Search results

The purpose of this paper is to introduce a geospatial approach for buildings flood vulnerability assessment using an indicator-based method (IBM) to support flood risk assessment and mapping of physical elements at risk in Kota Bharu District, Kelantan, Malaysia.

The study developed an indicator-based approach to undertake physical flood vulnerability assessment of buildings. The approach takes into consideration flood hazard intensity, building characteristics and structures surrounding the environment as factors that influence flood vulnerability. The aggregation of the total flood vulnerability index is carried out in a geographic information system (GIS) environment.

The results provide a spatial representation of buildings flood vulnerability index in Kota Bharu Malaysia, and the degree of expected vulnerability is expressed on a scale between 0 to 1 (low damage to total damage). Mapping flood vulnerability index of buildings should be considered in future flood mitigation and evacuation planning.

Unlike other indicator-based methods (IBMs) developed for physical flood vulnerability assessment, in the current study, hazard intensity has been considered and incorporated in the physical flood vulnerability model.

This paper aims to examine the impact of commodity price changes (crude oil, cocoa, coffee, cotton and gold) on the international market on development (development proxied by the human development index) (HDI) among emerging economies in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA).

Empirical estimates verifying theorized relationships in question were performed using the two-step system generalized method of moments framework.

Results from the empirical estimates suggest that a percentage increase in the prices of crude oil, cocoa and gold in the world market have a significant positive influence on development among economies in the sub-region all things being equal; however, similar price changes in cotton and coffee showed a negative effect on development. Further empirical estimates suggest that the extent to which prices of key commodities such as crude oil, influence development in the sub-region benefit less from institutional variables such as government effectiveness, corruption control and political stability. The same institutional variables, however, were found to augment how changes in cocoa prices influence development among economies in the sub-region.

This study specifically examines the extent to which commodity price fluctuations impact a holistic measure of development, (HDI which inherently captures economic growth) among emerging economies such as those in the SSA region, and how such relationship may be moderated by conditions such as corruption control and government effectiveness. The review suggests that such a study is rare, did not find any specific empirical inquiry focusing on what this study is designed to accomplish. A major gap or deficit identified among most reviewed studies is the failure to verify how the surmised relationship between movements in prices of commodities traded on the international market and development is moderated by institutional factors such as corruption control, government effectiveness and political stability. This study specifically examines such interaction effects in its empirical analysis.

Bedroom Feng Shui practices have been criticized as myth over the years but in fact having its scientific origin that is not purely superstitious. This paper aims to examine whether the architects' design practice for bedroom interior arrangement is concurring with the recommended bedroom Feng Shui practices. The study has successfully interviewed 16 architects from diverse backgrounds to avoid bias, seeking their design perspectives in bedroom interior configuration. Subsequently, the interviewees submitted sketches of ideal bedroom layout based on their expertise, with pre-set requirements. Data from semi-structured interviews were analyzed using mixed method approach. In agreement with our expectations, majority of the interviewees have matching thoughts that “bed arrangement” is the primary consideration in bedroom interior configuration. Most of the design outputs were highly attached to favorable Feng Shui conditions. The overall findings implied that bedroom Feng Shui is not merely superstitious but most components are practical design references for architects from diverse backgrounds.

Earlier studies on employee turnover have invested enormous scholarly mileage to understand and address human resource challenges. Considering the substantial evidence on the negative and non-linear relationship between employee turnover and firms’ performance, the purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of employee turnover on the social outreach (e.g. breadth of outreach) of microfinance institutions (MFIs), also known as the financial inclusion agenda of the Sustainable Development Goals.

To achieve the study objective, the authors collected unbalanced panel data of 1,391 MFIs, covering a total of 96 economies and a period of 2010–2018. The organizational and macroeconomic data were obtained from the World Bank’s Mix Market and World Development Indicators databases, respectively, and subsequently analysed using the pooled ordinary least squares, random effects model, fixed effects model and generalized method of moments.

Overall, the authors found that employee turnover has a positive impact on the social outreach of MFIs, which suggests that employee turnover reduces organizational blindness and groupthink, potentiates efficiency gains and minimizes retention costs. On the contrary, this study does not find evidence of a non-linear effect of employee turnover on the outreach objectives of MFIs. Meanwhile, these effects were observed to vary depending on the proxy, sub-samples and techniques used in the analysis.

Motivated by the paucity of literature, the study has uniquely investigated the effect of employee turnover on the social outreach objective of MFIs by using relatively recent and global-level data. The study findings can help managers and the human resource departments to make optimum decisions about employee turnover management.

This paper aims to assess the role of secrecy jurisdictions in providing supply-side stimulants for illicit financial flows from developing countries and how the tax havens structures shape the role of actors. Specifically focussing on decades of trade liberalisation and markets, and of increasingly rapid movement of people, capital and information across regions and around the globe, the paper draws on the political economy theory of globalisation to illuminate the connections between capital flight, money laundering and global offshore financial centres (OFCs).

The paper uses publicly available evidence to shed light on the role played by tax havens in facilitating money laundering, capital flight and corruption. The issues are illustrated with the aid of case studies.

The evidence shows that, in pursuit of organisational and personal interest, the tax havens create enabling structures that support illicit activities of the political and economic elites from developing countries. The paper further argues that the supply-side of corruption severely limits the possibilities of preventing corruption in developing countries.

The paper uses publicly available evidence to illuminate the role played by OFCs in facilitating elite corruption and money laundering practices.

It is impossible to quantify the volume of money laundered, but it has been estimated that money laundering may account for as much as 5% of the world economy.

The paper, therefore, suggests that unless this supply-side of corruption is tackled there is little prospect for an end to aid dependency and the creation of economically stable and democratic states in developing countries.

The paper examines predatory practices of the international financial industry in tax havens and OFCs in facilitating money laundering, corruption and capital flight and the challenges posed for the economic development of developing countries.

This paper aims to analyze the relationship between public health spending and health outcome using time series data in Nigeria over the period 1980 to 2017, taking into account the role of governance by assessing how the quality of governance directly affects health status and indirectly as a mediator for the effectiveness of public health spending.

Using the Hausman statistical tests to check for the existence of endogeneity, the proper method for estimating the model for this study is the two-stage least square regression model. The two-stage least squares regression model addresses the problem of endogeneity using instrumental variables. The mediating role of governance on the effectiveness of public health spending on health was considered by an interaction of governance indicators with public health spending.

The results showed that public health spending had no significant effect on health outcome except when interacted with governance quality. The interaction of government health spending with governance effectiveness as well as that for control of corruption improved health by inducing a fall in maternal deaths, whereas government health expenditure interacted with rule of law raised maternal mortality. Public health spending interacted with regulatory quality improved life expectancy while that for political stability with public health spending induced a fall in life expectancy, poor maternal and infant health. Political stability and the control of corruption had direct influence on maternal health.

Given the predominance of public health spending in promoting access to health care and population health status for developing economies, the effectiveness of such spending should be top priority in policy makers’ agenda. This again is important because for developing economies, government revenue is generated from a small tax base due to their highly informal nature. To improve health status from public intervention in the health sector, there is indeed need for improvement in the overall state of governance in Nigeria.

This paper is one of the few country case studies which uses time series data to examine the role of governance on the efficacy of public health spending with extension of findings to maternal health and covering more measures of governance quality. The results fundamentally illuminate the importance of governance in fostering development in health and consequently enhancing economic development and growth.

Contemporary literature has paid scholarly attention to financial criminal practice from a variety of competing perspectives. However, this paper seeks to encourage reflections on some questionable practices of the political and economic elite which increase their capital accumulation but harm citizens.

Within a socio‐political framework, this study adopts the theories of the developmental state and globalisation in order to understand the relationship between social agency and society, and focuses on the institutional structures and the role of social actors.

The paper used publicly available documents to construct case studies to provide some evidence of the strategies and tactics used by political elite to facilitate their capital accumulations. Evidence is provided to show that large sums of government revenue have been undermined by the financial criminal practices of the Nigerian political and economic elite (both local and international), which have enriched a few, but impoverished most, Nigerians.

Financial criminal practices have played a major role in causing serious damage to the economic and social landscape of Nigeria, which in turn, has undermined social welfare and also investment in the public services, thereby eroding the quality of life and producing a decline in average life expectancy. As a consequence of recurring corrupt practices by the political and economic elites in Nigeria, there is a need for reform in order to curb the practice which has had and continues to have, a serious effect on Nigeria and its future development.

Broader accounts of the impact of financial criminal practices on development in developing countries are relatively scarce. Previous studies have tended to individualise the problem.

This paper aims to present an experience-based learning framework that provides a bottom-up, student-centered entrance point for the development of systems thinking, normative and collaborative competencies in sustainability.

The framework combines mental mapping with exploratory walking. It interweaves mapping and walking activities with methodological and theoretical inputs as well as with reflections and discussions. The framework aligns experiential activities, i.e. mental mapping and walking, with learning objectives, i.e. novice-level sustainability competencies. The authors applied the framework for student activities in Phoenix/Tempe and Hamburg/Lüneburg as part of The Global Classroom, a project between Arizona State University in the USA and Leuphana University of Lüneburg in Germany.

The application of the experience-based learning framework demonstrates how students started developing systems thinking (e.g. understanding urban systems as functional entities and across different domains), normative (e.g. using different sustainability principles) and collaborative (e.g. learning across disciplinary, social and cultural differences) competencies in sustainability.

The experience-based learning framework contributes to the development of curricular activities for the initial development of sustainability competencies in introductory-level courses. It enables students from different disciplinary, social and cultural backgrounds, e.g. in international education, to collaboratively start developing such competencies. The framework can be adapted to different educational contexts.

This study investigated consumers' satisfaction with local rice attributes and willingness to pay (WTP) for improvement by internal migrants and natives in urban Ghana.

Primary data was sourced from 304 urban consumers and ordered probit regression was employed.

Urban consumers had higher satisfaction with imported rice attributes than local rice. Consumers were unsatisfied with aroma, availability/accessibility, cleanliness, packaging, grain appearance, measurement standard, and taste of local rice. Moreover, 90% were willing to pay higher prices for local rice with improved attributes and WTP was higher among natives than migrants. Averagely, urban consumers are willing to pay 51% increase in market price of local rice if attributes were improved. Natives, males, educated, high-income, local rice consumption, shopping from supermarkets, trust in certification bodies, and dissatisfaction with local rice attributes boost WTP for improved local rice attributes.

There is a great market potential for local rice with improved attributes. Thus, there should be an improvement in local rice attributes and sold at moderate price and in supermarkets.

We compared consumers' satisfaction and WTP for improved local rice attributes among internal migrants and natives in urban Ghana.

The construction sector (CNS) occupies a very unique position in any economy depending on whether developed or developing economy. The size and linkages of the CNS are expected to be high to help push or pull the economy from developing to developed economy through elaborate forward and backward linkages, a cardinal aim of developing economies. This paper aims to investigate the forward and backward linkages of the CNS in the Nigerian economy.

In contrast to the traditional input–output analysis to assess sectoral economic performance and production interdependence, this paper used econometric techniques, including unit root test, cointegration test and Granger causality test to analyze the data. Time-series data (TSD) for the study were extracted from United Nations Statistical Department database.

The result indicated that the CNS has low forward linkages but high backward linkages to virtually all the sectors of the Nigerian economy. Thus, the outputs of construction mainly satisfy the manufacturing and other activities.

The paper gives an insight into the construction on backward linkages but less extensive forward linkages. The paper recommends a massive local content development of sector to deepen backward and forward linkages and thus helps pull or push weak sectors out of stagnation.