Improvements In Economic Well-being Research Articles

The impact of an improvement in the quality and reliability of rural residential electricity supply on clean cooking fuel adoption: Evidence from six energy poor Indian states

We present the first evidence of the causal effect of the quality and reliability of residential electricity supply on clean cooking fuel adoption and use in rural areas of six energy poor Indian states using household-level panel data from 2015 and 2018. Quality and reliability of electricity are measured using the number of hours of electricity supply in a day, the number of days of low voltage and the number of complete power outage days experienced in a month. We used the village-level variation in the coverage of a nationwide government program, (i.e., the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY)), that aimed to improve the quality and reliability of rural residential electricity supply, as an instrument. Our results show a positive effect of an improvement in the quality and reliability of electricity on liquefied petroleum gas adoption and use; and disadoption of traditional cooking fuel. The effects were significant for both poor and non-poor, and lower-caste households’ transition to clean cooking fuel. We find that the improvements in economic wellbeing, adoption of time-saving technologies, information access, and energy-efficient technology adoption played important mediating roles. These findings, for the first time, reveal the complementary role of electricity quality and reliability improvement with the adoption of clean energy sources, and thus supporting the achievement of important developmental outcomes. The findings thus underscore the need to invest in seamless and reliable electricity as a pathway to achieve the target of universal access to clean cooking fuels by 2030.

Economic Well-being and Associated Mediating Pathways to Improved Antiretroviral Therapy Adherence Among Adolescents Living With HIV: A Prospective Cohort Study in South Africa.

Adolescents living with HIV exhibit lower levels of adherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART) than other age groups. Poverty is a key barrier to ART adherence. This study aims at understanding how alleviating poverty through structural and internal pathways can help increase ART adherence among adolescents. Eastern Cape province, South Africa. One thousand forty-six adolescents living with HIV were recruited from 53 public health care facilities and interviewed at 3 data collection waves with a retention rate of 89% and a mortality rate of 3%. Data were collected by face-to-face, device-assisted interviews. Hybrid probit regressions and a structural equation path analysis were used to estimate the association between poverty reduction (increased access to basic necessities) and the pathways by which it could improve ART adherence. Self-reported ART adherence ranged from an average of 66% (n = 615) at baseline to 75% (n = 700) in the last wave. Within-person and between-person improvements in economic well-being were associated with significant increases in adolescent ART adherence. On average, adolescents with access to 3 additional basic needs experienced a 4 percentage-point increase in the probability of ART adherence. Structural pathways to improved ART adherence included participants having enough money to travel to the clinic and sufficient food to eat when taking medication. Internal pathways included improved psychological well-being and reduced internalized HIV stigma. Poverty reduction programs such as HIV-sensitive social protection can address structural and psychological pathways to increase ART adherence among economically disadvantaged adolescents by incentivizing demand-side interventions and the provision of quality essential services.

Environmental aspect of energy transition and urbanization in the OPEC member states.

More than any other nations, the crude oil-exporting countries and especially the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) are likely to experience a more difficult energy-transitioning regime because of the economies' high dependence on crude oil revenue. By using the Pooled Mean Group (PMG) Autoregressive Distributed Lag Models (ARDL) approach, this study examines the impact of the energy transition albeit from conventional to clean energy on carbon emissions in 11 members of the OPEC. While engaging the aforementioned objective, the study further examined the validity of the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis amidst urbanization drive among the countries. The result from the long-run estimates shows that fossil fuel utilization exerts a positively significant on environmental degradation in the selected countries, while the observed negative impact of renewable energy utilization and urbanization on carbon dioxide emission (CO2) was insignificant in both the short and long run. The implication is that the current energy transition policy of the OPEC states is not sufficient at driving the states' environmental sustainability agenda. In addition, the EKC was not valid in the panel of the OPEC countries for the period of study, rather a U-shaped relation is established between income level and environmental degradation. Thus, this further posits that there is a setback in the push for environmental quality especially when there is an improvement in economic well-being through income growth in the OPEC states. Moreover, findings from the panel causality test show that there is no causality running from both fossil fuel and renewable energy consumption to the income level among the countries. On the contrary, a uni-directional causality was obtained from income level to renewable energy consumption, while urbanization strongly Granger causes fossil fuel use and CO2 emissions among the countries. As such, it is concluded that energy conservation policies can be implemented to reduce extreme dependence on fossil fuel use with little or no detrimental consequences, thus positioning the countries for economic prosperity in a sustainable environment.

Credit cards issued by non-financial companies: an alternative tool for financial inclusion and economic development?

ABSTRACT This study assesses the impacts of acquiring a credit card offered by a non-financial company in Colombia. The card, which is mainly targeted at low-income and unbanked individuals, can be used to fund home improvements and purchase home and personal goods in selected stores. We find that access to the credit card fostered financial inclusion and improved households’ standard of living and well-being. Beneficiaries were more likely to obtain financing through credit cards and increased their total debt and expenses in credit repayments while reducing the likelihood of borrowing from informal credit sources. However, we find no effect on accessing credit from the traditional financial sector. Acquiring the card also increased the likelihood of making key home improvements and purchasing certain expensive time-saving durables. Finally, the household’s saving capacity increased, which signals an improvement in economic well-being and shows that the debt repayment is manageable.

Relief from usury: Impact of a self-help group lending program in rural India

Provision of low-cost credit to the poor through self-help groups (SHGs) has been embraced as a key poverty-reduction strategy in developing countries, but evidence on the impact of this approach is thin. Using a randomized program rollout over 180 panchayats, we evaluate the impact of a government-led SHG initiative in the Indian state of Bihar. Two years after the start of the program, we find a dramatic increase in SHG membership, borrowing from SHGs, and a corresponding decline in the use of informal credit. Fewer informal lenders are operating in treatment villages, and those who do charge lower interest rates. While these credit market impacts could lead to substantial improvements in economic well-being over time, the short-run impact of the program on such outcomes is modest.

Analysis of economic convergence of Islamic justice in selected Islamic countries

Justice is the most important principle in Islam and measures the extent to which decisions in Islamic countries comply with Islamic doctrine. Economic justice is a sub-domain of justice and is further subdivided to distributive justice. Distributive justice implies that improvement in economic well-being of an individual occurs to the detriment of another’s. The present study investigates economic convergence of Islamic justice in selected Islamic countries (Albania, Bangladesh, Azerbaijan, Egypt, Guinea, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia, Maldives, Niger, Pakistan, Senegal, Tajikistan, Turkey, Yemen And Tunisia) during 1995–2015 using beta-type convergence and generalized method of moment. It is argued that growth rate of income distribution in communities that suffer from bad income distribution system will move in the long run towards fair distribution. Results of absolute beta convergence indicate convergence of Gini coefficient at rate of 0.31. The Gini coefficient is significant at 1%. Moreover, results of conditional beta convergence reveal convergence of Gini coefficient. Inflation rate and GDP positively affect this convergence.