The COVID-19 pandemic has devastated many low- and middle-income countries, causing widespread food insecurity and a sharp decline in living standards
. In response to this crisis, governments and ...humanitarian organizations worldwide have distributed social assistance to more than 1.5 billion people
. Targeting is a central challenge in administering these programmes: it remains a difficult task to rapidly identify those with the greatest need given available data
. Here we show that data from mobile phone networks can improve the targeting of humanitarian assistance. Our approach uses traditional survey data to train machine-learning algorithms to recognize patterns of poverty in mobile phone data; the trained algorithms can then prioritize aid to the poorest mobile subscribers. We evaluate this approach by studying a flagship emergency cash transfer program in Togo, which used these algorithms to disburse millions of US dollars worth of COVID-19 relief aid. Our analysis compares outcomes-including exclusion errors, total social welfare and measures of fairness-under different targeting regimes. Relative to the geographic targeting options considered by the Government of Togo, the machine-learning approach reduces errors of exclusion by 4-21%. Relative to methods requiring a comprehensive social registry (a hypothetical exercise; no such registry exists in Togo), the machine-learning approach increases exclusion errors by 9-35%. These results highlight the potential for new data sources to complement traditional methods for targeting humanitarian assistance, particularly in crisis settings in which traditional data are missing or out of date.
Summary In this Series paper, we examine how mass incarceration shapes inequality in health. The USA is the world leader in incarceration, which disproportionately affects black populations. Nearly ...one in three black men will ever be imprisoned, and nearly half of black women currently have a family member or extended family member who is in prison. However, until recently the public health implications of mass incarceration were unclear. Most research in this area has focused on the health of current and former inmates, with findings suggesting that incarceration could produce some short-term improvements in physical health during imprisonment but has profoundly harmful effects on physical and mental health after release. The emerging literature on the family and community effects of mass incarceration points to negative health impacts on the female partners and children of incarcerated men, and raises concerns that excessive incarceration could harm entire communities and thus might partly underlie health disparities both in the USA and between the USA and other developed countries. Research into interventions, policies, and practices that could mitigate the harms of incarceration and the post-incarceration period is urgently needed, particularly studies using rigorous experimental or quasi-experimental designs.
In this paper, the author intends to show the interaction between the living standards of the population and the financial situation of Polish local government units at the commune level. The first ...(theoretical) part of the paper provides a synthetic description of topics related to defining the economic terms and to the local government’s ability to impact the standards of living of the local population. In view of the multifaceted nature of terms covered by this analysis, the second part uses a canonical analysis (which means multiple linear regressions are generalized for two sets of variables) in order to identify the relationships between them. The analysis resulted in identifying a number of indicators, including canonical correlations, total redundancy and variances extracted, as well as six statistically significant canonical variates, which enabled the identification of multidimensional relationships between the categories considered. The greatest and the most statistically significant canonical correlation coefficient was over 0.93; for the last statistically significant canonical variate, it was over 0.57. The analysis provides grounds for concluding that when the values of variables representing the financial capacity of Polish rural communes are known, they can be used to explain over 32% of the variance in the set of variables relating to the population’s standards of living. The statistical data originated from the author’s own surveys carried out with presidents and vice-presidents of commune councils.
Do we have the natural resource base to feed future populations? This study gives a quantification of global land use, water use and fertilizer use for the year 2050, for a complete diet and four ...different futures. Agriculture will need to develop substantially to feed future populations. It is shown that there is a negative correlation between fertilizer use and land use, which makes the necessity of incorporating both in such assessments clear. Water use increases relative to total production and this is going to be a problem unless drastic measures are taken. The high wastage and high consumption of animal products in the developed regions are major contributors to the total global demand. Developing countries' aspirations to such practices are a major factor in increases in diet demand, as are population increases in those regions. In creating a more sustainable food system, a one-solution approach will not do and solutions should combine supply-side and demand-side options. Demand-side solutions should target wastage and animal product consumption. On the supply side, technological development and better feeding efficiency will increase yields. Feeding the future global population, which is necessary to increase living standards worldwide, will require a concerted effort.
•We do not have the resource base to supply current Western diets globally in 2050.•Food scenario studies should incorporate land use, water use and fertilizer use.•We should lower meat consumption and waste, and eat less intensive protein products.
As wages stagnate but living costs keep rising, the pressure on working people grows more intense. The issue of living standards has become one of the most urgent challenges for politicians in both ...Britain and America.
'The squeezed middle' brings together experts from both sides of the Atlantic to ask what the UK can learn from the US. American workers have not benefited from growth for an entire generation - the average American worker earned no more in 2009 than in 1975. Now British workers are undergoing a similar experience. No longer can they assume that when the economy grows their wages will grow with it.
This collection brings together for the first time leading economic and policy thinkers to analyse the impact of different policies on those on low-to middle incomes and to explain what lessons the UK can learn from America's 'lost generation'.
This timely book is essential reading for everyone concerned about the living standards crisis, an issue which could decide elections as well as shaping the future for millions of working families.
This study explores the factors that influence women's involvement in entrepreneurship, specifically focusing on the role of passion. Women with a strong interest and talent in entrepreneurship are ...more likely to engage in and benefit from entrepreneurial activities. This study uses quantitative approach. The quantitative approach was by distributing questionnaires to 261 female entrepreneurs. The findings suggest that passion is crucial in women's decision to pursue entrepreneurship. Women naturally inclined towards entrepreneurship are more likely to seek out opportunities in the field and derive benefits from them. Additionally, passion can motivate women to persevere and overcome challenges in entrepreneurship. Women's involvement in entrepreneurship also has a positive impact on their family's income. Through entrepreneurship, women can earn additional income that helps to improve their family's standard of living and meet economic needs. Furthermore, involvement in entrepreneurship offers women opportunities to develop skills and gain experience in the field. In conclusion, this study highlights the importance of passion in women's involvement in entrepreneurship and how it can lead to positive outcomes for their families. Thus, awareness and support from family, society, and the government are necessary to encourage more women to engage in entrepreneurship.
This paper primarily aims to address aspects related to regional development in Romania, which has become a challenge both at the national and global level. The way regional development is approached ...is different, depending on the particularities of each country, as well as the governing ideologies in each state. However, the goal is common, one aims at shaping a competitive and strong economy, a high standard of living, access to education and medical assistance. The purpose of the paper is to compare socio-economic indicators from two time periods, to highlight similarities and differences and to observe their evolution within a 10-year timespan. The method used is Principal Component Analysis (PCA) to identify groups of statistical indicators (variables) that explain the level of development within a sample, in our case the development regions of Romania. In the context of regional development, PCA can be applied to extract relevant information about economic, social or demographic variability in different regions of the country. Several objectives of regional development analyzed through the lens of this method were pursued: identification of regional disparities, optimization of resource allocation, evaluation of the determining factors of economic development, monitoring of the impact of regional policies. Following the PCA analysis, it was observed that regional development cannot be evaluated by means of variables belonging to a single sector. This method allowed the identification of the variables that have the greatest weight describing economic, social, educational and infrastructure aspects. PCA was applied for two time periods and similar situations were obtained, the first main component called by the authors the economic statistics includes for both periods the indicators: Gross average nominal salary gain, GDP by development regions, Employees from research and development activity at the end of the year, Beds in health facilities (state and private). The second component was called social statistics and includes the indicator Employment rate in working age (15-64 years), and the third component called agricultural statistics includes the indicator Population served by the public water supply system. As a conclusion, we consider that the situations are not overlapping because there are indicators that have undergone changes during the 10 years, which is expected and normal in regional development. For example, the number of graduates decreased due to the continuously decreasing birth rate, the vacancy rate decreased in 2018-2019 compared to 2008-2009 because Romania went through the financial economic crisis.
Children are considered to be especially vulnerable to energy poverty; however, there has been little empirical research on how energy poverty affects early childhood development in energy-poor ...countries. To overcome this, here we measure energy poverty and early child development using a multidimensional approach based on data from national multiple indicator cluster surveys (MICS). Using this data, we utilize mediation techniques to empirically investigate the impact of energy poverty on early childhood development using two mediators, namely living standards and child health. The results suggest that energy poverty hampers childhood development through living standards and child health. Findings also confirm that early childhood development has a statistically significant relationship with the living standard of a household, child health, gender, age, home environment, quality of the care of the child, the mother's education level, education level of the household head and the region of residence. Finally, we propose viable policy strategies to prevent energy poverty to ensure proper child development for future generations to achieve relevant SDGs in the investigated nations.
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•Calculation of adjusted multidimensional energy poverty score for energy poor nations.•Calculation of multidimensional early childhood development index.•Mediation analysis is employed using multiple indicator cluster survey data.•Energy poverty hampers childhood development through living standards and child health.
Over the past half century substantial changes in reproductive behavior have occurred throughout the developing world, with the total fertility rate declining by 56 percent—from 6.0 to 2.7 births per ...woman between 1960 and 2010 (United Nations 2015). Declines have been especially rapid in Asia and Latin America over this period, but in sub-Saharan Africa (“Africa”) the fertility transition occurred later and is proceeding at a slower pace. As a result of high African fertility and declining mortality, the population of this region is now growing at a faster rate (2.5 percent per year) than other regions of the developing world. The UN projects the sub-Saharan population to grow from 0.8 billion in 2010 to 3.9 billion in 2100 (ibid.) Such an unprecedented expansion of human numbers will create a range of social, economic, and environmental challenges and make it more difficult for the continent to raise living standards. Not surprisingly, interest in and concerns about the adverse consequences of demographic trends in Africa have reached high levels among policymakers and researchers.
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