Fulfilment of basic needs from a subjective point of view in rural Guatemala

Guardiola J, García‐Muñoz T. Fulfilment of basic needs from a subjective point of view in rural Guatemala Int J Soc Welfare 2011: 20: 393–403 © 2010 The Author(s), International Journal of Social Welfare © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd and the International Journal of Social Welfare. The study of subjective wellbeing in developing countries is a relatively new field of research, but interest is increasing among researchers. A few decades ago, techniques such as the basic needs approach were applied in order to understand development. The basic needs framework has recently been used to define and monitor the Millennium Development Goals. However, it is limited when it comes to defining the content of basic needs and determining to what extent they are being satisfied, which leaves this decision to an external authority other than the individual. In this article, we estimated how certain indicators and assets have influenced the perception of basic needs in a rural area of Guatemala using a data set containing 369 interviews with Mayan households. The results allowed us to identify the characteristics or assets that influence the perception of basic needs, leaving the decision as to the Mayan people themselves as to whether their basic needs are being met.     

Philanthrocapitalism as a Neoliberal (Development Agenda) artefact: philanthropic discourse and hegemony in (financing for) international development*

ABSTRACT

Based on a critical analysis of the structurally neoliberal financing for development (FfD) system established by the Addis Ababa Action Agenda, this article contributes to the literature that views the 2030 Agenda as a new phase of the Neoliberal Development Agenda (NDA), which has been consolidated as hegemonic within the international development (ID) field in recent decades. Additionally, considering philanthrocapitalism as an ideological framework that proposes its own diagnoses and prognoses, we analyse various discourses of relevant Philanthrocapitalist Institutions and International Organizations to point how they legitimate themselves. This article shows how philanthrocapitalism has been constituted not only as a key element within the current model of FfD but also as a genuine neoliberal artefact designed to encapsulate the NDA apparatus, and fostered by the discourse of international agencies to contribute to the meta-objective of consolidating the neoliberal model as hegemonic in the ID arena.     

International migration and development in mexican communities

The theoretical and empirical literature generally regards international migration as producing a cycle of dependency and stunted development in sending communities. Most migrants’ earnings are spent on consumption; few funds are channeled into productive investment. We argue that this view is misleading because it ignores the conditions under which productive investment is likely to be possible and profitable. We analyze the determinants of migrants’ savings and remittance decisions, using variables defined at the individual, household, community, and macroeconomic levels. We identify the conditions under which U.S. earnings are repatriated to Mexico as remittances and savings, and indicate the factors leading to their productive investment.     

Changing conditions in the US labor market

In this paper, we assess the extent to which the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) of 1986 affected US labor market conditions facing Mexican migrant workers. Using data gathered from migrants in ten Mexican communities, as well as out-migrants from those communities located in the USA, we examined whether and how IRCA affected US wages, hours worked, and the terms of employment. Estimated period effects did not indicate a clear break in most of these variables following IRCA's passage in 1986, except for hours worked and monthly income. Our analyses did reveal a fairly consistent pattern of deterioration in the labor market conditions facing undocumented migrants, however. Compared to illegal migrants working in the USA before IRCA, those migrating afterward worked fewer hours and were less likely to have taxes withheld from their pay. We also found evidence that undocumented migrants were pushed from the agrarian to the urban economy by the increase in labor supply occasioned by the SAW program.     

Stemming the tide? Assessing the deterrent effects of the immigration reform and control act

This study uses a new source of data to assess the degree to which the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) deterred undocumented migration from Mexico to the United States. Data were collected from migrants interviewed in seven Mexican communities during the winters of 1987 through 1989, as well as from out-migrants from those communities who subsequently located in the United States. We conduct time-series experiments that examine changes in migrants' behavior before and after passage of the IRCA in 1986. We estimate trends in the probability of taking a first illegal trip, the probability of repeat migration, the probability of apprehension by the Border Patrol, the probability of using a border smuggler, and the costs of illegal border crossing. In none of these analyses could we detect any evidence that IRCA has significantly deterred undocumented migration from Mexico.     

Negativismr equivocation,and wobbly assent: public “support” for the prochoice platform on abortion

Although disapproval of all justifications for abortion is rare in the United States, our analysis of numerous surveys taken in the 1960s and 1970s shows that support for the full prochoice platform is also rare. This means that respondents who endorse some justifications for abortion and reject others typically constitute about 50 percent of these samples. If forced to choose politically between polar positions, would these people be more likely to side with a positive or a negative extreme? Using Multiple Classification Analysis as a form of discriminant analysis, we examine whether people who appear to form a “middle” group actually are closer in their characteristics to those who are positive, or to those who are negative. Finally, we test to see whether those respondents who endorse all four justifications for abortion (health, child defect, financial stress, and elective abortion) also endorse additional prochoice positions, such as government payments for abortion, abortion without the husband’s or the parent’s consent, and abortion after the first trimester.     

Eating Disorders Among a Community-based Sample of Chilean Female Adolescents

The purpose of this study was to explore the prevalence and correlates of eating disorders among a community-based sample of female Chilean adolescents. Data were collected through structured interviews with 420 female adolescents residing in Santiago, Chile. Approximately 4% of the sample reported ever being diagnosed with an eating disorder. Multivariate logistic regression analyses revealed that those with higher symptoms of anxiety and who had tried cigarettes were significantly more likely to have been diagnosed with an eating disorder. Findings indicate that Chilean female adolescents are at risk of eating disorders and that eating disorders, albeit maladaptive, may be a means to cope with negative affect, specifically anxiety.     

Transportation and Migrant Adjustment in Georgia

Access to transportation is critical for functioning in modern American society, and minorities disproportionately lack access to transportation. Latinos in Georgia—most of whom are newcomers to this country—are considerably less likely than non-Latino whites to drive alone to and from work because they do not live in households with a car available for personal use. We propose that this factor, along with limited access to alternative modes of transportation, impedes the ability of Georgia’s newest Latino residents to adjust to their new environment. In this study, we examine the impact of limited transportation options on the adjustment experience of recent Latino migrants to Georgia. We document how lack of personal transportation lends itself to a number of social problems including inability to obtain different work or to take advantage of opportunities for advancement. For Latinos who are both recent migrants to Georgia and recent immigrants to the United States, lack of transportation creates an adjustment “bottleneck,” whereby various paths to adaptation are simultaneously impeded. We argue that improving access to driver’s licenses, pedestrian infrastructure, and, in some places, public transportation should be a policy priority for states adjusting to recent influxes of Latino migrants.