Search results

The study explains why Parliamentarians in the United Kingdom (UK) focused on accountability through data during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as on how data could be used to improve the government’s response to the pandemic.

Understanding the implications of accountability for COVID-19 is crucial to understanding how governments should respond to future pandemics. This article provides an account of what a select committee in the UK thought were the essential elements of these accountability relationships. To do so, the authors use a neo-Roman concept of liberty to show how Parliamentary oversight of the pandemic for accountability was crucial to maintaining the liberty of citizens during the crisis and to identify what lessons need to be learnt for future crises.

The study shows that Parliamentarians were concerned that the UK government was not meeting its obligations to report openly about the COVID-19 pandemic to them. It shows that the government did make progress in reporting during the pandemic but further advancements need to be made in future for restrictions to be compatible with the protection of liberty.

The study extends the concept of neo-Roman liberty showing how it is relevant in an emergency situation and provides an account of why accountability is necessary for the preservation of liberty when the government uses emergency powers.

Governments and Parliaments need to think about how they preserve liberty during crises through enhanced accountability mechanisms and the publication of data.

The study extends previous work on liberty and calculation, providing a theorisation of the role of numbers in the protection of liberty.

This study aims to investigate whether the introduction of innovative financial products increases welfare for low-income households working in the manufacturing sector. Specifically, the authors measure the impact of mobile financial services (MFSs) on economic opportunities and wellbeing of garment factory workers in Bangladesh.

The study is based on Amartya Sen’s Capabilities Approach. Close to 400 textile factory workers were interviewed about their experience using Bangladesh’s most popular MFS, and how their household welfare has changed over time. Results were tabulated and analyzed with simple statistical tools.

While there remains an abundance of friction in the system, financial innovation still assisted low-income households in savings, and expedited and secured their fund transfers. The introduction of the new technology, especially when it is made mandatory, seems to have disempowered married women by reducing their financial independence from their husbands.

This study should help policy makers and international bodies in their efforts to design and support the inclusive growth of mobile financial technology.