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Randomized control trials (RCTs) are recognized as the preferred tool of analysis in modern development economics literature/research and policy evaluation. This may lead to methodologies, including case studies, tabular analysis, simple regressions, taking a back seat. This survey explores the implications of such a methodological hierarchy and the implications of preoccupation with a particular evidence/methodology for research and policy. Similar developments in macroeconomic modelling are also discussed. Major advantages and limitations of RCTs and the attempts to address them are highlighted. The article argues that preoccupation with a methodology can sometimes lead to important inquiries for research and policy getting side-lined on methodological considerations. This leads to inferences favouring a particular technique/methodology or issue. Focusing solely on methodologies that emphasize quantifying the 'effect' may not be appropriate to address all questions relevant to development. As policies involve multiple and conflicting social concerns, methodological pluralism may be preferable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present article focuses on Raúl Prebisch's center and periphery framework, connecting his early, mid-career, and later work to cast a different light on one of his most enduring contributions. Using an original institutional economics approach, the article shows that Prebisch held a structuralist perspective throughout his career, but while early on he maintained a standard structuralist position, by the 1960s Prebisch embraced a less rigid version of structuralism, understanding the relationship between center and periphery through a multi-layered analysis. A movement in such direction enriches economic theory, creating a dynamic framework that views social, economic, and political transformation as a result of interactive actions (Lawson [1997]. Economics and Reality. London: Routledge) between agents and structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is growing interest in how best to leverage cash transfers to foster positive impact on children in beneficiary households. We evaluate the effects of interventions based on behavioral science on measures of early childhood socio-cognitive development (and related household-level outcomes) for children from households receiving cash transfers in Madagascar using a multi-arm cluster-randomized trial, where communities were randomized into arms, with 77 communities in each arm and approximately 950 and 1200 households sampled at baseline and midline, respectively. Three behavioral interventions (a 'Mother Leaders' group, either by itself or augmented with a 'self-affirmation' or a 'plan-making' nudge) are layered onto a child-focused cash transfer program targeting the rural poor in Madagascar with children aged 0–6. Approximately 18 months into the implementation of these interventions, we find evidence that households in the behaviorally enhanced arms undertake more desirable parenting behaviors, interact more with their children, prepare more (and more diverse) meals at home, and report lower food insecurity than households that received only cash, and children in these arms perform better than children from households in the cash-only arm on several measures of socio-cognitive development including language learning and social skills. This is promising evidence that behavioral interventions can add significant value to cash transfer programs that aim to improve human development outcomes. (AEARCTR-0000957). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As cities aim for more sustainable patterns of urbanization, intensification has emerged as a core planning strategy. In 2013, the City of Regina set new intensification targets: absorb 30% of annual population growth through intensification and add 10,000 residents to the city centre by 2035. In the decade since, implementation has been unsuccessful. This study explores the barriers to core area intensification in Regina by engaging with key informants through semi‐structured interviews. Our findings identify the most significant barriers as soft market demand, a city centre that is unappealing as a residential context, insufficient political will, an absence of developers who specialize in core area intensification, and unfavourable development economics. These findings illustrate the unique challenges faced by mid‐size Canadian cites in disrupting entrenched development patterns and driving development towards the downtown. Key messages: Despite having adopted ambitious goals for intensification in 2013, Regina has been largely unsuccessful with implementation, as dispersed and decentralized development patterns have prevailed.The major impediments to intensification include soft market demand, limited appeal of residing in the city centre, insufficient political will, absence of developers who specialize in core area intensification, and unfavourable development economics.The barriers identified in this research illustrate the unique challenges and circumstances in mid‐size Canadian cities relative to their larger counterparts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this personal memoir of my lifelong collaborator and friend, Herb Gintis, I reflect on his "A Radical Analysis of Welfare Economics and Individual Development." Published in the Quarterly Journal of Economics in 1972, the article advances a novel Marx-inspired interpretation of the societal origins of preferences, one that profoundly influenced the ideas of a group of like-minded young economists at Harvard at the time, economics more broadly, and Herb and my subsequent joint work. JEL Classification: B14, B21, D01 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polanyi, Mauss, and others describe reasons for the growing differentiation of economy from other spheres of life. This article proposes a further reason: the increasing invisibility of economic transactions in everyday life. It traces the declining visibility of economic transactions in England and North America from around 1700 to the present, as public marketplaces were displaced by growing longer‐distance trade and the growing role of intermediaries. It suggests that this declining visibility of the economic networks in which people were enmeshed encouraged the development of economic thought, ultimately including the idea of the economy as a distinct realm, which was intended to explain activities and processes that were no longer visible. That economic thought became increasingly complex and incomprehensible to ordinary people, who had to come to believe things that they did not understand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The transactive energy market is an emerging development in energy economics built on advanced metering infrastructure. Data generated in this context is often required for market operations, while also being privacy sensitive. This dual concern has necessitated the development of various methods of obfuscation in order to maintain privacy while still facilitating operations. While data aggregation is a common approach in this context, many of the existing aggregation methods rely on additional network components or lack flexibility. In this paper, we introduce Cyclic Homomorphic Encryption Aggregation (CHEA), a secure aggregation protocol that eliminates the need for additional network components or complicated key distribution schemes, while providing additional capabilities compared to similar protocols. We validate our scheme with formal security analysis as well as a software simulation of a transactive energy network running the scheme. Results indicate that CHEA performs well in comparison to similar works, with minimal communication overheads. Additionally, CHEA retains all standard security properties held by other aggregation schemes, while improving flexibility and reducing infrastructural requirements. Our scheme operates on similar assumptions as other works, but current smart metering hardware lags in terms of processing power, making the scheme infeasible on the current generation of hardware. However, these capabilities should quickly advance to an accommodating state. With this in mind, and given the results, we believe CHEA is a strong candidate for aggregating transactive energy data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present investigation elaborates on the level of game theory application for the applied and theoretical analyses of climate change and development studies. This editorial shows that the common good character of global climate alongside the increasing internalization of environmental externalities through national regulations and international environmental treaties jointly result in the increasing congruence between the context of climate change problems and the game theoretical method. Furthermore, the adoption of the Paris Accord by the overwhelming majority of developing countries as well as the disproportionate vulnerability of the Global South have led to an increasing shift in focus with regard to international development cooperation, from poverty alleviation and economic growth to green growth and circular economy solutions, within developing countries. The underutilization of game theory in the context of development studies is not satisfactory. This paper underlines the importance of implementing an impetus to researchers for scholarly discussions and applications of game theory in a discourse on the following topics: 1. economic growth; 2. climate change mitigation and adaptation; and 3. a broader socioeconomic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate the empirical nexus between financial inclusion and economic growth for an extended sample of 21 Asian countries spanning over a period from 2004 to 2019. Further, we also conducted a sub-sample analysis by dividing the overall samples into developed and developing countries. Our results reveal a significant positive long-term impact of financial inclusion on economic growth in Asia. Our pair-wise causality test shows bidirectional causality between financial inclusion and economic development. Our robust results are consistent across various estimation techniques. Our findings suggest that the influence of financial inclusion on economic growth is more pronounced in developing countries compared to developed countries. Our results hold across subsamples. These findings posit important policy insights to enable the policy-makers in designing policies that ensure efficient and inclusive financial system on an equitable basis to achieve sustainable economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Maritime industry clustering has in recent years gained attention as a tool for strategic global and regional economic competitiveness policies, owing to their co-location synergies and agglomeration economies. The Nigerian maritime sector is known to have a large industry, which comprises shipping and logistics firms, shipyards, ship consultants and a suite of other firms, institutions and associations with maritime functions. However, nothing is known about the structural characteristics and environmental dynamics of this significant cluster. This article, capitalising on a critical and meta-analytic review of studies and conceptual modelling, explores for the first time the Nigerian maritime industry from a cluster perspective, underpinned by the foundational competitiveness of Nigerian microeconomic performance. It further evaluates broadly the quality of the Nigerian business environment, highlighting the challenges and opportunities for strategic foresight in decision-making. Targeted recommendations predicated on cluster-specific characteristics are provided to improve cluster competitiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The petroleum industry is becoming increasingly concerned with sand production, which is common in the Niger Delta and presents technical, operational, and financial difficulties. Literature has devoted a lot of time to the creation of sanding prediction tools and efficient management techniques. However, the majority of the published theoretical models have been supported by data from other petroleum regions than the Niger Delta or evidence from laboratories. An easy-to-use machine learning model was created that takes into account the idea of dimensionless quantities related to sanding. The parameters taken into consideration included Reynold's Number, Loading factor, Gas-Liquid Ratio and water-cut. An equation for predicting sand production rate is the output from this work. Model validation was carried out on the developed model and the deviation was less than 5% demonstrating the validity of the proposed model. The developed model, when compared to existing models, forecasts superior outcomes, particularly when the boost factor and GLR are very high. The study has a wide range of practical implications, including reservoir management, general well completion design, and field development plans and economics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper rescues Deirdre McCloskey's ideas about Rhetoric in Economics and some issues left out in subsequent discussions. There is a parallel between the ideas of McCloskey and Bruno Latour, and the complementarities of their perspectives are very relevant for the development of Economics. Some reflections are here offered to improve the practice of Economics, which are related to the social constructions of facts in the field, to the internalization of political aspects, and to the importance of alternating between fact and fiction in a dynamic that does not result in a zero-sum game, underlining the characteristic of Economics as being inherently rhetorical. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"The Globalization Myth: Why Regions Matter" challenges the prevailing belief in widespread globalization and argues that the world has actually become more regionalized in the last four decades. The book highlights that only a small number of economies have experienced significant trade transformation, while many others have stagnated or declined. It explores the rise of regional supply chains and the advantages enjoyed by countries within regional blocs, such as the European Union and Asia. The author emphasizes the need for the United States to embrace its neighbors and adopt a more regional approach to strengthen its economy. [Extracted from the article]

The roundtable, convened to celebrate the 25th ESHET conference, asked how the history of economic thought can become relevant for actual economic policy. Schefold begins with methodological remarks and illustrates the general theme by showing how the policies of ordoliberalism involve a dialogue between postulates formulated in the past and revaluations made necessary by new conditions. Von Weizsäcker proposes an economic policy based on a new Hicksian reconstruction and extension of Böhm-Bawerks theory. Maes shows how modern central banks do historical research which may induce them to take some distance from ongoing research and to avoid a "this time is different" view. Boianovsky provides highlights of the history of development economics and its policy implications. Feldman uses history of economic thought to find solutions for recurrent balance-of-payments crises affecting peripheral economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fernando Rios-Avila has been awarded the Editors' Prize for 2023 by the Stata Journal for his outstanding contributions to the Stata community. Rios-Avila is an economist with expertise in labor economics, applied microeconomics, development economics, and poverty and inequality. He has published several articles in the Stata Journal, including ones on recentered influence functions, smooth varying-coefficient models, and estimation of marginal effects. Rios-Avila is also active on Statalist and has contributed to the development of Stata commands. The editors commend him for his valuable contributions to the Stata community. [Extracted from the article]

Purpose: A lack of sufficient gainful employment opportunities in developing countries means that those at the bottom of the income ladder resort to self-employment for survival. While self-employment equalises inequality by providing earning opportunities to such individuals due to the ease of entry, it also creates a competitive environment among the self-employed, consequently widening inequality. In light of this, the study aims to determine the optimal level at which self-employment narrows inequality. Design/methodology/approach: Five-yearly average data from 72 developing countries covering 2000–2019 is used. Inequality measures include Gini, and self-employment includes total, male and female participation levels. The empirical analysis is based on the dynamic two-step system Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) estimation approach, two-stage instrumental variables (2 SLS IV) approach and Sasabuchi (1980) and Lind and Mehlum (2010) test. Several robustness checks are used to validate the findings. Findings: Prima facie, the study's findings suggest that self-employment equalises inequality in developing countries. The income-equalising effect can be seen, however, when the total, male and female self-employment levels are below the optimal of 54.22% of total employment, 52.50% of male employment and 54.19% of female employment, respectively. Inequality widens when self-employment exceeds these optimal levels. Further, the income-narrowing effect of self-employment is larger than its income-widening effect. When self-employment is below its optimal level, it reduces inequality 80 times more effectively than when it widens above the optimal levels. The corresponding figures for male and female self-employment are 90 and 52, respectively. Second, the income-equalising effects of self-employment are gender-specific. Practical implications: Developing countries striving to achieve SDG 10 should limit self-employment to the above-mentioned levels. To this end, an inclusive approach to reducing inequality requires these countries to use selective and targeted policy interventions to create gainful employment opportunities for those above the identified optimal levels and eventually assist them in utilising these opportunities. Originality/value: To the best of the author's knowledge, this is the first study to determine the optimal levels at which self-employment equalises income in developing countries. As such, it makes novel contributions to both labour and development economics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses upon alignment behaviour in the post-Soviet space and seeks to explain why balancing Russia by certain post-Soviet states, despite their numerous efforts to form alliances, has failed. Whereas this failure lies within the explanatory realm of the classical alignment theories, it is more puzzling why some of these post-Soviet states understood the limitations of balancing well and acted accordingly, while others failed to do so at detrimental costs. Trying to explain the failure of balancing Russia, the paper introduces a new theoretical concept that complements the existing alignment theories, and subsequently moves to explain the empirical puzzle of variations in post-Soviet states' assessment of alignment options. In doing so, the paper focuses upon three case studies, namely Georgia and Ukraine on the one hand, that increased their efforts to balance Russia in the last decade and ended up detrimentally, and Azerbaijan on the other hand that refrained from doing so. Unit level variables such as the elites' mis-perceptions/miscalculations of their alignment options as well as distribution of material capabilities, domestic politics and different strategic cultures are employed to explain the variation. The theoretical concept offered in the paper allows for an accurate understanding of alignment behavior in the post-Soviet space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cold-chain logistics presents significant challenges to sustainable development in terms of economics, society, and the environment. To address this issue, this paper focuses on solving a real-world problem—the multipath location-routing problem-based cold-chain logistics (MPLRPCCL), which considers soft time windows and heterogeneous fleets. The mathematical model aims to optimize the total logistics costs, including fuel consumption, carbon emissions, cargo deterioration, penalties, operating depots, and renting fleets. To effectively solve this problem, the paper proposes three versions of a memetic algorithm (MA) that incorporate control modules for monitoring the MA's performance and improving its global optimization performance. Computational evaluations were conducted, and the results show that the proposed algorithms are effective and outperform the classic MA framework. Furthermore, the proposed model and algorithms were applied to real-world cases in Hangzhou city, China, demonstrating their practical applicability. Overall, this paper offers a promising approach to tackling the complex challenges posed by cold-chain logistics and contributes to the sustainable development of this important field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper I argue that the political and economic domains are analogous for distributive purposes. The upshot of this conclusion is that because we normally think that an unequal distribution of votes is objectionable even if these inequalities are strictly necessary to improve the lives of less informed voters, so we should conclude that an unequal distribution of resources might be similarly objectionable even if strictly necessary to make the worse off better off. Leveling down economic resources is therefore sometimes morally permissible. I consider and reject three types of objections to this view. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this paper is to measure seven factors, including Labor, Capital & Scale, Physical Infrastructure, Information Technology Infrastructure, Institutions, Openness to the Economic Environment, and Emission. Furthermore, another objective is to assess which factors impact on Labor Productivity, Capital Productivity, and Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the Transportation Logistics Industry in Ho Chi Minh. It will also assess how GDP is impacted by Labor Productivity and Capital Productivity. The Methodology used includes Cronbach's Alpha, Exploratory Factor Analysis, Pearson Correlation and Multivariate regression. Highlight results are Transportation Logistics Industry's Scale, such as total enterprises of Transportation Logistics Industry impacts on Labor Productivity at Sig. < .001andBeta = 0.706, impacts on Capital Productivity at Sig. < .001andBeta = 1.728, and impacts on Transportation Logistics Industry's GDP at Sig. < .001andBeta = 0.712, which impacts all in the positive direction. Besides, while Labor Productivity impacts in the same direction on GDP atBeta = 1.006 and Sig. < .001, Capital Productivity does not impact on GDP. Therefore, to develop Transportation Logistics Industry, there is a need to focus on Transportation Logistics Industry's GDP by boosting its Labor Productivity. Also, there is a need to focus on the Transportation Logistics Industry's Scale in the direction of increasing total enterprises is important and necessary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There have recently been novel applications of medical systematic review guidelines to economic policy interventions which contain controversial methodological assumptions that require further scrutiny. A landmark 2017 Cochrane review of unconditional cash transfer (UCT) studies, based on the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE), exemplifies both the possibilities and limitations of applying medical systematic review guidelines to UCT and universal basic income (UBI) studies. Recognizing the need to upgrade GRADE to incorporate the differences between medical and policy interventions, the GRADE Public Health Project Group (PHPG) was convened to enumerate and address these methodological challenges. However, in light of our analysis of additional methodological challenges that arise for UCT and UBI studies, we argue that the adaptation of medical systematic review guidelines to economic methodology is far from straightforward and is in fact more challenging than claimed by the PHPG. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current research aimed at addressing the trends, challenges, and opportunities in agricultural economics. The constant development in agricultural economics warrants a better understanding of such changes to help with effective decision making in agriculture. Consecutively, a review of literature has enabled the research to identify three trends; organic farming, agroforestry, and climatesmart agriculture. The research used secondary data and primary data when conducting the thematic analysis. The findings from the analysis revealed that opportunities such as consumer demand, profitability, and government subsidies motivated the farmers into undertaking sustainable practices. Meanwhile, the challenges such as time constraint, farm size, and access to equipment and expert skills acted as barriers that prevented the farmers from adopting sustainable practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Maria da Conceição Tavares has a distinguished role in Latin-American thought, transiting from Structuralism to a critique of the cepal tradition that would lead to the creation of a new field in the economics of development, the so-called "Campinas School". This paper discusses an essential dimension of her intellectual transition: the innovative treatment of the relationship between dependency, capital accumulation, savings, and income distribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Between 2000 and 2008 Zimbabwe experienced an economic crisis that reached its peak in 2007 and 2008. Africanists who have written about the informal sector in general and those who have written about the informal sector during periods of economic crises in particular have emphasized the inverse relationship between the formal economy and the expansion of informal sectors: that economic problems in the formal sectors of the economy led to the expansion of the informal sectors. This meta narrative, however, obscures the experiences of other sectors of the economy during the same period. Using primarily interviews with shebeen owners, patrons, and newspaper reports, this article argues that the same crisis that led to the expansion of other sectors of the economy destroyed the shebeen sector in Bulawayo. This was because the crisis reduced many people’s disposable income, a development which forced many imbibers to change their drinking habits and patterns as they turned to cheaper illegally imported spirits with high alcohol content and to drugs - commodities then not sold in shebeens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is beyond doubt that Solow's proposal for "an elementary way of segregating variations in output per head due to technical change from those due to the availability of capital per head" (Solow, 1957, p. 312) leading to the 'residual', and hence, TFP growth, has been a crucial development of Neoclassical economics. This notwithstanding, the critique of (and alternative to) Solow's proposal advanced by Pasinetti (1959) has not been equally acknowledged. The debate re-emerged when a posthumous note by Richard Stone (1998[1960]) triggered a further exchange between the authors. This paper aims at retracing the key conceptual aspects of the discussion, pointing to some limitations of Pasinetti's original implementation of his measure of productivity changes, and providing an Input–Output generalisation based on Pasinetti's notion of hyper-integrated labour. Seen in this light, Pasinetti's computable measure of technical change provides a theoretically sound alternative to perform productivity analyses from a Classical perspective. • Review of debate between Solow and Pasinetti on productivity measurement. • Pasinetti's 1959 index of technical change co-moves with K/W, rather than with K/Q. • Input–Output reformulation validates Pasinetti's original intuition. • Novel indicator of direction of technical change at aggregate and sectoral levels. • Illustrative empirical application to the case of Italy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The central problem is to shift from a rigid exclusive development to a redistributive inclusive one, more able to smooth development disparities among regions, without further hindering biodiversity and environmental quality. This leaves end-use innovation as the only source of technological progress that could reconcile infinite economic growth and biodiversity conservation. 26 Beckerman, W., 1992, Economic growth and the environment: Whose growth?. [Extracted from the article]

Development economists have suggested that the hopes of the poor are a relevant factor in overcoming poverty. I argue that Kant's approach to hope provides an important complement to the economists' perspective. A Kantian account of hope emphasizes the need for the rationality of hope and thereby guards against problematic aspects of the economists' discourse on hope. Section 1 introduces recent work on hope in development economics. Section 2 clarifies Kant's question "What may I hope?" and presents the outlines of his answer. Crucially, hope is rational if it is rational to trust in the structures of reality on which the realization of one's hope depends. Section 3 argues that central tenets of Kant's account of what makes hope rational can be applied to the context of poverty. It becomes apparent that the poor often have good reason to be hopeless since they may not trust fundamental structures that are necessary for realizing their hope. Thus, the insight that the poor need more hope must go hand in hand with a commitment to establishing trustworthy political structures, such that their hope can be rational. Section 4 highlights the relevance of the secular highest good for a better understanding of the justification and scope of our duties to the poor in a Kantian framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to analyze the behavior of a group of industrial multinational subsidiaries located in Brazil in the period 2003-2019. In this context, their surplus increased substantially because of the rise in commodity prices. For this reason, we intend to analyze the destination of the surplus towards non-productive uses. The methodology used incorporated accounting data that were processed to construct useful variables within the disciplinary framework of political economy and economics for economic development. Through this, it was possible to measure the capital flight and financial investments of the selected companies. This paper ties in with the debate on financialization, global productive changes and the forms these phenomena take in developing countries. Despite the surplus increase, the selected firms lost productive density because they promoted non-productive uses, in a general context of the Brazilian economy characterized by financialization and deindustrialization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the development of ecological economics, energy-saving green energy chain management has been a wide concern of academia and industries. However, the relatively high cost of green investment makes manufacturers face the problem of financial constraints. On this basis, because the green level information of products is proprietary to manufacturers, manufacturers will lie about the green level of products in order to improve their profits out of the principle of profit maximization. As a result, banks cannot obtain the true green level of products, reducing the benefits of the green energy-efficient supply chain system and making the market of green products volatile. In view of this, blockchain technology is introduced in this paper to improve customer's product green level sensitivity and obtain lower green credit interest rates from banks. In this paper, a green supply chain financing model based on blockchain technology was constructed under the condition of green information misreporting, and it is compared with the benchmark without blockchain technology. Research shows that the adoption of blockchain can achieve Pareto improvement of green supply chain members. In addition, manufacturers have an incentive to adopt blockchain if the cost of blockchain investment falls below a certain threshold, and consumer green sensitivity increases below that threshold. We compared the profits of green manufacturers with those of retailers and the total emissions of manufacturers. The results show that: (1) When the financing intensity exceeds a certain value, there is an optimal coverage of green financing to ensure that the profit target of manufacturers, the profit target of retailers and the emission reduction target are achieved simultaneously. (2) The adoption of blockchain can achieve Pareto improvement of green energy supply chain members. The actual data of green transformation of Jinyuan New Technology Company were cited. Through calculation, it was found that green transformation can reduce the emissions of enterprises. When the financing intensity is in a certain range, the profits of manufacturers and retailers can be maximized, and the emission reduction degree is the highest. Thus, the practicability and reliability of this model were proved. (3) Manufacturers have an incentive to adopt blockchain if the cost of blockchain investment falls below a certain threshold, and consumer green sensitivity increases below that threshold. The research results of this paper provide solutions for enterprises with limited funds for green transformation and provide a theoretical basis for the government to formulate emission reduction incentive mechanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a work in the field of development economics, I Markets on the Margins i is geographically and temporally situated in post-Apartheid South Africa and neighboring Lesotho. One of the responses of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) to the layoffs was to begin a program of job creation through micro-enterprises run and owned by former miners. Philip notes the unique approach NUM took: NUM did not roll out a program in the mining communities, but in the labor- I sending i regions. [Extracted from the article]

The authors shine an unflattering spotlight on "invisible" rural China and in doing so convincingly show that China must rapidly implement far-reaching policies to address its rural human capital crisis. Since rural China is home to 70 percent of China's children, the resulting cognitive challenges for China's next generation will prevent China from achieving school attainment levels on par with other upper-middle- and high-income economies. Historical data from all middle-income countries shows they had only 19 percent high school attainment when they were at China's current income level, considerably lower than in China today. [Extracted from the article]

Purpose: With self-employment providing earning opportunities to many working poor in developing countries, the study examines its role in alleviating poverty. Design/methodology/approach: A five-year average of 56 developing countries from 1995–2019 is used. The empirical analysis is based on the dynamic two-step system GMM approach. While poverty is measured in terms of incidence, depth and severity; self-employment is used in three forms – total, male and female. Findings: In line with the theoretical prediction, evidence suggests that self-employment in developing countries reduces poverty, albeit smaller magnitude. However, the poverty-reducing effects of self-employment differed based on poverty measure and threshold. The poverty-reducing effects are more prominent in poverty severity than incidence and intensity, and the magnitude of the impact is largest when poverty is measured at $1.90 a day as against $3.20 and $5.50 a day. Finally, the poverty-reducing effects of female self-employment are lower than their counterparts. Practical implications: First, poverty-mitigating strategies in developing countries are advised to recognise self-employment as an essential tool to alleviate poverty. Consequently, alongside supporting the existing self-employed, policy focus should be on creating more and better self-employment opportunities for the poor. Second, rather than using generic measures to mitigate poverty, interventions specific to poverty measures and thresholds might ensure the maximum impact of such interventions. Third, gender-specific rather than gender-neutral labour market policies in addressing poverty are advised. Originality/value: To the best of the author's knowledge, this is the first study to examine the empirical relationship between self-employment and poverty. As such, it makes novel contributions to both labour and development economics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International trade in the 21st century operates through global value chains (GVCs). There is a growing literature on how the emergence of GVCs has changed the playing field for catch-up industrialization of developing countries. Inter-industry linkages have historically been a central aspect of catch-up industrialization. How such linkages on the country level are affected by the reality that trade is conducted via GVCs is an important research question. This paper synthesizes the theoretical elaborations on inter-industry linkages from the classic development economics literature with secondary empirical data from the East Asian industrialization experience to illustrate the importance of inter-industry linkages for the industrialization process. Using primary data from the South African automotive industry, the paper shows how the dynamics of the automotive GVC have affected domestic inter-industry linkage building in the country. The backward linkages to the domestic component manufacturing industry and to the domestic materials industries from South Africa's successful integration into the automotive GVC have been disappointing. Both local policy decisions as well as GVC-specific dynamics of follow sourcing and the proliferation of manufacturing technologies and material standards have undermined more substantial backward linkages from exports of automobiles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After the global financial crisis, hopes were high that there would be a pluralisation of the economics discipline and a boost for heterodox economics that challenged dominant economic models. However, mainstream economics once again proved its enormous resilience and the future of alternatives to this mainstream is anything but certain. Geoffrey Hodgson’s new book on this issue has sparked fresh discussions about the stunted development of heterodox economics and proposals for possible ways forward. This article will argue that the crucial factor for the future of heterodox economics is not converging on a single unified paradigm or raising the quality of research, but rather gaining access to different kinds of capital, first and foremost professorial positions at universities. Such access is severely restricted under present conditions as a result of epistemological and ontological discrimination. Heterodox economics can only flourish if the epistemic community of economists embraces paradigmatic pluralism as part of their academic culture, or if regulations are put in place to secure access to such capital and so to academic freedom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Why some nations are wealthier than others are one of the most contentious and enigmatic questions in international development economics. This has necessitated plausible explanations for the reasons behind Africa's poor development record over the past 50 years. Among other factors, fragility arising from different conflicts in African countries has been ranked as a key factor that undermines the development of the continent. Nigeria found itself in this set due to growing conflicts in different parts of the country. Consequently, fragility worsened the country's development due to the huge associated economic and social costs. More so, conflict-affected countries are characterized by the worst socio-economic outcomes. Hence, existing studies have been preoccupied with the understanding of the relationship between fragility and economic growth as well as fragility and poverty. To provide evidence in the context of Nigeria, this paper, therefore, empirically investigated the fragility-growth nexus, as well as the fragility-poverty nexus, in a sample of 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in Nigeria. We further considered the macroeconomic and socio-political relationships in fragile and non-fragile states of Nigeria. Using data covering the period between 2011 and 2015, both the static approach (Ordinary Least Squares, Fixed Effect, and Random Effect) and the dynamic approach (Difference and System Generalized Method of Moments) were explored to provide answers to some key questions in the study. The results showed that the neoclassical and socio-political approaches complement each other. Specifically, fragility significantly weakened economic growth and further worsened poverty levels among the states. This suggests that conflict-related fragility creates an unstable environment that discourages economic activities and aggravates hunger among the population. More so, the results indicated that only debt enhances economic growth while income reduces poverty in both fragile and non-fragile states. Hence, conflict resolution is crucial to addressing conflicts in different parts of the country. Also, the country needs to explore various strategies (security infrastructure, and human capital) to overcome fragility, enhance economic growth, and combat poverty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Development economics must be rethought. Not only has it hindered the liberation of the Global South, it has also deflected attention from the most critical questions of underdevelopment. Much economics inspires dirty growth, while Western political economy risks defending recolonisation under the guise of protecting nature in the Global South. Most alternative development theorising is similarly Western-centric. Georgist political economy is a possible exception. The systems of land economics Georgist political economy offers is functional and adaptable, often reflecting and supporting ancient knowledge of the earth, facilitating the decolonisation of society, economy, and ecology. The challenge is how to bring about this transformation when many interests potentially run counter to this non-Western alternative development economics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Development is still on the agenda of underdeveloped or developing societies in the 21st century. In order for an economic system to pass through the stages of development effectively, it must first have realized this transformation in its “economic mentality”, as Sabri Ülgener put it. Changing minds lead to changes in behavior and, in economic terms, “outputs”. For this reason, it is important to understand the “economic mentality” correctly and even to have a grasp of its details. Literary works emerging from the society reflect many elements that are effective on the social order. One of these elements is economics. This is due to the fact that literary works are not independent of the economic situation of the periods in which they were produced. Especially in the novels, the conditions of that day are also described in the description of the subject of the work, and the lives of the heroes in the plot necessarily reflect the economic mentality of the period. In this context and specifically for this study, Tanpınar's novel The Time Adjustment Institute has been examined in order to understand the economic mentality of Turkish society. In the evaluations made, comparisons were made with Ülgener’s ideas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The bibliometric analysis method, which first appeared in the 19th century, isused to evaluate the status and development of a field of science. In this context, the scope of the study consists of 1955 doctoral dissertations (of which last access date is September 30, 2020) prepared within the Department of Economic Development and International Economics, Economics (English), Economic Theory, Economics and Administrative Sciences, Economic Policy, History of Economics and Economics, which are in the database of YÖK National Thesis Center. With the help of bibliometric analysis, doctoral theses written in the field of economics between 1984 and 2020 were examined in accordance with various parameters. The aim of the study is to determine the department, university, gender of the author, distribution of advisor faculty members, number of sources, number of pages, keywords, title of faculty member, and advisor faculty member that contributed the most to the academically prepared doctoral theses in the field of economics. At the same time, this study is intended to be a reference for graduate theses in economics and other studies on bibliometric analysis. In comparison with the number of theses written as a result of the analysis, the theses written between 2008 and 2020 are approximately 3 times more than the theses written between 1984-1996 and 1996-2008, and according to the theses examined according to the advisor faculty member and titles, the first three advisors who directed the most theses, prof. Dr. Ahmet Tabakoglu, Prof. Dr. Ahmet İncekara, Prof. Dr. Kaya Ardıç stated that the most frequent advisors are academicians, male thesis writers are high, and prof.dr. It has been found that titled consultants are intense and state universities are more. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The structure of multilateral financial partnerships has many relationship challenges, which need to be solved to positively impact sustainable human development. There is a lack of understanding in the development relationship between the so-called developed and developing countries, and development economics theories and research, which guide policies, knowledge, and funding to nations in need. Amid widespread pleas for change to the structure, Belize is a country, which remains in an economic development crisis 41 years after joining the World Bank Group. This original paper, uniquely positions "World Bank" as a brand, and adds to missing empirical research on Belize and development economics with a mixed-methods, brand relationship approach. The researchers perform a survey of 20 years of Belize government personnel dialogues about the Bank, and apply Fournier's (1998) brand relationship theories as tools to measure their perceptions of the Bank as well as get a deeper understanding of the relationship. This investigative research finds that Belize perceives it has an "arranged marriage" type brand relationship with the Bank: it is not a sustainable development partner. This brand relationship also negatively affects the way government personnel see themselves and their abilities. The World Bank Group must innovate its development economics methods and practices, assert its social mission, and meet the development needs of its members by first building genuine brand bonds with them. Debtor member countries must re-define their worth, join together, and design their own paths to sustainable development. All countries are developing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Another important strand of work the CSE was concerned with is the role of the state in capital accumulation, and how progressive activists engage with the state. 14 Elson, D. (1996) ' Appraising Recent Developments in the World Market for Nimble Fingers ', in A. Chhachhi and R. Pittin (eds) Confronting State, Capital and Patriarchy, pp. 35 - 55. 26 Elson, D. and N. Çagatay (2000) ' The Social Content of Macroeconomic Policies ', World Development 28 (7): 1347 - 64. 27 Elson, D. and M. Fontana (2014) ' Public Policies on Water Provision and Early Childhood Education and Care: Do they Reduce and Redistribute Unpaid Work? 21 Elson, D. (2017) ' Recognize, Reduce, and Redistribute Unpaid Care Work: How to Close the Gender Gap ', New Labor Forum 26 (2): 52 - 61. 22 Elson, D. (2019a) ' Push No One Behind', Journal of Globalization and Development 9 (2). https://doi.org/10.1515/jgd-2018-0026 23 Elson D. (2019b) ' Securing the Social and Economic Rights of Women in Economic Policy Making ', in N. Reilly (ed.) International Human Rights of Women, pp. 305 - 24. [Extracted from the article]

In order to break the bottleneck of the human capital stock restricting local economic growth in the typical western regions with backward national economic development, a research on the analysis of the impact of human resources on the economic development of ethnic regions based on data mining is proposed. On the basis of systematically reviewing the current situation and the theoretical basis of the relationship between human capital and economic growth, the method of combining normative research and empirical research is adopted, and the theories of macroeconomics, development economics, and regional economics are synthesized. In the research, the human capital and economic development in a certain western region are analyzed by establishing an econometric model. The results show that the average value of each year is taken as the inspection index, and the contribution rate is 0.0012, which shows that the contribution of human capital stock in economic growth is very small, indicating that physical capital stock is still the main driving force for local economic development. It is concluded that the research provides some relevant recommendations for human capital development to achieve sustainable local economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The way in which any topic is analysed in economics depends on methodological approach. The purpose here is to explore the argument that the way in which climate change is addressed depends on how economics is understood to relate to the physical environment and also to the social and ethical environment. This involves an exploration of the formation of knowledge, both in economics and in the economy. Alfred Marshall's evolutionary approach to knowledge formation was central to his approach to economics and to his understanding of economic behaviour. Here, we consider the application of Marshall's approach to issues around climate change, through the lens of the subsequent development of evolutionary economics and ecological economics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Development economy policies, in other words, the policy preferences of countries for economic and social development, especially growth, are shaped within the framework of the conditions of every period from the past to the present, and the climate of economic thought that came to the fore in these periods. The aim of this study is to examine the changes in economic policies, more precisely in development economy policies, in the last century and to examine the underlying issues of the main policy changes in this period. Furthermore, the prominent issues in today's development economy policies, which are shaped by the effects of the inequalities experienced and the problems encountered at the national and international level, are discussed. In this study, as a method, a chronological process is followed from the development policies that recommended public intervention mainly after the Second World War to the present, and it is tried to establish the cause and effect connections of the main policy change or preferences. Strengthening the inclusiveness of sustainable development and growth gains importance in today's development economy policies. The need for increasing competitiveness in the economy, acquiring professional skills in line with the changing labor demand and effective social protection systems is increasing. There is an increase in process operation based on plans, programs and strategies in the functioning of economies, although it is different from the planned development models of the 1960s. At this point, it is seen that a more balanced development process in economic, social and environmental issues is aimed instead of the efficiency, growth and stability-based policies implemented after 1980. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Himanshu, Lanjouw, P. and Stern, N. 2018: How Lives Change: Palanpur, India, and Development Economics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, xiv+528 pp. £35.00, ISBN: 9780198806509 (Hardback). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last 15 years, the agricultural economics and development literature has amply highlighted success stories of smallholder farmers in developing countries, illustrating their increased engagement and integration with markets, in other words, higher rates of commercialisation. Yet, this seeming 'success' should not detract from the large proportion of farmers who, through engaging in high-value market chains, face high risks that often limit the extent of their engagement. This study, across four African contexts in Ghana, Tanzania, Nigeria and Zimbabwe, strives to better understand smallholder participation in agricultural commercialisation. Using new detailed cross-sectional household-level data, from the Agricultural Policy Research in Africa (APRA) consortium, collected over 2017–2018, we analyse assets as a determining factor for localised patterns smallholder commercialisation. Applying asset-based thresholds, we capture commercialisation 'capacity'—an indicator of the household's commercialisation potential and ability to respond to risks. Despite the possibility to increase commercialisation as well as institutional arrangements that may reduce risk, such as contract farming, benefits from linkages with medium-scale farmers or returns from specific crop types, we find that households may yet be constrained by lower capacity. Hence, the need for targeted support for those at the margins and with limited assets; with the most pronounced and significant constraints for lower capacity households in study areas in Tanzania. These results can better inform development policies for agriculture where it is important to be able to specifically target households rather than a one size fits all approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agricultural water salvation is the lifeblood of the national economy and is of great significance to the high-quality development of the region. In order to maximize the economic assistances of agricultural water salvation investment, this article focuses on panel data from 2005 to 2019 in 14 provinces in Eastern China, this research constructs an economic development evaluation index system from five dimensions: innovative development, coordinated development, green development, open development and shared development, and uses dynamic panel model to explore the influence relationship and path of Eastern Agricultural water salvation investment on economic development. The results represent that: there is a significant non-linear effect between agricultural water salvation investment and economic growth, showing an inverted U-shaped relationship. Which means that with the expansion of agricultural water salvation investment; economic growth has risen first and then declined. At present, the impact of agricultural water salvation investment in the Eastern region on economic development is in the promotion stage of positive and sustained growth. The recommendation of this research will help the state control in the amount of agricultural water salvation investment in the Eastern region, improve the efficiency of agricultural water salvation investment, and provide support in decision making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper raises a fundamental question about Sub-Saharan Africa: has urbanization there been accompanied by improvements in personal wellbeing? It then proceeds to open an investigation focused on child health—in the form of child growth failure, including (i) stunting; (ii) wasting; and (iii) underweight—that addresses the question. The main contribution of the work is to reconcile an array of data, collected across different spatial scales and over different timeframes, in a manner that enables some preliminary insight into the relationships explored. Evidence derived from the analysis suggests that the wave of urbanization breaking across Sub-Saharan Africa is associated with improvements in wellbeing, a finding that is qualified by need for further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Angeles-Castro, G. 2021: Economic Liberalization in Latin America. Routledge Studies in Development Economics. London and New York: Routledge. x + 85 pp. £120 (hardback), £25.89 (eBook). ISBN: 978-0-367-45654-2 (hardback), 978-1-003-02456-9 (eBook). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article draws on the literature in development economics, psychology and sociology to explicate how decolonised early childhood education and care services can reverse the metacolonial cognition lingering in the postcolonial era. In particular, the author shows that colonial institutions persist even after formal colonisation has ended through the application of de facto power. Self-knowledge developed during early childhood impacts adult socio-economic life outcomes. Thus, decolonising early childhood development and care by ensuring positive representations of self will improve self-perceptions and self-awareness. The implications for practice and policy are discussed within the context of deploying decolonised early childhood development and care services to raise a new generation of confident Africans to accelerate the development of the continent and regions with similar histories of colonisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]