The present historical moment may seem a particularly inopportune time to review Bowling Alone, Robert Putnam's latest exploration of civic decline in America. After all, the outpouring of volunteerism, solidarity, patriotism, and self-sacrifice displayed by Americans in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks appears to fly in the face of Putnam's central argument: that \"social capital\" -defined as \"social networks and the norms of reciprocity and trustworthiness that arise from them\" (p. 19)'has declined to dangerously low levels in America over the last three decades. However, Putnam is not fazed in the least by the recent effusion of solidarity. Quite the contrary, he sees in it the potential to \"reverse what has been a 30to 40-year steady decline in most measures of connectedness or community.\"' As an example of how the current \"war on terrorism\" could generate a durable civic renewal, Putnam points to the burst in civic practices that occurred during and after World War II, which he says \"permanently marked\" the generation that lived through it and had a \"terrific effect on American public life over the last half-century.\" 3 If Americans can follow this example and channel their current civic

Bowling alone: The collapse and revival of American community

Poverty and Famines: An Essay on Entitlement and Deprivation

Land policies are of fundamental importance to sustainable growth, good governance, and the well-being of, and the economic opportunities open to, both rural and urban dwellers - particularly the poor. To this end, research on land policy, and analysis of interventions related to the subject, have long been of interest to the Bank's Research Department, and other academic, and civil society institutions. The report aims to strengthen the effectiveness of land policy in support of development, and poverty reduction, by setting out the results of recent research in a way that is accessible to a wide audience of policymakers, nongovernmental organizations, academics in the Bank's client countries, donor agency officials, and the broader development community. Its main message rests on three principles: 1) provision of secure tenure to land improves the welfare of the poor, particularly by enhancing the asset base of those whose land rights are often neglected, and, creates incentives needed for investment, paramount to sustainable economic growth; 2) facilitation of land exchange, and distribution, whether as an asset or for current services, at low cost, through markets, and non-market channels, will expedite land access by productive, but land-poor producers, so that once economic growth improves, financial markets would rely on the use of land as collateral; and, 3) governments' contribution to the promotion of socially desirable land allocation, and utilization. The report discusses mechanisms to promote tenure security, demonstrates the importance of rental market transactions, arguing the removal of impediments to these can generate equity advantages, and positive investments. It also illustrates mechanisms, ranging from taxation, to regulation and land use planning to address these issues.

Land policies for growth and poverty reduction

/pdf/economics-of-natural-resources-and-the-environment-43k62iyyte.pdf

Economics of natural resources and the environment

https://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lancet/PIIS0140-6736%2815%2960854-6.pdf?code=lancet-site

Health and climate change: policy responses to protect public health

This paper presents and applies a conceptual framework to address human vulnerability to climate change. Drawing upon social risk management and asset-based approaches, the conceptual framework provides a unifying lens to examine links between risks, adaptation, and vulnerability. The result is an integrated approach to increase the capacity of society to manage climate risks with a view to reduce the vulnerability of households and maintain or increase the opportunities for sustainable development. We identify 'no-regrets' adaptation interventions, meaning actions that generate net social benefits under all future scenarios of climate change and impacts. We also make the case for greater external support for community-based adaptation, discuss the role of social protection, and propose a research agenda.

Addressing Human Vulnerability to Climate Change: Toward a 'No Regrets' Approach

Fuel switching: evidence from eight developing countries

This paper presents and applies a conceptual framework to address human vulnerability to climate change. Drawing upon social risk management and asset-based approaches, the conceptual framework provides a unifying lens to examine links between risks, adaptation, and vulnerability. The result is an integrated approach to increase the capacity of society to manage climate risks with a view to reduce the vulnerability of households and maintain or increase the opportunities for sustainable development. We identify ‘no-regrets’ adaptation interventions, meaning actions that generate net social benefits under all future scenarios of climate change and impacts. We also make the case for greater support for community-based adaptation and social protection and propose a research agenda.

Addressing human vulnerability to climate change: Toward a ‘no-regrets’ approach

This paper disusses domestic en- ergy supply and demand in rural India. Links be- tween forest scarcity and household fuel collec- tion are analyzed in a non-separable household model, focusing on substitution of non-commer- cial fuels from the commons and the private do- main. Based on data from villages bordering a protected area, a novel maximum entropy ap- proach is used for estimation. It is found that households respond to forest scarcity and in- creased fuelwood collection time by substituting fuels from private sources for forest fuelwood. However, the magnitude of the response appears insufficient to prevent current fuelwood collection practices from causing serious forest degrada- tion. (JEL Q24)

https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/3147225.pdf

Fuelwood consumption and forest degradation: a household model for domestic energy substitution in rural India.

This paper discusses the factors guiding household choices of cooking fuels. This is crucial for policies to combat indoor air pollution. Household income is an important, but not the only, factor. Opportunity costs of firewood also play an essential role. Empirical results are based on the 2000 Guatemalan LSMS survey, which includes a detailed section on energy use. Patterns of fuel use, energy spending, Engel curves, multiple fuels, the extent of fuel switching, and the determinants of fuel choice are analyzed.It is common in Guatemala to use multiple fuels for cooking: 48 and 27 percent of urban and rural households do so. Modern fuels are often used alongside traditional solid fuels; modern fuels thus fail to displace solid fuels in many cases, particular in rural areas and the urban bottom half. This is paradoxical since a significant share of firewood users buy wood from the market, incurring costs that are substantial, also in comparison with the costs of modern fuels.

Rasmus Heltberg

Papers

Addressing Human Vulnerability to Climate Change: Toward a 'No Regrets' Approach

Fuel switching: evidence from eight developing countries

Addressing human vulnerability to climate change: Toward a ‘no-regrets’ approach

Fuelwood consumption and forest degradation: a household model for domestic energy substitution in rural India.

Factors Determining Household Fuel Choice in Guatemala