Economics, Area Studies and Human Development

This paper suggests that area studies and economics have a better chance to be married successfully if we shift our attention from the exclusive emphasis on economic growth towards improvements in human development, especially the much broadened version of that concept. Different areas are shown to differ substantially in terms of the choices they make among the various independent dimensions of well-being and the various indicators within each dimension. The particular characteristics of each area play an important role in determining the choices societies make and the extent to which they are constrained by their initial conditions

Supporting alternative organizations? Exploring scholars’ involvement in the performativity of worker-recuperated enterprises

This article analyses the role of academics in the production and maintenance of alternative organizations within the capitalist system. Empirically, we focus on academics from the University of Buenos Aires who, through the extension programme Facultad Abierta, have supported worker-recuperated enterprises since their emergence in Argentina in the early 2000s. Conceptually, we build on prior studies on worker-recuperated enterprises as well as the ‘critical performativity’ concept that we define as scholars’ subversive interventions that can involve the production of new subjectivities, the constitution of new organizational models and/or the bridging of these models to current social movements. Our results uncover the multiple roles of academics in relation to these three facets and highlight the key interactions of these roles. In so doing, our analysis advances prior studies of worker-recuperated enterprises by clarifying how academics can support alternative organizations while offering a renewed conceptualization of critical performativity as a multifaceted process through which academics and workers interact

Understanding resilience of female adolescents towards teenage pregnancy: a cross-sectional survey in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

Abstract Background In Tanzania, teenage pregnancy rates are still high despite the efforts being made to reduce them. Not enough is known about how adolescents experience and cope with sexuality and teenage pregnancy. Over the past few decades, most studies have focused on vulnerability and risk among youth. The concept of ‘reproductive resilience’ is a new way of looking at teenage pregnancy. It shifts the perspective from a deficit-based to a strength-based approach. The study presented here aimed to identify factors that could contribute to strengthening the reproductive resilience of girls in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Methods Using a cross-sectional cluster sampling approach, 750 female adolescents aged 15–19 years were interviewed about how they mobilize resources to avoid or deal with teenage pregnancy. The main focus of the study was to examine how social capital (relations with significant others), economic capital (command over economic resources), cultural capital (personal dispositions and habits), and symbolic capital (recognition and prestige) contribute to the development of adolescent competencies for avoiding or dealing with teenage pregnancy and childbirth. Results A cumulative competence scale was developed to assess reproductive resilience. The cumulative score was computed based on 10 competence indicators that refer to the re- and pro-active mobilization of resources. About half of the women who had never been pregnant fell into the category, ‘high competence’ (50.9%), meaning they could get the information and support needed to avoid pregnancies. Among pregnant women and young mothers, most were categorized as ‘high competence’ (70.5%) and stated that they know how to avoid or deal with health problems that might affect them or their babies, and could get the information and support required to do so. Cultural capital, in particular, contributed to the competence of never-pregnant girls [OR = 1.80, 95% CI = 1.06 to 3.07, p = 0.029], pregnant adolescents and young mothers [OR = 3.33, 95% CI = 1.15 to 9.60, p = 0.026]. Conclusions The reproductive resilience framework provides new insights into the reproductive health realities of adolescent girls from a strength-based perspective. While acknowledging that teenage pregnancy has serious negative implications for many female adolescents, the findings presented here highlight the importance of considering girls’ capacities to prevent or deal with teenage pregnancy

Pioneering the human development revolution: Analysing the trajectory of Mahbub ul Haq

Mahbub ul Haq's work to coordinate, establish and propagate the human development approach offers an example of effective leadership in promoting more ethical socio-economic development. This article reviews Pioneering the Human Development Revolution-An Intellectual Biography of Mahbub ul Haq (edited by Haq and Ponzio), and extends themes from the United Nations Intellectual History Project to examine Haq's contributions in terms of four aspects of leadership: articulating and applying values that combine depth with broad appeal; providing a fruitful and vivid way of seeing, a 'vision', that reflects the values; embodying the values and vision in workable practical proposals; and supporting and communicating the previous aspects through wide and relevant networks. It suggests that the human development approach may need to update its values and vision, including through better integration of human security thinking, if it is to retain the leadership role it acquired thanks to Haq

Business constraints and growth potential of micro and small manufacturing enterprises in Uganda

Ugandan micro and small enterprises (MSEs) still perform poorly. Studies associating poor performance of manufacturers with lack of finance and low investment ignore micro enterprises. Those focusing on MSEs are either exploratory in nature or employ a descriptive analysis, which cannot show the extent to which business constraints explain the performance of MSEs. Thus, this paper tries to examine the extent to which the growth of MSEs is associated with business constraints while controlling for owners’ attributes and firms’ characteristics. The results reveal that MSEs’ growth potential is negatively associated with limited access to productive resources (finance and business development services), high taxes and lack of market access