Search results

The aim of this study was to evaluate determinants of four diversification practises by cocoa smallholders in West Sulawesi, Indonesia: (1) growing other crops, (2) keeping livestock, (3) off-farm work for wages (4) off-farm self-employment, and the impact of diversification on welfare of community members.

Household interviews (n = 116) conducted in two subdistricts (Anreapi and Mapilli) of Polewali-Mandar District, West Sulawesi, provided quantitative data on household characteristics, crop and livestock production, income sources, expenditure and credit access. Two villages per subdistrict were included in the study, each producing cocoa as the main crop but differing in their proximity to a market town. Logistic regression was applied to identify determinants of diversification by households. Multiple linear regression (MLR) models evaluated the impact of diversification practices and other explanatory variables on two proxies of welfare (or household wealth): per capita value of durable assets (household assets other than land or livestock) and per capita expenditure for each household.

Mean per capita cocoa production in the sample was low (51 kg dry beans/annum). The mean dependency ratio (proportion of household occupants age <18 and >64) was 35%, with an average of five occupants per household. Household heads were predominantly male (95%), averaging 46 yo and 7 years of formal education. Most households (72%) depended on loans, but only 24% accessed formal loans. Significant determinants of diversification practices were access to formal credit for self-employment and subdistrict for livestock, with Mapilli subdistrict households more likely to keep livestock. Household predictors in the MLR accounted for 28% variation of the dependent, per capita value of durable goods. Off-farm self-employment and raising livestock significantly improved welfare, but growing other crops or off-farm work for wages had little effect. Other household variables demonstrated to have significant positive effects on welfare were education of the household head, proximity to a market town and land area per household.

The study was restricted to a relatively small sample size (n = 116). Studies including panel data or larger numbers of households could enable the identification of further determinants of diversification.

The study demonstrates that diversification has the potential to improve rural livelihoods, but that obstacles, especially formal credit access, may deter poorer households from diversifying their income sources.

Programs and policies that facilitate access to formal finance by smallholders could encourage diversification into small business and improve livelihoods in cocoa-dependent communities.

In the light of the decline in cocoa farm productivity in West Sulawesi, the study demonstrates the potential benefits, as well as limitations, of income diversification by smallholders.

Using a recently compiled dataset on migration and remittances in Ghana, the purpose of this paper is to estimate the determinants of an individual's likelihood to be an internal migrant and the relationship between internal migration and welfare.

The paper uses treatment regression techniques to assess the characteristics of Ghanaian migrants, the determinants of migration, and its impact on household welfare.

The paper finds that the likelihood to migrate is determined by a combination of individual (pull) and community‐level (push) characteristics. The probability of migration is higher for younger and more educated individuals, but communities with higher levels of literacy, higher rates of subsidized medical care, and better access to water and sanitation are less likely to produce migrants. It is found that households with migrants tend to be better off than similar households without migrants, even after controlling for the fact that households with migrants are a non‐random sample of Ghanaians. However, the positive relationship is only true for households with at least one migrant in urban areas.

Clearly, if the authors had access to panel data, they would have been able to do something very nice and clean (on both theoretical and econometric grounds).

This paper adds to the Ghana migration literature by offering a novel empirical assessment of the characteristics of Ghanaian migrants, the determinants of migration, and its impact on household welfare by drawing on a recently‐assembled, nationally‐representative sample of Ghanaian households.

Aim of the present monograph is the economic analysis of the role of MNEs regarding globalisation and digital economy and in parallel there is a reference and examination of some legal aspects concerning MNEs, cyberspace and e‐commerce as the means of expression of the digital economy. The whole effort of the author is focused on the examination of various aspects of MNEs and their impact upon globalisation and vice versa and how and if we are moving towards a global digital economy.

The association between income distribution and measures of health has been well established such that societies with smaller income differences between rich and poor people have increased longevity (Wilkinson, 1996). While more egalitarian societies tend to have better health, in most developed societies people lower down the social scale have death rates two to four times higher than those nearer the top. Inequities in income distribution and the consequent disparities in health status are particularly problematic for many women, including single mothers, older women, and women of colour. The feminization of poverty is the rapidly increasing proportion of women in the adult poverty population (Doyal, 1995; Fraser, 1987).

The purpose of this paper uses household survey data to model the correlates of household consumption and poverty in Fiji. A multivariate empirical analysis is conducted to ascertain those household and community characteristics that correlate with household welfare and poverty. In particular, the results will show how a particular characteristic will affect household poverty conditional on the level of other characteristics that are also potential determinants of poverty.

The key approach in this paper is similar to Mukherjee and Benson and is based on ordinary least squares (OLS) modeling of the natural logarithm of total per capita consumption of households, which serves as the household welfare indicator, against a set of exogenous determinants such as household and community characteristics. For robustness checks, a probit regression is also estimated with the probability of a household being in poverty as the dependent variable and an identical set of independent variables used in the OLS regression.

The results show that higher levels of education, supporting agricultural growth policies in rural areas and reallocation of labour into the formal sector of the economy will prove effective in reducing poverty at the household level. These results can have important policy implications for design and implementation of poverty reduction policies.

Empirical studies on the determinants of household consumption and poverty are non‐existent in Fiji. This thus is the first study which attempts to model the determinants of poverty at the household level and is the major contribution of this paper.

Improving quality of life for older people calls for public policy initiatives that have a positive impact on the determinants of quality of life. This paper presents a review of current social welfare, housing and health policy in the Republic of Ireland relevant to older people and policy areas that are of particular relevance to the determinants of quality of life identified in the literature. The state pension, on which older people are heavily reliant, constitutes the main focus of social welfare cash payments. However, a general practice of marginal increments that fail to take adequate account of inflation and costs of living can leave older people living on the margins of society. In relation to housing policy, there is a need for improved policy implementation regarding housing maintenance and facilitating home comfort in the older population. Overall, greater consideration for the housing needs of older people in general and social housing needs in particular are required. Since 1988 a preference for community over institutional care has persisted throughout Ireland's health policy documents, although gaps between policy aspiration and implementation measures continue to be highlighted. Future policy needs to focus on the creation of enabling environments for social participation and in the optimising of opportunities for physical, social and mental well‐being. The review underscored the absence of a rights‐based approach in policy‐making to date and the need for substantial capacity building to be undertaken among older people themselves.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of education on migration decisions focusing on rural and urban in-migrants by comparing the 2005/2006 and 2012/2013 rounds of the Ghana Living Standards Survey (GLSS5 and GLSS6). After correcting for selectivity bias, the authors observed that anticipated welfare gain and socio-economic variables such as sector of employment, sex, experience, age, educational level and marital status significantly affect an individual’s migration decision.

The authors made use of Sjaastad’s (1962) human capital framework as a basis for examining the impact of education on migration. The migration decision equation was based on the Heckman two stage procedure.

While educational attainment is observed to have a positive effect on migration decision in the period 2005/2006, the authors find a negative effect of educational attainment on migration decision in the period 2012/2013. The effect of educational attainment on migration decision in 2005/2006 for urban in-migrant is higher than the effect for rural in-migrant, with its significance varying for the different stages of educational attainment. In absolute terms, whereas the effect of secondary educational attainment on migration decisions for urban in-migrant is higher than that of rural in-migrant, the reverse holds for higher educational attainment during the period 2012/2013.

Based on the mixed effect of education on migration decision as evident from the study, policies to enhance the educational system in Ghana should be complemented with job creations in the entire country. Moreover, special attention should be given to the rural sector in such a way that the jobs to be created in the sector do not require skilled workers. With quality education and job creation, the welfare of individuals living in urban and rural areas will be enhanced.

In spite of the importance of education in migration decisions, there is scanty literature on the rural-urban dimension. To the best of the author’s knowledge there is no literature in the Ghanaian context which examines the rural and urban perspective of the impact of education on migration with a much recent data. Further, the author consider how the determinants of migration decision have changed over time focusing on rural and urban perspectives.

The measurement of women's economic welfare and exploring its underlying factors have been undervalued in the context of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. This study addressed this gap by focusing on assessing women's subjective economic welfare and its socioeconomic and cultural determinants in the education and health sectors within Mardan, Northern Pakistan.

The study used stratified random sampling techniques for the selection of sample respondents and collected data through a well-structured questionnaire. To measure women’s economic welfare, the study utilizes Lorenz curves, the Gini index, the Sen Social Welfare function and an individual's gross monthly income. Furthermore, the ordinary least squares method was utilized to analyze the determinants of economic welfare.

The findings show greater income inequality and a lower welfare level for women in the education sector compared to the health sector. Likewise, the study identifies several key determinants, such as age, educational qualification, job experience, respect for working women, outside and work-place problems and the suffering of family members of working women for their economic well-being.

This study makes valuable contributions to the literature by focusing on the cultural perspective of Pakhtun women in Mardan and providing a context-specific understanding of subjective economic welfare. Additionally, the authors collected first-hand data, which gave an original outlook on working women's current economic welfare level. Furthermore, this study undertakes a comparative analysis of working women's welfare in the health and education sectors. This comparison offers a more accurate portrayal of the challenges and opportunities specific to these occupations.

The peer-review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-04-2023-0246

A key concern in debates about local government structure has centred around the competing claims for democracy, usually seen to require small units based on recognised communities of interest, and those of administrative efficiency or the instrumental requirements of the centre, usually seen to require larger units which can encompass socio‐geographical change and the functional requirements of large‐scale welfare provision. Britain provides perhaps the best example of this issue being settled in favour of the latter claim with structure being designed to reflect changing patterns of economic interaction between people and the technical requirements of service delivery. Although the various recommended changes in structure have recognised the importance of a sense of community to local government the dominant considerations have been those of economic rationality and the scale required for the delivery of services. Thus local government structure has been determined by functional requirement, with the economic welfare of communities being equated to total welfare. The adoption of a postmodernist stance however, provides the opportunity to reintroduce the concept of spiritual community and for claiming that the maximisation of economic welfare is not necessarily the same as the maximisation of total welfare. Postmodernist arguments are used in this paper to suggest local government structures which contain units of varying sizes. To define community in terms of welfare maximisation in this way would allow the combination of economic, social, physiological and psychological welfare. It is argued that such a definition would help the development of a local government structure which is not purely instrumental but which also promotes ownership and involvement. This approach is equally applicable not only where an instrumental attitude has prevailed, but also allows for the potential to re‐define “traditional” community bases for Local Government.

The quality and availability of sexual and reproductive health care are key determinants to reducing maternal mortalities and morbidities in disaster settings; yet, these services are often lacking in developing countries. Reducing maternal mortality and morbidity is currently the main targets of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3. The purpose of this study was to develop an intervention package called RHCC (Reproductive Health Kit 8; Capacity building; Community awareness), and to implement and evaluate it in three primary health-care (PHC) facilities in Belkuchi, Bangladesh, in order to improve the quality and availability of post-abortion care (PAC) during the 2017 floods.

This research used both quantitative and qualitative methods to develop, implement and assess the RHCC in three flood-prone PHC facilities in Belkuchi.

The RHCC was implemented during the floods of 2017. The findings pre- and post-intervention suggest it led to an increase in skilled management among health workers, an increase in the quality of care for clients and the availability of PAC at three PHC facilities during floods.

Due to its geographic location, Bangladesh is exposed to recurrent floods and cyclones. Evidence-based integrated intervention packages, such as the RHCC, can improve the quality and availability of reproductive health care during disasters at PHC level and, in doing so, can promote the UN’s agenda on “disaster resilient health system” to achieve the SDG 3, and the WHO’s campaign on universal health coverage.