Search

Due to the recent rise in economic development the family sizes in developing countries have become small. This phenomenon demands several policy considerations. Is India ready for it? In this perspective, the paper investigates the impact of a higher level of economic development on average household size in India from 1991 to 2011. Variables such as a higher level of education, health outcomes, the extent of inequality, and urbanization have a negative effect on the average household size. The lower level of poverty is associated with lower level family size in the long run, whereas, infrastructure has a mixed effect. Results show that different religious and social groups have an effect on the family size in India. The results are consistent in state and household level analysis and conclude that a higher level of economic development reduces the family size. Smaller family size faces several problems such as child-rearing, higher divorce rates due to marital conflicts, degradation of children's mental health, land and property disputes, and a low transfer of financial support from children to elderly parents. Therefore, not only the government needs to take cognizance and solve these problems, but also needs to find an appropriate balance between work and family, which is missing currently. This lesson can be useful for many other developing countries to cope up with the reduction in family sizes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Residential energy consumption level, structure, and potentiality are crucial indices reflecting economic and social development. In rural China, energy poverty is still prevalent, and economic poverty is a critical factor that deteriorates energy poverty. This paper combines income- and asset-based measures of wealth to provide a more dynamic perspective on the effects of economic poverty on energy poverty. Results show that for the household which in an average asset or income level, when its assets and income increase by 10%, the probability of a household choosing clean fuels increases by 0.007 and 0.002, respectively. Rural household prefers gas than electricity when household income and assets increase. To solve the energy poverty problem in rural areas, governments need to take measures to improve the accumulation of wealth, raise the infrastructure level and increase the employment rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary Risks due to the occurrence of climatic aberrations pose an impediment to the economic growth of the households in vulnerable regions. The frequency of these events is projected to increase in the foreseeable future, with developing countries being the worst sufferers. Dealing with this appears to be an additional burden on the resources of such countries, a large part of which is already devoted to providing better living standards for its inhabitants. Does this imply that developmental interventions should be discontinued? Is there a link between these programs and adaptation to environmental shocks? In an effort to answer such questions, the paper examines the impact of the developmental schemes on the livelihood of the households in Western Odisha, India and investigates whether they augment post disaster coping and adaptation as well. The results indicate that overall the programs have made an impact concerning their intended goals but the diffusion of benefits across beneficiary groups is heterogeneous. Additionally, the programs have contributed in post disaster coping, but only in the regions where either they performed well or their penetration was extensive. Activities promoting livelihood diversification, food security, and poverty reduction also tacitly facilitate improvements in the resilience of the individuals and communities thereby enhancing their capacity to deal with climatic risks. Policy implication advocates the continuation of developmental interventions. However, realigning their framework to incorporate actions intended toward disaster risk reduction and management would result in more inclusive impacts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary This paper uses Chinese household data for 1989–2009 to explain why mean nutrient intake has declined despite economic growth. We focus on household heterogeneity in nutrient intake response to increases in household income allowing for its endogeneity. A quantile instrumental-variable fixed-effects panel estimation shows that rising income tends to reduce inequality in macronutrient intake in both urban and rural areas in 2004–09. This is driven by increases in nutrient intake for the urban nutrient poor and falls in nutrient intake for the rural nutrient non-poor. On the other hand, fluctuations in prices of meat, eggs, and oil increase nutrition poverty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary There is a renewed global interest in support of family farming becoming a more competitive sector, contributing to poverty alleviation, food security, and economic growth. This paper explores the development conditions faced by family farmers across Brazil. We not only reveal a potential for development, represented by the great number of family-based rural households, but also present several structural constraints faced by most family farmers, as well as great discrepancies among regions. We argue for encouraging the existing family farming potential by designing policies that consciously target specific regional challenges and avoid excluding segments not fitting into the modernization paradigm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China has been the world's largest producer and consumer of air conditioners, and more and more RACs 1 1 The RACs is short for room air conditioners. would be owned by China's households along with the rapid economic development. Air Conditioner is also considered as one of the largest potential contributors to energy reduction among home appliances because of the huge energy consumption. Therefore, the national energy efficiency standards were issued to promote the use and production of high-efficient RACs. According to China's energy efficiency standards, this paper investigated the electricity savings and CO 2 emission reductions from RACs over the period of 2005–2025. The results indicate that the rural RAC market which develops more slowly than the urban one still has great potential, and government has to revise subsidy policies to make the standards more effective, especially for rural areas. In 2025, the total electricity consumption of RACs is projected to be 598–674 TW h, while the amount without energy efficiency standards is 753 TW h. From 2005 to 2025, the energy efficiency standards for RACs can save 1430–2540 TW h electricity and reduce 908.3–1610. 1 Mt CO 2 emissions in different scenarios. Finally, we suggest that the standards should be revised every 4 or 5 years with higher revision pace of 8% to 10% [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]