Essays on Development and Political Economy

Low productivity in the private sector, especially amongst small businesses, and poor public sector service delivery are significant barriers to sustainable and equitable development in low-income countries. This dissertation studies these barriers through the lens of management challenges. It comprises of three chapters, where the first chapter examines the potential of SMS-based business trainings to address gaps in management skills amongst micro-entrepreneurs in Kenya, the second sheds light on the demand for SMS-based business trainings amongst these micro-entrepreneurs, and the third studies the effectiveness of a command and control management intervention implemented at scale in Punjab, Pakistan.In my first chapter, titled "Short Messages Fall Short for Micro-Entrepreneurs: Experimental Evidence from Kenya", I study the effectiveness of SMS-based business management trainings for improving outcomes for micro-entrepreneurs. SMS-based trainings are becoming a popular tool to remotely support micro-entrepreneurs in low-capacity contexts due to their scalability and low costs. However, little evidence exists on the effectiveness of such trainings to improve business outcomes. In this study, I evaluate a field experiment in which access to an SMS-based training was randomized across 4,700 micro-entrepreneurs in Kenya. After three months, I find positive effects on knowledge and adoption of best business practices. Younger entrepreneurs see stronger effects on sales, profits and business survival, driven by higher engagement with training content, more time spent on business, and getting larger loans. Contrary to predictions elicited from social scientists, I find that these positive effects disappear twelve months after the intervention, as all engagement with content ended within the first five months. Findings from this study suggest that, despite the promise and wide-spread use, SMS-based trainings are unlikely to be effective for micro-entrepreneurs in the long run. Results highlight the importance of lack of engagement as a major challenge limiting the potential of remotely provided information-based support.My second chapter, titled "Demand for SMS-Based Business Trainings Amongst Kenyan Micro-Entrepreneurs", studies the demand for SMS-based business management trainings in Kenya. I leverage two key components added to the field experiment from the first chapter to measure the demand; first, upon completion of the business management training, or prolonged disengagement from it, micro-entrepreneurs in the treatment group were given the opportunity to buy a second SMS training through Take-It-Or-Leave-It (TIOLI) offers where the asking price was randomized across three levels. Observing buying decisions across the randomized price levels allows me to study how demand changes with price, and also sheds light on correlations between individual and enterprise characteristics and demand. Second, I conduct an in-person demand elicitation activity with a select subset of the sample across the treatment and control groups, using a modified version of the Becker-DeGroot-Marschak (BDM) method. In the TIOLI sample, 70% of individuals chose to accept the additional training when it was offered for free, 68% accepted when the price was half the marginal cost faced by the service provider, and about 50% accepted when the price was double the marginal cost. In the BDM sample, the average willingness to pay for SMS trainings was five times the marginal cost, and almost a quarter of the respondents were willing to buy the training for ten times the marginal cost. Both methods of demand elicitation thus showed that micro-entrepreneurs were willing to pay a positive amount for SMS-based business management trainings. I also find correlational evidence suggesting demand for trainings was higher amongst individuals with more children in the household, those that recently applied for a loan, those with more knowledge of best practices, and those with higher education levels. Taken together with results from the first chapter, these findings suggest that engagement levels might not reflect true demand for SMS-based trainings, pointing towards possible behavioral explanations driving under utilization of the resource.Finally, in my third chapter, titled "Command and Can’t Control: Assessing Centralized Accountability in the Public Sector", I study the potential and limitations of centralized management in the public sector, with Saad Gulzar, Juan Felipe Ladino, and Daniel Rogger. A long-established approach to management in government has been the transmission of information up a hierarchy, centralized decision-making by senior management, and corresponding centralized accountability; colloquially known as 'command and control'. We examine the effectiveness of a centralized management and accountability system implemented at scale in the public education sector bureaucracy of Punjab, Pakistan, for six years. The scheme automatically identified poorly performing schools and jurisdictions for the attention of central management. We find that flagging of schools and corresponding de facto punishments had no impact on school or student outcomes. We use detailed data on key elements of the education production function to show that command and control approaches to managing the general public sector do not induce bureaucratic action towards improvements in government performance

Integration and Analysis of Resource Inventory Data for Risk Assessments of Environmental Contamination in Mixed Use Landscapes in Pakistan

This paper examines the various metals that are associated with land contamination for instances arsenic, cadmium, lead, chromium, nickel, and mercury that are well known as the ingredient of contamination of the ecology in the region where there is a high rate of anthropogenic burden. The study investigates land contamination in Pakistan's context. The researches have used the quantitative method to analyze the most recent literature available on the land contamination of Pakistan following funnel approach. The three main steps followed to analyze are first, assessment of the site initially, secondly, assessment of the exposure of the contaminated site that also contains a survey of few places and the amount of contamination found and lastly, remediation of the site. The finding revealed that the contamination in Pakistan is both men made as well due to the terrain they belong to that contains various anthropogenic elements, which are harmful to live beings. Additionally, it is evident that the different elements, which can cause soil contamination, are higher in many places in Pakistan than the standard or tolerable rate mentioned by WHO and other survey board. Lastly, the paper confirms that the pollution can be reduced only if there is a reduction in the man made cause of the land contamination such as oil spill and other industrial emissions that constitute most of Pakistan’s land contamination

Integration and Analysis of Resource Inventory Data for Risk Assessments of Environmental Contamination in Mixed Use Landscapes in Pakistan

This paper examines the various metals that are associated with land contamination for instances arsenic, cadmium, lead, chromium, nickel, and mercury that are well known as the ingredient of contamination of the ecology in the region where there is a high rate of anthropogenic burden. The study investigates land contamination in Pakistan's context. The researches have used the quantitative method to analyze the most recent literature available on the land contamination of Pakistan following funnel approach. The three main steps followed to analyze are first, assessment of the site initially, secondly, assessment of the exposure of the contaminated site that also contains a survey of few places and the amount of contamination found and lastly, remediation of the site. The finding revealed that the contamination in Pakistan is both men made as well due to the terrain they belong to that contains various anthropogenic elements, which are harmful to live beings. Additionally, it is evident that the different elements, which can cause soil contamination, are higher in many places in Pakistan than the standard or tolerable rate mentioned by WHO and other survey board. Lastly, the paper confirms that the pollution can be reduced only if there is a reduction in the man made cause of the land contamination such as oil spill and other industrial emissions that constitute most of Pakistan’s land contamination

Rota virus diarrhea in hospitalized children

Objective: To determine the frequency and clinical features of Rota virus diarrhea in children presenting in a tertiary care hospital. Study Design: A cross-sectional, observational study. Place and Duration of Study: National Institute of Child Health, Karachi, from January to June 2007. Methodology: A total of three hundred children of either gender aged 1 month to 5 years, who presented with diarrhea of \u3c 7 days as a primary illness were enrolled. Children with bloody diarrhea or nosocomial gastroenteritis acquired duringhospitalization for other disease were not included. Detection of Rota virus in stool was done by enzyme linked immunoassay. Results: Out of 300 children, 188 (63%) tested positive and 112 (37%) tested negative for Rota virus. Positive Rota virus cases in 7 – 12 months of age was (n = 34, 18.08%). Overall, 151 (80.3%) children with Rota virus were less than 3 years old. 182 (60.7%) had fever, 118 (39.3%) had vomiting and 156 (82.9%) children had both fever and vomiting. Conclusion: This study shows that Rota virus is a common organism causing diarrhea in children less than 3 years of age. There is a need to incorporate Rota virus vaccine in the national EPI program to decrease the disease burden as highlighted in this study

Effect of electrolyte (NaCl) and temperature on the mechanism of cetyl trimethylammonium bromide micelles

In the last few decades, surfactants and electrolyte interaction has gained considerable attention of researchers due to their industrial and domestic applications. In this work, the effects of electrolyte (NaCl) on the critical micelle concentration (CMC) of the cationic surfactant cetyltrymethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) at different temperatures were investigated through different techniques such as conductometry, surface tensiometer and viscosimeter. The results showed that the values of CMC of CTAB decreased with the increase in temperature as well as with the addition of NaCl. The value of CMC for pure CTAB was calculated 0.98M at 303K, which was observed to decrease as temperature increased and got value of 0.95M at 318K. Moreover the addition of electrolyte NaCl into the surfactant lead to lowering of the CMC and obtained value of 0.90M at 3M of NaCl, indicating significant electrostatic interactions between surfactant and electrolyte. Moreover the degree of ionization(α) calculated for pure cationic surfactant CTAB was 0.219, which tends to increase with the addition of electrolyte, while that of counter ion binding values (β) was observed to decrease from 0.780 to 0.201. Furthermore, the conductivity of charged micelle of surfactant and free ions of electrolyte contributed to electric conductivity of aqueous micellar solution of surfactant. The results can be helpful to develop better understanding about interaction between electrolyte and surfactant

Pattern of relapse in paediatric acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in a tertiary care unit

OBJECTIVE: To determine the frequency, site and time to relapse from diagnosis, and to see the relationship of relapse with important prognostic factors. METHODS: The prospective descriptive observational study was conducted at the National Institute of Child Health, Karachi, June 2005 to May 2007, and comprised newly-diagnosed cases of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia. Bone marrow aspiration was done on reappearance of blast cells in peripheral smear and cerebrospinal fluid. Detailed report was done each time when intra-thecal chemotherapy was given or there were signs and symptoms suggestive of central nervous system relapse. SPSS 12 was used for data analysis. RESULTS: Of the 60 patients enrolled, 4(6.6%) expired and 1(1.7%) was lost to follow-up. Of the 55(91.6%) who comprised the study sample, 35(58%) were males and 25(42%) females. Mean age of relapse was 6.8±3.27 years. Mean time to relapse from diagnosis was 1.3±0.54 years; 12(20%) patients suffered relapse, and of them 5(14%) were boys. Central nervous system relapse in 8(67%) patients was the most common site, with 3(25%) bone-marrow relapses. Out of 12 patient with relapses, 9(75%) had white blood cell count less than 50,000/cm. CONCLUSIONS: Relapse in acute lymphoblastic leukaemia was common, although treatment modalities are improving day by day

A design of turnover intention antecedents and their relation on work design for firms

Most of the time Employees turnover intentions has been examined with the level of Human Resource Practices (HRP) in previous studies. Present study added social and Job characteristic study of 214 employees and managers from a fast food – outlet of Pakistan retail food service. Employee’s turnover intention was significantly associated at firm level and individual level factors and demonstrates the upgrading of food quality and service in the chain. The regression analysis was used to measure the relationship and significance among the observed constructs using SPSS 26. Job characteristics explains within-store variance. The hypothesis statement of the study projected that turnover intention has significantly affected due to individual level and firm level constructs setting in this situation. Outlet variance is described in adding to compensation, transformational leadership among employees in perspective of age and tenure similarity in the firm employees. Further research, limitation are managerial implication and theoretical framework can be discussed in detail

Missing observation approximation for spatio-temporal profile reconstruction in participatory sensor networks

Purpose - Participatory wireless sensor networks (PWSN) is an emerging paradigm that leverages existing sensing and communication infrastructures for the sensing task. Various environmental phenomenon – P monitoring applications dealing with noise pollution, road traffic, requiring spatio-temporal data samples of P (to capture its variations and its profile construction) in the region of interest – can be enabled using PWSN. Because of irregular distribution and uncontrollable mobility of people (with mobile phones), and their willingness to participate, complete spatio-temporal (CST) coverage of P may not be ensured. Therefore, unobserved data values must be estimated for CST profile construction of P and presented in this paper. Design/methodology/approach - In this paper, the estimation of these missing data samples both in spatial and temporal dimension is being discussed, and the paper shows that non-parametric technique – Kernel Regression – provides better estimation compared to parametric regression techniques in PWSN context for spatial estimation. Furthermore, the preliminary results for estimation in temporal dimension have been provided. The deterministic and stochastic approaches toward estimation in the context of PWSN have also been discussed. Findings - For the task of spatial profile reconstruction, it is shown that non-parametric estimation technique (kernel regression) gives a better estimation of the unobserved data points. In case of temporal estimation, few preliminary techniques have been studied and have shown that further investigations are required to find out best estimation technique(s) which may approximate the missing observations (temporally) with considerably less error. Originality/value - This study addresses the environmental informatics issues related to deterministic and stochastic approaches using PWSN

Permutation-Aware Action Segmentation via Unsupervised Frame-to-Segment Alignment

This paper presents an unsupervised transformer-based framework for temporal activity segmentation which leverages not only frame-level cues but also segment-level cues. This is in contrast with previous methods which often rely on frame-level information only. Our approach begins with a frame-level prediction module which estimates framewise action classes via a transformer encoder. The frame-level prediction module is trained in an unsupervised manner via temporal optimal transport. To exploit segment-level information, we utilize a segment-level prediction module and a frame-to-segment alignment module. The former includes a transformer decoder for estimating video transcripts, while the latter matches frame-level features with segment-level features, yielding permutation-aware segmentation results. Moreover, inspired by temporal optimal transport, we introduce simple-yet-effective pseudo labels for unsupervised training of the above modules. Our experiments on four public datasets, i.e., 50 Salads, YouTube Instructions, Breakfast, and Desktop Assembly show that our approach achieves comparable or better performance than previous methods in unsupervised activity segmentation.Comment: Accepted to WACV 202