| 1. |
- Congdon Fors, Heather, 1975, et al.
(författare)
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Changing local customs: Long-run impacts of the earliest campaigns against female genital cutting
- 2023
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Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This paper investigates the long-run impacts of Christian missionary expansion on the practice of female genital cutting (FGC) in sub-Saharan Africa. The empirical analysis draws on historical data on the locations of early European missions geographically matched with Demographic and Health Survey data on FGC practices of around 410,000 respondents from 42 surveys performed over a 30-year period (1990-2020) in 14 African countries. The results suggest that historical Christian missions have impacted FGC practices today. The benchmark estimates imply that a person living 10 km from a historical mission is 4-6 percentage points less likely to have undergone FGC than someone living 100 km from a mission site. Similarly, having one more mission per 1000 km2 in one’s ancestral ethnic homeland decreases the probability of having undergone FGC by around 8 percentage points. The effect is robust across a large number of specifications and control variables, both modern and historic. We use ethnographic data on pre-colonial FGC to show that the location of missions was not correlated with the practice of FGC in the local population.
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| 2. |
- Congdon Fors, Heather, 1975, et al.
(författare)
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Changing local customs: The long run impacts of Christian missions on female genital cutting in Africa
- 2024
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Ingår i: Journal of Development Economics. - 0304-3878. ; 166
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We investigate the long-run impacts of Christian missions on female genital cutting (FGC) in Africa. Our empirical analysis draws on historical data on the locations of early European missions geographically matched with Demographic and Health Survey data on FGC practices of around 410,000 respondents from 42 surveys performed over a 30-year period in 14 African countries. We use ethnographic data on pre-colonial FGC to show that the location of missions was not correlated with the practice of FGC in the local population. Our benchmark estimates imply that a person living 10 km from a historical mission is 4-6 percentage points less likely to have undergone FGC than someone living 100 km from a mission site. Similarly, an additional mission per 1000 km2 in one's ancestral ethnic homeland decreases the probability of having undergone FGC by around 8 percentage points. The effect is robust to numerous specifications and control variables.
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| 3. |
- Congdon Fors, Heather, 1975
(författare)
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Child Labor: A Review of Recent Theory and Evidence with Policy Implications
- 2008
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In recent years, a growing number of authors have turned their atten- tion to the question of why children work. The purpose of this paper is to review some of the more recent theoretical and empirical research into the topic of child labor, and to illustrate the fact that no one factor on its own can account for the phenomenon of child labor. Therefore, policies aimed at eradicating child labor will need to address the broad range of underlying factors that contribute to the incidence of child labor, such as poverty, market imperfections and access to education.
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| 4. |
- Congdon Fors, Heather, 1975
(författare)
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Child labour : a review of recent theory and evidence with policy implications
- 2012
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Ingår i: Journal of Economic Surveys. - : Wiley. - 0950-0804. ; 26:4, s. 570-593
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In recent years, a growing number of authors have turned their attention to the question of why children work. The purpose of this paper is to review some of the more recent theoretical and empirical research into the topic of child labour, and to illustrate the fact that no one factor on its own can account for the phenomenon of child labour. Therefore, policies aimed at eradicating child labour will need to address the broad range of underlying factors that contribute to the incidence of child labour, such as poverty, market imperfections and access to education.
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| 5. |
- Congdon Fors, Heather, 1975
(författare)
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Child Labour Background, Challenges, and the Role of Research in Achieving Sustainable Development Goal 8.7
- 2024
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Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The focus of this report is on child labour, which is a main component of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 8.7. After providing a brief background on child labour, this report provides an overview of the factors that research has identified as main contributors to child labor, categorized broadly as either microeconomic factors, macroeconomic factors, or other household factors. Microeconomic factors include household poverty, market imperfections, and the role of education in shaping outcomes while macroeconomic factors include economic growth and globalization. Other relevant parental and household factors are also discussed, such as altruism and cultural norms. The report next provides an overview of policies aimed at combating child labor, including policies related to the legal framework, poverty reduction initiatives, and access to education. A critical evaluation of the indicator used to measure child labor is conducted, focusing on standardization, measurement accuracy, conceptualization, and areas for potential improvement. Finally, the report identifies major challenges faced in eradicating child labor.
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| 6. |
- Congdon Fors, Heather, 1975
(författare)
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Citizens' Support for Economic Reforms in Sub-Saharan Africa
- 2016
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Ingår i: South African Journal of Economics. - : Wiley. - 0038-2280. ; 84:3, s. 343-363
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The objective of this paper is to investigate the factors that influence citizens' support for costly economic reforms in sub-Saharan Africa. This is relevant for several reasons, but the most obvious perhaps is that economic reform will be difficult if faced by strong resistance from citizens. In this paper, individual data from Round 4 of the Afrobarometer surveys is used to investigate how support for economic reforms is influenced by factors falling under the following broad categories: (i) Economic variables; (ii) group identity and fairness variables; (iii) Institutional and state/government variables; (iv) Demographic and control variables. An individual's trust in the president and the belief that the government manages the economy well are two of the most significant and robust factors. This is in keeping with the results found in Williamson (The Political Economy of Policy Reform, Institute for International Economics, Washington, DC, 1994). Another robustly significant variable is satisfaction with how democracy works in the country. Variables related to ethnic identity and community membership also play a significant role in support for costly economic reforms, which is in line with the theories put forward by van de Walle (African Economies and the Politics of Permanent Crisis, 1979–1999. Cambridge University Press, New York, 2001). Females are less likely to support economic reforms, while individuals with higher levels of education are more likely to support economic reforms.
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| 7. |
- Congdon Fors, Heather, 1975
(författare)
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Do island states have better institutions?
- 2014
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Ingår i: Journal of comparative economics. - : Elsevier BV. - 0147-5967 .- 1095-7227. ; 42:1, s. 34-60
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Since the end of World War II, the number of countries in the world has increased dramatically. Many of these newly independent countries are small both in terms of population and geography, and several are islands. The purpose of this paper is to explore the effects of island status and country size on institutional quality, and to determine if these institutional effects can explain the relatively strong economic performance of islands and small countries. I distinguish between political institutions (Democracy) and economic institutions (Rule of Law). One of the main findings of this paper is that the relationship between island status and institutional quality is significantly positive, and that these results are robust to the inclusion of a number of control variables. Further, I find that country size is negatively related to institutional quality, which is in keeping with previous results. These results provide further support for the hypothesis that institutions account for these countries' relatively better economic performance. © 2013 Association for Comparative Economic Studies.
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| 8. |
- Congdon Fors, Heather, 1975, et al.
(författare)
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Endogenous Institutional Change After Independence
- 2005
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- A key event in economic history was the independence of nearly ninety former colonies after World War II. On the basis of qualitative and quantitative evidence, we argue that independence often constituted an institutional disequilibrium that the new regimes reacted to in very different ways. We present a model of endogenous changes in property rights institutions where an autocratic post colonial ruler faces a basic trade-off between stronger property rights, which increases his dividends from the modern sector, and weaker property rights that increases his ability to appropriate resource rents. The model predicts that revenuemaximizing regimes in control of an abundance of resource rents and with insignificant interests in the modern sector will rationally install weak institutions of private property, a prediction which we argue is well in line with actual developments in for instance DR Congo, Ghana, and Zambia.
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| 9. |
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| 10. |
- Congdon Fors, Heather, 1975
(författare)
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Essays in Institutional and Development Economics
- 2006
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Paper 1: "Congo: The Prize of Predation" Abstract: The article analyzes the war against Mobutu (1996-97) and the more recent war (1998- ) in the Democratic Republic of the Congo with particular attention to greed and grievance as motivating factors in these two wars. Whereas the authors' usage of the term "greed" simply reflects the desire to gain control of natural resource rents, they model "grievance" as deliberate institutional differences, implemented by the ruler, between the formal and informal sectors. On the basis of quantitative and qualitative evidence, the authors outline a model of a predatory conflict between a kleptocratic ruler and a group of potential predators within a given region. The potential predators choose between peaceful production and predation on the ruling elite, who control the country's natural resource rents. It is shown that institutional grievance between the formal and informal sectors, along with the relative strength of the ruler's defense, play a key role for the initiation of a war. This observation is used to explain the timing of the two wars analyzed in this article. The model also shows that once a war has commenced, the abundance of natural resources and the ruler's kleptocratic tendencies determine conflict intensity. This result is also well in line with experience from the most recent Congolese war. Paper 2: "Endogenous Institutional Change After Independence" Abstract: Independence from colonial rule was a key event for both political and economic reasons. We argue that newly-independent countries often inherited sub-optimal institutional arrangements, which the new regimes reacted to in very different ways. We present a model of endogenous changes in property rights institutions where an autocratic post-colonial elite faces a basic trade-off between stronger property rights, which increases the dividends from the modern sector, and weaker property rights that increases the elite's ability to appropriate resource rents. The model predicts that revenue-maximizing regimes in control of an abundance of resource rents and with insignificant interests in the modern sector will rationally install weak institutions of private property, a prediction which we argue is well in line with the experience of several developing countries. Paper 3: "Island Status, Country Size and Institutional Quality in Former Colonies" Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to explore the effects of island status and country size on institutional quality, and to determine if these institutional effects can explain the relatively strong economic performance of islands and small countries. One of the main findings of this paper is that the relationship between island status and institutional quality is significantly positive, and that these results are robust to the inclusion of a number of control variables. Further, we find that country size is negatively related to institutional quality, which is in keeping with previous results. Finally, using an instrumental variable method we demonstrate that when Rule of Law is included in regressions on levels of per capita GDP, the positive effects of small country size and island status disappear. These results provide further support for our hypothesis that institutions account for these countries' relatively better economic performance. Paper 4: "The Determinants of Rural Child Labor: An Application to India" Abstract: There are several factors that may contribute to the decision to send a child to work, such as poverty, market imperfections and parental preferences. The aim of this paper is to determine empirically the relative importance of these diverse factors on the incidence of child labor in rural India. In order to examine several potentially influential factors separately, we outline a theoretical model of child labor in a peasant household based on the model presented in Bhalotra and Heady (2003) with modifications to allow for the child to participate in different types of labor. We then use the theoretical model to specify and estimate an empirical model of rural child labor participation. Our results indicate that there are significant income effects, and that market imperfections play an important role in determining whether the child participates in family labor. Parental education, however, appears to play the most important role in determining whether a child works, attends school or is idle.
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