Clean cooking energy transition in Nigeria: Policy implications for Developing countries

Lack of access to clean cooking energy systems negatively affects the health and welfare of millions of people in developing countries. Different factors such as household income, household size, fuel price, and information spread have been identified as barriers to the widespread uptake of clean cooking systems. However, analyses exploring the dynamic influences of these factors towards accelerating clean cooking from the long-term perspective are limited. Here, we employ a system dynamics modelling framework to simulate how various strategies could affect the adoption of clean cooking systems in Nigeria over time. Our results reveal that clean cooking adoption is a fluctuating process, and the trends present a non-linear behaviour. We found that the adoption of clean cooking energy systems would occur faster early in the simulating year among urban households than in rural households. The results indicate that, at low prices of liquefied petroleum gas, many rural households will switch to clean cookstoves with higher adoption rates than consumers in urban households. Additionally, results from baseline scenario analysis revealed that, without significant policy interventions, not all households would switch to clean cooking. Our analysis further indicates that households with fewer members tend to transition quicker to clean cooking options than larger households. The impact of clean cooking due to communication among households would be more significant among rural households than among urban households. While the model results are perceptive, we emphasise that potent policies are needed to accelerate the diffusion and adoption of clean cooking energy systems in Nigeria and other African countries.     

Assessing the Effects of an Asset-Building Program in Resource-Constrained Households: The Case of Sub-Saharan Africa

ABSTRACT

Using a survey that was administered individually to respondents at set locations, this study examines the effects of participation in an asset-building program in resource-constrained households in rural Ghana (n = 120 in the experimental group and n = 120 in the comparison group). Results suggest the program is effective in reaching the most economically vulnerable households. We also learned that program participation was related to ownership of social assets, as well as psychosocial and financial well-being. Program characteristics, including trust among members and time spent on program-related activities, were related to enhanced social and financial assets, respectively. A number of implications emerge from this study. Given that the program, although effective in reaching the most economically vulnerable households, did not produce significant outcomes in such households, attention may be devoted to understanding ways to enhance the welfare of vulnerable program participants. A targeted approach may be a viable option. With respect to policy, consideration could be given to incorporating microfinance models in poverty alleviation strategies. Continued research using more rigorous design is needed to explore the relationship between microfinance and the welfare of vulnerable participants.     

Public assistance in urban and rural China: A tale of two stories

China's public assistance system has been urban–rural divided ever since its implementation in the 1990s. Despite the intention in recent years to promote an integrated public assistance system, there has been little empirical research that has systematically examined the differences between urban and rural areas. Moreover, research has focused mostly on the Minimum Living Assurance system (“Dibao”), paying little attention to other types of public assistance. This study contributes to filling this gap by analyzing a recent data set collected primarily from two Chinese provinces. The findings show substantial differences in the amount of public assistance received by urban and rural low‐income households, even after controlling for demographic and socioeconomic factors. Compared with urban recipient households, rural recipient households have disproportionally lower public assistance benefits and higher medical costs relative to their household expenditure, which suggests that assistance inadequacy is especially prominent among rural households. Policy implications are discussed.     

Poverty eradication programs in Indonesia: Progress,challenges and reforms

This study explores the progress of and the challenges to poverty eradication programs in Indonesia by analyzing various social assistance programs and subsidies. Earlier poverty eradication programs such as food-based assistance and energy subsidies were only designed to increase households’ purchasing power. Later, the government also developed more advanced programs, such as conditional cash transfer, school assistance, and health insurance contribution assistance, to address long-run poverty by improving human capital quality. Common challenges of the existing programs remain, including inaccurate target the poor and lack of complementarity between programs. An exercise using a dynamic Computable General Equilibrium model shows that integrating programs into the conditional cash transfer reduces poverty further in rural and urban areas.     

Impact of microcredit on rural household welfare and economic growth in Vietnam

Since its birth in 1970s, microcredit has been growing rapidly with the aim to reduce poverty and to promote economic growth. Using the large panel data of the Vietnam Access to Resources Household Surveys, the objectives are twofold: (i) to evaluate the micro-impact of microcredit on rural household economy, particularly on output value and net income of rural households, using Matched Difference-in-Difference method; and (ii) to evaluate its macro-impact on economic growth, especially the aggregate effect of production increase and income growth, using Input–Output analysis. The results at micro level find that microcredit benefits self-employment rather than other economic activities of households. The salient results from the macro-economic analysis reveal that, not as expected, the effect of microcredit on output increase is not so large. The findings suggest that microcredit is an effective development strategy at both micro and macro levels, thus the Vietnamese government should enact the relevant policies to enhance the effectiveness and outreach of microcredit.     

宋代乡村第五等户在城市经济发展中的作用

宋代乡村第五等户是宋代户口的主要构成部分。在农业人口为主体的封建国家中,他们是社会生产的主要承担者、国家财富的主要创造者、推动经济发展与物质文明进步的重要力量。宋代乡村第五等户在国家户口中比例大,生存条件差,特别是在失去土地无法生存后,“流移转徙”到城市,为城市经济发展提供了人力资源,为资本主义萌芽做了早期准备,推动了城市服务业发展,促进了城市商品经济发展。探讨第五等户在经济发展中的作用,对寻求今天解决农民问题的方式方法,具有现实意义。     

Who is Jobless? A Comparison of Joblessness in Rural and Urban Areas in China

Since market‐oriented economic reform was launched in China in the 1980s, unemployment has been recognized by the government. This paper focuses on the differences in joblessness in rural and urban areas between rural migrant workers, peasants, and urban citizens. The results indicate that people in rural areas frequently lose their jobs, which differs from the traditional perception. There is a significantly lower jobless rate in urban areas. In contrast to the results of previous studies, the employment situation of rural migrant workers is closer to urban citizens rather than peasants. Logistic regression results show that the elderly, women, and less educated citizens have a higher likelihood of joblessness, both in urban and rural areas. Minorities have a lower likelihood of joblessness in rural areas and a higher likelihood in urban areas. Chinese Communist Party members and people without dependent children have a lower likelihood of joblessness in urban areas.     

Trade and poverty nexus: A case study of Sri Lanka

The link between trade liberalisation and poverty has become one of the most debated topics in recent years. There is a growing body of empirical literature on this topic and many studies provide mixed results. In this study, Sri Lanka is used as a detailed case study and a computable general equilibrium (CGE) approach is used as an analytical framework to examine the trade-poverty nexus. The results suggest that, liberalisation of the manufacturing industries is more pro-poor than that of the agricultural industries. Overall, this study suggests that trade reforms may widen the income gap between the rich and the poor creating uneven gains across different household groups in Sri Lanka. While short-term complementary policies are needed to compensate vulnerable income groups, long-term policies are needed to make gains from trade liberalisation more inclusive and equitable to maintain economic and political stability in Sri Lanka.     

Migration stage and household income inequality: Evidence from the Valle Alto of Bolivia

A three-stage diffusion model of international migration and inequality posits that household income inequality first increases, then decreases, and finally increases again as a community's migration experience deepens. Analysis of data from a survey of 417 households in the Valle Alto region of Bolivia supports this model. Concomitant with the region's overall position in the middle stage, the results indicate that income inequality among active migrant households is less than that of non-migrant households, suggesting that migration reduces inequality. Furthermore, income inequality between urban and rural areas is diminished by migration. Individual towns in the region, however, illustrate all three stages of the diffusion model. The study supports other research showing that the middle stage of migration generates the most remittances, the highest commitment of resources to the home community, and the lowest inequalities among households.     

中国家庭追踪调查：理念与实践

为了让研究者对中国家庭追踪调查（CFPS）有更多了解,本文从四个方面介绍其背景和特色。在设计理念上,CFPS以个人和家庭为研究主体,以多层次问卷和跟踪性调查为研究视角,充分考虑了社会现象的异质性、复杂性和时间性;在调查实施上,CFPS采用城乡一体的多阶段、内隐分层和与人口规模成比例的抽样方法保证样本的代表性,借助先进的调查技术提高访问质量,设计了兼顾研究需要和可操作性的追访原则;在问卷内容上,CFPS不仅涵盖内容广,而且在整合城乡问卷,收集家庭关系、人口流动、事件史、认知能力和少儿发展等相关数据上也均有长处;在数据上,本文以经济不平等、婚姻变迁、认知能力三个方面的数据研究为例,展示了CFPS的追踪设计和特色内容为社会科学研究带来的潜力。     

How much is too much: Does the size of income support transfers affect labor supply?

Cash transfer programs pursue mainly protective objectives, but can also impact rural livelihoods by inducing investments in productive activities and changing household labor allocation. We adopt a continuous treatment approach to quantify how households’ labor supply responds to transfer size. We find a shift from paid labor to own farm labor and find that the transfer size is well within a level that would have disincentive effects on time spent on own farm activities. The switch from paid to own farm labor occurs at lower levels of transfers for labor-constrained households, and at higher levels for non-labor constrained households.     

Household composition and agricultural technology in Zambia

While a small percentage of Zambia's farming households practice advanced agricultural technics and produce significant yields, the majority of Zambians have barely broken out of subsistence level farming. Government programs to assist the small farmer have proven unsuccessful largely because of economic pessure to keep family members on the farm as laborers. A household's size, as well as the age and sex of its members, are crucial factors in moving the rural population toward agricultural development. A large family is clearly an asset to Zambian farmers. At peak points in the agricultural season, it is difficult to hire helpers since everyone is working on their own land, even the poor villagers. Because young men and women from poorer households tend to migrate to the cities, these families are much smaller and have fewer males than the more prosperous families. Although a Zambian man's ideal strategy is to marry several wives and raise a large number of children to ensure a labor supply, this is difficult to carry out. Only after achieving a certain minimal technological level can a farming household support a large enough group to continue to develop. The agricultural development that has taken place so far in Zambia is largely the outcome of demonstration effects and, more recently, the fruit of family remittances from the cities.     

Impacts of HIV/AIDS on poor and socially marginalised former commercial plasma donors in rural central China: social work implications

Little is known about the impact of HIV/AIDS on people who acquired the virus through former commercial plasma donations in the mid-1990s in rural Central China. The objective of this study was to examine socioeconomic impacts associated with HIV/AIDS on poor farm workers and their families, with a particular focus on economic hardships and social exclusion. The findings from 30 interviews reveal the profound effects of deteriorating health on labour power loss. The well-being of people living with HIV/AIDS was immensely affected by the loss of income, debts due to health-related expenses and a lack of alternate sources of income. Social exclusion and HIV/AIDS-related stigma remain significant issues in a workplace, funerals, and weddings. This article highlights the economic impacts of HIV/AIDS on China’s rural population and provides recommendations for social workers to mitigate the impacts of social exclusion on vulnerable rural households in China.     

When nature pushes back: environmental impact and the spatial redistribution of socially vulnerable populations

Objectives. This research investigates the spatial redistribution of socially vulnerable subpopulations during long-term recovery from natural disaster. We hypothesize that the local environmental impact of a disaster influences this redistribution process and that how it does so varies by the urban or rural context in which the disaster occurs.Methods. To test these hypotheses, we use a novel research design that combines the natural experiment offered by Hurricane Andrew with GIS technology and local census data.Results. Findings indicate that in a more urbanized disaster zone (Miami), long-term recovery displaces socially disadvantaged residents from harder-hit areas; yet, in a more rural disaster zone (southwestern Louisiana), long-term recovery concentrates socially disadvantaged residents within these harder-hit areas.Conclusion. These findings bridge classic and contemporary research on postdisaster recovery and open new terrain for thinking about how environmental and social forces intersect to transform regions in different settlement contexts.     

Enhancing Social Support for Migrant Families: A Case Study of Community Services in a Shanghai Urban Village and Implications for Intervention

Recent years have witnessed the growing emphasis of the Chinese central government to develop community services as a method of building communities and strengthening social solidarity. With the increased involvement of multi‐generation households in China's internal rural‐to‐urban migration, however, little is known about what community services are available for migrant families. Nor do we know much about how such services can enhance social support for migrants, which is crucial for their psychological well‐being in managing the ongoing challenges that arise from migration and further integration into cities. This article presents a case study conducted in Shanghai where social services are emerging in a few urban villages. We begin with a brief background on China's rural‐to‐urban migration and the emergence of urban villages, followed by a discussion of community services and social support for Chinese migrant families. We then document existing services in an urban village to explore how they can influence migrant families' social support. Drawing on the perspective of service providers, we highlight the effects social work interventions can have on improving social support for migrant families. Finally, we propose an intervention framework based on multi‐dimensions of social support, emphasizing an integration of formal and informal social support through community services for migrant populations.     

POPULATION AGEING AND THE PUBLIC PURSE: AUSTRALIA IN COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE

A comparative analysis of three decades of OECD public spending change is used to test propositions concerning the likely consequences of population ageing for public expenditure development in coming years. The World Bank and the OECD Secretariat suggest that population ageing has a direct impact on public expenditure through increased spending on pensions, health care and services for the elderly; and an indirect impact through increasing levels of public indebtedness. The analysis here suggests that only the pensions effect is supported by available comparative evidence and that, even here, the relationship is weaker than often implied in the population ageing literature. The vulnerability of different nations to problems arising from population ageing varies widely, with Australia among the least vulnerable.     

Rural African women and development

70-90% of Africans still live in rural areas, and 25-30% of rural households are headed by women. Standards of living in rural areas are lower than in urban areas. Rural African women's involvement in development is in its initial stages, and social development for women is likely to be slow. Increasing women's opportunities for education is a means of promoting social justice and fairness. Schools should offer courses of practical value for those not planning on higher education and special programs and career counseling for gifted girls. Women's organizations, African leaders, and other influential parties should aggressively create awareness about the oppressive aspects of traditional attitudes, beliefs, and views about women. Laws on ownership of property, inheritance, access to credit, and employment must be equitable and enforced. Consciousness-raising among rural women is an effective means of encouraging rural women to seek and assume new roles and for questioning unreasonable expectations and norms. Women's professional associations serve important functions and fulfill the need for role models. The quality of rural women's life is effectively improved through formulation of policies relevant to women's needs and problems and improve rural conditions. Women should have fair representation at local and national levels of government. Women's role in agriculture is likely to be enhanced through improved transportation systems, electricity supply, and introduction of intermediate technology. This assessment of rural African women's contributions to economic growth emphasizes women's involvement in farming and the informal sector and their lack of equal remuneration or low wages. Illiteracy places women in a disadvantaged position when competing for employment in the formal sector. Lack of access to credit and limits on credit are other obstacles in the informal sector. The reduced participation of rural women in the formal and informal sector is due to lack of economic power, limited educational opportunities, and policies that place industry in urban areas. Social development that reduces illiteracy and poverty should be encouraged.     

Older People 'on the Edge' in the Countrysides of Europe

Relatively few comparative studies have focused specifically upon the socio‐economic conditions affecting the welfare of older rural Europeans. Such publications as exist are usually confined to single studies. In presenting a European overview of their ‘life‐world’ this paper focuses upon the general conditions of older rural Europeans, living in different types of countryside within a centre–periphery framework. These conditions are largely dependent upon the interconnectivity (nexus) between regional urban centres and the older people's types of settlement. The extent of the global socio‐economic flows between urban centres and countrysides is critical, especially for those living in less accessible and remote European areas. Older people's positive and negative outcomes are seen to occur within four possible urban–rural parameters. The first consists of two‐way socio‐economic urban–rural flows that are more likely to be of benefit to significant numbers of older persons, especially in urban fringe and accessible countrysides. The second parameter arises when there is a long‐standing impasse, where the lack of communication between the rural locality and urban centre hampers socio‐economic urban–rural flows, isolating older people, particularly in less accessible and remote countrysides. The third occurs when regional and local urban centres block or cut back socio‐economic flows to the countryside. The fourth takes place when the rural communities resist socio‐economic urban flows that they regard as a threat to their rural idyll. Exemplars within each of the four urban–rural alternatives help to show the applicability and workability of this four‐way exploratory approach.     

Inequalities of Gender and Health 1857–1985: A Long‐run Perspective from the Melbourne Lying‐In Hospital Birth Cohort

This paper reviews the Australian historical record in health and gender inequalities since the mid nineteenth century through to the end of the twentieth century, using survival data from an historical cohort of impoverished people born in the Melbourne Lying‐In Hospital between 1857 and 1900. This data reveals the long shadow cast by disadvantage in early life and the critical importance of secure households in supporting infancy and childhood. Above all, the income security and support of mothers, was critical to survival of infants and children, and those households trapped in the casual economy, remained the most vulnerable to premature death. Only the improvements in labour force regulation, government employment and trade education after World War II, broke the cycle of poverty that had persisted in Australia since the earliest days of European settlement.     

差别暴露、差别职业和差别体验——中国城乡居民环境关心差异的实证分析

本文利用2010年中国综合社会调查数据,比较分析了城乡居民的环境关心差异：城乡居民在看待环境问题的方式上存在一种相似且连贯的心态体系;城乡居民的环境关心水平存在显著差异,城市居民在诸多方面都较乡村居民表现出更多的环境关心;国外关于“居住地假设”的三种理论,只有“差别暴露理论”可以解释一部分城乡差异,其余两种理论均没有得到数据的有效支持;环境知识和媒体使用在城乡居民环境关心差异形成过程中具有重要的中介作用;城乡居民的环境关心差异在趋于缩减,并开始走向同构。