Investment In Social Infrastructure Research Articles

Evaluation of Socioeconomic Dynamics and Their Impact on Life Expectancy in Coal Mining Communities in Colombia

The study evaluates the socioeconomic dynamics and their impact on life expectancy in coal mining communities in Colombia, aligning with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), assessing the relationship between production, occupation, accident rates, mortality and royalties. Univariate, bivariate, path analysis and ARIMA models were used to identify patterns and projections. The results show a positive constraint between coal production and royalties, which is negative with the occupation, accident, and mortality rates. Despite the revenues generated, no improvements in the quality of life of mining communities are observed; the poor use of royalties reflects a lack of effective strategies to convert mining revenues into sustainable enhancements for local communities. It highlights the rush for more effective public policies to ensure that economic benefits are aligned with improvements in communities’ health, safety and quality of life. In the future, greater alignment with the SDGs, particularly SDG 3 (Health and Well-being) and SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth), will depend on a sustainable approach that prioritises investment in social infrastructure and the equitable distribution of resources derived from mining, thereby addressing current disparities.

The Relationship between Income Inequality and Economic Growth

The relationship between income inequality and economic growth has long been a subject of intense academic debate, with varying perspectives emerging from different theoretical and empirical studies. This article delves into the complexities of this relationship, exploring how income inequality can both positively and negatively impact economic growth, depending on the context. Theoretical perspectives range from the classical Kuznets Curve, which posits that inequality initially increases with economic growth before eventually declining, to more contemporary views that highlight the risks of excessive inequality, particularly in developing economies. Empirical evidence from developed and developing countries further underscores the nuanced nature of this relationship. In developed economies, income inequality may sometimes promote growth by incentivizing investment and innovation, provided there are strong institutions to mitigate potential downsides. Conversely, in developing economies, high levels of inequality often inhibit growth by restricting access to education, healthcare, and other essential services, thus limiting human capital development. The study also emphasizes the critical role of institutions and policy interventions in shaping the relationship between income inequality and economic growth. Effective governance, progressive taxation, and investment in social infrastructure are highlighted as key strategies to balance growth with equity. The findings suggest that while some inequality might be necessary to spur economic progress, excessive inequality poses significant threats to long-term sustainable development. The article concludes by advocating for a balanced policy approach that promotes inclusive growth and ensures that the benefits of economic expansion are shared more broadly across society.

A Study on Problems of the Street Vendors in Lalbandi Municipality

Due to their lack of education and skills, street vendors are among the most vulnerable and impoverished groups in the urban informal labor market and business sector. They are also unable to obtain permanent positions in the lucrative formal sector. They constantly attempt to use their limited financial means to address the issues affecting their way of life. They serve as the primary distribution routes for a wide range of goods used on a daily basis, including fruits, vegetables, shoes, ready-made clothes, toys, household appliances, stationery, newspapers, and periodicals. A serious dilemma would arise for small-scale businesses that cannot afford to retail their products through pricey formal sector distribution networks, as well as fruit and vegetable growers, if they were to be removed from urban markets. So is found in the case of street vendors of Lalbandi Municipality. Thus, main purpose of conducting this study is to find out the problems faced by street vendors in Lalbandi Municipality. For this, descriptive research design is adopted to explore street vendors’ problems. Out of two hundred seventy-three street vendors of Lalbandi Municipality, thirty street vendors are chosen randomly. The street vendors who sell fruits, vegetables, prepared foods, and household appliances via local vehicles and permanent shelter are the subjects of the current study. The study showed that there is a noteworthy correlation between the issues encountered by the street vendors. The respondents’ general opinion of street sellers and the issues they encountered do not significantly correlate. In nutshell, the street vendors of Lalbandi Municipality have been facing various sorts of problems such as lack of security, price fluctuation, lack of sufficient amount, bribes to the authorities etc. and for that a comprehensive strategy that includes social protection measures, infrastructure and service investments, policy reforms, and initiatives to organize and empower street vendors is needed. Furthermore, the present study is useful to the stakeholders, policy makers and to those who have just started up their small-scale businesses.

“The Pearl of the Urals”: The Symbolic Capital, Social Infrastructure, and Development Prospects of Miass

Taking the city of Miass (Chelyabinsk region) as an example, this article examines the historical aspect of the formation of the symbolic capital of Russian secondtier industrial cities. The author demonstrates that the vision of the city in the twentieth century developed along with the growth of municipal infrastructure, which in turn followed the industrial growth of the city, resulting from a certain “historical luck” of Miass. This industrial growth was programmed by the arrival of the Trans-Siberian Railway, the “overflow” of heavy industry from the mountainous region of neighbouring Zlatoust and the evacuation during the Great Patriotic War. In the 1960s, Miass acquired the status of a ‘naukograd’ (scientific city), thanks to the emergence of a design bureau and a missile industrial complex. Since the end of the nineteenth century, one of the most important elements of the symbolic capital of Miass has been a stable representation of the specific beauty of the nearby mountainous region of the Urals and Lake Turgoyak. The growth of Miass during the Soviet era consolidated the discourse of the natural beauty of this “city in the Golden Valley”, and Lake Turgoyak acquired the reputation of the “Pearl of the Urals”, the importance of which was fully recognised after the environmental protection campaign of the 1970s and 1980s. The collapse of the Soviet planned economy and the transition to a post-industrial society led Miass along the path of inertial development, which contradicts the significant symbolic capital accumulated during the years of urban and industrial growth. The author concludes that the creative development of Miass is possible with the use of the accumulated symbolic capital along two lines, i. e. the rise of tourism or innovative development; however, both lines will require a shift from inertial development to novel and risky investments in social and communal infrastructure.

사회기반시설이 아파트 가격에 미치는 영향 연구 - 서울 서리풀 터널 사례를 중심으로

This study aimed to understand the impact of social infrastructure investment on apartment prices. Using a difference-in-differences(DID) regression analysis, we empirically analyzed the impact of the new establishment of infrastructure on apartment prices in Bangbae-dong, Seoul by the commencement and completion of the Seoripul Tunnel, examining the effects step-by-step and by distance from the street using buffer analysis. Our findings revealed that the influence on apartment prices varied depending on the commencement and completion stages. For the commencement phase, a significant increase in actual transaction prices was observed within 500m when comparing 6 to 9 months before and after the construction started. On the other hand, during the completion phase, no significant influence was observed at the exact time of completion. However, when considering three months before completion, statistically significant positive changes were observed in both the subsequent 9 months and within distances of both 500m and 1km. This research provides an empirical evidence of the actual fluctuations in apartment prices due to large-scale social infrastructure investments in the area. The effects of social infrastructure on housing prices can manifest differently across time and distance from it. Such complexities suggest that related policy responses require much more careful research.

The economic impact of general vs. targeted lockdowns: New insights from Italian municipalities

In response to COVID-19, most governments implemented either general or geographically targeted lockdowns. While the contractionary effects of general lockdowns have been well-documented, this paper is the first to contrast the economic impacts of the two approaches in a quasi-experimental setting. To this aim, we construct a high-frequency database combining unique information from mobile devices and administrative data across Italian municipalities. Using difference-in-differences approaches, our results confirm that general lockdowns considerably reduced mobility and employment, but we also find that localised measures only led to modest declines in mobility with minimal additional impact on employment. Focusing on the distributional consequences, we show that economic activity decreased less in wealthier communities with a higher capacity for telework. Moreover, short-time work schemes, serving as automatic stabilizers, predominantly benefited affluent areas. We conclude that an optimal policy mix involves targeted lockdown measures, complemented by adequate social policies and infrastructure investment.

Pandemic impacts and experiences after disaster in Australia: qualitative study of compound impacts following the Black Summer bushfires.

The first cases of the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia were recorded in January 2020, which was during the 'Black Summer' bushfires of 2019-20 and prior to additional disasters in some regions. Few studies have considered the compound impact of disasters and the pandemic. To improve understanding of the impact on mental health and well-being of the pandemic in disaster-affected communities. We conducted semi-structured interviews (n = 18) with community members and online focus groups (n = 31) with help providers from three regions of rural Australia affected by bushfires and the pandemic. Six themes were produced: (a) 'Pulling together, pulling apart', describing experiences after bushfires and prior to impacts of the pandemic; (b) 'Disruption of the 'normal response', encompassing changes to post-disaster recovery processes attributed to the pandemic; (c) 'Escalating tensions and division in the community', describing impacts on relationships; (d) 'Everywhere you turn you get a slap in the face', acknowledging impacts of bureaucratic 'red tape'; (e) 'There are layers of trauma', highlighting intersecting traumas and pre-existing vulnerabilities; and (f) 'Where does the help come from when we can't do it?', encompassing difficulties accessing services and impacts on the helping workforce. This study furthers our understanding of compound disasters and situates pandemic impacts in relation to processes of adjustment and recovery from bushfires. It highlights the need for long-term approaches to resilience and recovery, investment in social infrastructure, multi-component approaches to workforce issues, and strategies to increase mental health support and pathways across services.

Виклики сучасного розвитку людського капіталу сільських територій України в умовах економічних трансформацій

The article is concerned with systematization of factors that hinder the development of human capital in rural areas of Ukraine and are components of the mechanism of its destruction. The factors of destruction of human capital in rural areas are: low-quality school education; poor medical care; unsatisfactory level of development of social infrastructure; monopsony of agricultural enterprises in the rural labor market; low level of development of non-agricultural species; urbanization and the growth of rural unemployment. These factors cause such challenges as low labor productivity, high potential for unemployment and marginalization, excess of mortality over birth rate, migration, low incomes and depopulation of rural areas, which, in turn, lead to the destruction of human capital in rural areas. The development of human capital in rural areas of Ukraine largely depends on social infrastructure. The revival of the village is impossible without the priority development of its social sphere, which requires comprehensive institutional and material measures. Improving the quality of educational and medical services, as well as the development of socio-cultural facilities are critically important for stable economic development and improving the well-being of the population in rural areas. The problems of implementing the strategic task of reproduction and development of human capital in rural areas are caused by the low level of innovation and technological modernization in the agrarian sector, which negatively affects labor productivity. The existing link between the development of human capital and the socioeconomic progress of rural areas emphasizes the need to create conditions for the reproduction of human capital through the development of entrepreneurship, improving the quality of labor potential and social infrastructure. Effective human capital development in rural areas requires overcoming these challenges through an integrated approach that includes innovative solutions, investment in social and productive infrastructure, and increased entrepreneurship.

Світовий досвід державно-приватного партнерства для фінансування соціального житла

In the current socio-economic environment, the issue of providing vulnerable population with affordable and accessible housing has become acute, requiring the public authorities to invest heavily in this area. This problem is relevant not only for Ukraine, where many residential buildings were destroyed as a result of military aggression, but also in other European countries, as quarantine restrictions have caused significant damage to their economies. Another reason for the growing demand for social housing is urbanization, migration, and growing social inequality. The solution to this problem is complicated by the fact that the growing demand for social housing increases the necessary costs for territorial communities, which they cannot always fully cover with budget revenues. On the other hand, private investors need a return on their investments, so they cannot finance social housing projects on their own. As a result, the public-private partnership model has become one of the ways to finance social housing. The purpose of the article is to analyze various public-private partnership mechanisms to provide financing for the construction and allocation of social housing. Since 1980s, public private partnership (PPP) is gaining global popularity as a viable alternative to public funding for building and financing infrastructure projects. PPP is a means to effectively deliver projects in the public sector because it emerges against the backdrop of financial constraints and management capacity in the public sector to support largescale infrastructure projects. PPP not merely means a way to accomplish financial problems by bringing private capital, but it also aims to bring private sector efficiency and best practices in delivering infrastructure. Although, focus of the current debates is primarily on economic infrastructure, but investment on social infrastructure has received surprisingly little attention and it is predicted to continue growing. Governments have a central role in policies and regulations to provide a transparent and fair 'investment field', as well as providing payments to private parties. In investing, the private sector actually requires stability, predictability and a framework that supports their investment in social infrastructure. Meanwhile, the private sector has a role to provide expertise in building social infrastructure efficiently and has added value in innovation. It is recommended to implement a modified PPP model in Ukraine to include international public and private partners as financial donors to compensate for lack of the national budget resources at the moment.

Can wealth taxation fund public investment in a caring and sustainable economy? The case of the UK

Abstract This article develops a theoretical model integrating wealth concentration and taxation to the feminist post-Kaleckian models. We estimate the model econometrically using an instrumental variable-generalized method of moments approach for the UK. We find that an increase in the tax rate on wealth decreases wealth concentration, and has a strong positive impact on output, employment and the budget. An increase in the progressivity of income taxation by increasing the tax rate on profits and decreasing the tax rate on labour income also leads to similar results, but the effects are more modest compared to wealth taxation. Public social infrastructure investment has a high positive effect on output and productivity as well as employment and gender equality in wages and employment. Public physical infrastructure investment has also a substantial effect on output and employment, albeit creating fewer jobs for women compared to the case of social infrastructure, while productivity effects are more modest.

Sectoral investments to support key workers and enterprises

Investments in physical and social infrastructure in key sectors are necessary for improving working conditions and strengthening business continuity. Such investments lay the foundation for creating resilient economies and societies with the capacity to withstand, adapt to and transform in the face of shocks and crises. This chapter addresses the importance of investments in health and long‐term care, resilient food systems and enterprise resilience.

West German Cities and the End of Guest Worker Recruitment, 1973–1978

Abstract This article examines the response of West German cities to the end of guest worker recruitment in 1973 and to the federal government's implementation of its foreigner policy of “consolidation” in the mid-1970s. It argues that cities critiqued federal policies as failing to address the long-term impact of a permanent migrant population and called for a more comprehensive immigration policy that addressed such a population. Fearing potential social problems from a settled foreigner population, cities saw greater social infrastructure investments as essential for the integration of not just individual guest workers but entire foreigner families. By continuing to support the reunification of foreigner families after the end of guest worker recruitment, cities decoupled their assessment of a resident foreigner population from a purely labor market perspective and thought more broadly of the multifaceted impact and demands that the foreigner population made on their communities.

Seeing Streetscapes as Social Infrastructure: A Paradigmatic Case Study of Hornsbergs Strand, Stockholm

Urban streets are an integral part of the public realm. Streets are commonly planned following normative design principles focused on the connectivity of road networks and urban morphology. Beyond their function as mobility infrastructure, streetscapes’ aesthetic, social, and cultural qualities also have an important impact on the experience of the overall urban environment and human well-being. This study explores how urban design and planning can facilitate the design, management, and use of streetscapes that consider their role as social infrastructure. A paradigmatic case study of Hornsbergs Strand in the City of Stockholm is performed, incorporating spatial and temporal aspects. The case study area is chosen because it is both an attractive and “overcrowded” public space frequently discussed in the Swedish media. Data sources for the study include reviews of public documents such as Stockholm’s city planning strategies, local media reports, a report from a resident workgroup, as well as walk-through observations and semi-structured expert interviews. The results highlight the potential of urban design strategies to develop streetscapes as social infrastructure through both permanent design measures and temporary design interventions. The tendency of the change in people’s perception and attitude toward the place over time illustrates that design interventions are a continual process. The implications for public policy, urban development and investment in social infrastructure employing place strategies and design interventions are discussed.

Does public intervention in dealing with problems of mosquitoes/flies in India crowd out private initiatives?

ABSTRACT The spread of vector-borne diseases poses considerable public health challenges in India, such that both government and private households engage in initiatives to tackle the problem. This study utilises two nationally representative datasets (2018 and 2012) to determine if action undertaken by state/local government(s) in India in tackling the problems of mosquitoes/flies is associated with a crowding out of private efforts in addressing the problem; or instead is associated with greater private action. Study findings reveal that local/state government action is associated with an increase in household effort in dealing with the problem of mosquitoes/flies. Action by state/local governments in India may convey information to households which may alter their decision-making calculus regarding returns on investments triggering an increase in private effort complementing the public effort. Accordingly, simple government-sponsored advertising campaigns may not be efficacious in promulgating desired behavioural responses. This study finds that direct government action aimed at mitigating the transmission of vector-borne diseases, together with investment in education, social infrastructure and health system interaction may provide positive information signals to households thus enhancing private investment in health-related activity.

CURRENT PROBLEMS OF SOCIO-ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF RURAL AREAS OF UDMURTIA

The article shows the socio-economic development of rural areas of Udmurtia in recent years, with the allocation of territories of advanced development and lagging areas. The results of the sociological analysis of the factors shaping the standard of living of rural residents are presented, the main ones are highlighted. A new indicator of a comprehensive assessment of the level of social development of rural areas is proposed, its significance for rural areas of Udmurtia is calculated. The deepening of the differentiation of rural development depending on various factors, including social and industrial, is proved and the main reasons for this discrepancy are given. .Statistical materials show how factors of social and economic development of rural areas affect the level of migration of the population. The results of correlation and regression analysis of the main factors influencing the migration of rural residents are presented. The influence of the specifics and efficiency of industrial activity in rural areas on the standard of living of the population is shown. Based on the wage level indicator, the influence of modern technologies and digital transformation of agricultural production on the development of the territory is shown. The measures of state support for the development of backward rural areas focused on the development of social infrastructure and stimulating innovative investments in production activities are proposed.

A Macroeconomic Analysis of the Effects of Gender Inequality, Wages, and Public Social Infrastructure: The Case of the UK

The aim of this study is to develop a model to analyze the macroeconomic effects of two dimensions of inequality – gender inequality and functional income distribution – and public spending, in particular on social infrastructure, on output, productivity, and hours of employment of men and women. This study estimates the model econometrically using an IV-GMM estimator and time series data for the period of 1970–2016 for the UK. For the estimation of productivity, the article uses IV-GMM estimations based on panel data for eighteen industries for the period of 1970–2015. The study finds that output in the UK is both gender equality-led and wage-led, and hence generally equality-led. Public social infrastructure investment has a high positive effect on both output and employment. Despite a strong positive effect on productivity, the employment of both men and women increases in the medium run. HIGHLIGHTS Output in the UK is gender equality-led and wage-led; hence the UK is equality-led. An upward convergence in wages by closing gender pay gaps leads to higher output. Public social infrastructure spending has a positive effect on output and productivity. Public social infrastructure leads to higher employment for both men and women. A mix of labor market and fiscal policies can achieve both equality and employment.

Relative Contributions of Disaggregated Government Social Expenditure to Income Poverty Reduction in Nigeria

Poverty has been viewed severally as a phenomenon that constitutes a major menace threatening the whole fabric of the development process in developing economies worldwide. However, attempts made to reduce this menace have not produced any significant positive results in Nigeria. It is for this purpose that this study investigates the relative contributions of disaggregated government social expenditure to income poverty reduction in Nigeria. The study adopted an ex post facto research design using the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model technique to analyse time-series data for a period from 1981 to 2020. The results established a long-run relationship between government social recurrent expenditure capital transfer and social transfer. CT and GSEX were found to be inversely related to poverty reduction (dPOVR). On the other hand, however, ST was found to be positively related to dPOVR. The study, therefore, concluded that while CT and ST have potentials for poverty reduction in Nigeria, increased government on GESX will further increase poverty. The study, therefore, recommended that government should prioritise the investment in social infrastructure in the rural areas where most of the poor in Nigeria reside, and this should be complemented with sustainable improvement in the government’s social recurrent expenditures on education, health and sanitation. To also make ST more effective, we further recommended that government should put in place reliable programs of social transfer and revisit government policies on pension and gratuities.

Foreign Direct Investment and Human Development in Cameroon

The objective of this paper is to analyze the effect of net foreign direct investment revenues on human development in Cameroon through its Human Development Index (HDI). The data used are from secondary sources, ranging from 1995 to 2019, and are mainly from the 2018 World Development Indicator (WDI) and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). For this reason, we have carried out, through the estimation of an auto-regressive distributed lagged model (ARDL), tests of the stationary (Dickey-Fuller Augmented) and of the co-integration of (Johansen), on the variables defined before appreciating the Vector Error Correction Model (VECM). The results are at two levels. In the long term, there is a positive relationship between the two variables, which is simply justified by the fact that trade opening strengthens access to larger markets and thus contributes to the HDI. This situation offers wider consumer ranges and it could likely, therefore, help to attract more multilateral companies; in the short term, however, the relationship between the two variables is negative. This may be primarily due to the fact that export revenues are not used in the context of human capital enhancement, or that the HDI is influenced by spending on education. The government’s priority should be to maintain and diversify its investments in social infrastructure and to encourage investments in labor-intensive sectors that benefit the poorest, such as agriculture, social, and infrastructure.

Perceptions of Diseases of Despair by Members of Rural and Urban High-Prevalence Communities

<h3>Importance</h3> Diseases of despair (ie, mortality or morbidity from suicidality, drug abuse, and alcoholism) were first characterized as increasing in rural White working-class populations in midlife with low educational attainment and associated with long-term economic decline. Excess mortality now appears to be associated with working-class citizens across demographic and geographic boundaries, but no known qualitative studies have engaged residents of rural and urban locales with high prevalence of diseases of despair to learn their perspectives. <h3>Objective</h3> To explore perceptions about despair-related illness and potential intervention strategies among diverse community members residing in discrete rural and urban hotspots. <h3>Design, Setting, and Participants</h3> In this qualitative study, high-prevalence hotspots for diseases of despair were identified from health insurance claims data in Central Pennsylvania. Four focus groups were conducted with 60 community members in organizations and coalitions from 3 census block group hotspot clusters in the health system between September 2019 and January 2020. Focus groups explored awareness and beliefs about causation and potential intervention strategies. <h3>Main Outcomes and Measures</h3> A descriptive phenomenological approach was applied to thematic analysis, and a preliminary conceptual model was constructed to describe how various factors may be associated with perpetuating despair and with public health. <h3>Results</h3> In total, 60 adult community members participated in 4 focus groups (44 women, 16 men; 40 White non-Hispanic, 17 Black, and 3 Hispanic/Latino members). Three focus groups with 43 members were held in rural areas with high prevalence of diseases of despair, and 1 focus group with 17 members in a high-prevalence urban area. Four themes emerged with respect to awareness and believed causation of despair-related illness, and participants identified common associated factors, including financial distress, lack of critical infrastructure and social services, deteriorating sense of community, and family fragmentation. Intervention strategies focused around 2 themes: (1) building resilience to despair through better community and organizational coordination and peer support at the local level and (2) encouraging broader state investments in social services and infrastructure to mitigate despair-related illness. <h3>Conclusions and Relevance</h3> In this qualitative study, rural and urban community members identified common factors associated with diseases of despair, highlighting the association between long-term political and economic decline and public health and a need for both community- and state-level solutions to address despair. Health care systems participating in addressing community health needs may improve processes to screen for despair (eg, social history taking) and codesign primary, secondary, and tertiary interventions aimed at addressing factors associated with distress. Such actions have taken on greater urgency with the COVID-19 pandemic.

EXPLORING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SMART CITY, SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND INNOVATION AS A MODEL FOR URBAN ECONOMIC GROWTH

In this paper we focus on the concept of smart city, defined as cities where investments in human and social capital and infrastructure, along with ICT progress and innovation fuel the sustainable economy and stimulate growth in quality of life, with a focus on smart natural resource management. We envision smart city as a concept that highlights important aspects of sustainability, such as the need for responsible resource management, energy efficiency and citizen involvement. Given the current understanding of the smart city concept, it is unclear whether it has the necessary features to ensure sustainability. We believe that this aspect is due to the fact that smart cities are extremely complex and interdependent. Their study and analysis would therefore require an inter- and transdisciplinary approach that allows an adequate overview of this concept, to the convergence of several areas, such as urban development, technology, economics, engineering and social sciences, etc. We believe that this research will contribute to the already existing theories of smart cities and will help maximize the potential for this smart city concept to be a viable solution for sustainable development in our increasingly urbanized world, especially as the latest statistics confirm an upward trend in EU-level indicators on sustainable cities and communities. Moreover, the theory of smart growth is being discussed, but not as an antagonist alternative, but rather as an addition integrative to the concept of sustainable development of smart cities. In our opinion, smart city solutions would not be efficiently implemented and helpful to communities in absence of a vision for the smart and sustainable future.