Estimating the Effects of Climate Shocks on Collective Violence: ARDL Evidence from India

This paper examines the causal relationship between climate shocks and collective violence in India using annual data over the period 1954–2006. We use the ARDL bounds testing approach to deal with problems of autocorrelation and non-stationarity of key variables. Rather than rainfall, we find that it is maximum temperature that has long and short run effects on collective violence, with unidirectional causality from temperature shocks to riots. A one standard deviation increase in maximum temperature over the long run average increases the number of riots by 55 per cent. Return to long run equilibrium after a temperature shock takes approximately 15 years. The insignificance of rainfall holds whether we consider rainfall levels or rainfall growth. Given the absence of long run relationships between income levels /growth and riots, it is unlikely that the income channel is the one through which climate affects riots in India. Instead, the evidence suggests a psychological channel through which temperature affects riots in India, with hotter temperatures being associated with increased levels of aggression.     

Business groups,financing constraints and investment: the case of India

We examine the effect of business group affiliation on corporate investment behaviour in India. More specifically, we test whether group affiliation reduces financing constraints for the affiliated firms. We use a data set containing 694 listed Indian companies for the 1989–97 period. We estimate a simple investment equation and find evidence that the investment-cash flow sensitivity is much lower for group affiliates. This suggests that business group affiliates have better access to external funds than stand-alone firms.     

Cash or In-kind Transfers? Evidence from a Randomised Controlled Trial in Delhi,India

Abstract

This article examines a randomised intervention in Delhi, India, that provided unconditional cash transfers to a group of households as a replacement for the food security offered by a below-poverty-level card. The experimental approach can differentiate beneficial effects due to either unconditional cash transfers or newly opened bank accounts. The unconditional cash transfer does not induce a decline in food security; rather, it provides opportunities for households to shift to other nutritious options in non-cereal product categories.     

Graduated penalty scheme

Evaders of any dues such as local council tax, motor vehicle tax, tv license fees, etc., if detected, can pay promptly the dues plus any fine or postpone, which usually means a larger fine, and potentially imprisonment if payments are not made in full. Dominant among the likely reasons for this graduated penalty scheme are ‘default tracking costs’ and ‘imprisonment costs’. Although in conflict with the state’s basic objective of deterring evasion, a graduated penalty scheme may emerge as an optimal balance between the dual objectives of deterrence and settlement delay minimization. Based on a welfare-maximizing objective where the state determines optimal monitoring intensity and time profile of fines, an intuitively plausible condition is derived such that the fine scheme is of the graduated type.     

Fresh challenges faced on the ground by the Kingdom of the Sky: A quest for peace,harmony and stability

This article argues that Lesotho’s landlocked position, which inhibits trade and results in enclaves of the poor, not only leads to its dependency on South Africa, but also contributes to its instability. It points out that destabilisation remains a problem in spite of Lesotho having served as an excellent model of peaceful transfer of power in a strengthened democratic arena under its 1993 Constitution, as the country had just celebrated 20 years of relative peace. However, despite the 1991 Windhoek Declaration military coups, violence, violation of both human rights and human security continue to contribute to instability in Lesotho, requiring the frequent intervention of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), and especially so following the attempted coup in 2014. Lesotho’s Coalition government, which is a prime-ministerial form of government, is discussed in some detail in this article. The role of peacekeeping forces is also examined. The article recommends demilitarisation as the only practical, viable and long term solution to the problem of recurring coups in this country. The authors conclude that a sustained campaign against corrupt activities by government, though laudable, has somewhat surprisingly served to weaken the foundation of the Coalition in Lesotho.     

Is “Contribution to the Host States Development” An Essential Criterion to Define Investment Under International Investment Law?: A Search Through the Lens of Arbitral Awards

Liverpool Law Review - International Investment Arbitration proceedings often deliver its Award in two parts: (i) Jurisdiction and (ii) Merit. One of the most debated and controversial elements in...     

A community under siege: exclusionary education policies and indigenous Santals* in the Bangladeshi context

Abstract

This article presents and analyses the voices and responses of the research participants about the impact of exclusionary formal and informal education policies imposed on the Santal community in Palashpur, Bangladesh (Palashpur is a pseudonym for the site of my research; it is also a metaphor for contested space where the colonial power and politics of the nation state exert domination and subordination). These policies are implemented through a state-led, centralised, monolingual and exclusionary curriculum in local primary and secondary schools, schools run by the churches, and schools supported by nongovernmental organisations. The education policies in Bangladesh bear the legacy of the combined forces of cultural homogenisation and social exclusion rooted in the colonial learning structure and its objectives. Embedded in these policies are elements of the civilising mission, an ultra-religious assimilative but exclusionary nationalistic agenda, and Western values of modernity and development. In this rural context, these alien ideologies and practices in education are actively engaged in eliminating local institutions, the knowledge system of indigenous peoples, the texture of their lives, their joy of living, their spirituality and their sense of being. This article reveals how, imposed from above, education policy and practices have dispersed an indigenous community to negotiate a life that goes against the interests of the community itself and its members.     

Memory Ability is Associated With Disagreement About the Most Recent Conflict in Polysubstance Abusing Couples

There is strong evidence that men and women do not agree about the occurrence of intimate partner violence (IPV). However, few studies to date have attempted to test explanatory models of violence concordance. One possible mechanism underlying disagreement is cognitive impairment, specifically, memory dysfunction. The principal goal of this study is to test whether memory ability and overall cognitive functioning is related to disagreement about the most recent occurrence of IPV within the dyad. Data were collected from both partners of cohabiting or married couples. The male partners were polysubstance abusers within their first year of abstinence. Results indicate that the men and womens memory ability, problem solving, disinhibition, and verbal ability are significantly related to disagreement about the most recent IPV episode. Thus, cognitive ability, particularly memory ability, of the participants should be considered when assessing the accuracy of measuring IPV among individuals diagnosed with polysubstance abuse. Other implications are discussed.1Portions of this paper were presented at the 128th annual meeting of the American Public Health Association (2000).