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This article reviews the status of the trap-bath split in the counties of Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, and Derbyshire in the East Midlands of England. The East Midlands forms a linguistic transition zone between northern English varieties which lack (part of) the trap-bath split, and southern English varieties which have this split. We examine the acoustic properties of trap and bath in the region to determine whether this pattern is stable over time or diffusing. Reading-passage data, stratified by age group, sex, and location are used to provide an apparent time and multilocal view on the distribution of the two vowel categories. Results suggest there is no complete overlap between these vowel sets in the region, although it varies across the East Midlands. Furthermore, we find the East Midlands apparently occupies a stable middle ground between northern and south-eastern varieties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The United Kingdom is one of the most spatially unequal Western countries. There have been continuing policy efforts to address this issue: the latest was a ‘levelling’ up strategy by the previous Conservative government. At the time of writing a new Labour government has dismissed the strategy as a slogan but the problem remains. The paper examines the detail of the Conservative’s levelling up policy and the theory underpinning it. It queries its basic premise that the problems of localities can be addressed in isolation. The paper argues that promoting mainly low-productivity jobs would not have instigated fundamental change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since ancient times, India's rich biodiversity1 has been a feather in its cap. Thus, housing a rich and diverse ecosystem, India has placed biodiversity as the foundation of its climate politics. Being a signatory to many international conventions and protocols for wildlife protection, many laws, missions, projects and initiatives have been undertaken both on national and international levels for the preservation of rich biodiversity of India. The recent legislations have been proposed by the government in accordance with international agreements on biodiversity conservation to which India is a partner. Also, as a highly populated tropical nation, India runs the risk of protecting biodiversity because of change in land use pattern and other anthropocentric activities. The paper answers a popular question: How far has India's ratification of international agreements towards biodiversity conservation bridged the North-South divide? Henceforth, the central argument of the paper is to analyse the two ways by which India sets an example of bridging the highly debated North-South divide: by insisting on financing the GS' (Global South) biodiversity conservation initiatives at the international level while at the national level, promoting tourism, traditional medicine and preserving the habitats of the indigenous communities which are essential for a GS nation inhabited by diverse communities living near the dense tropical forests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Past research on domestic violence in India recurrently highlight women's economic empowerment as a major deterrent to domestic violence. That said, this paper tries to understand what is the nature of relationship between women's empowerment and their experience of spousal violence? In doing so, it specifically explores how this relationship is interceded by regional specificities. Based on an analysis of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS)-5 data in India, this paper observes that the relationship between women's empowerment and domestic violence is contentious. However, women having some education and using mobile phones are less vulnerable. Hence, this study concludes that mobile phones and Internet-based applications as well as community-based interventions could be the effective measures to end domestic violence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Background Improving the public’s understanding of how regional and socioeconomic inequalities create and perpetuate inequalities in health, is argued to be necessary for building support for policies geared towards creating a more equal society. However, research exploring public perceptions of health inequalities, and how they are generated, is limited. This is particularly so for young people. Our study sought to explore young people’s lived experiences and understandings of health inequalities. Methods We carried out focus group discussions (n = 18) with 42 young people, aged 13–21, recruited from six youth organisations in England in 2021. The organisations were located in areas of high deprivation in South Yorkshire, the North East and London. Young people from each organisation took part in three interlinked focus group discussions designed to explore their (i) perceptions of factors impacting their health in their local area, (ii) understandings of health inequalities and (iii) priorities for change. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, most discussions took place online (n = 15). However, with one group in the North East, we carried out discussions face-to-face (n = 3). Data were analysed thematically and we used NVivo-12 software to facilitate data management. Results Young people from all groups demonstrated an awareness of a North-South divide in England, UK. They described how disparities in local economies and employment landscapes between the North and the South led to tangible differences in everyday living and working conditions. They clearly articulated how these differences ultimately led to inequalities in people’s health and wellbeing, such as linking poverty and employment precarity to chronic stress. Young people did not believe these inequalities were inevitable. They described the Conservative government as prioritising the South and thus perpetuating inequalities through uneven investment. Conclusions Our study affords important insights into young people’s perceptions of how wider determinants can help explain the North-South health divide in England. It demonstrates young people’s contextualised understandings of the interplay between spatial, social and health inequalities. Our findings support calls for pro-equity policies to address the structural causes of regional divides in health. Further research, engaging young people in deliberative policy analysis, could build on this work.

Background: Improving the public's understanding of how regional and socioeconomic inequalities create and perpetuate inequalities in health, is argued to be necessary for building support for policies geared towards creating a more equal society. However, research exploring public perceptions of health inequalities, and how they are generated, is limited. This is particularly so for young people. Our study sought to explore young people's lived experiences and understandings of health inequalities. Methods: We carried out focus group discussions (n = 18) with 42 young people, aged 13–21, recruited from six youth organisations in England in 2021. The organisations were located in areas of high deprivation in South Yorkshire, the North East and London. Young people from each organisation took part in three interlinked focus group discussions designed to explore their (i) perceptions of factors impacting their health in their local area, (ii) understandings of health inequalities and (iii) priorities for change. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, most discussions took place online (n = 15). However, with one group in the North East, we carried out discussions face-to-face (n = 3). Data were analysed thematically and we used NVivo-12 software to facilitate data management. Results: Young people from all groups demonstrated an awareness of a North-South divide in England, UK. They described how disparities in local economies and employment landscapes between the North and the South led to tangible differences in everyday living and working conditions. They clearly articulated how these differences ultimately led to inequalities in people's health and wellbeing, such as linking poverty and employment precarity to chronic stress. Young people did not believe these inequalities were inevitable. They described the Conservative government as prioritising the South and thus perpetuating inequalities through uneven investment. Conclusions: Our study affords important insights into young people's perceptions of how wider determinants can help explain the North-South health divide in England. It demonstrates young people's contextualised understandings of the interplay between spatial, social and health inequalities. Our findings support calls for pro-equity policies to address the structural causes of regional divides in health. Further research, engaging young people in deliberative policy analysis, could build on this work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study analyses the regional impact of public expenditures focusing on three domains central to the Italian National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP): green, digital and knowledge. Relying on a regional public expenditures sectoral dataset for the period 2000–19, we perform a panel structural vector autoregressive (P-SVAR) model showing that fiscal policy has positive and long-lasting effects on gross domestic product (GDP) and private investments. A relevant heterogeneity is detected, relative to: (1) the effects of sectoral spending in crowding-in investment; (2) the impact on regions' 'structural upgrading'; and (3) a discrepancy in fiscal multipliers across macro-areas. Nevertheless, the results suggest that the NRRP may help in reducing the Italian divide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The advent of COVID-19 continues to present social and biomedical challenges that this article endeavors to explore through a systematic critical review of the literature. The article has also benefited from the researchers' intuition and experiences they have acquired from investigating trends of SARS-CoV-2 virus dynamics. It has also benefited from engaging in informal conversations with researchers and lay people interested in addressing the myriad challenges posed by COVID-19. Findings have generated the following thematic discussions: stigma and stigmatization surrounding the disease, skewed global response, gender disparity, human rights dynamics, vaccine dynamics and dilemmas, and poverty associated with coronavirus advent. The article concludes by recognizing both biomedical and socioeconomic implications and the emerging social disparities and unequal access to pharmacotherapeutics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research compares the global debt trends in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, focusing on economies that frame the North and South divide. The research centers on debt ratios, which serve as indicators of countries' ability to finance recovery and development projects. The study period runs from 2015 to 2022 and follows the IMF's country classification, which divides the world into advanced economies (AE) and emerging market and developing economies (EMDE). The research employs panel data regressions to assess three key debt ratios—external debt to Gross Domestic Product (GDP), external debt to exports, and public debt to GDP—against various pandemic-related indicators and control variables. The analysis provides three major contributions. Firstly, an examination of external and public debt burdens is conducted, showing that escalated external and public debt burdens in EMDE contrast with increasing public debt in AE, primarily due to fiscal stimulus. Secondly, it is argued that the ongoing pandemic has intensified the widening economic gap between the North (AE) and the south (EMDE). Thirdly, a review is presented of both orthodox and heterodox policies identified in existing literature that are considered capable of mitigating external vulnerabilities in EMDE. Findings highlight the critical need for multifaceted measures to address debt vulnerability and promote sustainable economic recovery in a post-pandemic world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the complex dynamics of financial innovation in early modern times, challenging linear models of temporal and spatial divisions that tend to shape our understanding of the evolution of financial systems. It supports the idea that innovation should be viewed as a non-linear and contextual process, involving diverse stakeholders and characterised by interactions and unexpected occurrences. The study focuses on the dissemination and trajectories of financial innovations, specifically the bill of exchange and its variation, the ricorsa , as well as the transferability and negotiability of commercial paper. It does so by investigating the interactions and exchanges between merchants and bankers from diverse backgrounds during the sixteenth-century Lyon fairs, using the archival records of one of the first Italian banks in Lyon (Salviati). The study reveals the mutual influence and acculturation among these agents and challenges the compartmentalisation of financial expertise. Through an analysis of transactions recorded in the Salviati bank's ledgers, the article highlights previously unknown uses of commercial paper by Southern merchant communities and discusses the factors that may have hindered the full-scale development of endorsement and discount in the Lyon trading networks, despite their potential benefits. The results provide insights into the intricate nature of financial innovation and the influence of structural and cultural factors on its development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the changes in intergenerational occupational mobility in Italy during the Golden Age (1950-1970). These years saw significant economic and social changes, which affected occupational mobility. Specifically, the present work explores whether occupational mobility was only due to a general shift in the occupational structure, or it was the result of more equal opportunities for people from different socio-economic backgrounds. In this endeavour, I draw upon the Bank of Italy Survey on Household Income and Wealth (SHIW) to compare the occupations of 45,945 individuals born between 1923 and 1978 with those of their parents. This work is the first to find a significant increase in relative mobility in Italy for those who were born between the 1930s and the 1970s, lifting the veil on the geographical and gender dimension of intergenerational mobility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study evaluates the economic dynamics of more than 600 local districts in two contrasting periods (mid-1990s and mid-2000s) of the recent development path of Italy in the light of territorial disparities between northern and southern regions. In order to produce a multidimensional concept of ‘economic development’ 16 variables (including share of agriculture and industry on total product, labour productivity by sector, per-capita and per-worker value added) have been considered together by using exploratory multidimensional statistics. This approach has been preferred to more traditional procedures centred on single-variable analyses (e.g. GDP level and its changes over time) or convergence analysis since it allowed us to debate on the increasingly complex geography of the economic development observed in Italy and the 'newly emerging' socioeconomic disparities among regions. Results indicate that the traditional north-south gap has not been significantly reduced along the last ten years. Coastal-inland and urban-rural gradients revealed as crucial especially in southern Italy, indicating the late transition from agriculture and state-driven industry towards services producing low value added. The persistence of the north-south divide allowed us to identify ‘changing’ and ‘structurally stable’ variables as a possible target for integrated developmental policies.

This research compares the global debt trends in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, focusing on economies that frame the North and South divide. The research centers on debt ratios, which serve as indicators of countries’ ability to finance recovery and development projects. The study period runs from 2015 to 2022 and follows the IMF’s country classification, which divides the world into advanced economies (AE) and emerging market and developing economies (EMDE). The research employs panel data regressions to assess three key debt ratios—external debt to Gross Domestic Product (GDP), external debt to exports, and public debt to GDP—against various pandemic-related indicators and control variables. The analysis provides three major contributions. Firstly, an examination of external and public debt burdens is conducted, showing that escalated external and public debt burdens in EMDE contrast with increasing public debt in AE, primarily due to fiscal stimulus. Secondly, it is argued that the ongoing pandemic has intensified the widening economic gap between the North (AE) and the south (EMDE). Thirdly, a review is presented of both orthodox and heterodox policies identified in existing literature that are considered capable of mitigating external vulnerabilities in EMDE. Findings highlight the critical need for multifaceted measures to address debt vulnerability and promote sustainable economic recovery in a post-pandemic world.

The article contributes to the postcolonial and decolonial debate on epistemic inequality in International Relations (IR) research by analysing the global representation of universities at the Annual Convention of the International Studies Association in Toronto in 2019. The results are fourfold. First, the overwhelmingly represented Western countries are mostly located at universities in North America and Europe. Second, universities located in Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (BRICS) are largely underrepresented compared to their population size and number of universities. Third, even in so- called Global South panels, the representation of scholars from the Global North is much higher than that of academics from the Global South. Fourth, the representation gap also holds true when analysing researcher mobility and individual publication records. The implications of the case study results shed light on the difficulties of analysing epistemic violence without contributing oneself to the prevalent asymmetries.

Using regional data for Italy over the 2004–2019 period, this paper investigates the relationship between government effectiveness and inequality. For our empirical purposes, ordinary least squares, instrumental variable (IV) and generalized methods of moments regressions have been employed. Our evidence indicates that improved government effectiveness has some role in reducing inequality in the most developed regions of the North, but has no effect in both the Centre and in the peripheral Southern regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article contributes to the postcolonial and decolonial debate on epistemic inequality in International Relations (IR) research by analysing the global representation of universities at the Annual Convention of the International Studies Association in Toronto in 2019. The results are fourfold. First, the overwhelmingly represented Western countries are mostly located at universities in North America and Europe. Second, universities located in Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (BRICS) are largely underrepresented compared to their population size and number of universities. Third, even in socalled Global South panels, the representation of scholars from the Global North is much higher than that of academics from the Global South. Fourth, the representation gap also holds true when analysing researcher mobility and individual publication records. The implications of the case study results shed light on the difficulties of analysing epistemic violence without contributing oneself to the prevalent asymmetries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The transnational climate change governance (TCCG) landscape, led by sub- and non-state actors including businesses, municipalities, and NGOs, holds legitimate potential for tackling persisting climate injustices, in part by virtue of its polycentric character. However, while in theory polycentric governance systems could serve to correct structural power imbalances, the geography of TCCG remains remarkably uneven. This article explores this puzzle in the context of polycentric governance theory and the allegedly paradoxical relationship between polycentricity and equity. Two interrelated empirical and analytical research questions are addressed: (1) How is TCCG organized geographically along the global North–South divide? And, based on the geography of TCCG, (2) Does its polycentric character contribute toward more equitable governance across the global North and South? Following a large-N analysis of a novel dataset containing 174 governance arrangements and 1196 stakeholders with decision-making powers, I argue that the geography of TCCG is remarkably resistant to change, gravitating unmistakably toward the global North and its existing diplomatic hotspots. I argue that the TCCG system currently in place resembles a system of concentrated polycentricity—a product of an overarching system of rules shared with the international regime that could, in turn, potentially explain the persisting North–South inequities in a still seemingly increasingly polycentric climate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dichotomies emerge among early-career land scientists when balancing their career goals with family obligations, exhibiting differences in gender and regions. Through on-line surveys, we examined the interconnection between family obligations and doctoral performance through a gender lens on an international sample of doctoral students. The analysis of the findings indicated that more women than men in the doctoral program were responsible for family obligations, with mothers experiencing a prolonged duration of completing their doctorates and a lower publication rate. Majority of the respondents, primarily women from the Global North, decided not to be parents due to anticipated challenges with maintaining a work-life balance exacerbated by traditional gender roles, limited financial support for childcare, and high demands of academia. The constraints of early-career land scientists, particularly mothers from the Global South living apart from relatives, need to be addressed for institutes to strengthen international gender equality in land science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research challenges the growing theoretical Global North–South divide and refines an 'ex-centric' theorisation of creative labour in the context of the increasingly monopolising but competitive capitalism in Asia. While it argues that job insecurity is not just a universal, objective condition, but varying, subjective experiences of anxiety and dissatisfaction for creative workers, we adopt a pluralist epistemological approach and identify the nuanced intersections among key global, local, and sectoral trends – increased use of digital technology, an Indigenous and outdated work ethic, and a devaluation of creativity both in industry and society – that co-configure Hong Kong creative workers' divergent perceptions of and responses to job insecurities. Rather than merely focusing on job tenure insecurity and employment insecurity, we classify and highlight the conceptual distinctions among eight types of job insecurity for Hong Kong creative workers, some of which enable creative worker-actor's response, resilience, and resistance to the exploitative creative labour process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACTDichotomies emerge among early-career land scientists when balancing their career goals with family obligations, exhibiting differences in gender and regions. Through on-line surveys, we examined the interconnection between family obligations and doctoral performance through a gender lens on an international sample of doctoral students. The analysis of the findings indicated that more women than men in the doctoral program were responsible for family obligations, with mothers experiencing a prolonged duration of completing their doctorates and a lower publication rate. Majority of the respondents, primarily women from the Global North, decided not to be parents due to anticipated challenges with maintaining a work-life balance exacerbated by traditional gender roles, limited financial support for childcare, and high demands of academia. The constraints of early-career land scientists, particularly mothers from the Global South living apart from relatives, need to be addressed for institutes to strengthen international gender equality in land science.

The study extends the approach of the Stereotype Content Model to ethnic stereotype content beyond intergroup relations within societies by exploring the North-South hypothesis for competence and warmth. This paper claims that the "desperate" (resource-poor and unpredictable) of lower-latitude climate regions and "hopeful" (resource-sufficient and stable) ecology higher-latitude climate regions translate into typical aggregate attributes and are afterward generalized to the status of all their residents. Further, people use this information as a diagnostic for judgments about the economic value or burden of ethnic groups in their society. Based on the data about aggregated means of competence and warmth for 77 ethnic groups in 38 regions, the multivariate models show that ethnic groups from warmer climates and from lower wealth countries are given lower evaluation in both competence and warmth stereotypes. However, ethnic groups from more northerly countries are also given a lower evaluation in warmth. Ethnic stereotypes reflect both features of ethnic groups in countries of origin (e.g., the North-South polarization) and group characteristics carried by ethnic groups in new contexts (i.e., intergroup relations). Thus, reactions to ethnic groups seem to differ partly depending on countries of origin mixed in people's minds with information about geography, climate, and national wealth in the social perception process. Stereotypes associated with ethnic groups across countries to some extent track the stereotypes associated with the ecologies in which these ethnic groups are assumed to predominantly live. This highlights the importance of the establishment or expansion of policies and programs regarding international inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Voluntary carbon offsetting emerged in the early 2000s to encourage individuals and companies to contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by investing in socio-environmental projects. Some of these projects are implemented in developing countries even though they are elaborated and led by actors in developed countries. This type of voluntary carbon offsetting remains relatively unclear and unknown. This article focuses on it by identifying the roles and strategies of the actors involved. It describes their structuration and ongoing hybridizations and reconfigurations, such as project developers diversifying into carbon credit selling and vice-versa, developers considering moving away from offsetting, and companies championing offsetting in the North and promoting a supply chain logic and insetting. The analytical approach used shows, through diagrams and interviews with actors, how the challenges of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, which primarily concerned developed countries during the application of the Kyoto Protocol, now significantly impact and assimilate development issues in the South. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article represents a first attempt to compare the development of the Italian banks of issue before unification on the basis of a new dataset with data disaggregated at regional and provincial level. While previously banks of issue in pre-unification Italy have only been the subject of isolated, mostly qualitative studies, this dataset provides new evidence on the diverging development of regional banking markets prior to 1861. It clearly shows that the hegemony enjoyed by the Piedmontese Banca Nazionale (the forerunner of the Banca d'Italia) in post-unification Italy had its roots in the Piedmontese 'financial revolution' of the 1850s. Crucial to this success were not simply the individual characteristics of the bank but its embeddedness in the structural evolution of the Piedmontese economy. As a result of wide-ranging institutional changes, Piedmontese banking was thus able to combine the advantages of centralisation and proximity to state power - features also to be found in the South - with those of private enterprise and geographic accessibility typical of the Tuscan system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Existing research emphasizes the rise of new coalitions of states from the global South, such as the BRICS, on one hand, and the rise of a transnational capitalist class on the other. Yet only a small body of work has considered how transnational capitalists shape, and are shaped by, inter-state competition. Research neglects explicitly comparative inquiries: do transnational capitalists in the global North and the global South interact with inter-state competition differently? This article analyzes two cases in which transnational firms in the global North and South attempted to shape state institutions at domestic and international levels to strengthen trade liberalization. We argue that, while firms in the global North and South increasingly share preferences for trade liberalization, the way in which these firms pursue that goal is shaped by their historical relationship to the institutions of U.S.-led hegemony. Transnational firms in the global South seek to foment inter-state competition in order to decenter U.S. leadership, while their counterparts in the North seek to minimize and accommodate inter-state competition to preserve U.S. leadership and their own private authority. Both the North and the South are contributing to the geographical re-centering of institutional power in the world economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The spread of the NEET (young people not in education, employment and training) phenomenon in Italy is largely due to the recession that has exacerbated the structural problems of the labor market, worsening job opportunities and contractual conditions, particularly for young people. We analyze how the level of youth unemployment (YUR) influences the number of young NEETs, both as a direct cause and through the risk of discouraging young people, considering the endogeneity issue. We also analyze the role of YUR and other control variables characterizing the youth condition on the social exclusion rate, since the NEET status is comparable to a form of social exclusion. More information comes from the comparison between two divergent macro-areas: the wealthy Center-North and the less developed South of Italy. The results show that the causes of the two phenomena are different in the years of recession. YUR has a predominant effect on NEET, particularly in the less developed area.

The commitment to community economic development has in fact been superficial in terms of financial commitments and the UK Community Renewal Fund has been only a bridging gap between the end of the EU funding regime and the start of the new UKSPF regime post-Brexit - it remains to be seen how the commitment to community economic development maintains itself. Levelling up, White Paper, inequality, north-south divide, left behind places, new funding regime, UKSPF Keywords: levelling up; White Paper; inequality; left behind places; new funding regime; UKSPF; north-south divide EN levelling up White Paper inequality left behind places new funding regime UKSPF north-south divide 3 12 10 06/24/22 20220201 NES 220201 Introduction At the time of writing (April 2022), globally, the effects of COVID 19 are still very real for the National Health Service, and other health services across the world; the Brexit aftermath continues to reverberate across Europe; and an energy crisis is looming in the wake of the on-going Ukrainian War. UKSPF is related to the government's 12 mission statements in the Levelling Up White Paper and local authorities are now to bring forward Investment plans for their allocations for the rest of 2022/3, to sit alongside the £4.8 billion in the Levelling up Fund and Round 2. [Extracted from the article]

Abstract Medical tourism occupies different spaces within national policy frameworks depending on which side of the transnational paradigm countries belong to, and how they seek to leverage it towards their developmental goals. This article draws attention to this policy divide in transnational healthcare through a comparative bibliometric review of policy research on medical tourism in select source (Canada, United States and United Kingdom) and destination countries (Mexico, India, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore), using a systematic search of the Web of Science (WoS) database and review of grey literature. We assess cross-national differences in policy and policy research on medical tourism against contextual policy landscapes and challenges, and examine the convergence between research and policy. Our findings indicate major disparities in development agendas and national policy concerns, both between and among source and destination countries. Further, we find that research on medical tourism does not always address prevailing policy challenges, just as the policy discourse oftentimes neglects relevant policy research on the subject. Based on our review, we highlight the limited application of theoretical policy paradigms in current medical tourism research and make the case for a comparative policy research agenda for the field.

Given that there is no recent research on decomposition for global inequality, the aim of this study is to fill the gap in the literature by investigating global inequality with decomposition technique. The data of this study were compiled from the World Bank and decomposition by subgroups was conducted to evaluate the driving forces behind the evolution of inequality. Almost all the countries in the world were included in this study, and the study period spans from 2000 to 2017. The analysis was carried out in several stages to evaluate the issue of North–South divide, as well as the impacts of regional and income subgroups. There are several salient findings derived from this study. First, the results show that there was a gradual decline of international inequality within the study period. Second, there was still a large disparity between the developed and developing countries, and the inequality within the developing countries has aggravated further. Third, geographical location has exerted great impacts on global inequality and East Asia contributed about 40% to the overall decline in international inequality. Fourth, decline in inequality amongst the upper-middle-income countries also contributed substantially to the fall in international inequality. The results derived from this paper can provide pertinent information for the formulation of a comprehensive and coherent strategy in coordinating international efforts and managing inequality while promoting human development under the framework of the newly established Sustainable Development Goals.

Given that there is no recent research on decomposition for global inequality, the aim of this study is to fill the gap in the literature by investigating global inequality with decomposition technique. The data of this study were compiled from the World Bank and decomposition by subgroups was conducted to evaluate the driving forces behind the evolution of inequality. Almost all the countries in the world were included in this study, and the study period spans from 2000 to 2017. The analysis was carried out in several stages to evaluate the issue of North–South divide, as well as the impacts of regional and income subgroups. There are several salient findings derived from this study. First, the results show that there was a gradual decline of international inequality within the study period. Second, there was still a large disparity between the developed and developing countries, and the inequality within the developing countries has aggravated further. Third, geographical location has exerted great impacts on global inequality and East Asia contributed about 40% to the overall decline in international inequality. Fourth, decline in inequality amongst the upper-middle-income countries also contributed substantially to the fall in international inequality. The results derived from this paper can provide pertinent information for the formulation of a comprehensive and coherent strategy in coordinating international efforts and managing inequality while promoting human development under the framework of the newly established Sustainable Development Goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Federal Constitutional Court (FCC) in Germany has issued a landmark ruling with regard to climate change. It opens its jurisprudence for a new dimension of human rights: The intertemporal guarantee of freedom. It argues that the legislature has violated fundamental rights by failing to take sufficient precautionary measures today for the time after 2030. The emissions allowed in the Federal Climate Change Act until 2030 will nearly exhaust Germany's remaining CO2 budget. After 2030, drastic legislative measures, which curtail nearly all activities that emit CO2, might be necessary. If emission reductions are delayed until 2030, the costs of climate protection will increase for future generations, and with it the risk that emission reductions will only be possible at the price of serious losses of freedom. Therefore, the legislature needs to act now and take the time after 2030 into consideration. The order might eventually influence climate change litigation in other areas of the world. The article will demonstrate the main arguments of the FCC order. The combat of climate change is an international task, which cannot be solved by Germany alone. The FCC takes this fact to some extent into account. It argues for international cooperation to combat climate change. Unfortunately, it does not fully evolve a jurisprudence which takes the core principle of common but differentiated responsibility (CBDR) seriously and addresses the questions of equity. The CBDR principle is one of the core principles which should solve the North-South divide and which should bring together the efforts of rich as well as poor countries to combat climate change. It is enshrined in the Paris Agreement. The FCC engages with this principle on the surface but misses the opportunity to truly and deeply engage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the pioneering study by Banfield, the North‐South gap in Italian social capital has been considered by international scholars as an example of how cultural diversity within a country can generate different developmental outcomes. Most studies, however, suffer from limited external validity and measurement error. This paper exploits a new and representative online lab‐experiment to assess social‐capital patterns in Italy. Unlike previous experiments, we do not inform participants about the geographic origins of their counterparts. This feature allows us to assess the North‐South gap in universal, as opposed to parochial, behavior. Results suggest that Southerners and Northerners do not systematically differ in generalized prosocial preferences. Only trustworthiness is higher among. Northerners, while they are statistically similar to Southerners in many other economic preferences such as cooperation, trust, expected trustworthiness, altruism, and risk tolerance. We also show that the gap in trustworthiness stems from the lower reciprocity of Southerners in response to large transfers, and it is characterized by the intergenerational transmission of norms. Possible policy implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Applying panel SVAR modelling to 1995–2017 regional data, we estimate fiscal multipliers in Italy at national and sub‐national level and find that expansionary fiscal policies produce positive and persistent effects on GDP. Fiscal multipliers remain larger than 1 even 10 years after a discretionary fiscal policy is implemented. Government investment stimulates output more than government consumption. Moreover, fiscal multipliers are higher in Centre‐Northern regions than in Southern ones. Such evidence is confirmed when fiscal foresight is considered. Our findings support the Keynesian perspective, indicating that Italy should increase public investments to foster economic growth especially in the poorest Southern regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This introductory contribution examines the 'Global South' as a meta category in the study of world politics. Against the backdrop of a steep rise in references to the 'Global South' across academic publications, we ask whether and how the North–South binary in general, and the '(Global) South' in particular, can be put to use analytically. Building on meta categories as tools for the classification of global space, we discuss the increasing prominence of the 'Global South' and then outline different understandings attached to it, notably socio-economic marginality, multilateral alliance-building and resistance against global hegemonic power. Following an overview of individual contributions to this volume, we reflect on the analytical implications for using the 'Global South' category in academic research. Insights from China, the Caribbean, international negotiations or academic knowledge production itself not only point to patterns of shared experiences but also highlight the heterogeneity of 'Southern' realities and increasing levels of complexity that cut across the North–South divide. Overall, we argue for an issue-based and field-specific use of the 'Global South' as part of a broader commitment to a more deliberate, explicit and differentiated engagement with taken-for-granted categories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the construction of the hegemonic methods for the evaluation and representation of sustainable development and their translation into non-Western habitats. The concept Sustainable Orientalism pursues to examine the adaptation and translation of contemporary dominant discourses, methods and representations that shape the idea of a sustainable development in cities and regions around the world, and their translation to growing economies of non-Western societies. A correlation of Orientalism and sustainable development determines that the study and knowledge of non-Western environments by advanced assessment frameworks do not merely reproduce the outlying territories: it works them out, or animate them, using narrative techniques, and historical and exploratory attitudes of scientific ideas generated in the West. The paper questions the pursuit of environmental justice in the 21st century based on the distortion and degradation of knowledge that is implied in the exercise of a Sustainable Orientalism.

This paper, by presenting and analysing some recent phenomena – like Brexit, the income (or more generally: prosperity) gap both between Western and Eastern, and Northern and Southern European member states, tensions within the Euro system, or even the resolution of the Greek crisis – would like to point to a certain direction which is worth to be considered in relation to the future of the European Union. In contrast to the standard narrative, it argues that instead of ever more integration – i.e. consisting of forcing more and more dogmatic economic policy under German domination –, Europe would benefit from a looser, multi-tier integration, based on mutually advantageous cooperation of nations. Such a solution would not exclude the preservation of a hard core of countries with deepening integration amongst their economies, but would give countries of the periphery the opportunity to preserve their room for manoeuver, their chances of development, and ultimately their dignity.

As a legacy of the industrial revolution, housing differences in the UK are frequently referred to in order to exemplify the so-called North-South divide. However, a closer analysis at UK housing markets shows that it is necessary to qualify if not debunk that concept. This article will examine the North-South divide not so much from a public policy perspective as from a housing markets and housing conditions perspective. Firstly, I shall briefly analyse the official discourse with regard to a North-South divide in housing. Next, I shall examine the issue of the rescaling of housing and the growing importance given to the sub-regional level in England. Secondly, I shall examine the relevance of the North-South divide in housing in the UK on the basis of four indicators (physical aspect, state of repair, tenure, prices). Thirdly, I shall raise the question of the emergence of new and more relevant housing divides in England. Finally, I shall explore the question of housing policy divergence in a post-devolution UK.

This article explores the sociocultural divide in England exposed by Brexit. The metaphors of ‘North’ and ‘South’ are used to explain this, where the former is seen as more culturally conservative and the latter as more cosmopolitan. We examine the Labour Party under Jeremy Corbyn and show how its values have shifted away from its Northern heartlands. The article uses a range of data including by-elections, local and general election results and statistics from the 2016 referendum on the United Kingdom’s continued membership of the European Union.

Existing scholarship has established that environmental NGOs influence political and ecological outcomes across a variety of settings. Yet this work tells us relatively little about how the networks, strategies, and organizations in the environmental NGO sector compare to other NGO sectors. This article argues that adopting a cross-sectoral perspective illuminates how theory and best practice developed for other INGO sectors can apply to the study of environmental INGOs, and vice versa. Drawing on quantitative data we find that a) on average, the ENGO sector is not more collaborative, better networked, more institutionalized, or more geographically imbalanced than other sectors; b) the ENGO sector is marked by a uniquely high level of concentration in terms of relational and economic resources. We call for more attention to the origins of these sectoral differences, and also draw out their implications for ENGO performance, suggesting that theories of 'gatekeeping' may be particularly relevant to the study of environmental groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]