Number of results to display per page
Search Results
402. The End of ODA: Death and Rebirth of a Global Public Policy
- Author:
- Jean-Michel Severino and Olivier Ray
- Publication Date:
- 03-2009
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Center for Global Development
- Abstract:
- The world of international development assistance is undergoing three concomitant revolutions, which concur to the emergence of a truly global policy. First, it is living through a diversification of the goals it is asked to pursue: to its traditional objective of ushering convergence between less and more developed economies have progressively been adjoined those of financing access to essential services and protecting global public goods. Secondly, faced with this new array of challenges, the world of development aid has demonstrated an impressive capacity to increase the number and diversity of its players, generating a governance conundrum for this eminently fragmented global policy. Thirdly, the instruments used by this expanding array of actors to achieve a broader range of policy objectives have themselves mushroomed, in the wake of innovations in mainstream financial markets. Yet surprisingly, this triple revolution in goals, actors and tools has not yet impacted the way we measure both the financial volumes dedicated to this emerging global policy nor the concrete impacts it aims to achieve. This paper argues for the need to move from the conventional measure of Official Development Assistance to the construction of clearer benchmarks for what ultimately matters: resources and results that concur to 21st century international development.
- Topic:
- Development, Humanitarian Aid, Post Colonialism, Poverty, and Third World
403. Estimating Fully Observed Recursive Mixed-Process Models with cmp
- Author:
- David Roodman
- Publication Date:
- 04-2009
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Center for Global Development
- Abstract:
- At the heart of many econometric models is a linear function and a normal error. Examples include the classical small-sample linear regression model and the probit, ordered probit, multinomial probit, Tobit, interval regression, and truncated-distribution regression models. Because the normal distribution has a natural multidimensional generalization, such models can be combined into multi-equation systems in which the errors share a multivariate normal distribution. The literature has historically focused on multi-stage procedures for estimating mixed models, which are more efficiently computationally, if less so statistically, than maximum likelihood (ML). But faster computers and simulated likelihood methods such as the Geweke, Hajivassiliou, and Keane (GHK) algorithm for estimating higher-dimensional cumulative normal distributions have made direct ML estimation practical. ML also facilitates a generalization to switching, selection, and other models in which the number and types of equations vary by observation. The Stata module cmp fits Seemingly Unrelated Regressions (SUR) models of this broad family. Its estimator is also consistent for recursive systems in which all endogenous variables appear on the right-hand-sides as observed. If all the equations are structural, then estimation is full-information maximum likelihood (FIML). If only the final stage or stages are, then it is limited-information maximum likelihood (LIML). cmp can mimic a dozen built-in Stata commands and several user-written ones. It is also appropriate for a panoply of models previously hard to estimate. Heteroskedasticity, however, can render it inconsistent. This paper explains the theory and implementation of cmp and of a related Mata function, ghk2(), that implements the GHK algorithm.
- Topic:
- Development, Humanitarian Aid, Poverty, and Third World
404. The Carter Center News Spring 2009
- Publication Date:
- 04-2009
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- The Carter Center
- Abstract:
- Last November, The Carter Center was one of the sponsors of a major health initiative in Ethiopia, in which some 5 million people were treated for trachoma and tested (and treated, when needed) for malaria in a one-week campaign. You might wonder how many staff members The Carter Center sent from Atlanta headquarters to Ethiopia to handle this unprecedented, labor-intensive effort, called Maltra week. We sent one person.
- Topic:
- Health and Poverty
- Political Geography:
- Africa, United States, and Ethiopia
405. Just peace? Peacebuilding and rule of law in Africa: Lessons for policymakers
- Author:
- Olga Martin-Ortega, Chandra Lekha Sriram, and Johanna Herman
- Publication Date:
- 09-2009
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Centre on Human Rights in Conflict
- Abstract:
- Rule of law promotion is integral to peacebuilding, but not always well integrated It is important to distinguish between technical delivery of rule of law assistance and access to justice as perceived by the population Rule of law promotion and transitional justice may be complementary, or competitive Despite emphasis on the formal sector, informal justice processes are often most accessible to the vast majority Such informal processes may be transformed both by conflict and by peacebuilding activities Emphasis on state institutions in rule of law promotion can inadvertently undermine equal access to justice Given these challenges, the international community faces serious dilemmas about whom to engage, and particularly whether to engage the informal sector at all.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, Political Violence, Peace Studies, and Poverty
- Political Geography:
- Africa
406. African Diaspora Organizations and Homeland Development: The case of Somali and Ghanaian associations in Denmark
- Author:
- Nauja Kleist
- Publication Date:
- 05-2009
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Danish Institute for International Studies
- Abstract:
- Diaspora and migrant associations are often praised as new 'agents of change' for their contributions to development in their countries of origin. While much is known about Latin American hometown associations, there has been less focus on African diaspora associations. This DIIS Brief examines Somali and Ghanaian migrant associations in Denmark and their involvement in development. It shows how associations involve themselves on the basis of particular loyalties and emphasizes the importance of local partners and collaboration.
- Topic:
- Migration, Poverty, and Diaspora
- Political Geography:
- Africa, Europe, Denmark, and Latin America
407. Alternative development financing mechanisms: pre-crisis trends and post-crisis outlook
- Author:
- Sam Jones
- Publication Date:
- 05-2009
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Danish Institute for International Studies
- Abstract:
- External financial flows have long held a central place in debates about how to promote socio-economic development in poor countries. Alternative development theories typically map into different views regarding the desirable form and volume of external inflows. Over the past decade, development policy has witnessed a clear shift towards a poverty reduction agenda. Unsurprisingly, this has been accompanied by changes in views concerning development finance. A dominant refrain of the present agenda is that 'traditional' approaches to development finance, characterised by official bilateral and multilateral assistance to discrete projects through a combination of loans and credits, have been inadequate. In response, reforms of traditional aid and alternative approaches to financing have been advocated.
- Topic:
- Development, Humanitarian Aid, and Poverty
- Political Geography:
- Africa
408. What Happened at the G20? Initial Analysis of the London Summit
- Publication Date:
- 04-2009
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Oxfam Publishing
- Abstract:
- G20 leaders met for the second time in London on 2 April, as the global economic crisis began to crash across the borders of poor countries with ever-greater severity. Oxfam's research shows rising human impacts in the shape of job losses, falling remittances to the families of migrant workers and a particularly severe impact on women workers in global supply chains. Based on the latest forecasts, published on the eve of the summit, Oxfam estimates that the crisis could push 100 million people into poverty in 2009 alone.
- Topic:
- Economics, Gender Issues, Globalization, International Organization, Poverty, and Labor Issues
- Political Geography:
- London
409. Close to Home: UK poverty and the economic downturn
- Publication Date:
- 04-2009
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Oxfam Publishing
- Abstract:
- The major social policy challenge of the current economic recession is how to prevent a precipitous rise in poverty in the UK. In addition to limiting the numbers of people plunged into poverty because of the recession, government must also mitigate the impact on people already living below the poverty line. But, this paper will argue, response s to the recession present an opportunity to make a step-change, ensuring that actions taken also help build a fairer, more sustainable society in which poverty is ended in the long-term.
- Topic:
- Economics, Globalization, Poverty, and Labor Issues
- Political Geography:
- Europe
410. The Right to Survive in a Changing Climate
- Author:
- Robert Bailey
- Publication Date:
- 04-2009
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Oxfam Publishing
- Abstract:
- Driven by upward trends in the number of climate - related disasters and human vulnerability to them, by 2015 the average number of people affected each year by climate-related disasters could increase by over 50 percent to 375 million. This figure will continue to rise as climate change gathers pace – increasing the frequency and/or severity of such events – and poverty and inequality force ever more people to live in high -risk places, such as flood plains, steep hillsides and urban slums, while depriving them of the means to cope with disaster.
- Topic:
- Climate Change, Economics, Environment, Globalization, and Poverty