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In this paper, I develop and estimate a dynamic equilibrium model of household borrowing and savings decisions in formal and informal credit markets. The model features households with heterogeneities in productivity and wealth, and characterizes credit market access by interest rates, fixed costs, and borrowing constraints. Households have access to an exogenous formal credit market and to an informal credit market in which the interest rate is endogenously determined by the local demand and supply of credit. My application focuses on Thailand which implemented policies in 2001 that primarily encouraged borrowing. I estimate the model by simulated maximum likelihood using data from the Townsend Thai Monthly Survey. Based on the estimated model, I find that lower fixed costs increased the proportion of households borrowing formally, and that relaxed formal borrowing collateral constraints lowered informal interest rates. In terms of welfare, I find that low wealth but productive households benefited from Thai policies to expand credit access, but the gains were smaller than suggested by previous studies that ignored the informal market. Moreover, approximately 18% of households suffered welfare losses because of diminished opportunities for informal saving. Counterfactual policy simulations suggest that policies that combine borrowing and savings subsidies could yield higher average social welfare at a cost similar to the implemented policies.

Election violence is common in many developing countries and has potentially detrimental implications for democratic consolidation. Drawing on political psychology, we argue that citizens’ fear of campaign violence undermines support for democracy while increasing support for autocracy. Using individual-level survey data from 21 electoral democracies in Sub-Saharan Africa, we find robust support for our argument. Citizens fearing campaign violence are less likely to support democracy and multi-party competition, more likely to favor a return to autocracy, and less likely to turn out to vote. Our findings have important implications for democratic survival and provide further impetus for reducing electoral violence.

Over the last few decades, the authenticity and confidence of scientific work from around the world has been systematically corrupted by predatory journals and their affiliated publication houses. These journals predominantly prey on both aspiring and established academics and researchers from around the world, but primarily on individuals from developing countries, by aggressively soliciting manuscripts for a nominal publication fee without providing a robust editorial service or peer review system and ultimately promising fast track publication in a few days to weeks. Such journals may also diminish the opportunity for authors in developing countries from getting their original work published in legitimate journals. A majority of the work published in these pseudo journals aside from being incorrect and mundane, provide no advancement to science. But more importantly, the negative impact of these journals can have direct implications on patient health care and research.

This paper considers one altruistic developed country and several heterogeneous developing countries. We demonstrate that the lack of coordination between countries in tackling climate change finds an optimal solution if developing countries can expect to receive development aid transfers from the developed country. The mechanism requires a sufficiently high level of altruism and specific timing, but a global coalition is not necessary. We also show that the developed country may democratically assign a delegate who is more altruistic than its median voter in order to benefit from the efficiency gain generated by positive development aid transfers., Environmental and Resource Economics, 84 (1), ISSN:0924-6460, ISSN:1573-1502

The present study aims to evaluate the impact of foreign assistance on income inequality of selected developing economies. Panel co-integration technique is applied for the purpose of estimation. After confirming the pre-conditions for cointegration, we have applied the Fully Modified-OLS method to estimate the association between foreign aid and income inequality. Controlling for other variables, we find a positive and significant association between foreign aid and inequality. The empirical results are robust concerning the sub-samples of developing economies selected according to the income classification of the World Bank. The empirical results are also robust concerning the alternative measure of income inequality.

The most vulnerable user in road space is still an ordinary pedestrian even though the top fatalities by traffic mode differ in countries. Thus, prioritizing/protecting vulnerable road users is essential to improve road safety. People's safety perceptions toward vulnerable users are strongly associated with surrounding elements and their own experiences, especially as pedestrians. Therefore the attitude and values toward vulnerable users would vary due to culture and customs related to walking in each country. This study examines how a walking experience change reflects people with diverse backgrounds' traffic safety attitudes by conducting an online questionnaire survey for foreigners living in Japan for five years or less. As a result, 75% of respondents walk more frequently due to increased public transportation usage. For all the respondents, the increase in the walking frequency also drives the shift in the attitude toward vulnerable users and the values regarding travel safety and comfort indirectly intermediated by the shift in attitudes toward walkability, applying structural equation modeling. To focus on the structure of the shift according to nationality, people from Southeast/South Asia, where motorcyclists are the top fatalities in the road space and somehow regarded as vulnerable road users, the increased walking experience contributes significantly to the improvement of awareness of vulnerable road users and to the formation of safety and comfort values. Regarding people from Europe/North America, although their walking frequency increases after coming to Japan, there is a static causal relationship that does not influence their attitude toward walkability or safety and comfort values. Additionally, they already have an attitude of protecting/prioritizing pedestrians and placing more importance on safety and comfort. At the same time, people from Southeast/South lacks the attitude toward pedestrians due to much less frequency of walking in daily life. It suggests that establishing safe and having comfortable pedestrian spaces and public transport in developing countries where traffic infrastructure is at the development stage will encourage people to walk and likely help foster an attitude of placing importance on safety.

When and how do governments deliver public goods and services in response to citizen preferences? We review the current literature on government responsiveness, with a focus on public goods and service delivery in developing countries. We identify three types of actors that are commonly present in these accounts: politicians, bureaucrats, and citizens. Much of this literature examines interactions between dyads of these actors. The study of electoral accountability and constituency services emphasizes relationships between citizens (or voters) and politicians. Studies of bureaucratic incentives and political oversight of bureaucrats emphasize interactions between politicians and bureaucrats. Finally, studies of bureaucratic embeddedness and citizen oversight of bureaucrats elaborate the interactions between bureaucrats and citizens. We argue that an emerging literature that considers interactions between all three types of actors provides rich theoretical and empirical terrain for developing our understanding of responsiveness and accountability in low- and middle-income countries and beyond.

Foreign aid is one of the most important policy tools that developed countries used to help poor countries improve population well-being and facilitate economic and institutional development. However, the effectiveness of aid as an instrument of development has been questioned several times, especially for its deleterious effects on governance. This study examines the effect of foreign aid on economic complexity in developing countries. Using annual data for 78 developing countries over the period 1990-2017, the empirical findings show that foreign aid exerts a negative effect on economic complexity. Although the effect of aid on economic complexity differs across donors, we also find a U-shaped relationship between foreign aid and economic complexity. In addition, the empirical results of this paper show that democracy mitigates the negative effect of foreign aid on economic complexity. Thus, in order to benefit from the effects of foreign aid for better economic complexity, the governments of developing countries would benefit from putting more effort into improving democracy.

Lump-sum job displacement policies (e.g., severance pay) are often presented as a better alternative to contingent policies (e.g., unemployment insurance) in the context of developing countries, under the rationale that the former are less harmful to formal employment as they do not incentivize substitution from formal to informal jobs. First, this paper provides original evidence on the employment effects of lump-sum income in the context of a developing country with high labor informality. A regression discontinuity (RD) design, using Brazilian data, shows that a transfer equivalent to fifteen days of earnings (a) increases the duration out of a formal job by 1.9 weeks, (b) reduces monthly earnings in the next job by 1.6%, and (c) reduces total earnings in the formal labor market by 3.6% over a three-year period. Second, the paper studies the impact of a one-month extension in unemployment insurance (UI) on a comparable sample of displaced workers. UI is shown to have a stronger impact on the duration out of a formal job compared with a lump-sum transfer. In addition, a novel exercise matching administrative and survey data shows that 57% of the decrease in formal employment caused by UI is compensated by an increase in the incidence of informal employment. However, workers receiving the UI extension partially recover the initial employment loss over time in such a way that the adverse impact on employment over a three-year period is similar compared with the lump-sum transfer. Moreover, UI is found to be less harmful to reemployment wages, possibly because it improves workers' bargaining power as it offers insurance against the duration of joblessness. Overall, the UI extension is less detrimental to total earnings in the formal labor market over a three-year period. Hence, although these findings indicate that contingent job insurance policies have a stronger impact on the initial duration out of a formal job and indeed incentivize informal employment, they do not support the notion that lump-sum policies are less harmful to formal employment and earnings in the medium term.

There is some evidence that access to schooling reduces fertility along the intensive margin in developing countries, but the transmission channels are not well understood; most education interventions impact financial costs, access, and school quality. We isolate the specific effect of child school fees on maternal fertility by studying a 1997 schooling reform in Uganda, in which the government abolished elementary school fees for up to four children per household. Families with more school-aged children were required to pay fees for the additional ones. We demonstrate that eligibility limits reduced births: women with more than four children in 1997 were 4.2 percentage points less likely to give birth to an additional child in the subsequent two years. We provide evidence that this result is driven by UPE eligibility limits, not by other factors associated with the policy or other secular changes. Fertility effects are persistent over time and survive the lifting of the eligibility limit in 2003. The policy is also associated with a temporary reduction in the desired fertility, with mothers preferring having four children or fewer during the policy period than before.

The World Health Organization (WHO) recognises air pollution as a serious public health concern in many developing countries due to the influx of energy-intensive industries with limited planning and exposure mitigation strategies. Due to industrial expansion and release of associated air pollutants in Oman, the US Environmental Protection Agency human health risk assessment (HHRA) model was used to determine the non-carcinogenic hazard associated with exposure to industrial emissions. Across the three industrial cities (Nizwa, Sur and Rusayl), the study found ambient average concentrations (μg/m3) of 1 h carbon monoxide (CO) (606–1974), nitrogen dioxide (NO2) (7.7–43.9) and sulfur dioxide (SO2) (4.8–9.0) and 24 h PM2.5 (7.3–7.8) and PM10 (38.7–51.5) to be significantly lower than both the Ministry of Environment and Climatic Affairs (MECA) and WHO limits. The HHRA analysis showed that exposure to the air pollutants produced low non-carcinogenic adverse health effects, as the hazard quotient (HQ) was found to be

Theories of inflation emphasize different aspect of economic and political structure as the root causes of inflation. We reexamine these root causes, including two aspects of economic structure that have received no or little analysis in this context: the natural resource sector and the shadow economy. Using a large panel data set and a more extensive set of explanatory variables, our main findings are that higher inflation is associated with an increase in the size of the natural resource sector, the shadow economy, greater political instability, and less democratic political systems. These results also hold for subsamples of developing countries. The consistency in finding that the natural resource sector and shadow economy are determinants of inflation suggest that these aspects of economic structure should receive increased attention in assessing the causes of inflation, along with the usual focus on political structure.

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a more severe labour market crisis in 2020 than witnessed during the 2009 global financial crisis. Reflecting the effects of lockdown measures, which has been the main cause of damage to labour markets, the deepest impacts have been found in middle-income economies, while certain sectors, such as accommodation and food services, and groups, especially young women, have been more negatively affected over 2020. Contrary to the adjustment process during previous shocks, the COVID-19 crisis has resulted in a greater rise in inactivity than unemployment. Policy support needs to be maintained to avoid an unequal recovery.

India and South Africa approached the World Trade Organisation to negotiate the temporary waiver of Intellectual Property (IP) rights on Covid-19 vaccines to remove the artificial barrier of patents and boost vaccine production. This commentary advocates for the waiver of IP rights on Covid-19 vaccines. First, the article makes a case for the debate on the validity of the Covid-19 vaccine to qualify for a patent. Market failure and underinvestment in research and development arguments do not hold for granting a patent to Covid vaccines. Next, the article briefly reviews the evidence on the association between vaccination and virus mutations. Evidence suggests that waiving patents is vital to increase vaccination worldwide and curb mutation and reduce the risk of more infectious new variants. Finally, the article argues that the rationale for a patent is economical, based on incentivising innovation and therefore, the losses suffered by various sectors of the economy due to new variant induced fatalities and lockdowns need to be considered for a case for its waiver.

The problem of iron deficiency is a common problem in developing countries, Indonesia being one of them. One of the targets for increasing iron is young women because it influences growth and development to become pregnant women. The purpose of this community service activity is to check hemoglobin levels and focus on increasing young women's understanding of the situation of iron deficiency anemia during the Covid 19 Pandemic. So that after sense emerges, it is hoped that they will be able to implement awareness to consume Fe tablets. The method used is to provide health education in the form of interactive lectures and check hemoglobin levels. The target of the implementation of this activity is all 20 students of SMP Terpadu Ishlahul Mubtadiin Cihaurbeuti Ciamis grades 7, 8, and 9. The results of laboratory examinations, most of the students did not experience anemia as much as 65%, but there were 35% of students who had anemia, either mild (20%), moderate (10%), and severe (5%). The results of the examination laboratories most big girls do not experience anemia as much as 65%, but there are 35% of students experiencing anemia both mild (20%), moderate (10 %), and weight (5%). Activity devotion people have managed to achieve the purpose of its implementation, namely the increase in understanding adolescent daughter against situation anemia, with the discovery of cases of anemia in target further increase the awareness of the target, especially teenage daughter in changing patterns of life, especially eating food that is nutritious as well pattern rest of the teenagers are.

This paper investigates the relationship between financial development and income inequality by taking the role of individuals' talent into account. We measure talent using the direct observations of individuals’ achievements before entering the labor force by using the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) scores. We employ the FE, IV-RE, 2SLS and System GMM models to a panel data of 46 developed and developing countries for the period 1998–2012. We also use principal component analysis (PCA) to construct a reliable measure of financial development. The paper finds that financial development is negatively associated with income inequality. The paper also shows that countries with higher PISA scores experience lower income inequality while the marginal effect of financial development on income inequality varies by the level of PISA scores. Moreover, the results do not suggest evidence of nonlinearity between financial development and income inequality.

This study investigates the effects of national culture on financial sector development in emerging and developing economies. Prior literature on culture and finance has placed little focus on the multidimensionality of national culture and its potential implications for financial sector development. Therefore, this study contributes to the ongoing debate surrounding culture and finance by exploring broader cultural perspectives. The empirical findings show that national culture significantly explains cross-country differences in financial sector development. Various dimensions of national culture have a distinctive impact on financial sector development; for example, individualism and masculinity play boosting role, whereas uncertainty avoidance hampers it. The overall findings are reliable to a series of robustness checks and offer useful policy implications for governments, regulatory agencies, and other stakeholders.

Reverse innovations from developing countries have changed the course of innovation globally in recent times from the status quo. Innovations developed to meet the needs of emerging markets are also routed to the developed countries. Developing countries in Asia are taking advantage of their reverse innovations to internationalize globally. This study is a conceptual paper that emphasizes on the importance of reverse innovation for Africa globalization. Pathway for African countries to achieve internationalization through reverse innovations are elaborated.

Untreated mental illness as a result of trauma is a significant health concern leading to increased morbidity and mortality. Individuals in post-conflict countries, like Uganda, are at risk for poor mental health outcomes because of trauma as a result of decades of violent conflict coupled with a lack of access to quality psychological care. Community-based psychological service delivery programs, like Mental Health First Aid (MHFA), have been found to be effective in helping individuals with mental and emotional problems access care. However, little is known about the cultural adaptations needed and implementation considerations of these kinds of community programs for under-resourced nations. This case study describes key considerations for the implementation of the MHFA curriculum in various regions throughout the country of Uganda. Specifically, this case study gathered observations while implementing MHFA and highlights challenges, such as cultural adaptability and country infrastructure, that must be addressed when attempting to implement Western mental health curricula in non-Western nations, like Uganda. Recommendations for the use of psychological service delivery programs in developing countries are presented. If incorporated, these recommendations will serve to increase access to mental health services in the regions of the world that need them most. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

(1) Problem Definition: In recent years, manufacturing firms in developing economies have made significant efforts to move up the production value chain by adopting foreign technology through licensing. However, there is negligible empirical evidence of the relationship between technology licensing and productivity growth in developing economy manufacturing firms (licensee firms), the focal relationship of interest in this study. We examine whether and how the relationship between technology licensing and productivity growth in the short run is affected by the challenges and constraints inherent in the contexts developing economy firms operate in. We do so by investigating the moderating role of formal workforce training program in a firm, and the corruption level and the infrastructural constraint level in the firm’s external environment. (2) Academic/Practical Relevance: Although the adoption of foreign technology by developing economy manufacturing firms is often driven by the goal to strengthen their capabilities in the long run, prior research provides a limited understanding of the performance consequences of technology licensing in the short run, which is an important business reality. Our study serves to address an important gap in research and practice by shedding light on some of the unique challenges and constraints that licensee firms in developing economies face as a consequence of foreign technology licensing. (3) Methodology: The empirical analyses are conducted using matching and fixed-effects regression on a multi-industry data set from the World Bank comprising detailed firm-level information from over 16,000 manufacturing firms across 25 developing economies in South Asia and East Asia. To strengthen the causal inference of the results and rule out alternative explanations, we use several alternative matching techniques and empirical methods addressing selection bias and unobserved heterogeneity. (4) Results: Our results indicate that the adoption of foreign technology by developing economy manufacturing firms has a substantial short-run disruptive effect on firm operations with productivity growth declining by 4.5 percentage points in these firms relative to comparable firms that do not use foreign technology licensing. Toward mitigating such disruptive effects, we find that formal workforce training programs attenuate the negative relationship between technology licensing and productivity growth. However, infrastructural constraints in the external business environment amplify this negative relationship. Intriguingly, our results suggest that corruption in the firm’s external environment acts as an “efficient grease,” attenuating the negative impact of technology licensing on productivity growth. (5) Managerial Implications: Our results provide compelling evidence on not only the presence of but also the large magnitude of the disruptive effects of technology licensing on productivity growth. The findings offer important insights for manufacturing firms and policymakers in developing economies on how to mitigate these negative effects. The results highlight opportunities for policymakers to (a) encourage firms to have formal workforce training programs, (b) reduce infrastructural constraints in the business environment, and (c) institute regulatory practices that can substitute for the effects of corruption.

In this paper I analyze the effect of the recent global imbalances on developing countries. The theoretical model developed shows that the increase in the US borrowing from the financial markets decreases borrowing opportunities of the developingcountries. The decrease in the credit availability of the developing countries decreases the current account deficits that they are running. This effect is actually very similar what we observed in sudden stop cases in 1990s and 2000s in developing countries. Moreover, as the US borrowing goes up, the agents’ expectation about the future borrowing opportunities changes. The reduced borrowing opportunity for the future distorts the production process and it decreases the welfare.

This study assesses the sustainable development of countries worldwide and the impact of renewable energy on country-level sustainability for the period 1990–2014. The nonparametric method “data envelopment analysis” is employed to measure the performance of the countries by merging environmental and economic elements into unified sustainability measures. Reflecting the different attitudes with which the countries treat environmental and economic factors in pursuing sustainability, the assessment procedure assigns priority to either economic or environmental course. We find that if economic criterion is prioritized over environmental criterion, then the developed countries significantly outperform the developing countries until early 2000s. However, the gap quickly diminishes after the period. If environmental criterion takes precedence, then developed and developing countries have similar performance over the entire horizon. Moreover, no matter which criterion is prioritized, dispersion in sustainability levels for countries in different regions has shrunk over time. Panel analysis shows that the share of renewable energy in total energy consumption has positive and strongly significant impact on sustainability, no matter whether economic prosperity or environmental protection is the priority. This implies that despite legitimate concerns about its cost efficiency, renewable energy has shown a strong positive effect in enhancing sustainability of the world.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the association between Audit committee characteristics (expertise, independence, size, and activity) and accounting conservatism in the Egyptian setting. To achieve this purpose, data is collected from the annual reports and board of director's reports of the companies included in the sample which is composed of 11 companies that belong to five main sectors: real estate, basic resources, IT, media and communication, non-bank financial services, and textile and durables sector. These companies are listed in the Egyptian Stock Exchange (EGX) during the period from 2015 to 2019. Two regression models were developed to test the research hypotheses. Results show that audit committee expertise is positively associated with the degree of accounting conservatism in the Egyptian listed firms' financial statements, while this association is not proven for audit committee independence, size, or activity. The findings have implications for Egyptian standard-setters and regulators, Egyptian firms and investors in Egypt and other developing countries.

Data for low- and middle- income countries (LMICs) are used to investigate the effect of the demographic transition on economic growth at sub-national level. We introduce a detailed classification of demographic window phases, determine how these phases are distributed among and within LMICs, and analyze the relationship between the demographic window of opportunity (DWO) and economic growth for 1921 urban and rural areas of sub-national regions within 91 LMICs. Many areas in Asia, Latin America and the Middle East have entered the window, but most of Sub-Saharan Africa is still in the traditional or pre-window phase. Our analyses reveal higher growth rates in areas passing through the DWO. Positive growth effects are particularly strong in rural and more educated regions and in countries with lower levels of corruption. Policy measures aimed at effectively using the DW for achieving growth should combine investments in education and rural development with better governance., Social Indicators Research, 161 (1), ISSN:0303-8300, ISSN:1573-0921

Inclusive green growth and dependence on import trade are domestic and international issues that need to be considered in the process of high-quality development of China's tourism industry. Under the complex international environment, it is necessary to explore the regulating effect of import dependence on the impact of inclusive green growth on the high-quality development of the tourism industry. From the perspective of import dependence, this study uses the panel data of 30 Chinese provinces (excluding the Tibet Autonomous Region, Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan) from 2010 to 2019, and constructs the mechanism of inclusive green growth on the high-quality development of the tourism industry based on the theory of spatial production. The purpose of this study is to examine the moderating effect of import dependence on the mechanism of the inclusive green growth index on the high-quality development of the tourism industry. It is found that inclusive green growth can significantly promote the high quality of the tourism industry. The threshold test results show that import dependence has a significant negative threshold effect in the mechanism of inclusive green growth on the high-quality development of the tourism industry. When import dependence exceeds a single threshold (38.65), the contribution of inclusive green growth to the improvement of high-quality development level of the tourism industry first decreases and then increases. The results show that even if there are favourable conditions such as inclusive green growth, if there is dependence on imported goods, it will have a negative impact on the high-quality development of the tourism industry. This paper enriches the research on the evaluation of high-quality development level of the tourism industry and the interaction between international trade and tourism industry. Moreover, it provides a reference for developing countries such as China under the impact of COVID-19 and the anti-globalisation.

This paper examines the effects of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) on adult entrepreneurial behaviors. By adopting the data from China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS), we exploited the instrumental variable (IV) methods and found that the shadow of ACEs is significantly detrimental to entrepreneurship in adulthood, and this result proved robust across several methods. Mechanism tests indicated that the negative impacts of ACEs on entrepreneurship can be explained by losses in human capital, physical capital, and social capital, and developing a risk-averse personality. Further, heterogeneity results showed that the negative impact of ACEs from parents is greater, and the negative effect of ACEs on entrepreneurship is only valid for young and female and rural residents. This study enriches the discussion on ACEs and entrepreneurial behaviors in adulthood via better causal identification, and it provides important insights for other developing countries.

There is an increasing concern among scholars and practitioners to incorporate children's views and perceptions about their daily mobility, followed by the search for structured approaches for data collection and analysis. This paper draws on academic research conducted with 5 to 6-year old children and their caregivers (N = 317) in three public preschools in Sao Paulo (Brazil) with a high prevalence of low-income immigrants, using the “Philosophy with Children” (PwC) inquiry approach. Once the PwC sessions were transcribed and associated to the questionnaires to caregivers (73% response rate), it was possible to adopt a set of qualitative analysis tools to extract children's views and perceptions about urban mobility, namely topic modelling (Latent Dirichlet Allocation) and sentiment analysis (AFINN and Bing sentiment lexicons). These allowed the identification of variables affecting the opinions shared by young children about urban mobility, including more negative perceptions among boys, non-native children, and those in high social vulnerability. Beyond revealing a potential of the PwC approach to enquire children about their established travel behavior, the implementation of the proposed inquiry sessions covered an age group that is commonly disregarded in most of transport-related studies involving children and youth while encompassing a context of public schools in a developing country, with a high prevalence of low-income and immigrant families.

The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. All children have the right to quality education that respects their human dignity and their right to be protected from violence and abuse. However, in some developing countries this is not the case. According to the latest data from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), sexual violence in developing countries over the past 15 years rose by over 370%. Sexual violence on girls results in physical and psychological harm including long-lasting suffering. In this study, our interest mainly lies in the social impact sexual violence is likely to cause to the victims. This includes, but not limited to, rejection by family and community, exclusion from economic engagement, isolation, and the likelihood of further violence. All things being equal, all of the these will affect the demand for schooling and the desire to acquire formal education. Therefore, the contribution of this study is to quantify the impact of sexual violence on girl-child education in a broad range of developing countries. To achieve this, we used country-level data from 72 developing countries between 2003-2017. The pooled OLS and fixed effects techniques were then used in estimating the impact of sexual violence on different measures of girl-child education. The results of the estimations showed a negative relationship between sexual violence and the different measures of the girl-child education. For example, using the fixed effects results, an increase in sexual violence by one standard deviation from the sample mean, will reduce girls’ enrolment rate and completion rate by 2.385% and 3.150% points, respectively. The results provide an interesting dimension to what is already known of the girl-child education and can aid policymakers in their interventions in improving educational outcomes for girls. With respect to policy implications from the findings, countries must formulate adequate responses to protect their young citizens from the cruelty of sexual abuse. In addition, effective support mechanisms for victims of sexual violence should be facilitated and sustained in developing countries. This will help in ameliorating some of the negative impact of their violent experiences and help to prepare them to re-enter society and return to education.

The overweight and obesity spreads among children around the world, the matter that the World Health Organization helps the countries to take action. Overweight and obesity in childhood affect negatively both physical and psychological health. Inactivity and unhealthy diet are most causing factors. Physical activity provides children with immediate and long-term health benefits. In Egypt and most of developing countries physical education classes are the only directed and regular physical activity for children. Increasing the dose of physical activity for obese children reduces the percentage of body fat. The attitude of the students toward physical education classes is important for participation. Enjoyment and usefulness could positively change this attitude. The planned curriculum by the authors relied on new competitive games which were derived from Athletics events and supported by the physical abilities considering the visual, auditory and mental perceptions. Ashweel WHtR chart was used to recognize the overweight children. The result was significant for such a shot-time application.

Agriculture has been a key issue of North-South struggle at the WTO. Emerging powers like China, India and Brazil have portrayed themselves as leaders of the Global South, crusading to make the trading system fairer for developing countries. This article analyzes three cases – the cotton dispute, subsidies and public stockholding – that have been at the center of WTO negotiations and dispute settlement on agriculture since the collapse of the Doha Round. While presenting themselves as champions of the developing world, I show that the emerging powers have been advancing their own interests, often at the expense of other developing countries.

This paper analyses the impact of economic complexity on the labour market using annual data on OECD countries for the period 1985-2008 and averaged data over the period 1990-2010 for 70 developed and developing countries with a large number of controls. We show that moving to higher levels of economic sophistication of exported goods leads to less unemployment and more employment, revealing that economic complexity does not induce job loss. Our findings remain robust across alternative econometric specifications. Furthermore, we place the spotlight on the link between products' embodied knowledge (sophistication) and labour market outcomes at the micro-level. We build a product-level index that attaches a product to the average level of unemployment (or employment) in the countries that export it. With this index, we illustrate how the development of sophisticated products is associated with changes in the labour market and show that the economic sophistication of exported goods captures information about the economy's job creation and destruction., Economics of Innovation and New Technology, 32 (1), ISSN:1043-8599, ISSN:1476-8364

This article review provides an insight into the main signals that will be responsible for the coming recession that will start from developed countries and will reflect negatively on developing countries that witness a decreasing level of development. The paper starts with the main seven signals that will initiate the recession. The second section will provide an analysis of the applied procedures and the economic reform that the government adopted to attract investment to overcome the previous and the coming challenges. Finally, the paper provides future expectations and paths for developing countries to overcome the recession.

Problem setting. The concepts of economic development at the beginning of the third millennium have largely exhausted themselves and require immediate revision and updating. The modern economic development of our civilization at certain intervals has more, so to speak, “side effects” which are a kind of price to increase the welfare of people. Among them there are two main vectors: first, the depletion of limited planetary resources, and secondly – an increase in waste. These two vectors are the most important in the development of Ukraine and the world as a whole, the implementation of the state policy of “green” economy will save our land and live in harmony with our nature.Recent research and publications analysis. Theoretical aspects of the concept of “green economy” are studied by the following scientists: Bublyk, Galushkina, Ivanyuta, Chmir, Yakovenko, Yarmolenko and others. Today, many countries, given the experience of the shortcomings of globalization processes, are actively looking for new models of further development.Highlighting previously unsettled parts of the general problem. The concept of “green” economy today is actively discussed at the level of international organizations, national governments, and among scientists. Despite this, there are few such studies at the scientific level in Ukraine. It should be noted that most of the research in the field of public policy of the “green” economy is carried out by foreign scientists. Therefore, there is a need to systematize scientific and practical knowledge about the new course of formation and implementation of state policy of “green” economy and the definition of basic concepts of “green” economy for Ukraine.Paper main body To generalize the basic concepts of “green” economy development as an object of state policy, to reveal the essence, goals and principles of “green” economy.The concept of “green” economy adopted by the world community is designed to ensure the harmonization of the three components of sustainable development – economic, social and environmental. “Green” Economy is not just a possibility but a compulsory way of development for all countries and nations if they want to ensure a secure future for their citizens. The transition to a green economy has a long and difficult path, but today a number of advanced economies and developing countries demonstrate leadership by adopting “green” economic strategies.Comparative characteristic of concepts of “green economy” is made, its purposes and principles are defined. It is emphasized that the model of “green” economy normalizes the interaction of human activity and nature. Summarizing all the concepts of “green economy”, which were considered in the paper, we can say that it embodied three areas – it is ecology, economics, social development.In this paper actualized problems in the transition of society to priority innovation areas “green” economy.The priority public policy based on the introduction of innovative environmentally sound technologies that will ensure the sustainable development of society in a strategic perspective. The author analyzes the concept as an important component of socio-economic development of the state, shows its importance to the national economy. Strategic priorities involvement of the Ukrainian regions’ “green” economics potential as the basis for the formation of “growth points” and “economic development areas” at the local and regional level has been reasonable. In paper it is proved that the development of “green” economics contributes to solute several system problems of the regions in Ukraine: reduces energy production, stimulates the transition to alternative energy, which creates jobs and improves the quality of life in the regions.Conclusions of the research and prospects for further studies Thus, the state policy of development of “green” economy is a new direction of strategy of many countries of the world which was formed during the last twenty years. It is believed that the development of public policy of “green” economy will ensure the development of most countries and save from the financial and environmental crisis.In view of the above, it is necessary to promote the ideology of public policy “green” economy as the main paradigm for the transformation of social change. Even with very conservative assumptions, the “green” investment scenario allows for decisive measures to achieve higher annual growth rates over 5 – 10 years and increases the reserves of renewable resources needed for the development of the world economy.

Problem setting. The system of public administration is a complex set of related elements and entities that interact with each other, so the manifestation of negative corruption minimizes the possibility of achieving positive results in the process of these communications. Special attention should be paid to the functioning of the customs system, which is an important part of the national economy of Ukraine. In this area, corruption abuses are extremely pronounced, given the peculiarities of the customs industry. This problem is acute and urgent, as its existence causes the progression of those negative phenomena that are currently present in the customs system of Ukraine and reduce the effectiveness of public administration in general.Recent research and publications analysis. The issue of corruption in the context of public administration is the subject of research by many scientists: V. Averyanov, O. Antonova, V. Bashtannyk, Y. Bytyak, I. Borodin, A. Vasyliev, I. Golosnichenko, E. Dodin, L. Koval, V. Kolpakov, A. Komzyuk, N. Lypovska, V. Olefir, O. Ostapenko, I. Pakhomov, O. Petrenko, S. Seryogin, I. Khozhylo, V. Shamray, H. Yarmaki etc. Given the wide range of researchers who study the specifics of corruption in the context of public administration, it is worth noting the significant gaps in the assessment of this issue from a sectoral perspective. In particular, it should be noted the great need to study corruption in customs and find ways to minimize this shameful phenomenon in modern conditions.Highlighting previously unsettled parts of the general problem. The need to analyze corruption processes in the customs authorities and substantiate offers for anti-corruption actions in the field of public administration led to the choice of the topic of the article.Paper main body. Corruption in the general sense can be defined as the illegal activity of persons called to perform the functions of the state, in the form of misuse of their powers in order to obtain benefits by increasing their material wealth, obtaining illegal services or benefits.Global trends indicate the presence of corruption in all countries, so this issue is a priority in solving all spheres of life, both developed and developing countries. In particular, public administration of European countries in the political, informational, institutional and legal context is aimed at combating corruption. To this end, there are such institutions common to EU countries as Greco, the Venice Commission, Olaf, Eurojust, Europol and others. At the interstate level, they coordinate and provide information and analytical support for anti-corruption measures, develop common legal standards in the form of community regulations.In the field of public administration, there is a sufficient legal resource on the basis of which it is possible to ensure anti-corruption policy in the state and, in particular, in the customs sphere. However, the customs system is characterized by a wide range of unresolved issues related to corruption abuses. Accordingly, there is a need to develop offers for overcoming and preventing corruption: development and implementation in the practice of customs authorities of methodological recommendations relating to their employees and aimed at resolving conflicts related to corruption; observance by customs officers of relevant ethical norms, which must harmonize with anti-corruption activities; effective application of responsibility to those guilty of corruption and comprehensive implementation of measures aimed at combating corruption; clear identification of those responsible for corruption in areas where there is a high risk of such abuses; regulation of procedures aimed at preventing corruption of customs officers in the performance of their official duties.Anti-corruption in customs authorities in the context of ensuring the effectiveness of public administration should include the implementation of the following measures: development of conceptual foundations of anti-corruption policy in the customs sphere; adopt a Code of Ethics for Customs Officers in accordance with the needs of anti-corruption policy; effective implementation of the principle of equality before the law in the context of reducing corruption; ensuring equal responsibility for corrupt actions not only for individuals but also for legal entities; ensure the absence of immunity from corrupt practices for officials, including senior executives; delimit the powers of bodies engaged in anti-corruption activities; to intensify the public to combat corruption; wide informing of the public about cases of corruption in customs bodies.Conclusions of the research and prospects for further studies. The problem of corruption in public authorities is a long-standing and painful issue in Ukraine. This problem is especially acute in the activities of customs authorities, as their activities are directly related to foreign economic activity, significant flows of goods and flows of financial resources across the customs border of the state. In turn, this is a direct threat to the country’s national security. Given the fact that Ukraine ranks relatively low in global rankings on the existence of corruption abuses, it is necessary to take decisive measures to reduce the manifestations of this phenomenon, in particular, in the customs authorities.

The economic crisis in the United States and its spread to continental Europe caused a financial crisis in European stock markets, which in turn reduced production in Europe, resulting in rising unemployment, that eventually led to protests against the current economic situation. These political unrests have prompted international and regional governments and financial institutions such as the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the European Central Bank to find a way to end this severe financial crisis. Greece, as one of the EU member states that has been affected by this global crisis, has made efforts to improve its economic situation. The main question of this study is to what extent the International Monetary Fund was able to help resolve the financial crisis in Greece? The hypothesis is that due to the conditionality of financial aid from the International Monetary Fund to Greece in crisis and Greeces lack of attention to the full implementation of austerity programs, such financial aid has not been able to save the Greece economy from financial crisis. One of the aims of this study is to what extent developing countries can rely on IMF recommendations to overcome the financial crisis. The aim of the research is to find out why International Monetary Fund could not adopt proper monetary and financial policy to settle the financial crisis in Greece. Moreover, the reasons behind failed attempts of Greeces policymakers to implement IMFs austerity measures in their country are sought.

The article examines Chinas foreign economic policy in the developing countries of Sub-Saharan Africa. The purpose of the study is to determine what financial and nonfinancial instruments the PRC uses to implement its economic interests in the region. The relevance of the study is due to the increased role of China in the economies of the region, its active investment and lending policy, which in theory can lead to the emergence of debt traps, and the spread of soft power. To determine the scale of interaction, a general statistical analysis of trade and economic cooperation between the PRC and the countries of the region is provided, and its structure is determined. The institutional framework is studied, for example, the China - Africa Cooperation Forum, and the main instruments which are used to implement the economic interests of the PRC are given, such as the Belt and Road Initiative and investments within its framework, credit policy, assistance in the creation of SEZ, individual elements of soft power. The systematization of such instruments makes it possible to assess Chinas place in the region in more detail and identify potential risks for developing countries. The implications of the utilization of such instruments in the context of the economic development and economic security of African countries are determined based on the results of the study.

Against the backdrop of worsening ecological and climatic threats, which have taken on a truly global scale, states are rethinking their environmental protection approaches to address the growing environmental crisis. The intensive use of natural resources, characteristic of the traditional model of economic growth, no longer corresponds to the “spirit” of the modern environmental agenda. Instead, a new model of eco-culture is being postulated, suggesting a reasonable balance of economic, environmental and social development needs. The relationship between economic development and environmental protection challenges states, including those of the developing world, to switch to clean renewable energy sources, nuclear power plants, and the construction of environmentally friendly housing. As the new “driver” of globalization, China, facing the aggravation of environmental problems, fully understands the timeliness and importance of their solution like no one else. The article analyzes the environmental agenda in China’s modern foreign policy using system analysis and the structural-functional method. The complication of the environmental situation in the PRC forces the country’s leadership to take active measures to combat climate change. Beijing is introducing “eco-culture” into its national development strategy, pursuing a course of building an “ecological civilization” based on respect and protection of nature. The concept of Xi Jinping’s “Community of One Destiny for Mankind” is crucial in the conceptualization of the environmental dimension. An important role is given to the concepts of “ecological civilization” and “two mountains”. With reference to neo-Marxism, the study uses a morphological analysis of the ideology of M. Frieden, according to which the above theories can be classified as nuclear in the general course of socialism with Chinese characteristics. China continues to have a complex and alarming situation with atmospheric pollution. According to the author’s deep conviction, within the framework of the general vector of ensuring the country’s prosperity, the PRC leadership is closely engaged in solving environmental problems, which is understood and supported by the world community. The practical implementation of the environmental agenda is mostly characteristic of Xi Jinping’s foreign policy strategy.

Purpose of the article: The productivity outcomes from the proper implementation of participatory ergonomic interventions in the industrial developing countries (IDCs) are important to have management support. However, the role of awareness promotion in engaged groups of intervention has been overlooked. This paper, explains the health effects of some ergonomic interventions including nutrition awareness, training, and workstation redesign on the labor productivity indices of an industry using participatory ergonomics. Material and methods: The study design was a semi-experimental study. After the field study, the proper model of participatory ergonomic was presented to implement the interventions. The International Labour Organization (ILO) checkpoint, Quick Exposure Check (QEC) checklist, Nordic questionnaire were applied to assess ergonomic risk factors. Labor productivity was measured using some indicators of health and production. Statistical tests including paired sample T-test were done to data analysis using SPSS version 22.0. Results and Conclusion: The ergonomic interventions with focus on awareness promotion was resulted in the positive outcomes (P-value

The use of information and communication technology is very beneficial in the education sector because it can enhance the quality of education. However, the implementation of ICT in the education sector of developed and developing countries is a challenging task. This paper explains the comparative study of ICT issues in the education sector of developed and developing countries. In particular, we compare issues between Pakistan and high-tech countries. Our study reveals the fact that the education sector is facing numerous ICT problems that are based on culture, finance, management, infrastructure, lack of training, lack of equipment, teacher’s refusal, and ethical issues. At the end of this paper, various issues faced by the implementation of ICT in the education sector of Pakistan have been categorized into various types, namely, infrastructure, lack of IT professionals, lack of high-speed internet and equipment. Our research is based on five key research questions related to ICT issues. We used a mixed approach where the results of this study can be used as a set of guidelines to help make the learning environment technology-oriented, fast, planned, and productive. Future directions are also given at the end of this paper.

Aims: Surgery was always thought of as a field that requires competency stereotypically associated with the male gender, which resulted in the under-representation of women in the field. Our study aimed at exploring the perceptions about women in surgery and experiences regarding gender among Surgeons, Surgical Residents and Interns/Undergraduates (Students). Methods: A survey designed using www.surveymonkey.com was circulated among participants through WhatsApp and Facebook in the month of September 2019. Results: 505 responses with a 92% completion rate were obtained. 131 Consultants (M = 89, F = 42), 154 Residents (M = 85, F =47), 220 Students (M =122, F= 98) participated. 30% female consultants, 40% of female residents and 36% of female students opine about experiencing gender discrimination in the form of sexist comments, discouragement to pursue surgery, prejudice about women. A gross difference between reality versus students’ perceptions regarding surgeons’ work-life balance was observed. Conclusion: Though gender stereotypes seem to be vanishing, yet its presence invites a need to bethink. More literature is needed to shed light on this aspect to avoid gender imbalances in surgery. It is pivotal that surgery continues to engage the most able candidates regardless of sex and hence abovementioned hindrances need to be addressed.

Corruption is pervasive, but we know little about its effects on individual lives. Using individual-level data from 28 post-communist countries, we demonstrate that bribing for public services worsens self-assessed health. We account for endogeneity of bribery and show that bribing for any type of public service, not just for health services, has an adverse impact. We also find that bribery lowers the quality of services received. Moreover, there are potentially high indirect costs of bribery since, as we show, it comes at the expense of cutting food consumption. These findings suggest that corruption is a potentially important source behind the poor health outcomes in many developing countries.

Bangladesh is one of the world's strongest emerging economies. This nation is working on improving women's empowerment, with more women entering meaningful employment, and socio-cultural constraints on women's mobility gradually decreasing over time. However, for women in Bangladesh, travel constraints are currently more significant than cultural constraints. Therefore, to sustain the nation's economic growth, challenges to women's mobility must be resolved by developing a gender-inclusive transport system. To achieve this, proper transport planning is necessary. The aim of this research is to understand the significant variables contributing to Bangladeshi women travellers' mode choices. The main contribution of this article is to present an analysis of women's travel issues according to a range of income classes. The methodological approach adopted for this research is the mixed method approach of quantitative (Artificial Neural Network Model (ANN)) and qualitative (workshop discussions) analysis. Overall, Bangladeshi women commuters are vulnerable irrespective of their travel mode. From the discussion workshops we found that even though women face harassment during their daily commute, often they cannot change to another mode due to financial constraints. From the ANN model we found that uncontrolled fares, poor road conditions, lack of comfort, high cost, lack of availability, onboard overcrowding, and lack of safety to be some of the significant travel related issues that need to be improved across all modes. Overall, we conclude that independence and equity have not yet been achieved for the mobility of women in Bangladesh.

This paper intends to explore the economic factors which stimulate the demand for insurance products in Albania due to the fact that insurance industry has a significant effect on the economic development of a country. Albania is a developing country and insurance market has progressed moderately. Considering density insurance as a proxy of life and non-life insurance market development, the authors have examined the economic determinants of the Albanian insurance market during the period of 2009-2020 based on quarterly data. The analysis is performed using Vector Error Correction Model designing separate models for each of the insurance segments: life and non-life ones. Among several economic variables, this paper examines the effect of GDP, inflation, real interest rate and unemployment. According to the empirical results, GDP per capita has the most significant impact while unemployment is found to be insignificant in respect to life and non-life insurance density. The results are mostly in accordance with the empirical research work, and they are valuable to both academics and experts in insurance industry. The paper contributes to the existing international literature, especially to the literature related to developing countries, being the first one investigating the influence of a set of economic factors on life and non-life insurance industry in Albania. On the other hand, the results of the paper suggest that insurance companies monitor should evaluate these factors in order to increase and improve insurance service available to the public.

The biopharmaceutical industry is evolving with a shift in focus from recombinant proteins and antibodies towards more complex cell and gene therapies. To be competitive globally, biomanufacturers need to focus on aligning with global standards with regard to drug quality, reducing manufacturing failures and delivering drugs to market quickly. Building these capabilities requires a multifaceted approach that includes improvements in operations, quality compliance, and control strategies. To address these needs, the US Pharmacopeia (USP), the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) India, and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) held a symposium to discuss the requirements and gaps in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical sectors in India and other developing countries. A panel of experts from academia, manufacturing, and governmental agencies identified several drivers needed for capability building, including a skilled workforce, public–private partnerships, advanced manufacturing technologies, novel biologics, and favorable policies. This article summarizes the recommendations put forward by this panel.

Cash transfer and agricultural support programmes are both used to improve nutrition outcomes in developing countries. Previous reviews of these programmes have examined their ability to improve both food consumption and anthropometric outcomes, but none has compared the evidence between the two. We update previous reviews, more than doubling the number of studies on each programme type based on an additional literature search of over 13,000 articles in eight databases. We find: (i) although there are about the same number of programmes of each type, many more papers have been written about the cash transfer programmes than the agricultural programmes; (ii) both programme types improved the quality of food consumption though evidence on quantity is more mixed; and (iii) both programme types show weak evidence of improvements in anthropometric outcomes.

El estudio del emprendimiento femenino en países en desarrollo es relevante por su potencial económico e impacto en el empoderamiento de las mujeres. La revisión de la literatura muestra, además de la evolución del estudio del emprendimiento liderado por mujeres, la pertinencia de abordar el comportamiento emprendedor de ellas desde la perspectiva psicosocial; una perspectiva que supera la aproximación binaria oportunidad-necesidad y destaca la incidencia de la autoconfianza en dicha acción. La aplicación de ese enfoque al caso boliviano permite observar que la conducta emprendedora se manifiesta en particular entre mujeres jóvenes con cierto respaldo económico y con altos niveles de autoconfianza; esta última característica psicológica que expresa determinación y constancia para lograr un objetivo por encima del riesgo y la incertidumbre en mercados altamente competitivos. La autoconfianza emprendedora en las mujeres bolivianas convoca a valorar los incentivos psicosociales en la construcción de políticas públicas.