Search results for "Development studies"
showing 10 items of 69 documents
Do Multinationals Deteriorate Developing Countries' Export Prices? The Impact of FDI on Net Barter Terms of Trade
2015
This paper explores the economic relationship between foreign direct investment (FDI) to developing countries and the export prices of the latter, measured by terms of trade. It is rst shown that economic theory suggests such a relationship for various reasons but is inconclusive about the direction of the eect. To address this open issue empirically, I analyze data on more than 50 developing countries throughout the period 1980 - 2008 using robust dynamic panel data methods. The results show that FDI had an economically relevant and statistically signicant positive impact on developing countries’ net barter terms of trade. A higher level of education in the developing country fosters this …
The land grabbing in the international scenario: the role of the EU in land grabbing
2016
The worldwide increase in population and consumption has produced a growing demand for food and energy in the rich and developing Countries. The resulting intensification of land investments, to cope with this need, has in many cases produced investments without transparency rules and it hasn't created real development for local people. The aim of this paper is to identify, through a cluster analysis, homogeneous groups of investor Countries in order to understand the role of the EU Member States in the context of land grabbing. The results show that the strategies adopted by the investors are driven by the need to achieve energy security and reduce CO2 emissions in order to cope with the p…
Traditions, Land Rights, and Local Welfare Creation: Studies from Eastern Indonesia
2016
This research focuses on the impacts of traditional systems of land distribution among households, clans, and the government in two of Indonesia’s poorest provinces: East Nusa Tenggara and Maluku. Our main goal is to discuss and propose alternative ways of dividing and governing productive land to meet new needs in the management of agriculture and forestry. We apply a mixed research methodology that includes in-depth discussions with more than 50 key informants and survey interviews with 640 randomly selected respondents. We find that the number of land conflicts is rising, that land privatisation is becoming increasingly relevant, and that communal land ownership tends to lead to land und…
Do microfinance institutions benefit from integrating financial and nonfinancial services?
2017
This article examines the impact of microfinance ‘plus’ (i.e. coordinated combination of financial and nonfinancial services) on the performance of microfinance institutions (MFIs). Using a global data set of MFIs in 77 countries, we find that the provision of nonfinancial services does not harm nor improve MFIs’ financial sustainability and efficiency. The results however suggest that the provision of social services is associated with improved loan quality and greater depth of outreach.
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…
An Ethnographic Study of Entrepreneurship Among the Sámi People of Finland
2005
Abstract This article reports the findings of ethnographic research conducted in Finland. Respondents describe changes brought about by European Union regulations and Finnish laws that lack cultural sensitivity thereby transforming the nature of traditional Sami entrepreneurship. Many of these indigenous people have had to start an additional business or work elsewhere to make ends meet.
Welche Praxis nach der postkolonialen Kritik? Human- und physisch-geographische Feldforschung aus übersetzungstheoretischer Perspektive
2018
Abstract. After the postcolonial critique, dealing with the power of speaking and self-reflexivity belong to the great challenges of academic work. In this article, we derive the necessity to accept these challenges from our own projects and discuss their practical consequences as well as the difficulties of integrating them in development studies of human and physical geography. We argue that the propositions of postcolonial theory cannot be transferred in practice without contradictions. Therefore, we try to grasp these contradictions with the concept of translation. From the point of view of Translation Studies, contradictions do not necessarily lead to failure, but they have the potenti…
Emerging trends
2007
Selection of 50 articles on the 50-year life of the International Development Review
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…