Environment, resources and fishers in and out of the South China Sea: understanding the illegal Vietnamese harvest of marine goods in Northern and Northeastern Australia

The article explores Vietnamese fishing activities in and out of the South China Sea. It considers the historical and economic trajectories of fishing communities in the region and the role of Vietnam's subsidies and engagement as a maritime militia in drawing detrimental harvesting and transgressing into other countries' Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs). Zooming in on northern and northeastern Australia, I apply the concept of 'occupational slippage' to explain a large influx of Vietnamese fishing fleets harvesting giant clams and other marine goods in its EEZ. Firstly, I show that while maritime militia status carries benefits, it requires fishers to fish offshore, thereby serving Vietnam's goal of bolstering its territorial claims in the South China Sea and incentivizing fishers to apply for state subsidies that enable rendering their boats seaworthy for these more dangerous operations. Secondly, I argue that sensitivity to past dynamics and inter-ethnic networks sheds light on how territorial disputes and securitization of maritime borders intensify long-established patterns of maritime livelihoods, extending now to other seas and oceans. By tracing historical legacies through the lens of occupational slippage, I offer a nuanced understanding of Vietnamese fishers' expansions and their shifts between 'legal', 'illegal' and 'licit' activities, beyond the conceptualization of the sea as a zone of conflicts and securitization

Improving VAT compliance by incentivizing customers: Evidence from Tanzania

Abstract Ensuring compliance with the Value Added Tax (VAT) is a major challenge for tax administrations in many low- and lower-middle income countries (LLMICs). The selfenforcing nature of the VAT often breaks down at the point of sale to the final consumer. Receipt lotteries have been introduced as a tool to incentivize customers to request formal receipts for their purchases, thereby strenghtening enforcement. However, empirical evidence on the effectiveness of such lotteries remains limited. In collaboration with the Tanzania Revenue Authority, we implemented a receipt lottery and evaluated its effects using a combination of administrative tax data and original survey data. The administrative data show that the lottery led to significant increases in recorded sales and VAT liability among VAT registered firms. The survey data reveals that the customers are well aware of the lottery and respond by requesting receipts more frequently. However, firms often counter this increased demand by printing fewer receipts when customers do not explicitly request them, partially mitigating the lottery’s effects

Angola pós-dos Santos: Uma Antologia sobre Continuidade e mudança

Agora que Angola celebra o seu 50º aniversário como nação independente, é oportuno fazer uma avaliação do estado dos assuntos políticos, sociais e económicos. Pouco mais de metade da vida do estado independente foi dominada por uma guerra civil que contestou o poder do Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola. Desde a sua victória militar em 2002, o MPLA, em comum com outros partidos governantes no continente, consolidou o seu poder para se tornar uma potência hegemónica dentro de um sistema multipartidário nominal. Seguindo o caminho traçado pelo pai fundador Agostinho Neto (1975–1979), José Eduardo dos Santos manteve-se no poder durante 38 anos, entre guerras e paz. O foco desta antologia está no regime do terceiro presidente do MPLA, João Lourenço, eleito em 2017, reeleito em 2022 e com término previsto para 2027. As esperanças iniciais de que Lourenço pudesse vir a ser um líder transformacional e implementar reformas estruturais profundas, distanciando-se sistematicamente do seu antecessor, parecem ter sido abortadas depois de Lourenço ter obtido o controlo total do partido e das instituições de segurança. Este volume analisa os padrões de continuidade, bem como a ocorrência de mudanças em Angola após dos Santos. A maioria dos autores pertence a uma equipa de investigação de cientistas sociais angolanos e noruegueses que trabalharam juntos durante quatro anos num programa de investigação financiado pela Embaixada da Noruega em Angola, juntamente com alguns académicos internacionais. Os 19 capítulos da antologia exploram uma série de questões agrupadas em quatro tópicos principais: a economia, o mundo rural e urbano, a governação e a responsabilidade, e o novo regime político. Os autores oferecem percepções actualizadas sobre desenvolvimentos importantes em Angola após o fim do regime de dos Santos. Assim, este livro preenche um vácuo académico e empírico na compreensão dos desenvolvimentos recentes em Angola.     ISBN 978-82-8062-861-9 (livro

Juizas em Angola

As mulheres entraram em força no sistema judicial angolano desde a independência, há cinquenta anos. Milhares de mulheres passaram pelas faculdades de direito; centenas passaram para o judiciário e algumas para os dois dos tribunais superiores – Supremo e Constitucional* – incluindo para posições de liderança. Em todos os níveis do judicial, as mulheres constituem, actualmente, quase metade de todos os juízes em Angola. Este número compara-se favoravelmente com a maioria dos países africanos vizinhos, bem como com democracias bem estabelecidas noutras partes do mundo. Como explicar o afluxo de mulheres para o judiciário em Angola, num contexto de reconstrução pós-guerra? Neste Insight, sugerimos que é necessário examinar tanto a oferta de candidatas elegíveis como a procura de juízes e juízas. * Embora se conheçam também os Tribunais de Contas e Supremo Tribunal Militar como superiores, o estudo centrou-se nestes considerando o papel relevante que desempenham no sistema da administração da justiça comum e de matérias jurídico-constitucionais

Effects of jobs on ethnic switching – Evidence from a field experiment in Ethiopia

Ethnicity is a dynamic construct, with individual-level ethnic switching having been reported in numerous contexts. Ethnic switching, typically attributed to instrumental or social identity motivations, is hypothesized to be influenced by employment, as it facilitates a shift away from land-based, ethnic dependencies. However, confirming this theory is challenging due to inherent selection biases in employment. Collaborating with 27 firms across five Ethiopian regions, we randomized job offers to women. Utilizing longitudinal data spanning several years, we find that formal employment causally increases ethnic switching. In-depth qualitative interviews in the two regions with the highest incidence of switching indicate that instrumental factors, including fear during work commutes, are important mechanisms

Coda: the experience of war beyond exceptionalism

When linked to the context of war, fun can be understood as an expression of both direct and indirect communication, a manner of public engagement as well as a ‘ritual of inversion’ in which the proprieties of structure (the declared mandate and rules of war) are lampooned and violated, yet the finalities of the project of war (dominion, control, violence, and so on) remain intact. The focus on fun is not meant to trivialise the suffering war produces. On the contrary, it encourages a more honest and accurate analysis of what actively experiencing war entails. There are different reasons for pursuing a line of research that delves into the articulation of different emotions, moralities, and fighters’ perspectives, for instance the need to de-exceptionalise war’s brutality

Who decides in the household when risk preferences conflict?

Women’s low involvement in household decisions is an important cause of the persistence of gender inequality in developing countries, as it constrains women’s access to resources and opportunities. Despite its importance, little is known about the behavioral mechanisms behind women’s low involvement. Guided by a simple theoretical model, we hypothesize that women may refrain from participating in household decisions to avoid spousal conflict, the likelihood of which increases with spousal differences in risk preferences. Using survey data from both spouses of 675 couples in rural Tanzania, we find that spousal differences in risk preferences are associated with a lower likelihood that spouses make decisions jointly and a higher likelihood that decisions are made by the husband alone. These relations are stronger in couples where women are more conflict-averse