| 1. |
- Sepahvand, M H, et al.
(author)
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Does revolution change risk attitudes? : Evidence from Burkina Faso
- 2024
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In: Journal of International Development. - : John Wiley & Sons. - 0954-1748 .- 1099-1328.
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- A popular uprising in 2014, led to a revolution that overthrew the sitting President of Burkina Faso. We investigate if individuals' risk attitudes changed due to this revolution. We examine this impact by the main determinants of risk attitudes: gender, age and level of education. The analysis is based on unique panel survey data, allowing us to track the changes in the risk attitudes of the same individuals before, during and after the revolution. Our results suggest that individuals become risk averse during the revolution but return back to their pre-revolution risk attitudes, with a slight increase in their risk attitudes, after the revolution is over.
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| 2. |
- Themnér, Anders, 1976-, et al.
(author)
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Climate Change and the Risk of Violent Conflicts in Southern Africa
- 2011
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Book (other academic/artistic)abstract
- This study aims to identify regions in the Zambezi River Basin in Southern Africa that are prone to risk of violent conflicts (collective violence, popular unrest) induced by climatic changes/variability. The Zambezi River is 575 kilometres long and the basin covers eight countries: Zambia, Angola, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Tanzania, Botswana, Mozambique and Namibia. Besides the ecological impact, the study argues that socio-economic and political problems are disproportionately multiplied by climate change/variability. Climate change/variability amplifies stresses on the socio-political fabric because it affects the governance of resources, and hence, is linked to the weakened mitigation and adaptation capacity of societies, that are already facing economic challenges (rising food prices, etc.). Society becomes highly vulnerable to climate induced conflicts when it suffers from poor central leadership, weak institutions and polarized social identities. Taking all these factors into consideration, this study identifies Bulawayo/Matableleland-North in Zimbabwe and the Zambezia Province in Mozambique as the most likely regions to experience climate induced conflicts in the near future. The reasons for arriving at this conclusion are: a) Climate change/variability will have a significant impact on these two regions; due to increasing water scarcity in Bulawayo/Matabeleland-North; and intensified flooding, sea-level rise, and costal erosion in the Zambezia Province. b) Due to climate change/variability, agricultural production in these two regions will become highly volatile, leading to severe food insecurity. c) Both regions are suffering from low quality political governance, having unscrupulous elites, weak institutions, and polarized social identities.
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| 3. |
- Bali Swain, Ranjula, 1968-, et al.
(author)
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Does Foreign Aid Improve Gender Performance In Recipient Countries?
- 2020
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In: Journal of International Development. - : Wiley. - 0954-1748 .- 1099-1328. ; 32:7, s. 1171-1193
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- An explicit goal of foreign aid is to promote female empowerment and gender equality in developing countries. We investigate if foreign aid achieves this intended goal by examining its impact on the gender performance of recipient countries at the country level. Employing structural equation models, our results suggest that aid alone, even when targeted to directly improve gender outcomes, is unlikely to shift systemic inequalities. Aid will need to bolster civil society efforts that challenge institutional structures and norms in order to impact gender outcomes at the country level.
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| 4. |
- Bali Swain, Ranjula
(author)
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The Demand and Supply of Credit for households
- 2007
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In: Applied Economics. - : Informa UK Limited. - 0003-6846 .- 1466-4283. ; 39:21, s. 2681-2692
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The demand and supply of credit in the rural credit markets is investigated in this article using household data from India. The aim is to study the effects of household, farm productive characteristics and the policy variables on the demand and supply of credit. A type 3 Tobit model is estimated which corrects for sample selection and endogeniety bias. In addition, a generalized Double Hurdle model is estimated where the information on the household's access to credit is included to estimate the demand and supply of credit. The results suggest that the size of the operational holdings, net-wealth, dependency ratio, educational level of the household and the wages and output prices are important determinants of the demand and supply of credit for farm households. The Double Hurdle model confirms that the 'size of land owned' plays a crucial role in whether the household has access to a loan or not.
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| 5. |
- Bali Swain, Ranjula, 1968-
(author)
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Money With a Mission, Volume 1, Microfinance and Poverty Reduction, by James Copestake, Martin Greely, Susan Johnson, Naila Kabeer, and Anton Simanowitz. Warwickshire, UK: Practical Action, 2006. 272 pp. ISBN-978-1853396144
- 2009
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In: Feminist Economics. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1354-5701 .- 1466-4372. ; 15:2, s. 103-106
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Review (other academic/artistic)
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| 6. |
- Bali Swain, Ranjula, et al.
(author)
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Does microfinance empower women? : Evidence from self-help groups in India
- 2009
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In: International review of applied economics. - : Taylor&Francis Group. - 0269-2171 .- 1465-3486. ; 23:5, s. 541-556
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Microfinance programmes like the Self Help Bank Linkage Program in India have been increasingly promoted for their positive economic impact and the belief that they empower women. However, only a few studies rigorously examine the link between microfinance and women's empowerment. This article contributes to this discussion by arguing that women's empowerment takes place when women challenge the existing social norms and culture, to effectively improve their well-being. It empirically validates this hypothesis by using quasi-experimental household sample data collected for five states in India for 2000 and 2003. A general model is estimated by employing appropriate techniques to treat the ordinal variables in order to estimate the impact of the Self Help Group (SHG) on women's empowerment for 2000 and 2003. The results strongly demonstrate that on average, there is a significant increase in the empowerment of women in the SHG members group. No such significant change is observed however, for the members of the control group. The elegance of the result lies in the fact that the group of SHG participants show clear evidence of a significant and higher empowerment, while allowing for the possibility that some members might have been more empowered than others.
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| 7. |
- Westling, Nils, et al.
(author)
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Can upstream ecosystems ensure safe drinking water—Insights from Sweden
- 2020
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In: Ecological Economics. - : Elsevier. - 0921-8009 .- 1873-6106. ; 169
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Clean water is not only the product of expensive treatment technology, but also of upstream ecosystems. Yet, the effect of land use on downstream water quality is poorly understood. We investigate the value of ecosystem water purification as an input to the production of drinking water in Sweden. We employ a recently modified empirical approach, complementing ex-ante modelling. We capture plant operator behaviour, rather than assuming rational individuals that value ecosystem services as a factor in the drinking water production function. The GMM technique is applied to estimate the marginal contributions of different land uses to water quality and chemical costs of treatment plants. The analysis is based on upstream land-use data, raw water quality, and chemical costs for a large share of Sweden's municipal surface water treatment plants, for the period 2000 to 2012. Our results show that upstream forests lead to lower levels of E. coli (a pathogen associated with disease outbreaks) in downstream water and indicate the same effect on turbidity (not significant). We also find that turbidity increases treatment costs, but the effect of E. coli remains unclear. Consequently, in addition to water treatment equipment, decision-makers should consider investment in upstream ecosystems.
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| 8. |
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| 9. |
- Bali Swain, Ranjula, 1968-, et al.
(author)
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Group-based financial services in the global south : Examining evidence on social efficacy
- 2021
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In: The Routledge Handbook of Feminist Economics. - London : Routledge. - 9780429020612 - 9780367074142 ; , s. 433-440
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Book chapter (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Women’s community-based savings clubs were observed as early as the late 19th century across the Global South. Microfinance promised to provide financial services to the poor (predominantly women in the Global South) that lack access to formal banking. This chapter provides a synthesis of the existing evidence on the impact credit services have had. It covers two specific issues: the impact of credit on poverty and its impact on women’s empowerment. The chapter uses an analytical framework drawn from a coalescence of basic methodological principles within feminist economics scholarship described by Power as the “social provisioning approach.” Specifically, it also uses well-being as a central measure of economic success and the notion that human agency is important. From the perspective of a “social provisioning” framework, impact on income alone would give us at best a partial picture on the social efficacy of credit.
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| 10. |
- Bali Swain, Ranjula, et al.
(author)
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Microfinance ‘Plus’ : The Impact of Business Training on Indian Self Help Groups
- 2010
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Reports (other academic/artistic)abstract
- The provision of business training with microfinance leads to a positive impact on assets for the participating households. We correct for membership selection bias and account for potential training endogeneity with propensity score matching, using data from the Self Help Group microfinance program in India.
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