Asia-Pacific Journal of Regional Science最新文献

In Vietnam, it is commonly believed that gender norms, sex labour segregation, and structural organization of social institutions often favour male dominance while restricting women’s roles in domestic spheres. However, there is a scant literature of Vietnamese scholarship on the determinants of gender role attitudes, especially geographical disparities. This paper aims to fill this void by using a nationally representative survey with 8288 respondents. Our findings suggested that age, marital status, religion, education, living area, region, ethnicity, and personal monthly income are the factors that predicted gender attitudes. In terms of regional disparities, we found that Northerners were more permissive in their gender attitudes than Southerners, which may be explained by distinct historical and political trajectories in Northern and Southern Vietnam during the last century. There were, however, inconsistent patterns among different age cohorts whereby region significantly impacted the attitudes of women born before the end of the French War in 1954, men born after the Reunification in 1975, as well as both men and women born between 1954 and 1975.

The Philippines is an insular geography stretching nearly 2000 km from north to south, and has been beset with serious spatial poverty imbalances since its independence. This study comprehensively examined the provincial-level spatial poverty distribution for the years 2000–2018 by applying various spatial distribution analysis methods. Our conventional inequality measures showed an average significant poverty reduction and substantial inter-provincial poverty reduction gaps for the study period. The growth incidence curve revealed that the poverty gap increase was mainly attributable to the provinces with less (more) serious poverty, experiencing more (less) poverty reduction. Considering the island-province hierarchical regional structure, the one-stage Theil decomposition analysis indicated a substantial increase in inter-island components playing a major role in influencing the overall inter-provincial poverty gaps. This result differs from the findings of many existing regional income inequality studies that show the inter-group component plays a minor role. Our club convergence analysis identified six clubs and showed the provinces with higher poverty incidences are in the Mindanao Island, especially in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao. Whereas the lower poverty incidences are in the Luzon Island, especially Manila and its neighboring cities and provinces. This core–periphery structure infers capital city bias, referred to as the “Imperial Manila Syndrome” (IMS). We verified that the IMS structure became more serious during the study period. Therefore, region-specific government interventions and inter-governmental coordination are needed for balanced poverty reduction.

In India, there is a need for field survey-based vulnerability studies to overcome the uncertainties that exist in regional model-based climate vulnerability assessments. Therefore, the present study explored the regional patterns and their associated determinant factors of climate change vulnerability in the Himalayan Foothills of West Bengal to determine which regions are more vulnerable in the same geographical space. The research was conducted in the 13 Community Development Blocks (CD Blocks) of the Himalayan Foothills of West Bengal, India. The Socio-Economic Vulnerability Index (SEVI) was proposed to fulfill the above objectives. The present SEVI was comprised of seven subdimensions of climate change vulnerability: namely, climate variability, natural disaster risk, socio-demographic profile, livelihood strategy, environment profile, livelihood security, and accessibility of basic infrastructure covering three major vulnerability components, exposure, adaptive capacity, and sensitivity. The primary field survey was conducted using a structured questionnaire for data collection comprised of 22 indicators covering seven significant dimensions. The results suggest that Alipurduar-II, Jalpaiguri, and Mal, which are highly exposed to climate variability and natural disaster risk at the same time, have low adaptive capacities. The livelihood strategy, socio-demographic, and environmental profile were the determining factors of regional vulnerability in the study area. The CD blocks Falakata, Dhupguri, and Rajganj showed a higher adaptive capacity and were less sensitive to climate change vulnerability, even though exposure to climate change was the same in the entire area. The survey findings indicate that adaptive capacity is high in Falakata and Rajganj and these areas are less susceptible to climate change vulnerability. Finally, the appropriate recommendation is to develop a basic physical infrastructure, including bridges over the rivers and concrete village roads in all the flood-prone villages in the entire Himalayan Foothills of West Bengal for better connectivity. Also, household food availability should be secured through public distribution systems that develop the coping capacity of the region as a whole.

Crop suitability analyses produce optimal utilisation of existing land resources for sustainable agricultural productivity. This study identified suitable locations for the main crops of West Bengal, India; rice, maize, oilseeds, pulses, wheat, barley, potatoes and vegetables using Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Geographical Information Systems (GIS). AHP is a multi-decision-criteria approach that requires parameters regarding the crop suitability analysis. Ideal parameters such as slope, elevation, rainfall, soil, land use and land cover (LULC), net sown area, river and road networks, have been selected for the specific study areas. We determined that approximately 55% of lands are under very high to moderate crop suitable zones and some districts in the north and central areas have the maximum amount of highly suitable land as compared to the other districts. The western area showed low suitability due to undulating terrain, rainfall deficiency and infertile soil. The resultant suitability data justified with secondary datasets using the Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) method showed an 11% error. Our results also correlated the socio-economic factors, agricultural productivity and agricultural labourer, with the crop suitability zones showing a positive relationship of approximately 82% and 72%, respectively. Suitability maps of the study area and their correlations with allied agricultural factors can help decision makers and planners find appropriate zones for crop production.

This article analyzes the clustering potentials of organized industrial zones (OIZs) in Türkiye. Studies related to cluster identification first identify the related industries and then analyze the spatial agglomerations of the related industries. To define the clustering potential of OIZs, first the related industries are identified using an input–output table showing the inter-industry trade relations and a formula is suggested to calculate the clustering potential coefficient. This coefficient is an original contribution to the literature. Also, this study is the first to analyze all OIZs in Türkiye using clustering potentials. Of the 347 organized industrial zones in Türkiye, 193 were analyzed. The results show the OIZs are agglomerated in specific regions and the OIZs located in populous and industrialized regions have higher occupancy rates. Also, OIZs clustering potential varies with production type. Specialized OIZs have a greater potential than mixed OIZs. Also, OIZs with greater clustering potential do not agglomerate but are spread across the country.

Gender Based Political Violence Against Women (GBPVAW) is one main form of political discrimination. It violently affects women, obstructs social justice (economic redistribution, sociocultural recognition and political representation) for all and hinders parity democracy. In April 2020, the federal law of GBPVAW was approved in Mexico. From September 7th, 2020 until June 6th, 2021, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the biggest and most complex electoral process in Mexico took place, including 95 million registered voters with 21,368 elected positions in dispute and elections in almost half of the states that make up the republic. For the first time in history, gender parity was established by a strict quota system at municipal, state and federal levels. This exacerbated all forms of political violence, political violence against women and gender-based political violence against women. GBPVAW is one of the least researched emerging topics in the social sciences and is mostly absent in regional science debates. This article presents the results of an in-depth study, encompassing a research team of 26 academics, primarily developed and led by the presenting author. Results of a triangulated multidisciplinary research model with a transversal social justice and regional lens includes historical and juridical harmonization indicators, the creation of two quantitative regional indexes, qualitative indicators resulting from over 150 in-depth interviews of experts and female politicians, socio-digital media and a resilience study. Regarding the Mexican case study, the Reform Decree of April 13th, 2020 typifying GBPVAW is celebrated, providing the country with the second most advanced legislation worldwide. However, this research documented that there are still multiple areas of opportunity linked to affirmative action, substantive equality and transversal parity.

Anthropogenic activities and climatic variations continue to aggravate desertification in the drylands of the world. This study is aimed to explore the perceptions of local residents in the drylands of Bahawalpur, Rahim Yar Khan and Rajanpur districts, lying in the drylands of South Punjab, regarding the impacts of desertification on humans, finances, animals and the environment of the study area. In addition, we explored possible relations between these impacts and adaptive capacity of the local population. Primary data was collected from 399 respondents in a survey conducted during Feb–July 2019 using disproportionate stratified random sampling techniques. The Rajanpur District suffered the most in terms of human and environmental impacts, while Rahim Yar Khan experienced the lowest financial and human impacts, but most severe livestock impacts due to desertification. We also found that increases in water scarcity of surface water bodies and decline in groundwater levels, along with an increase in unemployment and delayed repayment of loans, all led to reduced adaptive capacity of the respondents. These results are helpful for policy makers to plan desertification control policies, that are region specific and focus on the main impacts being faced by each district.

Presence of corruption in a system is always a path breaker for transparent distribution of public services in the economy. Therefore, controlling corruption is a high priority for progress of a country’s growth. The main objective of this study was to empirically examine the impacts of financial inclusion on control of corruption in selected upper-middle and lower-middle income countries. Using cross-country annual data from 2004 to 2018, the study applied fixed effect, random effect, panel corrected standard errors, feasible general least square and 2SLS (two-stage least-squares regression) models to evaluate the impacts of financial inclusion on control of corruption across all samples from upper-middle and lower-middle income countries. The results from the upper-middle income (UMI) countries demonstrated that a basic level of financial inclusion has no impact on the control of corruption, whereas higher intensification of financial inclusion beyond the basic level positively impacts it. Similarly, the findings from lower-middle-income (LMI) countries indicated that financial inclusion up to a certain threshold level helps to control corruption, whereas financial inclusion above the threshold level negatively impacts the control of corruption. These empirical findings suggest that in the overall sample, financial inclusion plays an important role to control corruption.

Though rapid escalating urbanization has a positive effect on economic growth and employment, its impacts on health outcomes need to be analyzed. Using panel quantile regression models: the present study examined the impact of urbanization on health outcomes by considering 204 countries from 1960 to 2021. We measured urbanization by considering three proxy variables; total urban population, percentage of the urban population, and percentage of the population living in million-plus agglomerations. Overall estimated results suggested a negative effect on the fertility rate and a positive impact on life expectancy at birth due to urbanization. A mixed impact of urbanization was perceived on the infant mortality rate. Urbanization quality and management variables such as percentage of the urban population having access to clean fuel and technologies for cooking, electricity, basic drinking water, sanitation services, and hand washing facilities showed an asymmetric impact on health outcomes. The study additionally deployed feasible generalized least square (FGLS) and bias corrected least square dummy variable (LSDV) regressions to confirm the robustness of outcomes. The Granger causality test indicated that the relationship between urbanization and health outcomes is bidirectional. The panel cointegration test suggested that there is a long-run relationship between them. Order logit regression results suggested that the impact of urbanization on health outcomes may vary with the different stages of development a country is experiencing. The results indicate that well managed urbanization is beneficial for achieving higher health outcomes. Most importantly, developing countries are yet to promote and manage urbanization from this perspective, thus urgent attention is needed. Finally, we suggest appropriate policies for sustainable urbanization to achieve higher health outcomes in the world.

Bangladesh is a country recognized as “ground zero” in terms of vulnerability due to human-induced climate change, for which it bears the brunt of extreme climatic events. In addition, the number of extreme events is disconcertingly increasing nowadays and, jeopardizing its people, particularly in the southern (cyclone-prone), north-western (drought-prone), and east-northern and central (flood-prone) regions by causing instability and a reduction in sources of income for households, which in turn affects household expenditures. To this end, our study sought to determine the nexus between extreme climatic events and household welfare. For this, we adopted pooled OLS (Ordinary Least Square), fixed effects, and random effects models using three (2011–2012, 2015, and 2018–2019) wave nationally representative data sets of the Bangladesh Integrated Household Survey (BIHS) from rural Bangladesh. The results revealed that climate extremes affect household well-being. Superficially, the fixed effects model (most efficient) showed that climatic extremes led to a 3% decrease in average household expenditures. Moreover, negative coefficients were found for household food and non-food expenditures. Therefore, we propose several policy changes as part of adaptation and mitigation strategies to counter the negative impacts of extreme climate events. These include–income diversification through the creation of off-farm income generating activities (IGAs), an emphasis on sustained technology innovations under the changing climatic conditions, and variety development to tailor solutions to regions suffering from increased saline, droughts, and floods.