Low income households under austerity: A notable rise in debt for essential needs

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How much poverty could HIPC reduce

This paper reviews the development of the HIPC Initiative, then considers how much poverty could be reduced through debt relief. Using a simple distribution function and measures of inequality, US one dollar a day poverty is estimated for the twenty-three countries. We show that the HIPC countries account for relatively little of developing country poverty. Further, full debt cancellation would have a small impact on reducing poverty in most of the HIPC countries themselves. The paper reaches the conclusion that neither a distribution-neutral debt cancellation, nor transferring all debt payments to investment for faster growth would achieve the International Poverty Targets. Therefore, debt relief must be combined with redistribution measures to achieve those targets

Austerity urbanism, local government debt-drive, and post COVID predicaments in Britain

© The Author (2023). Published by Oxford University Press. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).Conditions of local governance in the aftermath of the global financial crisis are often discussed as reflections of ‘austerity urbanism’. What forms of mutations have taken place in austerity urbanism after the initial years of spending cuts at the local level? This article investigates this question by focusing on the uneven geographies of post-austerity debt-drive in Britain. It is shown that austerity urbanism in Britain was somewhat peculiarly combined with debt-driven ‘entrepreneurialism’ several years after the introduction of extensive budgetary cuts. The local debt-drive was instigated by austerity-urbanism as a way of resolving the challenge of financing local services and development. The relatively low level of initial debt stock among local governments, very attractive borrowing terms and various regulatory changes facilitated the expansion of borrowing. Using debt stock data for over 300 local governments, it is demonstrated how debt build-up evolved to create financial difficulties for around 40 percent of local governments. The Covid-19 pandemic, with its severe impacts on local revenues, exposed the debt-driven local development projects, leading to rescue operations and efforts to curb borrowing through new rules and regulations. For deeper international insights into the dynamics of debt-financing and urban development in times of crises, further research is needed to complement existing research in Britain and the USA, where relatively greater evidence exists.Peer reviewe

Access to Water in the Slums of the Developing World

The text and data in this publication may be reproduced as long as the source is cited. Reproductions for commercial purposes are forbiddenThe discussion reveals the failure of public policies as well as markets to provide satisfactory solutions to the problems of access to a safe, affordable and continuous water supply. In many countries, especially those in Sub-Saharan Africa, access to safe water through household connections declined in the 1990s. Achievements in access rates in many Asian and African economies are the due to widespread use of public water points such as public standpipes and kiosks. These sources are important, but doubtless the quality of access to water with these facilities is unsatisfactory since they involve greater effort by households, involving queuing, carrying water and lacking continuous access. A substantial proportion of urban dwellers in developing countries, especially in unplanned settlements, rely on a wide range of small-scale providers whose services are vital in the absence of alternatives. Their services, however, are often inferior to those provided by the formal network. Invariably, the water charges of alternative sources are higher than those for supply from the public network.Final Published versio

Reforming Without Resourcing: The Case of the Urban Water Supply in Zambia

I. Introduction Public water supply systems have increasingly been subject to commercialisation or corporatisation in the developing world. This method is sometimes used as a surrogate for privatisation in circumstances where existing systems of provision are unattractive for multinational water companies. By reforming the public sector in the image of independent and self-sufficient private enterprises, the chief aim of commercialisation is to improve the efficiency of operations often associated with the private sector. (...)Reforming Without Resourcing: The Case of the Urban Water Supply in Zambia

When rhetoric does not translate to reality: hardship, empowerment and the third sector in Austerity Localism

© The Author(s) 2018Austerity localism powerfully explains dynamics of (dis)empowerment at the local level, especially regarding the autonomy and accountability of local authorities and third sector organisations (TSOs) in the UK. Yet these dynamics at institutional level have also a clear impact on individuals, especially the socio-economically vulnerable. This is especially true in a time of cost-containment and welfare retrenchment. This article addresses a gap in the literature by focusing not only on TSOs but also on the experiences of vulnerable individuals under austerity localism. The discussion is centred on two types of TSOs: foodbanks and advice/advocacy organisations. Drawing upon primary qualitative data from three locations in England and Wales, the article argues that the emphatic rhetoric of empowerment within austerity localism, which others have shown to be problematic at the institutional level, does not translate into real-world empowerment for service users and other vulnerable individuals. In making the argument the article contributes to work on expanding the analytical scope of austerity localism, as well as further exploring the roles and prospects of TSOs in the current long period of austerity in the UK.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

Pricing Decisions and Market Power in the UK Electricity Market: A VECM Approach

This document is the Accepted Manuscript version of the following article: Chrysovalantis Amountzias, Hulya Dagdeviren, and Tassos Patokos, 'Pricing Decisions and Market Power in the UK Electricity Market: A VECM Approach', Energy Policy, Vol. 108, pp. 467-473, September 2017. Under embargo. Embargo end date: 27 June 2019. The Version of Record is available online at doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2017.06.016 © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.This paper examines the influence of market power in the formation of retail and wholesale electricity prices in the UK over 1998–2012 on the basis of Vector Error Correction model (VECM). Market power is measured as the influence of the market share of the Big Six in a dynamic demand and supply VECM. The findings indicate that market power of the Big Six in the wholesale industry has a significant and large positive influence on the wholesale mark-up in the short-run. The long-run estimates support the arguments about ‘revenue rebalancing’ resulting from vertical integration. That is, low market power (and hence low revenues) in the wholesale industry leads to higher prices (hence higher revenues) in the retail industry. These findings are in contrast to the CMA's finding that no market power is exercised in the wholesale industry. Retail electricity prices are affected directly by both the wholesale and retail market concentration ratios in the long-run rather than indirectly through the wholesale mark-up. Overall, the findings in this paper provide support for the view that the UK electricity market exhibits significant anti-competitive conduct in both the retail and wholesale segments.Peer reviewe

Access to Water in the Slums of the Developing World

According to the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), 924 million people lived in slums in 2001. Population growth in these settlements is much greater than in other urban areas. The estimates suggest that this figure may rise to 1.5 billion by 2020 (Payne, 2005). This rapid increase is expected despite ?slum upgrading? efforts that have been taking place for decades, though inconsistently and with disruptions over time. There is a prolific literature on informal settlement areas, but research on access to essential services such as water and sanitation (WS) in these areas is very limited. Most studies consider issues of access in connection to urban poverty, an approach that often reduces the discussion to the income and expenditure constraints faced by households. Examining access to WS in the slums spurs an appreciation of the multidimensional nature of the problem, including income poverty, infrastructural limitations, asset ownership and housing quality. Moreover, developments in the slums concern every aspect of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). This paper examines the conditions of access to water in the slums of the developing world. It has three goals. The first is to identify the objective and policy-related challenges that hinder progress in the provision of safe, affordable, continuous and easy access to water in countries where there is a sizeable slum population. The second is to explore the existing systems of provision in informal settlements and to discuss the weaknesses and strengths of each. The third is to make policy recommendations. Though the discussion on access to sanitation is limited, this is not to deny the importance of that issue. Besides, water and sanitation services are often intrinsically linked and therefore are provided together by network utilities. The discussion reveals the failure of public policies as well as markets to provide satisfactory solutions to the problems of access to a safe, affordable and continuous water supply. In many countries, especially those in Sub-Saharan Africa, access to safe water through household connections declined in the 1990s. Achievements in access rates in many Asian and African economies are the due to widespread use of public water points such as public standpipes and kiosks. These sources are important, but doubtless the quality of access to water with these facilities is unsatisfactory since they involve greater effort by households, involving queuing, carrying water and lacking continuous access. A substantial proportion of urban dwellers in developing countries, especially in unplanned settlements, rely on a wide range of small-scale providers whose services are vital in the absence of alternatives. Their services, however, are often inferior to those provided by the formal network. Invariably, the water charges of alternative sources are higher than those for supply from the public network. Section 2 provides a general discussion of informal settlements and outlines the growth of slum development and trends in access to water supply since 1990. Section 3 examines changing public policies towards squatter settlements and the challenges such settlements pose. Section 4 presents the problems associated with the existing market-based water supply arrangements in countries where a sizeable proportion of the urban population resides in informal settlement areas. We then argue for the need to pursue a more proactive public policy on the basis of a discussion that highlights the limitations of private sector ventures. The paper concludes with a number of policy recommendations.Access to Water in the Slums of the Developing World

Socio-economic practices of households coping with hardship

© 2020 The Author(s) and Editor(s). All rights reserved. Published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This is the accepted manuscript version of a book chapter which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.4337/9781788973205.00016Top-down responses to major shocks have been of major interest to social scientists and they contributed to our understanding of restructuring, transformation and development. Research into socio-economic practices of families in times of crises, on the other hand, can help us to develop bottom-up approaches of resilience that are sensitised for the impacts of macro policies on households. This chapter examines the socio-economic practices of households in the context of the 2008 crisis and the Great Recession in Europe. The framework of analysis focuses on assets and resources, income generation and cost management. The case study findings show that despite some variation, efforts for containing cost of living has been the most prominent household response across Europe. Welfare benefits stand out as the most relevant baseline for social resilience against unpredicted shocks such as the 2008 crisis as well as the ordinary ups and downs related to unemployment

Redistribution does matter

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