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471. Illegal Immigration, Human Trafficking, and Organized Crime

Author:
Raimo Väyrynen
Publication Date:
10-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
United Nations University
Abstract:
It is important to make a careful distinction between illegal immigration, human smuggling, and human trafficking which are nested, but yet different concepts. This distinction is relevant because these different categories of the illegal movement of people across borders have quite different legal and political consequences. Human smuggling and trafficking have become a world-wide industry that 'employs' every year millions of people and leads to the annual turnover of billions of dollars. Many of the routes and enclaves used by the smugglers have become institutionalized; for instance, from Mexico and Central America to the United States, from West Asia through Greece and Turkey to Western Europe, and within East and Southeast Asia. More often than not flourishing smuggling routes are made possible by weak legislation, lax border controls, corrupted police officers, and the power of the organized crime. Naturally, poverty and warfare contribute to the rising tide of migration, both legal and illegal.
Topic:
Environment and Human Welfare
Political Geography:
United States, Europe, Turkey, East Asia, Greece, Asia, Latin America, Central America, North America, Mexico, Southeast Asia, Western Europe, and West Asia

472. Aid Effectiveness and Selectivity: Integrating Multiple Objectives into Aid Allocations

Author:
Mark McGillivray
Publication Date:
10-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
United Nations University
Abstract:
This paper surveys recent research on aid and growth. It also provides an overview of research on inter-recipient aid allocation. The overall focus of the paper is on the relevance of these issues for poverty-efficient aid, defined as a pattern of inter-recipient aid allocation which maximises poverty reduction. It identifies a range of poverty- reducing criteria on which aid allocation or selectivity might be based, calling for a broader selectivity framework. The paper argues that this framework should be built on a recognition that the effectiveness of aid in increasing growth, and by implication in reducing poverty, is contingent on a range of factors in addition to the quality of recipient country policy regimes. These factors include political stability, democracy, post conflict reconstruction, and economic vulnerability.
Topic:
Development, Political Economy, and Poverty

473. Reforms, Remoteness and Risk in Africa: Understanding Inequality and Poverty during the 1990s

Author:
Luc Christiaensen, Lionel Demery, and Stefano Paternostro
Publication Date:
09-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
United Nations University
Abstract:
This study traces the interactions between economic growth, income inequality and consumption poverty in a sample of African countries during the 1990s. It draws on the much-improved household data sets now available in the region. It finds that experiences have varied: some countries have seen sharp falls in income poverty; others have witnessed marked increases. Economic growth has been 'pro-poor' in that the incomes of poor households have typically grown at similar or faster rates than average income. But the aggregate numbers hide significant and systematic distributional effects which have caused some groups and regions to be left behind. The paper explores the contours of these effects, and draws three key conclusions. First, agricultural market liberalization has been conducive to reductions in rural poverty. Second, market connectedness is crucial for poor producers to take advantage of the opportunities offered by economic growth. Some regions and households by virtue of their sheer remoteness have been left behind when growth picks up. The availability of infrastructure (especially roads) and proximity to markets are crucial. And finally risks, such as rainfall variations and ill health are found to have profound effects on poverty outcomes, underscoring the significance of social protection in poverty reduction strategies in Africa.
Topic:
Economics and Poverty
Political Geography:
Africa

474. e-development? Development and the New Economy

Author:
Matthew Clarke
Publication Date:
12-2003
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
United Nations University
Abstract:
The world economy has recently changed. A new world economy has emerged over the last decade as two long-run broad trends, globalization and advances in information and communication technology (ICT) have converged. This 'new economy' is significantly different to the 'old economy', as knowledge has replaced traditional productivity inputs, such as labour and natural resources, as the primary ingredient for economic growth. A new landscape exists and countries must adapt their approaches and policies for development to achieve progress in the future.
Topic:
Economics, Globalization, International Political Economy, and Science and Technology

475. Africa's Recovery from Conflict: Making Peace Work for the Poor

Author:
Tony Addison
Publication Date:
03-2003
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
United Nations University
Abstract:
The period 1990-2000 saw 19 major armed-conflicts in Africa, ranging from civil wars to the 1998-2000 war between Eritrea and Ethiopia. Peace has been elusive, and the term 'post-conflict' is often a sad misnomer.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Economics, and Poverty
Political Geography:
Africa, Ethiopia, and Eritrea

476. Work In Progress: Introducing the UNU Inter-Linkages Initiative: Focusing on the Implementation of Sustainable Development

Author:
Jerry Velasque and Uli Piest
Publication Date:
05-2003
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
United Nations University
Abstract:
Embedded in the United Nations University's Environment and Sustainable Development Programme (ESD), the Inter-linkages Initiative is an innovative approach to managing sustainable development. Based on the recognition that environmental management is strongly related to human behaviour at all levels of natural and human interaction, it promotes greater connectivity between ecosystems and societal performance. On a practical level, the inter-linkages initiative is based on the assumption that improving the implementation of existing environmental mechanisms does not necessarily require new instruments but, rather, a greater level of coherence among the tools already available. In this regard, Interlinkages represents a time- and cost-effective approach to strengthening the existing systems of managing sustainable development.
Topic:
International Relations, Development, International Cooperation, and United Nations

477. Globalization and Catching-up in Emerging Market Economies

Author:
Grzegorz W. Kolodko
Publication Date:
05-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
United Nations University
Abstract:
The study discusses conditions and prospects for fast and durable growth in emerging market economies. In the course of history less than 30 nations have become rich and still more than 80 per cent of the world population lives in the middle and low-income countries, some of them in extreme poverty. It is true not only for the majority of economies traditionally considered as 'developing countries', but also for the new, post-socialist emerging markets. Thus the questions arise: what is the influence of globalization process on economic growth and how real are the prospects for these emerging markets to catch up with more advanced countries? What factors may contribute to sustained and rapid growth over the long term? The paper examines strategies that can help taking the contemporary wave of globalization to the advantage of fast growth of less advanced countries and hence containing the existing development gaps.
Topic:
Economics, Emerging Markets, Globalization, and International Trade and Finance

478. Will HIPC Matter? The Debt Game and Donor Behaviour in Africa

Author:
Nancy Birdsall, Stijn Claessens, and Ishac Diwan
Publication Date:
05-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
United Nations University
Abstract:
In this paper we focus on the question: will the HIPC debt reduction programme help in the transformation of the development assistance business and change the rules of the 'debt game' in Africa? We concentrate on the donor and official creditor side, by exploring how the growing debt of African countries, over the last two decades, has affected the provision of new resources by the donor community. Our results indicate that if debt levels are reduced sufficiently in high debt countries, donors can shift from the current pattern of non-selectivity and defensive lending to a low debt regime, a regime that has in the past allowed selectivity in lending in relation to levels of poverty and quality of policy.
Topic:
Development and International Organization
Political Geography:
Africa

479. By How Much Does Conflict Reduce Financial Development?

Author:
S. Mansoob Murshed, Tony Addison, and Abdur R. Chowdhury
Publication Date:
05-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
United Nations University
Abstract:
Financial development is vulnerable to social conflict. Conflict reduces the demand for domestic currency as a medium of exchange and a store of value. Conflict also leads to poor quality governance, including weak regulation of the financial system, thereby undermining the sustainability of financial institutions. Conflict therefore reduces the social return to financial liberalization and other financial-sector reforms. This paper presents a theoretical model integrating the effects of conflict and financial liberalization, and then tests the model on data for 79 countries. Using an explanatory variable that measures the intensity of conflict (from low to high) the results show that conflict significantly reduces financial development, and that this negative effect increases as conflict intensifies. The paper concludes that conflict reduction is essential if financial reform is to have its full benefit for development.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Development, Government, and Political Economy

480. The Benefits and Costs of Group Affiliation: Evidence from East Asia

Author:
Stijn Claessens, Joseph P.H. Fan, and Larry H.P. Lang
Publication Date:
05-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
United Nations University
Abstract:
This paper investigates the benefits and associated agency costs of using internal capital markets through affiliating with groups using data of two thousand firms from nine East Asian economies between 1994-6. We find that mature and slow-growing firms with ownership structures more likely to create agency problems gain more from group affiliation, while young and high-growth firms more likely lose. Agency problems are important explanatory factors of firm value in economies outside Japan, but less so in Japan. Consistent with the literature, financially constrained firms benefit from group affiliation. Our results are robust to different time periods and estimation techniques.
Topic:
Economics and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:
Israel and East Asia