Women and Gender Issues

This book is a valuable reference document for the study of the evolution of contemporary socioeconomic life marked by radical changes in structures behaviours methods of production and consumption and rules of the social game. The current changes are of a “revolutionary” nature and thus make possible the vision of the future which is necessary to decide on investments (material or immaterial). The uncertain dominates. Optimistic thinkers or actors believe that insofar as nothing is safe everything is possible. But we still have to understand what is desirable necessary or possible because opportunities and risks are linked. The analysis of key success factors that are or have been actually operational is therefore of the highest interest.

As the green bond market continues to develop and assume a critical role as a post-pandemic vehicle for supporting a balanced economic rebuild and credible transition efforts policymakers must reassess the current disclosure regime. This paper derives findings from Bayesian games to demonstrate that the prevailing labelling regime for green bonds is susceptible to the adverse selection problem; due to informational asymmetries allocative inefficiencies arising from capital misallocation to inherently “non-green” bonds may ensue. To prevent the erosion of confidence in the market segment and support the potential of impact finance instruments to affect positive social and environmental change this paper draws on established game theory frameworks to inform recommendations for policyled solutions to uphold the market’s credibility. These recommendations concern the integration of a regulatory infrastructure a centralized ongoing audit under an “exogenously costly” regime and the introduction of a clearer course for legal recourse against issuers that mislabel bonds.

International business in the past century has largely been the domain of large multinational enterprises and banks as well as small exporting and importing companies. The scope of international business activity has grown in recent years and today there are many State-owned companies involved in international business activities as well as financial investors rather than only industrial or commercial companies undertaking foreign direct investment (FDI). Government policy toward international business has largely been supportive since the 1990s while concerns have arisen particularly in regard to the activities of State-owned enterprises and also the activities of non-traditional investors such as investment funds. To achieve the greatest benefits from FDI and trade governments need to understand which companies are making the key decisions in global value chains and to collaborate in rule-setting and in guiding companies to pursue desirable activities and to limit non-business goal-seeking.

Why does aggregate foreign direct investment (FDI) fall with distance? We conjecture that high trade costs adversely affect FDI entry decisions in a dynamic setting even when controlling for previous export experience in foreign markets. We test this hypothesis using Japanese firm-level data for the period of 1995–2018 and find that the probability of FDI entry decreases with distance. We conclude that trade costs limit a firm’s ability to assess foreign market uncertainty. As a result a firm may exit a foreign market before realizing the potential profitability and never establish an affiliate there. This result is highly relevant for policymakers as it proves that trade liberalization and FDI facilitation policies may reinforce each other resulting in a compound effect for both exports and FDI.

Countries attract foreign investors “entrants” to invest and venture by employing policy programmes and marketing strategies. Country attractiveness for foreign investors relates to international competitiveness. Instruments building a formal status such as golden visas and citizenship are used to attract individual foreign investors and their families. These are often cosmopolitan people i.e. global citizens but also global diasporans. They contribute to the economy ideas and transnational entrepreneurial ecosystems. These policy instruments are criticized partly due to missing legitimacy partly due to concerns about geopolitics and international crime. However diasporic investors manifest different motivations and commitments making them particular. This study examines what kind of investor programmes are offered to different foreign migrant investors and whether they address diasporic ties. It presents a country comparison of investor policy pathways towards citizenship. It contributes to the literature on migrant investment and policymaking.

Stage 4 covers quantitative as well as qualitativeassessment methods when disaggregated genderstatistics are produced and how these should informthe publication of results.

The report presents results from UN Women’s Rapid Gender Assessments specifically focused on violence against women and COVID-19 (VAW RGAs). The study is producing the first set of reliable cross-country and nationally representative data on topics related to VAW women’s safety at home and in the public sphere during COVID-19 and access to resources services among others. The VAW RGAs were implemented in 13 countries spanning all regions: Albania Bangladesh Cameroon Colombia Côte d’Ivoire Jordan Kenya Kyrgyzstan Morocco Nigeria Paraguay Thailand and Ukraine with the general support of national statistical offices (NSOs) or national women’s machineries and funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. To ensure comparability the survey was conducted with Ipsos as the survey research partner. The report presents pooled estimates from 13 countries on the extent of the shadow pandemic women’s safety both in public and private spaces as well as on their mental well-being and food insecurity. Data pertain to the reporting period April – September 2021.

Disaggregated gender statistics are critical for putting the spotlight on inequality and underscoring the need to realize the rights of poor and marginalized women and girls and prioritize them in policy-making processes. The 2030 Agenda pledges to leave no one behind and to ensure progress for all nations and peoples and for all segments of society. To identify those who are left behind high-quality timely and reliable data disaggregated by income gender age race ethnicity migratory status disability geographic location and other characteristics are necessary. The Counted and Visible Toolkit provides a compilation of tools and mechanisms drawing on country case studies to produce disaggregated gender statistics using an intersectional lens creating credible evidence to inform gender-responsive policies. This publication was developed by UN Women’s global gender data programme Women Count in collaboration with the Inter-secretariat Working Group on Household Surveys.