An empirical test of a Neo-Malthusian theory of fertility change

Some neo-Malthusians regard fertility as being kept in check by scarcities and constraints and, conversely, as being raised by economic prosperity. Since out-migration to developed countries and the receipt of food aid from developed countries relax the constraints imposed by a country’s carrying capacity, both will have a positive effect on fertility rates in developing countries. Moreover, better economic prospects will also raise fertility, all other things equal. This article provides an empirical test of these hypotheses derived from a neo-Malthusian theory of fertility change. The results fail to confirm the theory and often contradict it

Can natural factors explain any cross-country differences in carbon dioxide emissions?

This article examines what role natural factors play in explaining cross-country differences in carbon dioxide emissions. Natural factors mean here differences in the climatic conditions, the availability of renewable and fossil fuel resources and the transportation requirements of countries. While income remains the main variable, regression results show that natural factors contribute significantly to an explanation of cross-country differences in carbon dioxide emissions. Furthermore, drastic differences in natural conditions can lead to substantial differences in predicted emission requirements for individual countries at approximately the sam

Do international human rights treaties improve respect for human rights?

After the non-binding Universal Declaration of Human Rights, many global and regional human rights treaties have been concluded. Critics argue that these are unlikely to have made any actual difference in reality. Others contend that international regimes can improve respect for human rights in state parties, particularly in more democratic countries or countries with a strong civil society devoted to human rights and with transnational links. Our findings suggest that rarely does treaty ratification have unconditional effects on human rights. Instead, improvement in human rights is typically more likely the more democratic the country or the more international non-governmental organizations its citizens participate in. Conversely, in very autocratic regimes with weak civil society, ratification can be expected to have no effect and is sometimes even associated with more rights violation.

Sustainability and Well-being Indicators

Geary-Khamis bias, the Afriat index

Arab-Related Bilateral and Multilateral Sources of Development Finance: Issues, Trends, and the Way Forward

aid, official development assistance, Arab agencies, Development Assistance Committee

HIV/AIDS and its impact on convergence in life expectancy, infant and child survival rates

This article analyzes the impact of HIV/AIDS on the global convergence in life expectancy as well as infant and child survival rates by comparing two scenarios. One is based on actual estimated and extrapolated values given the existence of the epidemic (‘AIDS- scenario’). The other is based on hypothetical values based on estimations where the mortality caused by the epidemic is taken out (‘No AIDS-scenario’). Both â- and ó-convergence analysis is undertaken both with and without weighting by population size. In the ‘AIDS-scenario’ convergence in life expectancy becomes stalled in the late 1980s (without weighting) or 1990s (with weighting). Convergence in infant and child survival rates does not become stalled, but slows down. That these results are mainly due to the epidemic follows from the convergence analysis in the ‘No AIDS-scenario’, where all signs of stalled convergence or even divergence disappear. The reason why HIV/AIDS has such a strong impact on convergence is because the disease is most prevalent in low-income countries with rampant poverty, deficient health care systems and relatively low life expectancies and survival rates.

Unequal Access to Foreign Spaces: How States Use Visa Restrictions to Regulate Mobility in a Globalised World

Nation-states employ visa restrictions to manage the complex trade-off between facilitating the entrance to their territory by passport holders from certain countries for economic and political reasons and deterring individuals from other countries for reasons of perceived security and immigration-control. The resulting system is one of highly unequal access to foreign spaces, reinforcing existing inequalities. Trans- national mobility is encouraged for passport holders from privileged nations, particularly rich Western countries, at the expense of severe restrictions for others. Visa restrictions manifest states’ unfaltering willingness to monitor, regulate and control entrance to their territory in a globalised world.globalisation, visa restrictions, passport, borderless world, nation-state, mobility

Does the ‘Resource Curse’ hold for Growth in Genuine Income as well?

Existing studies analyzing the so-called ‘resource curse’ hypothesis regress growth in gross domestic product (GDP) on some measure of resource-intensity. This is problematic as GDP counts natural and other capital depreciation as income. Deducting depreciation from GDP to arrive at genuine income, we test whether the ‘curse’ still holds true. We find supporting evidence, but the growth disadvantage of resource- intensive economies is slightly weaker in terms of genuine income than GDP. We suggest that this provides additional, but somewhat weak and limited, evidence in support of those who argue that the ‘curse’ is partly due to unsustainable over-consumption.resource curse hypothesis; natural capital; depreciation, genuine income

Is Inequality really a Major Cause of Violent Crime? Evidence From a Cross-National Panel of Robbery and Violent Theft Rates

This article argues that the link between income inequality and violent property crime might be spurious, complementing a similar argument in prior an alysis by the author on the determinants of homicide. In contrast, Fajnzylber, Lederman & Loayza (1998; 2002a, b) provide seemingly strong and robust evidence that inequality causes a higher rate of both homicide and robbery/violent theft even after controlling for country-specific fixed effects. Ou r results suggest that inequality is not a statistically significant determinant, unless either country- specific effects are not controlled for or the sample is artificially restricted to a small number of countries. The reason why the link between inequality and violent property crime might be spur ious is that income inequality is likely to be strongly correlated with country- specific fixed effects such as cultural differences. A high degree of inequality might be socially undesirable for any number of reasons, but that it causes vi! olent crime is far from proven.

Own interest and foreign need: Are bilateral investment treaty programmes similar to aid allocation?

Bilateral investment treaties (BITs) have become the most important legal mechanism for the encouragement of foreign direct investment (FDI) in developing countries. Yet practically no systematic evidence exists on what motivates capital-exporting developed countries to sign BITs earlier with some developing countries than with others, if at all. The theoretical framework from the aid allocation literature suggests that developed countries pursue a mixture of own interest and foreign need. It also suggests differences between the big developed countries and a group of smaller ones known as like-minded countries. We find evidence that both economic and political interests determine the scheduling of BITs. However, with one exception, foreign need as measured by per capita income is also a factor. These results suggest that BIT programmes can be explained employing the same framework successfully applied to the allocation of aid. At the same time, own interest seems to be substantively more important than developing country need when it comes to BITs and the like-minded countries make no exception.