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91. A Summary of the Liveability Ranking and Overview

Publication Date:
08-2014
Content Type:
Working Paper
Abstract:
The concept of liveability is simple: it assesses which locations around the world provide the best or the worst living conditions. Assessing liveability has a broad range of uses, from benchmarking perceptions of development levels to assigning a hardship allowance as part of expatriate relocation packages. The Economist Intelligence Unit's liveability rating quantifies the challenges that might be presented to an individual's lifestyle in any given location, and allows for direct comparison between locations.
Topic:
Development, Economics, Health, and Human Welfare

92. Does Immigration Impact Economic Freedom?

Author:
Benjamin Powell, Alex Nowrasteh, J. R. Clark, Robert A. Lawson, and Ryan H. Murphy
Publication Date:
05-2014
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Cato Institute
Abstract:
The economics literature generally finds a positive, but small, gain in income to native-born populations from immigrants and potentially large gains in world incomes. But immigrants can also impact a recipient nation's institutions. A growing empirical literature supports the importance of strong private property rights, a rule of law, and an environment of economic freedom for promoting long run prosperity. Although the literature on the impact of economic freedom on various social and economic outcomes is quite large, comparatively little work has tried to explain economic freedom as a dependent variable. This paper empirically examines how immigration impacts a region's policies and institutions. We find small but positive increases in institutional quality as a result of immigration.
Topic:
Economics, Human Welfare, International Trade and Finance, and Immigration

93. Is There a Role for Mobiles to Support Sustainable Agriculture in Africa?

Author:
Batchelor Simon, Scott Nigel, Valverde Alvaro, Manfre Cristina, and Edwards David
Publication Date:
07-2014
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:
This paper from the Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on ICTs for Sustainability (ICT4S 2014) reviews findings from detailed consultation with 50 global experts in Agriculture and Information Communication Technologies (ICTs). The study explores how ICTs (particularly mobile phones) could be used to accelerate the uptake of sustainable agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa. The paper develops a detailed conceptual model, built around the smallholder farmer, for understanding the flow of information through the agriculture sector.
Topic:
Agriculture, Human Rights, Human Welfare, and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
Africa

94. Climate Shocks, Food and Nutrition Security: Evidence from the Young Lives cohort study

Author:
Dornan Paul, Ogando Portela, Maria Jose, and Pells Kirrily
Publication Date:
09-2014
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:
Drawing on survey data from Young Lives, an international study of childhood poverty involving 12,000 children in four countries, this paper examines the effects of environmental shocks on food insecurity and children‟s development. The data, from children and their families living in rural and urban locations in Ethiopia, the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, Peru , and Vietnam , provide information on the same individuals over time, allowing consideration of how earlier incidences of food insecurity and exposures to environmental shocks shape later outcomes. Regression analysis is used to estimate the relationships between these and other relevant factors.
Topic:
Security, Climate Change, Human Welfare, and Food
Political Geography:
India, Vietnam, Ethiopia, Andhra Pradesh, and Peru

95. A Political Economy of Slum Spaces: Mathare Valley

Author:
Tiberius Barasa and Andvig Jens Chr
Publication Date:
07-2014
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Norwegian Institute of International Affairs
Abstract:
The starting point of the paper is the spatial characteristics of slums when it seeks to explain why rulers tend to neglect the welfare of their dwellers: they don't have to. Their economies are fairly closed. While located close to the centers of power, their high population density implies that they cover small space and are easy to cordon off in case of danger. The ease of control from the outside allows rulers to spend less attention to the control of their complex inside. Particularly when a slum is based on shack architecture, the high degree of mutual monitoring among dwellers may cause sharp shifts in the control regime of crime. The emphasis on spatial configurations motivates the focus on one specific slum: Mathare Valley. Paths back to colonial rule are outlined. The paper is stylistically unkempt.
Topic:
Economics, Human Rights, Human Welfare, and Politics
Political Geography:
Europe and Eastern Europe

96. Ask the Experts: Consulta Previa

Author:
Sonia Meza-Cuadra, Katya Salazar, César Rodríguez-Garavito, and Roberto Junguito Pombo
Publication Date:
03-2014
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Americas Quarterly
Institution:
Council of the Americas
Abstract:
Governments aim to make decisions that will improve the economic and social development and welfare of their citizens. But historically, decisions affecting Indigenous and tribal people's culture, ancestral lands and habitats have too often been made without their participation. ilo 169 and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples seek to redress this situation.
Topic:
Economics, Government, Human Welfare, and Culture
Political Geography:
United Nations

97. Children in the Age of Sustainable Development

Publication Date:
09-2014
Content Type:
Video
Institution:
Columbia University World Leaders Forum
Abstract:
Children are the common basis for sustainable development but often lack a participatory voice and societal influence. The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) have proven that raised awareness, leadership, increased investments in Early Childhood Development, basic interventions in health, nutrition, care and protection and partnership with the private sector can prevent millions of children from dying from preventable causes like malaria, HIV/AIDS, diarrhea, pneumonia, and famime while providing an opportunity to secure children's wellbeing and development. This discussion seeks to unify the various aspects of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and identify a framework for children's development that underpins many of the targets and indicators under consideration.
Topic:
Development, Health, and Human Welfare

98. Costing a Data Revolution

Author:
Gabriel Demombynes and Justin Sandefur
Publication Date:
10-2014
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Global Development
Abstract:
The lack of reliable development statistics for many poor countries has led the U.N. to call for a “data revolution” (United Nations, 2013). One fairly narrow but widespread interpretation of this revolution is for international aid donors to fund a coordinated wave of household surveys across the developing world, tracking progress on a new round of post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals. We use data from the International Household Survey Network (IHSN) to show (i) the supply of household surveys has accelerated dramatically over the past 30 years and that (ii) demand for survey data appears to be higher in democracies and more aid-dependent countries. We also show that given existing international survey programs, the cost to international aid donors of filling remaining survey gaps is manageable--on the order of $300 million per year. We argue that any aid-financed expansion of household surveys should be complemented with (a) increased access to data through open data protocols, and (b) simultaneous support for the broader statistical system, including routine administrative data systems.
Topic:
Development, Human Welfare, and Infrastructure
Political Geography:
Asia and United Nations

99. The Affordable Care Act: Affording Two-Generation Approaches Health

Author:
Alan Weil, Shayla Regmi, and Carrie Hanlon
Publication Date:
09-2014
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Aspen Institute
Abstract:
The Affordable Care Act (ACA), signed into law by President Barack Obama on March 23, 2010, represents the largest transformation of American health policy in more than a generation. The law redefines how health insurance functions, significantly expands health insurance coverage, and accelerates changes already underway in how health care services are organized and delivered to patients. This transformation creates new opportunities for improving the health and well-being of vulnerable children and their parents. Ascend at the Aspen Institute promotes a two-generation approach to creating opportunity for vulnerable families. In Ascend's two-generation framework, health is an element of family and child well-being in its own right and a supportive factor in achieving the educational, economic, and social assets families need to thrive. This paper describes the changes in health care effected by the ACA and explores the unfinished business of developing a health care system that supports two-generation approaches.
Topic:
Health, Human Welfare, Privatization, and Governance
Political Geography:
America

100. Housing at the Base of the Pyramid in Brazil

Publication Date:
05-2014
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Aspen Institute
Abstract:
This report is based on the themes and messages discussed during the Business Opportunities in Housing for the Base of the Pyramid event held in São Paulo, Brazil on 2 September 2013. The event brought together between key actors developing housing solutions for low-income communities in Brazil. More than 70 members from the United Nations Development Programme in Brazil, city government, civil society, real estate developers, private-sector companies and investors attended this invite-only event, a collaborative effort between Business Call to Action (BCtA) and Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs (ANDE) Brazil Chapter which enabled participating stakeholders to discuss challenges and solutions.
Topic:
Civil Society, Economics, Human Welfare, and Poverty
Political Geography:
Brazil, South America, and Latin America