World Development最新文献

{"title":"What do aid recipients want? Public attitudes toward foreign aid in developing countries","authors":"Sung Eun Kim ,&nbsp;Jong Hee Park ,&nbsp;Inbok Rhee ,&nbsp;Joonseok Yang","doi":"10.1016/j.worlddev.2024.106815","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.worlddev.2024.106815","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Individuals in developing countries are the ultimate end users of foreign aid. While the international donor community has emphasized the importance of aligning aid with recipient countries’ preferences, the literature on public opinion and foreign aid has remained largely focused on donors. Using an original conjoint experiment conducted in seven developing countries, we examine the determinants of public attitudes toward foreign aid in recipient countries. We find that the characteristics of donor countries and foreign aid projects significantly influence recipient attitudes, often more than the size of the aid packages themselves. Individuals in recipient countries consistently prefer aid from democracies and donors with transparent aid agencies, as well as aid delivered by international organizations rather than directly from donor countries’ aid agencies. These findings underscore the importance of multilateral aid agencies in aligning the preferences of donors and recipients.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48463,"journal":{"name":"World Development","volume":"186 ","pages":"Article 106815"},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2024-11-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142655147","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Restoring property rights: The effects of land restitution on credit access","authors":"Francesco Bogliacino ,&nbsp;Christian Posso ,&nbsp;Marta Juanita Villaveces","doi":"10.1016/j.worlddev.2024.106830","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.worlddev.2024.106830","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Victims of forced displacement and land dispossession are eligible for land restitution under a law approved in Colombia in 2011. These households are materially deprived and have limited access to the formal labor market, often resorting to informal entrepreneurship to improve their living conditions. For this, they need access to credit. We estimate the causal effect of the law on credit access, using the timing of the restitution as the source of identification in an event study approach. We analyze administrative data from the program and data from the census of credit transactions. Our findings reveal, on the extensive margin, a substantial increase in beneficiaries’ likelihood of obtaining a loan and, on the intensive margin, an increase in loan size. These effects are most pronounced two years after land restitution when individuals obtain the full property right. Although complementary policies partly drive this effect, the data suggest that demand for credit also increases, signaling restored trust.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48463,"journal":{"name":"World Development","volume":"186 ","pages":"Article 106830"},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2024-11-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142655085","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Who are the “vanguard” women? Strategies for identifying women going against economic participation norms across 49 low- and middle-income countries","authors":"Anaise Williams ,&nbsp;Colleen Stuart ,&nbsp;Nancy Perrin ,&nbsp;Lori Heise ,&nbsp;Philip Anglewicz ,&nbsp;Michele R. Decker","doi":"10.1016/j.worlddev.2024.106846","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.worlddev.2024.106846","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Women’s empowerment and poverty alleviation are two key factors for successful and equitable international development. Norms surrounding women’s economic participation and economic agency change over time, with some individuals achieving economic empowerment earlier than others. These “vanguard” women represent the leading edge of change. The objective of this study is to discuss and compare methodological strategies for creating a measure that captures the extent to which a woman’s actions exceed community norms regarding economic participation and agency. We refer to this measure as the “Vanguard Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE) Index.” The Demographic and Health Surveys for 49 countries were used to capture community-level WEE norms using 8 WEE measures. To identify whether a community is non-normative for a WEE item, we explore four strategies, inclusive of two thresholds and two approaches for middle-prevalence communities. Using the community assignment, we construct the individual-level Vanguard WEE Index that captures the number of WEE items a woman has that are non-normative, i.e. vanguard, in her community. We validate this index through associating it with a validated index on women’s financial discrimination. Subsequently, the characteristics of “vanguard” women were assessed through mixed effects modeling. Women who register higher on the Vanguard WEE Index are likely to be older, poorer, and live in rural communities. This study is the first to offer a valid method for measuring the extent that a woman goes against the community norm on economic participation and agency in low- and middle-income settings. The results outline a strategy for contextualizing women’s economic empowerment within that setting’s normative context. Practitioners and policy-makers can use this index when implementing economic empowerment programs to identify those who are pushing the needle in their community, as these women may be critical changemakers for gender equity broadly.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48463,"journal":{"name":"World Development","volume":"186 ","pages":"Article 106846"},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2024-11-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142655148","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Rethinking climate conflicts: The role of climate action and inaction","authors":"Tobias Ide","doi":"10.1016/j.worlddev.2024.106845","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.worlddev.2024.106845","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The climate-conflict nexus has attracted significant academic and policy interest, but such discussions are often based on a narrow conception of the phenomenon. This article proposes a broader understanding of climate conflicts, which can be related to (1) the direct impacts of climate inaction (e.g., activism for ambitious climate change mitigation), (2) the direct impacts of climate action (e.g., resistance against fossil fuel subsidy cuts), (3) the indirect impacts of climate inaction (e.g., communal tensions over water in vulnerable locations), and (4) the indirect impacts of climate action (e.g., opposition against mining for renewable energies). After assessing existing evidence on these four types of climate conflicts, I outline the benefits of such a broader understanding: It reveals that climate conflicts are widespread and inevitable, including in the Global North. Such a rethinking enables an integrative analysis of the manifold teleconnections and trade-offs in the climate-conflict nexus, hence highlighting the relevance of conflict sensitivity in climate policy and environmental governance. Finally, this broader understanding of climate conflicts enables productive exchanges across different streams of research, including securitisation, political ecology, and decolonial approaches.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48463,"journal":{"name":"World Development","volume":"186 ","pages":"Article 106845"},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2024-11-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142655083","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Water affordability challenges in Latin America and the Caribbean: Accounting for coping costs due to reliance on multiple, non-exclusive sources","authors":"Roberto Martínez-Espiñeira ,&nbsp;María Pérez-Urdiales","doi":"10.1016/j.worlddev.2024.106825","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.worlddev.2024.106825","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Standard water affordability measures that only account for expenditure on piped water are unlikely to adequately capture the situation of all users in developing countries, who often experience water service quality issues and must rely on coping strategies. Our analysis establishes a foundational framework for systematically incorporating coping costs into assessing affordability metrics. Moreover, we propose adjusting these metrics based on normative judgments regarding the necessity of these coping strategies. We exploit nationally representative household-level data from 18 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, providing, for the first time, a regional perspective on water affordability We show that when coping costs, which disproportionately impact individuals in the lowest 20% income bracket, are considered, the share of income spent on water significantly exceeds conventionally accepted benchmarks. While our analysis does not reveal substantial differences between adjusted and unadjusted water affordability, our approach may yield more pronounced disparities in other developing countries. These findings, complemented by our identification of characteristics associated with water affordability challenges, provide relevant information for shaping policies aimed at guaranteeing safe and affordable access to water for all.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48463,"journal":{"name":"World Development","volume":"186 ","pages":"Article 106825"},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2024-11-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142655082","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Violent Conflicts and Education: The LRA Insurgency in Northern Uganda Revisited","authors":"Douglas Kazibwe","doi":"10.1016/j.worlddev.2024.106822","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.worlddev.2024.106822","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>I investigate the impact of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) insurgency on educational outcomes in Northern Uganda, using a Difference–in–Differences (DiD) model that leverages variations in conflict intensity across birth cohorts and geographic locations. The results show that individuals exposed to the conflict experience declines in completed years of schooling, primary school completion, and literacy, with varying effects by gender and place of residence. The study also explores supply and demand mechanisms, finding that reduced school construction and repairs, overcrowding, and increased studen–teacher ratios due to displacement exacerbate these educational setbacks. These mechanisms are crucial for understanding war’s broader impact on households, communities, and social services.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48463,"journal":{"name":"World Development","volume":"186 ","pages":"Article 106822"},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2024-11-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142655084","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Perceptions of injustices in the struggle for scarce critical lands: Farmer-herder conflict and violence escalation in the Benue-Nasarawa borderland","authors":"Cletus Famous Nwankwo","doi":"10.1016/j.worlddev.2024.106824","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.worlddev.2024.106824","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Studies on farmer-herder conflicts in Africa have concentrated on how scarcity of resources, marginalization, ethno-religious and political factors and institutional and governance failures have engendered the conflicts. Little attention is paid to how perceptions of injustices contribute to the escalation of the conflicts and violence. Thus, this paper examines the escalation of farmer-herder conflict and violence in the Benue-Nasarawa borderland in Nigeria from the perspective of<!--> <!-->natural resource scarcity and perceptions of injustices. The study uses interviews and field observations for data collection. It uses a political ecology approach to clarify the material interests underlying the conflict stemming from grievances regarding crop damage and cattle killings. The political ecology approach helps to analyze how the acquisition and privatization of wetlands by agro-industrial projects increased the resource competition between pastoralists and farmers, resulting in more crop damage by herders’ cattle and cattle theft/killings by farmers. Then, it uses relative deprivation theory and social injustice perspectives to explore how the perceptions of injustices about managing the disagreement concerning crop damage by herders’ cattle and cattle theft/killings by farmers following increased resource competition escalate the conflict. It argues that state intervention, notably the anti-open grazing law, amplifies the perceptions of procedural and restorative injustices, prompting violent responses from pastoralists and counter-attacks from farmers. Contrary to the political ecology perspective that often attributes the conflict to state policies marginalizing pastoralists, I argue that material interests are at the heart of the conflict, with perceptions of injustices escalating it into violence. The paper suggests that the analysis of the conflicts can be improved by incorporating political ecology, social justice and relative deprivation perspectives, which arguably improves the understanding of how resource scarcity leads to conflict intensification and escalation of violence.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48463,"journal":{"name":"World Development","volume":"186 ","pages":"Article 106824"},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2024-11-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142655146","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The impact of independence on reported aid performance","authors":"Terence Wood,&nbsp;Stephen Howes","doi":"10.1016/j.worlddev.2024.106829","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.worlddev.2024.106829","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>In this paper we test whether the reported performance of aid projects changes when the process of producing project appraisals is made more independent. We do this using a dataset of Australian aid appraisals and take advantage of a change that occurred when a more independent process involving the central aid evaluation unit of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and external contractors was put in place to review appraisals of recently completed projects. Using difference-in-differences and contrasting assessments of ongoing projects, which the appraisal process was not changed for, and completed projects, where the process was changed, we show that introducing more independence led to a substantial fall in how successful projects were deemed to be. We also show that the change probably led to more accurate recording of COVID-19′s impact on Australian aid, as well as more accurate assessments of the quality of Australia’s aid to Papua New Guinea, its largest aid partner. As we do this, we take care to demonstrate that our findings are robust to the types of methodological issues that can affect difference-in-differences studies.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48463,"journal":{"name":"World Development","volume":"186 ","pages":"Article 106829"},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2024-11-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142655145","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"“You need to have this information!”: Using videos to increase demand for accountability on public revenue management","authors":"Christa Brunnschweiler ,&nbsp;Ishmael Edjekumhene ,&nbsp;Päivi Lujala ,&nbsp;Sabrina Scherzer","doi":"10.1016/j.worlddev.2024.106813","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.worlddev.2024.106813","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>How can citizens be motivated to demand accountability in the management of public revenues? We carry out a video survey experiment among 2300 Ghanaian respondents to study the impact of information provision and encouragement messages by a politician and a civil society leader on attitudes and demand for accountability in the management of petroleum revenues. We find that providing information significantly increases knowledge about current revenue management, satisfaction with the way revenues are handled and spent, and the intention to demand more accountability. The encouragement messages have an additional effect: they increase the sense that citizens can influence how petroleum revenues are used and the intention to contact media to ensure better accountability. However, a follow-up survey two years later shows that these impacts do not last. The experiment suggests that providing relevant information affects attitudes and intended behavior in the short term and that role models can give valuable encouragement for behavioral change, but this is not enough to influence engagement with revenue management in the longer term.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48463,"journal":{"name":"World Development","volume":"186 ","pages":"Article 106813"},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2024-11-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142655144","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Does Household Electrification Empower Rural Boys and Girls Alike? Evidence from Brazil","authors":"Yeonbin Yang","doi":"10.1016/j.worlddev.2024.106788","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.worlddev.2024.106788","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study examines the impact of government-supported household electrification on the human capital of children in rural Brazil, which is relatively marginalized compared to urban sectors, between 1980 and 2010. The study focuses on gender heterogeneity. Using Brazilian census data and instrumented electricity measures, I estimate the effects of household electrification on school attendance and work in the short run and educational progression in the long run. Household electrification positively affects children’s educational human capital in the short and long run, but the effects are stronger for boys. In terms of its impact on work, it reduces the likelihood of girls doing housework but increases the likelihood of them doing paid work. In contrast, it significantly reduces the likelihood of boys doing unpaid work in family farms and businesses, with no causal effect on paid work and housework. I also propose mechanisms to explain this heterogeneity. These results show gender gaps in the impact of household electrification on the accumulation of educational human capital in both the short and long run. They also demonstrate gender differences in the impact on work. The conclusive implication is that boys may benefit more from the increased educational opportunities enabled by household electrification.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48463,"journal":{"name":"World Development","volume":"186 ","pages":"Article 106788"},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2024-11-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142655143","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}