Growth and Development Commons^™

Discussants On Session 7a : Surviving Crises, Vinod Raina Dr., Pan Jie Dr.

South South Forum 南南論壇

Vinod Raina

A physicist, resigned his job at Delhi University to work at grass roots on issues of rural education and rural development in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. With like-minded colleagues, he initiated the People’s Science Movement in India that attempts to combine knowledge and science to craft alternate development models that improve the quality of life of the disadvantaged sections of society, within the regenerative capacity of the Earth. He worked both at the level of theory and practice in the political, scientific and ecological economy of sustainability. He had been involved with the Bhopal Gas …

Linking Food Systems And Human Health : Geographic Variations In China = 链接食物系统与人类健康：中国城乡之间的差别, Anthony M. Fuller

South South Forum 南南論壇

This paper is exploratory. It seeks to link the two dominant food systems of Chinawith impacts on human health, as measured by the increasing but differential incidence of non-communicable chronic diseases. China is passing through the Nutrition Transition where traditional diets are being replaced by high fat and meat diets, high calorie snacks and meals with high protein and oil intakes.The argument is constructed on the basis that in general urban citizens increasingly consume processed foods manufactured by the industrial food system. Rural people on the other hand remain consuming their traditional diets. Process foods derive from industrial agriculture while …

Gerplasm Property Regimes And The Dilemma Of Sovereignty = 种质产权和维护主权的两难, Tung-Yi Kho

South South Forum 南南論壇

This presentation examines intellectual property rights (IPR) regimes as they apply to agricultural germplasm in the context of global North-South relations. The issue is pertinent particularly since TRIPs (Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights) became enshrined in the statutes of the World Trade Organization in 1994, institutionalizing the notion of "germplasm as property" throughout the globe. Yet, the idea of "germplasm as property" is historically a notion culturally specific to the global North. It is perhaps no surprise that many germplasm patents are being held on biological matter that originated in the South – in the Vavilovian "centers of diversity". …

Rural Organising, Community Building And Economic Empowerment At Sewa, Rehana Riyawala

South South Forum 南南論壇

Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) is a member-based organisation of poor self-employed women workers. It has a membership of 13.1 million women workers in 10 states of India; nearly 2/3^rd of the membership being from the rural areas. SEWA’s main goal is to organize the women worker’s for full employment and self-reliance which means women should be self reliant, individually and collectively, both economically and in terms of decision-making ability. SEWA organizes these women workers through the strategy of struggle and development.

Rural Organizing and Community Building

SEWA’s approach to rural organizing is area-specific and demand driven; the communities …

逆流而上 : 巴西与中国农民合作社比较 = Against The Grain : A Comparison Of Peasants’ Cooperatives In Brazil And China, Bing Zheng, Tsui Sit

South South Forum 南南論壇

1980-1990年代，新自由主义风行于全世界。当时巴西危机四伏，(外)债台高筑、通胀恶化、失业率上升、罪案频发，社会冲突此起彼落。越来越多的人一无所有，无以为计，无耕种之地，无栖身之所。另一边厢，中国推行经济改革，采取出口导向的政策，企图在世界中心占一席位。结果引致成千上万的国有工厂工人下岗，农民涌入城市打工。中国现代化借着市场化与商品化的推动，急速发起来，在这股浩浩荡荡的浪潮下，三农(农民、农村、农业)日趋衰落，极待解决。面对急速的现代化、城市化与资本化的主流意识形态，小农村社似乎没有将来可言。被国家权力机构边缘化和忽略的庶民，生存条件越趋恶劣，越见其直面困难的韧力和创造力。本文尝试了解与比较庶民自发组织的力量与实践，他们在寻求生存之道的同时，往往给我们提供了走向摆脱目前困境的、不一样的未来的启示。

本文以巴西无地农民运动(Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra，MST) 于1988年，Santa Catarina 州，成立的西部农牧生产合作社(COOPERATIVA DE PRODUÇÃO AGROPECUARIA UNIÃO DO OESTE, 简称COOPERUNIÃO)，及1998年成立的中国山西省永济市浦韩农村社区为例，阐述民众如何自发组织起来，解决两大难题: (1)公共资源的私有化；(2)以金钱为本的人际关系。MST乃巴西最大的社会运动之一，为争取土地改革而奋斗了超过25年。COOPERUNIÃO被喻为MST合作社模范之一; 浦韩农村社区前身是永济市农民协会，是中国第一家注册的农民组织。现在被喻为农民协会的典范。

两地农村社区努力保存农民的身份及付诸实践: 种地为生，兼经营小工业。两个合作社采取集体管理公共资源像土地与劳动力。COOPERUNIÃO在占领土地之后便成立合作社。蒲韩农村社区成立数个合作社，抗拒个人主义与私有化的浪潮。他们的目的并非有朝一日变成大型粮农企业或者屈从其下。两者的社会结构乃家庭为单位，兼由村社共同治理。两者不断推动体现生态与伦理价值的有机耕作。还有，透过农产品的公平贸易，达至城乡良性互动与合作。

除了经济活动，两者均组织文化与社区活动。被边缘的群体像妇女、老人、青少年、残疾人等都获得机会参加各式各样重建社区的活动。两者均以青年教育与领袖培训为建设未来农村社会工作的重中之重。

两者全力推行以上所有活动乃基于此信念：人民真正的财富乃培育互为依存的、互助互惠的、互相敬重的社会关系，而非以金钱为核心价值的资本主义的社会关系。

During the 1980-1990s, neo-liberalism dominantly prevailed in the world. Brazil was in serious crisis caused by huge foreign debt, escalating inflation, high unemployment, rampant crimes and social conflicts. More and more people are driven to struggle for their own survival with scarcely anything to hold on, no jobs, no land to farm on, and no shelter. As for China around that period, the launching of economic reforms turned China’s central economic planning policy in attempting to earn …

"绿色汉江" 河流保护运动的城市动员 = The City Mobilization Of ‘Green Han River’For River Protection Movement, Jianli Yun, Ling Zhao

South South Forum 南南論壇

自1978年改革以来，中国以牺牲环境为代价步入了高速的工业化。汉江及其支流受到许多低成本运营的中小企业严重污染。随着27%的汉江水将被南水北调到北京，这意味着下游人民也会面临同样的问题。面对所有这些问题，公众通常是责备政府而非行动起来解决问题。直到2002年，运建立发起了湖北省第一个民间环保组织“绿色汉江”。而绿色汉江的核心团队是由几位退休老人组成的。

作为一位老年女性，运建立站在调研、监督、倡导、教育行动和地方村级水项目的最前线。她给3000多人做过600多次演讲。大家都叫她“赤脚环保主义者”或者“环保奶奶”。在整个团队志愿工作的基础上，她用热情和坚持感动了很多人。包括政府、市民、企业、学校、幼儿园，不管是年老的或年轻的、教育家还是村庄社区等社会各阶层，都参与了进来。绿色汉江现有团体会员66个，个体会员160个，3000多名志愿者。经过他们的努力，整治汉江及其支流的污染已经取得到了突破性的转变。越来越多的襄阳人知道了环境问题就在身边，“关爱母亲河，保护水资源”已逐渐变成广大民众的自觉行动。作为一个以社区为本的组织，绿色汉江不是依靠外界的资助，而是依靠志愿者们的热情和责任承担。

运建立和她的志愿者们证明了普通人如何能用行动带来社会和生态环境的改变。越来越多城市和乡村的人们出于基本的生计关切投入到绿色运动当中，而不只是中产阶级的共识。随着数以万计的人们真正的民主志愿参与，这才成为一项可持续的运动。

Since the reform of 1978, China’s high speed industrialization was carried out at the expense of the environment. The Han River and its tributaries were seriously polluted by a lot of small and medium factories operating at low cost. In addition, the diverting of 27% of the river water from Han River to Beijing in the north also means added problems to the people living downstream. Faced with all the problems, the public might blame the government but would not take up action to address the problems. Until 2002, YUN Jianli initiated ‘Green Han River’, the first …

From The Wealth Of Nations To The Common Well-Being Of The Planet : Toward An Ecologically-Embedded Economy = 从国家财富到地球的共同福祉 : 朝向内在于生态体系的经济体, Tak Hing, Erebus Wong

South South Forum 南南論壇

地球上生命体的共同进化是复杂性增加的过程。新的信息不断被加进现有的复杂系统里。共同进化应该被理解为生命体与生态系统作为一个复杂整体的过程。达尔文式“物竞天择”与资本主义讴歌的竞争已是陈腐的范型，它们与其他有害的社会-经济以及科学教条，内涵灾难的种子，导致今天的生态灾难，把人类推向当前社会-经济的死胡同。

要超越当前这种毁灭性及自杀式的文明模式，我们需要从基本上反思在资本主义扩张时期所塑造出来的种种社会经济及科学范型。长期以来，它们一直实际上服务于资本的利益。

生命过程不能被化约为简单的能量与物质的转换。这种观念是以等价交换的市场法则为模型。在生物体的能量与物质，与散布在环境中的质能，在本质上是不同的。生命不仅仅是由混沌中演化出秩序。迭排的秩序，与无序一样缺乏生命。生命的现象是复杂性，是迭排秩序(可预测)与无序(不可预测)之外的第三种存在模态。相对于熵(随机性)，生命创造逆熵(negentropy)或信息负熵(intropy)，即是蕴藏信息的丰富性。蕴藏在有机体及生态系统里、以信息负熵形态存在的潜能量，赋予生命无穷无尽的创造性。

可是，资本主义的生产及消费方式，却误以有效率地转化能量和物理为创造性(被视为创造财富)，结果导致资源耗尽，毫无节制地把能量及废物耗散进环境里。由于砍伐森林及碳排放而导致的全球暖化困境，正是这种方式导致的其中一个恶果。资本主义把社会圈(以及生态圈)变成一个充斥商品(消费品)的荒漠，干扰了环境的热平衡调节(thermal homeostasis)，增加环境中的熵，减弱生态体系的信息负熵(生物多样性衰竭)，把地球推向热死亡(thermal death)。

从这个角度来看，很多当前被讴歌推崇的市场教条，实质上危害生物圈的健全。这个历史进程的顶点是全球化。它试图以等价交换的普遍法则来组织一个单一的全球市场。这项教条的最近其中一个表现是碳交易机制的设计。它的前题是在某地所造成的干扰，可以通过在另一处作出相应的补偿来补救。这种思考模式跟犹太-基督教(西方中心主义)的普世-超验主义(universal-transcendentalism)不无关系。它不理解生态系统作为一种复杂适应系统(complex adaptive system)，是本土化于某特定的生物区域里(bio-regionally localized)。某个复杂适应系统遭受干扰时的恢复力，取决于它是否能在它的界限上保持一定的“非通信”区域( “non-communication” zone)，尽管地球上所有生态体系最后都是紧密地连结在一起。本土化的民生体系，也是如此。

为了抗衡这种错误的科学范式及经济教条，我们需要想象展望人类与自然以及人类之间共存的新方式。

经济体(Ekonomy): 从金钱术回归至照顾我们的家园

我们别忘记：生态(ecology)与经济(economy)在字源上，都是源自古希腊字根 oikos，家园。经济一词由oikos和nemein (照顾)。由此看来，生态学和经济，都是关乎睿智地照看我们的家园，我们的栖息地。很不幸，经济的发展方向，恰恰朝向阿里土多德二千多年前早已警告我们的金钱术(krematistike)，并且达到出神入化、自毁家园的境地。为了睿智地栖息于地球之上，与其他生命体分享生物圈，我们需要寻回筑建经济体(economy)的古老智慧。我们要学习去除长期灌输给我们、根深柢固的经济价值观，把快乐幸福与物质追求适当地分开。我们应该寻回人类交换时所蕴含的丰富文化内涵，唾弃经济学(economic)所虚构的以物易物(barter trade)神话。我们要有勇气和创造力去想象和展望新的经济体(ekonomic)生产及财富分享方式。现行那种以最终制成品进行自由竞争的方式，必须被扬弃。我们必须正视所谓的自由选择(free to choose)所隐含的巨大生态及社会代价。其中一项急切的任务，是要重新创造新的货币形式，限制现在赋予金钱的无限权力。简言之，我们要寻求与同伴分享资源的新艺术。

新的社群伦理：公有共享与存在的脆弱

听起来有点奇怪，可是，作为群居动物，我们需要寻找新的群居方式。建基于排他性的身分认同来凝聚群体的方式，需要被扬弃。同样，以公民社会(civil society)和民族国家(nation-state)来代表普遍性身分认同的历史形式，也最终需要被超越。也许对于各种普遍性身分认同，我们都要持怀疑的态度。别忘记，身分认同总是内嵌于特殊的条件里(embeddedness of identity)。有别于建基于相似性来建构身分认同，另一条可行的途径是通过有意识地分享我们公有共享的事物来培养群体凝聚性。我们明白各自不可泯灭的差异性，却愿意通过分享和合作投身于不同层次的命运共同体。说到最后，地球上全部生物区域、所有生态体系，包括我们所有人的命运，都是密切连系交织成一个整体。生态系统，与人类存在一样，紧密相连，却又脆弱，把我们连结成一个命运共同体。人类所面临的最巨大历史任务，正是想象展望超越民族国家的新社会群体(sociality)形式。

简言之，我们需要发掘新的、却是悠久的社群伦理，与同伴，包括所有生命体，一起分享这个星球。

人类新的栖居模式：适当规模的城乡整合

最后，却可能是最迫切的问题，是逆转超级都市的发展趋势。超级都市的出现，可能是文明史上最具灾难的进程。这些超级都市像癌肿瘤般吸噬所有资源；它们像污水渠般不断向环境排放污染物，像热板般灼烫大气层。超级都市的整个根本基建设计都错得具灾难性。人类要继续生存在地球上，必须想象及展望新的城乡整合。适当规模的城镇要有机地和乡村融合。当然，这同时需要发展新的农业耕作模式。

简言之，我们需要寻找在地球上栖息的新模式。

How Is Collectivism Possible In Rural China?, Kin Chi Lau

South South Forum 南南論壇

With the reform policy of 1979, the household responsibility system effectively and largely dismantled the people’s commune system that had been in place for over a decade during the Cultural Revolution. Partly as an imperative policy from above, and partly as an aspiration of peasant households to claim right of usage over a piece of land, over 90% of rural assets that were collectively owned and managed by the village community have been de-collectivized. Nevertheless, fragments of collectivity have remained in diverse forms, with variations in terms of ownership or management.

Two cases have drawn much media attention: the Huaxi …

Our Food Sovereignty And Well Living In The Peruvian High Plains, Eliana Apaza

South South Forum 南南論壇

We the aymara people in the region of Puno in Peru, consider that everyone’s life is important, that is why our life is based in living as a community with everything that surrounds us. One of the main activities of our people is the growth of agricultural diversity, focused mainly in the potato, the broad beans, the quinoa, the barley and other crops, each one is planted and cultivated in an specific way and it is consumed in a different way. The families cultivate with a loving raise, before, they used to do a ritual to ask for permission to …

Land Grabbing In Africa, Khadija Sharife

South South Forum 南南論壇

At least 80 million hectares of land have been recently purchased in what are being termed ‘land grabs,’ around three quarter of which are in Africa. The deals, displacingAfrica’s small farmers, primarily women, are often facilitated by the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation, acting as a one-stop-lease-shop via Investment and Export Promotion Agency. These agencies remove obstacles allegedly blocking Foreign Direct Investment by constructing sovereign-backed toolkits, streamlining for investors issues ranging from land ownership, availability, titling, to legal obligations, taxes and duties. While the architecture of land grabbing is an extension of the neoliberal system, a new set of land-grabbers …

Contestation, Cooperation And The Transborder Commons, Carl Middleton

South South Forum 南南論壇

The Mekong River traces its 4,900 kilometer path southwards through the heart of mainland Southeast Asia from its source in the Himalayan Tibetan plateau through Yunnan Province of China, Myanmar/ Burma, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. Host to the world’s largest inland fishery and vital to agriculture, the Mekong River is a transboundary commons that is central to the livelihoods, local economies and culture of millions of people living within the basin.

Mainland Southeast Asia is rapidly industrializing, urbanizing, and undergoing a process of regional economic integration shaped predominantly by neoliberal economic policies. Economic growth is uneven, however, and large …

Mapping The Global Land Grab, Neide Vargas

South South Forum 南南論壇

2008年以后，在美联储、英格兰银行、欧洲央行宽松的货币政策的刺激下，国际金融资本在世界范围内的圈地运动愈演愈烈。目前，一些中心国家及边缘国家的农业公司、资本集团之间展开了圈地竞赛，目标主要集中在拉丁美洲、非洲，以及澳大利亚。在这一形势下，考虑到农产品的生产与需求的现状，农地，或者有潜力开发为农地的土地在未来会变得愈加稀缺。我们试图帮助理解这一趋势。

这一场圈地运动是由国际投资基金、主权财富基金、各国国有产业集团、农业企业等资本集团掀起的。各国政府在其中扮演了推动和刺激企业圈地的角色，为全球范围的圈地活动提供了平台。很多政府和多边机构为此提供了有利的政策。这里面的各种关联错综复杂，难以理清，投机交易与套利活动涉及很多国家和组织，编织成了一张全球性网络，并呈持续扩张态势。目前的土地交易，都是资本在追逐短期利润的投机动机下进行的，这将给上述相关地区带来很大的风险和不确定性，我们将用GRAIN的数据揭示当下这一圈地运动的特点。

转基因话语、利益结构与基因竞赛 = Transgenicdiscourse, Interest Structure And Gene Competition, Li Zhou

South South Forum 南南論壇

由于近些年生物技术的突飞猛进，世界各国已经展开了一场类似于核竞赛，又远比核竞赛更为隐秘和严重的基因竞赛，我们需要认识转基因竞赛甚至战争的性质，走出技术化的缺乏主体性的转基因话语讨论。转基因研发推广过程中，有七股力量已经联合，形成一个利益共同体，使得转基因大潮势不可挡：跨国粮商得利润、外国政府得战略、地方政府得政绩、中资公司得好处、科研院所得经费、国家部门得租金、种粮农民得闲暇。我们需要认识让生存逻辑和生命逻辑，服从于商业逻辑和政治逻辑的转基因利益结构，认识其可能导致人类生存危机等系统性风险，旗帜鲜明地反对转基因育种和产业化推广；退一步讲，即使进行转基因技术的研发，也要采用国家集中体制，以防止类似核扩散的基因技术不可控行为的发生，阻止一场在种子领域的殖民掠夺；同时重点发展和推广常规育种，强化农田水利建设，采用更为安全可行的措施，以阻止人类在转基因领域的自杀式竞争。

Since the rapid development of the biotechnology in recent years, the countries in the world have already started a new kind of competition—genetic competition, which is similar to nuclear arms race but far more secret and serious. We need to recognize the nature of the transgenic contest and genetic war, getting out from the subjectivity-absent technical discussion on transgenic technology. In the process of transgenic research and development(R&D), seven forces have already jointed and formed a “community of interests”, pushing the transgenic trends overwhelming: the international food dealers gain profits, foreign government wins strategy, local government achieves performance, Chinese-funded …

Structural Crisis, Speculative Attacks And Food Sovereignty, Pedro Paez

South South Forum 南南論壇

The present crisis is not only a financial one. It is a crisis of civilization. The convergence of long term contradictory processes in several levels (economic, demographic, ecological, etc.) has reduced capital’s margin of maneuvering with historical progressive projection, opening the room for very painful situations for large segments of Earth’s population.

The anti-fascist forces victory in the Second Word War triggered the constitution of a series of regimes of accumulation with significant endogenous dynamics of growth based upon re-distributive patterns at the domestic and the international levels that expressed the new balance of power. The pervasive destruction of local …

Feeding World’S Hungry-Food Security Or Food Sovereignty, Vinod Raina

South South Forum 南南論壇

The increased wealth creation by nations stands in contrast with the extent of hunger around the World. By hunger we simply mean the want or scarcity of food in a country. The Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) estimates that 925 million people in the World are hungry. Against a total World population of 6.8 billion, this means 1 out of every 7 in the World goes hungry. Most of them live in developing countries, and sixty-five percent of them live in only seven countries: China,India,Bangladesh, the Democratic Republic of Congo,Indonesia,PakistanandEthiopia(FAO, 2011). Furthermore, each year more people die due to hunger …

Economic Resilience : Including A Case Study Of The Global Transition Network, Julie Richardson

South South Forum 南南論壇

This paper explores the dynamic properties of organisms and ecosystems that make them so resilient and capable of adapting to changing circumstances, allowing them to maintain an overall condition of coherence, wholeness and health while living in balance within the resources of the planet. Key principles of resilient ecological systems are explored including: self-regulation; positive and negative feedback; diversity; scale and context; cooperation; emergence and novelty; and ecological tipping points. In contrast, market based economic systems can produce unstable growth with unintended destruction of cultural and species diversity and homogenisation of global life-styles. The paper re-examines fundamental economic principles using …

Alternatives In Times Of The Reinvention Of Capitalism, Pablo Solon

South South Forum 南南論壇

Crisis & reconfiguration

1. A new attack to the labor force
2. Privatization of public services and knowledge (the commons)
3. The expansion of financialisation
4. A new assault to Mother Earth: Natural capital
5. Intervention, criminalization and war

The Implosion Of The Contemporary Global Capitalist System = 当代资本主义体系的内爆, Samir Amin

South South Forum 南南論壇

Contemporary capitalism is a capitalism of generalized monopolies. By this I mean that monopolies are now no longer islands (albeit important) in a sea of other still relatively autonomous companies, but are an integrated system. Therefore, these monopolies now tightly control all the systems of production. Small and medium enterprises, and even the large corporations that are not strictly speaking oligopolies are locked in a network of control put in place by the monopolies. Their degree of autonomy has shrunk to the point that they are nothing more than subcontractors of the monopolies. This system of generalized monopolies is the …

主权外部性与币缘战略 : 关于发展陷阱的案例研究 = Sovereignty Externalities And Currency-Strategy Development Trap Case Studies, Tiejun Wen

South South Forum 南南論壇

本报告以全球化危机向发展中国家转嫁为据，提出两个论点。其一，大多数发展中国家因“成本转嫁”而沉落于发展主义陷阱的根本教训，在于其在向殖民主义宗主国争取国家“合法”独立的交易中，已经形成了失去资源和经济主权的负外部性。其二，当前金融资本时代强权政治控制的币缘战略不同于传统的产业资本时代的地缘战略，并且在以国家为单位的全球竞争框架中，客观地形成了金融主导国家币权为核心的“币权三角”；由此衍生出国家竞争的微笑曲线，乃是制造业国家承担金融化制度成本的内在机制。

这些理论创新，可以解释包括中国在内的一般发展中国家的困境成因。

本文把通过非暴力形式的政治谈判这种“交易”来形成发展中国家独立主权进程中与生俱来的制度性缺陷，称为“主权外部性”；把金融资本阶段凭借政治强权维护世界储备货币地位、并据此向能源和食物市场释放过剩流动性，借以把巨额债务转化为他国通胀危机的“巧实力”运作，称为“币缘战略”。

这两者都是发展中国家难以改出发展陷阱的主要原因，也是金融全球化阶段内在形成国家竞争的微笑曲线的前提条件。

Based on an understanding that the crises of core nations are being transferred to developing countries and thus globalized, two perspectives are highlighted here: first, the development trap most developing countries are caught in due to “cost transfer” by advanced countries can be attributed to the negative externalities of having lost part of their resources and economic sovereignty in the transaction with their former suzerains for gaining “legitimate” independence; second, the currency-strategy of political dominance by the super power in contemporary financial capitalism is different from traditional geo-strategy in the age of industrial capitalism. In the …

The Continuing Saga Of Globalism: Comparing Ethiopia’S Developmental State Strategies To Those Of Malaysia, Asayehgn Desta

Collected Faculty Scholarship

Using the conceptual framework of a developmental state, forwarded by the Economic Commission for Africa, it was found that Ethiopia’s democratic developmental state is unique and operates differently from the Malaysian developmental state model. Economically, Ethiopia has recorded staggering economic growth since it adopted the developmental state. The Malaysian developmental state was developed to be market-oriented and as a result Malaysia’s GDP grew at 5.23 percent from 2005-2011. Malaysia’s incidence of poverty declined from 49% in 1970 to less than 5% in 2000. Ethiopia has focused on a planned developmental state, without speeding the direction of industrialization, and has achieved …

Dynamic Poverty Decomposition Analysis: An Application To The Philippines, Tomoki Fujii

Research Collection School Of Economics

In this paper, we propose a new method of poverty decomposition. Our method remedies the shortcomings of existing methods and has some desirable properties such as time-reversion consistency and subperiod additivity. It integrates the existing methods of growth-redistribution decomposition and sector-based decomposition, because it allows us to decompose poverty change into growth and redistribution components for each group (e.g. regions or sectors) in the economy. We extend our method to have six components and provide an empirical application to the Philippines for the period 1985-2009.

Setting The Agenda: Asia And Latin America In The 21st Century, Ariel C. Armony

Center for Latin American Studies Publications

Latin America and Asia are among the world’s fastest growing regions. Trade between Asia and Latin American and Caribbean countries has risen dramatically in recent years. It is undeniable that Asia now plays a formidable role in the economic development of the region. This publication emerges out of the University of Miami’s 2012 “Asia and Latin America in the 21^st Century” conference, where leaders from academic, policy, business, and media communities from around the world convened to address the macroeconomic trends, trade relations, and sociopolitical trends that have emerged as the links between Asia and Latin America strengthen. Organized …

East Versus West: Chinese And American Development Efforts And Perceptions In Cameroon, Grace Perkins

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Every year, donor countries pour billions of dollars of foreign aid into developing recipient countries. Humanitarian and “win-win” rhetoric generally accompanies the grant, hospital, school, or sports stadium. To a realist international relations scholar, it is highly unlikely that powerful nations like the United States and China donate anything without political or economic strategic interests in mind. How do American and Chinese strategic interests affect the quality of development aid? This paper seeks to answer this question in the context of Cameroon, a Central African state rich in resources and young minds but whose growth is hampered by its colonial …

Growth And Inequality In Singapore, Kong Weng Ho

Research Collection School Of Economics

While the strategy of openness had earned Singapore rapid economic growth, upward social mobility, and possibly decreasing inequality in the early years of development, the more recent years saw increasing inequality and with it an underlying possibly diminished upward intergenerational mobility due to skill-biased growth processes, skill-biased parental influence, liberalization in the education industry, and structural changes in the society which hurt the human capital accumulation of children in families under economic and intra-household stresses. In particular, the paternal influence on educational aspiration and attainment is more pronounced than the mother’s. Non-Chinese and youths from disrupted families are worse off …

Securing South Africa's Future Grandmothers Against Poverty And Aids As A Model For Social Development Change, Savannah Lynn Eck

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

Focusing on the role of elder women in South Africa as a lens to understand the central connections among HIV/ AIDS, poverty and Human Security provides a distinct approach to analyze women's contributions to community development and social change. Drawing from the theories of Gender and Development and Human Security, this research aims to highlight HIV/ AIDS as a social and political security issue, while underscoring the vitality of the inclusion of women in the processes of peace building, reconciliation, education and social development. Furthermore, the influential role of elder women in South Africa will serve as a model in …

The Social And Economic Impact Of Mpesa On The Lives Of Women In The Fishing Industry On Lake Victoria, Danielle White

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This study will examine the social and economic impact of the mobile banking system, MPESA, in the lives of women in the fishing industry on Lake Victoria in Kenya. The study aims to discover what MPESA is being used for and how its use is affecting the lives of its female users. It will not only study the immediate impact on women, but also the impact on the interactions with their families and communities, as well as the fishing industry. The study aims to determine whether or not MPESA is beneficial to these women and if it is, how the …

A Comparative Analysis Of The Transitional Effect Of Democratic Regime Change On Human Rights Development, Alana Mcelhinney

Political Science Theses and Capstones

It has been a long-standing topic of discussion within the field of political science on the extent to which the establishment of democratic regime characteristics influences the development of human rights. While there is considerable research in the areas of democracy and human rights, what the literature lacks is research towards the growth of democratic regime characteristics being causal to the development of human rights practices. This analysis shows that a transition in democratic regime characteristics is directly linked to the development of human rights. After completing case-study analysis and developing causal theory I take data from the years 1981 …

Imf: Predatory Lender Or Latin America’S Best Chance?, Paul Thomas Smith

Political Science Theses and Capstones

Recently, there has been heated debate as to whether or not assistance from the International Monetary Fund has proven to be a great humanitarian effort or a scheme by Western governments to keep emerging Latin American countries in debt. The IMF partners with numerous governments in order to create a collective monetary community from which all may benefit in times of need. These partnered countries are also able to apply for assistance if they find themselves in monetary hardships. Some studies have shown that the IMF has been too heavy handed, while other studies have shown that recipient governments may …

An Institutional Perspective And The Role Of The State For Chinese Ofdi, Bing Ren, Hao Liang, Ying Zheng

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Napoleon called China a ‘sleeping dragon’, but recent economic developments as China enters the twenty-first century show that the dragon is awakening. China has maintained strong economic growth since 1979 and sustained a GDP increase of more than 9 percent over the years. The total volume of economic output increased from 2.8 percent in 1970 to 7.23 percent in 2008, ranking China as the third largest economy in the world (United Nation Statistics Division Statistical Databases). China launched its ‘Go Global’ policy in 1999 to encourage highperforming Chinese firms to invest abroad and upgrade their global competence. Since then, outward …

Microfinance Partnerships: A Bridge For Refugees, Megan Fielding

Master's Theses

My thesis examines the extension of microfinance to a refugee community; the objective focuses on economic assistance and a bridge to provide the required basic needs, as reported by the refugee population. With the global growth of refugees, the repositioning of refugees from either being cast aside as a potentially productive society or completely overlooked, is critical. Through my research in Ecuador, my thesis takes the viewpoint that refugees do, in fact, matter, and can become productive contributors to a society. The challenge that is presented in that viewpoint is: how do they become a part of a society?