Journal of International Development最新文献

We investigate the critical interplay between economic institutions and political institutions and assess their influence on venture capital market development in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). To address endogeneity concern in our model specification, the two-step system generalised method of moments was employed on a sample of 34 SSA countries from 2007 to 2018. The findings reveal that strengthening disaggregated measures of economic institutions, comprising legal system and property rights, size of government, sound money, regulations, and freedom to trade internationally spur venture capital market development in SSA. Finally, the evidence indicates that political institutions condition the influence of economic institutions on venture capital market development. The implications for policy are further discussed.

This paper investigates digital inequalities in usage within African informal sectors. In particular, we examine whether the uneven digital diffusion is embedded in pre-existing socio-economic inequalities. After identifying three segments of informal firms, we rely on multivariate and decomposition analyses to identify predictors of usage of digital technologies for business purposes and explain usage gaps between segments. Our findings suggest that digital inequalities are rooted in the vertical heterogeneity of informal sectors, with some firm characteristics significantly predicting professional use of digital technologies. In addition, we find that there are both common and segment-specific levers for addressing digital inequalities between informal firms.

In empirical studies, the disparity between financial development and environmental quality has prompted us to examine the impact of credit growth on environmental quality in ASEAN countries. These countries have experienced phenomenal credit growth over the past three decades due to their adoption of financial liberalisation, integration and innovation. In this study, we investigated the role of credit growth on environmental quality while controlling for several macroeconomic variables, including regulatory quality, natural resources, foreign direct investment, globalisation and per capita gross domestic product growth. Using static models (ordinary least square [OLS], random effect model, Panel Corrected Standard Error and partial spatial cross correlation) and dynamic models (dynamic OLS, dynamic random effect and two-step system generalised methods of moments (GMM) on data spanning from 1984 to 2019, we observed a nonlinear association between credit growth and environmental quality. The findings suggest that credit growth may simultaneously have favourable and detrimental effects on environmental quality. High credit growth can lead to increased emissions and environmental degradation through the promotion of fossil fuel-driven energy consumption, production and distribution of economic resources. However, if the government promotes regulatory quality and encourages lenders to invest more in green technologies and renewable and sustainable energy sources, credit growth may contribute to improved environmental quality. These results carry important policy implications.

The view of informal employment as a last resort in the labour market has recently been challenged by numerous studies documenting the existence of a high degree of heterogeneity within the formal and informal sectors. In particular, informal self-employment/employment may be voluntary or forced. There is currently not much theoretical support for these observations. We develop a theoretical model of the labour market with both formal and informal firms and a distribution of managerial skills in the population. Consistent with existing empirical evidence, this setup reconciles the undesirable and productive forms of self-employment that coexist in the economy.

This paper examines the impact of mobile money account ownership on farmers' participation in farmer-based organisations (FBOs), structured market and off-farm work. Relying on recursive bivariate probit model, our results reveal that owning a mobile money account increases the likelihood of farmers' participating in an FBO, structured market and off-farm work by 15.4%, 33.3% and 37.5%, respectively. Furthermore, mobile money account ownership is influenced by socioeconomic and institutional factors as well as the presence of mobile money vendors within a community. Our finding calls for sustained efforts to deepen digital financial inclusion for increased participation in FBOs, structured market and off-farm work.

In this study, we re-examined the pollution haven and halo hypotheses in Brazil for approximately five decades (1970–2019) while controlling for the effects of income, renewable energy and natural resource depletion. For clearer insights, the study employed both the conventional autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) and the enhanced kernel regularized least squares (KRLS) techniques. Notably, the KRLS is a flexible machine learning nonlinear analytical technique that explains the interactions of the regressand and the regressors both at the average and across a range of quantiles. After ascertaining cointegration through the bounds tests and the Bayer–Hanck procedures, the following empirical outcomes emerged: The ARDL result suggests the acceptance of the pollution haven hypothesis in Brazil in both the short and long runs. However, the KRLS technique reveals that foreign direct investment (FDI) could enhance environmental quality (pollution halo) within the 25th quantile of the distributions of CO₂ emissions. However, at the 50th and 70th quantiles, the pollution haven hypothesis is rectified. This suggests the adoption of varying policy options to ensure continuous inflows of FDI without compromising environmental quality. Additionally, among the control variables, a U-shaped environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) structure is revealed from the influence of gross domestic product (GDP); renewable energy ensures a clean environment at all times, while resource rent ensures a clean environment only at the 25th and 50th quantiles of the distributions. Policies that could lead to clean environments in Brazil have been provided.

In this paper, the outline of national guideline for gender-sensitive post-disaster needs assessment (PDNA) that was developed based on the experiences of 2019 Iran floods is presented. Accordingly, at first, the baseline information on female-headed households, elderly, disabled women and the employment situation of females that should be collected before the disaster is introduced. Then, the mechanism for evaluation the effects and impacts of disasters on women and girls is presented. Finally, considering the recovery strategies, their needs in recovery and reconstruction are addressed. The results can be used in other countries to develop the gender-sensitive PDNA guidelines.

The use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) has generated a rich literature. In this paper, we examine the effect of ICT use on alcohol consumption in a sample of 120 developing countries. To do so, we specify and estimate a panel data model first by pooled ordinary least squares (POLS) and second by feasible generalised least squares (F-GLS) over the period 2000–2020. The robustness of the results is tested by using the system generalised method of moments (S-GMM), taking into account regional specificities and cultural variables. The main result reveals that ICT use significantly reduces alcohol consumption. However, the effects of ICTs are mediated by economic, political and institutional governance. We suggest qualitative improvements in technological infrastructure for continued mitigation of alcohol consumption in developing countries.

Theoretically, the impact of human development on energy poverty could occur through a number of channels, for instance, through improved social mobility and employability. In this study, we elaborate on these channels and examine how human development affects energy poverty in Africa, where access to electricity is a challenge for many. We proxy human development with scores on the human development index (HDI), human capital and education levels and analyse panel data on 40 African countries from 2000 to 2018. Employing a battery of estimation methods, the results suggest that an increase in human development generally improves energy poverty.

This paper contributes to the debate on the role of innovation and intellectual property rights (IPRs) in catch-up policies in developing countries (DCs). We survey the literature on four key points. First, we review the neoclassical and evolutionary theoretical foundations of innovation and catch-up. Second, we examine why some countries lag behind, in particular in terms of path dependency and multiplicity of convergence dynamics. From this follows the question of how to foster innovation in DCs. We examine the issues of IPRs protection in a third point and industrial policies in a fourth point. Strengthening IPRs protection is often recommended by international institutions. However, the related literature shows that their impact is strongly non-linear, as the optimal level for DCs is initially low, then increases as the countries develop. This result is robust to a wide range of models and methods. Finally, the literature reveals that industrial policies can be crucial in fostering innovation in DCs, even though their implementation faces serious challenges, in particular the appropriate targeting of industrial policies, and rent-seeking behaviours in a deteriorated institutional environment.