Policy Prescriptions Research Articles

The Impact of FDI on Innovation in Developing Countries: The Mediating Role of Governance

While most studies in the existing literature focused on the direct relationship between FDI and innovation, this paper further analyzes whether governance in developing economies mediates this relationship. A 25-year cross-sectional time-series data from 1995 to 2019 were collected from the World Bank Development Indicators and the Worldwide Governance Indicators (2019) databases. This panel dataset was estimated using a system GMM. A novel finding emerged from the investigation: the positive impact of FDI on domestic innovation is mediated by two governance variables: voice and accountability and regulatory quality. This suggests that the impact of FDI on domestic innovation is strengthened when combined with the effects of mediating variables. The results imply that, in the absence of high governance quality, the traditional policy prescription—such as increasing government spending on R&D and education—may not be adequate to promote FDI's innovation spillovers. The findings suggest that governments in developing nations should work to improve the voice & accountability and regulatory quality indicators by ensuring that citizens take part in the decision-making to promote the flow of knowledge and information that fosters innovation. This will help to strengthen the influence of FDI on domestic innovations. In addition, the governments should foster an environment that is welcoming to foreign investment and implement the appropriate regulatory reforms, such as those that strengthen competition protection, property rights protection, and transparency in the operations of the organizations implementing policies.

Agency and the Arusha Declaration: Nyerere, NUTA, and Political Discourse in Tanzania, 1966–7

AbstractOpening its general meeting on 27 December 1966, the state-sponsored National Union of Tanganyika Workers, known as NUTA, proposed a combative response to a presidential commission's investigation into mismanagement in the union. The union's general secretary also issued an azimio (resolution) that prefigured much of the socialist rhetoric and policy prescriptions that appeared a month later in Tanzanian president Julius Nyerere's Azimio la Arusha (Arusha Declaration) that refined his policy of African Socialism or Ujamaa. Although the NUTA azimio circulated widely and was submitted to the Arusha party meeting, it was excluded from both the record of that meeting and NUTA's own file of related material. This elision happened before its main author, NUTA general secretary Michael Kamaliza, was convicted of treason two years later. The suppression of NUTA's azimio offers a point of entry to investigate the diffuse agency of political rhetoric and the history of Nyerere's influential speech.

Remittances, Exchange Rate and Exports in Nigeria: Investigating the Foreign Exchange Channel for Future Optimization

The study investigated the nexus among diaspora remittance inflows, foreign exchange, exchange rate and exports in Nigeria. The objective of this study therefore, was to examine the pass-through effect of remittance inflows to exports via the exchange rate in Nigeria, focusing on the foreign exchange channel. The study utilised the Structural Vector Autoregressive (SVAR) model which uses the contemporaneous effects, impulse response and the forecast variance error decomposition to measure the pass-through effects among macroeconomic variables. Annual time series data on remittance inflows to Nigeria, the supply of foreign exchange, exchange rate and the monetary value of exports of goods and services in Nigeria from 1986 to 2020 were used for the investigation. Findings revealed that diaspora remittance inflows have the potential effect of increasing foreign exchange, which in turn appreciates the exchange rate. Also, the study revealed that the exchange rate appreciation potentially erodes the competitiveness of the exports-oriented sectors in Nigeria. The paper explored policy prescriptions that may offset the negative effects of large inflows of remittance in the country for future optimisation. The innovation of this study stems from the use of the SVAR to systematically examined the pass-through effects of the diaspora remittance inflows to exports via exchange rate in Nigeria. Its uniqueness and novelty is the focus on the foreign exchange channel for future optimisation of remittances in the country.

Are Pay Equity Policies Justified?

This article identifies the lack of policy analysis as a major research gap in pay equity policies. Applying a policy analytic approach, the article applies comparative empirical evidence to the tasks of problem structuring and policy prescription as well as to three different evaluation methods: effectiveness, cost-effectiveness, and benefit-cost analysis. The results show that pay equity policies lack fundamental justification as public policies. Implications for research and policy revision follow.

Tough Lessons for UN Peacekeeping Operations

With the future of UN peacekeeping once again up for debate, it’s worth reflecting on the lessons of the past 30 years. UN operations in the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mali and elsewhere have had to contend with complex local and regional systems of power and governance that have major influences on missions’ prospects for success. In The Political Economy of Civil War and UN Peace Operations, Mats Berdal and Jake Sherman pull together an excellent set of essays that identify the signal lessons of UN peacekeeping in dealing with these systems, and offer a credible set of policy prescriptions. The book makes a compelling case for a better understanding of the political economy of conflict, and less expansive mission mandates that are attuned to the local context.

Bridging the regulatory gaps created by Smart and Connected technologies in South Africa

The prevalence of technology-embedded products, services, and cities, described colloquially as ‘smart’ technologies and ‘smart’ cities, has seen a spate of unprecedented growth in recent years. South Africa (SA) has not been left behind, with smartphones, smart watches, and smart voice-controlled virtual personal assistants such as Amazon’s Alexa now frequently used. But while these technologies hold great promise to revolutionise homes, offices and cities, their adoption poses challenges to individual and collective interests and wellbeing. After demonstrating the legal and ethical difficulties brought about by the introduction of these technologies, this article explores whether SA legislation is sufficiently robust to address these challenges. While the current legislative landscape addresses certain crucial difficulties – such as the safeguarding of personal data by the Protection of Personal Information Act No. 4 of 2013 (‘POPIA’) – it is suggested that the position regulating other aspects of smart technology adoption is, in large part, fragmented and ill-equipped to deal with some of the more pressing legal and ethical questions. Our contention is that, not dissimilar to the issues arising from artificial intelligence-based technological adoption, the extant legislative and regulatory frameworks do not go far enough in addressing the many concerns emerging from recent novel technological design, development, and deployment. Not only do smart technologies give rise to unique challenges, so does their deployment within the Global South and in South Africa, in particular. We suggest that appropriate and effective regulatory reform measures be undertaken in SA to provide better ethical guidance and policy prescriptions buttressed by rigorous regulatory oversight.

The nature of Lao security challenges

East Asia (including the sub regions of Northeast Asia and Southeast Asia) has been viewed as ranking among the most dangerous or conflictual regions on the planet, enduring colonial and Cold War legacies and several potential flashpoints. Regional international security governance has focused on nonintervention and conflict management, whereas domestic governance has focused on national security, development, and unity under tight central government control. Laos is a paradigmatic case of East Asian security policy prioritization. Its authoritarian government focuses, primarily, on traditional state-centric conceptualizations of security, and top-down, macroeconomic models and mega-projects to develop the country out of insecurity. This research project uses a qualitative approach consisting of literature review, document analysis, and limited interviews in the field. The conclusions are that, while by some measurements Lao governmental policymaking has been successful in achieving stated security objectives, in terms of nontraditional security (NTS) and human security considerations, these policies may not only be considered insufficient, but could also be counter-productive, storing up challenges for the future. Hence, the final section contains policy prescription for a more sustainable security situation in the Lao PDR.

A Sociological Reading of Statutory Social Work and Irish Corporate Governmentality: On the Death of Creativity

Abstract The corporate and neo-liberal governance of Irish social work, and a strangle-hold of legal-rational reasoning on the profession, has led statutory social work to be increasingly alienated from its traditional commitment to radical change in the pursuit of true social justice. Whilst this case has already been made, we set out to extend debates around an ‘epistemic schism’ in social work through a sociological critique of creativity. The demise of creativity arguably lies in the fettering of social work by corporate state entities, increasingly prescriptive governmental law and policy and a degree of deliberate deformation of social work through the health and social care regulator CORU. We argue that as the artistry of creative practice increasingly now comes under assault through proceduralisation, corporate governance and risk aversion, any remaining residuals of creativity also come to be repackaged and misappropriated in the form of ‘professional discretion’. What is at stake in the death of creativity is the death of anything surplus and exceptional to that which social workers are mandated to do. Moreover, we propose that without creativity, social workers can no longer fulfil the profession’s ideological goal of dismantling social injustice at a wider societal level.

Role Theory in Practice: US–Turkey Relations in Their Worst Decade

Abstract Academic and policy debates on alliances are yet to incorporate insights from foreign policy analysis (FPA) literature. Generally, bilateral relations between allies are either analyzed with insights from traditional IR theories (such as realism) or with policy-oriented work that does not engage any scholarly literature (focusing on only the day-to-day issues of international politics). I argue that FPA theories that make linkages between scholarly work and policy-oriented questions in an evidence-based and analytical fashion are capable of accounting for the most significant policy questions of modern international politics. This article analyzes US–Turkey relations in, arguably, their worst decade, with a role theoretic outlook. I claim that despite being close political and military allies since the 1940s, US–Turkey bilateral relations are witnessing their worst decade since the Arab uprisings in the MENA, due mostly to ideational factors that shape foreign policy. The conflictual relations originate from a change in US and Turkish foreign policy-makers’ role conceptualizations vis-à-vis their countries’ roles in the MENA region after the Arab uprisings and the role conflict this has caused with one another. Misaligned interests during the Arab uprisings, especially after 2014 in the Syrian civil war, have exacerbated the bilateral ties further. Drawing insights from elite interviews conducted in Turkey (2014–2016), Washington DC, and Ankara (2018–2020), I explain the sources of conflict in US–Turkey relations with a role theory perspective and offer policy prescriptions in conclusion.

Inequality, nominal rigidities, and aggregate demand

This paper studies the gains from wage flexibility in a New Keynesian model with price and wage rigidities and incomplete asset markets. When a fraction of households consume solely out of their labor income and have no access to financial markets, the real wage, and therefore, the relative nominal rigidities between wages and prices, directly determine the economy’s aggregate demand. We show that when wages are flexible relative to prices, economic downturns are accompanied by a pronounced decline in real wages, which depresses aggregate demand, and exacerbates the economy’s volatility. In this context, we conclude that enhancing wage flexibility when prices are highly rigid is an undesirable policy prescription.

Reclaiming the Narrative and Re-professionalising the Teacher: Responding to the Homogenous and Prescriptive Policy in ITE in England

The aim of the Department for Education's recent market review of England's initial teacher training (ITT) was ostensibly to enable the provision of consistently highquality training in line with the ITT core content framework (CCF). Its intention may possibly have been welcomed had it built on the judgments from Ofsted at the time, which concluded that every single teacher education partnership was already 'good' or better. However, this was not meant to be. The outcomes from the review led to a chorus of concerns voiced across the sector. A move to a single, potentially homogenous national approach to the ITT curriculum, its delivery and its assessment was considered detrimental and central dangers were cited, such as the loss of autonomy and the investment partner schools have in ITT. Nevertheless, these concerns fell on deaf ears, with all ITT providers being required to undergo formal reaccreditation despite their long track records of teacher training success. In this paper, we consider the prescriptive, homogenous nature of the ITT CCF to which providers must demonstrate fidelity in order to secure accreditation. We offer the University of Manchester's Secondary Postgraduate Certificate of Education with Qualified Teacher Status programme (PGCE with QTS) as a case study. The paper illustrates the capacity of an academic and professional teacher training programme to extend beyond providing the prescribed minimum entitlement and to develop trainee teachers as research informed, critically reflective practitioners.

Towards substantial self-reliance in vegetable oil - Policy prescription

In India, oilseeds have been in chronic short supply for well over two decades amid a demand surge for edible oil driven by rising incomes, demographic pressure, and low per capita availability. Land constraints, water stress, and climate change are sure to hurt Indian agriculture in general and oilseeds cultivation in particular, as these crops are grown predominantlyasrainfed crops. That makes comprehensive policyaction inevitable. In thisreview, recommendations and strategies to boost domestic oilseed production are discussed.

Keynes’s theories of the business cycle: evolution and contemporary relevance

Abstract This paper traces the evolution of John Maynard Keynes’s theory of the business cycle from his early writings in 1913 to his policy prescriptions for the control of fluctuations in the early 1940s. The paper identifies six different ‘theories’ of business fluctuations. With different theoretical frameworks in a 30-year span, the driver of fluctuations, namely cyclical changes in expectations about future returns, remained substantially the same. The banking system also played a pivotal role throughout the different versions, by financing and influencing the behaviour of return expectations. There are four major changes in the evolution of Keynes’s business cycle theories: (i) the saving–investment framework to understand changes in economic fluctuations; (ii) the capabilities of the banking system to moderate the business cycle; (iii) the effectiveness of monetary policy to fine tune the business cycle through the control of the short-term interest rate or credit conditions; and (iv) the role of a comprehensive fiscal policy and investment policy to attenuate fluctuations. Finally, we draw some conclusions about the present relevance of the policy mix Keynes promoted for ensuring macroeconomic stability.

Climate Communication and Indian Media: Challenges and Responses

Fast-depleting natural resources, global warming, and the consequent anthropogenic climatic change pose a severe threat to the very existence of life on our planet. Being a public concern, the problem for its solution, requires active public participation. It plays a crucial role by mobilising people against the rampant exploitation of nature. Past researchers have analysed the role of media in this direction. This paper takes a stride in this direction by engaging with Gateway Belief Model and scrutinising how communicating scientific consensus through media impacts the belief in climate change and produces support for action. It also discusses the challenges media face in its attempts to communicate nature to the public. By focussing on examples from the Indian media, this paper problematises the intersection between religious belief and scientific research to underpin the relationship between public perception and policy prescription regarding the climate change crisis.

Givers of Great Dinners Know Few Enemies: The Impact of Food Sufficiency and Food Sharing on Low-intensity Household Conflict in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo

Our study establishes a linkage between household food sufficiency and food sharing behaviour with the reduction of low-intensity, micro level conflict using primary data from 1763 households of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. We develop a theoretical explanation of such behaviour using the seminal theories of dissatisfaction originating from food insecurity and the reciprocity of gifts in economic anthropology. We first examine if food sufficient households are less likely to engage in low-intensity conflict. Following, we investigate possible heterogeneous effects of food sufficiency, conditional on food sharing behaviour. Using propensity score matching, we find that food sufficiency reduces household conflict risk by an average of around 10 percentage points. Upon conditioning on food sharing behaviour, we find that conflict risk in the subpopulation of food sufficient households is 13.8 percentage points lower for households that share their food while the effects disappear for households that do not share their food. Our results hold through a rigorous set of robustness checks including doubly robust estimator, placebo regression, matching quality tests and Rosenbaum bounds for hidden bias. We conclude that food sufficiency reduces low-intensity conflict for households only in the presence of food sharing behaviour and offer explanations and policy prescriptions.

THE SEASONAL NATURE OF CHILD LABOUR AND ITS FORBIDDEN UPSIDES

Child labour has often been seen as a completely negative phenomenon. However, it lies in the midst of the moral, social and economic grey area. Although no one can deny the former assertion, the latter puts things into perspective and forces us to look at the other end of the spectrum, especially in the Indian context. This paper tries to break this negative taboo and uncover a fresh perspective where seasonal child labour can be a cure to the long-standing downsides of child labour in general. While there are several existing legislations to combat these downsides, they fail to look at the seasonal absence of a child from his educational pursuits. The pre-existing laws merely propose a blanket ban on the idea of children being involved in work. These provisions work at a national scale, but keeping in mind India's vast diversity, they miss their aim when it comes to seasonal dropouts on the grassroots level. This paper further explores foreign regulations to put forth a fresh policy prescription to address all possible downsides, which may seem evident from the newly suggested model promulgated by the authors.

Impact of Escalating Heat Waves on Students’ Well-Being and Overall Health: A Survey of Primary School Teachers

Children in developing countries such as India will experience severe consequences of climate change. Primary school students, in particular, are the most vulnerable to extreme weather conditions, such as heat waves intensifying due to climate change. This will adversely impair their development, well-being, and learning outcomes. However, significant research gaps exist in understanding and mitigating children’s vulnerabilities. There is an urgent need for a deeper understanding of the impact of heat waves on children’s health and well-being in India. Further, the discussion on the state of heat safety in Indian primary schools is limited. This study addresses these gaps by surveying 335 primary school teachers in seven Indian cities. The data gathered from the field survey offers a better understanding of classroom experiences and challenges encountered by children and teachers during heat waves. It underscores several aspects of students’ vulnerability to heat exposure and its adverse impact on their health, such as absence from school, physical symptoms of heat distress, etc. Furthermore, it highlights the pressing need for classroom heat risk management in light of climate change and makes several policy prescriptions in primary schools.

Barriers of solar cooking and policy prescription towards its adoption in Tanzania: The case of Southern Unguja and Kilimanjaro regions

Solar cooking is a sustainable way of cooking and heating that use direct energy from the sun. Despite the introduction of solar cookers in Tanzania, various challenges have hindered the adoption of this technology. This study aims to explore the level of awareness of solar cooking technology among community members, and the main barriers confronting its usage, while exploring factors that can strengthen its adoption in Tanzania. The study is informed by semi-structured questionnaires, in-depth interviews, and a review of relevant documents. The collected quantitative data were subjected to descriptive statistics, while qualitative data were brought under thematic analysis. The study found a good level of understanding and awareness of solar cooking technology among researched communities. Nevertheless, higher prices, poor designs, limited access, weather dynamics were found among factors discouraging successful adoption. Moreover, solar cooking adoption is incentivized by the relief from costs of using of conventional fuels such as fuelwood. The study concludes that solar cooking technology bears a great potential of environmentally friendliness, long term cost saving with zero operational costs, and protects the health of the users from some harmful cooking fuels. This study recommends more efforts to promote the domestic use of solar cooking through education to individuals in the communities and policy interventions to increase its adoption rate in Tanzania.

Early post-Keynesian journeys from Cambridge into development: Bridges and boundaries

AbstractThis synthetic commentary offers a handful of observations. First, it highlights structural differences between the advanced market/capitalist economy that forms the theoretical scaffolding of Keynesian theory, as against the diverse range of structural and institutional configurations that characterise contemporary developing economies. Second, bearing these distinctions in mind, how far does the notion of “full employment” hold relevance in the context of developing economies? Third, the focus shifts to the central Keynesian policy prescription: reflating economic activity through injecting additional demand into the system, in extremis through pump-priming, digging and filling trenches – would this perform in a poor agrarian economy? Would the multiplier work and deliver in the realities of developing economies? Fourth, the central policy agenda in the South was that of launching industrialisation, leading to a sustained structural transformation of the economy – a la the Kaldorian industrialisation paradigm, which is scarcely visible in the (post-)Keynesianism template. Fifth, it queries the investment function and the role of state investment, and/or of “animal spirits” of capitalist entrepreneurs and agents, whether of domestic or foreign origins. Sixth, there is need to widen the focus, as well argued by Hans Singer, Amiya Bagchi and others, from Keynes-I of The General Theory, to Keynes-II of Bretton Woods, thereby substantially widening the interface with the agenda of development. Finally, there is the inevitable question concerning the nature and role of the state in the contrasting developed-vs-developing-economy, then-and-now scenarios. This discursive commentary is largely a Cambridge dialogue, not inappropriate in a tribute to Geoff Harcourt.

Musings on a Career in Applied Fisheries Economics Research

This paper chronicles my fisheries compliance and enforcement research during the past 40 years. My colleagues and I at the University of Rhode Island began researching fisheries law enforcement issues around 1980 because of the high degree of noncompliance in fisheries managed by the New England Fisheries Management Council. We collected data and demonstrated that the pure deterrence model does not explain fisheries compliance behavior well. This set us on a course to develop an enriched model of compliance behavior. The formal enriched model accounts for tangible and intangible motivations influencing individuals’ compliance decisions, resulting in better explanations of the evidence than the pure deterrence model. The model also provides practical and superior policy prescriptions. Although the enriched model is superior to the basic pure deterrence model, much research remains to be done on explaining compliance behavior and crafting more efficient and effective compliance and regulatory programs in fisheries.