In this paper we examine the effects of media coverage of commodity prices increases and decreases on the price of the commodity and how media coverage in other commodities affects prices. We provide evidence of the relationship between media coverage and its intensity to the price level of...

A migration network is modeled as a mutually beneficial cooperative agreement between financially-constrained individuals who seek to finance and expedite their migration. The cooperation agreement creates a network: “established” migrants contract to support the subsequent migration of...

The need to address extreme poverty from the perspective of marginality arises from the frustration that the number of the poorest and hungry remains unacceptably high. This triggered the call for an innovative approach from the side of science and action. The conceptual and analytical framework...

Traditional Knowledge (TK) systems have always been integral to the survival and adaptation of human societies. Yet, they enjoy a fairly recent recognition and popularization by scientists, the media, politicians, corporates and the wider public. In this paper we present a typology of key...

This paper calls attention to the instrumental role of democracy and press freedom in combating corruption. As opposed to an autocracy with no or limited press freedom, a free press in a democracy can inform voters about the corruption of political representatives, and voters in turn can punish...

The present paper investigates how ethnic violence and civil war in Sri Lanka have affected local property rights institutions . I use local case studies to analyze the institutional relations and alliances between civilians and combatants in the emergent society of violence that shapes local...

The purpose of this paper is to empirically analyze economic and policy factors affecting pollution by Township and Village Industrial Enterprises (TVIEs) in China and to discuss problems and directions in environmental policies for them. With the rapid growth of TVIEs since the early 1980s,...

Healthy land ecosystems are essential to sustainable development, including food security and improved livelihoods. Yet, their key services have usually been taken for granted and their true value underrated, leading to land degradation becoming a critical global problem. This pattern of...

Do transgenic crops cause agrobiodiversity erosion? We hypothesize that they increase productivity and reduce production risk and may therefore reduce farmer demand for on-farm varietal diversity, especially when only a few transgenic varieties are available. We also hypothesize that varietal...

This paper serves to disentangle the complex system of Indian food policies related to wheat and rice procurement, storage, distribution and trade. Using nationally aggregated time series data, these policies are econometrically analysed. Based on the estimation results, their market...