which grouped data is obtained. In this paper, we propose to deploy a flexible parametric model, which addresses these two issues in order to obtain a reliable representation of the income distribution and accurate estimates of inequality measures. This methodology is used to estimate the recent evolution of global interpersonal inequality from 1990 to 2015 and to examine the effect of survey under-coverage of top incomes on the level and direction of global inequality. Overall, we find that item non-response at the top of the distribution substantially biases global inequality estimates, but, more importantly, it might also affect the direction of the trends.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: November 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 World Development, Volume 123〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Ben Siegelman, Nora Haenn, Xavier Basurto〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉This paper relates how fishermen in San Evaristo on Mexico’s Baja peninsula employ fabrications to strengthen bonds of trust and navigate the complexities of common pool resource extraction. We argue this trickery complicates notions of social capital in community-based natural resource management, which emphasize communitarianism in the form of trust. Trust, defined as a mutual dependability often rooted in honesty, reliable information, or shared expectations, has long been recognized as essential to common pool resource management. Despite this, research that takes a critical approach to social capital places attention on the activities that foster social networks and their norms by arguing that social capital is a process. A critical approach illuminates San Evaristeño practices of lying and joking across social settings and contextualizes these practices within cultural values of harmony. As San Evaristeños assert somewhat paradoxically, for them “lies build trust.” Importantly, a critical approach to this case study forces consideration of gender, an overlooked topic in social capital research. San Evaristeña women are excluded from the verbal jousting through which men maintain ties supporting their primacy in fishery management. Both men’s joke-telling and San Evaristeños’ aversion to conflict have implications for conservation outcomes. As a result, we use these findings to help explain local resistance to outsiders and external management strategies including land trusts, fishing cooperatives, and marine protected areas.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: November 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 World Development, Volume 123〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Sara Geenen〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉By zooming in on the concept of ‘local content’, this article speaks to the debate on extractive industries and development. It challenges two fundamental assumptions of the mainstream local content literature: that production linkages will develop if an enabling environment is created, and that local content is beneficial for local people. Based on almost 600 interviews and focus groups in four mining concessions in Ghana and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) it focuses on how local content policies are translated into concrete practices – more particularly around the granting of contracts and employment. In doing so it unravels the 〈em〉political〈/em〉 dimensions of local content policies and their 〈em〉structural embeddedness〈/em〉 in large-scale extractivist projects. It is argued that local content policies are implemented in complex political arenas, where the power holders use them as political instruments to enhance profit accumulation and control rents. Moreover they are embedded in the structural dynamics that permeate large-scale extractivist projects, producing (new) patterns of exclusion.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: December 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 World Development, Volume 124〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Kwabena Krah, Hope Michelson, Emilie Perge, Rohit Jindal〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Though problems related to low and declining soil fertility continue to impede agricultural production and food security in Sub-Saharan Africa, smallholder farmers in this region – those cultivating two hectares or less – have shown reluctance to adopt practices at scale that help conserve or enhance soil quality. Employing a discrete choice-based experiment, we find evidence that farmers’ propensity to adopt soil fertility management (SFM) practices increases with improved access to mineral fertilizers, and when farmers receive relevant technical training on soil fertility improving technologies. A unique aspect of our study is our focus on understanding how smallholders’ stated SFM preferences relate to their perceptions of recent local climatic variation. We find that farmers who perceive that rainfall amounts are decreasing are less willing to adopt crop rotations to improve soils. Our findings suggest that policies designed to increase adoption of SFM practices are more likely to succeed when they provide farmers with inputs that farmers perceive as complementary to SFM, including mineral fertilizer, and when they are built around an understanding of farmers’ perceptions of climatic variability.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: December 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 World Development, Volume 124〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Olivier J. Walther, Michel Tenikue, Marie Trémolières〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉The objective of this article is to measure the effects of income and gender on informal social networks in the rice value chain. Using primary data collected on 490 entrepreneurs in Benin, Niger and Nigeria, the paper first demonstrates that the monthly profit of entrepreneurs is determined by their structural position within the rice value chain. The most prosperous actors are simultaneously deeply embedded in their community through numerous ties and capable of building connections with other communities outside their own ethnic groups and countries. The paper then analyses to what extent gender is a strong predictor of social ties. An econometric analysis shows that women are less central than men and that their income is much lower after controlling for age, experience, education, religion and matrimonial status.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: December 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 World Development, Volume 124〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Khan Islam, Melanie O’Gorman〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉There is now a vast literature investigating the impact of microcredit on poverty in the developing world. Such studies are by and large at the micro-level – investigating the impact of the provision of microcredit loans or a feature of microcredit contracts for a specific microfinance institution (MFI) on measures of well-being such as poverty or female empowerment. While these studies are crucial for understanding the effectiveness of microcredit in various contexts, very little analysis has been at the macroeconomic level with a view to understanding the general equilibrium effects of microfinance. This paper does this, by providing a comprehensive theory that allows the relative importance of the various factors influencing microcredit’s impact to be quantified. We build on Buera et al. (2012) and develop a model of financial intermediation which highlights the roles of credit market imperfections, MFI efficiency and occupational choice. We exploit the large cross-country variation in microcredit features to decipher the important features of microcredit contracts, calibrating the model to data for 21 countries in the early 2000s. We then use the calibrated model to investigate the impact of a number of counterfactual scenarios which may lend insight into microcredit policy, such as training for microcredit clients, credit information-sharing and microcredit itself. We investigate the impact of each policy experiment on poverty, income per capita and entrepreneurship. This paper highlights that the impact of credit policies differs significantly across countries, and therefore that no credit-based policy is a panacea for improving welfare.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: November 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 World Development, Volume 123〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): 〈/p〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: December 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 World Development, Volume 124〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Pamina Koenig, Sandra Poncet〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉This paper studies the effect of social responsibility scandals on the imports of consumer products, by focusing on an event which generated massive consumer mobilization against neglecting firms, namely the collapse of the Rana Plaza building affecting the textile industry in Bangladesh. We investigate the import repercussions of this major shock in the perceived quality of clothing producers sourcing in Bangladesh. In line with the well-documented home bias in trade and home-country media slant, we assume that consumers’ reaction will be stronger when domestic firms are named and shamed. Our empirical strategy uses a difference-in-difference approach that compares imports from Bangladesh of countries according to whether some of their companies were directly associated with the collapse of the Rana Plaza. Our results are consistent with demand being sensitive to social responsibility scandals. While aggregate imports from Bangladesh continue to increase during the whole period (2010–2016), there is a marked disruption that affects countries whose brands were named and shamed by activists and the media after the disaster. In addition, the decline in imports is all the greater as the number of NGO campaigns on the misbehavior of national textile retailers is high.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: December 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 World Development, Volume 124〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Valentina Zuin, Caroline Delaire, Rachel Peletz, Alicea Cock-Esteb, Ranjiv Khush, Jeff Albert〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Worldwide, 892 million people practice open defecation, most of whom live in rural areas of South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. Community-Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) is the most widely deployed approach to generate demand for, and use of sanitation facilities. CLTS relies on behavioral change and community self-enforcement to end open defecation. Since its genesis in Bangladesh in 1999, CLTS has spread to approximately 60 countries, mostly in Asia and Africa, and is employed by the majority of development organizations operating in rural sanitation. This paper uses a qualitative approach to analyze the reasons and processes that drove the wide diffusion of CLTS. We show that CLTS was embraced because it was perceived as a fast and effective solution to the problem of open defecation, one which was in line with the decentralization and community participation paradigms, at a time when donors and governments were looking for strategies to meet the MDG for sanitation. CLTS spread under the leadership of influential donors, NGOs, persuasive practitioners, and academics. Face-to-face interactions among members of this network and local governments at conferences and workshops played a central role in the diffusion of the approach. The use of experiential learning during study tours and workshop field visits has been crucial to persuade government actors at different levels, NGOs, and donors to use the CLTS approach. Notably, robust scientific evidence played little role in the diffusion of CLTS. We conclude by making suggestions to strengthen the evidence base for rural sanitation policies.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: December 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 World Development, Volume 124〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Youngwan Kim, Hyuk-Sang Sohn, Bokyeong Park〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉A majority of people in developing countries suffer from chronic hunger due to food crises and poverty. This has attracted humanitarian organizations specializing in addressing hunger, food security and poverty to set up efforts aimed at reducing hunger and poverty among vulnerable communities. This study aims to evaluate the achievements of the Saemaul Zero Hunger Communities Project (SZHCP) of the World Food Program (WFP) implemented by Good Neighbors International (GNI) in partnership with Tanzanian and Bangladesh local governments, which ran from 2014 to 2018 in selected local communities in Tanzania and Bangladesh. The project targeted the most vulnerable communities to improve their livelihood and rural development programs in terms of food security, income generation, education, and infrastructure improvement through community-based activities. To collect information and data for evaluation, we conducted field research such as in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, and household surveys in the target villages of the SZHCP in Tanzania and Bangladesh. Using qualitative analysis, difference-in-difference estimation, and linear regression on surveys of 1142 respondents, we show that the SZHCP significantly improved the livelihoods of beneficiaries in relation to zero hunger, and also increased income generation and promoted positive social changes. It has also helped to strengthen the capacity of communities to run development projects themselves. This study provides evidence-based analysis that could allow stakeholders and researchers to more fully engage with future community-based projects.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: Available online 20 August 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 World Development〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Daniel C. Miller, Reem Hajjar〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉The role of forests in supporting current consumption and helping people cope with seasonal, climatic, and other stressors is increasingly well understood. But can forests help rural households climb out of poverty? And can forests provide a pathway to prosperity that includes more widely shared economic benefits and improvements in other aspects of human well-being? This introduction to the Special Issue on “Forests as Pathways to Prosperity” reviews the literature on forest livelihoods in developing countries to synthesize evidence relating to these questions. We find that available research primarily examines poverty mitigation aspects of forests rather than the potential role of forest conservation, management, and use in alleviating poverty or promoting broader prosperity. To increase understanding of forest-livelihood relationships we propose a framework based on the concept of prosperity, which draws particular attention to human well-being beyond economic and material dimensions. We argue that explicitly taking a more expansive view can enable better accounting for the diverse ways forests contribute to human welfare, expand the constituency for forests, and inform policies to more sustainably manage forests within wider landscapes. Together, our review and the other articles in this volume advance these objectives by providing new analytical frameworks, empirical insights, and theoretical understanding to build knowledge on linkages between forests, poverty, and broader prosperity.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: December 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 World Development, Volume 124〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Grant Alan Burrier, Philip Hultquist〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Hydroelectric power is the world’s largest source of renewable energy. It can encourage economic development while reducing carbon emissions, but large hydroelectric projects have serious social and environmental consequences. Democratic Developmental and Ecological Modernization theorists counseled the adoption of new regulations and institutions to increase citizen participation and socioenvironmental protection. Environmental impact assessments (EIAs) and public audiences are considered best practice, but do these new protections and procedures alter government behavior when it makes critical development decisions? We argue scholars have paid too little attention to how bureaucratic hierarchies and weak cross-agency harmonization weaken environmental regimes. To highlight these issues, we provide an in-depth case study of hydroelectric dam construction in India, a country simultaneously confronting widespread underdevelopment and an energy matrix overwhelmingly reliant on carbon-based sources. Our multi-method analysis includes: innovative ArcGIS techniques to create an original database of large hydroelectric projects, field research, and a longitudinal analysis of three distinct periods of dam construction. We find the Indian government gradually shifted from large, multipurpose impoundment dams to smaller run-of-the-river (ROR) projects. ROR dams maintain a smaller footprint by requiring less flooding, but they are less efficient and versatile. Facing greater constitutional protections, concerns about resettlement costs, and past social mobilization, the Indian government is prioritizing smaller projects in remote locations to mitigate the social consequences of dam projects. Nevertheless, environmental concerns have been perfunctory. No fish ladders, exposed riverbeds, compromised waterflow regimes, and minimal riparian rehabilitation mean the environmental consequences of ROR dams remain extremely severe. These findings can be attributed to bureaucratic hierarchies, which limit the power of environmental agencies. Additionally, EIAs have been largely cursory and public audiences have not tangibly improved environmental outcomes because civil society generally prioritizes the social impacts of projects. In conclusion, our study finds India is better reconciling economic development with greater social protection and inclusion. The continued negative environmental externalities of contemporary hydroelectric projects highlight significant space for improving environmental protection.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: December 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 World Development, Volume 124〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Thang T. Vo, Pham Hoang Van〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉This study provides new evidence on the impact of health insurance coverage on household vulnerability using the Vietnam Access to Resources Household Surveys (VARHS) for 2010 and 2012. We apply propensity score matching to address the non-random selection of households into health insurance status. The VARHS data allow us to include risk preference as a predictor of health insurance propensity, an important source of endogeneity between health insurance coverage and vulnerability. We estimate that health insurance helps rural households in Vietnam reduce the idiosyncratic component of utility loss by 81 per cent and the probability of becoming poor by 19 per cent. Our results are robust to alternative statistical specifications. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first paper measuring the impact of health insurance coverage on household 〈em〉ex-ante〈/em〉 vulnerability. Our findings suggest that expanding access, reducing costs and improving efficiency in health care would have big benefits of reducing vulnerability for the poor.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: December 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 World Development, Volume 124〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Kelvin Mashisia Shikuku, Julius Juma Okello, Stella Wambugu, Kirimi Sindi, Jan W. Low, Margaret McEwan〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉This study examined the nutrition and food security impacts of a project that was designed to improve availability of disease-free planting materials of biofortified orange-fleshed sweetpotato (OFSP) in rural Tanzania. Difference-in-difference and matching techniques were employed to estimate causal effects using panel data. Participation in the project increased agronomic and nutritional knowledge of households, raised uptake rate for OFSP varieties, and improved food security status. Effects on nutrition are, however, weak. These results suggest that timely access to quality seeds accompanied by a transfer of skills is important to reduce barriers to adoption of biofortified crops with resulting positive effects on the welfare of rural households. Adequate promotion of both agronomic and nutrition aspects of the technologies may enhance nutrition effects.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: December 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 World Development, Volume 124〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Guenwoo Lee, Aya Suzuki, Vu Hoang Nam〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉In developing countries, social networks play a critical role in the transmission of information about new technologies and influence an individual’s decision to adopt the technology. Thus, this study considered a case of shrimp farmers in Vietnam to identify whether the farmers’ networks have positive effects on diffusing accurate agricultural information to the treated farmers and their neighbors. To explore the effects, we invited farmers selected using network-based targeting to a workshop held in December 2017 and estimated it using data obtained before and after the treatment. We found that: 1) the targeting has a positive effect on the treated farmers’ knowledge level about a good aquaculture practice; 2) The treated farmers selected using the network-based targeting share information with more neighbors when they get new information; and 3) The targeting has a positive spillover effect on untreated farmers' knowledge level, but its effect is lower than other randomly selected. These findings can conclude that network-based targeting appears to be a method to disseminate information to many people. Nevertheless, the methods are less likely to deliver accurate information to a wider group of farmers than random sampling.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: December 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 World Development, Volume 124〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Felipe Livert, Xabier Gainza, Jose Acuña〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉This paper analyses the incidence of political factors and social capital on the allocation of public investment in the Santiago Metropolitan Area, Chile. Considering panel data on a decentralized investment program distributed through local governments and a program that is geared directly to citizen organizations, the paper explores whether investment is equally subject to electoral concerns and rent seeking under different program designs. Our estimations show that decentralized investment favours aligned municipalities where competition is stronger, but long-lasting local leaders also seek their own benefits. By contrast, transfers directly channelled to beneficiaries are free from political clout and, additionally, there is no sign of capture by organized interests. Based on these results, the paper discusses the implications for metropolitan governance, highlighting the potential role of the local social capital and a two-tier governance scheme to retain the gains from decentralization, acquire economies of scale in metropolitan service provision and reduce the margin for pork barrelling.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: November 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 World Development, Volume 123〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Tobias Pfutze〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉A large literature on Conditional Cash Transfers programs assesses the effects of becoming a beneficiary. However, the consequences of losing the benefit due to program graduation are largely unstudied. This paper replicates the eligibility score employed over 2010–15 by Mexico’s Oportunidades for a large household survey. Using a Regression Discontinuity Design around the threshold for program graduation, it shows that losing this additional incentive had a negative effect on high school attendance for lower secondary school aged students in urban, and upper secondary school aged ones in rural areas. The results suggest that the graduation thresholds are chosen too low.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: November 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 World Development, Volume 123〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Gani Aldashev, Elena Vallino〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Participatory conservation projects imply direct involvement of local communities in natural conservation efforts, aiming at combining economic development with protecting the environment. NGOs engaged in both development and conservation massively implement such projects. Numerous field studies document mixed results of such interventions and the persistence of conservation-development tradeoff: better conservation comes at the expense of lowering the livelihoods of community members because they have to abstain from using the conservation area for hunting or agriculture. Economists argue that transferring property rights to relevant stakeholders would provide the right incentives for escaping this tradeoff. We build a simple model explaining why this policy might be insufficient. If the revenue from the conservation project is low and/or volatile, the community members may rationally reject conservation unless the NGO allocates a part of resources to sustaining community livelihoods (e.g. by agricultural extension). Hence, the NGO should deviate from its narrow mission to reach its broader objective. If the NGO is funded by strictly environmentally-oriented donors it may struggle to justify diverting a part of resources to agricultural extension, as such donors obtain little “warm-glow” utility from giving to the NGO that substantially engages in non-core mission activities. Thus, the NGO faces a “size versus efficiency” dilemma: poorly conserving a larger area (with non-cooperating local communities but happier donors) or conserving well a smaller area (with cooperation by local communities but keeping donors unsatisfied).〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: December 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 World Development, Volume 124〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Miriam Romero, Meike Wollni, Katrin Rudolf, Rosyani Asnawi, Bambang Irawan〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉This study evaluates the effects of two policy instruments on the adoption of native tree planting in oil palm plantations. The first instrument is an information campaign on tree planting in oil palm. The second instrument combines the information campaign with a structural intervention that provides native tree seedlings for free. We implemented a randomized controlled trial in oil-palm growing villages in Jambi, Indonesia. Our study addresses the underlying mechanisms of behavioral change, by investigating how the policy instruments shape farmers’ perceptions, intentions and actual adoption decisions. The results show that information campaigns and structural interventions can motivate tree planting among smallholder oil palm farmers in Indonesia. While both treatments have a positive and significant effect, the intervention combining information with seedling provision leads to significantly higher adoption rates, indicating that overcoming structural barriers is critical. While changes in perceptions and intentions fully mediate the effect of the information campaign on adoption, they can only partially explain the effect of the combined intervention. Facilitating easy access to high-quality inputs is critical to motivate wider adoption among large numbers of potential users.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: Available online 7 August 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 World Development〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Priya Shyamsundar, Sofia Ahlroth, Patricia Kristjanson, Stefanie Onder〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉We develop a framework to conceptualize the multiple ways forests contribute to poverty reduction and inform development interventions in forest landscapes. We identify five key strategies for reducing poverty in forest landscapes: a) improvements in productivity (P) of forest land and labor; b) governance reform to strengthen community, household and women’s rights (R) over forests and land; c) investments (I) in institutions, infrastructure and public services that facilitate forest-based entrepreneurship; d) increased access to markets (M) for timber or non-timber forest products; and e) mechanisms that enhance and enable the flow of benefits from forest ecosystem services (E) to the poor. We test the utility of the framework through a review of the forestry portfolio of the World Bank Group, the largest public investor in forestry. Many of these projects include several, but not all, PRIME components. We devote particular attention to forest-related investments in two contrasting countries, Vietnam and Mexico, to examine synergies among the pathways. Results suggest that each strategy in the PRIME framework may play an important role in alleviating poverty, but pronounced impacts may require multiple pathways to be jointly pursued. The PRIME framework can guide research to address knowledge gaps on pathways to prosperity in forest landscapes, serve as an easily remembered checklist for managers, and nudge forest program designers in government and development organizations, who are interested in poverty reduction, to focus on the importance of both a comprehensive framework and synergies across different pathways.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: November 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 World Development, Volume 123〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Lewis S. Davis, Claudia R. Williamson〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉We argue that individualism promotes gender equality. Individualist values of autonomy and self-determination transcend gender identities and serve to legitimize women’s goals and choices. In contrast, collectivist values may subordinate women’s personal goals to their social obligations, generating greater acceptance of gender inequality. Using individual level data from World Values Surveys, we find that individualism is significantly associated with support for gender equal attitudes regarding employment, income, education, and political leadership. Individualism is also associated with greater levels of female employment and educational attainment, and lower levels of fertility. These results are robust to controlling for income, education, religion, historical plough use, gendered language, and country-time fixed effects. Our within country analysis allows us to isolate the impact of individualism from other confounding effects. Using historical rainfall variation as an instrument for individualism, we find that the exogenous portion of individualism reduces support for patriarchal attitudes and fertility, and it increases female employment and educational attainment. These effects are economically large. We address concerns over instrumental validity by controlling for a variety of factors, including historical plough use, religious affiliation, religiosity, social trust, average rainfall levels, distance from the equator, cool-water conditions, agricultural suitability, historical political and economic development, and the presence of large animals. This paper contributes to a mounting body of evidence suggesting a key role for highly persistent cultural norms and values in determining gender inequality, the gender division of labor, and economic and social outcomes for women.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: November 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 World Development, Volume 123〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Miriam Breckner, Uwe Sunde〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉This paper contributes to the debate whether climate change and global warming cause conflicts by providing novel evidence about the role of extreme temperature events for armed conflict based on high-frequency high-resolution data for the entire continent of Africa. The analysis of monthly data for 4826 grid cells of 0.75° latitude × longitude over the period 1997–2015 documents a positive effect of the occurrence of temperature extremes on conflict incidence. These effects are larger the more severe the extremes in terms of duration, and are larger in highly densely populated regions, in regions with lower agricultural productivity, and in regions with more pronounced land degradation. The results also point towards heterogeneity of the effect with respect to the type of violence and the crucial role of population dynamics. Considering the consequences of increases in the frequency of extreme events in a long-differences analysis delivers evidence for a positive effect on conflict.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: December 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 World Development, Volume 124〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Lindsey Jones, Marco d'Errico〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉 〈p〉As resilience continues its rise to top of the international policy agenda, development funders and practitioners are under mounting pressure to ensure that investments in resilience-building are effective and targeted at those most in need. It is here that robust resilience measurement can make valuable contributions: identifying hotspots; understanding drivers; and inferring impact. To date, resilience measurement has been dominated by objectively-oriented approaches. These rely on external definitions of resilience (often informed by outside ‘experts’, literature reviews or resilience practitioners) and measured through observation or external verification. More recently, the potential for subjective approaches has been proposed. These take a contrasting approach, soliciting people’s judgements of what resilience means to them, and getting them to self-evaluate their own resilience.〈/p〉 〈p〉While both approaches have their strength and weaknesses, little is known about how objective and subjective modes of resilience measurement compare. To shed light on this relationship, we provide like-for-like comparisons of these two approaches using a regionally representative household survey of 2308 households in Northern Uganda. In so doing, we introduce a new measurement approach named the Subjective self-Evaluated Resilience Score (SERS). Outcomes from SERS are directly compared with an objectively-evaluated approach, the Resilience Index Measurement Analysis (RIMA), widely used by resilience practitioners.〈/p〉 〈p〉Findings from the survey suggest a moderate correlation between objectively- and subjectively-evaluated resilience modules. More importantly, both approaches share similar associations with many key socio-economic drivers of resilience. However, there are notable differences between the two. In some case, the approaches differ entirely regarding contributions of important traits, including coping strategies, levels of education and exposure to prior shocks. Our results highlight the need for resilience evaluators to consider a diversity of knowledge sources and seek greater use of evidence in indicator selection. We also investigate the properties of the SERS module itself. We find that characterisations of resilience that mimic various commonly-used frameworks produce similar resilience outcomes, suggesting that debates over the exact composition of resilience-characteristics may matter little. In addition, shorter SERS modules match the performance of the full set of SERS questions, allowing for quicker administration and reduced survey burden. Lastly, we call for evaluators to consider the strengths and weaknesses of subjective and objective measurement approaches, including options for combining both formats.〈/p〉 〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: December 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 World Development, Volume 124〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Anna T. Falentina, Budy P. Resosudarmo〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉 〈p〉The reliability of electricity supply is one of the most pressing challenges faced by many micro and small enterprises (MSEs) in developing countries. MSEs play a pivotal role in generating employment in these countries, yet the productivity of MSEs is relatively low. Little is known about how blackouts affect performance of MSEs. This paper is the first study to estimate the impact of such power blackouts on productivity of manufacturing MSEs and to discuss the role of the government in addressing the problem.〈/p〉 〈p〉We employed a pseudo-panel dataset covering six firm cohorts within 21 regions the Indonesian national electricity company operates in from 2010 to 2015. Our identification strategy firstly involved examining blackouts determinants and then using these determinants as instruments in an instrumental variable (IV) dynamic panel fixed effects estimation while controlling for factors that potentially affected productivity and correlated with blackouts.〈/p〉 〈p〉We found that electricity blackouts reduced average labor productivity and the resultant losses amounted to approximately IDR 71.5 billion (USD 4.91 million) per year in Indonesia. Therefore, it is crucial to improve electricity supply reliability in developing countries. We found that introducing a captive generator as a way to cope with power outages is positively associated with productivity, and that MSEs that have captive generators benefit when the power supply is poor. Our findings will assist policy makers to prioritize addressing power blackouts relative to other constraints MSEs face.〈/p〉 〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: December 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 World Development, Volume 124〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Weiye Wang, Jinlong Liu, John L. Innes〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉China has built a large Protected Areas (PA) system with more than 2700 PAs. This has occurred in a modern, industrialized economy in a highly populated country, and the designation of PAs has had significant impacts on local people. Equitable sharing of responsibilities and benefits arising from biodiversity conservation with local/indigenous people is important, especially for countries such as China, which has millions of people living in and around PAs. This paper seeks to understand the notion of conservation equity and demonstrate how it works in practice. Perceptions of conservation equity changed over time and across development stages, where variance in the economic activity of locals (agriculture to tourism), state control, degree of input from locals, and local government implementation was observed. In order to achieve conservation equity, policymakers often recognize three aspects of equity: distribution equity, participation equity, and recognition equity. This study examines these notions of equity among the different stakeholders (central government, local government, and local people) during the process of PA establishment and tourism development. It focuses on four villages in Jiuzhaigou Biosphere Reserve (JBR) in China during three different periods of development. Interviews with local residents, village leaders, and government officers were conducted. Distribution equity was identified by participants as the most important of the three equities. Policies created by the central government usually address equity issues, but when these policies are implemented by the local government, equity is sometimes ignored. When local people engage in specific direct actions to improve their livelihood, they are able to better pursue participation equity and recognition equity.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: December 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 World Development, Volume 124〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Pauline Dixon, Anna J. Egalite, Steve Humble, Patrick J. Wolf〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉We present experimental evidence from a school choice program carried out in a 20-square kilometer, highly urbanized slum area known as Shahdara, which is situated in East Delhi, India. The lottery-based allocation of vouchers allows us to structure an impact evaluation as a randomized controlled trial. We conduct an Intent-to-Treat (ITT) analysis of the impact of the offer of a voucher as well as a Treatment-on-Treated (TOT) analysis of the impact of using a voucher, employing the lottery results as an instrumental variable. Four years after random assignment, we find large positive impacts of voucher use on student test scores in English (0.31σ, p 〈 .05). We find suggestive negative impacts of voucher use on test scores in the native language of Hindi (−0.20σ, p 〈 .10), but this impact is not significant at the standard 95% confidence level. We find no voucher impact on student test scores in mathematics.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: December 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 World Development, Volume 124〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Adane Hirpa Tufa, Arega D. Alene, Julius Manda, M.G. Akinwale, David Chikoye, Shiferaw Feleke, Tesfamicheal Wossen, Victor Manyong〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Soybean constitutes an important component of the maize-based smallholder cropping systems in Malawi and holds considerable potential for countering soil fertility decline, enhancing household food and nutrition security, and raising rural incomes. A number of yield-enhancing improved soybean varieties and agronomic practices (ISVAPs) have been developed and disseminated in Malawi, but there is limited evidence on the adoption and impacts of these technologies. This paper assesses the productivity and income effects of adopting ISVAPs using plot level data collected from a nationally representative sample of 1237 soybean growing households in Malawi. Our results show that over a third of the sampled households have adopted ISVAPs. Furthermore, results from a stochastic dominance analysis showed that soybean yields and net crop incomes for adopters are significantly higher than those of non-adopters over the entire probability distribution of ISVAPs adoption. Endogenous switching regression model results further demonstrated that adoption of ISVAPs is associated with an average of 61% yield gain and 53% income gain for adopters. Overall, the results point to the need for further scaling of ISVAPs for greater adoption and impact on the livelihoods of smallholder farmers in Malawi.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: December 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 World Development, Volume 124〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Peter R. Wilshusen〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉This article critically explores the dynamic, constitutive processes that animate economistic conservation and sustainable development as an expression of governance-beyond-the-state. I focus attention on governance in motion—expanding logics, hybrid practices, diffuse networks, and shifting social technologies that incrementally reshape power dynamics and the institutional domains that enable and constrain them. While the majority of institutional approaches to environmental governance emphasize intentional designs rooted in collective choices, less attention has been focused on dynamic processes of assemblage resulting from differentially coordinated actions across interrelated networks. Building from Foucauldian perspectives on governmentality and biopower, I argue that processes of assemblage help to constitute new techniques of governance aligned with the language and practices of economics. I examine two business and biodiversity initiatives—the Natural Capital Finance Alliance and the Business and Biodiversity Offsets Programme—in terms of five practices of assemblage: authorizing knowledge, forging alignments, rendering technical, reassembling, and anti-politics. I highlight four dimensions of political performativity associated with business and biodiversity initiatives that exemplify environmental governance in motion: discursive amplification, organizational articulation, institutional re-shaping, and technical instrumentation. Governance in motion reflects the distributed power dynamics of diverse individuals and collectives in generating economistic techniques of governance.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: July 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 World Development, Volume 119〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Ole Boysen, Kirsten Boysen-Urban, Harvey Bradford, Jean Balié〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉 〈p〉The consumption of highly processed food has been singled out as one of the factors responsible for the rapidly increasing prevalence of obesity and its associated non-communicable diseases and costs. While obesity prevalence is still comparatively low in lower-income sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), development prospects in this region render markets especially attractive for these foods, whose consumption is already growing at higher rates than in developed countries. This might be reflected in the massive rise in obesity prevalence growth rates in SSA over the past decade, while many of these countries are simultaneously struggling with high undernutrition prevalence.〈/p〉 〈p〉Using a newly constructed cross-country panel dataset, this study econometrically investigates the effect of higher import tariffs on highly processed 〈em〉vis-à-vis〈/em〉 less-processed foods with respect to their impacts on obesity and underweight prevalence in the adult population. While the analysis is global, the discussion focuses primarily on SSA. The effects of the tariff differences are found to be significant and substantial and to differ by income level of the country as well as by gender. More generally, the results show that policies affecting the consumer price differential between the two food groups are effective in influencing obesity and underweight prevalence and that these two issues cannot be treated separately.〈/p〉 〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: July 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 World Development, Volume 119〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Lakshmi Iyer, Anandi Mani〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Using an original survey conducted in India’s largest state, we offer systematic evidence on the gender gaps in a rich set of electoral and non-electoral participation metrics. We find that gender gaps in non-electoral forms of participation (such as involvement in public petitions, interactions with public officials and attendance of village meetings) are larger than those in election-related activities, including political candidacy. These gender gaps in political participation persist even after we account for women’s poorer knowledge of political institutions, self-assessment of leadership skills, literacy rates and asset ownership, as well as constraints on their mobility and voice in household decisions. Using a Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition approach, we find that bringing women on par with men on these attributes would bridge less than half of the gender gap in political participation. This suggests that external factors, such as the roles played by voters, political parties or societal groups, may constitute important barriers to women’s political participation. The presence of a woman leader in the village increases women’s propensity to meet with government officials, but is not enough to close the gender gap in this outcome or others. Our evidence points to the need to consider a wider set of policy tools beyond quotas to encourage women’s civic and political engagement.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: March 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 World Development, Volume 115〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Charisma Acey, Joyce Kisiangani, Patrick Ronoh, Caroline Delaire, Evelyn Makena, Guy Norman, David Levine, Ranjiv Khush, Rachel Peletz〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Most residents of the developing world do not have access to safely managed sanitation services, and large financial investments are required to address this need. Here we evaluate surcharges on water/sewerage tariffs as an option for supporting these investments in low-income neighborhoods. We investigated willingness-to-pay (WTP) for a pro-poor sanitation surcharge among customers of two urban water utilities in Kenya. Applying qualitative and quantitative methods, we conducted semi-structured in-depth interviews, focus-group discussions, and a double-bounded contingent valuation method for measuring WTP. We varied scenarios quasi-experimentally to study the effects of messaging and surcharge characteristics and evaluated factors associated with WTP. Our study finds that mean WTP was 290 KES (USD 2.9) per month, about 8% of the average water bill; median WTP was 100 KES (USD 1). In a multivariate analysis, WTP was significantly higher among customers that were younger, wealthier, shared toilets, and had higher water bills. WTP was also higher among customers that trusted the utility and distrusted the county government. Of our randomized scenarios, only the bill type was found to significantly influence WTP; WTP was higher if the surcharge was presented as a proportion of the customers’ last water bill vs a flat amount. Our findings suggest that in a sector that struggles to provide universal access to sanitation services, cross-subsidies may offer a means to support financing of safe sanitation for low-income households. These results indicate there are opportunities for cross-subsidies in urban Kenya that may be relevant for a wider understanding of surcharge payments that support basic services for low-income citizens.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: March 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 World Development, Volume 115〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Johanna Choumert-Nkolo, Pascale Combes Motel, Leonard Le Roux〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Energy-use statistics in Tanzania reflect the country’s low level of industrialization and development. In 2016, only 16.9% of rural and 65.3% of urban inhabitants in mainland Tanzania were connected to some form of electricity. We use a nationally representative three-wave panel dataset (2008–2013) to contribute to the literature on household energy use decisions in Tanzania in the context of the stacking and energy ladder hypotheses. We firstly adopt a panel multinomial-logit approach to model the determinants of household cooking- and lighting-fuel choices, using night time lights data to proxy for electricity access. Secondly, we focus explicitly on energy stacking behaviour, proposing various ways of measuring what is inferred when stacking behaviour is thought of in the context of the energy transition and presenting household level correlates of energy stacking behaviour. Thirdly, since fuel uses have gender-differentiated impacts, we investigate the relevance of common proxies of women’s intra-household bargaining power in the decision-making process of household fuel choices. We find that whilst higher household incomes are strongly associated with a transition towards the adoption of more modern fuels, especially for lighting, this transition takes place in a context of significant fuel stacking. In Tanzania, government policy has been aimed mostly at connecting households to the electricity grid. However, the public health, environmental and social benefits of access to modern energy sources are likely to be diminished in a context of significant fuel stacking. Our analysis using proxies of women’s intra-household bargaining power suggests that the level of education of the spouse is also a major factor in the transition towards the use of modern fuels.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: March 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 World Development, Volume 115〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Ben Ma, Zhen Cai, Jie Zheng, Yali Wen〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉The impacts of nature reserves (NRs) and ecotourism on local economies are considered controversial. By surveying households residing inside and outside of six giant panda NRs in the Qinling Mountains from 2015 to 2017, this study evaluates the impacts of NRs and ecotourism on the poverty and income inequality of local communities in China. Our results suggest that the local communities of NRs show higher poverty and lower income levels compared to the national average. NRs significantly reduced the net income of households residing within the NRs, and most of these reductions are caused by converting cropland to conservation land. NRs also aggravated the income inequality of local communities, and the level of inequality inside NRs was significantly higher than that outside. In terms of the impacts from ecotourism, ecotourism can reduce poverty, but it increases income inequality, especially for those households residing within NRs.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: March 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 World Development, Volume 115〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Martin Ravallion〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉The paper critically reviews the arguments for and against both employment guarantees and income guarantees when viewed as rights-based policy instruments for poverty reduction in a developing economy. Decentralized implementation of the right-to-work poses serious challenges in poor places. Evidence on India’s National Rural Employment Guarantee Act does not suggest that the potential for either providing work when needed or reducing current poverty is realized, despite pro-poor targeting. Instead, work is often rationed by local leaders, and the poverty impact is small when all the costs are considered. The option of income support using cash transfers also has both pros and cons. Widely-used methods for finely targeting cash transfers tend to miss many poor people, and can discourage those reached from earning extra income. Yet it cannot be presumed that switching to a universal basic income will reduce poverty more than workfare or finely-targeted transfers. That is an empirical question and the answer will undoubtedly vary across settings, belying the generalizations often heard from advocates. Nonetheless, more incentive-neutral, universal and/or state-contingent transfer schemes merit consideration in settings in which existing public spending is skewed against poor people and/or there is scope for raising taxes on the rich.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: Available online 29 November 2018〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 World Development〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Richard Damania, Anupam Joshi, Jason Russ〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉This article investigates the links between forests and poverty in India. We use original data from a household survey in two states of India (Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh) to provide new insights into this relationship. The poorest are found to receive about 30% of their incomes from forests – an amount that is higher than the income that they obtain from agriculture. We identify the correlates of greater environmental and forest income in the sample and also seek to examine whether environmental incomes are used only as a safety net during disasters, or for basic consumption purposes too. Our results show that when negative shocks occur there is a higher relative dependence on environmental incomes. The results also suggest that those who are better-off obtain higher levels of environmental income that the poorer. Overall the findings are consistent with environmental incomes and other sources of incomes being complements. In sum, the results suggest that forest income is used for basic consumption, is not a substitute for other sources of income, and is not treated as an “inferior good” that is eschewed by richer groups in the survey.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: March 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 World Development, Volume 115〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Maia Call, Clark Gray, Pamela Jagger〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Recent research suggests that sub-Saharan Africa will be among the regions most affected by the negative social and biophysical ramifications of climate change. Smallholders are expected to respond to rising temperatures and precipitation anomalies through on-farm management strategies and diversification into off-farm activities. However, few studies have empirically examined the relationship between climate anomalies and rural livelihoods. Our research explores the impact of climate anomalies on farmers’ on and off-farm livelihood strategies, considering both annual and decadal climate exposures, the relationship between on and off-farm livelihoods, and the implications of these livelihood strategies for agricultural productivity. To examine these issues, we link gridded climate data to survey data collected in 120 communities from 850 Ugandan households and 2000 agricultural plots in 2003 and 2013. We find that smallholder livelihoods are responsive to climate exposure over both short and long time scales. Droughts decrease agricultural productivity in the short term and reduce individual livelihood diversification in the long term. Smallholders cope with higher temperatures in the short term, but in the long run, farmers struggle to adapt to above-average temperatures, which lower agricultural productivity and reduce opportunities for diversification. On and off-farm livelihood strategies also appear to operate in parallel, rather than by substituting for one another. These observations suggest that new strategies will be necessary if rural smallholders are to successfully adapt to climate change.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: March 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 World Development, Volume 115〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Cassandra Sweet, Dalibor Eterovic〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Does the rigorous protection of patents advance or retard economic development? Two decades ago, a new global standard of intellectual property swept across developing and industrialized nations through the implementation of the WTO’s TRIPS Agreement. Many years later, the issue of patent rights remains contentious. In this paper, we focus on the effects of patent rights systems on total factor productivity growth, using dynamic panel regression analysis for 70 countries from 1965 to 2009. We show that the effects of stronger or more rigorous patent systems are insignificant for productivity growth in both developing and industrialized countries. Why does the strength of patents appear to have no impact on productivity? Classic economic theory suggests that stronger patent systems incentive innovative output with important spill-over effects for productivity and growth. We offer an alternative explanation using data from the Economic Complexity Index. We find that while patents rights are increasingly irrelevant to productivity, the relationship between economic complexity and productivity is highly positive and significant. Our results are consistent with the contributions of the absorptive capacity theory in that they suggest it is not the discovery and ownership of novel products and processes at the innovative frontier that induces productive growth, but the ability to adapt, replicate and diffuse along the international productive chain.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: March 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 World Development, Volume 115〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Kelvin Mashisia Shikuku〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Direct training of selected individuals as disseminating farmers (DFs) can help to implement a farmer to farmer extension approach. This study systematically examines the relationship between social distance and the likelihood of information exchange, subsequently evaluating effects on awareness, knowledge, and adoption of drought-tolerant (DT) varieties of maize, disease-resistant varieties of groundnuts and conservation farming. Using a panel dataset from northern Uganda, the study combines matching techniques with difference-in-difference (DID) approach and employs two-stage least squares regression (2SLS) to identify causal effects. The study finds an increased likelihood of information exchange when the DF is female, regardless of the sex of the neighbour. The likelihood of information exchange increased when distance in farm size cultivated with maize was larger than the median in the sub-village. In terms of non-agricultural assets index, there was an increased likelihood of information exchange both when the distance was smaller and greater than the village median. Information exchange links improved awareness and knowledge for all of the technologies, but only increased adoption of maize varieties. Together, these findings suggest that social distance shapes the diffusion of agricultural knowledge even when DFs are selected by the community to be “representative” and reinforces that social learning can help to address informational constraints to adoption of agricultural technologies.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: April 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 World Development, Volume 116〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): José R. Bucheli, Matías Fontenla, Benjamin James Waddell〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉There is reason to suspect that return migrants can reduce social violence in migrant-prone regions of the world. Taking into account that recent research shows positive effects of return migration, we consider that returners may reduce violence by contributing to social renewal and economic growth in their home communities. We estimate the direct effects of return migration in the context of Mexico, a traditionally migrant country that has suffered record levels of violence in the past decade. Using data on homicide rates from 2456 municipalities for the 2011–2013 period and an instrumental variable bivariate Tobit maximum likelihood approach, we find that higher rates of return migration lead to a decline in local homicide rates. We also show, with a censored quantile instrumental variable (CQIV) model, that municipalities in the bottom quartile of the homicide rate distribution benefit the most from return migration. Our work has important implications for crime reduction policies in developing countries, and specifically in Mexico, where social violence has wreaked havoc on society in recent years.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: April 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 World Development, Volume 116〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Alexander De Juan, Carlo Koos〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Cooperative norms and behavior are considered to be essential requirements for sustainable stabilization and development in conflict-affected states. It is therefore particularly important to understand what factors explain their salience in contexts of war, violence and displacement. In this paper, we assess the role of historical political legacies. We argue that precolonial processes of nation-building have strengthened people’s communal bonds to an imagined community, and that these bonds continue to positively impact present-day cooperative norms and behavior. We investigate this argument using the Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) as an empirical case. We combine historical information on the location and the main features of the precolonial Bushi Kingdom with original georeferenced survey data to investigate variation in cooperative norms 〈em〉within〈/em〉 and 〈em〉outside〈/em〉 of the boundaries of the precolonial “nation.” We exploit information on people’s awareness of proverbs associated with the original foundation myths of the kingdom to assess the role of long-term norm persistence. We find evidence in line with our argument on the historical roots of cooperative behavior.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: April 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 World Development, Volume 116〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Daniel Mason-D'Croz, Timothy B. Sulser, Keith Wiebe, Mark W. Rosegrant, Sarah K. Lowder, Alejandro Nin-Pratt, Dirk Willenbockel, Sherman Robinson, Tingju Zhu, Nicola Cenacchi, Shahnila Dunston, Richard D. Robertson〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉We use IFPRI’s IMPACT framework of linked biophysical and structural economic models to examine developments in global agricultural production systems, climate change, and food security. Building on related work on how increased investment in agricultural research, resource management, and infrastructure can address the challenges of meeting future food demand, we explore the costs and implications of these investments for reducing hunger in Africa by 2030. This analysis is coupled with a new investment estimation model, based on the perpetual inventory methodology (PIM), which allows for a better assessment of the costs of achieving projected agricultural improvements. We find that climate change will continue to slow projected reductions in hunger in the coming decades—increasing the number of people at risk of hunger in 2030 by 16 million in Africa compared to a scenario without climate change. Investments to increase agricultural productivity can offset the adverse impacts of climate change and help reduce the share of people at risk of hunger in 2030 to five percent or less in Northern, Western, and Southern Africa, but the share is projected to remain at ten percent or more in Eastern and Central Africa. Investments in Africa to achieve these results are estimated to cost about 15 billion USD per year between 2015 and 2030, as part of a larger package of investments costing around 52 billion USD in developing countries.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: April 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 World Development, Volume 116〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Nathan Clay, Brian King〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Development programs and policies can influence smallholder producers’ abilities to adapt to climate change. However, gaps remain in understanding how households’ adaptive capacities can become uneven. This paper investigates how development transitions—such as the recent adoption of ‘green revolution’ agricultural policies throughout sub-Saharan Africa—intersect with cross-scale social-environmental processes to unevenly shape smallholders’ adaptive capacities and adaptation pathways. Drawing on quantitative and qualitative material from a multi-season study in Rwanda, we investigate smallholder adaptation processes amid a suite of rural development interventions. Our study finds that adaptive capacities arise differentially across livelihood groups in the context of evolving environmental, social, and political economic processes. We show how social institutions play key roles in shaping differential adaptation pathways by enabling and/or constraining opportunities for smallholders to adapt livelihood and land use strategies. Specifically, Rwanda’s Crop Intensification Program enables some wealthier households to adapt livelihoods by generating income through commercial agriculture. At the same time, deactivation of local risk management institutions has diminished climate risk management options for most households. To build and employ alternate livelihood practices such as commercial agriculture and planting woodlots for charcoal production, smallholders must negotiate new institutions, a prerequisite for which is access to capitals (land, labor, and nonfarm income). Those without entitlements to these are pulled deeper into poverty with each successive climatic shock. This illustrates that adaptive capacity is not a static, quantifiable entity that exists in households. We argue that reconceptualizing adaptive capacity as a dynamic, social-environmental process that emerges in places can help clarify complex linkages among development policies, livelihoods, and adaptation pathways. To ensure more equitable and climate-resilient agricultural development, we stress the need to reformulate policies with careful attention to how power structures and entrenched social inequalities can lead to smallholders’ uneven capacities to adapt to climate change.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: April 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 World Development, Volume 116〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Sara A. Wong〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Minimum-wage policy aims to raise the real income of low-wage workers. Low-wage individuals may be adversely affected by minimum wages, however, although the empirical evidence on this point is not without controversy. We analyzed the effects of the January 2012 increase in monthly minimum wages on the wages and hours worked of low-wage workers in Ecuador. Individuals could have chosen to enter occupations covered by minimum-wage legislation or those that were not. We applied a difference-in-differences estimation to account for potential self-selection bias. We also relied on exogenous variations in minimum wages by sector, industry, and occupation. We constructed individual panel data from a household panel and performed estimates that also accounted for potential sample-selection bias. The results suggest a significant and positive effect on the wages of treated workers, increasing them by 0.41–0.48% for each 1% increase in minimum wages, relative to the earnings of control workers. Our results also suggest that effects varied by type of worker: (i) women workers received lower wage increases, and their hours worked were significantly and negatively affected, both of which may suggest a failure of the minimum wage to reduce the gender wage gap at the bottom of the distribution, and (ii) the hours worked by young workers were significantly and positively affected, a result that is in agreement with results found elsewhere in the literature. These results persisted after applying robustness checks to account for different control groups, full- vs. part-time jobs, separate regressions for heterogeneous groups, and tests for potential attrition and sample-selection bias. The range of effects observed across disparate groups of workers suggests areas in which policy change could be useful. The income-compression effect we found suggests that further studies should address the effects of minimum wage on the drop in income inequality observed in the data.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: April 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 World Development, Volume 116〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Chris de Bont, Hans C. Komakech, Gert Jan Veldwisch〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉The debate around what kind of irrigation, large- or small-scale, modern or traditional, best contributes to food security and rural development continues to shape irrigation policies and development in the Global South. In Tanzania, the irrigation categories of ‘modern’ and ‘traditional’ are dominating irrigation policies and are shaping interventions. In this paper, we explore what these concepts really entail in the Tanzanian context and how they relate to a case of farmer-led groundwater irrigation development in Kahe ward, Kilimanjaro Region. For our analysis, we rely on three months of qualitative fieldwork in 2016, a household questionnaire, secondary data such as policy documents and the results of a mapping exercise in 2014–2015. In the early 2000s, smallholders in Kahe started developing groundwater. This has led to a new, differentiated landscape in which different forms of agricultural production co-exist. The same set of groundwater irrigation technologies has facilitated the emergence of different classes of farmers, ranging from those engaging with subsistence farming to those doing capitalist farming. The level of inputs and integration with markets vary, as does crop choice. As such, some farms emulate the ‘modern’ ideal of commercial farming promoted by the government, while others do not, or to a lesser extent. We also find that national policy discourses on irrigation are not necessarily repeated at the local level, where interventions are strongly driven by prioritization based on conflict and funding. We conclude that the policy concepts of traditional and modern irrigation do not do justice to the complexity of actual irrigation development in the Kahe case, and obfuscate its contribution to rural development and food security. We argue that a single irrigation technology does not lead to a single agricultural mode of production, and that irrigation policies and interventions should take into account the differentiation among irrigators.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: April 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 World Development, Volume 116〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Philip Lowe, Jeremy Phillipson, Amy Proctor, Menelaos Gkartzios〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Understandings of socially distributed 〈em〉expertise〈/em〉 as being key to living, interpreting and intervening in the world, are increasingly used in development narratives, referring usually to knowledge sharing across multi-stakeholder partnerships. This movement towards the democratisation of expertise challenges the ideological claim of science to be the exclusive source of objective information, evidence and discovery on which informed decisions and technological developments should be based. But if we reject that claim, what are the implications for the way stakeholders learn, organise and transmit knowledge and skills, and resolve problems? And how do science and expertise come together in development narratives and practices? We address these questions through an examination of the changing relationship between scientific, professional and non-professional expertise in rural development. Firstly, we examine the evolution of models of rural development and knowledge generation over past decades and introduce the concept of 〈em〉vernacular expertise〈/em〉 – the expertise that people have and develop that is place-based but crucially nourished by outside sources and agents and which underpins neo-endogenous development models. Secondly, by drawing empirically on qualitative research with rural advisory professionals who support farmer decision making we unpack the composition of vernacular expertise as a fusion of field/place generated and field/place focused knowledge, and consider how it may be better recognised and enhanced in development processes and policy agendas.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: March 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 World Development, Volume 115〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Sudipa Sarkar, Soham Sahoo, Stephan Klasen〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉This study analyses employment transitions of working-age women in India. The puzzling issue of low labour force participation despite substantial economic growth, strong fertility decline and expanding female education in India has been studied in the recent literature. However, no study so far has looked into the dynamics of employment in terms of labour force entry and exit in this context. Using a nationally representative panel dataset, we show that women are not only participating less in the labour force, but also dropping out at an alarming rate. We estimate an endogenous switching model that corrects for selection bias due to initial employment and panel attrition, to investigate the determinants of women’s entry into and exit from employment. We find that an increase in wealth and income of other members of the household leads to lower entry and higher exit probabilities of women. Along with the effects of caste and religion, this result reveals the importance of cultural and economic factors in explaining the low workforce participation of women in India. We also explore other individual and household level determinants of women’s employment transitions. Moreover, we find that a large public workfare program significantly reduces women’s exit from the labour force. Our study indicates that women’s entry and exit decisions are not necessarily symmetric, and it is important to consider the inter-temporal dependence of labour supply decisions.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: March 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 World Development, Volume 115〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Chukwumerije Okereke, Alexia Coke, Mulu Geebreyesus, Tsegaye Ginbo, Jeremy J. Wakeford, Yacob Mulugetta〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉The concept of ‘sustainable industrialisation’ is now integral to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. However, there are no historical examples or current models to emulate. Scholarly analyses of putative initiatives to green industrialisation, especially in developing countries, are few and limited. This article explores the conception and implementation of green industrialisation in Ethiopia, one of the world’s poorest nations, where an ambitious Climate Resilient Green Economy (CRGE) strategy has been created, alongside a multi-sectoral Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP), to leapfrog environmentally unsustainable development and bring the country to middle-income status by 2025. Using the socio-technical transition (STT) perspective and in particular Smith, Stirling, and Berkhout (2005) framework for assessing sustainable transition programmes, it analyzes the ‘selection pressures’ on the industrial ‘regime’ and its ‘adaptive capacity’. It finds: (i) clear articulation of the imperative for climate change mitigation and economic growth; (ii) strong high-level government commitment to a greening agenda within the context of accelerated industrialisation; and (iii) a nascent innovation system that is beginning to evolve according to these priorities. However, the analysis also identifies important challenges, including: coordination mechanisms between different stakeholders; framing issues; availability of resources; and ongoing tension between addressing climate change and promoting economic growth. It also highlights the importance of the availability of cross-border resources for purposive sustainability transition within low-income countries.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: March 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 World Development, Volume 115〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Ervin Prifti, Silvio Daidone, Benjamin Davis〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉This paper has the double aim to study whether unconditional cash transfers have an impact on farm production and to look into the causal mechanisms through which government transfers produce productive impacts. We use mediation analysis to identify the total effect of transfers on farm production and to isolate the influence of the labour channel from other transmission channels. In particular, we analyze whether changes in farm production are caused by transfer-induced changes in the use of farm labour – either by reallocating family labour between off- and on-farm work or by changes in the demand for hired labour – or if other transmission channels are at work. We find that cash transfers have a sizable impact on farm production but they do not lead to increased use of family or hired labour on the farm, which implies that the productive impacts of cash transfers flow through other channels, different from the labour one.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: Available online 3 December 2018〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 World Development〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Katrina Kosec, Leonard Wantchekon〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉In the context of an exponential rise in access to information in the last two decades, this special issue explores when and how information might be harnessed to improve governance and public service delivery in rural areas. Information is a critical component of government and citizens’ decision-making; therefore, improvements in its availability and reliability stand to benefit many dimensions of governance, including service delivery. Service delivery is especially difficult in rural areas which contain the majority of the world’s poor but face unique logistical challenges due to their remoteness. We review the features of the recent information revolution, including increased access to information due to both technological and institutional innovations. We then raise the question of why information often fails to support the goals of improved governance and service delivery. We argue that information alone is insufficient. To be impactful, the information must be deemed relevant, in the sense of being salient and having a high perceived signal-to-noise ratio, and individuals must have both the power and incentives to act on it. Bringing all three of these factors together in any setting is challenging, particularly for rural areas, where capacity to receive, understand, and act on information is relatively low. Research failing to find significant effects of greater access to information on rural governance and service delivery has largely failed due to one of these three factors not being in place. This interpretation is broadly supported by our review of 48 empirical studies on the impacts of information on governance and service delivery. We conclude by discussing broader lessons for both development research, including randomized control trials, and the development process itself. The goals of interventions to provide information may need to be more modest, and their design may merit more scrutiny.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: January 2020〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 World Development, Volume 125〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Meina Cai, Pengfei Liu, Hui Wang〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉This paper examines how political trust across local government levels and risk preferences impact individual support to land-taking compensation policies in China. Land expropriation becomes a touchstone for protests and conflict during China’s urbanization, driving local governments to diversify land-taking compensation from the traditional one-time lump-sum cash payment to multiple payments, notably, in the form of monthly pension payments and yearly dividends. We found that political trust in the county-level government positively correlates with individual support to pension payments; political distrust in the village collective induces villagers to favor the one-time payment to yearly dividends. Both risk-averse and risk-seeking individuals prefer the one-time cash payment to yearly dividends. The findings are developed using two choice experiments embedded in an original survey: we elicit individual policy support by asking villagers to state their preferences over hypothetical alternative compensation policies; we elicit risk preferences using a lottery-choice experiment with varying probability of winning real monetary rewards. The findings highlight the multi-level local government structure under decentralization and offer insight into to what extent the government efforts in innovative compensation policies are effective at quelling rural anger.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: January 2020〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 World Development, Volume 125〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Paul Clements〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉 〈p〉Learning and accountability in foreign aid require project comparisons, but the dominant framework for aid evaluation institutionalizes inconsistency. Today, most aid evaluations are organized in terms of the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) criteria: relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, impact and sustainability. Usually the evaluators determine how to apply each criterion. Also, with donor agencies organizing their own evaluation systems, project monitoring tends to be weak and many evaluations are superficial, positively biased, and/or poorly timed. Logically, the most effective way to improve learning and accountability would be to implement independent and consistent evaluation for cost effectiveness. We substantiate and illustrate this argument by explaining why evaluation should be oriented to cost effectiveness and how this could be accomplished by an evaluation association, and by discussing six evaluations of health projects and several documents that summarize many evaluations.〈/p〉 〈p〉The proposed association would provide a stronger foundation in evidence and incentive environment for aid managers to make decisions that maximize the cost effectiveness of their interventions. This would enhance the professionalism of foreign aid and hasten an end to poverty.〈/p〉 〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: March 2020〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 World Development, Volume 127〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Naomi Millner, Irune Peñagaricano, Maria Fernandez, Laura K. Snook〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Since the 1970s, Community forestry (CF) initiatives have sought to combine sustainable forestry, community participation and poverty alleviation. Like other community-based forms of natural resource management (CBNRM), CF has been lauded for its potential to involve local people in conservation while opening new opportunities for economic development. However, CF programmes are not always successful, economically or ecologically, and, by devolving new powers and responsibilities to an abstractly defined “community,” they risk exacerbating existing patterns of social exclusion, and creating new conflicts. In this paper we mobilise a relational concept of negotiation within a political ecology framework to explore how the power relations of CF are addressed and transformed in a region where issues of conflict and tenure security have long shaped the social forest. Specifically, we focus on the emergence and consolidation of ACOFOP [〈em〉Asociación de Comunidades Forestales de Petén〈/em〉], a Forest Based Association in the Maya Biosphere Reserve in the Petén region of Guatemala, where CF has been practised for 25 years. Emphasising the importance of longer histories of social movements and organisations to local capacities for CF, we explore the conditions of possibility that enabled ACOFOP to emerge, as well as the strategies it has adopted to make national regulatory frameworks work for local communities. Through qualitative analysis derived from participatory research, interviews and ethnographic data, we trace four key areas of ACOFOP’s model of accompaniment (participatory decision-making; conflict resolution; advocacy and capacity-building) that have been developed in response to the negotiation of political issues pertaining to, and stemming from, the practice of CF. Highlighting ongoing challenges, and key strategies for CBNRM in other contexts, we conclude by emphasising that systems of community management cannot be “equitable,” or indeed sustainable, if political issues of access and tenure are not kept central to questions of participation.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: February 2020〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 World Development, Volume 126〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Fiona Lambe, Ylva Ran, Marie Jürisoo, Stefan Holmlid, Cassilde Muhoza, Oliver Johnson, Matthew Osborne〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Many interventions that aim to improve the livelihoods of vulnerable people in low-income settings fail because the behavior of the people intended to benefit is not well understood and /or not reflected in the design of interventions. Methods for understanding and situating human behavior in the context of development interventions tend to emphasize experimental approaches to objectively isolate key drivers of behavior. However, such methods often do not account for the importance of contextual factors and the wider system. In this paper we propose a conceptual framework to support intervention design that links behavioral insights with service design, a branch of the creative field of design. To develop the framework, we use three case studies conducted in Kenya and Zambia focusing on the uptake of new technologies and services by individuals and households. We demonstrate how the framework can be useful for mapping individuals’ experiences of a new technology or service and, based on this, identify key parameters to support lasting behavior change. The framework reflects how behavior change takes place in the context of complex social-ecological systems – that change over time, and in which a diverse range of actors operate at different levels – with the aim of supporting the design and delivery of more robust development-oriented interventions.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: February 2020〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 World Development, Volume 126〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Florent Baarsch, Jessie R. Granadillos, William Hare, Maria Knaus, Mario Krapp, Michiel Schaeffer, Hermann Lotze-Campen〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Climate change is projected to detrimentally affect African countries’ economic development, while income inequalities across economies is among the highest on the planet. However, it is projected that income levels would converge on the continent. Hitherto there is limited evidence on how climate change could affect projected income convergence, accelerating, slowing down, or even reversing this process. Here, we analyze convergence considering climate-change damages, by employing an economic model embedding the three dimensions of risks at the country-level: exposure, vulnerability and hazards. The results show (1) with historical mean climate-induced losses between 10 and 15 percent of GDP per capita growth, the majority of African economies are poorly adapted to their current climatic conditions, (2) Western and Eastern African countries are projected to be the most affected countries on the continent and (3) As a consequence of these heightened impacts on a number of countries, inequalities between countries are projected to widen in the high warming scenario compared to inequalities in the low and without warming scenarios. To mitigate the impacts of economic development and inequalities across countries, we stress (1) the importance of mitigation ambition and Africa’s leadership in keeping global mean temperature increase below 1.5 °C, (2) the need to address the current adaptation deficit as soon as possible, (3) the necessity to integrate quantitatively climate risks in economic and development planning and finally (4) we advocate for the generalization of a special treatment for the most vulnerable countries to access climate-related finance. The analysis raises issues on the ability of African countries to reach their SDGs targets and the potential increasing risk of instability, migration across African countries, of decreased trade and economic cooperation opportunities as a consequence of climate change – exacerbating its negative consequences.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: February 2020〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 World Development, Volume 126〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Sonia Quiroga, Cristina Suárez, Juan Diego Solís, Pablo Martinez-Juarez〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉 〈p〉This paper analyses coffee producer’s vulnerability and adaptive capacity to climate change in Nicaragua. By its geographical position, Nicaragua is one of the countries most affected by climate change, and coffee production is expected to vastly shrink in some critical areas, suitability being reduced by up to 40% in the country. This paper analyses farmer’s perceptions and vulnerability indicators to find which indicators are linked to farmers’ perceived capacity to adapt to climate change, paying special attention to the issue of whether farmers perceive they have any capacity at all to adapt.〈/p〉 〈p〉The analysis was conducted through a survey to 212 representative farmers jointly with an analysis of vulnerability indicators. A Heckman selection model was estimated to jointly analyse the probability of being able to cope with climate change and the level of adaptive capacity that farmers perceive. We have simulated different policy scenarios considering the sustainable development goals of United Nations in terms of poverty reduction and education concerns. We also analysed the effects of specific programs on education about climate change awareness. Finally, we extend our analysis to a geographical evaluation of the farmer’s perceived vulnerability.〈/p〉 〈p〉The analysis shows that aspects such as farm size or education levels are relevant for modulating farmers’ perceptions on their own adaptive capacity. Large farm managers find themselves more often able to cope with climate change impacts though they find their capacity to be limited. Farmers that could not rely on rainfall water for their plantations also reported being less able to cope with climate change impacts. Poverty was also found to be correlated to perceptions, as regions lower proportions of inhabitants under poverty levels showed higher levels of confidence in adaptive capacity.〈/p〉 〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: February 2020〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 World Development, Volume 126〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Jacqueline D. Lau, Joshua E. Cinner, Michael Fabinyi, Georgina G. Gurney, Christina C. Hicks〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Ecosystem services have become a dominant paradigm for understanding how people derive well-being from ecosystems. However, the framework has been critiqued for over-emphasizing the availability of services as a proxy for benefits, and thus missing the socially-stratified ways that people access ecosystem services. We aim to contribute to ecosystem services’ theoretical treatment of access by drawing on ideas from political ecology (legitimacy) and anthropology (entanglement). We hypothesize that where customary and modern forms of resource management co-exist, changes in customary institutions will also change people’s ability to and means of benefiting from ecosystem services, with implications for well-being. We ask a) what are the constellations of social, economic, and institutional mechanisms that enable or hinder access to a range of provisioning ecosystem services; and b) how are these constellations shifting as different elements of customary institutions gain or lose legitimacy in the process of entanglement with modernity? Through a qualitative mixed-methods case study in a coastal atoll community in Papua New Guinea, we identify key access mechanisms across the value chain of marine provisioning services. Our study finds the legitimacy of customary systems – and thus their power in shaping access – has eroded unevenly for some ecosystem services, and some people within the community (e.g. younger men), and less for others (e.g. women), and that different marine provisioning services are shaped by specific access mechanisms, which vary along the value chain. Our findings suggest that attention to entanglement and legitimacy can help ecosystem services approaches capture the dynamic and relational aspects of power that shape how people navigate access to resources in a changing world. We contend that viewing power as relational illuminates how customary institutions lose or gain legitimacy as they become entangled with modernity.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: February 2020〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 World Development, Volume 126〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Dorota Węziak-Białowolska, Piotr Białowolski, Eileen McNeely〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉 〈p〉Workers’ mistreatment is a serious problem, particularly for disadvantaged populations in the global garment supply chain who are often subjected to human and labor rights violations. Workplace abuses are believed to originate from human resource management practices, which aim to reduce production costs and achieve inflated production targets. Improvements in worker well-being are often perceived as costs rather than investments.〈/p〉 〈p〉Family life might be an equally important contributor to workers’ well-being and factory outcomes, yet its impact often remains completely beyond the scope of interest of local factory management and the leadership of companies at the top of the supply chain.〈/p〉 〈p〉This study addressed the prevalence of workplace harassment (WH) and domestic violence (DV) in the garment industry in Mexico, Sri Lanka, China and Cambodia and the impacts of WH and DV on outcomes related to withdrawal from work (intentions to leave, quitting, and limited abilities to perform usual tasks), work attitudes (work engagement and job satisfaction) and self-reported work quality.〈/p〉 〈p〉Survey data from 5328 garment industry workers from four countries and information from personnel files are used. The relationships are modelled using linear, logistic or Cox proportional hazard regressions. The results from the longitudinal subsample substantiate the robustness of the findings.〈/p〉 〈p〉WH and DV are found to be significant stressors and affect withdrawal from work, work attitudes and work quality. Contrary to common belief, the findings do not reveal that WH and DV contribute to decisions to quit; however, they were found to impact intentions to leave. The results from the longitudinal sample corroborate the influence of WH and DV on work outcomes.〈/p〉 〈p〉The results of this study convey a message to global brands and factory managers to foster worker well-being, which may improve factory performance.〈/p〉 〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: April 2020〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 World Development, Volume 128〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Jenny C. Aker, Melita Sawyer, Markus Goldstein, Michael O'Sullivan, Margaret McConnell〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉The welfare impacts of expanding access to new financial services depend upon whether such services better meet households’ financial needs in terms of savings, investment and insurance. We report the results of a randomized control trial in Niger, whereby households were provided with access to a simple savings device – an individual lockbox – or SMS reminders. Overall, take-up and usage of the lockbox was high. Overall savings in the lockbox treatments was higher at endline, although this is not statistically significant at conventional levels. The lockboxes did not affect households’ ceremonial or overall health expenditures, but did partially help households to cope with the negative impacts of a health shock. Overall, there were no additional effects of the SMS reminders. Taken together, these results provide further evidence that simple savings devices can meet an unmet demand for a secure place to save.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: May 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 World Development, Volume 117〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): 〈/p〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: June 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 World Development, Volume 118〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Belén Fernández Milmanda, Candelaria Garay〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉In a context of booming commodity prices, what factors drive subnational authorities to implement forest protection regulations in active agricultural frontiers?. Focusing on one of the world’s deforestation hotspots, the Argentine Chaco Forest, we argue that subnational variation in the implementation of forest protection legislation is driven by governors’ attempts to avoid conflict produced by agricultural expansion. Through process tracing, we show how governors’ implementation decisions—regarding both the design and enforcement of provincial regulations—sought to mitigate pressures from large producers opposed to clearing restrictions and from various groups contesting agricultural expansion. As the power of these actors varies across provinces, governors’ conflict avoidance strategies resulted in markedly different subnational regulations as well as contrasting levels of enforcement and deforestation. We substantiate our argument through an empirical strategy that combines department-level geocoded data on deforestation and levels of forest protection in the Argentine Chaco with extensive fieldwork and interviews in the core provinces in which the forest is located. Our findings aim to contribute to academic debates in political science and environmental science on the determinants of subnational policy and deforestation, respectively, and have the potential to inform both donors and policymakers about the factors shaping the uneven impact of decentralized arrangements to combat climate change.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: June 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 World Development, Volume 118〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Raquel Bernal, Sara María Ramírez〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉The focus in developing countries is shifting from increasing access to early childhood care services to improving its quality. In light of the inclusion of early childhood development in the UN Sustainable Development Goals, there has emerged a global call for early childhood programs that integrate nutrition, health and development components. However, large-scale studies of integrated early childhood interventions are scarce in developing countries, and thus, little is known about its effectiveness and sustainability. In this paper we study the immediate and medium-run effects of a large-scale expansion of an integrated package of services including care, education, health and nutrition on child growth and development, by analyzing the expansion of the Colombian national early childhood strategy known as “〈em〉From Zero to Forever〈/em〉” between 2011 and 2013. The results indicate that the increased access to integrated center-based care had a large immediate effect on vocabulary that persists five years into the intervention, and less robust effects on nutritional status.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: June 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 World Development, Volume 118〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Ashwini Deshpande, Rajesh Ramachandran〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉We compare successive age cohorts of three broad social groups – Scheduled Castes and Tribes (SC-STs), Other Backward Classes (OBCs) and “Others” and provide the first disaggregated picture of the evolution of inter-caste disparities in India. The results show that absolute caste gaps in years of schooling and prestigious occupation of white-collar jobs have remained static, whereas log wages below the median have convergence and above the median diverged. Examining extension of job quotas to OBCs in 1993, we find positive effects of affirmative action on probability of holding government jobs, as well as on secondary schooling completion.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: June 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 World Development, Volume 118〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Veronica Herrera〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is ambitious and inclusive, but how well are these global aspirations likely to result in implementable policy change for water and sanitation? This article assesses governance challenges at the local level associated with Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6, which pledges to ensure sustainable water and sanitation for all. The majority of developing countries manage services at the subnational level, making the quality of local governance the key ingredient for improvements in the sector. This article first reviews prior shortcomings in global monitoring efforts and how SDG 6 was formulated to address them. The analysis then examines local governance challenges facing SDG 6 and potential barriers to implementation. These barriers manifest as both contradictions within SDG 6 itself as well as contradictions between SDG 6 and the Sustainable Development Agenda more broadly. As SDG monitoring rubrics undergo further reformulations, it may be necessary to prioritize between goals and targets, or otherwise stagger the timing of their promotion and implementation.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: June 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 World Development, Volume 118〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Jeroen Klomp〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉This study explores whether the public spending provided in response to a natural disaster is influenced by the political ideology of the incumbent government. We use a global panel of about 90 democratic countries. Political parties have different preferences regarding policies that redistribute income within a country after a natural disaster. The estimates of a dynamic panel model clearly indicate that left-wing governments allocate about 2.8 percent more public support per capita in the aftermath of a disaster than right-wing cabinets do. Besides, cabinets that consist of at least one nationalistic political party provide about 0.9 percent more disaster assistance than other coalitions. One explanation is that natural disasters may reinforce the feelings of voters related to the national identity and domestic solidarity. Finally, it turns out that the ideology effect is most visible in political systems with direct elections as it is easier to target affected voters in these systems.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: October 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 World Development, Volume 122〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Mehtabul Azam〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Using data from the large-scale consumption expenditure surveys collected by Indian National Sample Survey Organization, we examine the urban-rural welfare gap in India in 1983, 1993, 2004, and 2011 across the entire consumption distribution. Our main measure of welfare is spatially adjusted per capita consumption expenditure. Using the unconditional quantile regression decomposition, we find that the majority of the observed gap in each year is explained by the urban advantage in endowments. Difference in educational distributions across urban and rural areas explains a significant part of the gap observed in each year. Over time, there has been a gradual widening of the urban-rural gap. A decomposition of the change in the gap over 1983–2011 suggests that increasing gap between urban and rural areas in the share of tertiary educated population accounts for a significant part of the observed increase in the gap.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: October 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 World Development, Volume 122〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): John Aloysius Zinda, Zhiming Zhang〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Afforestation efforts are proliferating as states promote tree-planting to accomplish sustainable rural development and combat forest loss and climate change. China’s Returning Farmland to Forest Program (RFFP), one of the world’s most ambitious afforestation programs, has often been presented as a great success. However, research on the RFFP shows substantial unexplained heterogeneity. Case studies reveal divergent outcomes, but the processes behind local variation are poorly understood. This study examines mechanisms differentiating tree cover change across 12 communities. We join narrative histories with formal case comparison using fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA), which applies Boolean analysis to identify combinatorial patterns across cases, to explain variation in remotely sensed land cover change. These analyses identify distinct pathways to vegetation gain and loss linked to livelihood patterns and environmental conditions. The RFFP’s contribution to forest gain depends on how local governance and environmental conditions enable different land use patterns. In particular, whether community officials act in responsive, self-serving, or perfunctory ways shapes options available to other households. Responsive governance does not have a consistent relationship with forest gain; outcomes depend on the particular activities officials enable. Impacts on land cover change of labor outmigration, livestock husbandry, and cash crop expansion are likewise contingent. To make afforestation interventions effective and sustainable, policymakers must be mindful of crosscutting factors that may impede or facilitate forest establishment.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: October 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 World Development, Volume 122〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Gabrielli do Carmo Martinelli, Madalena Maria Schlindwein, Milton Parron Padovan, Everton Vogel, Clandio Favarini Ruviaro〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Agriculture and land use practices must be significantly improved to satisfy the needs of future generations without placing further pressure on global ecosystems. Agroforestry systems (AFS) have been quoted as one of the best options to mitigate environmental impacts and at the same time, improve smallholders’ livelihoods in agricultural areas. However, studies investigating the environmental aspects and yield of agroforestry systems in rural settlements, established by governmental initiatives, are still uncommon in the literature. Therefore, the goal of this paper was to assess the contribution of five biodiverse AFS, located in the Cerrado biome, to global warming mitigation and the provision of ecosystem services to smallholder farmers. Additionally, the importance of agroforestry projects to family farms in Brazil was discussed. Relying on data from forestry inventory and in-depth interviews with farmers, the crop yield (including fruit) was estimated; and the life cycle assessment method was used to determine the Global Warming Potential (GWP), accounting for all emissions to establish and manage the AFS up until the date of analysis. The results show the significant capacity of AFS sequester carbon, represented by the negative values of GWP, ranging from (−263) to (−496) t CO〈sub〉2〈/sub〉 equivalents per hectare. Each farmer adopted different tree and crop species at the AFS establishment what influenced yields and GWP. The high number of fruit trees contributed positively to the AFS outputs, allowing farmers to consume and sell a large variety of products. Furthermore, the households also benefit from microclimate and aesthetic benefits provided by the AFSs. Future agroforestry projects in rural settlements can contribute significantly to improve household livelihoods, as well as environmental protection. However, efforts should be taken to provide farmers with sound knowledge, financial support, and access to markets to thrive.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: July 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 World Development, Volume 119〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Xoco A. Shinbrot, Kate Wilkins, Ulrike Gretzel, Gillian Bowser〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Although it appears that leadership roles in sustainable development have become more androgynous over time, it is unclear whether perceptions of barriers for women leaders in this context have actually changed. Our research examines the perceptions of male and female sustainable development activists regarding existing barriers but also their visions of the unique contributions women leaders bring to sustainable development when these barriers are overcome. During a two-year global study, we interviewed 120 women and men deeply involved in sustainable development from local to supranational levels and active in transnational and autonomous spaces to capture their insights on the topic. Qualitative analyses revealed several themes: First, our results reflect overwhelming concerns with the patriarchal structures that are perceived to continue to constrain women from becoming leaders. Second, our study reveals complex and often hidden issues, such as the lack of self-confidence, which impedes perceived access to leadership positions, and differences among women that make it difficult to find blanket solutions. Finally, we discuss men and masculinity, topics which are often neglected in this context, highlighting the important role that male allies can play for women leaders in sustainable development. Theoretically, we add new perspectives to existing literature on women as sustainable development leaders by focusing on the perceptions of individuals who actively try to change institutions and norms from within. From a practical perspective, our study is an important call to action for global women’s movements and male allies to work together to confront hierarchical domination and oppression and, importantly, not only change structures but also perceptions.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉