Search results for "050204 development studies"
showing 10 items of 48 documents
Citizens as Actors in the Development Field: The Case of an Accidental Aid-Agent’s Activities in Aid-Land
2017
AbstractThis article explores a so far little researched aspect of the Norwegian development aid – the privatised, personalised aid giving. Elsewhere in Europe, researchers have explored this phenomenon, which they refer to as citizen initiatives (CIs) for global solidarity [Pollet, I., R. Habraken, L. Schulpen and H. Huyse, 2014, The Accidental Aid Worker: A Mapping of Citizen Initiatives for Global Solidarity in Europe, Nijmegen: KU Leuven/HIVA and CIDIN]. This phenomenon coincides with a generalised crisis in the established state-sponsored international aid industry reflecting the extended financial crisis. Against the background of a first exploratory mapping of CIs in Norway, we discu…
Explaining Ethiopia’s Growth Acceleration—The Role of Infrastructure and Macroeconomic Policy
2017
Summary Ethiopia has experienced an impressive growth acceleration over the past decade. This was achieved on the back of an economic strategy emphasizing public infrastructure investment supported by heterodox macro-financial policies. This paper identifies the drivers of Ethiopia’s recent growth episode and examines the extent to which they were typical or unique. It combines country-specific information with the results of a cross-country panel regression model. We find that Ethiopia’s growth is explained well by factors correlating with growth in a broad range of countries in recent decades, including public infrastructure investment, restrained government consumption, and a conducive e…
Farmers’ autonomous management or state regulation? The consolidation of local irrigation associations in Spain (nineteenth to twentieth centuries)
2019
AbstractThe collective management of irrigation is an essential factor in agrarian development, both present and past. However, the relationship of irrigation associations with the state remains underexplored, despite the increasingly important role played by water policies in the modern world. The present article examines this relationship in Spain over the last two centuries. Our results suggest that, first, the state played a decisive part in the emergence and evolution of irrigation associations, and this belies the assumption of the traditional origin of these institutions; second, that farmers, despite being subject to the regulatory framework, enjoyed substantial autonomy in the mana…
Not only peasants: the myth of continuity in the irrigation communities of Valencia, Spain, in the medieval and early modern periods
2017
AbstractThe Horta of Valencia is a large irrigated area managed by eight communities of landowners. Traditionally, it was considered that these communities were composed of peasants, that they were self-managed and self-governed, and that they had remained immutable over time. However, the historical evidence shows that this is not true for pre-modern times. This article examines a possible Islamic origin of these institutions, the rupture caused by the Christian conquest of Valencia in the thirteenth century, the structure of the communities, and the social diversity of their members within the framework of feudalism. We conclude that irrigation communities cannot be used as examples of in…
The Lure of Katanga Copper : Tanganyika Concessions Limited and the Anatomy of Mining and Mine Exploration 1899–1906
2016
This article provides a rare opportunity to follow the inception of mining and mine exploration economy in the first years of the European presence in colonial Zambia and Katanga as seen through the eyes of prospectors and mining experts working for the London-based company Tanganyika Concessions Limited. It draws on company records as well as the personal records of the early company employees who worked in North Western Rhodesia and adjoining Katanga until 1906. The most thought-provoking documents include diaries, letters and photographs, which depict the organisation and processes of early mining work, modes of mine exploration, and relations within the first mining communities and betw…
STATE BUILDING, RURAL DEVELOPMENT, AND THE MAKING OF A FRONTIER REGIME IN NORTHEASTERN ETHIOPIA, c. 1944–75
2016
AbstractCombining a set of grey literature and primary sources, this article analyses the rise and fall of the sultanate of Awsa, northeastern Ethiopia, between 1944 and 1975. Ali Mirah exploited the typical repertoires of a frontier regime to consolidate a semi-independent Muslim chiefdom at the fringes of the Christian empire of Ethiopia. Foreign investors in commercial agriculture provided the sultanate and its counterparts within the Ethiopian state with tangible and intangible resources that shaped the quest for statecraft in the Lower Awash Valley.
Economic crisis and educational crisis : looking ahead
1986
The worldwide economic crisis has now been with us for a good ten years and, for many countries, the end of the tunnel is not yet in sight and is probably a long way off. So what kind of crisis is this, that can continue for so long, given the fact that, etymologically, the term denotes a brief, crucial moment when the outcome of a troubled situation is decided, for better or for worse? Infelicitous as the term commonly used to describe the present state of the world economy may be, it is none the less true that what is designated as a crisis encompasses a historical phase in which economic growth is lower than in the preceding phase and the problems bound up with certain economic trends (i…
Inflation shocks and income inequality
2019
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyze the effects of inflationary shocks on inequality, using data of selected countries of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Design/methodology/approach Inflationary shocks were measured as deviations from core inflation, based on a genetic algorithm. Bayesian quantile regression was used to estimate the impact of inflationary shocks in different levels of inequality. Findings The results showed that inflationary shocks substantially affect countries with higher levels of inequality, thus suggesting that the detrimental impact of inflation is exacerbated by the high division of classes in a country. Originality/value The study contributes t…
Microfinance beyond self-employment: Evidence for firms in Bulgaria
2017
This paper provides new evidence on the impact of microfinance on job creation beyond self-employment. We examine wage-employment effects for a typical program in Eastern Europe with average loan sizes that are considerably above what has been studied so far. We apply propensity score matching extended by a difference-in-differences estimator to panel data from an individual-lending program to firms in Bulgaria. Our results indicate that microcredit has very positive effects on job creation. Participating firms have on average 2.5 (or 33 percent) more employees two years after receiving a microcredit than matched non-participants. This strong effect seems to be related to a certain loan siz…
The ERASMUS experience and its capacitating potential: Analysis of adaptive capabilities
2017
Abstract This analysis takes as its focus the Erasmus experience and seeks to obtain information about how it contributes to human development in accordance with the capabilities approach of Amartya Sen and Marta Nussbaum. By way of a qualitative research proposal, and with the support of NVIVO 10 software, evidence is found of the “capacitating potential” of the aforementioned European Union mobility programme. This evidence is detailed through qualitative data–in this case regarding “adaptive capabilities”, representing one of six areas of study pursued in this investigation.