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What impedes structural transformation in Asia?
Structural transformation – the movement of workers from low productivity to high productivity activities – is an essential ingredient of inclusive growth. In the present paper evidence on why the pace of structural transformation has differed widely across countries in Asia is reviewed with a specific focus on China India and Thailand. It is argued that government failures relating to the functioning of labour land and product markets and market failures relating to coordination of investment credit market imperfections and human capital formation have been the primary causes of the slow pace of structural transformation in several Asian countries. In the paper it is suggested that emphasis be placed on reforming policies that impede the functioning of labour land and product markets and strengthening industrial and education policies to tackle specific market failures pertaining to investment coordination and human capital formation.
Envisioning tax policy for accelerated development in India
The objective of the present paper is to demonstrate that despite several years of reform the tax-GDP ratio in India is well below international standards and has been static over the last decade. Based on a crosscountry analysis of tax-GDP ratios in 115 countries over the period 2005-2015 an estimate is made of the extent of under-taxation in India. Considering that children in the age group of 0-14 years constitute about 40 per cent of the population of 1.3 billion in India in the paper it is argued that the tax-GDP ratio must be raised to enhance allocation to education health care and physical infrastructure to ensure demographic dividends by providing the increasing workforce with productive employment opportunities. The reforms needed to raise the revenue productivity of the tax system while taking into account the best practice approach to tax reform are identified in the paper.
Contract farming, agriculture productivity and poverty reduction: Evidence from tea estates in Viet Nam
Interest in contract farming is increasing because of its potential as an alternative channel for linking producers to international markets. However there is limited knowledge on contract farming of tea production in Viet Nam especially in more inaccessible provinces where tea production plays an important role in generating employment improving livelihood and reducing poverty. In the present paper the impact of contract farming on productivity is reviewed in Pho Tho province a major tea production area that has not been the focus of any other studies. Using survey data an analysis is conducted on the factors affecting tea productivity and the impact of contract farming on tea productivity in the province. The results indicate that the impact of factors on tea productivity is ambiguous. They also indicate that technical efficiency of tea production of contracted farmers is higher than that of other types of farmers by almost 5 per cent and that contract farming has a positive influence on tea productivity in the province. Because of different climatic conditions the results from this study are not generalizable across Viet Nam but they can be applied in the Northern midlands and mountainous areas.
The Economic Impact of Migration in the Russian Federation: Taxation of Migrant Workers
The article contains an outline of migration and taxation in the Russian Federation. The characteristics of migration the legal and regulatory situation of migrant workers with regard to taxation actual practices in this regard and the steps required to bridge the gap between potential tax payments from migrants and actual taxation practices are considered. Attention is paid to the reasons for irregular migration and informal employment from the points of view of both employers and migrant workers. Finally overall conclusions and policy recommendations are provided for improving the situation and decreasing irregular migration and tax underpayment.
Remittances in North and Central Asian Countries: Enhancing Development Potential
The article addresses the impacts of remittances in recipient countries in North and Central Asia noting the high level of dependence of many countries of the subregion on remittances. While remittances are found to produce positive short-term benefits related to the reduction of transitory poverty they also can contribute to negative impacts such as “Dutch Disease” dollarization public and private moral hazard. Few recipients make use of formal means of saving remittances due to the lack of dedicated remittance-backed products low levels of development of and trust in the financial sector and lack of financial literacy among recipients of remittances. Measures to address this situation are proposed and assessed for their relevance to countries of the subregion.
Impact of Remittance Outflows on Sending Economies: The Case of the Russian Federation
The literature on remittance flows has relatively little information on the impacts of remittance outflows on countries. The Russian Federation consistently ranks among the top remittance senders in the world however the Russian case remains a largely unstudied area. This article addresses this gap. The findings show that remittance outflows are still very small compared with GDP and that the Russian economy will continue to need foreign labour. So-called push factors in neighbouring countries will also continue to make the Russian Federation an attractive workplace for foreign workers. The authors encourage the Government of the Russian Federation to take pre-emptive measures for both political and economic reasons such as offering more investment opportunities for expatriate workers.
Gender Dimension of Migration from Central Asia to the Russian Federation
The article considers the relationship between migration from Central Asia to the Russian Federation and gender relations. In particular the paper describes the age-sex composition of the migration flows from three countries of the subregion (Kyrgyzstan Uzbekistan Tajikistan) and discusses the case of Kyrgyzstan with its active female migration. Male migrants are more often employed in construction and are paid more than female migrants who work mostly in trade and services. However men and women show almost no difference in complying with migration laws vulnerability in interactions with the state relations with employers and apartment owners as well as transnational practices. The article also considers possibilities for family reunification and gendered differences in inter-ethnic communication. The article concludes that further studies are required and that assistance mechanisms are required for women who do not receive financial assistance from their migrant husbands. The article also finds that migrants’ sexual and reproductive behaviour is characterized by limited access to information about risks and also requires thorough study.
External sector liberalization, financial development and income in South Asia
The paper provides an analysis on the impact of external sector openness and financial sector development on per capita income in the South Asian economies of Bangladesh Bhutan India Nepal Pakistan and Sri Lanka. For the annual series from 1980 to 2015 the instrumental variable model using a generalized method of moments (GMM) approach is estimated. The results show that liberalizing the external sector raises per capita income conditional on the level of financial sector development. The large-economy influence analysis shows that India will benefit the most from external sector liberalization and other economies involved in this study still need to focus on financial sector development as opposed to on liberalizing capital flows. It further indicates that premature external liberalization in small and poor economies tends to be beneficial to the large neighbouring economy which in this case is India leading to resource exploitation. Accordingly unless financial markets and institutions are strong enough to effectively deal with domestic resource mobilization opening up the external sector alone may impede the economic development process.
The impact of foreign direct investment on income inequality: a panel Autogressive Distributed Lag approach for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation developing economies
In the present paper the effect of foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows on income inequality in Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) economies is investigated by using annual data for the period 1990–2015. The variables used are the Gini coefficient FDI inflows gross domestic product (GDP) per capita trade openness and human capital. Also panel Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) and panel heterogeneous non-causality tests are used in this study. The panel ARDL results suggest that in the long run FDI inflows decrease income inequality. This supports the argument that encouraging FDI inflows does not harm the distribution of income in APEC economies. The results also confirm that GDP per capita and trade openness help reduce income inequality while human capital widens income inequality. The results from this study suggest that APEC authorities could implement sound policies to attract more FDI as evidence indicates that those inflows would narrow income inequality in APEC economies.
Los museos, protagonistas de la resistencia
Afrontar las nuevas limitaciones en materia de acogida de público y al mismo tiempo redefinir nuestros vínculos con el arte y la cultura: como tantas otras instituciones del mundo el Museo de Arte de Queens de Nueva York trata de reinventarse y reflexiona sobre un modelo de museo integrador que sitúe a artistas educadores y ciudadanos en el núcleo de sus actividades.
La pandemia, espejo de nuestra vulnerabilidad
Desigualdad social violencia de género carencias en materia de vivienda y sistemas sanitarios: la crisis del COVID-19 ha desvelado las grietas que dividen a nuestras sociedades. Para cambiar el mundo tendremos que abordar problemas a los que hasta ahora no habíamos sido capaces de enfrentarnos.
Una ocasión para reinventar la escuela
A causa de la crisis sanitaria casi 1.500 millones de alumnos –es decir el 90% de la población escolar del mundo– no pueden asistir a la escuela (fuente: UNESCO). De repente los centros de enseñanza han tenido que adaptarse al aprendizaje a distancia lo que les ha obligado a imaginar otros métodos pedagógicos.
Circunnavegación: La educación atraviesa una crisis sin precedentes
La crisis que ha causado en la educación el cierre de escuelas y universidades en el mundo entero decretado con miras a frenar la propagación de la pandemia de COVID-19 alcanzó su punto máximo a mediados de abril. Entre el 16 y el 19 de ese mes los centros de enseñanza permanecieron cerrados en más de 190 países lo que afectó a 1.570 millones de niños y jóvenes es decir a más del 90% de los alumnos. Durante toda la crisis sanitaria la UNESCO ha dado seguimiento a la situación a escala mundial mediante la publicación en su página web de una lista de instituciones educativas cerradas.
Zoom: Diarios de un viaje inmóvil
Aislamiento pérdida de ingresos cargas familiares abrumadoras: las mujeres fotógrafas han sido duramente afectadas por el confinamiento impuesto para contener la pandemia de COVID-19. Ante esta situación sin precedentes más de 400 mujeres fotógrafas se reunieron en un proyecto de colaboración único The Journal que nació espontáneamente a mediados de marzo tras una invitación formulada en Facebook por el colectivo Women Photograph. Desde 2017 esta red que cuenta con más de mil miembros en un centenar de países se ha fijado la meta de aumentar la presencia de mujeres fotógrafas en los medios de comunicación.
“Las mujeres siguen siendo las heroínas ignoradasde esta crisis”
La crisis sanitaria y el confinamiento casi generalizado causados por la pandemia han agravado la violencia que se ejerce contra las mujeres. La directora ejecutiva de ONU Mujeres Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka advierte de que los derechos de la mujer podrían quedar menoscabados.
Nuestro invitado: Yuval Noah Harari: “Toda crisis ofrece también una oportunidad”
Por un nuevo pacto social en América Latina
Disminución de salarios deserción escolar auge del trabajo informal aumento brusco del desempleo: las consecuencias sociales de la crisis sanitaria para los habitantes de la de región de América Latina y el Caribe han tenido vastas repercusiones. Para evitar un incremento de las desigualdades Karina Batthyány aboga por la puesta en marcha de un sistema más solidario y justo.
Investigación: “Esta epidemia será un detonador”
Nathalie Strub-Wourgaft es una de las fundadoras de la Coalición para la investigación clínica del COVID-19 lanzada en abril por instituciones científicas médicos donantes y encargados de la formulación de políticas de casi 30 naciones para promover la investigación en los países de bajos ingresos. Esta especialista aboga por investigaciones específicas adaptadas a esos países.
Escribir para iluminar la noche
El mundo que se avecina será diferente del que hemos conocido hasta ahora. La poetisa Zhai Yongming vaticina que el ser humano será más respetuoso con lo que desconoce y con las demás especies vivas que pueblan nuestro planeta.
La crisis sanitaria, un terreno abonado para la desinformación
En África al igual que en otros continentes han proliferado durante la crisis sanitaria teorías conspirativas e informaciones falsas sobre la enfermedad de COVID-19. Propagadas a través de las redes sociales aluden por ejemplo a la existencia de remedios presuntamente milagrosos contra esta como el consumo de té negro hojas de nim y sopa de pimienta. Para contrarrestar esa epidemia de bulos es menester refutarlos previo rastreo en las plataformas digitales así como fomentar el sentido de la responsabilidad de estas e impulsar una educación básica para el uso crítico de los medios informativos.
Las fronteras, cada vez más móviles e invisibles, siguen siendo auténticas barreras
Las fronteras de hoy no se delimitan forzosamente con muros de ladrillo y alambradas de púas sino que se están metamorfoseando en barreras móviles construidas mediante la aplicación de tecnologías de vanguardia y reglamentaciones complejas que restringen la circulación de los ciudadanos. Esta metamorfosis se ha acentuado con la pandemia de COVID-19.
Our guest: Yuval Noah Harari: “Every crisis is also an opportunity”
Research: “This epidemic will be a detonator”
Nathalie Strub-Wourgaft is one of the initiators of the COVID-19 Clinical Research Coalition launched in April 2020. It brings together scientists physicians donors and policymakers from over thirty countries to accelerate research on the disease in resource-poor nations. She argues that research must be specifically adapted to the needs of these countries.
Indigenous peoples: Vulnerable, yet resilient
The global health crisis has highlighted the resilience of some indigenous communities. But above all it has revealed the fragility of these populations – whose poverty malnutrition and poor access to health care makes them particularly vulnerable to infectious diseases.
The health crisis: Fertile ground for disinformation
Disinformation and conspiracy theories have proliferated on social media during the pandemic. Black tea neem leaves and pepper soup have been touted as miracle cures for COVID-19 in Africa and elsewhere. To combat this infodemic digital platforms must be made more accountable fake news tracked and called out and media literacy developed.
Latin America: Towards a new social pact
Declining incomes school drop-outs the growth of informal work and steep rises in unemployment. The social consequences of the health crisis for the inhabitants of the Latin America and the Caribbean region have been massive. The author calls for the establishment of a fairer and more supportive social system to avoid a deepening of inequalities.
Education: An opportunity to reinvent teaching
More than 1.5 billion students – or ninety per cent of the world’s student population – have been affected by temporary closures of schools and universities in 2020 due to the health crisis according to UNESCO. Educational institutions have been forced almost overnight to switch to remote learning platforms and devise alternative teaching methods.
Wide angle a whole new world, reimagined by women: What the pandemic says about us
The higher value placed on human life the rise of the influence of health services the medicalization of our lives the extension of state power – these phenomena did not arise from the crisis caused by the pandemic but were revealed by it.
Shifting borders: Invisible, but very real
Today’s borders are no longer necessarily made of bricks and barbed wire. They are increasingly becoming moving barriers that rely on cutting-edge technologies and complex regulations to impose travel restrictions on citizens. The COVID-19 pandemic has further accentuated this phenomenon.
Mapping the world: Education: An unprecedented crisis
The closure of schools and universities around the world to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic caused a major education crisis that reached its peak in mid-April 2020. Between 16 and 19 April schools shut down in more than 190 countries affecting 1.57 billion children and young people – over ninety per cent of all learners. Throughout the health crisis UNESCO monitored the situation globally by publishing a map of school closures on its website.
The pandemic: Mirroring our fragilities
Social inequalities gender violence poor housing failing health systems – the health crisis has exposed the fractures that divide our societies. To change the world we will have to address challenges that we have not been able to face up to so far.
Rethinking museums for the future
With new constraints on welcoming visitors the Queens Museum in New York City – like many other institutions around the world – is reflecting on how best to redefine our ties to art and culture. The museum’s team is working on an inclusive model that places artists educators and residents at the heart of its activities as it seeks to reinvent itself.
Pueblos indígenas: La fragilidad a prueba de la crisis
La crisis sanitaria mundial ha demostrado la resiliencia de algunas comunidades indígenas. Pero sobre todo ha puesto de relieve la fragilidad de estos grupos humanos cuya pobreza desnutrición y escaso acceso a la atención médica los hace especialmente vulnerables a las enfermedades infecciosas.
Gran angular ¿un mundo diferente? Las mujeres tienen la palabra: Revelaciones de la crisis sanitaria
El valor supremo concedido a la vida humana la potenciación de los servicios sanitarios la medicalización de nuestra existencia y la extensión del poder estatal son fenómenos que la crisis mundial generada por la pandemia nos ha revelado aunque no sean productos directos de ella.
Ideas: Pandemias ayer y hoy
Epidemias y pandemias no constituyen un fenómeno nuevo. La lepra la peste el cólera o la viruela han dejado secuelas imborrables en la historia de la humanidad. También han sido la razón de ciertos descubrimientos y de que el ser humano se cuestione a sí mismo.
Invisible in the media
Back in the eighteenth century the Anglo Irish philosopher George Berkeley summarized his theory of "immaterialism" in the following dictum: to be is to be perceived.
Educate girls, eradicate poverty a mutually reinforcing goal
There is no question that educating girls is a prerequisite for eradicating poverty. Education empowers and transforms women. It allows them to break the “traditional” cycle of exclusion that keeps them at home and disengaged from decision making Education especially higher education can prepare women to take on roles of responsibility in government business and civil society. Women make ideal leaders: numerous
United Nations agencies forward together in the response to violence against women
Momentum is building to eliminate the most pervasive yet least recognized human rights abuse in the world—'violence against women. Studies show that 70 per cent of women experience some form of physical or sexual violence in their lifetime. Everywhere communities civil society and governments are mobilizing to end practices that harm the health dignity security and autonomy of women and negatively impact society as a whole. The United Nations system is working together to support partners in this effort.
Lives of widows — a hidden issue
I grew up the son of a widow and witnessed first-hand the suffering my mother endured. When my father passed away my grandmother ordered my mother to remove her jewellery including her bindi and never to wear brightly-coloured clothes again. I was too young to comprehend these restrictions at that time however at my wedding the Hindu priest who was conducting the ceremony asked my mother to move away from the wedding altar because as a widow she could bring bad luck to the newly-wed couple.
When things fall apart
Liberia shows the way to deal with gender-based violence by establishing special courts and laws to try rapists and through empowering women and girls.
A story of violence
Let us call her Magda. The name is invented but the story is real She was born in Lesotho 35 years ago. Her life exemplifies the burden of physical sexual and psychological violence against women.
La protection sociale des femmes
Les périodes de crise économique ont toujours un effet déstabilisateur et par là même une issue incertaine. À ce stade nous faisons face à un grand danger et à une grande opportunité : le danger est que les efforts de « relance » risquent de favoriser ceux qui sont en position de force renforçant les inégalités existantes entre et dans les pays. Si cest le cas les disparités existantes se creuseront ce qui engendrera une exclusion sociale qui aura de graves répercussions sociales économiques et politiques. Lopportunité vient du fait quun leadership et des mesures politiques audacieuses peuvent réduire les inégalités entre les pays et entre les sexes. Cest dans ce contexte que je débattrai de la protection sociale des femmes.
COVID-19 pandemic and gender aspects
The year 2020 marks two important landmarks in gender equality achievement: the 25th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform of Action and the 20th year of implementing Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women Peace and Security. Unfortunately the Covid-19 pandemic caused cancellation and postponement of many important international meetings including a shortened version of the 64th session of the Commission on the Status of Women but it is also risking to heavily jeopardize the progress made over recent years.
Cyber-crime during the COVID-19 pandemic
The pandemic of COVID-19 and the imposed lockdown has led to more people to be confined at home with many more hours to spend online each day and increasingly relying on the Internet to access services they normally obtain offline.
How organized crime is expanding during the COVID-19 crisis
Over the last century organized crime has demonstrated a remarkable capacity to rapidly adapt to mutated social political and economic conditions. While in some cases this adaptation was the result of a reactive response to improved legislation targeting their interests in many others it was ignited by the pursuit of new possibilities for economic profit. Examples in this sense include how quickly criminal groups adapted to new scenarios created for instance by geopolitical changes the integration of global markets or the generalized use of the world wide web as a marketplace for a variety of licit and illicit goods and services.
The principles of equality and non-discrimination under viral attack: Stigma, hate speech, xenophobia, racism and discrimination during the COVID-19 pandemic
The principle of equality – the belief that all human beings are born free and equal – along with the correlated prohibition on discrimination are foundations of society. Equality is one of the most basic aspects of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and a pillar on which the United Nations (UN) was founded in 1945. Yet following the emergence of the coronavirus in December 2019 this long-established fundamental human right is being increasingly threatened. Indeed as the UN Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues Fernand de Varennes observed “COVID-19 is not just a health issue; it can also be a virus that exacerbates xenophobia hate and exclusion.”
Une occasion de réinventer l’école
Avec la crise sanitaire ce sont près d’15 milliard d’apprenants soit 90 % de la population scolaire mondiale qui ont été déscolarisés (source : UNESCO). Du jour au lendemain les établissements ont dû se convertir à l’apprentissage à distance obligeant l’école à imaginer d’autres méthodes d’enseignement.
Community resilience: Insights from UNICRI experience in the Sahel-Maghreb
In physics “resilience” is a measure of how well a material such as rubber or metal responds to pressure by bending adapting and changing without breaking. However this concept is more than a scientific term. Resiliency can also describe a community’s ability to bounce back from pressures including natural disasters economic downturns and - in the case of UNICRI’s Pilot Project on Countering Radicalisation and Violent Extremism in the Sahel-Maghreb - violence and terrorism. In the Sahel and Maghreb the pressure on communities is certainly intense and ever-growing. Conflicts in Libya and Mali threaten to spill over porous borders while drought and desertification have increased food insecurity and heightened intercommunal tensions. Increasingly active extremist militant groups have brought violence and chased out tourists which once had been an importance source of income. Now more than ever an approach aimed at building the resilience at a community level is needed - one that can empower communities to respond to these pressures by adapting and changing without “breaking” and entering into conflict.
No one is left behind in the fight of the EU against violent extremism
31st January 2019 at the European Parliament in Brussels several officials experts researchers and journalists concerned with finding solutions to the rise of violent extremism in the Maghreb and Sahel region gathered to share insights on a 5 million euros European Union (EU) funded programme implemented by UNICRI.
Youth: The phenomenon of returning foreign terrorist fighters and its challenges
The phenomenon of foreign terrorist fighters (FTFs) is a matter of great concern for the international community. Newspapers and media are full of stories pertaining to the radicalization of young people who left their country of origin to engage in violent extremism in other countries.