Progress in Development Studies

This article seeks to explain declining regional inequality in Brazil by exploring the economic ‘catch-up’ of Brazil’s poorest region. To that end, the article analyzes income policies as well as supply-side policies aimed at improving the productive capacity of poor regions, and presents data showing that both have proven more important than the current literature suggests. The article also introduces the concept of regional Keynesian effects, and provides preliminary evidence for its relevance, to demonstrate that income policies, such as cash transfers to poor regions, have the potential to foster local output growth.

This article attempts to understand the inclusion of citizens and other actors, the structure of incentives and accountability and service delivery outcomes in relation to participatory forms of urban governance in Indian cities. Under a decentralized set-up, the political nature and the poor attendance of people in participative forums seriously serve to undermine the constitutionally envisaged aim of ‘deepening democracy’. New forms of participatory arrangements have been dominated by the middle classes and/or powerful local leaders, resulting in the disempowerment of poorer members of the communities concerned. Patronage politics were engraved in these new forms, where the targeted delivery of services yielded high dividends for the patrons. All these factors necessitate the effective engagement of the excluded and disadvantageous section of people with the policies, politics and processes of participatory governance in Indian cities.

Organizations with a faith basis play a prominent, sometimes dominant, role within the development sector. In the latter half of the twentieth century, many faith-based organizations (FBOs) – motivated by their religious faith and beliefs – began to work beyond their own borders to improve the material well-being of the world’s poor. However, despite the significant presence of FBOs within the arena of aid and development, little agreement exists within the development literature as to the similarity or distinction between aid agencies that are faith based and secular non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Drawing on approximately 50 studies, this article reviews the existing literature on FBOs in order to analyze how FBOs are understood in relation to NGOs. This article then suggests a number of different typologies that captures these diverse range of views of how FBOs are understood.

In recent years, many of the Commonwealth countries have experienced a reduction in income inequalities due to the development of financial markets and intermediaries. At the same time, widespread corruption among public officials, civil servants, or politicians from these countries have been well documented. A key public policy question is whether the return to financial sector development at the level of massive corruption, exacerbate income inequality, offsetting the benefits of financial development. Using a panel data of 30 Commonwealth countries over the period of 1995–2008, it is found that the high rates of corruption in the Commonwealth countries are crowding out the return to financial development. The return to financial development on income inequality, at the level of higher corruption, are positive for all countries and significantly larger for the low- and middle-income countries compared to high-income countries, which suggest that the complementary nature of policies that simultaneously reduce corruption and promote financial development have a greater impact in reducing income inequality than implementing these policies separately.

Pakistan is recognized as a country with low income along with poor human development indicators. Although its contribution to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is miniscule in comparison with other countries (it contributes only about 0.8 per cent of the total GHG emissions), it is one of the major victims of the adverse effects of climate change. The present study is an attempt to explore the impacts of climate change on the economic growth of Pakistan by conducting a national level analysis for the period 1973–2011. It has been found that temperature (proxy for climate change) has a negative and significant relationship with GDP, as well as with productivity in the agricultural, manufacturing and services sectors. The severity of these negative effects is higher for the Agriculture sector as compared to manufacturing and services.

De Soto argues that formally establishing individually titled property rights releases value that can assist the poor in lower income countries. I argue Soto’s treatment of property rights is overly narrow, legalistic and individualistic. Second, effective property rights do not exist outside other formal and informal institutions. Third, there is no necessary conflict between informal, traditional and communal rights and economic development. Fourth, evidence suggests establishing individual property rights can harm the poor in some cases. Fifth, studies suggest establishing title does not increase access to credit for the poor. Finally, de Soto’s notion of ‘dead capital’ is questioned.

Rigg, J. 2012: Unplanned Development: Tracking Change in South-East Asia. London: Zed Books. 240 pp. £64.28 hardback, £17.24 paperback. ISBN: 9781848139893 (hardback), 9781848139896 (paper).

Tamara, J. and Sargeson, S., editors. 2011: Women, Gender and Rural Development in China. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing. xi + 271 pp. £74.70 hardback, £20.80 paperback. ISBN: 9781848446823 (hardback), 9781781000458 (paperback).

Cornwall, Andrea, Edström, Jerker and Greig, Alan., editors. 2011: Men and Development: Politicizing Masculinities. London: Zed Books. 256 pp. US$134.95 hardback, US$41.95 cloth. ISBN: 9781848139794 (cloth), 9781848139787 (paper).

Islam, Shafiqul and Susskind, Lawrence E. 2013: Water Diplomacy: A Negotiated Approach To Managing Complex Water Networks. New York: RFF Press. xviii + 334 pp. £72.51 hardback, £20.67 paperback. ISBN: 9781617261022 (cloth), 9781617261039 (paper).

Walker, Gordon. 2012: Environmental Justice: Concepts, Evidence and Politics. London and New York: Routledge. xv + 256 pp. £28.99 paperback. ISBN: 9780415589741.