Wealth Paradox Research Articles

Mineral wealth paradox: health challenges and environmental risks in African resource-rich areas

BackgroundAfrica is blessed with vast arable land and enriched with valuable natural resources encompassing both renewable (like water, forests, and fisheries) and non-renewable (such as minerals, coal, gas, and oil). Under the right conditions, a natural resource boom should serve as an important driver for growth, development, and the transition from cottage industry to factory output. However, despite its wealth, Africa is often associated with the notion of a resource curse. Negative outcomes are often linked with mineral wealth. This paper investigates the causes of adverse health outcomes in resource-rich regions. The study provides empirical support for the natural resource curse with particular emphasis on the environmental health risks in Africa. We explore the multifaceted connections among mineral deposits, environmental risks, conflict events and population dynamics, shedding light on the complexities of resource-rich areas.ResultsWe amalgamate georeferenced data pertaining to 22 specific mineral deposits with information on the prevalence of reliance on compromised infrastructures at a spatial resolution of 0.5∘×0.5∘\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$^{\\circ } \ imes 0.5^{\\circ }$$\\end{document} for all of Africa between 2000 and 2017. Through comprehensive econometric analysis of environmental health risk factors, including reliance on contaminated water sources, open defecation, unimproved sanitation, particulate matter concentration, and carbon concentration, we uncover the intricate pathways through which mineral deposits impact public health. Our findings revealed the significant role of in-migration in mediating environmental health risks. Moreover, we found that the activities of extractive companies amplify certain environmental risks including reliance on unimproved sanitation and practices and particulate matter concentration. Conflict events emerge as a key mediator across all environmental health risks, underlining the far-reaching consequences of instability and violence on both local communities and the environment.ConclusionThe study contributes to the discourse on sustainable development by unraveling the nuanced associations between mineral wealth and health challenges. By drawing attention to the intricate web of factors at play, we provide a foundation for targeted interventions that address the unique environmental and health challenges faced by mineral-rich communities.

Child labor and its determinants: An empirical test of the luxury axiom-cum the wealth paradox theory

Child labor and its determinants: An empirical test of the luxury axiom-cum the wealth paradox theory

Research on the practical significance and value pursuit of flow economy to promote the realization of common prosperity

After the reform and continuous development, China's economy has now reached a new historical stage of promoting common prosperity. Common prosperity is the essential requirement of socialism, and its realization must only be under the socialist system, and the capitalist system can not break away from the paradox of wealth and poverty. From the poverty formed under the development of traditional capitalist economy to the victory of poverty alleviation achieved by the socialist practice development in the new era, the new path of economic development brought by the flow economy is sorted out, and the significance and value of its development model for promoting the realization of common prosperity are further discussed.

Prosperous But Fearful of Falling: The Wealth Paradox, Collective Angst, and Opposition to Immigration.

Building on growing evidence that relative economic gratification may be associated with prejudice toward minorities, such as immigrants, the question remains when and why prosperity and wealth may enhance opposition to immigration. In a correlational study (Study 1, N = 498), we show that increased fear of falling in the future (individually or collectively) is associated with greater opposition to immigration. We then experimentally studied the effects of potential (Study 2, N = 294) and actual (Study 3, N = 166) downward mobility among the relatively wealthy, as well as of relatively stagnating wealthy in the context where an initially poorer group is quickly gaining wealth over time (Study 4, N = 151). We find that fear of falling among the wealthy is associated with more opposition to immigration, mediated by collective angst. We conclude that the anticipation that the economic future looks less rosy than the present evokes collective angst, which, in turn, fuels prejudice toward immigrants.

Kryzys gospodarczy w Wenezueli. Przyczyny i konsekwencje

Ropa naftowa jest najważniejszym surowcem energetycznym świata. Od lat 40. XX wieku gospodarka wenezuelska w coraz większym stopniu uzależniała się od produkcji i sprzedaży ropy na rynkach światowych - przychody z eksportu ropy naftowej osiągały poziom 50% PKB i ok. 96% przychodów z eksportu ogółem. W konsekwencji, gwałtowny spadek cen ropy w ostatnich latach doprowadził do poważnego kryzysu gospodarczego, który obecnie nosi znamiona kryzysu humanitarnego. Zasadna wydaje się teza, że obecny kryzys, w jakim znalazła się Wenezuela, w dużym stopniu jest zatem skutkiem oparcia gospodarki na monokulturze ropy naftowej, co w czasach dekoniunktury musiało znacząco odbić na funkcjonowaniu całej gospodarki. Wenezuela byłaby więc modelowym przykładem gospodarki podlegającej tzw. „klątwie surowcowej” (ang. resource curse) lub też „paradoksowi bogactwa” (ang. paradox of plenty). Celem artykułu jest przedstawienie sytuacji gospodarczej Wenezueli, źródeł kryzysu, przebiegu oraz perspektyw wyjścia z kryzysu.

Effect of cropland and livestock ownership on child labour in eastern Ethiopia: empirical examination of the Wealth Paradox

The study examined the relationship between child labour participation and household wealth (in terms of livestock and cropland) considering representative sample smallholders from four (Kurfa Chelie, Kersa, Fedis, and Melka Bello) districts in eastern Hararghe Zone of Oromia regional state of Ethiopia. The descriptive statics showed that average family size was 5.45 individuals per household, which was larger than the national average (4.9) in 2016. In the study area, children with age interval of 4–14 years, that were the subject matter of this study, constituted 43.3% of the total population. Around 23% of sampled households spent less than 2471.22 Birr per annum per adult equivalent for home consumption, which is an amount based on the inflation adjusted poverty line. Households in Fedis district experienced the worst poverty head count score, wherein 44% of them could not satisfy the minimum living standard requirement. Double-hurdle model result revealed that livestock and cropland holding of smallholders significantly affect child labour participation in domestic work. This finding implies that household’s asset ownership (possession of larger livestock and cropland) would not initiate children to budget more time for their education. The model result also showed that household head’s education level significantly reduced children’s domestic labour participation in the study area. Thus, this research recommended that there should be improvement in households’ education and awareness level in the study area to improve child school enrolment. Finally, it is easy to say that the Wealth Paradox about child labour holds true for smallholders in eastern Ethiopia.

The wealth paradox: Prosperity and opposition to immigration

AbstractThe idea that economic downturns and economic deprivation provoke tensions and intergroup hostility is remarkably pervasive. These accounts often work from the premise that economic crises and poverty provide “fertile soil” for populist parties and leaders with an anti‐immigrant agenda. This may explain why we intuitively expect that “hard times” produce “harsh attitudes” towards minorities. However, there is also robust empirical evidence showing that intergroup hostility (and anti‐immigration sentiments more specifically) can (i) surge in times of economic prosperity, and (ii) be widespread among relatively affluent groups. In this article, I will review evidence showing that intergroup hostility (such as anti‐immigrant sentiments) can be equally prevalent in times of relative gratification as well as in times of relative deprivation (accounting for the “Wealth Paradox”). In the second part of this contribution, I will explore these processes through the lens of classic social identity theorising focusing on the way that status anxiety, status threat, and fear of falling among members of wealthier groups are shaped by the permeability of group boundaries and the security of wealth positions. I argue that social identity theorising, typically applied to explain the behaviour of low status groups, can provide a parsimonious and integrative account for why and when high status (i.e., as a result of affluence and prosperity) may be associated with hostility towards minorities rather than with greater tolerance.

Oil wealth paradox and its implication for sustainable development in Angola and Nigeria

Oil wealth paradox and its implication for sustainable development in Angola and Nigeria

Land, Child Labor, and Schooling: Longitudinal Evidence from Colombia and Mexico

Several studies find that child labor incidence is higher in households with larger land holdings. The existence of this “wealth paradox” has been explained as the consequence of simultaneous imperfections in the land and labor markets. This work shows that although rural households in Colombia and Mexico seem to exhibit this same positive relationship between land and child labor, the wealth paradox disappears when individuals are evaluated using longitudinal data. A possible explanation for this is that the omission of idiosyncratic household preferences regarding schooling, child labor and land holdings in cross-sectional estimates leads to an overestimation of the effect land has on these outcomes.

The Wealth Paradox for Whom? Child Labor and the Identification of Households Excluded from the Land and the Labor Markets in Madagascar

The paper aims at identifying households who have their children work more because their access is constrained on the land and the labor markets. Data from the 2005 Enquete aupres des Menages (EPM) collected in Madagascar provide information on the amount of hours worked by each household member along with measures for market imperfections. A simple theoretical model highlights that land should not influence the number of hours of child work when the household can fully access the land or the labor markets. When the access is limited in both markets, land may impact the amount of child work whereas the external wage should not. Using a switching regression model with unknown sample separation to classify households in the two regimes (constrained or not), this paper shows that not belonging to the largest ethnic group at the local level significantly decreases access to the market. The same result holds for religion, thereby highlighting the importance of the informal market.

Child labor and the wealth paradox: The role of altruistic parents

Abstract Using data from Pakistan, we study the effect of family wealth on the utilization of child labor. We find evidence of a positive relationship between land wealth and child labor only for children in the upper quantiles of the distribution. We hypothesize that the so-called “wealth paradox” in child labor is driven by parental preferences.

The Paradox of Wealth

A recent FAJ article by Laurence Siegel painted a sunny picture of the world’s economic and environmental future. Although the author agrees with Siegel’s analysis, his optimism does not extend to security returns; both theory and long-run empirical data support the notion that economic growth lowers security returns by reducing impatience for consumption and altering the supply–demand dynamics of capital—the price of living in an increasingly prosperous, safe, healthy, and intellectually gratifying world.

English

  This study investigated whether the child labour prevailing in the rice-growing areas of Cambodia where wealth is measure in terms of cattle, can be explain by the poverty hypothesis and wealth paradox. In order to test if these hypotheses hold in all contexts, this study presented some evidences from rural Cambodia and used a Tobit model to investigate the impact of assets such as land and cattle on child labour. While field evidence showed no significant relationship between child labour and farmland size or income, this study found an inverse U-shaped relationship between the number of cattle owned by farmers and child labour hours. These findings suggest that the poverty hypothesis and the wealth paradox do not support the evidence on child labour supply in rural Cambodia.   Key words: Child labour, poverty hypothesis, wealth paradox, inverse U-shaped relationship, Cambodia.

Paradox of Oil Wealth in the Niger-Delta Region of Nigeria: How Sustainable is it for National Development?

This paper draws attention to the paradox of oil wealth in the Niger Delta. It is noted that the area produces the largest proportion of the Nation’s foreign exchange; there is no much of the transformational effects generated by the oil in these areas. The region has been saddled with environmental pollution originating from seismic surveys, canalization, poor waste disposal, oil spillage and gas flaring, with serious damage to aquatic life, agriculture and human health. The resultant effect is extreme poverty without the provision of basic infrastructure. The paper concludes that host communities should be seen as co-partners with government as in the production of oil and proceeds from it so as to create a conducive and enabling environment. The government is also encouraged to alter the unfair measure allocation formula to favor the oil producing states. Through this, rural urban poverty will be alleviated if basic human rights to life, liberty and property are guaranteed.

Does Land Lease Reduce the Effect of “Wealth Paradox” for Child Labor?: Evidence from Time Use Data in Rural Cambodia

Does Land Lease Reduce the Effect of “Wealth Paradox” for Child Labor?: Evidence from Time Use Data in Rural Cambodia

Rethinking Militancy and Environmental Justice: The Politics of Oil and Violence in Nigerian Popular Music

The Niger Delta question is not just the most controversial issue in postcolonial Nigeria: it has launched Nigeria into global news circuits. The delta itself, the most marginalized geopolitical zone in Nigeria, gives vibrant expression to the paradox of wealth and poverty tied to a single space. With the establishment of the amnesty policy, most mainstream media seem to have forgotten that the cardinal aim of the policy is to create a platform to ease infrastructural development in the Niger Delta and thereby to articulate the importance of ecological and human justice. What fascinates the media is the idea of militancy itself, not the postamnesty assurance of a new world for the doubly marginalized delta people. This essay examines how popular music has become the new site for political activism, especially in engaging the society and government on pressing postcolonial issues in Nigeria, specifically the Niger Delta question and the functionality of the amnesty package. The essay examines how these popular artists articulate the predicament of the delta in their songs, considering that popular music is hardly discussed among cultural art forms that give expression to the Niger Delta question. Popular music offers the Nigerian public an alternative to the hegemonic position.

The Paradox of Wealth: Capitalism and Ecological Destruction

Today orthodox economics is reputedly being harnessed to an entirely new end: saving the planet from the ecological destruction wrought by capitalist expansion. It promises to accomplish this through the further expansion of capitalism itself, cleared of its excesses and excrescences. A growing army of self-styled "sustainable developers" argues that there is no contradiction between the unlimited accumulation of capital — the credo of economic liberalism from Adam Smith to the present — and the preservation of the earth. The system can continue to expand by creating a new "sustainable capitalism," bringing the efficiency of the market to bear on nature and its reproduction. In reality, these visions amount to little more than a renewed strategy for profiting on planetary destruction.This article can also be found at the Monthly Review website, where most recent articles are published in full.Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the Monthly Review website.

Poverty and child farm labour in Africa: Wealth paradox or bad orthodox

The link between poverty and child labor has traditionally been regarded as well established but recent researches have questioned its validity, suggesting that child labor is more important in the richest households (wealth paradox). The present study revisits the link between poverty and farm child labor in Africa and aims at testing the paradoxical wealth effect. Using different modeling techniques, the analysis focuses on family-controlled child labor taking place in the cocoa sector of Cote d’Ivoire. The results reveal that the effect of different commonly used wealth proxies have opposite effects on child labor participation and are sometimes sensitive to the modeling technique. This mixed result is the root of the apparent wealth paradox found in the literature. However, relevant and robust wealth proxies clearly indicate a positive relationship between poverty and child labor. The study therefore sustains that the apparent wealth paradox found in the literature is the end result of a bad orthodoxy.

The African Aids Epidemic: A History (review)

Reviewed by Julie Livingston Rutgers University John Iliffe. The African AIDS Epidemic: A History. Athens: Ohio University Press, 2006. ix + 214 pp. Ill. $55.00 (cloth, ISBN-10: 0-85255-891-0; ISBN-13: 978-085255-891-1); $24.95 (paperbound, ISBN-10: 0-85255-890-2; ISBN-13: 978-085255-890-4). Few topics in the history of medicine capture the interest of students and the public at large as thoroughly as the AIDS epidemic in Africa, and yet, given the sheer scale and dynamism of the epidemic, few are as complex and as hard to explain. With this book, John Iliffe—one of the most important senior historians of Africa—has given us the best, if most daunting, synthesis written to date on this history. The genius of the book lies in its structure. Iliffe tells the history of HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan [End Page 905] Africa in three registers: first, tracing the virus itself, including its multiple mutations and multidirectional spread; then, the political responses on local, national, and international scales; followed by, and interwoven with, the social dynamics of infection, care, and community. This framework enables him to range across all the regions of sub-Saharan Africa, highlighting their myriad internal differences and unifying factors, while developing a larger narrative. Iliffe's approach helps to navigate through a number of complex questions that in my experience—as someone who regularly teaches a course on the AIDS pandemic—students find particularly challenging. First, the triple combination of biological, social, and political-economic histories is necessary to understand why, in global terms, Africa has borne the tremendous brunt of the epidemic to date. Second, his comprehensive approach helps to explain the paradox of poverty, wealth, and AIDS (though a sharper explication of the gender dynamics of poverty would have strengthened the case). Students (like some researchers and policy makers) who easily grasp the relationship between poverty and vulnerability to HIV/AIDS, are often puzzled as to why some of the wealthiest nations on the continent, like Botswana, have experienced the highest rates of infection. Iliffe helps the reader to understand that wealth enables some men to enter into commodified or transactional sex, even as poverty necessitates that others (women and men) do likewise. In countries where wealth and poverty exist side by side, this has proven a toxic combination indeed. The book also includes a good chapter on the role of NGOs, analyzing their unique and crucial role in the wake of structural adjustment, while revealing their tremendous unevenness of quality and efficacy. They emerge in the text as key players on the continent, but far from the universal salve or grassroots solution that many would have them be. This concise, thoughtful, and lucid text refuses to sacrifice complexity for an overly neat narrative. But this does mean that it is very dense, weighty with details, facts, and snippets of case material. Those teaching or researching in the history of AIDS, epidemics, or African medicine and public health should buy the book for its remarkable citation base alone: the notes are very good and will be of great use to readers who are trying to locate a range of primary source material to use in their teaching about the epidemic, or to develop their own knowledge of a particular theme or phenomenon. On the other hand, the book presumes at least a basic knowledge of Africa and its history, something that many readers (especially undergraduate students) will be lacking, so it must be taught with skill, accompanied by lectures and a few key articles that flesh out the human dimensions of the story. While heavy with detail, the text is also short on the kind of synthetic paragraphs that frame the key issues, theses, and subthemes for each chapter; they are there, to be sure, but they are brief. Many students will need help in gleaning the major points here, and some will no doubt get lost in the...

Book ReviewsDaniel Little, . The Paradox of Wealth and Poverty: Mapping the Ethical Dilemmas of Global Development.Boulder, CO: Westview, 2003. Pp. 283. $85.00 (cloth); $29.00 (paper).

Previous articleNext article No AccessBook Reviews Daniel Little, . The Paradox of Wealth and Poverty: Mapping the Ethical Dilemmas of Global Development.Boulder, CO: Westview, 2003. Pp. 283. $85.00 (cloth); $29.00 (paper).Ruth J. SampleRuth J. SampleUniversity of New Hampshire Search for more articles by this author University of New HampshirePDFPDF PLUSFull Text Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Ethics Volume 116, Number 1October 2005Symposium on Disability Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/454381 Views: 22Total views on this site Permission to reprint a book review printed in this section may be obtained only from the author.PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.