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We analyse the impact of International Monetary Fund (IMF) programmes on appointing women leaders in ministerial positions. We hypothesize that women leaders are selected after an incumbent government starts an IMF programme to shift accountability to them during political and economic turmoil. This political manoeuvring of appointing women to leadership positions during a crisis is known as the 'glass cliff' effect. We demonstrate substantial evidence for such a 'glass cliff' effect using data covering all IMF programmes from 1980 to 2018. Our evidence shows that women are more likely to be appointed to austerity‐bearing ministerial positions under IMF programmes but not in positions of authority during negotiations with the IMF. This effect is more pronounced when a country displays worse societal gender norms, a higher level of corruption and a government facing a deeper economic crisis. Importantly, we verify that neither women's leadership nor a higher share of women in government predicts a balance of payments crisis triggering an IMF programme. In other words, women leaders do not govern worse; they are appointed to leadership positions in precarious, crisis‐ridden conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the panel data of 75 cities in the Yellow River Basin from 2000 to 2020, this manuscript measures the agricultural low-carbon production efficiency scientifically through the Super-SBM model. In addition, the deviation degree of agricultural industry is used as the index of structural adjustment. Finally, the spatial Durbin model is used to analyze the effect direction and degree of structural adjustment, financial support, and their synergistic effect on agricultural low-carbon production efficiency. The results show that ① the agricultural low-carbon production efficiency in the Yellow River Basin shows a trend of fluctuating downward and a spatial distribution pattern of "high in the east and low in the west". ② Structural adjustment in local region and adjacent areas has a significantly negative impact on agricultural low-carbon production, and the inhibitory effect in adjacent areas is more obvious, and the negative spatial spillover effect is strong. Financial support has a significantly positive impact on agricultural low-carbon production, but the spatial spillover effect of adjacent areas is not obvious. ③ By region, structural adjustment has a significantly negative impact on low-carbon agricultural production in the midstream and downstream regions, while financial support has a significantly positive impact on low-carbon agricultural production in the upstream region. The impact of control variables on agricultural low-carbon production varies from region to region. ④ The synergistic effect of structural adjustment and financial support in the whole and midstream region shows a significantly positive impact on agricultural low-carbon production, indicating that financial support has a certain correction effect on structural adjustment. The coefficient between the upstream and downstream regions is positive but not significant. The conclusions have important reference significance for promoting the ecological protection and high-quality development and agricultural low-carbon development in the Yellow River Basin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The financial haemorrhaging of lower income countries in the form of capital flight is a leading cause of global economic inequality. On an annual basis, trillions of dollars bypass the already starved fiscal spaces of nations mired in poverty, making their way instead to lucrative offshore bank accounts governed by secrecy jurisdictions. The present article relates this phenomenon to the institutional architecture of the global financial system and provides causal evidence that structural adjustment programmes implemented at the behest of international financial organizations amplify such capital flight. In particular, by isolating exogenous variation in policy conditionalities through the use of instrumental variables, we find that trade liberalization, financial sector reforms and privatization measures mandated by the International Monetary Fund in developing contexts substantially increase financial outflows occurring via current and capital account transactions. Our findings thus document the contribution that structural adjustment makes to an underappreciated facet of contemporary global inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Latin American Policy is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Based on the analysis of the importance of professional cluster construction by ecological theory, with the change of social demand for talents, this paper explores the practice of environmental chemical professional cluster construction in Pingdingshan University, including gradually perfecting teaching conditions and reforming teaching mode, breaking through the limitations of resources, integrating the boundaries of colleges and departments, integrating multiple resources, innovating systems and mechanisms, reconstructing professional clusters, deconstructing professional connotations, reorganizing curriculum systems, etc., in order to better build the ecological chain network of education in application-oriented colleges and universities, realize the deep integration of industry and education, train future-oriented interdisciplinary applied talents of new engineering, and realize the construction of characteristic professional cluster in application-oriented colleges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the comprehensive investment framework for the restructuring of the oil refining sector in Ukraine. The purpose of the study is to identify priority areas, strategies and policies to facilitate structural transformation, increase competitiveness and promote economic growth in the sector. Methodology. The research is based on a comprehensive review of national and international literature on investment strategies in the oil refining industry. It uses a qualitative approach to analyse the critical components of an effective investment framework, including technological, financial, institutional and policy aspects. In addition, the study considers case studies and empirical evidence to validate the proposed strategies. Results. The study outlines a multifaceted approach to investment in the oil refining complex, based on a unified classification of high-tech goods and an industrial development strategy aligned with national interests. It advocates public-private partnerships and the implementation of national projects as key mechanisms for promoting industrial restructuring. Furthermore, the study emphasises the importance of reducing investment risks and optimising depreciation funds by introducing higher depreciation rates and incentives for high-tech enterprises. It recommends preferential financing tailored to the specific characteristics of the industry and structural modernisation. The research also examines alternative sources of investment, such as joint investment institutions and venture funds, and stresses the need for an enabling legal environment and investor protection. It emphasises the role of the foreign trade aspect of government policy in reducing tariffs on high-tech products and providing political and economic support for industry exports. The paper recognises the importance of regional policies in creating a favourable investment climate and advocates the establishment of industrial parks and innovation clusters tailored to regional specificities. This study provides a comprehensive investment framework to support the structural transformation of Ukraine's oil refining complex. By implementing the strategies and principles outlined here, Ukraine can facilitate economic growth, enhance its competitiveness in the global market and ensure the sustainable development of its oil refining industry.

How do governments allocate the burden of adjustment of reform programs sponsored by international financial institutions? While the political economy literature is ripe with theoretical arguments about this issue, we have a limited empirical understanding of the distributional effects of these programs, except for a few informative case studies. We argue that governments allocate adjustment burdens strategically to protect their own partisan supporters while seeking to impose adjustment costs upon the partisan supporters of their opponents. Using hitherto under-explored individual-level Afrobarometer survey data from 12 Sub-Saharan African countries, we employ large-N analysis to show that individuals have consistently more negative evaluations and experiences of IMF structural adjustment programs when they supported opposition parties compared to when they supported the government party. Partisan differences in evaluations are greater when governments have greater scope for distributional politics, such as in the public sector and where programs entail more quantitative performance criteria, which leave governments discretion about how to achieve IMF program targets. Negative evaluations are also more prevalent among ethnically powerless groups compared to ethnically powerful groups. These results emphasize the significant role of borrowing governments in the implementation of IMF-mandated policy measures. They also stress the benefits of reducing the number of IMF conditions in limiting the scope for harmful distributive politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers the nature, origins and expression of place leadership in communities undergoing large-scale economic transformation. It examines where people look for leadership in the management of the places where they live, and how their perspectives are affected by an adverse event. It documents community attitudes on the influence those who occupy positions of authority have been able to exert on this transition, drawing on perceptions from places affected by the shutdown of the Australian automotive industry in the second decade of the twenty-first century. It seeks to understand which individuals and roles were seen to be influential in leading this process of change. This article gains insights into how leaders have an impact, and where this ability to effect change comes from. It does so with reference to the structural conditions embedded within Australian political life and the way leadership finds expression in periods of uncertainty and transformation. The paper finds communities are acutely aware of where the power to lead change resides, but concerns with the efficacy of that leadership have contributed to discontent. A greater focus on further empowering local leadership while delivering on long term expectations would have resulted in more positive perceptions. MAD statement This paper answers the question, how can local leaders manage large-scale, disruptive change such as the closure of a major employer or the shutdown of an entire industry? The paper makes clear that different types of leaders need to respond in varied ways, depending on their source of authority, their degree of connection to the affected community and the nature of the shock experienced by the local economy. Senior government leaders need to map out and deliver a roadmap for economic recovery, social service providers need to be responsive to local needs and those leaders living in the community must continue to strengthen social networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the background of constructing a wold-class Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Great Bay Area (GBA), the growing demand for industrial, transportation and energy development in the Pearl River Delta (PRD) will put considerable pressure on improvement of regional air quality. It is important to choose a scientific development path to achieve both economic goal and air quality improvement target. This study uses scenario analysis method to construct three "industry-transport-energy" development scenarios within the region while the improvement level of air quality is simulated and analyzed. The results show that: (1) Considering the mutual constraints and influence relations between industry, transportation and energy in scenario analysis, the "industry-transport-energy" development scenario can be established to meets the same economic goal but has different development paths. (2) Along the historical track and established policy path, concentration of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in the PRD can be reduced to 16.2 µg/m3 by 2035 as regional gross domestic product (GDP) reaching about 23.5 trillion. (3) Under the same economic goals, raising the proportion of emerging industries, freight by rail, public transport travel and non-fossil power to 95%, 10%, 73%, and 46% respectively leads to 29.6~49.2% reductions in the emissions of sulphur dioxide (SO2), nitrous oxides (NOx), primary PM2.5 and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) compared with those in 2017 that the regional PM2.5 concentration will further drop to 14.1 µg/m3. The results show that, under the constraints of economic development objectives, deepening structural adjustment can improve air quality, which gives advice for the PRD to choose its development path. Furthermore, this study can provide reference for the PRD to promote the transformation of industrial, transportation and energy development modes and structural adjustment under the dual objective of promoting the world-class bay area economic level and high-quality air level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pakistan is among the most regular clients of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Currently too, Pakistan is part of an on-going IMF program which is suspended due to differences of opinions between Pakistani and IMF officials on policy actions. In addition, the trajectory of Pakistan’s key economic indicators after IMF programs over seven decades has been highly mixed. Overall, the main IMF conditions of currency depreciation, indirect tax, interest, utility and energy rate hikes and privatization have failed to deliver sustainable growth or even fiscal or external deficit reduction. There is little in IMF conditions focused on growth-inducing policies by increasing exports or foreign direct investment as IMF has no expertise in these areas. But then many analysts ask why global powers have created an entity to bail out developing states in crisis which specializes only in growth-reducing policies. Thus, IMF programs/conditions may look necessary from a narrow, short-term view as in their absence, states may face even greater pain. However, from a broader, long-term perspective, they clearly seem as a poor basis for ensuring sustainable growth in developing states, which requires structural changes in the global economic system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article develops the concept of the labor of the living dead through readings of recent Senegalese films, novels, comics, and music videos in Wolof and French. The undead have been resurgent in cultural production for decades but these are not your average zombies: they do not inspire collective dread nor are they directed by opaque, outside forces. In Senegal, the focus has more often been on the work of the undead. This enigmatic concept speaks to the pervasive and potentially fatal mismatch between discourses of entrepreneurial self-realization and the crushing limitations and dangers imposed on many by their present circumstances. In representations of undead labor, projects of normative self-improvement devour and outlive the selves they are meant to improve, generating affects of shame and powerlessness and sparking violence toward more marginalized lives. Alongside these dynamics, though, the figure of undead work also seems to contain a grain of counter-hegemonic imagination, even affording visions of alternatives to existing configurations of labor and humanity. Central to this phenomenon is a tendency to exploit the polysemy of the Wolof term liggéey, which means work in a conventional sense but which also refers in certain contexts to witchcraft or gendered labor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we examine the changes in the structural, economic and managerial characteristics of dairy cow farms during their shift towards a new business model that operates under a highly intensified system. Based on farm accounting data from Greek dairy farms for the 2004–2017 period, the main technical and financial indicators are estimated and compared to provide a clear picture of the structural adjustment of the dairy cow sector during the last two decades. The outcomes and the implications described herein are relevant for specialized dairy farms in most European countries. The results indicate that modern farms breed a larger number of cows, achieve a higher milk yield, rely on high compound feed intakes and operate under an intensive pattern. This trend is even more evident in larger farms with an entrepreneurial nature, whose structural adjustments occurred in a more concise and effective manner. The latter benefited from a downward shift in their long-term average cost curves and the resulting economies of scale, achieving reasonable gross margins despite the ever-increasing feeding costs. Nowadays, the European dairy cow sector faces major economic, social and environmental challenges that must be properly addressed to secure its survival. The findings of this study provide insights concerning the efficient financial management of dairy farms that can support the development of strategies and policy recommendations that will enhance the resilience and sustainability of the sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article looks at Binyavanga Wainaina's autobiographical and essayistic writing as a site of development theory and criticism. The focus is on his memoir One Day I Will Write About This Place (Granta, 2011). In it, Wainaina used life-writing as a genre to tell what he called the "story of the IMF-generation", meaning the children of a post-independence African middle class who came massively under pressure due to foreign-imposed structural adjustment in the 1980s and 1990s, and who became a driving force in democratisation movements after 2000. This article elaborates on how Wainaina reflected this African experience of neoliberal globalisation and the related expansion of Western humanitarianism in his writing. This is explored through, firstly, a focus on Wainaina's engagement with development embedded in his narrative of the IMF-generation, and secondly, through his deconstruction of a humanitarian discourse on Africa anchored in colonising ideologies of the global North and embodied in representatives of the aid industry in Kenya. I read the memoir as a form of situated knowledge that enables readers from different regions of the world to understand their locatedness within power asymmetries in global development at a particular historical moment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With China's rise to become Africa's largest bilateral creditor, much research has focused on an evidence-based critique of the politicised narrative about China's supposed 'debt trap diplomacy'. At a more fundamental level, this debate problematises the function of debt and related power differentials in late capitalism and calls into question development paradigms, notably the hegemonic infrastructure-led development regime, that have sustained Africa's financial dependency into the 2020s. As the International Monetary Fund is yet again shuttling between Addis Ababa, Lusaka, and Nairobi to resurrect fiscal discipline and to ensure debtor compliance for the post-pandemic 'payback period', it is argued that (i) periodic cycles of debt financing, debt distress and structural adjustment are a systemic feature of the malintegration of Africa into the global capitalist economy, and (ii) critical research on the social costs and economic beneficiaries of renewed rounds of austerity and privatisation in Africa's current debt cycle is needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In some Ugandan fishing communities, almost half the population lives with HIV. Researchers designate these communities "HIV hotspots" and attribute disproportionate disease burdens to "sex-for-fish" relationships endemic to the lakeshores. In this article, we trace the emergence of Uganda's HIV hotspots to structural adjustment. We show how global economic policies negotiated in the 1990s precipitated the collapse of Uganda's coffee sector, causing mass economic dislocation among women workers, who migrated to the lake. There, they entered overt forms of sex work or marriages they may have otherwise avoided, intimate economic arrangements that helped to "engineer the spread of HIV," as one respondent recounted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Ekonomika is the property of Society of Economists 'Ekonomika' and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper quantifies drain from the global South through unequal exchange since 1960. According to our primary method, which relies on exchange-rate differentials, we find that in the most recent year of data the global North ('advanced economies') appropriated from the South commodities worth $2.2 trillion in Northern prices — enough to end extreme poverty 15 times over. Over the whole period, drain from the South totalled $62 trillion (constant 2011 dollars), or $152 trillion when accounting for lost growth. Appropriation through unequal exchange represents up to 7% of Northern GDP and 9% of Southern GDP. We also test several alternative methods, for comparison: we quantify unequal exchange in terms of wage differentials instead of exchange-rate differentials, and report drain in global average prices as well as Northern prices. Regardless of the method, we find that the intensity of exploitation and the scale of unequal exchange increased significantly during the structural adjustment period of the 1980s and 1990s. This study affirms that drain from the South remains a significant feature of the world economy in the post-colonial era; rich countries continue to rely on imperial forms of appropriation to sustain their high levels of income and consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We investigate the impact of IMF program participation and conditionality on the shadow economy using a world sample in the 1991–2014 period. • Results show that both IMF participation and conditions have a detrimental effect on the shadow economy. • Disaggregating IMF conditions into structural and quantitative shows that only structural conditions increase the size of the shadow economy both in the short- and long-term. • Financial development is negatively linked to the shadow economy, however it cannot reverse the detrimental effect of IMF conditionality. By explicating the mechanisms through which International Monetary Fund (IMF) programs operate, this study investigates the effect of IMF intervention on the shadow economy. Using a sample of 141 countries from 1991 to 2014, we examine the impact of both IMF participation and conditionality on the informal economy. Our analyses address sources of endogeneity related to, first, the IMF participation decision and, second, the conditions included within the program. The empirical findings suggest that both IMF program participation and conditionality increase the size of the shadow economy. Disaggregating IMF conditions into structural and quantitative shows that only structural conditions are significantly related to a larger shadow economy both in the short- and long-term. Financial development can reduce the size of the shadow economy, yet it cannot reverse the detrimental effect of IMF conditions. Our initial results are found to be robust across alternative empirical specifications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the background of constructing a wold-class Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Great Bay Area (GBA), the growing demand for industrial, transportation and energy development in the Pearl River Delta (PRD) will put considerable pressure on improvement of regional air quality. It is important to choose a scientific development path to achieve both economic goal and air quality improvement target. This study uses scenario analysis method to construct three “industry-transport-energy” development scenarios within the region while the improvement level of air quality is simulated and analyzed. The results show that: (1) Considering the mutual constraints and influence relations between industry, transportation and energy in scenario analysis, the “industry-transport-energy” development scenario can be established to meets the same economic goal but has different development paths. (2) Along the historical track and established policy path, concentration of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in the PRD can be reduced to 16.2 µg/m3 by 2035 as regional gross domestic product (GDP) reaching about 23.5 trillion. (3) Under the same economic goals, raising the proportion of emerging industries, freight by rail, public transport travel and non-fossil power to 95%, 10%, 73%, and 46% respectively leads to 29.6~49.2% reductions in the emissions of sulphur dioxide (SO2), nitrous oxides (NOx), primary PM2.5 and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) compared with those in 2017 that the regional PM2.5 concentration will further drop to 14.1 µg/m3. The results show that, under the constraints of economic development objectives, deepening structural adjustment can improve air quality, which gives advice for the PRD to choose its development path. Furthermore, this study can provide reference for the PRD to promote the transformation of industrial, transportation and energy development modes and structural adjustment under the dual objective of promoting the world-class bay area economic level and high-quality air level.

The scientific evaluation of trends in China's future energy demands is highly important. Using provincial-level panel data from 1995 to 2015, we studied the relationships between the economic aggregate, the development of energy-intensive industries and energy demand from the perspective of changes in the proportion of energy-intensive industries in the national economy. We find that economic aggregate affects energy demand through energy-intensive industries and that changes in the economic structure are the key factor for change in energy demand. This means that China's future energy demand will be much lower than that contained in forecasts that did not consider this factor. Comprehensively promoting green-tech development and strengthening the regulation of energy-extensive industries will be one of the key options for realizing China's objective of controlling total energy consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines Greek protests against economic adjustment programs during the sovereign debt crisis by both the social and labor movements from a perspective of civil resistance theory. While the movements were influential enough to shape the political landscape of the country, by toppling the governing party and helping a previously small party to be elected, they underestimated to what degree economic policy- and decision-making are shielded from democratic pressures and how forcefully its beneficiaries can assert their interests by economic means, for instance via the leverage of debt. Thus a 'people power' strategy to effectively challenge economic policies must be based on an analysis of pressure points and leverage affecting this economic regime. After a brief description of the economic reforms that were protested, some central theoretical concepts of civil resistance are briefly presented, which are then applied to two examples of resistance, concluding with strategic considerations for research, analysis and action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Damping materials have application prospects in shock absorption and noise reduction due to their ability to convert vibration into other forms of energy dissipation. Although there have been tremendous attempts to prepare materials with high damping performance, it is still a challenge to fabricate materials with excellent mechanical properties and stability while maintaining a high energy dissipation capacity. Herein, damping materials of reinforced waterborne polyurethane by adjusting the ratio of soft and hard segments is reported. As the content of hard segments increases, the content of hydrogen bonds interaction between segments increases and the phase boundaries on the microscopic morphology form which obviously enhances the damping capacity. The ultimate samples exhibit a damping capacity of more than 90% and a toughness of 14.8 MJ m–3, maintaining good toughness while exceeding the damping capacity of the most reported materials. The damping mechanisms are summarized into three aspects, the frication among soft segments, the destruction of hydrogen bonds, and the interface friction between soft and hard domains. This work paves an avenue for the application of waterborne polyurethane materials in kinetic energy buffering and impact reduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Post-war development economics drew broadly from an array of different theoretical approaches, including theorizing from the south. Academic economists and policy makers in African countries openly and critically debated alternative possibilities from different theoretical traditions. As the multi-paradigmatic approach was under assault, the great development economist Albert Hirschman reminded us, in 1981, that this transcendence beyond monoeconomics arose out of the 'unprecedented discredit of orthodox economics' from within the economics establishment following the Great Depression and that the reassertion of neoclassical economics was somewhat predictable. The unevenness of the patterns of development provided the opening for the wholesale attack on development economics. Following the crisis of the universities in the 1980s, brought on to some degree by donors like the World Bank, economics departments on the African continent were reconstituted and reshaped in the image of the monoeconomics of the West. Capacity building efforts emphasized a single theoretical paradigm aimed in part at supporting structural adjustment policies. The African Economic Research Consortium, based in Nairobi and founded in 1988, played a key role in transforming the economics profession in Africa. The paper will map out the institutional dynamics and the consequences of reconstructing economic departments and government agencies in African countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many oil-bearing basins in the world have found high-resistivity water layers, which brings difficulties to the identification of oil-water layers and the exploration and development of oil fields. Yanchang Formation in Ordos Basin shows complex oil-water enrichment characteristics. Oil wells and water wells are interspersed on the plane. The resistivity of water layer is higher than that of oil layer, and it is difficult to explain it with the existing theory. Taking Chang 81 reservoir in Yuele area as an example, the electrical, physical and oil-bearing characteristics of two oil wells (B23 and Y73) and two water wells (Y79 and Y55) in Yuele area were comparatively studied by means of extraction experiment, GC-MS analysis, thin section observation, rock pyrolysis, resistivity, and physical property test. The results show that the high resistivity of water layer in Yanchang Formation of Ordos Basin is caused by biodegradation asphalt and heavy component of residual oil after structural adjustment. Asphalt filling is the main reason for high resistivity of water layer. The residual heavy hydrocarbon after structural adjustment aggravates the high resistivity of water layer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Forest management at the landscape level is a requirement for reducing wildfire hazard. In contexts where non-industrial private forest ownership prevails, the collaboration among multiple owners has been proposed as the way forward to reach consistent fuel management at that level. The current literature has been focused on identifying the factors that lead to collaboration among owners. In this study we explored other ways to reach landscape-level management in addition to the collaborative way, such as those that may be promoted through land renting or selling. Different contexts and owner types may require different solutions. Thus, we explicitly asked which alternative would be chosen by a given forest owner, from the following set: keeping individual management, entering a multi-owner collaborative arrangement where they delegate management, renting to a pulp company; or selling the land. In a context of small-scale ownership and high recurrence of wildfires in Portugal, a face-to-face survey was carried out to a sample of landowners. Our results suggest that there is not an a priori generalized unwillingness of owners to delegate management, rent or sell the land and thus they seem prone to align themselves with policy strategies to promote management at the landscape level. Multinomial logit regression modelling allowed us to explain and predict owners’ choices among the aforementioned set of alternative management options. We found that choosing multi-ownership collaboration, as opposed to keeping current individual management, is associated with passive management under harsher conditions, by non-residents without bonding capital. The identified factors of owners’ choices show the limited scope of tenancy and land-market mechanisms to promote landscape-level management. The best policy option was found to depend on the owner profiles prevailing in the target area. This suggests that studying the existing context and owner types is required to design effective policies.

This paper investigates the impact of World Bank policy lending on the quality of economic policy. A new econometric specification distinguishes among two effects that have been conflated hitherto: (i) marginal impacts of additional policy actions and (ii) the length of the policy engagement. Panel estimations on a revised data set indicate that development policy financing has a positive effect on the quality of economic policy. Results are robust to the use of different estimation techniques, sample restrictions, the inclusion of additional controls, omitted variable bias adjustment, a placebo test and a compound IV strategy. Next, the econometric work suggests that the quality of the engagement matters more than the sheer number of policy actions. We provide several arguments of why the process of engagement is key. Finally, there is evidence that longer engagements lead to lower policy impacts, which may be related to a change to more complex, second‐generation reforms. © 2020 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: HIV-infected women increase in number due to biological condition, poor knowledge on HIV/AIDS, and low bargaining position. Aim & Objective: This study aimed to study capacity building, structural adjustment and culture changes in overcoming HIV/AIDS in Surakarta Indonesia. Methods and Material: Data was conducted through interview, observation, and documentation. Data was validated using source triangulation and analyzed using Longwe's Women Empowering Framework. Results: Responsive-gender HIV/AIDS coping procedures in Surakarta to encourage woman's reproductive right and realize gender equality. Conclusions: Capacity building, structural adjustment and cultural change is to improve, develop and integrate empowerment of women infected with HIV/AIDS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines how international organisations with mandates in health and development interpret global economic crises and respond to disease. It contributes the perspective of World Bank to emerging scholarship on the various factors leading to the decline of the World Health Organization (WHO) and its Health for All (HFA) mission during structural adjustment. It does so by telling a story of collaboration and conflict between WHO and World Bank's Population, Health and Nutrition (PHN) Department following the ambitious Alma Ata Declaration in 1978 until the initial global AIDS response. As debt crises emerged in Latin America in the early 1980s, WHO tried to find a way forward for HFA. However, the African crisis of 1985 fractured the international community's support, causing WHO and PHN to dialogue more closely regarding health sector financing. As AIDS became a global crisis, this culminated in their 1987 joint research on the disease's macroeconomic and demographic impact. However, observing WHO's continued hesitance regarding financing and its decision to act as a donor gatekeeper, the Bank ultimately opted to work separately in AIDS. Thus, the themes of the Alma Ata versus Selective Primary Health Care debate of the late 1970s continued throughout the 1980s into the early years of the global AIDS response: a perennial conflict of financing within resource constraints and the appropriate role of donors in the grand project of health and development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The central task of any critical social science is speaking truth about power. After a brief review of 'glass half full' and 'glass half empty' perspectives on recent developments in global health, I argue that such a critical perspective need not answer the question about the glass, but rather ask what more could have been achieved under different social arrangements. I continue with a discussion of how globalization has re-scaled distributional conflicts so they need no longer be resolved within national borders, and enhanced the power of transnational corporations and the ultra-wealthy to the probable detriment of national policy space. I then examine the structural adjustment programs of the 1980s and the 1990s as an early step in the normalization of austerity, and the associated human collateral damage. I conclude by arguing that the constraints in improving health and reducing health inequalities associated with globalization are substantial, while suggesting that they should not be overstated – a point underscored by the selective nature of the policy choices comprising austerity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Serving as lender of last resort to countries experiencing unsustainable levels of public debt, international financial institutions have attracted intense controversy over the past decades, exemplified most recently by the popular discontent expressed in Eurozone countries following several rounds of austerity measures. In exchange for access to financial assistance, borrowing countries must settle on a list of often painful policy reforms that are aimed at balancing the budget. This practice has afforded international financial institutions substantial policy influence on governments throughout the world and in a wide array of policy areas of direct bearing on human rights. This article reviews the consequences of policy reforms mandated by international financial institutions on the enjoyment of human rights, focusing on the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. It finds that these reforms undermine the enjoyment of health rights, labour rights, and civil and political rights, all of which have deleterious implications for public health. The evidence suggests that for human rights commitments to be met, a fundamental reorientation of international financial institutions’ activities will be necessary.

Europe has seen increasing steps taken to try to insulate economic decision-making from democratic influence. However, this trend, while in line with the foundation charters of ordoliberalism, is by no means confined to Europe or to ordoliberalism. Significant and ongoing attempts to preclude the population from influencing economic policy are global in nature and are characteristic of all forms of neoliberalism and of capitalist governance more generally. Structural adjustment in the Global South in the 1980s and 1990s provides a more helpful model for how the crisis has been responded to in Europe than the often Eurocentric conceptions of (and specious claims made for) ordoliberalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Structural adjustment programmes of international financial institutions have typically set the fiscal parameters within which health policies operate in developing countries. Yet, we currently lack a systematic understanding of the ways in which these programmes impact upon child and maternal health. The present article systematically reviews observational and quasi-experimental articles published from 2000 onward in electronic databases (PubMed/Medline, Web of Science, Cochrane Library and Google Scholar) and grey literature from websites of key organisations (IMF, World Bank and African Development Bank). Studies were considered eligible if they empirically assessed the aggregate effect of structural adjustment programmes on child or maternal health in developing countries. Of 1961 items yielded through database searches, reference lists and organisations’ websites, 13 met the inclusion criteria. Our review finds that structural adjustment programmes have a detrimental impact on child and maternal health. In particular, these programmes undermine access to quality and affordable healthcare and adversely impact upon social determinants of health, such as income and food availability. The evidence suggests that a fundamental rethinking is required by international financial institutions if developing countries are to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals on child and maternal health.

The structural change of international relations system at the end of the Cold war has resulted in US becoming the sole superpower or hyperpower. The US took advantage of this position and strived to build a hegemonic world order based on US military-strategic superiority and soft-power. Implementation of this strategy results in “imperial overstrain” a serious revision of US strategic planning in 2010 and 2015. In the context of the continuing decline in the power of the United States (economic, technological and military) relative to other centers of power, it is nonmilitary political methods and instruments that, together with “soft power” and military pressure, increasingly come to the fore in US realizing global geopolitical aspirations. The new imperative of US strategy is deterrence of Russia and China, which could result only in the crisis of global hegemony and the rise of conflicts in world politics.

The implementation of the ''Belt and Road'' strategy is an important strategic support for building a new regional opening pattern. It has important strategic significance for cultivating new industries along the line and developing new space for the development of the marine economy. All relevant coastal cities should actively use the development strategy of this country in the new era and actively promote the upgrading and transformation of the marine economic structure. This paper firstly introduces the opportunities brought by the ''One Belt and One Road'' to the marine industry of China's coastal provinces, and analyzes the main problems existing in the development of marine economic industry in China's coastal provinces. Then, the North Bay is taken as an example to propose the marine industry selection and system construction. Finally, it expounds the path of the adjustment of the marine economic industrial structure of China's coastal provinces under the ''Belt and Road Initiative"initiative. It is expected to promote the cooperation and exchange of higher-level marine economy among the countries and regions along the coastal cities of China and the Maritime Silk Road, and promote the development of marine economy in China's coastal cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Democratic performance and party system institutionalization (PSI) are thought to be integrally linked. Electoral volatility is an important dimension of PSI and has thus been the focus of many studies. Despite the attention given to electoral volatility, its determinants remain elusive. We examine the determinants of electoral volatility in 35 African countries from 1972 to 2010. This study extends the prior literature by analyzing the effects of two previously unexamined variables, foreign aid and structural adjustment, on electoral volatility. Our results indicate that electoral volatility is lower when foreign aid is high, while structural adjustment programs are associated with increased volatility. Our findings contribute to the research on the political economy of aid, illustrating the impact of these economic practices on election outcomes. Political institutions and social demography also appear to affect volatility. Based on our analysis, the party systems of Africa generally do not appear to be institutionalizing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract This article highlights an important yet insufficiently understood international-level determinant of inequality in the developing world: structural adjustment programs by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Studying a panel of 135 countries for the period 1980 to 2014, we examine income inequality using multivariate regression analysis corrected for non-random selection into both IMF programs and associated policy reforms (known as 'conditionality'). We find that, overall, policy reforms mandated by the IMF increase income inequality in borrowing countries. We also test specific pathways linking IMF programs to inequality by disaggregating conditionality by issue area. Our analyses indicate adverse distributional consequences for four policy areas: fiscal policy reforms that restrain government expenditure, external sector reforms stipulating trade and capital account liberalization, financial sector reforms entailing inflation-control measures, and reforms that restrict external debt. These effects occur one year after the incidence of an IMF program, and persist in the medium term. Taken together, our findings suggest that the IMF's recent attention to inequality neglects the multiple ways through which the organization's own policy advice has contributed to inequality in the developing world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract N-doped carbon spheres with different inner structure have attracted increasing attention due to their low density and high electrical conductivity in supercapacitors. Here, we reported controllable synthesis of hollow, yolk-shell and solid structure carbon spheres via template-free assembly method. Ethanediamine was used as nitrogen source to realize in-situ nitrogen doping and as basic catalyst to drive resorcinol-formaldehyde (RF) resin polymerization. The polymerization degree of internal RF resin tremendously depended on polymerization time, resulting in different levels of heterogeneity of the whole RF resin sphere. This fact made the structural adjustment of carbon spheres from hollow, to yolk-shell and even to solid structure after dissolution of low-molecular-weight RF resin by organic solvents and annealing treatment. As electrode material for supercapacitor, carbon spheres with yolk-shell structure exhibited excellent performance with capacitance of 242 F g−1 at the current density of 1 A g−1 and outstanding cycling life stability (97.3% after 5000 cycles), which may be attributed to its unique structure, high specific surface area (1263 m2 g−1) and pore volume (0.68 cm3 g−1). The strategy of making full use of the difference of polymerization degree of resin provides a new idea for the structural engineering of functional carbon materials. Highlights • Carbon spheres with different inner structure are prepared by template-free method. • The method makes full use of the difference of polymerization degree resin spheres. • The carbon spheres with yolk-shell structure exhibits excellent capacitance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Instead of taking for granted that austerity is unidirectionally associated with Europe, the anthropology of austerity should be paying attention to the situatedness of its effects. The levering potential that a comparative analysis of austerity allows is precious, for it opens new critical perspectives on our understanding of temporal and geographical consciousness. An antipode of perspective invites a more historical analysis of a phenomenon that unsettles the conceived understandings of Europe's position. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Austerity across Africa has been operationalized through World Bank and IMF structural adjustment programs since the 1980s, later rebranded euphemistically as poverty reduction strategies in the late 1990s. Austerity's constraints on public spending led donors to a "civil society" focus in which NGOs would fill gaps in basic social services created by public sector contraction. One consequence was large-scale redirection of growing foreign aid fl ows away from public services to international NGOs. Austerity in Africa coincides with the emergence of what some anthropologists call "audit cultures" among donors. Extraordinary data collection infrastructures are demanded from recipient organizations in the name of transparency. However, the Mozambique experience described here reveals that these intensive audit cultures serve to obscure the destructive eff ects of NGO proliferation on public health systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]