who gives who receives and who wins transforming capital into political change through nongovernmental organizations how does international support for nongovernmental organizations ngos lead to political change in the developing world massive amounts of domestic government spending and international aid are now distributed through ngos instead of state bureaucracies recent scholarship suggests that this decentralization of developmental aid to ngos has unintended political effects on recipient communities but the mechanisms driving political effects are unclear in this article the authors test whether ngo type affects the results of ngo aid comparing the political impact of politicized and nonpoliticized ngos they do not find any difference between politicized and nonpoliticized ngos the results imply that to create political change ideological predispositions held by individual ngos are less important than is their ability to raise the level of social capital and civil society simply providing the infrastructure necessary to develop social capital and civil society can have a measurable political impact

consumer environmental concern and green product purchase in malaysia structural effects of consumption values this study examines the effects of consumption values i e functional value social value emotional value conditional value and epistemic value on malaysian consumers environmental concern as expressed in their purchase of green products it also investigates the differences between three usage groups light average and heavy users and the signi cant factors that promote those differences the study applies a quantitative method in which a structured self administered questionnaire is used data is analysed using the structural equation modelling sem technique via the analysis of moment structure amos computer programme version 21 and one way analysis of variance anova using the statistical package for social sciences spss computer programme version 21 empirical results confirm that social value has the paramount impact on consumers environmental concern as expressed by their purchase of green products and that epistemic value and functional value quality rank behind functional value price emotional value and conditional value have no significant effects statistically significant differences were observed when comparing the light users with average users and with heavy users p 0 05 the findings of this study introduce a new momentum for the preceding discoveries on consumer environmental concern as shown in the purchase of green products which is inadequately covered in the malaysian context they also provide important information for companies and encourage them to place more emphasis on social value epistemic value and functional value quality in their manufacturing in order both to boost environmental concern among consumers in their purchasing decision making and to produce green goods that will be readily liked by consumers

consumer renewable energy technology adoption decision making comparing models on perceived attributes and attitudinal constructs in the case of solar water heaters in lebanon climate change and environmental problems are of major concern to governments organisations and consumers this stresses the need for a transition towards clean renewable energy systems to enable the diffusion of cleaner energy technology it is not enough to just have supportive policies in place the challenge is to ensure that consumers adopt them this article integrates insights from different research traditions into a research model to analyse consumers adoption decision making behaviour the innovation diffusion model by rogers was used and hypotheses from environmental psychological models were later added a survey was conducted among householders to assess the adoption of solar heating systems in the metn neighbourhood in lebanon n 200 the results revealed that adopters and non adopters differ significantly according to socio demographic factors such as income and household size the study confirmed the significance of typical variables of the diffusion of innovation model such as relative advantage observability independent judgment making and novelty seeking even when testing integrative analytical models furthermore the results indicate that by integrating hypotheses from environmental psychology models to the diffusion of innovation model a reasonable fit was achieved which is higher than the value of each model tested separately the results can be of use to policy makers the article ends with suggestions for future research

pricing and green level decisions of a green supply chain with governmental interventions under fuzzy uncertainties abstract environmental issues make green manufacturing become inevitable and fuzzy uncertainty prevails in supply chain management in order to further promote the development of green supply chain according to channel leadership scenario we develop three game models of a green supply chain with governmental interventions under fuzzy uncertainties of both manufacturing cost and consumer demand we study how prices green levels and expected profits are influenced by channel leadership and governmental interventions green level sensitivity and fuzzy degree of parameters are considered analytical results indicate that manufacturer stackelberg scenario is the inferior structure than other scenarios and retailer stackelberg scenario is superior to other scenarios for all players under the strong governmental interventions then when governmental interventions increase the green level will increase but the tendency of retail price depends on channel leadership governmental interventions are not always beneficial to the green supply chain and the manufacturer further although the government s subsidy is offered to the manufacturer the retailer benefits from it ultimately and further becomes the main puller of the development of green products in addition a relatively high green level floor for subsidy results in the manufacturer s first mover disadvantage

an evolutionary approach to norms iorms provide a powerful mechanism for regulating conflict in groups even when there are more than two people and no central authority this paper investigates the emergence and stability of behavioral norms in the context of a game played by people of limited rationality the dynamics of this new norms game are analyzed with a computer simulation based upon the evolutionary principle that strategies shown to be relatively effective will be used more in the future than less effective strategies the results show the conditions under which norms can evolve and prove stable one interesting possibility is the employment of metanorms the willingness to punish someone who did not enforce a norm many historical examples of domestic and international norms are used to illustrate the wide variety of mechanisms that can support norms including metanorms dominance internalization deterrence social proof membership in groups law and reputation

the influence factors on choice behavior regarding green products based on the theory of consumption values abstract this study applies the theory of consumption values to determine the influence factors on consumer choice behavior regarding green products and examines whether there are significant differences in consumption values and choice behavior between consumers with different outlooks on environmental concerns one way analysis of variance and multiple regression is used to assess data collected by a questionnaire survey the results indicate that consumers with high environmental concern support green products more and show greater readiness to choose them this study concludes that the main influence factors on consumer choice behavior regarding green products include psychological benefit desire for knowledge novelty seeking and specific conditions and do not include functional values price and quality this study contributes to preliminary but vital insights in effective promotion of green products

approaches to the privatization of fertilizer marketing in africa abstract agricultural marketing privatization has been a central feature of structural adjustment recommendations this paper briefly analyses the main issues related to privatization in the fertilizer sector in africa reviews developments and examines possible reasons for the relatively slow progress to date constraints to effective privatization are identified and policy changes and other reforms necessary if fertilizer marketing privatization is to succeed are proposed effective privatization will not be achieved without detailed planning and consideration of potential problems at an early stage

social capital and household welfare in south africa 1993 98 the aim in this study is to determine the nature of the causal relationship if any between social capital as measured by household membership in formal and informal groups and household welfare in south africa using a recently collected panel data set in south africa s largest province we estimate per capita expenditure functions including measures of social capital after controlling for fixed effects and simultaneity we find social capital has no effect in 1993 but a positive and significant effect in 1998

corruption in public service delivery an experimental analysis abstract to improve our understanding of corruption in service delivery we use a newly designed game that allows us to investigate the effects of the institutional environment on the behavior of service providers and their monitors we focus on the effect of four different factors whether monitors are accountable to the service recipients the degree of observability of service providers effort the providers wages and the providers professional norms in accordance with theory we find that service providers perform better when monitors are elected by service recipients and when their effort is more easily observed however there is only weak evidence that service providers perform better when paid more monitors are more vigilant when elected and when service providers are paid more playing the game with ethiopian nursing students we also find that those with greater exposure to the ethiopian public health sector perform less well either as provider or as monitor when the experiment is framed as a public health provision scenario suggesting that experience and norms affect behavior

factors influencing buying behaviour of green energy consumer green energy has gained significant research attention across the globe due to its ability to reduce environmental damage however for complete acceptance of green energy only government regulations are not enough the willingness to use green energy and contribute to the wellbeing of the environment should spring from within consumers such willingness may be developed by enhancing consumers perceived value of green energy however in order to do so it is necessary to assess existing levels of consumers perceived value towards green energy the present study develops a multidimensional green perceived value scale to measure existing levels of consumers perceived value the scale considers green perceived value as a multidimensional second order construct comprising functional value social value conditional value and emotional value dimensions such an attempt has not been made before which highlights the originality value of the present study the scale can be used to assess consumers perception towards green energy such information would help in formulating strategies that encourage consumers to voluntarily adopt green energy the study also reveals that it is not only the financial aspects that lead consumers to decide on adoption of green energy consumers are also driven by emotional and social considerations thus policy makers could formulate pro green energy programmes and mass messages that appeal to consumers sense of responsibility to voluntarily adopt green energy without having to rely on financial incentives researchers could examine the considered dimensions of the scale further with respect to other constructs related to consumer behaviour

relationships and traders in madagascar this article documents the role that personal relationships play in economic exchange original survey data show that agricultural traders in madagascar perceive relationships as the most important factor for success in their business evidence details the extent to which relationships are used to serve a variety of purposes such as the circulation of information about prices and market conditions the provision of trade credit the prevention and handling of contractual difficulties the regularity of trade flows and the mitigation of risk of these the regularity of supply and demand and the sharing of risk appear particularly important larger and more prosperous traders are those with quantitatively and qualitatively better relationships family plays little role in business beyond assistance at start up

civil society collaboration with business bringing empowerment back in abstract strategic partnerships between civil society organizations csos and businesses are widely promoted as important new strategies to encourage corporate citizenship in the global south this study tested these claims by examining 10 cases of collaboration between csos and businesses in brazil india and south africa findings suggest a sobering view of the benefits that civil society organizations and their constituencies can expect from collaboration development impacts may be more likely in sectors clearly linked to business interests such as education and employment generation goals of organizational capacity building are more likely to be satisfied than those of citizen empowerment csos and businesses reap mutual benefits from collaboration but csos tend to shoulder more of the costs businesses can dominate collaborative decision making with negative results for sustainability the paper offers a number of propositions to guide further research and inform collaborative practice empowered civil society collaboration with business is suggested as a more appropriate model than strategic partnership for csos pursuing sustainable development

cooperative networks altruism group solidarity reciprocity and sanctioning in ugandan producer organizations repeated interaction and social networks are commonly considered viable solutions to collective action problems this article identifies and systematically measures four general mechanisms that is generalized altruism group solidarity reciprocity and the threat of sanctioning and tests which of them brings about cooperation in the context of ugandan producer organizations using an innovative methodological framework that combines lab in the field experiments with survey interviews and complete social networks data the article goes beyond the assessment of a relationship between social networks and collective outcomes to study the mechanisms that favor cooperative behavior the article first establishes a positive relationship between position in the network structure and propensity to cooperate in the producer organization and then uses farmers behavior in dictator and public goods games to test different mechanisms that may account for such a relationship results show that cooperation is induced by patterns of reciprocity that emerge through repeated interaction rather than other regarding preferences like altruism or group solidarity

the reconstruction of the supply side of the labour market the relative autonomy of social reproduction been replaced in recent years by a proliferation of theories about the family and its rela tion to the system of production 1 it is our contention that this work for the most part has done little to establish the family system as an interesting central and dynamic vari able for economic analysis this outcome however is the direct result of the application of two opposing but equally inappropriate methodologies for the analysis of the family system in this paper we examine the main approaches to the analysis of social reproduc tion using the position of women in the system of production and reproduction as the main example of existing work on social reproduction we show that across the whole spectrum of theoretical approaches from neoclassical to marxist and feminist broadly similar methodologies for analysing the relationships between the spheres of production and reproduction have been employed

uneasy alliances lessons learned from partnerships between businesses and ngos in the context of csr interest in corporate social responsibility csr has proliferated in academic and business circles alike in the context of csr the spotlight has traditionally focused on the role of the private sector particularly in view of its wealth and global reach other actors have recently begun to assume more visible roles in the context of csr including non governmental organizations ngos which have acquired increasing prominence on the socio economic landscape this article examines five partnerships between businesses and ngos in a developing country context that fall in the realm of csr the article starts with a literature review delineating foundational underpinnings that have to be carefully designed and crafted to promote the success of collaborative ventures an empirical study of five selected partnerships between businesses and ngos in lebanon is then presented allowing to derive interesting insights into types of existing alliances their relational characteristics as well as salient factors considered most determinant of success or failure in this regard

promoting high input maize technologies in africa the sasakawa global 2000 experience in ethiopia and mozambique abstract critics argue that high external input technologies heit are too costly for african farmers and that programs to promote them are economically unsustainable this paper assesses sasakawa global 2000 programs in ethiopia and mozambique using financial and economic analysis yield models and subsector analysis the sg 2000 technology was much more profitable in ethiopia than in mozambique but varied depending on production location fertilizer and transport costs domestic and international prices regional surplus or deficit conditions and production as import substitute or export the case studies provide further evidence that high input technologies can be successfully introduced through well funded high profile programs but not conclusive evidence that such programs can be scaled up and sustained five major implications are discussed concerning 1 prospects for scaling up and sustaining heit adoption 2 the need for expanded profitability analysis 3 the role of trade prospects and policies 4 institution building requirements and 5 infrastructure investments to reduce marketing costs

green products an exploratory study on the consumer behaviour in emerging economies of the east abstract the recent years have witnessed a phenomenal change in quantum and pattern of consumption in the developing nations of the east ever increasing consumption is putting a strain on the environment the present work delves into understanding the relationship between environmental concerns and consumer choice behaviour in purchasing green products in the context of india being a large emerging economy in south east asia attempt has been made to examine the influence of consumption values on sustainable consumer behaviour across consumer segments with preferential green choice approach difference multiple linear regression analysis one way analysis of variance and other standard statistical analysis of the data collected through questionnaire survey have been done results indicate that price sensitivity is high regardless of their choice preference social value parameter being the dominant factor influences sustainable consumption behaviour adoption among the green preferential cluster consumption values differ significantly across consumers exhibiting different preference for products with and without green credentials being higher for those with green purchase or consumption experience or notion

linking farmers to markets different approaches to human capital development abstract programs focused on developing community level management skills and human capacity can increase the opportunities for small farmers to benefit from market participation using a framework that links the concepts of collective power and agricultural development and drawing upon evidence from mali mozambique and cameroon the authors differentiate three types of approaches to capacity building contract business programs such as out grower and cash crop schemes facilitate farmer access to goods and services required for production and marketing of a target commodity project technology programs usually mediated by non governmental organizations ngos focus on the promotion of improved technology process human capacity investments also facilitate technology adoption and marketing but focus initially on the development of foundation skills and social capital including assistance for collective self help literacy programs marketing activities and decentralized development planning although the latter programs tend to be slower in producing tangible results the skills emphasized often determine the ability of a community to access inputs and market production beyond the life of a project

fertilizer market development a comparative analysis of ethiopia kenya and zambia abstract this article synthesizes case studies from kenya zambia and ethiopia to assess how differences in the implementation of fertilizer marketing policies have affected the costs and risks borne by marketing actors the investment response by private traders and fertilizer consumption financial cost accounting techniques indicate that domestic marketing costs account for 50 or more of farm gate prices the sum of importer wholesaler and retailer profit margins generally account for less than 10 there are opportunities to reduce domestic marketing costs through the following reducing port fees coordinating the timing of fertilizer clearance from the port with up country transport reducing transport costs through port rail and road improvements reducing high fuel taxes and reducing the uncertainty associated with government input distribution programs that impose additional marketing costs on traders estimated reductions in the farm gate price of fertilizer from implementing the full range of options identified in each country range from 11 to 18 price reductions of this magnitude if passed along to farmers would increase farmers effective demand for fertilizer investments in selected publically provided goods often considered outside the scope of fertilizer marketing policy per se strongly affect the costs of fertilizer farmers willingness to pay for it and hence the performance of markets

towards a contemporary approach for understanding consumer behaviour in the context of domestic energy use domestic sector energy use is increasing in the uk and currently accounts for 30 of total use policies of liberalised energy markets have allowed greater consumer choice but have not sought to reduce carbon emissions overall sales of energy efficiency products are rising but uk housing stock standards are poor and do not facilitate improved efficiency and further the sales of such products are influenced by their price thus the higher capital costs of products such as boilers and solar systems make them initially unattractive to consumers previous market based research into the adoption of energy efficiency products has often focused on single factors for example demographics this has limited the ability of policy makers to make informed decisions that address a broader range of factors such as individuals cognitive abilities values and attitudes as well as external factors such as social networks marketing and products and services this paper provides a wider critique of the theoretical base related to consumer behaviour product attributes and socio environmental theories that relate to energy use the aim of the paper is to draw together theories relevant to energy use in order to aid policy making in the broader context and to develop the discussion around integrated theories of consumer behaviour

beyond ecolabels what green marketing can learn from conventional marketing ecolabels have emerged as one of the main tools of green marketing although a great deal of effort has been invested in making them more effective and efficient the market share of ecolabelled products is still low partly because they have been addressed mainly to green consumers in a theoretical exposition of marketing theory we find that green marketing could learn from conventional marketing in discovering other means than labelling to promote green products examples include addressing a wider range of consumers working with the positioning strategies of price place and promotion and actively engaging in market creation

austerity and the future for gender equality in europe austerity policies in europe are disrupting and potentially reversing progress toward gender equality a core principle of european policy from the mid 1990s onward not all eu gender related policy has been aimed at promoting equality but instead has been associated with reforming the eu social model toward more neoliberal flexible and high employment labor markets in this article the author assesses these uses and potential abuses of the gender equality agenda in europe both before and after the crisis while the crisis has not reversed the trend toward women s integration into employment women are facing cuts in employment conditions post crisis affecting both the higher skilled in the public sector and the lower skilled attributable to accelerated labor market deregulation moreover the trend toward a new reproductive bargain has been halted with public care services being cut particularly in member states where services are already limited

economic heterogeneity and the commons effects on collective action and collective goods provisioning summary the question of how economic and socio cultural heterogeneity impacts commons management has been receiving increasing attention but without resolution however the issue is increasingly important in a globalizing world this paper builds upon recent theoretical works to provide a clearer understanding of the conditions under which we might expect economic inequality to have positive or negative effects of critical importance to the argument is the distinction between the problem of collective action and the problem of providing collective goods a synthetic set of predictions is subsequently developed and tested with a comparative analysis of case studies of fisheries and irrigation systems

looking beyond national boundaries regional harmonization of seed policies laws and regulations countries in west eastern and southern africa are pursuing the regional harmonization of their seed laws and regulations common regulatory frameworks are expected to reduce the costs of trading seed and encourage scale economies in seed production as a result commercial seed production is expected to expand providing farmers with improved access to new varieties and stimulating productivity growth the impact of these harmonization efforts will depend on the details of the regulatory agreements policy makers are being asked to consider a complicated series of trade offs between stricter measures for quality control and the need to encourage the multiplication and distribution of lower cost seed they are also being confronted with two possible views of sectoral development one view entails the pursuit of better linkages between distinct national seed markets the second involves the development of truly regionalized seed markets where seed can be readily produced in one country and sold in any other country this implies greater regional interdependence of seed supply the paper compares the harmonization agreements being pursued in each of the three african regions and progress in implementing the accords efforts to adapt international seed market standards to the contingencies of african markets are discussed and priorities for further policy analysis are identified

chains of cooperation threshold effects in collective action granovetter s threshold model of collective action shows how each new participant triggers others until the chain reaction reaches a gap in the distribution of thresholds hence outcomes depend on the network of social ties that channel the chain reactions however structural analysis is encumbered by the assumption that thresholds derive from changing marginal returns on investments in public goods a learning theoretic specification imposes less stringent assumptions about the rationality of the actors and is much better suited to a structural analysis computer simulations suggest that threshold effects may be the key to solving the coordination problem when individual choices are contingent on participation by others this interdependence facilitates the coordination of contributions needed to shift the bistable system from a noncooperative equilibrium to a cooperative one further simulations with low density networks show that these chain reactions require bridges that link socially distant actors supporting granovetter s case for the strength of weak ties

the difficult transition from clientelism to citizenship lessons from mexico author s fox jonathan a abstract electoral competition is necessary but not sufficient for the consolidation of democratic regimes not all elections are free and fair nor do they necessarily lead to actual civilian rule or respect for human rights if there is more to democracy than elections then there is more to democratization than the transition to elections but in spite of the rich literature on the emergence of electoral competition the dynamics of political transitions toward respect for other fundamental democratic rights is still not well understood political democracy is defined here in classic procedural terms free and fair electoral contestation for governing offices based on universal suffrage guaranteed freedoms of association and expression accountability through the rule of law and civilian control of the military although analyses of democratization typically acknowledge that these are all necessary criteria most examine only electoral competition this study however develops a framework for explaining progress toward another necessary condition for democratization respect for associational autonomy which allows citizens to organize in defense of their own interests and identities without fear of external intervention or punishment

leveraging factors for sustained green consumption behavior based on consumption value perceptions testing the structural model changing lifestyle and consumption pattern being the aftermath of growth and urbanization is putting a strain on environment and sustainable development the consumption value perceptions are identified in the study as the drivers of sustained green product consumption and intention to pay the green price premium using the theory of consumption values these value perceptions are certain parameters measuring consumer utilities along multiple value dimensions impacting choice behavior environmental attitude contextual factors and consumer innovativeness were included as the first order constructs data was collected through survey based method using structured questionnaires structural equation modeling was applied for testing the hypothesized model results confirmed consumers price and knowledge perceptions to be the major determinants of the behavioral outcome of sustained green consumption and behavioral intention to pay the green price premium is the outcome of sustained green consumption implications of the research were discussed

trust in a rent seeking world health and government transformed in northeast brazil abstract this article draws lessons from a set of innovative programs carried out by a state government in brazil now widely acclaimed for excellence in public management key to the high performance was strong worker commitment to the job and what the state did to elicit a topic of little note in the development literature but of central importance in the literature of industrial performance and workplace transformation in the industrialized countries the state created an unusual sense of calling among the program s workers new prestige in the communities where they worked and an informed citizenry that both monitored the workers and trusted them

collective action and network structure i develop and analyze a mathematical model describing the relationship between individual contributions to a collective good and the network of social relations that makes these contributions interdependent starting from the assumption that actors respond to the contributions of others because of efficacy concerns and norms offairness i derive predictions about the impact of network structure on total contributions network density and size influence collective action outcomes in dramatically different ways depending on the structural position of those who make unconditional contributions moreover these effects are highly nonlinear suggesting that the impact of social ties on collective action may be quite sensitive to mobilization contexts

shadow prices of social capital in rural india a nonparametric approach this article studies the role of social capital on cotton production efficiency and productivity for a sample of small farms in maharashtra india using data envelopment analysis input shadow prices are computed as an indicator of the importance of social capital relative to other inputs results suggest social capital to be the input with the highest contribution to production efficiency after land the luenberger indicator is used to assess the productivity improvement associated to an investment in social capital which is found to be on the order of 12 undertaking collective production activities is found to play an important role in improving productivity this is especially relevant to agricultural households facing important economic and institutional restrictions that make it difficult to increase conventional expensive inputs

consumers willingness to pay for sustainable food products the case of organically and locally grown almonds in spain abstract organically and locally grown products have positive environmental impacts due to the reduction in the greenhouse emissions required for their production this paper contributes to this research stream by investigating consumers preferences and their willingness to pay for almonds that have different sustainable labels distance claims 100 km 800 km and 2000 km and the organic logo established by the european union to achieve the objective consumers participated in a non hypothetical choice experiment latent class modeling was employed to identify distinct patterns of valuation the results suggest that consumers were willing to pay a positive price premium for locally grown traveled the shortest distance and organically produced almonds whereas they were not willing to pay a price premium for almonds that have traveled longer distances moreover the findings show that consumer preferences for these claims were heterogeneous with three consumer segments identified as conventional consumers short distance consumers and sustainable consumers overall results confirm the results of previous studies because spanish consumers were willing to pay a premium price for those almonds that are organically and locally produced and therefore generate fewer greenhouse gases emissions the findings of this study added scientific value to scholars of sustainable consumer behavior because of the use of real choice experiment since no hypothetical evaluation method simulates real markets with real products and a transaction of money real choice experiment provides better approximations of true willingness to pay for organic and local almonds therefore real choice modeling eliminates hypothetical and social bias the results of this study contribute to insights in the promotion of sustainable consumption among citizens by policy makers in this regard promotional and educational campaigns could drive different segments of consumers to increase their knowledge on the benefits of reduction of the quantity of ghg emissions required for organic and locally grown production

a conceptual framework for community based health insurance in low income countries social capital and economic development summary the international policy model linking community based health insurance cbhi and universal coverage for health care in low income countries is implicitly determined by the development of mutual health insurance in 19th century europe and japan the economic and health system frameworks employed in cbhi policy have not sufficiently taken into account contextual considerations social capital theories could contribute to understanding why generally cbhi does not achieve significant and sustainable levels of population coverage a framework of social capital and economic development is used to organize and interpret existing evidence on cbhi this suggests that solidarity trust extra community networks vertical civil society links and state society relations affect the success of cbhi aligning schemes to social determinants of cbhi could result in structures that differ from those proposed by current analytic frameworks

participation social capital and intersectoral problem solving african and asian cases abstract cooperation in policy program implementation between state and nongovernmental actors can sometimes solve intractable development problems but such cooperation must span gaps in culture power resources and perspective this article provides a comparative analysis of 13 cases of intersectoral cooperation among public agencies nongovernmental organizations grassroots groups and international donors the analysis reveals two successful implementation patterns nongovernment organization ngo mediated cooperation and grassroots centered cooperation different forms of social capital are central to the two patterns indigenous ngos with credibility across sectors are critical to the former while grassroots organizations are vital to the latter participatory decision making and mutual influence are essential to grassroots centered cooperation but less so for ngo mediated collaboration

the 40 year pursuit of equal pay a case of constantly moving goalposts progress towards equal pay is elusive this article reviews debates on and prescribed remedies for gender pay equality over the past 40 years of equal pay policy it looks at pay from four perspectives the economic the sociological the institutional and the organisational and explores how and why once an apparent remedy for unequal pay is pursued the goalposts tend to shift the argument is made that the difficulties in securing long term progress may be attributed to a number of factors including the multifaceted nature of pay as a social phenomenon the challenge of pursuing social objectives in a rapidly changing and fragmenting environment the need for political will not technical solutions to achieve redistribution and the potential for gender inequalities to re emerge in new forms

expanding access to agricultural inputs in africa a review of recent market development experience abstract this paper asks what can be done to expand input use in africa and can it be done in a manner that supports continued growth of private sector input markets the precarious food security situation in many african countries has prompted governments and donors to use input distribution or credit programs as a means of rapidly increasing food supply for the poor these efforts however often reduce the ability of input market development programs to stimulate commercial interest in input supply a review of both types of programs describes recent efforts to address constraints to expanded input use and finds that further expansion is often constrained by inadequate investment in a variety of public goods needed to stimulate input led agricultural intensification rather than continuing to invest resources in programs to provide inputs or credit directly to farmers governments with donor assistance should consider shifting their focus to the serious deficiencies in the provision of public goods roads irrigation basic education market information systems research and extension and improved institutions contract law and enforcement systems of grades and standards improvements in these areas can both lower costs of supply and increase farm level demand creating a situation where the private sector will have greater incentives to expand input distribution networks to zones and farmers who currently do not have access

input use and market development in sub saharan africa an overview abstract this paper sets forth the background and objectives of this special issue trends in input use since 1980 are reviewed and a conceptual framework is presented for analyzing problems of input use and formulating strategies for resolving them reasons for low levels of fertilizer use by smallholder farmers are summarized briefly the essential points of the papers in the special issue and their implications for further expansion of input use in sub saharan africa are then outlined

the power of emotional value exploring the effects of values on green product consumer choice behavior using the theory of consumption values this research proposes to explore the consumer choice behavior for green products in pakistan functional value price and quality social value conditional value epistemic value and emotional value and environmental value were used to study the consumer choice behavior for green products it also gauges the extent to which emotional value moderates the impact of other consumption values on green product consumer choice behavior based on a sample of 260 respondents the results indicate that functional value price social value and environmental value have a positive impact on green product consumer choice behavior while conditional value and epistemic value have a negative effect functional value quality and emotional value do not influence green product consumer choice behavior as a moderator emotional value has a significant effect on the role of functional value social value conditional value epistemic value and environmental value this confirms and significantly adds to the literature of green product consumer choice behavior in a developing market

democratic governance and sectoral policy reform tracing linkages and exploring synergies abstract effective democratic governance influences how societies and economies progress and prosper for many people in developing and post socialist countries the action and impact of democratic governance happens through sectoral reforms efforts to improve democratic governance can have strong impacts on sectoral reforms how these are implemented who participates in them at various stages and what outcomes are achieved conversely sectoral policy reforms and program interventions can serve to promote and enhance democratic governance this article discusses these linkages and provides selected examples of the synergies among them it raises the political dimension of democratic governance and offers several suggestions regarding where when and how donor agencies can intervene both to promote democratic governance and to advance sectoral policy reforms

fair trade in italy too much movement in the shop we analyse the development of fair trade in italy by examining its principles structure performance dilemmas and potential solutions and identifying its main distinctive features these lead us to develop a specifically italian model fair trade in italy is younger than its more established north european counterparts and more focussed on broad social justice issues in addition to its concern to include marginalized producers this normative difference has given rise to a social economy dominated value chain with a partial corporate involvement uniquely in the retail sphere although it has generated much lower per capita consumption of fair trade products at the same time we also observe a relatively higher specialization in handicraft products and educational activities as well as a strong capacity to attract voluntary labour and create social capital we identify clear trade offs between social goals and the economic performance of the italian model reduced economies of scale a closer focus on non economic value creating social activities and greater consideration of values such as consumption sobriety and environmental concerns which may conflict with economic performance we propose solutions which may resolve these dilemmas without abandoning the initial ambition not only to achieve the promotion of market access for marginalized producers in the south but also to pursue a broader concept of well being in the north and the south

influence of perceived value on purchasing decisions of green products in brazil abstract research on behavioral motivation for green product consumption has greatly advanced in recent years but many unknowns remain particularly regarding consumers willingness to pay premium prices for products with ecological appeal in this context this paper reports an experimental research that investigates the relationship between consumer perceived value for green products and price elasticity the research was performed using an adaptation of the model proposed by zeithaml 1988 and it was applied in the automotive and furniture sectors it was found that perceived value of green products increases willingness to pay in the purchasing decision it was also observed that demographical variables such as gender age and revenue positively impact perceived quality and the consequent purchase intention considering the population sampled results indicate that the effect of ecological appeal is similar to a 10 price reduction it means that according to the declared preference respondents were willing to pay on average a 10 premium for green products in the studied product categories the main theoretical contribution of our paper lies in furthering the understanding of how key dimensions that constitute perceived value relate to each other and to demographic and personal influence variables as well as its impact in willingness to pay premium prices for green products

the future of small farms new directions for services institutions and intermediation summary efficient pre and post harvest services are essential if small farms in high potential areas are to intensify production contribute to economic growth and reduce poverty they also matter if small farms in marginal areas are to manage their natural resource base in the face of growing population pressure and climate change difficulties that smallholders face in accessing services are reviewed showing how incentives for commercial delivery of services to smallholders differ between staple food traditional cash crop and high value product supply chains the major challenge in service delivery to smallholders in much of africa concerns coordination of service development and delivery different forms of intermediary institution for achieving such coordination are examined

collective agricultural production a solution for transition economies abstract the paper examines theoretical reasons and provides examples for productivity differences between agricultural service cooperatives and collectives service cooperatives can utilize economies of scale enhance competitiveness and provide technical information advantages that often outweighed problems of free riding low investment and excessive political intervention agricultural collectives while not adding substantial advantages are in addition associated with problems of supervision and effort supply tendencies to substitute casual workers or mechanization for regular members and low investment incentives while collective forms of organization in transition economies respond to high risk and market imperfections they do so inefficiently policies that create conditions for service cooperatives to compete may lead to large productivity gains

a fresh look at understanding green consumer behavior among young urban indian consumers through the lens of theory of planned behavior abstract rapid economic growth and resulting overconsumption have accelerated environmental deterioration worldwide prompting escalated consumption related environmental concerns this study attempts to explore the antecedents of ecologically conscious consumer behavior eccb among young urban consumers in india an emerging market experiencing rapid economic growth with increased urbanization and changes in consumption patterns that are contributing to environmental hazard the empirical study including a literature review uses theory of planned behavior integrating environmental attitudes subjective norms perceived consumer effectiveness and behavioral intention in the model to investigate their influence on eccb the results suggest that attitudes and perceived consumer effectiveness both have a significant direct and indirect positive influence on eccb in addition it would appear that the subjective norm a measure of social demand does not have any significant influence on behavioral intention leading to eccb contrary to established findings in a collective society considered in this study this paper concludes with policy implications of the findings for marketers and policymakers as well as potential directions for further research

food price policy the rationale for government intervention abstract policy makers in the most successful developing countries have not accepted either of the two major schools of thought on food price policy the neo classical school favours free trade to maximize efficiency of resource allocation the structuralist school favours interventions to satisfy goals for income distribution especially in the rapidly growing rice based economies of asia policy makers have been more concerned about stability of domestic prices than their level relative to world prices this concern traditionally dismissed by economists as purely political is justified on economic grounds because of improved macroeconomic and dynamic efficiency from stable food prices the paper identifies both the benefits from food price stability and the costs of achieving it

what ever happened to poverty alleviation abstract the failure of many programs directed toward alleviating poverty is better understood than the successes this paper identifies the traits that characterize several better performing programs funded by the ford foundation traits that are not commonly found in such programs all focused narrowly on a particular trade or activity in the beginning used credit as an entry point started by brokering loans rather than lending directly and had leadership linked to powerful institutions participants were already engaged in the economic activities supported by the programs marketing channels existed and powerful consumer groups were often in favor of production by beneficiary groups though these findings seem obvious few programs funded by donors display these characteristics suggesting that donors choose programs and organizations more carefully and not limit their funding to the nongovernmental sector

austerity and gender inequalities in europe in times of crisis the post 2008 recession and the countercyclical responses by european governments that followed triggered an extensive wave of fiscal adjustments although underpinned by widespread consensus the implementation of such measures has also been severely criticised while their effect on output and employment has been extensively investigated their impact on wage inequality has received less attention in this paper we focus on the consequences of fiscal consolidation measures for gender inequality after describing the literature based conceptual framework of our analysis we provide empirical evidence of the effect of fiscal consolidation on i the adjusted gender wage gap and ii the patterns of gender horizontal segregation the analysis covers eu 28 countries in the years 2010 13 results show that austerity measures both tax based and expenditure based impacted significantly on various aspects of gender wage inequality putting at risk the relatively little progress achieved in europe so far

women s participation in local organizations conditions and constraints abstract civic organizations have a capacity to contribute to economic growth and an equitable distribution of welfare by reducing information asymmetries and transaction costs while donors increasingly recognize that group based projects are a means to advocate organizational capacities of target groups it is not clear whether group based organizations always increase efficiency and equity this article analyses the determinants of participation in local development groups ldgs using data from two projects funded by undp in kashmir and gtz in chad a major result of the empirical analysis is the identification of a middle class effect of participation the exclusion of the majority of the poor can be explained by high opportunity costs to join the group especially for income earning women in addition it can be shown that an existing social network is a pre condition for participation finally the assumption has been confirmed that bargaining power of the members is important for their decision to participate in groups