Reproducing Inequalities through Development: The MDGs and the Politics of Method

Abstract

This article is a critical inquiry into particular methodological means underlying analyses of development, inequalities, and poverty in the context of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) discourse. A populist approach to poverty reduction, the MDG initiative has gained much exposure at the expense of a closer scrutiny of the specific methodological premises (and their implications) underlining the development frameworks through which the goals were to be realized. A critical examination of premises of this kind demonstrates the way in which the application of specific methods in analyses of development and poverty is carefully crafted to serve discernible ideological ends. In order to explicate this by way of an example, I draw on MDG1 (and target 2 with reference to hunger), which I discuss in relation to its integration with the overarching development objective of realizing economic growth. My aim is to demonstrate how dominant explanations and understandings of poverty and hunger, social struggles for fundamental entitlements, and ultimately ‘development’, are construed in ways that are premised on abstractions from actual social and political relations; they are framed as ‘independent variables’ external to the very policies and strategies of international development. The critical engagement offered in my analysis is timely, given the extent to which the MDG initiative and the post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals agenda have been presented without any attempt to answer to decades (and more) of critical arguments that offer more rigorous and sustained understandings of inequalities, including deprivations of basic life sustaining needs and fundamental entitlements.     

How Do People Take into Account Weight,Strength and Quality of Segregated vs. Aggregated Data? Experimental Evidence

In this experimental study we investigated how people aggregate two sets of signals about the state of the world to reach a single probability judgment. The signal sets may differ in the way signals are presented, in their number as well as their quality. By varying the presentation mode of the signals we investigated how people deal with segregated and aggregated evidence. We investigated whether subjects sufficiently take into account weight (number of signals), strength (composition) and quality of the information provided. The results indicate that consideration of the weight and strength of signals strongly depends on the type of their presentation. Particular patterns can be identified which determine if weight and/or strength are either under- or overweighted.     

Willingness-to-pay and willingness-to-accept for risky and ambiguous lotteries

Former studies have shown that people tend to give buying prices that are lower than selling prices. In our study, we investigate if this willingness-to-accept and willingness-to-pay disparity is affected by ambiguity. Using a Becker, DeGroot, and Marschak procedure, we elicit buying, selling, short-selling, and short-buying prices. The results indicate that subjects clearly distinguish between risky and ambiguous lotteries and the different ways in which lotteries are framed. However, the average WTA/WTP ratios are remarkably close for all lotteries considered, as well as for negative and positive framing.     

日本移动影音的商业模式探析

在移动影音产业既有的成功商业模式之中,日本经验常被提及,其主要经营模式被归类为"免费播放"。一般认为,正是通过"免费播放"这种方式,才能从一开始就顺利实现让消费者对于移动电视由认识、接受到使用的历程。然而,日本移动电视之所以成功,并非完全归功于免费播放,还另有原因。     

Estimating two-stage network Slacks-based inefficiency: An application to Bangladesh banking

This paper studies the performance of nineteen private commercial banks and two government-owned banks in Bangladesh during the period 2005–2008 using a slacks-based inefficiency measure and the directional technology distance function. Performance is measured assuming a black-box production structure and then the black-box is opened and examined using a two stage network production structure. Current period performance in maximizing desirable loans and securities investments and minimizing bad loans depends on how efficiently inputs at one stage of production are transformed into intermediate outputs which are used at a subsequent stage of production. In addition, current period production of the intermediate output is constrained by the amount of non-performing loans that were generated in an earlier period.     

Dispelling stereotypes: promoting disability equality through film

All too often individuals with disabilities in the popular media are portrayed as people to be pitied or super humans to be admired. Film is one important resource that helps form the public’s beliefs and dispositions about people with disabilities. With that in mind a film festival was designed to provide authentic representation of people with disabilities living normal lives so as to help viewers see individuals with disabilities as people first. Part of the effort was to develop a more realistic understanding and appreciation for the lives of individuals with disabilities. Various programs were developed across disciplines to present a wide range of perspectives. Following each viewing filmmakers and faculty led in‐depth discussions about the films. A participant survey indicated the use of film as an effective pedagogical methodology that provided an entertaining and meaningful way to generate discussion and change attitudes about disabilities.