Center for Global Development

About: Center for Global Development is a nonprofit organization based out in Washington D.C., District of Columbia, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Poverty & Population. The organization has 1472 authors who have published 3891 publications receiving 162325 citations.

Social capital and development studies II: Can Bourdieu travel to policy?

Abstract: My fi rst progress report (Bebbington, 2004) focused on the nature of recent debates on social capital and development, and explored some of the institutional contexts that may help explain why the concept became so attractive to some authors and so problematic for others. ‘Context’ will be an important part of this note also, though in a different sense – one that is closer to the preoccupations of those who have assumed more sceptical and critical postures in social capital debates. Here I want to explore the possibility of working with the concept of social capital within more general analytical approaches grounded in notions of cultural and political economy. I take this tack because even the most trenchant critics of social capital (Fine, 2001; Harriss, 2002) seem to suggest that if the concept is to be of any analytical value at all, it has to be understood in the way that sociologist Pierre Bourdieu uses it – as part of a theory of practice, itself grounded in a broader theorization of political economy. Indeed, Bourdieu’s take on social capital has been recognized as offering promising ways forward by various scholars of development (Rankin, 2001; Mayer and Rankin, 2002; Silvey and Elmhirst, 2002). In part this seems to be because his conceptualization holds out the possibility of what Rankin (2001: 2, 3) calls a ‘Marxian approach to social capital’, one which would be centred on ‘a structural analysis of social capital ... [that] draws attention to the ideological as well as material dimensions of social change’. This article begins with a refl ection on Bourdieu’s approach to social capital, and then explores one domain in which several authors have directly or indirectly explored the value of such an approach: work on gender, social capital and development. It closes with a more applied refl ection and asks whether a concern for social capital understood as product and producer of cultural and political economy has any chance of travelling into policy.

Unintended consequences: social policy, state institutions and the ‘stalling’ of the Malaysian industrialization project

Abstract: This paper examines the relation of particular forms of social and labour market policy to economic development. Taking the history of Malaysian industrialization as its empirical case, the paper assesses the unintended consequences of redistribution policy, on the one hand, and migration policy, on the other, for the limited upgrading of the country's electronics industry. It argues that, while the former has been central to social harmony in Malaysia's multi-racial society, it has contributed to the underdevelopment of small and medium-sized firms capable of linking with the TNCs on the basis of knowledge-intensive and higher value-added operations. Migration policy, on the other hand, has allowed manufacturers to have continued access to supplies of low-cost, lower-skilled labour that have released the pressures that would otherwise have been there for technological and skill upgrading in the electronics industry. Only in Penang, where regional state institutions have intervened to encourage S...

Peficitinib, a JAK Inhibitor, in the Treatment of Moderate‐to‐Severe Rheumatoid Arthritis in Patients With an Inadequate Response to Methotrexate

Abstract: Objective To evaluate the efficacy and safety of orally administered once-daily peficitinib in combination with methotrexate (MTX) in patients with moderate-to-severe rheumatoid arthritis (RA) who had an inadequate response to MTX. Methods In this multinational, phase IIb, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, dose-ranging trial, patients with RA (n = 378) were treated with peficitinib 25 mg, 50 mg, 100 mg, or 150 mg plus MTX, or matching placebo plus MTX once daily for 12 weeks. The primary end point was the percentage of patients who met the American College of Rheumatology 20% improvement criteria (achieved an ACR20 response) at week 12. Results ACR20 response rates at week 12 were 43.9%, 61.5% (P < 0.05 versus placebo), 46.4%, 57.7%, and 44.4% in the peficitinib 25 mg, 50 mg, 100 mg, 150 mg, and placebo groups, respectively. Significant decreases from baseline in the Disease Activity Score in 28 joints using the C-reactive protein level were seen in the peficitinib 50 mg (P < 0.05) and 150 mg (P < 0.01) groups compared with placebo at week 12. Overall, the incidence of adverse events (AEs) was similar between peficitinib and placebo. The most common AEs were urinary tract infection (n = 22 [6%]), upper respiratory tract infection (n = 16 [4%]), and diarrhea (n = 16 [4%]). There were 3 cases of herpes zoster infection (2 in the peficitinib 100 mg group and 1 in the 150 mg group) and 2 cases of serious infection (viral infection in the peficitinib 100 mg group and erysipelas in the 150 mg group). Conclusion The ACR20 response rate in the group receiving peficitinib 50 mg plus MTX was significantly different compared with the rate in patients receiving placebo, but there were no apparent dose-dependent responses, and the placebo response rate was high. Peficitinib plus MTX in patients with moderate-to-severe RA was well tolerated, with limited safety signals emerging.

The Euro and the Dollar

Abstract: How will the arrival of the euro affect the dollar? This paper uses portfolio theory to analyse the likelihood and impact of shifts between the dollar and the euro by private asset managers, official reserve managers and global liability managers. It examines the effects on both the level of the dollar and its volatility in three periods: the period before the euro's introduction; the interval until the European Central Bank consolidates its credibility; and the approach to the steady state. While the heavy weight of the Deutsche mark in international holdings of European assets today may suggest a risk intolerance that could lead to shifts into the dollar in the near future, that weight may evidence nothing more than the mark's transactions role. After its introduction, the euro may benefit from shifts by central banks into Treasury bills issued by European governments. In the approach to the steady state, the greater depth, breadth and liquidity of the euro financial markets will attract international investment. But these features should be expected to attract increased international borrowing as well, so there is little reason to expect the dollar to fall against the euro as a result of a net portfolio shifts. There is some reason to expect that in the long run the euro will impart greater volatility to the dollar's exchange rate against all US trading partners.