The Role of Institutions
01 Jan 2011-pp 149-164
TL;DR: In this article, a case study about a services coalition in a developing country that provides a viable solution to developing the services sector in a country is presented. The focus of the case study is Barbados, a very small island (166 square miles) in the Caribbean with a population of 280,000 people.
Abstract: This case study is about a services coalition in a developing country that provides a viable solution to developing the services sector in a country. The focus of the case study is Barbados, a very small island (166 square miles) in the Caribbean with a population of 280,000 people. Services constitute 84 per cent of the island’s GDP. Services also constitute two-thirds of the world’s economy and form the fastest growing component of world trade.
Citations
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TL;DR: In this article, the authors assess how climate change events may amplify urban inequity and synthesize the findings with regard to equity types, meaning outcome-based, process-oriented and context-related equity.
Abstract: Climate change is acknowledged as the largest threat to our societies in the coming decades, potentially affecting large and diverse groups of urban residents in this century of urbanization. As urban areas house highly diverse people with differing vulnerabilities, intensifying climate change is likely to shift the focus of discussions from a general urban perspective to who in cities will be affected by climate change, and how. This brings the urban equity question to the forefront. Here we assess how climate change events may amplify urban inequity. We find that heatwaves, but also flooding, landslides, and even mitigation and adaptation measures, affect specific population groups more than others. As underlying sensitivity factors we consistently identify socioeconomic status and gender. We synthesize the findings with regard to equity types – meaning outcome-based, process-oriented and context-related equity – and suggest solutions for avoiding increased equity and justice concerns as a result of climate change impacts, adaptation and mitigation.
155 citations
Cites background from "The Role of Institutions"
...Bulkeley, Harriet, Heike Schroeder, Katy Janda, Jimin Zhao, Andrea Armstrong, Shu Yi Chu and Shibani Ghosh (2009), “The Role of Institutions, Governance, and Urban Planning for Mitigation and Adaptation”, in Daniel Hoornweg, Mila Freire, Marcus J Lee, Perinaz Bhada-Tata and Belinda Yuen (editors), Fifth Urban Research...
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...Bulkeley, Harriet, Heike Schroeder, Katy Janda, Jimin Zhao, Andrea Armstrong, Shu Yi Chu and Shibani Ghosh (2009), “The Role of Institutions, Governance, and Urban Planning for Mitigation and Adaptation”, in Daniel Hoornweg, Mila Freire, Marcus J Lee, Perinaz Bhada-Tata and Belinda Yuen (editors),…...
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...Bulkeley, Harriet, Heike Schroeder, Katy Janda, Jimin Zhao, Andrea Armstrong, Shu Yi Chu and Shibani Ghosh (2009), “The Role of Institutions, Governance, and Urban Planning for Mitigation and Adaptation”, in Daniel Hoornweg, Mila Freire, Marcus J Lee, Perinaz Bhada-Tata and Belinda Yuen (editors), Fifth Urban Research Symposium, Cities and Climate Change: Responding to an Urgent Agenda Vol 2, pages 125–159, World Bank, Marseille....
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TL;DR: The authors identified the main adaptation strategies used by farming households in the Sudan savannah and forest-savannah transitional agro-ecological zones of Ghana, in order to reduce the adverse impacts of climate variability on their livelihood activities.
Abstract: Climate variability poses a significant threat to many sectors of Sub-Saharan Africa’s economy. Agriculture is one of the most climate sensitive sectors because of its dependence on rain-fed cultivation. This paper identifies the main adaptation strategies used by farming households in the Sudan savannah and forest-savannah transitional agro-ecological zones of Ghana, in order to reduce the adverse impacts of climate variability on their livelihood activities. It combines questionnaire surveys, key informant interviews and a range of participatory methods. Results show that households employ a range of on- and off-farm adaptation strategies including changing the timing of planting, planting early maturing varieties, diversification of crops, support from family and friends, and changing their diets to manage climate variability. Results reveal that most households use adaptation strategies linked to livelihood diversification to adapt to the increased climate variability seen in recent decades. Most households now engage in multiple non-arable farming livelihood activities in an attempt to avoid destitution because of crop failure linked to climate variability (particularly drought). The findings suggest that policy makers need to formulate more targeted climate adaptation policies and programmes that are linked to enhancing livelihood diversification, as well as establishing communication routes for farming communities to better share their knowledge on successful local climate adaptation strategies.
143 citations
Cites background from "The Role of Institutions"
...Adaptation strategies are therefore more strategic in action and forward-looking, whilst coping strategies may be transformed into adaptive strategies through institutional support (Berman et al. 2012)....
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Abstract: Most social scientists take for granted that law is defined by the presence of a centralized authority capable of exacting coercive penalties for violations of legal rules. Moreover, the existing approach to analyzing law in economics and positive political theory works with a very thin concept of law that does not account for the distinctive attributes of legal order as compared with other forms of social order. Drawing on a model developed elsewhere, we reinterpret key case studies to demonstrate how a theoretically informed approach illuminates questions about the emergence, stability, and function of law in supporting economic and democratic growth.
64 citations
Cites background from "The Role of Institutions"
...…rules in the Middle Ages rested significantly on organizations such as merchant coalitions, merchant guilds, and communes ðGreif 1989, 1993, 2006; Milgrom et al. 1990; Putnam 1993; Greif et al. 1994Þ.15 These organizations provided sets of rules and enforced them, primarily through ostracism…...
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...This attention to the distinctive attributes of institutions that coordinate legal order also helps to identify a weakness in the analysis of the Law Merchant provided by Milgrom et al. ð1990Þ....
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...Milgrom et al. ð1990Þ demonstrate that a similar multilateral reputation equilibrium 16....
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...…the Muslim Mediterranean beginning in the 11th century came the challenge of securing the terms of commercial transactions in an increasingly diversified and unfamiliar world, especially for exchanges involved in long-distance trade ðGreif 1989, 1993, 2006; Milgrom et al. 1990; Greif et al. 1994Þ....
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TL;DR: In this article, the authors consider the implications of a growing role for Asian countries in the governance of the multilateral development banks (MDBs), and propose to make the MDBs more accountable to a diverse cross-section of stakeholders within member countries through improved inclusiveness, transparency and accountability.
Abstract: The World Bank and the Asian Development Bank are key actors in global energy governance and in Asia, spreading new ideas about technology, regulation, policy and service delivery as they invest in new energy infrastructure. They have encouraged market approaches to energy around the world. They are increasingly being held accountable for the environmental and social impacts of their investments. Many are looking to the Multilateral Development Banks to leverage their financing and expertise to facilitate low-carbon development in Asia. Climate change is a growing priority for these institutions, but energy security remains a primary concern for Asian member countries. A role for the MDBs in climate finance has been controversial because of their governance, which is perceived to prioritize developed country interests, as well as a poor record of consistently integrating environmental and social considerations into their engagement. Efforts to reform MDB governance to give developing countries more voice, however, do not guarantee greater transparency and accountability in energy governance, or the prioritization of increasingly urgent environmental social issues. This article considers the implications of a growing role for Asian countries in the governance of the MDBs.
Policy Implications
•
The World Bank and the Asian Development Bank have been highly influential actors in global energy governance and in Asia, spreading new ideas about technology, regulation, policy and service delivery as they invest in new energy infrastructure.
•
They have not always effectively reconciled competing environmental, social, economic and geopolitical dimensions of energy governance, however. Their knowledge, technical expertise, finance and convening power can be better harnessed to address these complex challenges. It remains to be seen whether the growing influence of Asian countries over the priorities of the MDBs will allow such opportunities to be seized.
•
Investments in the leadership and staff of the MDBs to equip and incentivize them to make creative investments that more effectively address issues of equity and environmental sustainability will be integral to strengthening their role in the governance of energy.
•
Reforms that make the MDBs more accountable to a diverse cross-section of stakeholders within member countries through improved inclusiveness, transparency and accountability are also imperative. Such reforms are at least as important as reforms aimed at giving developing country governments greater vote and voice in the governance of these institutions.
60 citations
Cites background from "The Role of Institutions"
...By working together, countries would reduce transaction costs and ‘promulgate their interests in a collective way’ (Woods, 2002, p. 29)....
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...Many members of the public also reject the idea that they are represented at the MDBs (Woods, 2002)....
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TL;DR: The bill of exchange, an important financial instrument that had positive legal standing in both the medieval Islamic and Christian worlds but remained relegated to personal networks only in the former as discussed by the authors, suggests that a seemingly innocuous difference -the involvement of currency exchange in European but not Middle Eastern bills, a difference resulting from the secular legalization of interest in Europe - encouraged divergent endogenous processes resulting in these distinct institutional arrangements.
49 citations
References
More filters
TL;DR: In this article, the authors assess how climate change events may amplify urban inequity and synthesize the findings with regard to equity types, meaning outcome-based, process-oriented and context-related equity.
Abstract: Climate change is acknowledged as the largest threat to our societies in the coming decades, potentially affecting large and diverse groups of urban residents in this century of urbanization. As urban areas house highly diverse people with differing vulnerabilities, intensifying climate change is likely to shift the focus of discussions from a general urban perspective to who in cities will be affected by climate change, and how. This brings the urban equity question to the forefront. Here we assess how climate change events may amplify urban inequity. We find that heatwaves, but also flooding, landslides, and even mitigation and adaptation measures, affect specific population groups more than others. As underlying sensitivity factors we consistently identify socioeconomic status and gender. We synthesize the findings with regard to equity types – meaning outcome-based, process-oriented and context-related equity – and suggest solutions for avoiding increased equity and justice concerns as a result of climate change impacts, adaptation and mitigation.
155 citations
TL;DR: The authors identified the main adaptation strategies used by farming households in the Sudan savannah and forest-savannah transitional agro-ecological zones of Ghana, in order to reduce the adverse impacts of climate variability on their livelihood activities.
Abstract: Climate variability poses a significant threat to many sectors of Sub-Saharan Africa’s economy. Agriculture is one of the most climate sensitive sectors because of its dependence on rain-fed cultivation. This paper identifies the main adaptation strategies used by farming households in the Sudan savannah and forest-savannah transitional agro-ecological zones of Ghana, in order to reduce the adverse impacts of climate variability on their livelihood activities. It combines questionnaire surveys, key informant interviews and a range of participatory methods. Results show that households employ a range of on- and off-farm adaptation strategies including changing the timing of planting, planting early maturing varieties, diversification of crops, support from family and friends, and changing their diets to manage climate variability. Results reveal that most households use adaptation strategies linked to livelihood diversification to adapt to the increased climate variability seen in recent decades. Most households now engage in multiple non-arable farming livelihood activities in an attempt to avoid destitution because of crop failure linked to climate variability (particularly drought). The findings suggest that policy makers need to formulate more targeted climate adaptation policies and programmes that are linked to enhancing livelihood diversification, as well as establishing communication routes for farming communities to better share their knowledge on successful local climate adaptation strategies.
143 citations
Abstract: Most social scientists take for granted that law is defined by the presence of a centralized authority capable of exacting coercive penalties for violations of legal rules. Moreover, the existing approach to analyzing law in economics and positive political theory works with a very thin concept of law that does not account for the distinctive attributes of legal order as compared with other forms of social order. Drawing on a model developed elsewhere, we reinterpret key case studies to demonstrate how a theoretically informed approach illuminates questions about the emergence, stability, and function of law in supporting economic and democratic growth.
64 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors consider the implications of a growing role for Asian countries in the governance of the multilateral development banks (MDBs), and propose to make the MDBs more accountable to a diverse cross-section of stakeholders within member countries through improved inclusiveness, transparency and accountability.
Abstract: The World Bank and the Asian Development Bank are key actors in global energy governance and in Asia, spreading new ideas about technology, regulation, policy and service delivery as they invest in new energy infrastructure. They have encouraged market approaches to energy around the world. They are increasingly being held accountable for the environmental and social impacts of their investments. Many are looking to the Multilateral Development Banks to leverage their financing and expertise to facilitate low-carbon development in Asia. Climate change is a growing priority for these institutions, but energy security remains a primary concern for Asian member countries. A role for the MDBs in climate finance has been controversial because of their governance, which is perceived to prioritize developed country interests, as well as a poor record of consistently integrating environmental and social considerations into their engagement. Efforts to reform MDB governance to give developing countries more voice, however, do not guarantee greater transparency and accountability in energy governance, or the prioritization of increasingly urgent environmental social issues. This article considers the implications of a growing role for Asian countries in the governance of the MDBs.
Policy Implications
•
The World Bank and the Asian Development Bank have been highly influential actors in global energy governance and in Asia, spreading new ideas about technology, regulation, policy and service delivery as they invest in new energy infrastructure.
•
They have not always effectively reconciled competing environmental, social, economic and geopolitical dimensions of energy governance, however. Their knowledge, technical expertise, finance and convening power can be better harnessed to address these complex challenges. It remains to be seen whether the growing influence of Asian countries over the priorities of the MDBs will allow such opportunities to be seized.
•
Investments in the leadership and staff of the MDBs to equip and incentivize them to make creative investments that more effectively address issues of equity and environmental sustainability will be integral to strengthening their role in the governance of energy.
•
Reforms that make the MDBs more accountable to a diverse cross-section of stakeholders within member countries through improved inclusiveness, transparency and accountability are also imperative. Such reforms are at least as important as reforms aimed at giving developing country governments greater vote and voice in the governance of these institutions.
60 citations
TL;DR: The bill of exchange, an important financial instrument that had positive legal standing in both the medieval Islamic and Christian worlds but remained relegated to personal networks only in the former as discussed by the authors, suggests that a seemingly innocuous difference -the involvement of currency exchange in European but not Middle Eastern bills, a difference resulting from the secular legalization of interest in Europe - encouraged divergent endogenous processes resulting in these distinct institutional arrangements.
49 citations