Journal of International Development最新文献

This paper presents the findings of a large-scale randomized controlled field trial that tests the interest of informal businesses in free and online business registration. In collaboration with the Indonesian government, we designed a free and easy to use online registration portal for small businesses and sent WhatsApp or text messages to around 50 000 businesses to inform them about this new registration portal. We find that sending three rounds of short WhatsApp or text messages resulted in 3.4% of recipients clicking the registration link in the messages. Only 0.1% of recipients registered through the portal. Different phrasing of messages results in different click rate, different registration rate, and different rates the sender's number is blocked. Neutral message performs the best, followed by message that emphasizes that registration is easy. Message that appeals to people's patriotic feelings or message that emphasizes that registration is free performs the last.

Understanding progressive institutional change remains a central concern in development studies. This paper examines two such cases: constitutional change in Nepal, which broadened political rights, and the outlawing of metal mining in El Salvador, which redistributed resources. To understand institutional change, this paper proposes a cultural political economy approach to Khan's ‘political settlements analysis’. Applying the proposed approach to these cases demonstrates how political movements organise around beliefs and identities as well as interests to achieve rights and status, not just material gain. Identifying cultural as well as material sources of power allows a fuller explanation of institutional change processes.

The rapid development of the information and communication technologies (ITCs) and the internet is deeply embedded in all aspects of economic life. With its high economic efficiency and significant green attributes, digitalization provides opportunities for promoting a green economy. However, the effects of digitalization and internet development on China's green economic efficiency are understudied. There is also a gap in research on how digitalization and internet development influence Chinese citizens to choose a green lifestyle from the consumer perspective. This article aims to enrich the research in this field by exploring the effects of internet development on green economic efficiency in China. The article further analyses how digitalization and internet development can encourage citizens to choose a green lifestyle. Drawing on panel data from 257 cities in China spanning the period from 2012 to 2020, this article utilizes the entropy method and the SBM-GML model to assess the correlation between internet development and green economy efficiency. We also employ the basic regression model, system GMM model, mediation effect model and adjustment model to study the impact of internet development on urban green economic efficiency. The study found that internet development and green economic efficiency face constraints that are inherent in the government's dual economic growth and environmental goals and targets. We also found that digitalization and internet development can promote citizens' adoption of green lifestyles through the fostering of citizen environmental concern and green consumption habits. Further analysis shows that internet development has a more pronounced effect on green economic efficiency in eastern cities, large cities, non-resource-based cities and cities with higher economic development. These findings provide useful references for developing countries that promote urban green economic efficiency through digitalization and internet development.

The quality of transnational higher education partnerships (THEPs) has increasingly come under scrutiny with the growing role of higher education in development. Mutuality has emerged as a key focus of this examination. We seek to understand how mutuality is expressed within North–South THEPs that have a major focus on community engagement. We refer to THEPs with this focus as engaged transnational higher education partnerships (ETHEPs). This study is based on a secondary analysis of extant literature on one ETHEP based in Kenya. A thematic content analysis revealed that celebrated outcomes of mutuality included capacity building, institutionalization, collaborative relationships and solidarity around community engagement. Challenges to mutuality were related to structural and cultural differences, self-sustainability and equity. A discussion of findings is followed by possible questions to guide inquiry toward strengthening mutuality in North–South ETHEPs.

This study analyses the internal governance practices of coffee marketing cooperatives in south-west Ethiopia. The investigation argues that there is a need to go beyond democratic governance practices in order to understand the governance of these cooperatives working in multi-stakeholder environments where the state is powerful and intervenes in their operations. The study concludes that the actions of internal and external actors have resulted in unique governance structures that profoundly influence their operations.

Despite commendable efforts to end hunger and achieve Sustainable Development Goal 2, the prevalence of undernourishment is still inadmissibly high, especially in Africa. Though important determinants of undernourishment have been documented, little is known about the role of globalization. This paper aims to fill this gap using a sample of 48 African countries over 2000–2020 period and data from the KOF globalization index and the World Bank dataset. The results from Driscoll and Kraay's Standard Errors and Instrumental Variable Generalized Method of Moments (IVGMM) methods show that globalization reduces both the prevalence of undernourishment and child stunting in African countries. Accounting for the dimensions of globalization, the results show that while economic globalization is negatively associated with food security, social and political globalization enhances it. Moreover, income growth, government size and access to electricity are identified as channels through which globalization reduces hunger in Africa. African governments should develop evidence-based policies and interventions that leverage the opportunities presented by globalization to ensure food security.

In some instances, two basic development cooperation principles appear to be in direct contradiction: on the one hand, the Sustainable Development Goals prescribe universal social inclusion under the leitmotif of “leave no one behind”, mandating an emphasis on the most marginalized. On the other hand, the cornerstone of development cooperation is “ownership”, which recognizes that countries must be free to choose their own priorities and strategies. To what extent can these two principles be reconciled in “hostile environments”, places where certain groups, such as LGBTQI+ people, are marginalized and even persecuted and criminalized? I argue that, while the SDGs are clear about the need for radical inclusion, the ownership principle lacks precision about who “owns” the concept. Adopting an emancipatory conceptualization of ownership, under which the ultimate beneficiaries should be the ones to determine priorities and strategies, eliminates the apparent contradiction and legitimizes support to marginalized groups even if their own governments disagree.

Contrary to the individual and household levels, analysis on the collective-level effects of cash transfers (CTs) is largely lacking. To fill such gap, this paper conducted a systematic review of the evidence around CT impacts on social capital. Available studies suggest that CTs can stimulate bonding social capital (social participation, membership of organizations), while often generate issues like rising inter-group tensions and social exclusion (bridging social capital). Overall, however, the existing evidence is scarce. The article invites CT-implementing agencies to design interventions in accordance with the envisaged impacts—not only at the individual but also at the collective level.

How does right-wing populism affect public preferences for foreign development aid spending across the liberal/conservative ideological spectrum? This research examines the complex interplay between exposure to right-wing populist messages targeting aid and political ideology at the mass level in Germany, the United States (U.S.), and the United Kingdom (UK) with data from original survey experiments. First, the experiments indicate that populist rhetoric reduces public support for foreign aid across all countries albeit to varying degrees. Second, the moderating role of political ideology is variable and complex across the different countries. In Germany, populist anti-aid messages reduce support among voters on the center of the ideological spectrum and among those without clear ideological preferences. In the U.S., anti-aid messages affect those on the left. In the UK, the effect of populist anti-aid rhetoric surprisingly does not vary cross ideological groups. Our results have implications for the prospects of public support for development cooperation in the shadow of populism.