Search results for "Development economics"
showing 10 items of 243 documents
Northern Ireland: Sectarianism, Civil Society and Democratic Deepening
2013
The main aim of this chapter is to provide an overview and evaluation of evidence of efforts at peace-building at the level of civil society (rather than political processes, where most analyses have focused) in Northern Ireland, particularly since the Good Friday Agreement (GFA) of 1998. How successful have attempts, at the level of civil society, by the people of Northern Ireland, the Irish and British governments, the EU and US governments and other actors been in creating community cohesion in a society with a long history of social and political division? In particular, what has been the role of cross-community and religious groups in these efforts? A second aim is to begin to articula…
Will Basel II Affect International Capital Flows To Emerging Markets?
2004
This paper investigates the consequences of Basel II for international capital flows to emerging markets. The paper shows that the magnitude of effects critically depends on a number of assumptions, including: the mapping of risk weights to ratings, assumptions about required return on capital, assumptions about competition and diversion effects and the assumption that minimum capital requirements are binding constraints. The paper provides evidence on each of these assumptions and estimates their effect on interest margins and bank flows.Overall the results suggest that Basel II - taking into account the "Potential Modifications" of November 2001 - will have only a moderate impact on inter…
The community structure of the global corporate network.
2013
We investigate the community structure of the global ownership network of transnational corporations. We find a pronounced organization in communities that cannot be explained by randomness. Despite the global character of this network, communities reflect first of all the geographical location of firms, while the industrial sector plays only a marginal role. We also analyze the network in which the nodes are the communities and the links are obtained by aggregating the links among firms belonging to pairs of communities. We analyze the network centrality of the top 50 communities and we provide the first quantitative assessment of the financial sector role in connecting the global economy.
Urban poverty: Measurement theory and evidence from American cities
2021
AbstractWe characterize axiomatically a new index of urban poverty that i) captures aspects of the incidence and distribution of poverty across neighborhoods of a city, ii) is related to the Gini index and iii) is consistent with empirical evidence that living in a high poverty neighborhood is detrimental for many dimensions of residents’ well-being. Widely adopted measures of urban poverty, such as the concentrated poverty index, may violate some of the desirable properties we outline. Furthermore, we show that changes of urban poverty within the same city are additively decomposable into the contribution of demographic, convergence, re-ranking and spatial effects. We collect new evidence …
Global Demand for Paper Products: 2006–2050
2012
Our aim is to formulate and present global demand forecasts for several paper products for the main regions of the world for the period 2005-2050. Our forecasts, while based on standard regression modeling, differ from existing ones in that they are based not only on historical observed consumption patterns and projections of economic growth, but also take into account changes in the demographic constitution of countries and regions, and incorporate the assumption that beyond certain level economic prosperity (here in terms of GDP per capita) does not translate into increased demand for paper products. Our key results are threefold. First, the demand for paperboard and hygiene products will…
Optimal growth and land preservation
1997
A model of optimal economic growth with a constant population subject to a constraint on the availability of land is presented. It takes account of the dual character of land as a production factor and as a consumption good (environmental amenities) by determining the optimal intertemporal allocation of land between productive and recreational uses. An extension of the analysis for the case of a growing population with endogenous growth based on human capital accumulation shows that if the rate of discount is not very low then there exists a set of balanced growth paths compatible with a constant allocation of land. En este trabajo se presenta un modelo de crecimiento económico óptimo con u…
Disentangling nutrition facts from fiction : towards healthy and sustainable consumption in industrialized societies
2020
Over the last centuries, in the context of industrialization, globalization and urbanization, profound dietary changes have occurred. Ubiquitous access to cheap, readily available and highly palatable unhealthy products, together with aggressive marketing that forcefully impacts social norms, have led to overconsumption of energy-dense, nutrient-poor foods. This has not only been associated with a higher prevalence of obesity and diet-related non-communicable diseases, but also with detrimental effects on the world’s natural resources. Broader and braver public health measures favoring the availability and affordability of healthy, minimally processed foods should be implemented in conjunct…
Towards the Post-Carbon Society: Searching for Signs of the Transition and Identifying Obstacles
2016
The transition to a post-carbon society, in which the consumption of fossil fuels falls over time, is determined by the need to prevent catastrophic climate change, the increasing cost of energy and complex combinations of both these causes. The transition will not only entail political adjustments and the replacement of some technologies by others, but will be accompanied by social and cultural changes that bring about substantial modifications in the organization of our societies and our ways of life. Based on the situation in Spain, this article analyses whether the current conditions, which date back to the crisis that began in 2007, favour a benign and smooth transition, or, on the con…
The implementation of global ranking rules within countries in transition and their unintended perverted effects
2013
PurposeThe aim of this paper is to focus on the adverse consequences, mainly the “naturalisation” of global indicators and principles that may lead to defective national rules that may harm the local academic system, and the manipulations that might be drown up among the academic staff and public.Design/methodology/approachThe theoretical issues are illustrated by the outcomes in Romania particularly as a consequence of the application of the Educational Law since January 2011.FindingsWhen the global ranking's rules are implemented into national environments, mainly in countries under transition, some perverted effects appear and accompany the fruitful results.Originality/valueThe passage f…
Evolución de los riesgos ambientales en el contexto de la crisis económica. Informe SESPAS 2014
2014
ResumenNuestro objetivo es analizar el impacto de la crisis económica-financiera en los determinantes ambientales de la salud. La Organización Mundial de la Salud estima que entre un 13% y un 27% de la carga de enfermedad de los países podría prevenirse mejorando el medio ambiente. Los efectos son de mayor magnitud en poblaciones más vulnerables, en especial entre los más pobres. En la última década, la contaminación atmosférica exterior (el riesgo ambiental más relevante, en términos de salud, para la mayoría de los países europeos) se ha reducido moderadamente, sobre todo por las políticas europeas de reducción de emisiones y por la disminución de la actividad con la crisis económica. En …