Clientelism and Democracy

2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 415-435
Author(s):  
Jamie M. Sommer
Keyword(s):  
Low Income ◽  
Fixed Effects ◽  
Internal State ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Institutional Structures ◽  
Low Incomes ◽  
The World ◽  
Fixed Effects Regression ◽  
National Governments ◽  
Cross National

Abstract Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions are rapidly increasing across the world. While national governments are usually seen as having the power, authority, and ability to make significant reductions in their CO2 outputs, cross-national research rarely focuses on the institutional structures of states that moderate their CO2 emissions. Previous research that focuses on internal state factors largely focus on democracy and find wildly conflicting results. This research argues that clientelism is a missing piece of the puzzle in explaining how democracy impacts CO2 emissions. Building on the extant contradictory research, the present study uses two-way fixed effects regression analysis for 150 nations from 1971-2014 to understand how the interaction between clientelism and democracy impacts CO2 emissions. The findings reveal that controlling for clientelism reduces CO2 outputs more in high-income and low-income nations with higher levels of participatory democracy. However, the interaction is not statistically significant for all nations, nor for middle-income nations. These results suggest that reducing clientelist relationships in nations with high- and low-incomes, but not middle incomes will make participatory democracies more effective at reducing CO2 emissions.

scholarly journals Taxes for the People or for the Government? A Global Governance Perspective

2020 ◽  
Vol 67 (3) ◽  
pp. 389-407
Author(s):  
Sebastian Lazăr ◽  
Bogdan Gabriel Zugravu ◽  
Adina Dornean
Keyword(s):  
World Bank ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Fixed Effects ◽  
Public Services ◽  
Annual Growth Rate ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Regulatory Quality ◽  
The World ◽  
Control Of Corruption

The paper investigates the determinants of taxes collected net of public services for a sample of 104 countries from all over the world over 1996-2016 period. Starting from the assumption that what really matters for the taxpayer is the tax money that actually return to the society, after paying the cost of government, we introduce the concept of taxes collected net of public services as the difference between taxes to GDP ratio and general public services expenditures to the GDP ratio and investigates its determinants from governance perspective. The main determinants looked upon were worldwide governance indicators (WGI): control of corruption, government effectiveness, political stability, regulatory quality, rule of law and voice and accountability, taken from World Bank surveys. As control variable we used GDP per capita annual growth rate. We include year fixed effects in order to control for global economic crisis, and also country fixed effects to control for unobservable country-level factors that are constant over the sample period. The analysis follows the World Bank country classification on level of development: low income, lower middle-, higher middle income and high-income countries. The results show that the rule of law governance characteristic affected the taxes net of public services the most, both in terms of economic effect and of countries coverage, while the control of corruption and regulatory quality were found significant only for lower-middle income countries and low-income countries respectively. Policy recommendations were made accordingly.

scholarly journals Tuberculosis and Non-Communicable Disease Multimorbidity: An Analysis of the World Health Survey in 48 Low- and Middle-Income Countries

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (5) ◽  
pp. 2439
Author(s):  
Brendon Stubbs ◽  
Kamran Siddiqi ◽  
Helen Elsey ◽  
Najma Siddiqi ◽  
Ruimin Ma ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Survey ◽  
Low Income ◽  
World Health ◽  
Low Income Countries ◽  
Multivariable Logistic Regression Analysis ◽  
World Health Survey ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Middle Income Countries ◽  
The World ◽  
Low And Middle Income

Tuberculosis (TB) is a leading cause of mortality in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). TB multimorbidity [TB and ≥1 non-communicable diseases (NCDs)] is common, but studies are sparse. Cross-sectional, community-based data including adults from 21 low-income countries and 27 middle-income countries were utilized from the World Health Survey. Associations between 9 NCDs and TB were assessed with multivariable logistic regression analysis. Years lived with disability (YLDs) were calculated using disability weights provided by the 2017 Global Burden of Disease Study. Eight out of 9 NCDs (all except visual impairment) were associated with TB (odds ratio (OR) ranging from 1.38–4.0). Prevalence of self-reported TB increased linearly with increasing numbers of NCDs. Compared to those with no NCDs, those who had 1, 2, 3, 4, and ≥5 NCDs had 2.61 (95% confidence interval (CI) = 2.14–3.22), 4.71 (95%CI = 3.67–6.11), 6.96 (95%CI = 4.95–9.87), 10.59 (95%CI = 7.10–15.80), and 19.89 (95%CI = 11.13–35.52) times higher odds for TB. Among those with TB, the most prevalent combinations of NCDs were angina and depression, followed by angina and arthritis. For people with TB, the YLDs were three times higher than in people without multimorbidity or TB, and a third of the YLDs were attributable to NCDs. Urgent research to understand, prevent and manage NCDs in people with TB in LMICs is needed.

Brain drain and economic growth: evidence of productivity growth from brain circulation

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 128-145
Author(s):  
Woosik Yu
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Brain Drain ◽  
Productivity Growth ◽  
Fixed Effects ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Brain Circulation ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Fixed Effects Regression ◽  
The Brain

This paper analyzes the effect of the so-called ‘brain drain’ on economic growth through the channel of growth in total factor productivity. We analyze panel data that measure the severity of brain drain, which are from IMD and the U.S. National Science Foundation. Our analysis shows that middle-income countries have more brain drain compared to the group of high-income countries. Also, emerging economies that grow fast tend to experience more brain drain. Our results from fixed effects regression models show that that brain drain has a significant and positive impact on economic growth, and the main channel is productivity growth. This can be considered as evidence of the positive effects of ‘brain circulation’, which is one of the brain drain phenomena that settlement of the talents in advanced countries can eventually help improve the productivity of home country by the sharing of advanced technologies and skills around them with colleagues in motherland. Therefore, a strategy of utilizing overseas resident talents should also be considered, alongside the brain-attraction policy.

A worldwide survey of retinopathy of prematurity screening

2017 ◽  
Vol 102 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Justin S Mora ◽  
Christopher Waite ◽  
Clare E Gilbert ◽  
Brenda Breidenstein ◽  
John J Sloper
Keyword(s):  
Low Income ◽  
Retinopathy Of Prematurity ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Low Income Countries ◽  
Screening Criteria ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Premature Babies ◽  
Inadequate Knowledge ◽  
The World ◽  
Rop Screening

BackgroundTo ascertain which countries in the world have retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) screening programmes and guidelines and how these were developed.MethodsAn email database was created and requests were sent to ophthalmologists in 141 nations to complete an online survey on ROP screening in their country.ResultsRepresentatives from 92/141 (65%) countries responded. 78/92 (85%) have existing ROP screening programmes, and 68/78 (88%) have defined screening criteria. Some countries have limited screening and those areas which have no screening or for which there is inadequate knowledge are mainly Southeast Asia, Africa and some former Soviet states.DiscussionWith the increasing survival of premature babies in lower-middle-income and low-income countries, it is important to ensure that adequate ROP screening and treatment is in place. This information will help organisations focus their resources on those areas most in need.

scholarly journals Religious Heterogamy and the Intergenerational Transmission of Religion: A Cross-National Analysis

Religions ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 109 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian McPhail
Keyword(s):  
Fixed Effects ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
National Level ◽  
Religious Attendance ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Fixed Effects Regression ◽  
National Analysis ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Cross National

This study examines the effect of religious heterogamy on the transmission of religion from one generation to the next. Using data from 37 countries in the 2008 Religion III Module of the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP), I conduct a cross-national analysis of the relationship between parents’ religious heterogamy and their adult childrens’ religious lives. By estimating fixed effects regression models, I adjust for national-level confounders to examine patterns of association between having interreligious parents during childhood and level of adult religiosity as measured by self-rated religiousness, belief in God, and frequencies of religious attendance and prayer. The results indicate that having religiously heterogamous parents or parents with dissimilar religious attendance patterns are both associated with lower overall religiosity in respondents. Parents’ religious attendance, however, mediates the relationship when each parent has a different religion. Having one unaffiliated parent is associated with lower religiosity regardless of parents’ levels of religious attendance. The negative impact of parents’ religious heterogamy on religious inheritance is independent of national-level factors and has implications for anticipating changes in the religious landscapes of societies characterized by religious diversity and growing numbers of interreligious marriages.

Multilateral governance will advance despite obstacles

2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Low Income ◽  
Public Investment ◽  
Low Income Countries ◽  
System Reform ◽  
Government Ownership ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The World ◽  
Host Government ◽  
Risk Insurance

Subject Reforming the multilateral development banks. Significance The multilateral development bank (MDB) system has resisted pressure on the international order from US nationalism, but the multiplication of MDBs has considerably reduced their collective effectiveness. This fragmentation is preventing them from adapting to global challenges and harnessing private capital for development. The World Bank spring meeting will consider the proposals that the G20 is exploring. Most do not entail institutional change, but others could pave the way for significant reforms. Impacts The ongoing debate about the World Bank’s need for a capital increase will be peripheral to the larger discussion on MDB system reform. If implemented, a cross-MDB risk insurance platform would create a one-stop shop for investors and opportunities for private reinsurers. System-wide securitisation would create new asset classes and expand opportunities for institutional investors. In-country MDB coordination platforms would boost host government ownership of projects in middle-income and stable low-income countries. Estimates suggest that one dollar of capital paid into MDBs can translate into 50 dollars of public investment if allocated effectively.

The Economic Performance of Military Regimes: A Cross-National Aggregate Study

1976 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 291-310 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. D. McKinlay ◽  
A. S. Cohan
Keyword(s):  
Low Income ◽  
Economic Performance ◽  
Military Regime ◽  
Military Coup ◽  
Systematic Research ◽  
Common Phenomenon ◽  
Military Regimes ◽  
The World ◽  
The Military ◽  
Cross National

The military regime has now become a common phenomenon throughout the world. Research on the military in low-income systems used to focus on the military coup rather than on the military regime, but in recent years this imbalance has lessened. Moreover, many of the old ‘standard findings’ about military regimes have come to be rejected. It is fitting that they should have been since they tended to be the products more of stereotyping and inadequate theorizing than of systematic research.

scholarly journals Fiscal Decentralisation and Income Inequality: Empirical Evidence from OECD Countries

2017 ◽  
Vol 237 (3) ◽  
pp. 225-273
Author(s):  
Sibylle Stossberg ◽  
Hansjörg Blöchliger
Keyword(s):  
Income Inequality ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Oecd Countries ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Income Groups ◽  
Tax Autonomy ◽  
Low Income Groups ◽  
Fiscal Decentralisation ◽  
National Governments ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract Fiscal decentralisation might be partially responsible for rising income inequality by exacerbating competition between sub-national governments and compromising national government’s ability to redistribute. This paper investigates the relationship between fiscal decentralisation and economy-wide disposable income inequality. Drawing on a dataset of up to 20 OECD countries and covering the period 1996 to 2011, the analysis links a set of income inequality indicators and a wide array of fiscal decentralisation indicators. Results indicate that decentralisation might actually reduce income inequality, as measured by the Gini coefficient, but the effect is rather small and unstable across specifications. Fine-graining the analysis by using income percentile ratios, in turn, produces more significant and stable results. As such, the effects of fiscal decentralisation are not the same along the income distribution. While decentralisation tends to be associated with a reduction in income inequality between high incomes and the median, it is linked to a divergence of low income groups from the median, notably via sub-central tax autonomy. Transfers between levels of government also tend to be associated with an increase in the gap between lower and middle incomes. Interpreting these effects jointly, it seems that mainly middle income earners benefit from fiscal decentralisation.

scholarly journals The comparative economics of financial access in gender economic inclusion

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Simplice Asongu ◽  
Rexon Nting
Keyword(s):  
Low Income ◽  
Fixed Effects ◽  
Common Law ◽  
Civil Law ◽  
Political Stability ◽  
Financial Access ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Legal Origins ◽  
Gender Inclusion

PurposeThe study has investigated the comparative importance of financial access in promoting gender inclusion in African countries.Design/methodology/approachGender inclusion is proxied by the female labour participation rate while financial channels include: financial system deposits and private domestic credit. The empirical evidence is based on non-contemporary fixed effects regressions.FindingsIn order to provide more implications on comparative relevance, the dataset is categorised into income levels (middle income versus (vs.) low income); legal origins (French civil law vs. English common law); religious domination (Islam vs. Christianity); openness to sea (coastal vs. landlocked); resource-wealth (oil-poor vs. oil-rich) and political stability (stable vs. unstable). Six main hypotheses are tested, notably, that middle income, English common law, Christianity, coastal, oil-rich and stable countries enjoy better levels of “financial access”-induced gender inclusion compared to respectively, low income, French civil law, Islam, landlocked, oil-poor and unstable countries. All six tested hypotheses are validated.Originality/valueThis is the first study on the comparative importance of financial access in gender economic participation.

scholarly journals Exposure to landscape fire smoke extremely reduced birthweight in low- and middle-income countries

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
jiajianghui li ◽  
Tianjia Guan ◽  
Qian Guo ◽  
Guannan Geng ◽  
Huiyu Wang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Fixed Effects ◽  
Low Birthweight ◽  
Fine Particulate Matter ◽  
Binary Outcomes ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Middle Income Countries ◽  
Gestational Exposure ◽  
Fire Smoke ◽  
Fixed Effects Regression ◽  
Low And Middle Income

Landscape fire smoke (LFS) has been associated with reduced birthweight, but evidence from low and middle income countries (LMICs) is rare. Here, we present a sibling matched case control study of 227,948 newborns to identify an association between fire sourced fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and birthweight in 54 LMICs from 2000 to 2014. We selected mothers from the geocoded Demographic and Health Survey with at least two children and valid birthweight records. Newborns affiliated with the same mother were defined as a family group. Gestational exposure to LFS was assessed in each newborn using the concentration of fire sourced PM2.5. We determined the associations of the within group variations in LFS exposure with birthweight differences between matched siblings using a fixed effects regression model. Additionally, we analyzed the binary outcomes of low birthweight (LBW) or very low birthweight (VLBW). According to fully adjusted models, a 1 ug/m3 increase in the concentration of fire sourced PM2.5 was significantly associated with a 2.17 g (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.56, 3.77) reduction in birthweight, a 2.80% (95% CI: 0.97, 4.66) increase in LBW risk, and an 11.68% (95% CI: 3.59, 20.40) increase in VLBW risk. Our findings indicate that gestational exposure to LFS harms maternal health.

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