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- No.2 / (5) An Empirical Note on Social Protection, Life Meaning, and Integrated Quality of Life in Rural Ghana
- Title_ An Empirical Note on Social Protection, Life Meaning, and Integrated Quality of Life in Rural Ghana Author_ Afia Dentaa Dankwa, Fanny Adams Quagrainie, Alan Anis Mirhage Kabalan Pages 168-184 Abstract_ Quality of life in rural areas is typically lower than in urban areas due to vulnerabilities arising from relatively higher poverty levels which expose rural populations to greater life risks. This study examines the mediating role of life meaning on the relationship between social protection interventions (preventive and coping strategies), and an integrated understanding of the quality of life. Integrated quality of life included objective, subjective and existential/religious dimensions. Using the assumptions of capability approach theory, data was collected from 399 individual beneficiaries of social protection interventions in six rural communities in southern Ghana. Ordinary least square regressions were used to test the hypotheses sets. The study found that preventive social protection interventions have positive and significant effects on only subjective quality of life. Coping social protection interventions were positive and significant with objective, subjective and existential/religious quality of life. The findings also revealed that meaning in life mediates the relationship between preventive social protection interventions and subjective quality of life as well as coping social protection interventions and subjective quality of life. The study argues that while rural people have recognized the benefits of accessing social protection interventions due to their functionality, they also need to be assisted to develop meaning in their lives since it has a bearing on the perceived quality of life. Results indicate the need for different approaches that take into account the complexity of local peculiarities to achieve the integrated quality of life through social protection interventions. Keywords_ Social protection interventions, Integrative quality of life, Existential quality of life, Meaning in life, Rural areas, Ghana
- IPAID 2020.12.23
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9
- No.2 / (4) Micro and Small-Scale Enterprises in Local Level Planning and Local Government Decision Making
- Title_ Micro and Small-Scale Enterprises in Local Level Planning and Local Government Decision Making: A Study in Berekum Municipal, Ghana Author_ Jonas Ayaribilla Akudugu Pages 153-167 Abstract_ The role of micro and small enterprises in local economic development and employment generation at the district level cannot be overemphasized. Micro and small enterprises per- form production and service delivery functions for local economic development. In the West, where local economic development has a long-established history, local business people are key stakeholders in local economic development. Together with local government and other relevant actors, local economic development initiatives are being jointly designed and implemented to stimulate the local economy. This study sought to assess efforts by the Berekum Municipal government in Ghana to involve micro and small enterprises in local level planning and development decision making processes. It finds that the structuring of local level planning and development decision making does not create space for genuine participation of micro and small enterprises. Thus, micro and small enterprises ultimately become mere beneficiaries or victims of local government development plans and actions rather than ac- tors in development decision making. Until efforts are made to recognize micro and small enterprises as key stakeholders in local level planning and to create space to facilitate their genuine participation, local economic development will be hard to realize. Keywords_ Micro and small enterprises, Involvement, Local economic development, Planning, District Assemblies, Decision making
- IPAID 2020.12.23
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8
- No.2 / (3) Aid for Trade and Comparative Advantage Following (CAF) Development Strategy
- Title_ Aid for Trade and Comparative Advantage Following (CAF) Development Strategy Author_ Sena Kimm Gnangnon Pages 122-152 Abstract_ This article analyses whether Aid for Trade (AfT) interventions are associated with the adoption of the Comparative Advantage Following (CAF) development strategy or the Comparative Advantage Defying (CAD) development strategy in recipient-countries. An empirical exercise is performed using a panel dataset of 75 countries over the period 1996-2016. The findings show that AfT interventions tend to be associated with the adoption of the CAF strategy, particularly in countries that experience a relatively low level of trade policy liberalization, a high education level, low inflation rates, a low dependence on natural resources, and a relatively low volume of FDI inflows. Keywords_ Aid for trade flows, Comparative Advantage Following (CAF) development strategy, Developing countries
- IPAID 2020.12.23
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7
- No.2 / (2) Renewable and Non-Renewable Energy Consumption, CO2 Emissions and Economic Growth in a Developing Country
- Title_ Renewable and Non-Renewable Energy Consumption, CO2 Emissions and Economic Growth in a Developing Country: Empirical Evidence from Kazakhstan Author_ Bolor-Erdene Turmunkh Pages 106-121 Abstract_ The engagement of developing countries is an increasingly important part of addressing Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emission-driven climate change. As such, understanding the pat- terns of energy use, GHG emissions and economic growth in developing countries is vital. The major Central Asian country of Kazakhstan is important in this respect due to its size, rapid growth and extensive energy reserves. It has experienced rapid growth in its economy, energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions in recent years. This study examines the relationships between non-renewable and renewable energy consumption, CO2 emissions, and economic growth in Kazakhstan, using 1990–2014 data from the World Development Indicators (WDI). It performs tests to verifying the existence of the long run relationships among the variables, and examines short and long run causal relationships. It finds that in- creased fossil fuel use is the main cause of increased CO2 emissions. Keywords_ Carbon emissions, Economic growth, Environment, Renewable energy, Kazakhstan
- IPAID 2020.12.23
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6
- No.2 / (1) The International Development Assistance Regime: From Poverty Reduction to the SDGs
- Title_ The International Development Assistance Regime: From Poverty Reduction to the SDGs Author_ Mitsuaki Furukawa Pages 83 - 105 Abstract_ This paper investigates what kind of international development assistance regime was in place before it was superseded by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The paper identifies that regime as one of “poverty reduction,” which was maintained by soft laws, peer pressure and peer reviews, and institutionalization by the major donors. It finds that the “poverty reduction regime” was internationally agreed-upon and established, and had highest acceptance among certain Sub-Saharan African, South and Southeast Asian, and Central and South American low-income, high-aid dependency countries. Relatedly, there was consider- able overlap of these recipients with the Nordic Plus donor group’s focus countries. However, it was found that among countries with a high degree of affiliation with the regime, actual results were low compared to less-receptive countries. Finally, this paper suggests that in order to consider the establishment of an appropriate international development assistance system in the SDG era, and to promote the development of the recipients concerned, it is necessary to develop measures to maximize the roles of various actors and to build a platform where various actors can effectively cooperate together, in the same way that “the Paris declaration on aid effectiveness” played its role in the “Poverty Reduction Regime”. Keywords_ Aid effectiveness, Soft laws, Poverty reduction, Regime, MDGs, SDGs
- IPAID 2020.12.23
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5
- No.1 / (5) Petroleum Subsidy Reduction and Poverty in Nigeria
- Title_ Petroleum Subsidy Reduction and Poverty in Nigeria: A Choice between Maintaining the Subsidy or Providing Infrastructural Services Equivalent to the Deadweight Loss Author_ Matthew Oladapo Gidigbi, Kehinde Mary Bello Pages 70-81 Abstract_ Government interventions in energy pricing can either aggravate or alleviate overall poverty, complicating efforts to reduce the burden of subsidies on developing country budgets. This issue is particularly acute for Nigeria, where a large subsidy on Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) consumes a considerable portion of the country’s resources and is subject to large scale corruption and misuse, yet where there continues to be a high rate of poverty incidence and a large indigent population sensitive to any increase in the price of fuel. This study assesses the choice between maintaining the PMS subsidy and redirecting those resources to the additional provision of infrastructure services, proxied by the deadweight loss. Annual data covering the period of 1981-2016 were sourced from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Monthly Financial Operations, the NNPC Annual Statistical Bulletin, the Central Bank of Nigeria Statistical Bulletin and Annual Reports. Vector Autoregression was used to regress poverty incidence on the subsidy and the deadweight value from the subsidy. The study found barely any difference between the contributions of both variables to poverty reduction, with the according coefficients 0.02 and 0.01 percent respectively. Empirically, maintaining the subsidy is the slightly better choice in terms of poverty reduction. This sup- ports the view that the PMS subsidy is important for the indigent due to the susceptibility of such households to income shock. However, greater health investment appears to be an effective intervention, and improving primary health could significantly reduce poverty incidence in the country. Keywords_ Poverty incidence, Petroleum subsidy, Energy reforms, Education, Health, Efficiency loss
- IPAID 2020.11.20
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4
- No.1 / (4) Impacts of Bangladesh’s Agricultural Rehabilitation Program as a Safety Net
- Title_ Impacts of Bangladesh’s Agricultural Rehabilitation Program as a Safety Net for Marginal and Smallholder Farmers Author_ Ismat A. Begum, Mohammad. J. Alam, Shaheen Akter, Md. Mojammel Haque, Rezaul K. Talukder Pages 56-69 Abstract_ This study empirically tests the impact of Bangladesh’s agricultural rehabilitation program (ARP) on agricultural production at the household level. A propensity score matching approach is applied to 2010 Household Income and Expenditure Survey data. The sample comprised a control group of 4286 households against a treated group of 446 households. Various indicators such as labor allocation, income generating activities, investment and shock coping strategies were chosen to identify the impact on productive outcomes. The average treatment effect on the treated (ATE) was significant for income generating activities (farm and non-farm), labor allocation (farm and non-farm, self-employment) and investment (agricultural assets, inputs). Due to the ARP, labor moved from non-farm activities to farm activities, with farm activity increasing by 0.40 units, and non-farm activity declining by 0.73 units per household. These results suggest that the ARP is a promising means of providing a safety net for marginal and smallholder farmers in Bangladesh and can contribute to increased productive outcomes. Keywords_ Agricultural rehabilitation program, Propensity score matching, Productive safety net, Impact, Bangladesh
- IPAID 2020.11.20
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3
- No.1 / (3) Rural Household Vulnerability to Multidimensional Poverty in Ethiopia’s Degu’a Tembien District, Tigray
- Title_ Rural Household Vulnerability to Multidimensional Poverty in Ethiopia’s Degu’a Tembien District, Tigray Author_ Desawi Kiros Gebrekidan, Abate Mekuriaw, John Cameron Pages_ 33-55 Abstract_ This paper investigates household vulnerability to multidimensional poverty in Degu’a Tembien District. Cross-sectional data were collected randomly from 420 households from six rural villages. Vulnerability to multidimensional poverty was estimated using three-step FGLS. Finding shows that, on the one hand, households with greater social capital, financial capital and number of plots tend to be less vulnerable owing to their lower rates of expected multidimensional deprivation. On the other hand, households with better physical capital are found highly vulnerable with lower volatility of expected multidimensional deprivations. The analysis also shows that female-headed households are more vulnerable to future poverty than male-headed households. Household’s who experienced drought, hailed rainfall and pest attack shocks were associated with increased vulnerability. Results also show that households that rely on savings, sale of livestock and formal borrowing of money following a shock were found to be less vulnerable to multidimensional poverty. Overall, 80 percent of households were vulnerable to multidimensional poverty and the probability of experiencing multidimensional poverty in the near future exceeds the current incidence of household multidimensional poverty. This implies the need to focus on reducing household vulnerability through social protection interventions rather than reducing observed multidimensional poverty. Keywords_ Vulnerability, Multidimensional poverty, Shock, Deprivation, Incidence
- IPAID 2020.11.20
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2
- No.1 / (2) Income Inequality, Poverty and Food Security of Plain Land Ethnic Communities of Bangladesh
- Title_ Income Inequality, Poverty and Food Security of Plain Land Ethnic Communities of Bangladesh Author_ Farhana Afrin Tithi, Basanta Kumar Barmon, Sanzidur Rahman Pages 16-32 Abstract_ The present study examines the level of income inequality, poverty and food security of two plain land ethnic communities residing alongside ethnic Bengalis (the majority in Bangladesh). It uses a randomly selected sample of 150 households (50 Bengali, 50 Koch and 50 Santal) from Phulbari subdistrict of Dinajpur district, located in the northwestern region. Results revealed that the level of illiteracy is highest for the Koch community, followed by the Santal community estimated at 58% and 50% respectively, as compared to the Bengali rate of 46%. It is encouraging to know that income inequality is much lower for the Koch and Santal communities as compared to the Bengali community, estimated at 0.24, 0.20 and 0.35, respectively, but their average annual total income is about 59.2% and 43.0% lower than the total annual income of the Bengali community. All measures of poverty and depth of poverty is much higher for both the Koch and Santal communities. Similarly, the level of food insecurity is very high for both ethnic minority communities. About 86% of both communities are food insecure. Furthermore, 60% and 52% of Koch and Santal households classify as absolute poor, consuming less than 1,805 kcal/capita/day, whereas the figure for the Bengali community is 44% and the national average for rural areas is 35.2%, respectively. Policy implications include investments in education and other income generating programs targeted at the ethnic minority communities so that they can participate in economic activities and reduce their poverty and food insecurity levels. Keywords_ Income inequality, Poverty, Depth of poverty, Food security, Ethnic people, Bangladesh
- IPAID 2020.11.20
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1
- No.1 / (1) Donors’ Supply of Aid for Information and Communication Technologies
- Title_ Donors’ Supply of Aid for Information and Communication Technologies: Do Recipient- Countries’ Level of Access to the Internet Matter? Author_ Sèna Kimm Gnangnon Pages 1-15 Abstract_ In light of the importance of Internet access for developing countries in today’s world, this article investigates whether donors’ aid supply for the development of the Information and Communication technologies (ICT) sector in developing countries depends on the latter’s level of access to the Internet. The analysis is conducted using a set of 88 countries, over the period 2004-2016. Empirical results show that donors allocate higher aid for ICT to countries with a higher Internet usage and higher fixed broadband subscriptions. Specifically, least developed countries benefit much more from aid for ICT than other countries when they make an effort to increase either the access of their population to the Internet or fixed broadband. Keywords_ Internet usage, Broadband subscriptions, Development aid for the ICT sector
- IPAID 2020.11.20