Do growth and development rely on geography? How does AIDS limit growth in South Africa? What can we learn from Argentina in terms of innovation in natural resources? These are just a few of the questions tackled by UNU-MERIT and its School of Governance. Our most recent publications are detailed below, including four research reports, five journal articles, seven working papers, and one PhD thesis. Click here for the full list.
Research Reports
Diaspora engagement in development: An analysis of the engagement of the Nigerian diaspora in Germany and the potentials for cooperation. This study examines the characteristics of the Nigerian diaspora in Germany, the level and structures of their organisations and their existing and potential engagement in development. By Katrin Marchand, Sarah Langley & Dr. Melissa Siegel.
Diaspora engagement in development: An analysis of the engagement of the Kenyan diaspora in Germany and the potentials for cooperation. This study seeks to understand how Kenyans in Germany organise themselves into self-identified ‘diaspora organisations’ and how they engage with social, economic, and political life in Kenya and/or Germany. By Ayla Bonfiglio, Elaine McGregor & Dr. Melissa Siegel.
The dynamics between integration policies and outcomes: a synthesis of the literature. This paper reviews the links between integration policies, the integration situation of immigrants, and a wide range of individual and contextual factors. Some 22 reviewed studies and additional supporting articles explain most of the variation between countries in terms of immigrants’ labour market integration, educational attainment, naturalisation and political participation. By Dr. Özge Bilgili et al.
Supporting immigrant integration in Europe: What role for origin countries’ subnational authorities? This report represents the first attempt to investigate how the activities of origin countries’ regional and local institutions may improve the lives of emigrants to EU Member States. It discusses relevant obstacles as well as opportunities for sending-country cities, regional political entities, and federated states in the design and implementation of policy measures to improve the trajectories of migrants. By Drs. Özge Bilgili & Ilire Agimi.
Journal Articles
Family networks and income hiding: Evidence from lab-in-the-field experiments in rural Liberia. This article finds that individuals with a dense family network are more likely to pay a fraction of their endowment to hide their earnings from the experiment. The authors offer tentative evidence that dense family networks, under some conditions, have adverse impacts on economic decision-making. By Dr. Eleonora Nillesen et al.
AIDS and development: An inquiry into their economic channels. This article investigates how the interaction of AIDS, life expectancy and productivity over the life cycle influences macro economic development. The model applied to South Africa shows that while a relatively short-term assessment might not reveal any dramatic AIDS growth effect, the medium/long run impact can be truly devastating. By Prof. Théophile T. Azomahou.
Female sex trafficking: Conceptual issues, current debates, and future directions. This article provides an overview of issues regarding female sex trafficking and research in the field of human trafficking, drawing on disciplines including economics, gender and sexuality studies, psychology, sociology, law and social work. The authors give recommendations for future research that tie together the concepts of vulnerability, exploitation and long-term recovery and (re)integration. By Biljana Meshkovska, Dr. Melissa Siegel et al.
Technological capabilities, institutions and firm productivity, a multilevel study. This article investigates the impact of national institutions on firms’ total factor productivity with the help of multilevel modelling. The results indicate that technological infrastructure and educational system make a large difference, and also most significantly interact with firms’ technological capabilities. However, governance measures that are conventionally considered in the literature explain surprisingly little. By Dr. Micheline Goedhuys et al.
An assessment of the Innovation Union Scoreboard as a tool to analyse national innovation capacities: The case of Switzerland. This article clarifies what this statistical framework can offer in terms of information and insights on strengths and weaknesses of a given country relative to the other countries which are also involved in this statistical exercise. The author concludes that the IUS should not be applied in an isolated manner or without relying on other types of indicators and information on the system considered. By Hugo Hollanders et al.
Working Papers
Higher education and fertility: Evidence from a natural experiment in Ethiopia. This paper finds that education lowers fertility by 8% and increases the likelihood of never giving birth by 25%. The authors explore the role of potential underlying mechanisms and find that this negative effect on fertility is channelled through positive assortative mating and the postponement of marriage and motherhood. By Dr. Nyasha Tirivayi et al.
Optimal education in times of ageing: The dependency ratio in the Uzawa-Lucas growth model. Using data from 16 OECD countries, this paper finds that longer education will increase productivity in the future, but will lower production in the short run, whereas an increase in labour input at the cost of education will provide more production immediately. By Dr. Thomas Ziesemer et al.
The impact of the regional environment on the knowledge transfer outcomes of public research organisations: preliminary results for Europe. This paper examines the effects of regional factors on licence agreements, start‐ups and R&D agreements with companies. The authors find that a larger share of regional employment in high and medium‐high technology manufacturing sectors in the same region as the public research organisation has a positive impact on the number of licence agreements. By Nordine Es-Sadki & Prof. Anthony Arundel.
Technology foresight and industrial strategy in developing countries. This paper argues that the link between TF and broader industrial development strategy needs to be taken seriously in light of its role to shape technological change and economic growth, and that TF and industrial development strategy need to be coherently designed and implemented. The authors provide preliminary support to this argument, before reviewing examples from Brazil, Chile and South Korea. By Dr. Carlo Pietrobelli et al.
Innovation in natural resources: New opportunities and new challenges. The case of the Argentinian seed industry. This paper explores new opportunities and challenges for innovation in Natural Resource Based Industries (NRBIs) in developing countries. The authors show how the new opportunities created for innovation in seeds have been taken by some companies in the developing world and how some new challenges are questioning the capacity to pursue further some of the new opportunities. By Dr. Lilia Stubrin et al.
HIV disease severity and employment outcomes in affected households in Zambia. This paper studies the relationship between immune status and employment outcomes in HIV-infected patients on long-term antiretroviral therapy (ART) in sub-Saharan Africa. The results suggest that interventions that promote and maintain robust immune recovery on ART may confer economic benefits. By Dr. Nyasha Tirivayi et al.
Inside the Black Box: Contributions to the discussion on official development assistance. This paper brings together the winning entries from our essay competition on Official Development Assistance (ODA). This was a campaign was designed to raise awareness among the student population and to reach policymakers who may be able to restructure ODA.
PhD Theses
The geographic dimensions of growth and development. This thesis finds that neither institutions, nor geography or trade theories can single-handedly explain the economic performance of a country. The author finds that taking conventional measures such as GDP per capita give results that are in line with conventional theories of growth, but these do not always hold water with a more multidimensional measure of economic performance. By Dr. Samyukta Bhupatiraju.
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UN Photo / L. Abassi
Staff images: UNU / H.Pijpers
Video: UNU / H.Hudson