scholarly journals Growing Inequality in the Coffee Global Value Chain: A Complex Network Assessment

2022 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 672
Author(s):  
Rebeca Utrilla-Catalan ◽  
Rocío Rodríguez-Rivero ◽  
Viviana Narvaez ◽  
Virginia Díaz-Barcos ◽  
Maria Blanco ◽  
...  

Following the liberalization of the coffee sector, governance and power balance in the international coffee trade has changed, with associated impacts on livelihoods in producing countries, most of which are middle- and low-income countries. Drawing on trade data for the period 1995–2018, we examine the dynamics and evolution of the international green coffee market to shed light on the re-distribution of value in the coffee supply chain. Data analysis shows that, over the studied period, the green coffee trade has increased considerably while the number of countries with a relevant role in trade has decreased, so that large exporting countries cover a higher share of trade, to the detriment of small exporting countries. We analyzed various properties of the global coffee trade network to provide insight on the relative contribution of countries not only in terms of their export value but also in terms of other selected features. The green coffee trade has gone from being distributed in many traditionally coffee-producing countries to concentrating mainly on the major coffee producers, as well as in some non-producing countries. These changes in the structure of the international green coffee market have led to greater inequality between producing and importing countries.

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 235-250
Author(s):  
Ketan Reddy ◽  
Subash Sasidharan

This article provides an overview of India’s participation in global value chains (GVCs). Using multiple databases at the aggregate and industry levels, this article documents the trends in GVC participation of India during the last three decades. Authors further differentiate between India’s backward and forward integration at the country level before evaluating the industry-specific dynamics of GVCs in India. In this study, authors also shed light upon the rising servicification of Indian manufacturing, and highlight the importance of services’ value addition in promoting GVC integration of India. JEL Codes: F1, F15, D57


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Buckner ◽  
You Zhang

Abstract This article analyzes cross-national trends in national student-faculty ratios (SFRs) over the past five decades. In descriptive analyses, we find that SFRs have increased globally, driven by particularly large increases in low-income countries. We analyze two cross-national datasets to examine factors associated with national SFRs. We find that national SFRs are positively associated with gross tertiary enrollment rates and particularly so in low-income countries. In contrast, both the female share of faculty and research spending are associated with having lower national SFRs. The findings shed light on how national higher education systems are responding to massification pressures and suggest that differentiating faculty roles is one way that countries curb their rising SFRs as enrollments grow.


2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 34-34
Author(s):  
Marlee Krieger ◽  
Nimmi Ramanujam ◽  
Mary Elizabeth Dotson Libby

PURPOSE Innovative devices are often targeted at increasing access, improving quality, or reducing costs—the three axes of the infamous Iron Triangle of Health Care, which are notoriously difficult to simultaneously optimize. The main aim of this study was to demonstrate that disruptive technologies, if high quality and appropriately implemented, can result in improved access, cost, and quality of care, overcoming the conventional constraints of the Iron Triangle framework. METHODS Our team conducted a global value chain analysis of the Pocket Colposcope in Lima, Peru, and developed surveys and conducted in-depth interviews to evaluate Pocket Colposcope stakeholders. All surveys were developed with consultations from the Duke Evidence Lab and had institutional review board approval. RESULTS The global value chain identified 5 leverage points: regulatory approval, task shifting, collaboration, telemedicine, and patient acceptance. We also identified stakeholders and processes that affect the degree to which the Pocket Colposcope is successfully implemented. Of women surveyed, 39.4% answered that they had previously wanted a cervical cancer screening test, but had been unable to receive one as a result of some barrier. The most common responses were distance to clinics (31.0%), participants could not leave work (27.6%), and patients were afraid of receiving a cancer diagnosis (20.7%). All 4 midwives who participated in the focus group identified the portability of the Pocket Colposcope as the device’s most appealing feature. Providers identified the quality of the image, cost to patient, and ease of use as the 3 most important aspects of the Pocket Colposcope. CONCLUSION The Pocket Colposcope provides an opportunity to make high-quality diagnostic technology more accessible at a cheaper price for more people. Often, disruptive technology in low-income settings is expected to increase access at the cost of reducing quality. In the case of the Pocket Colposcope, the disruptive technology is significantly cheaper than existing technology, but quality is still high enough to succeed.


Policy Papers ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 (27) ◽  
Author(s):  

This paper aims to widen the lens through which surveillance is conducted in LICs, to better account for the interplay between financial deepening and macro-financial stability as called for in the 2011 Triennial Surveillance Review. Reflecting the inherent risk-return tradeoffs associated with financial deepening, the paper seeks to shed light on the policy and institutional impediments in LICs that have a bearing on the effectiveness of macroeconomic policies, macro-financial stability, and growth. The paper focuses attention on the role of enabling policies in facilitating sustainable financial deepening. In framing the discussion, the paper draws on a range of conceptual and analytical tools, empirical analyses, and case studies.


Biosensors ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 133
Author(s):  
Benjamin Heidt ◽  
Williane Siqueira ◽  
Kasper Eersels ◽  
Hanne Diliën ◽  
Bart van Grinsven ◽  
...  

Point of care (PoC) diagnostics are at the focus of government initiatives, NGOs and fundamental research alike. In high-income countries, the hope is to streamline the diagnostic procedure, minimize costs and make healthcare processes more efficient and faster, which, in some cases, can be more a matter of convenience than necessity. However, in resource-limited settings such as low-income countries, PoC-diagnostics might be the only viable route, when the next laboratory is hours away. Therefore, it is especially important to focus research into novel diagnostics for these countries in order to alleviate suffering due to infectious disease. In this review, the current research describing the use of PoC diagnostics in resource-limited settings and the potential bottlenecks along the value chain that prevent their widespread application is summarized. To this end, we will look at literature that investigates different parts of the value chain, such as fundamental research and market economics, as well as actual use at healthcare providers. We aim to create an integrated picture of potential PoC barriers, from the first start of research at universities to patient treatment in the field. Results from the literature will be discussed with the aim to bring all important steps and aspects together in order to illustrate how effectively PoC is being used in low-income countries. In addition, we discuss what is needed to improve the situation further, in order to use this technology to its fullest advantage and avoid “leaks in the pipeline”, when a promising device fails to take the next step of the valorization pathway and is abandoned.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
C. Nicholaus ◽  
H.D. Martin ◽  
A. Matemu ◽  
J. Kimiywe ◽  
N. Kassim

School feeding in low-income countries is dominated by cereals and legumes, which are susceptible to aflatoxin contamination but are usually not assessed for aflatoxins. A cross sectional study was conducted to assess aflatoxin exposure among adolescents through consumption of school meals in Kilimanjaro region. Food frequency questionnaires and 24 h dietary recalls were used to collect information on food consumption. At least four samples of common food used in school meals were collected. A deterministic approach was used to estimate the dietary aflatoxin exposure. High Performance Liquid chromatography (HPLC) was used to analyse presence of aflatoxin contamination. Results showed that, maize based food and beans were consumed on daily basis. The intake of maize flour and dehulled maize ranged from 17.5 to 738.2 g and 28.2 to 272 g per person per day respectively. Furthermore, consumption of beans and rice were in the range of 121.1 to 595.2 g and 15.7 to 42.2 g per person per day respectively. Total aflatoxins ranged 0.20-438.53 μg/kg (median 2.30 μg/kg). The highest contamination range (0.59-438.53 μg/kg) was in maize while the lowest (0.20-3.41 μg/kg) was found in rice. Similarly, the highest aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) concentration (35.88 μg/kg) was in dehulled maize while the lowest (0.44 μg/kg) was in rice. The highest dietary exposure to total aflatoxins and AFB1 due to consumption of maize ranged from 0.70 to 973.45 ng/kg/bodyweight (bw)/day, and from 0.05-81.06 ng/kg/bw/day, respectively. This pronounced risk of exposure to aflatoxins might have been contributed by a monotonous maize based diet in boarding schools. These findings call for institutions immediate interventions, such as the use of appropriate storage technologies, sorting, cleaning and winnowing in order to remove damaged grains, thereby reducing the risk of dietary exposure to aflatoxins. Likewise, the relevant ministries should consider food diversification and routine risk assessments of the susceptible crops throughout the value chain as a long-term intervention plan at policy level.


2015 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 249-272 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abebe D. Beyene ◽  
Randall Bluffstone ◽  
Alemu Mekonnen

AbstractREDD + is one of the tools under development to mitigate climate change, but it is not yet clear how to appropriately bring in the approximately 25 per cent of developing country forests that are managed by communities. Drawing on the economics of collective action literature, the authors attempt to shed light on whether forest collective action itself sequesters carbon. Using satellite imagery combined with household and community data from Ethiopia, they examine whether community forests (CFs) with high levels of collective action attributes known to be associated with better management have more carbon than other systems. Although these results should be considered indicative due to the nature of the data, the analysis suggests that in the absence of dedicated sequestration policies the quality of local-level collective action offers at best marginal carbon benefits. Specific incentives like REDD + may therefore play important roles in delivering climate change benefits from CFs in low-income countries.


2020 ◽  
pp. 0308518X2096110
Author(s):  
Lindsay Whitfield ◽  
Cornelia Staritz

This article asks whether and how local firms in low-income countries can participate, upgrade and capture value in apparel global value chains in the context of increased entry barriers and asymmetric power relations. It focuses on Madagascar, which is the top apparel exporter in Sub-Saharan Africa and one where there is a significant number of local firms. The article examines the capability-building processes of local firms, which are the basis for upgrading paths and broader sector development. We do this by combining conceptual insights from the Technological Capabilities literature with the conjunctural approach to Global Value Chains and Global Production Networks. Based on extensive fieldwork in Madagascar’s apparel export sector, the article explains how the relational, local and regional assets that local firms can leverage in building technological capabilities influence their choices with regards to export strategies and their upgrading paths. In turn, these assets are linked to different types of local ownership, and they emerge through historical legacies and the national socio-economic context, which give rise to specific transnational social relations, as well as through regional economic formations and global value chain dynamics.


2018 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 447-482 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Stefan Hain ◽  
Roman Jurowetzki

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to shed light on the changing pattern and characteristics of international financial flows in the emerging entrepreneurial ecosystems of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), provide a novel taxonomy to classify and analyze them, and discuss how such investments contribute to competence building and sustainable development. Design/methodology/approach In an exploratory study, the authors analyze the characteristics of international venture capital investors and the start-ups receiving funding in Kenya and map their interaction. The authors proceed by developing a novel taxonomy, classifying investors according to their main rationales (for-profit-for-impact), and start-ups according to the locus of needs and markets addressed by the start-up (local-global) and the locus of the start-ups capacity and knowledge (local-global). Findings The authors observe a new type of mainly western investors who support innovative ideas in SSA by identifying and investing in domestically developed technical innovations with the potential to address global market needs. The authors find such innovations to be mainly developed at the intersect of global and local knowledge. Originality/value The authors shed light on the – up to now – under-researched emerging phenomenon of international high-tech investments in SSA, and develop a novel taxonomy of technology investments in low-income countries, guiding further research on the conditions, impact, practical, and policy implications of this new form of finance flows.


Author(s):  
Davor Petrović ◽  
Vida Čulić ◽  
Zofia Swinderek-Alsayed

AbstractJoubert syndrome (JS) is a rare congenital, autosomal recessive disorder characterized by a distinctive brain malformation, developmental delay, ocular motor apraxia, breathing abnormalities, and high clinical and genetic heterogeneity. We are reporting three siblings with JS from consanguineous parents in Syria. Two of them had the same homozygous c.2172delA (p.Trp725Glyfs*) AHI1 mutation and the third was diagnosed prenatally with magnetic resonance imaging. This pathogenic variant is very rare and described in only a few cases in the literature. Multinational collaboration could be of benefit for the patients from undeveloped, low-income countries that have a low-quality health care system, especially for the diagnosis of rare diseases.


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