World Bank Structural Adjustment Research Articles

World Bank lending and deforestation: A cross-national analysis

The article presents a cross-national analysis that tests hypotheses drawn from dependency theory that poor nations undergoing World Bank investment and structural adjustment loans tend to have higher rates of deforestation than poor nations not undergoing these types of loans. In doing so, the article analyzes cross-national data for a sample of 61 nations from 1990 to 2005. The study finds substantial support for the dependency theory hypothesis. It also finds that a number of other factors help to explain deforestation. These include non-governmental organizations, democracy, agricultural and forestry-based economic activity, population growth, data quality and tropical climate. The article concludes with a discussion of the findings, methodological implications, policy suggestions and possible directions for future research.

The International Monetary Fund, World Bank, and structural adjustment: A cross-national analysis of forest loss

We test competing hypotheses drawn from neo-liberal economic theory and dependency theory regarding the effects of International Monetary Fund and World Bank structural adjustment on deforestation. In doing so, we analyze cross-national data for a sample of sixty low and middle income nations from 1990 to 2005. We find substantial support for dependency theory that both International Monetary Fund and World Bank structural adjustment lending are associated with higher rates of forest loss. We also find that a number of factors linked to other theoretical perspectives help to explain deforestation. These include non-governmental organizations, gross domestic product per capita, economic growth, primary sector economic activity, democracy, total population growth, non-dependent population growth, rural population growth, urban population growth, tropical climate, and natural forest stocks. We conclude with a discussion of the findings, theoretical implications, methodological implications, policy implications, and possible directions for future research.

World Bank agricultural policies, poverty and income inequality in Sub-Saharan Africa

The original logic underlying the World Bank's structural adjustment policies in Africa was that the removal of state-created distortions would not only improve efficiency in the operation of markets but also enhance income equality and reduce poverty. The paper explores the linkage between adjustment and the deteriorating income distribution and rising poverty in sub-Saharan Africa with a focus on the rural sector where most of the population earns its livelihoods. The pattern observed is a logical outcome of the strategies embedded in World Bank policies that need to change if we are to counter the persistence of inequality and poverty on the continent. The paper outlines an alternative approach aimed at increasing rural incomes to reduce poverty and inequality.

Uganda: a renewal campaign

ICTURINACTION□ UGANDA PROJECT Uganda: a renewal campaign PeterBarnacle,a visitinglecturer at Makarere University in Uganda, has used his timeinthe country to help ICTURand three Canadian unions supportan innovativetrade unionproject PETER BARNACLE isa Canadian lawyer and is Coordinator of ICTUR's Uganda project The is comprised the National principal of Union 169,000 labour ofTrade federation members Unions in in (NOTU) Uganda twenty is theprincipal labourfederation inUganda comprisedof 169,000membersin twenty tradeunionaffiliates. NOTUis thelabourcentral recognised bytheinternational labourcommunity and a member of the ICTU and the Organisationof AfricanTrade Union Unity (OATUU). NOTU affiliates are membersof ten GlobalUnionFederations. NOTU and its affiliates have gone through someverydifficult times, notsimply because of thecivilinstability thatcharacterised thecountry from independence in 1962through to 1986,the datethecurrent government tookpower, butalso as a resultof the implementation of IMF and World BankStructural Adjustment Programmes in the1990s.Privatisation ofstateenterprises was a particular sourceofjob lossas newprivate owners shed theirworkforce or asset-stripped the enterprise and disappeared- sometimeseven withoutpayingthe Government the purchase price.Budgetpressures also led to loss ofgovernment jobs. As a result, manyworkers were forced intotheinformal economyand stilltoday nearly 60 percent ofallworkers areintheinformaleconomy . Thelossofmembership hampered tradeunionactivity. However,in recentyearsprogresson labour issueshas indeedbeenmade.UndertheUganda Constitution, labour is considereda disadvantaged groupentitled to dedicatedseats in the National Parliament. FivelabourMP'sareelected and fourof theseare affiliated withNOTU. In 2006, Parliament completedratification of the eight ILO conventions underlying theDeclaration of Fundamental Principles and Rightsat Work (1998). Subsequently, new laws were passed to incorporate theseinternational commitments into domestic law. In 2007and 2008,I metwithNOTUofficials in Kampalato discussa potential partnership with ICTURto help NOTU develop capacityto supportitsaffiliates in a renewedrecruitment and organisation campaign. NOTUhasreceived international support fora number ofyearsfrom the Norwegian tradeunionfederation, LO-Norway, as wellas ITUC,ILO and otheragenciessuchas DANIDA.However,the conceptwe developed was nottoduplicate existing work, buttoengage ina project tohelpNOTUleaditsaffiliates inthis renewal campaign for trade union rightsin Uganda. We subsequently agreedto engage in a twophase projectfor which the contribution of ICTURwould be to provideinternational sponsorshipand exposureas well as administer project fundsotherwise raisedin the international labourcommunity. The first phase consistedof six initiatives to providethesupportforNOTU and affiliates forthesecondor campaignphase oftheProject. I ampleasedtoreport that through theassistance ofCanadiantradeunions,we are now intheprocessofwrapping up theactivities inthisinitial phase: ■ The Project financed theinstallation ofwirelessinternet attheNOTUoffices inKampala, as wellas committing topayment ofthequarterly service charges forthenextthree years. With thefinancial support provided from CanadabytheNational UnionofPublicand GeneralEmployees' (NUPGE),theold dial-up is goneandthenew internet service was put inplace inApril2009.Thishas significantly improved NOTU'scommunication and research capabilities. Wesubsequently wereable tosecurefunding formostoftheremaining first phaseinitiativesthrough thecontributions oftwo Canadiantradeunionfunds: theGlobal Justice fundoftheCanadianUnionofPublic Employees (CUPE) and theSocialJustice FundoftheCanadianAutoWorkers (CAW). I As a result, theProject financed thepreparationoffour research paperson significant labourissuesthat werepresented directly to His Excellency, President Museveni, bythe NOTUSecretariat ina meeting inOctober 2009.Thesecarefully researched paperscoveredtopicssuchas theneedforan employmentpolicytobreakthecycleofpoverty , a statutory minimum wage and socialsecurity improvements. The President has now requested a further meeting todiscussthe papers,butinthemeantime we understand thatan employment policyis nowbeingconsideredatcabinetlevelandthegovernment is actively considering theimplementation ofa minimum wage. II In November 2009,theProject funded a fourdayconference atwhichtheNOTUaffiliates participated ina strategic planning exercise. A consultant wasretained tofacilitate and assist inthedevelopment oftheresulting strategic plans,a processthatcontinues tothepresent. Wepresently havesixaffiliates inthethird andfinal completion stage,withsevenothers atseconddraft. In theupcoming second phaseoftheProject, we plantoassistindividual affiliates to canvasstheinternational labourcommunity through ICTUR'scommunicationsnetwork inorderto helpthemfind partnerships withother organisations that will assistintheimplementation ofthosestrategic plans. INTERNATIONAL union rights Page 20Volume 17Issue 1201 0 ICTURINACTIONH UGANDA PROJECT ■ Theremaining initiatives inthefirst phaseof theProject arealso nowbeingcompleted: funding forin-house research tosupport government lobbying and affiliate collective bargaining ; thedevelopment ofa NOTUwebsite; andinstallation ofa back-upsourceofpower atNOTU'soffices that willhelpNOTUcontinue tofunction inthemidst oftherather frequentpowerinterruptions thatoccurin Kampala. Recently, I metwiththeNOTU Secretariat and Central Governing Councilto takestockof our project to dateand discussthenextphase.As a result, one ofournextefforts willnow be makingthecallfor partnerships forthoseNOTUaffiliateswhowillhavecompleted thestrategic planning process.We are hopefulthatindividual tradeunionswillbe preparedto workwiththe NOTUtrade unionaffiliates who aredemonstrating theircommitment to improvethe lives of workers andtheir families inUganda. NOTU and its affiliates are now conducting aggressive organising campaigns andearly results are positive.For example,theHorticulture and Allied WorkersUnion has now negotiateda recognitionagreementwith the majorityof employers in theflower industry and is now in theprocessofnegotiating a collective bargaining agreementwith the employers' association. Progress has also recently been madeinorganisingin thehotelindustry and mediasector. The government seems to be interested in hearing whatNOTUhastosayon labourandsocialmattersand NOTUhas been invited toparticipate in a tripartite processwithgovernment andemployergroupson specific issues.Lobbying efforts...

Macroeconomic Policies for Structural Adjustment Programs

Abstract: This paper aims to explore the macroeconomic policies of IMF and World Bank structural adjustment programs. This paper also provides at first a simple analysis of the main reasons of LDC economic disequilibrium. Then it reviews the main components of the structural adjustment program which include several macroeconomic policies promoted to market-oriented reform in policies and institutions, with the goals of restoring a sustainable balance of payments, reducing Inflation, restore the viability of the current account and the budget and stimulate growth.

IFIs: Undermining Human Rights and State Stability

Human Rights and Structural Adjustment will likely be one of the most important works on the critical policy juncture of human rights and development. Abouharb and Cingranelli's rigorous, comprehensive analysis of the effects of World Bank and IMF structural adjustment agreements skillfully blends qualitative and quantitative methods to persuasively demonstrate the harmful effect of these agreements on a broad range of human rights. The book draws upon and expands our theoretical understanding of three literatures within the broader international relations literature (human rights, development, and international political economy). Concomitantly, the work strongly illuminates broader normative concerns and specific policy implications in regard to the imposition of neoliberal economic theory in the developing world, which lead the authors to propose a human rights-based approach to development. The authors’ careful attention in the initial three chapters to setting out the institutional contexts of the IMF and the World Bank and the literatures of both economic development and human rights, makes the material accessible to broader audience than just scholars and practitioners in economic development, possibly including upper-level undergraduates. Their treatment of statistical methods and results is equally accessible.

The political economy of conditionality: An empirical analysis of World Bank loan disbursements

Traditional aid conditionality has been attacked as ineffective in part because aid agencies – notably the World Bank – often fail to enforce conditions. This pattern undermines the credibility of conditionality, weakening incentives to implement policy reforms. The standard critique attributes this time inconsistency to bureaucratic factors within the aid agency such as pressure to lend, defensive lending, or short-sighted altruism. Pressure from powerful donors provides another potential explanation for lax enforcement. This paper presents an empirical analysis of the political economy of conditionality in international organizations using the case of the World Bank and the United States. The analysis examines panel data on World Bank disbursements to 97 countries receiving structural adjustment loans between 1984 and 2005. Using UN voting as an indicator of alignment with the U.S., the paper presents evidence that World Bank structural adjustment loan disbursements are less dependent on macroeconomic performance in countries aligned with the United States.

Conditionality, Commitment and Investment Response in LDCS

The private investment response to structural reforms in developing countries is of paramount importance, both for the future economic growth and the survival of the reforms themselves. By employing a sample of countries, recipients of World Bank Structural Adjustment Loans, the present paper assesses whether agreements, including policy conditionality, represent a positive signal for the private sector and translate into capital formation. The empirical investment equation adopted is estimated using dynamic panel data econometric methods, allowing for simultaneity and country-specific effects. The main result obtained is that, while a higher propensity to commit does not seem to affect the private investment response, a higher percentage of tied funds might impact negatively on the demand of fixed investment.

Trends in Life Expectancy and the Macroeconomy in Malawi

This paper studies the trends in life expectancy in Malawi since independence and offers possible explanations regarding inter-temporal variations. Descriptive analysis reveals that the life expectancy in Malawi has trailed below the Sub Saharan African average. From the 1960s through to the early 1980s life expectancy improved driven mainly by rising incomes and the absence of HIV/AIDS. In the mid 1980s life expectancy declined tremendously and never improved due to the spread of HIV/AIDS, the economic slump that followed the World Bank's Structural Adjustment programmes (SAP) and widespread corruption and poor governance in the era of democracy. At the turn of the new millennium, Malawians were no healthier than their ancestors at the dawn of independence though this improved after 2004. If Malawi is to meet its health Millennium Development Goals by 2015, good governance, improved agricultural performance and an increase in health expenditure should be at the heart of its development policies.

Women at Work & Entrepreneurship in Globalization Era

This paper focuses on the impact on women at work and entrepreneurship in India. There was major shift in Indian economic strategy in July .1991. The new strategy was termed as New Economic policy (NEP). It was mainly based on the IMF- World Bank's structural Adjustment Programmer (SAP). The major planks of the WEP were liberalization, Privatization & globalization (LPG) of the Indian Economy In India women entrepreneurship can be considered as necessity entrepreneurship rather than opportunity entrepreneurship with the development of work culture in society for women. The performance of women entrepreneurship in India was quite improving during the period. However, these women workforce may be possessing skills in making handicrafts handlooms items or food production like making chips etc which can be used profitability by creating small enterprises. Therefore, the Government should take an active role in encouraging women to go to work like, to provide day care and also incentives to companies that encourage women's employment.

An arduous climb: from the creeks of the Niger delta to leading obstetrician and university Vice Chancellor

In 1995 I wrote a commentary in the Lancet based on a major lecture at the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists by a Nigerian obstetrician. His theme—‘Poverty, deprivation and maternal health’—was exceptionally timely: the World Bank's structural adjustment programme was wreaking havoc on the health and welfare of people in sub-Saharan Africa, with especially vicious consequences for maternal and child health. Describing how countless women, through poverty, ignorance, neglect, and above all illiteracy, received no antenatal care and went on to die with chilling regularity, he quoted a Nigerian saying: ‘If you think education is expensive, try illiteracy.’ Those previously unfamiliar with Professor Kelsey Harrison's work needed little convincing that he was no ordinary member of their profession. His recently published autobiography reveals just how extraordinary his achievements are and why he has argued so passionately that the ability to read and write can turn mountains of maternal ill health into molehills. He was born in Abonemma in the Niger delta, brought up in an extended family that, remarkably, had prized female education since the early 1900s, and trained in medicine in Ibadan and London. Belonging to a minority tribe, he encountered ethnic animosity that threatened his livelihood; he suffered the horrors of the 1967-70 Civil War; and he regularly worked in hospitals that were cramped, pitifully equipped, and understaffed. Yet Professor Harrison retained his determination to forge a successful academic career, one testimony being the hugely impressive Zaria Maternity Survey. Published in 1985 and covering nearly 23 000 consecutive births, this showed the starkly contrasting fates of the relatively few women who were educated and made use of health care services and the overwhelming majority who were uneducated, married off as children, and grossly deprived. Per 100 000 deliveries, maternal mortality rates were 40 in the first group and 2900 in the second, findings that highlighted the need for fundamental social change and convinced Harrison that training of (often illiterate) traditional birth attendants would not save maternal lives. He went on to initiate the Nigerian national task force on vesico-vaginal fistula and co-edit a standard textbook on maternity care in developing countries, and along the way he was honoured with Nigeria's premier award for intellectual attainment. But nothing could have prepared him for his role as Vice Chancellor of the University of Port Harcourt, a position he occupied for three years from 1989. As if tackling financial and academic fraud, rampant theft and embezzlement were not enough, he encountered head-on the destructive effects of warring secret cults that had all but taken over many aspects of student life. Cult members, mostly from affluent backgrounds, were linked to a catalogue of crimes from examination malpractice and destruction of university property to violent assault; they were also behind an attempt to assassinate Harrison. He now enjoys retirement in Finland—including the traditional sauna—but I am curious to know how he satisfies his enduring passion for wielding the willow. If his book doesn't tell us, it does show, beyond doubt, that some encounters during his remarkable life have not been entirely cricket...

The Human Rights Effects of World Bank Structural Adjustment, 1981-2000

Does the implementation of a World Bank structural adjustment agreement (SAA) increase or decrease government respect for human rights? Neoliberal theory suggests that SAAs improve economic performance, generating better human rights practices. Critics contend that the implementation of structural adjustment conditions causes hardships and higher levels of domestic conflict, increasing the likelihood that regimes will use repression. Bivariate probit models are used to account for World Bank loan selection criteria when estimating the human rights consequences of structural adjustment. Using a global, comparative analysis for the 1981‐2000 period, we examine the effects of structural adjustment on government respect for citizens’ rights to freedom from torture, political imprisonment, extra-judicial killing, and disappearances. The findings show that World Bank SAAs worsen government respect for physical integrity rights. World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) structural adjustment conditions require loan recipient governments to rapidly liberalize their economies. According to previous research, these economic changes often cause at least shortterm hardships for the poorest people in less developed countries. The Bank and IMF justify the loan conditions as necessary stimuli for economic development. However, research has shown that implementation of structural adjustment conditions actually has a negative effect on economic growth (Przeworski and Vreeland 2000; Vreeland 2003). While there has been less research on the human rights effects of structural adjustment conditions, most studies agree that the imposition of structural adjustment agreements (SAAs) on less developed countries worsens government human rights practices (Pion-Berlin 1984; McLaren 1988; Franklin 1997; Camp Keith and Poe 2000). This study focuses on the effects of structural adjustment conditions on the extent to which governments protect their citizens from extra-judicial killing, torture, disappearances, and political imprisonment.

The Impact of Foreign Aid on Economic Growth in Papua New Guinea

This article investigates the impact of foreign aid on economic growth in Papua New Guinea (PNG) using time-series data for the period 1965 to 1999. Following the most recent literature, the article examines whether aid effectiveness is conditional on levels of economic policy and governance. An empirical model is estimated using the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) approach to cointegration proposed by Pesaran and Shin [1995]. Results provide little evidence that aid and its various components have contributed to economic growth in PNG. There is some evidence that aid is more effective during periods when the country has undertaken a World Bank Structural Adjustment Program (SAP). An alternative interpretation is that a SAP may be more effective at spurring growth when supported by foreign aid.

Africa and Globalization: Marginalization and Resistance

This chapter is a contribution to the ongoing debate about Africa and globalization and the interrelated issues of capitalism, marginalization, representation, and political leadership. Problematizing the discourse of Africa as “diseased” and “hapless,” the World Bank's structural adjustment “cure-all” is presented as being much worse than the “disease” that preceded it. Proposing a critical ethics of globalization—which highlights the gap between globalizations's miraculous, self-reflective images and the miserable conditions it creates—there is an attempt to uncover agents of change on the African continent. Social movements such as those fighting for water and electricity in Soweto, for land in Kenya, or against environmental destruction by oil companies in the Niger delta raise questions about the viability of globalization. Often led by women, these movements not only challenge the “male deal” that defines national governments and multinational corporations, but also call for a revaluation of subsistence economies and local democratic polities as alternatives to globalization. In short, this chapter offers important conceptual, as well as practical, challenges to globalization, indeed to the very nature of politics itself.

Conditionality, Commitment and Investment Response in LDCs

The private investment response to structural reforms in developing countries is of paramount importance, both for the future economic growth and the survival of the reforms themselves. By employing a sample of countries, recipients of World Bank Structural Adjustment Loans, the present paper assesses whether agreements, including policy conditionality, represent a positive signal for the private sector and translate into capital formation. The empirical investment equation adopted is estimated using dynamic panel data econometric methods, allowing for simultaneity and country-specific effects. The main result obtained is that, while a higher propensity to commit does not seem to affect the private investment response, a higher percentage of tied funds might impact negatively on the demand of fixed investment.

To privatise or not?: The case of Zambia

As part of World Bank and International Monetary Fund-inspired Structural Adjustment Programmes, many countries in Africa have started or are in the process of reforming their parastatal sector and state-owned enterprises, usually through privatisation. This paper provides a glimpse into Africa's privatisation experience by examining aspects of Zambia's privatisation programme. To appreciate the position of those who call for the privatisation of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in Africa, it is important to look at where those SOEs have come from, and why they exist in the first place. To descriptionbe Zambia's case, a brief background descriptionption of Zambia's industrial sector is provided, and the country's nationalisation programme is discussed. Much of the paper is devoted to a discussion of the general arguments for and against privatising state owned enterprises, a subject that is high on the Bretton Woods conditionality menu. The second half of the paper is a case study of Zambian experiences.

'I couldn't stop crying'

It was dubbed Black Tuesday - the night four people were shot dead during protests against World Bank structural adjustment policies in Papua New Guinea. The University of PNG journalism newspaper Uni Tavur published a special edition on 30 July 2001 with several students' accounts of their experience. Here are the stories of two young women.

Situating Space in "Local" and "Global" Struggles

CAPITAL ACCUMULATION DEPENDS ON SPACE TO FIND NEW MARKETS, NEW CORPORATE locations, and new exploitable laborers. But is not neutral within consumer capitalism. Different spaces confer different privileges upon transnational corporations; different national governments provide different incentives for transnational investors, and different regions value the labor of their workforces differentially. Capital accumulation, thus, depends upon space to produce differentiated laborers and particular struggles within a globalized economy. Our current historical moment-of IMF and World Bank structural adjustment programs, economic free trade zones, deindustrialization, economic restructuring, and transnational corporations-demands that we begin to consider and reconsider the salient role of space in capital accumulation. The exploration of space, as an analytical category, has

Options for Regional Integration in Southern Africa

Windhoek Treaty of 1992 changed the basis of economic co-operation to allow for 'efficiency, economy and competitiveness'. This shift led to the 1996 SADC Protocol on Trade Co-operation for the creation of a Free Trade Area (FTA). At the time of writing (autumn 2000), the implementation of the SADC FTA is almost complete. Successful regional associations usually require a strong political rationale for economic benefits to be realised.*(3) It remains to be seen whether or not the original unifying forces in Southern Africa are strong enough in the post apartheid era to enable SADC to build the institutions necessary for rule based economic integration and thus realise the potential economic benefits. In terms of economic conditions, the SADC countries are an extremely heterogeneous group. This can be seen from Table 1, which includes those SADC member countries included in this study. At the time of the Windhoek Treaty, the gross domestic product (GDP) per capita ranges roughly 20:1 from richest to poorest. In terms of economic size, the range is nearly 100:1. GDP growth performance over the last 20 years varied considerably, but some SADC countries had a surprisingly good record of economic management in terms of the average rate of inflation, poverty reduction and human development. An important characteristic of the SADC region is the historically high level of barriers to trade. Whilst there was a considerable lowering of protection in the SADC region in the 1990s, there are still significant barriers to trade. This is shown in columns 2 and 3 of Table 1. The fall in tariffs reflect the fact that several SADC countries underwent World Trade Organisation (WTO) tariff reform or World Bank Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs) during the

Stabilisation and Structural Adjustment in Developing Countries

This paper analyses and compares World Bank structural adjustment programmes and International Monetary Fund (IMF) stabilisation programmes in Malawi during the 1980s and Jordan during the 1990s. Both are small aid-dependant economies with a narrow export base making them vulnerable to exogenous shocks. The article pays particular attention to the political economy environment in which reform programmes are implemented and to the role of exogenous shocks, both adverse and favourable, in determining the outcome of the programmes. The sequencing of reforms is also assessed in both countries.