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3271. Health, Shocks and Poverty Persistence

Author:
Stefan Dercon and John Hoddinott
Publication Date:
01-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
United Nations University
Abstract:
In this paper we review the evidence on the impact of large shocks, such as drought, on child and adult health, with particular emphasis on Zimbabwe and Ethiopia. Our focus is on the impact of shocks on long-term outcomes, and we ask whether there are intrahousehold differences in these effects. The evidence suggests substantial fluctuations in body weight and growth retardation in response to shocks. While there appears to be no differential impact between boys and girls, adult women are often worse affected by these shocks. For children, there is no full recovery from these losses, affecting adult health and education outcomes, as well as lifetime earnings. For adults, there is no evidence of persistent effects from transitory shocks in our data.
Topic:
Development, Poverty, Science and Technology, and Third World
Political Geography:
Africa, Zimbabwe, and Ethiopia

3272. A Holistic Perception of Foreign Financing of Developing Countries' Private Sectors: Analysis and Description of Structure and Trends

Author:
Matthew Odedokun
Publication Date:
03-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
United Nations University
Abstract:
The study seeks to identify donor-specific factors that cause donors to delay aid disbursement, and to apply a double standard in dealing with the non-compliance of a recipient with regard to aid conditionalities, a practice that promotes uncertainty in the receipt of aid. Annual panel data over 1970-2000 for the 22 members of OECD's DAC donor group are employed in the empirical study. Our findings suggest that the proportion of pledged aid being disbursed, which shows an increasing trend, is positively affected by the extent to which aid is procurement-tied and by the size of the donor government's expenditure in relation to GDP. On the other hand, the proportion of aid commitments being disbursed, which appears lower for the G7 countries, is negatively influenced by factors such as abundant donor generosity, the predominance of grants in total aid, the specific targeting of aid to lower-income recipients, high growth in donor economy, as well as high level of checks and balances, and polarization between the executive and legislative branches of government in the donor country.
Topic:
Development, Economics, Emerging Markets, International Trade and Finance, and Non-Governmental Organization

3273. Global Human Development: Explaining Its Regional Variations

Author:
Robert B. Smith
Publication Date:
11-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Columbia International Affairs Online
Abstract:
The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) ranks countries annually on its human development index (HDI), which combines a country's measures of longevity, literacy, and per capita income. This paper applies hierarchical modeling to quantify the factors that predict a country's HDI rank, explain the variability between regions, 2 R , and explain the variability between countries within a region, 2 c . It assesses the effects of nine civilizations: African, Buddhist, Hindu, Japanese, Latin, Moslem, Orthodox, Sinic, and Western. Civilization strongly predicts a country's rank on the HDI, but it does not provide the strongest causal explanation of the variability in the HDI quantified by 2 R and 2 c . Among the covariates studied here, present-day slavery (debt bondage, forced labor, chattel slavery, and prostitution) and the lack of political freedom explain much of the variability that is between regions, and corruption explains much of the variability among countries within a region. Additionally, countries with high rates of conflict and social unrest and debt have significantly worse positions on the HDI. Civilizations are best viewed as pointers to underlying social mechanisms like women's education that more directly determine development; its advance may enhance development
Topic:
Demographics, Development, Economics, and Human Welfare
Political Geography:
United Nations

3274. Policy Recommendations for the Third Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD III)

Publication Date:
09-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Abstract:
The world is now several years into the twenty-first century. However, Africa remains a place faced with many difficulties, from violent conflicts to poverty and disease. A cursory examination of Africa today shows that the majority of the people in this region are not able to raise their incomes, and that the number of Africans living in poverty continues to increase, despite the fact that their countries receive considerable aid from the international community.
Topic:
Development, Human Welfare, and Non-Governmental Organization
Political Geography:
Africa and Asia

3275. The Plight of African States and Good Governance

Author:
Sadaharu Kataoka
Publication Date:
06-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Japan Institute Of International Affairs (JIIA)
Abstract:
Promoting good governance and improving governance in Africa has drawn increasing attention from the international community as a new approach to solving a variety of problems such as military conflicts, poverty, and sluggish economic development. The question of how to achieve good governance came under the spotlight in the 1990s following the end of the Cold War era. Establishing good governance, along with democratization, has now come to be recognized an issue related to the "conditionality" imposed by donor countries on recipients in exchange for financial assistance.
Topic:
Democratization, Development, and Government
Political Geography:
Africa

3276. Reading, Writing and Reconciliation: Educational Reform in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Author:
Valery Perry
Publication Date:
09-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
European Centre for Minority Issues
Abstract:
The post-war reconstruction and state-building process in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) has been complex, with priorities changing as the country gradually normalizes and donor interests evolve. In mid-2002 the international community in BiH began a significant effort to modernize and reform BiH's education system to better prepare the country's youth to play productive social, economic and political roles in the future. Although educational reform gained significant attention in 2002, reforms efforts have been occurring at a variety of levels since 1996.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Development, Education, and Reform
Political Geography:
Bosnia, Herzegovina, and Eastern Europe

3277. Development Donors and the Concept of Security Sector Reform

Author:
Michael Brzoska
Publication Date:
11-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:
The purpose of this paper is to provide a survey of current discussion on 'security sector reform'. Created only in the late 1990s, the term has spread rapidly in international discourses. It is now used in a number of contexts, ranging from its origin in the development donor community2 and to debate on reform in the transition countries of Central and Eastern Europe to changes in the major industrialised countries of Western Europe (Winkler, 2002). That the term is used widely suggests that the time was ripe for it. It would seem obvious that there was a need to find a new term for a plethora of phenomena and activities related to reform of the sector of society charged with the provision of security.
Topic:
Security, Development, and Politics
Political Geography:
Europe

3278. DCAF Security Sector Governance Status Report and Needs Assessment on Timor Leste

Author:
Philipp H. Fluri
Publication Date:
09-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:
The DCAF Security Sector Governance Status Report and Needs Assessment on Timor- Leste was planned and implemented on the initiative and on behalf of the Foreign Minister of Switzerland Madame Micheline Calmy-Rey.
Topic:
International Relations, Security, Development, and Government

3279. National Security Decision Making, Formal vs. Informal Procedures and Structures: Case Study 1 - The Former Soviet Union, Russia and Ukraine

Author:
Yuri Nazarkin
Publication Date:
08-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:
The current Russian security decision-making system represents a particular interest, because Russia today is at a crucial stage of its development. There are a number of factors that are shaping its system: new security dimensions and requirements, traditional and innovative approaches towards security, political interests of various groupings, economic interests of big corporations, politicians' personal ambitions. At the same time the past experience puts a noticeable impact on the current decisionmaking mechanisms. That is why I am going to start with the Soviet period.
Topic:
Communism, Development, and Economics
Political Geography:
Russia, Ukraine, and Soviet Union

3280. Making Money: Political Development, the Greenback, and the Euro

Author:
Kathleen R. McNamara
Publication Date:
10-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Institute of European Studies
Abstract:
The creation of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) in Europe challenges much of what we have come to take for granted about states and the components of sovereignty. What does the willingness of twelve European Union (EU) members to abandon their own currencies mean for the nation-states of Europe? Does the Euro automatically imply further political development at the EU level? To address these questions, this paper parses out the role that national currencies play in statebuilding with reference to the nineteenth century American experience. Just as US federal authorities engaged in a political project to wrest control over money from subnational authorities to the center and unify the currency, so have the dynamics of currency unification in the EU involved important conflicts over the location of the legitimate exercise of control and rule. In particular, I highlight the role of war and market integration in prompting currency consolidation, and the importance of linkages between money and fiscal capacity for statebuilding, and apply the analytical lessons learned from the US experience to the case of the Euro.
Topic:
Development and Economics
Political Geography:
United States and Europe