World Development最新文献

Most countries across the globe introduce visa restrictions to regulate immigration, yet little is known about their effect on migrants’ decision to migrate and their well-being. I study the mass displacement of Venezuelan nationals, and through a difference-in-differences research design, I compare the effectiveness of introducing visa restrictions in reducing overall migration flows in certain countries across South America. I use a data set of 85,000 migrants and refugees − mostly Venezuelans − surveyed by the UNHCR. Findings suggest that visa restrictions increased the likelihood of irregular entry and irregular visa status for migrants while also leading to changes in their priorities. Unexpectedly, I do not find evidence of increased violence suffered by migrants who switch towards irregular entry channels in specific countries. This research contributes to the academic and policy debate on the effectiveness of visa restrictions on migratory flows, as well the literature on the effects of migration policies on migrants’ well-being.

While formal institutions are considered rather stable in Western countries, the same cannot be said of those in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). In LAC, these institutions are superseded by nonformalized but deeply embedded practices—especially of political favoritism. Accordingly, this paper explores how members of parliament in LAC favor their birth regions by providing clientelistic goods and services to their constituents. The paper shows that the development of subnational regions is affected by their proximity to parliament leaders’ birthplaces. We collect data on 366 political leaders’ birth locations over 1992–2016 and construct a panel of approximately 183,000 subnational micro–regions across 45 LAC countries/autonomous territories. Our results show that incumbent parliament leaders favor regions near their birthplaces, as measured by night light emissions and World Bank aid. This favoritism is enabled by the patterns of formal institutional weakness, and de jure plus de facto influence given to the parliament by the particularly unstable constitutions of LAC countries.

Migration from rural to urban areas is common in many low- and middle-income countries. However, temporary migration from rural to other rural areas also occurs and is not yet well understood. Here, we conceptualize what drives rural people to migrate temporarily to other rural areas, rather than to urban areas where wages are usually higher. This question is analysed with qualitative data collected through group discussions and in-depth interviews with randomly selected households in northern rural Bangladesh, where temporary migration is widely observed. The data reveal that temporary migration is common especially among poor agriculture-dependent households with farm labour and family demographic constraints that prevent longer-term migration. Many temporary migrants prefer rural over urban destinations, influenced by their limited skills, social networks, negative perceptions of cities, and the comparative income-cost ratios between destinations. Our findings suggest that the notion of temporary migration in low- and middle-income countries being primarily a rural-to-urban move needs to be re-evaluated.

This paper will examine the resettlement process initiated under the Thar Coal Project, located in the arid Thar desert region in southern Pakistan, which is likely to cause the displacement of at least ten villages, many of whom are inhabited by marginalized Hindu Dalit and pastoralist tribal populations. We will focus on those displaced villagers who have been resettled in New Sehnri Dars village and those who have lost land in Bhawa Jo Tar village, taking an ethnographic approach. Large scale development induced displacement and resettlement (DiDR) has occurred in Pakistan, but it has been subject to limited scholarship. Individuals being displaced by large scale infrastructure projects, referred by some as ‘development refugees,’ face material losses leading to impoverishment. The paper here focuses on the recovery and reconstruction of the displaced population and how they have been rebuilding their livelihoods and communities after getting forcibly relocated, beginning from 2017 onwards. We argue that some aspects of DiDR may contribute to positive outcomes resulting in accumulation of sociocultural and educational capital for the traditionally marginalized groups. The displacement literature from the Global South, focuses on forms of coercive control, administered by institutional structures that generated and normalised state led bureaucratic violence, leading to the disempowering of those displaced by infrastructural development. The voices from Senhri Dars and Bhawa Jo Tar in Pakistan give us a different picture of the relationship between infrastructural development and displacement, showing how—quite counter-intuitively—a situation defined by force and coercion can become in a limited way a process that enables agency and empowerment. This paper will provide fresh insight into DiDR in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, a region that has had very limited scholarship on this issue.

This study examines the changes in occupational patterns and addresses the problem of transitioning from paid activities to unpaid activities among Adivasi women in the context of land alienation. We use data sources, viz. the 50th and 68th rounds of Employment and Unemployment Survey, the Periodic Labour Force Survey (2022–23) and the Time Use Survey (2019) of the NSSO. We apply simple descriptive statistics, binary and multinomial logistic regression models to derive reasonable inferences. The study reveals that between 1993–94 and 2011–12, Adivasi women’s labour force participation has declined more when compared to women from other social groups. However, between 2011–12 and 2023–24, their participation has increased which can be attributed to increase in their participation in unpaid family labour and own account works. The study deduces that landholding size determines their participation in the labour market, and quality of occupations. Larger landholding size is an enabling factor which enhances the propensity of Adivasi women to take up better-paid occupations, while lower landholding size increases the risk of taking up either employment in precarious occupations or unpaid domestic duties. The findings reinforce the argument that landholdings play a crucial role among Adivasis in maintaining the relative egalitarian values in their society. Finally, this study suggests measures to improve the LFPR of Adivasi women and the quality of their employment.

Like many of the world’s large-scale terminal lakes, the Urmia saltwater lake in northwestern Iran is undergoing a process of desiccation. The anticipated economic, social, environmental and health consequences of this are daunting. We set out to examine the policies that have been designed in response to the lake crisis in the past twenty years. We focus on the set of measures proposed by the Urmia Lake Restoration Program (ULRP) and explain why their impact on water savings are overstated while the potentially most effective measures are abandoned. We then discuss the various social, institutional and political factors that have led to this state of affairs. Identifying and understanding the array of political and other factors that combine not only to impede appropriate remedial measures but also to fuel the overexploitation of water are essential to our comprehension of how to avert unsustainable water futures.

This article contributes to research on migration and development, in particular to the studies that seek to move beyond ahistorical approaches and those that seek to explore the long-term consequences of internal displacement. Existing studies of migration and development have arrived at numerous insights into how transnational migrants act as agents of development in remittance-receiving regions. They have less often asked the related question; namely, how migrants’ ability to enact such roles is constrained or enabled by internal migration within these regions. This article demonstrates that processes of internal displacement and residential segregation within a remittance-receiving region influence where transnational migrants can direct their resources. It investigates how the development activities of transnational migrants (including household remittances, real estate investments, and philanthropic donations) are emplaced, and how emplacements and their meanings change over time. The analysis is based on multi-sited ethnographic research in a remittance-receiving region of India, a country that has been described as the largest recipient of remittances in the world, and with overseas Indians in the UK and the USA. While the overseas members of regionally powerful Hindu groups are relatively well-positioned to cultivate a role as agents of development in their villages of origin in Gujarat, the overseas Gujarati Muslims whose relatives left or lost power in their villages have been challenged to redirect their development activities to another location in the region. Drawing recent theorizations of home in relation with critical discussions of migration and development, the article views migrants’ development activities as homemaking; as emplaced efforts to cultivate relatedness and belonging.

Global food prices rose substantially after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper examines the impact of rising food prices during the pandemic on food security in Burkina Faso. We aim to answer two primary questions. First, how do food price shocks affect household food insecurity? Second, what coping strategies do households adopt in response to these price shocks? Leveraging country-wide high-frequency longitudinal data, we employ household fixed effect models to examine the effects. In the absence of direct information on local food prices, we use household-reported price shocks to capture province-level price increases and show that the results are consistent with national-level price increases.

We find significant and immediate increases in food insecurity following the price shocks, and this effect persists for at least two months. The price shocks most acutely affected the poorest households. Furthermore, food insecurity increased more in rural areas than in urban areas. The higher proportion of poorer households in rural areas explains part of this difference. We find that households primarily cope with the shock by relying on increased assistance from relatives in Burkina Faso and abroad.

This study is the first to use panel data with household fixed effects to examine the repercussions of the rise in food prices during the pandemic on food insecurity in a developing country and to examine the coping mechanisms employed by households. Given that food prices are likely to remain high globally for an extended period, our findings carry implications for the broader developing world. Furthermore, given the disproportionate effect on the poorest and those living in rural areas, the findings highlight the need for policies to mitigate the negative impacts of the price shocks and enhance overall food security in countries like Burkina Faso.

Women’s political representation has increased substantially over recent decades due to concerted efforts, including quotas, to increase female legislative representation in electoral democracies. While studies find that female leadership improves educational outcomes and the provision of public health services, we know little about the impact of women leaders on their female constituents’ health status in less developed countries. In this study, we take advantage of novel geocoded survey data in Bangladesh to employ spatial–temporal methods for investigating whether the presence of women parliamentarians improves prenatal care usage − a key maternal health indicator. Using three different identification approaches, we find evidence, contrary to our expectations, that women’s electoral representation decreases the likelihood of prenatal clinic attendance in electoral districts in Bangladesh. Reflecting on the unusual findings, we explore several factors that may contribute to the maternal health status in woman-led constituencies. Our analysis suggests that women’s electoral representation does not spontaneously improve outcomes for women’s issues. The counterintuitive findings imply that political-institutional and electoral contexts, as well as political culture, may mitigate the impact of women’s political agency on gender-sensitive development outcomes in less developed countries.

Theories on the relationship between earthquakes and crime present mixed predictions. On the one hand, earthquakes improve individual cooperation, social trust, and crime reduction. On the other hand, earthquakes impact state capacity and enhance the prevalence of motivated offenders such as street gangs. This study empirically analyzes the effects of the September 2017 earthquakes in Mexico on personal crimes (assault and aggravated assault) and property crimes (vehicle theft, residential burglary, and vandalism). Using official police data, a difference-in-differences technique, and an event-study design, the results show that earthquakes increased assault by 14 percent and vandalism by 8 percent.