Urban Proximity and Spatial Pattern of Land Use and Development in Rural India

Using non-parametric methods and India Human Development Survey 2004–2005, this study analyses the effect of urban proximity in terms of distance and connectivity on spatial pattern of land-use and development in the context of rural India. We find that, in urban surroundings, rural areas have diversified economic activities, intensive agriculture with higher spending on various inputs, higher economic wellbeing in terms of wages, income and consumption expenditure. We also document that transport and tele-connectivity are important for improved rural-urban linkages and changing rural landscape. These findings suggest that urban settlements are keys to development and inclusive growth in rural areas.     

Engel Curves for Fair Trade Consumption and Development Perspectives for Producers: Evidence from Data on Real Fairtrade Purchases

While Fairtrade sales have exhibited two-digit growth rates over recent decades, their capacity to become large enough to generate substantial gains for producers is still uncertain. Estimating Fairtrade Engel curves based on real purchases, this article describes how Fairtrade consumption varies with consumer characteristics and total income. Results show high expenditure elasticities for Fairtrade demand, and suggest that market expansion lies in the growth of income per capita in import countries and in an increase in the diversity, availability, and quality of products. Implications for producers are drawn from the results.     

Self-reported suicidal behavior and attitudes toward suicide and suicide prevention among psychology students in Ghana, Uganda, and Norway

Self-reported suicidal behavior and attitudes toward suicide in psychology students are reported and compared in Ghana, Uganda, and Norway. Small differences only were found in own suicidal behavior. However, experience of suicidal behavior in the surroundings was more common in Uganda than in Ghana and Norway. Although differences were found between the three countries in attitudes toward suicide, which emphasizes the need for culture-sensitive research and prevention, many of the differences were not as big as expected. The most pronounced difference was that the Norwegian students were more reluctant to take a stand on these questions compared to their African counterparts. Some differences were also found between the two African countries. The implications of the results for suicide prevention in Africa are discussed.     

Rethinking the Effects of Microcredit on Household Welfare in Cambodia

This article analyses the effects of microcredit on household welfare in terms of household expenditure per capita in Cambodia, with data from the Cambodia Socio-Economic Survey carried out in 2014. The analysis describes the effects via formal and informal lending sectors, accounting for endogenous selection bias arising from unobserved factors and for structural differences between borrowers and non-borrowers in terms of expenditure functions. The findings suggest that microcredit in both sectors reduces household expenditure.     

Overurbanization and underdevelopment in Sub-Saharan Africa: A cross-national study

"This paper discusses both the urban bias and world-system theories of overurbanization and presents a cross-national analysis of 32 African nations to test these perspectives. The analysis is divided into three parts. First, the effects of urban bias (i.e., the disparity in welfare between rural and urban areas) and economic dependence on overurbanization are examined. Next, the association between overurbanization and (1) the structure of the labor force and (2) economic growth is tested. Finally, the relationship between the structure of the labor force and economic growth is evaluated." The results indicate that "the rural-urban disparity and foreign investment facilitate overurbanization, and that an increase in level of overurbanization has a deleterious impact on both the structure of the labor force and economic growth. Furthermore, there is strong evidence indicating that an increase in service-sector employment has a negative effect on economic growth."     

Local Navigations in a Global Industry: The Gendered Nature of Entrepreneurship in Ghana’s Oil and Gas Service Sector

Oil and gas discoveries spurred expectations of economic growth and employment in Ghana. The demand for labour is however limited within offshore petroleum extraction. Employment generation therefore depends on the development of an onshore oil and gas service sector. This study examines the strategies adopted by local entrepreneurs in the ‘oil city’ of Takoradi, focusing on the gendered nature of their activities, skills, networks and capital sources. I argue that the petroleum industry’s male dominance and international standards requirements, coupled with gender constraints regarding work and access to relevant resources, limit female entrepreneurs’ creation of employment in this emerging sector.     

Impact of Internal In-Migration on Income Inequality in Receiving Areas: A District Level Study of South Africa

The impact of internal migration on regional income inequality of the receiving areas has hitherto gone largely unstudied. This dearth of literature is especially surprising because income inequality and in-migration into urban centres of growth are two issues that many developing economies are faced with and tackling these issues effectively involves understanding the interactions between these two related phenomena. This study is therefore a first attempt to analyse the impact of internal in-migration on receiving areas and is placed in the context of South Africa. Based on a conceptual analysis, the study argues that in-migration into the formal sector of the receiving areas will in general reduce inequality while in-migration into the informal or unemployed sector increases inequality. Using individual panel data the study further tests empirically at the district level the impact of in-migration and finds that rising urban inequality in urban areas can be attributed at least in part to rural-urban migration. This works through both the wage as well as employment channel. The employment channel can be said to have a stronger impact than the wage channel as indicated by the coefficients estimated through our system GMM regression analysis.     

The Real Exchange Rate,Foreign Aid and Macroeconomic Transmission Mechanisms in Tanzania and Ghana

Abstract

A recent study of 36 sub-Saharan African countries found a positive impact of aid in the majority of these countries. However, for Tanzania and Ghana, two major aid recipients, aid did not seem to have been equally beneficial. This study singles out these two countries for a more detailed empirical investigation. The focus is on the effect of aid when allowing external and nominal factors to play a role in the macroeconomic transmission mechanism. We conclude that when monetary and external factors are properly accounted for, then aid has been pivotal to growth in both real GDP and investment.     

Are pre‐schoolers from female‐headed households less malnourished? A comparative analysis of results from Ghana and Kenya

This article compares household income level and pre‐schooler weight‐for‐age across household groupings that are differentiated by female headship variables which are reflective of the heterogeneity of female‐headed households. Data from Kenya indicate that it is the interaction of income and female headship at low‐income levels which promotes pre‐schooler nutritional status. For Ghana, incomes have to be quite large (in the upper tercile of the distribution) before a reduction in the child's likelihood of having a low weight‐for‐age is achieved through further income increases. We argue that an absence of complementary child health inputs is more likely for households in the Ghana sample, and that in this type of environment, differences in nurturing patterns, as proxied by headship status, will have a muted impact on child nutrition.     

The Impact of Rural-Urban Migration on Subjective Well-Being in South Africa

This paper quantifies the short to medium term impact of rural-urban migration on an individual’s subjective well-being in South Africa between 2008 and 2012. We work through different econometric specifications; using instrumental variables to control for endogeneity caused by shock-induced self-selection, and Propensity Score Matching to control for migration self-selection bias. We find that rural-urban migration leads to a decrease in subjective well-being by 8.3 per cent. We suspect that the decreased well-being is a result of false expectations and changing relative groups used to peg aspirations, as well as the emotional cost of being away from family and a home environment.     

Implementation Challenges of the National Health Insurance Scheme in Selected Districts in Ghana: Evidence from the Field

Ghana’s National Health Insurance Scheme, introduced in 2003, aims to remove financial barriers to health-care access and bridge the inequality gaps in health care. This paper reports on a study of the implementation process in four local government areas in southern and northern Ghana. The paper profiles key institutional actors and draws on qualitative interview data from 33 in-depth interviews. Findings highlight the gaps and challenges that have emerged in the implementation process. Issues of managerial capacity, inadequate and uneven distribution of medical facilities and health-care professionals, cost escalation, fraud and abuse, and reimbursement of providers threaten the sustainability of the scheme.     

Austerity,rationing and inequity: trends in children’s and young peoples’ services expenditure in England between 2010 and 2015

This article investigates local authority (LA) trends in expenditure on Children’s and Young Peoples’ services in England between 2010 and 2015, a period of government characterised by measures of fiscal austerity. We draw on a rationing framework to contextualise the levels and trends in expenditure under observation. The article analyses trends in various groupings of expenditure, using a latent growth modelling approach to identify significant trajectories in spending across LAs with different deprivation tertile membership. We find that although some kinds of children’s and young peoples’ services expenditure have been largely maintained during this period, preventive family support and early intervention services (such as Sure Start Children’s centres) have seen substantial reductions in expenditure, in contrast to the dominant narrative that children’s services have been protected. LAs in the most deprived tertile have faced the greatest cuts, mirroring other research findings on the distribution of austerity measures.     

Demand for tea in the UK 1874–1938: An econometric study

The main objective of this study is to provide estimates of price and income elasticities of demand for tea in order to explain the growth in tea consumption over the period 1874–1938. Numerous other factors, both economic and social, may contribute to changing patterns of consumption. Indeed, such factors as demographic and organisational changes and different social habits may exert an influence on price and income elasticities. A subsidiary aim of this study is to examine the influence of these factors on the differences in income and price elasticities in demand for tea over various sub‐periods between 1874 and 1938.     

Sino-Ghana bilateral relations and Chinese migrants’ illegal gold mining in Ghana

ABSTRACT

This article examines the participation of some Chinese migrants in illegal gold mining (known as galamsey) in Ghana, and how the Government’s policy to address the issue created diplomatic tension between China and Ghana. Drawing on primary data from in-depth, face-to-face interviews with 250 respondents and supplementary information from archival sources and personal observation, the study found that small-scale gold mining is an area legally reserved for Ghanaian indigenes, who faced stern competition from some Chinese migrants’ miners. Their ability to mobilize resources and machinery to execute galamsey virtually displaced the indigenes from their source of livelihood and caused environmental catastrophes. The Ghana Government’s policy response to the Chinese migrants’ galamsey, which led to arrests, sentencing and deportations of some Chinese miners, angered Beijing and fractured Ghana–China diplomatic ties. But the dispute could not collapse the entrenched bilateral relations between the two nations because the calculated mutual benefit derived from the relations was thought to be higher than the Chinese galamsey issue. Policy reforms which legally integrate Chinese migrants’ miners into the small-scale mining sector would stop galamsey and strengthen Sino-Ghana relations.     

Do land reforms have adverse impacts on the livelihoods of poor land users? Evidence from the Nkoranza South Municipality,Ghana

Poverty reduction is the overarching goal of most development interventions in the developing world. From 2004, Ghana has been implementing a land reform policy/programme that seeks to improve tenure security and reduce poverty. The present study uses qualitative methods to analyse the extent to which land reforms are enabling or inhibiting poor land users in Ghana to exit poverty and improve their living standards. The study finds that Ghana’s land reform system redefines customary land governance resulting in a breakdown of the trusteeship ethos of the chieftaincy institution, increasing land sales, insecurity of land tenure for the poor and disappearing commons. These factors subsequently have adverse impacts on the ability of poor people to meet their livelihood needs. The study concludes that, for land reforms to work proactively for the poor, they must be pursued as part of broader, holistic and integrated development initiatives.     

Social Health Insurance and the Use of Formal and Informal Care in Developing Countries: Evidence from Ghana’s National Health Insurance Scheme

This paper studies the relationship between the use of formal and informal health care in a developing country setting by examining the introduction of a social health insurance scheme in Ghana. We estimate the effects of gaining coverage on changes in care seeking behaviour and show how these effects differ by age and wealth status. District-level differences in the implementation of the insurance scheme provide exogenous variation in access to insurance and allow us to address issues with selection into coverage. Results indicate that insurance access strongly increased use of formal care and reduced out-of-pocket expenditures on health services.     

Political Consensus and Fiscal Outcomes

It is becoming difficult to maintain consensus in a period of economic austerity, and this possibly challenges the ability of democratic institutions to take decisions on tough economic questions. In order to find out how political consensus influences fiscal outcomes, this article sets out to analyse the association between political consensus and public expenditure growth. The results show that political consensus is positively associated with both budgeted and actual expenditure growth, but also negatively associated with budget overruns. This indicates that political consensus comes at a cost, while at the same time politicians may be better at sticking to budgets if political consensus exists. The analysis is based on a pooled regression analysis of the local governments in Denmark in the years 2008 and 2009 using a data set combining survey data with administrative data on the local governments.     

Rural migration and agrarian reform in Russia: a research note

This study focuses primarily on trends in rural-urban migration in Russia and the former Soviet Union. "New data suggest that a historic shift in migration patterns is underway in Russia, a change that may have profound long-term effects on agrarian reform and the nature of the Russian countryside. We begin with a short review of past rural migration trends and the rural demographic situation, in part using archival data for an oblast in central Russia. We will then present new data on rural migration. Finally, we assess the implications of rural migratory trends for agrarian reform in Russia."     

Social Hierarchies and Public Distribution of Food in Rural India

In this paper, we develop a simple model to show that consumption of PDS food grains is significantly different between rich and poor households in states in which the PDS functions relatively well; in states in which the PDS is non-functional, the difference is not significant. Using household-level data from three recent thick rounds of the consumption expenditure survey (2004–2005, 2009–2010, and 2011–2012), we find evidence in support of the predictions from the model. This suggests that one way to make the PDS functional is to make it more accessible to poor and underprivileged households.