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141. Canada Needs Standards to Support Big Data Analytics

Author:
Michel Girard
Publication Date:
12-2018
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI)
Abstract:
Standards can bring clarity on definitions, systems architecture, data ownership, grading, pooling, storage, disposal and set the bar regarding privacy and aggregation requirements. They are a necessary precondition for interoperability and commoditization to occur throughout value chains and across sectors. Canada has virtually no institutional capacity to develop standards in the information and communication technology sector. This policy brief proposes the creation of a standards collaborative that would be entrusted with the development of a standards road map to support big data analytics.
Topic:
Governance, News Analysis, and Data
Political Geography:
Canada and North America

142. The Price of a Vote: Evidence from France, 1993-2014

Author:
Yasmine Bekkouche and Julia Cagé
Publication Date:
01-2018
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Institute for New Economic Thinking (INET)
Abstract:
What is the price of a vote? This paper investigates this consequential controversy by analyzing a new comprehensive dataset of all French municipal and legislative elections over the 1993-2014 period. We begin by documenting the evolution of campaign finance in France, and show that both the amount and sources of campaign contributions vary widely from one candidate to another, in particular depending on their political party. We then turn to the empirical analysis and tackle a number of empirical challenges. First, we rely on recent methodological innovations to handle the special characteristics of multiparty data. Second, to overcome the endogenous nature of campaign spending, we propose a new instrument based on a change in legislation. We find that an increase in spending per voter consistently increases a candidate’s vote share both for municipal and legislative elections, and that the effect is heterogeneous depending on the parties and on the sources of campaign funding. According to our estimations, the price of a vote is about 6 euros for the legislative elections, and 32 euros for the municipal ones. Simulations show that small changes in spending patterns and caps can have a large impact on electoral outcomes and seats. Our results suggest that political finance needs to be tightly regulated.
Topic:
Politics, Reform, Elections, Political Parties, Data, and Campaign Finance
Political Geography:
Europe and France

143. Reducing Sexual Abuse and Exploitation in UN Peacekeeping Missions: Reforming Data Collection to Inform Action

Author:
Anjali Dayal and Sophie Huvé
Publication Date:
12-2018
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security (GIWPS)
Abstract:
Sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA) by United Nations (UN) peacekeepers is a critical issue. The UN has had a zero-tolerance policy in place since 2003 and has made data on SEA allegations in peace operations publicly available since 2007. This data reveals that peacekeeping missions with civilian protection mandates account for over 95 percent of reported allegations, while missions without such mandates account for under 5 percent. However, gaps and inconsistencies in data collection, reporting, and interpretation make it difficult to draw conclusions from the data alone. We need substantial context and case-specific knowledge to fully interpret the reported numbers. This policy brief makes recommendations to the UN on how to improve data collection and clarify reporting mechanisms, and calls for extensive external investigation to explain the variation in reported cases of SEA.
Topic:
United Nations, Peacekeeping, Reform, Sexual Violence, Data, and Exploitation
Political Geography:
Global Focus

144. The Evolution of India’s Industrial Labour Share and its Correlates

Author:
Arjun Jayadev and Amay Narayan
Publication Date:
03-2018
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for Sustainable Employment, Azim Premji University
Abstract:
There has been substantial recent interest in the decline of labour shares across countries. For the most part, attention has been focused on developed countries. We examine the evolution of India’s labour share in its formal industrial sector from 1983- 2016. Using two datasets corresponding to sectoral aggregate data and plant-level data respectively, we document a secular decline in the labour share across all sectors from 1983, with a stabilisation at very low levels (around 8 to 10 percent) starting around 2005. We then use the plant-level data to identify correlates that illuminate reasons for the overall decline in the labour share. We find strong evidence to support multiple causes: increased capital intensity, greater informalisation, greater privatisation, and productivity increases in larger firms. As such, we suggest that the declines in labour share experienced are due to a composite set of factors. Conversely, other potential explanations (e.g. regional variation in the labour share) have less explanatory power.
Topic:
Labor Issues, Industry, Data, and Productivity
Political Geography:
South Asia and India

145. Analysis of Payment Delays and Delay Compensation in MGNREGA

Author:
Rajendran Narayanan, Sakina Dhorajiwala, and Rajesh Golani
Publication Date:
04-2018
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for Sustainable Employment, Azim Premji University
Abstract:
The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) provides a minimum of 100 days of work in a year for every rural household at a minimum wage. Because of MGNREGA, for the first time in the country, a transaction-based Management Information System (MIS) has been made available in the public domain; a great feather in the cap of transparency. An essential safeguard in MGNREGA is delay compensation to be paid, as penalty, when workers don’t receive wages within 15 days of completion of work. Despite several progressive measures, payment delays are rampant and the method of delay compensation is flawed leading to massive under-calculation of the true payable compensation. By analysing over 9 million transactions for the financial year 2016-17 across 10 states, we observe that only 21% of the payments were made on time. In 47% of the records analysed, only partial delay compensation is being captured and the remaining 32% of the records are not even being considered as delays in the NREGA MIS. These are due to the flawed method of calculating delay compensation. On aggregate, in our sample, while the true total compensation payable is about Rs 36 crore, only about Rs 15.6 crore is being calculated in the MIS.
Topic:
Labor Issues, Employment, Rural, Transparency, Sustainability, and Data
Political Geography:
South Asia and India

146. Batı Karadeniz Bölgesinin Kalkınmasında Filyos Projesi Başat Bir Rol Oynayabilir mi?

Author:
M. Said Ceyhan, Ahmet Kamacı, and Mehmet Akif Peçe
Publication Date:
12-2017
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Bilgi
Institution:
Sakarya University (SAU)
Abstract:
Küreselleşme sürecinde kalkınmanın yerelden başladığına dair birçok teorik çalışma mevcuttur. Bu kapsamda, Batı Karadeniz Bölgesi için son derece önem arz eden Filyos Projesinin tamamlanmasıyla bölgenin sektörel kalkınması sağlanacaktır. Bu çalışmada pilot bölge olarak Rotherdam Limanı seçilmiştir. Özellikle Rotherdam ve benzeri limanlar gibi lojistik sektör bazlı gelişme modeli temelinde, bölgenin çok daha hızlı, verimli ve dengeli bir büyüme sürecini yakalama şansı doğacaktır. Çalışmada, Rotherdam limanına giren konteyner sayısı ile nüfus arasındaki ilişki panel veri analiziyle incelenmiştir. Elde edilen bulgulara göre, limana giren konteynır sayısındaki % 1’lik artış Rotterdam nüfusunu % 0.25 arttırmaktadır. Ayrıca modelin açıklama gücünü gösteren R2 değerinin oldukça yüksek çıkması Rotherdam’daki nüfus artışının limandaki büyümeden kaynaklandığını göstermektedir. Dolayısıyla Filyos Projesinin sonuçlanmasıyla, Batı Karadeniz Bölgesinin göç veren değil, göç alan bir bölge haline geleceği düşünülmektedir.
Topic:
Development, Trade, Data, and Shipping
Political Geography:
Eurasia and Black Sea

147. Natural and Quasi-Natural Experiments to Evaluate Cybersecurity Policies

Author:
Benjamin Dean
Publication Date:
07-2017
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of International Affairs
Institution:
School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University
Abstract:
Over the past decade, numerous countries around the world have developed and implemented national cybersecurity strategies. Yet very few of these strategies have been subject to evaluations. As a result, it is difficult to judge the performance of strategies, the programs that comprise them, and the cost-effectiveness of funds spent. Natural and quasi-natural experiments are a promising set of research methods for the evaluation of cybersecurity programs. This paper provides an overview of the methods used for natural or quasi-natural experiments, recounts past studies in other domains where the methods have been used effectively, and then identifies cybersecurity activities or programs for which these methods might be applied for future evaluations (e.g., computer emergency response teams in the EU, cybersecurity health checks in Australia, and data breach notification laws in the United States).
Topic:
National Security, Science and Technology, Cybersecurity, and Data
Political Geography:
United States and North America

148. ICTs in Humanitarian Response: A learning review of a three-year, five-country programme

Author:
Amy O'Donnell
Publication Date:
04-2017
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:
The Scaling Humanitarian ICTs Network (SHINE) funded by Sida, set out with the theory of change that the quality and efficiency of humanitarian aid can be improved in a variety of contexts through the adoption of Information Communications Technologies (ICTs). With applications in Ethiopia, DRC, Mali, Indonesia and Iraq, ICTs were introduced to enable digital registrations, mobile data collection, cash/voucher programming and systems for accountability. While ICTs hold promise for saving time, money and improving accuracy, this learning report sets out to unpack these benefits and identify the conditions that need to be in place in order for ICTs to significantly add value to humanitarian response.
Topic:
Development, Science and Technology, Accountability, Humanitarian Crisis, and Data
Political Geography:
Africa, Iraq, Indonesia, Middle East, Asia, Ethiopia, Mali, and Democratic Republic of Congo

149. Mapping and Monitoring WASH Facilities: Integrating Mobile Data Collection and GIS Tools for Better Monitoring in Tanzania

Author:
Hillman Agung
Publication Date:
09-2017
Content Type:
Case Study
Institution:
Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:
Oxfam has been piloting the combined use of mobile data collection and geographic information systems (GIS) tools to better monitor water, sanitation and hygiene facilities as part of its work to support Burundian refugees in Tanzania. This case study describes how, as well as building capacity among staff, the pilot enabled the generation of timely and accurate data to support programme activities.
Topic:
Infrastructure, Data, Maping, and Mobile Network
Political Geography:
Africa and Tanzania

150. A Method for Agent-Based Models Validation

Author:
Mattia Guerini and Alessio Moneta
Publication Date:
03-2016
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Institute for New Economic Thinking (INET)
Abstract:
This paper proposes a new method to empirically validate simulation models that generate artificial time series data comparable with real-world data. The approach is based on comparing structures of vector autoregression models that are estimated from both artificial and real-world data by means of causal search algorithms. This relatively simple procedure is able to tackle both the problem of confronting theoretical simulation models with the data and the problem of comparing different models in terms of their empirical reliability. The paper also provides an application of the validation procedure to the Dosi et al. (2015) macro-model.
Topic:
Economics, Economic Theory, Data, and Models
Political Geography:
Global Focus