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42001. The Birth, Death and Survival of Exports in Zambia 1999 - 2011

Author:
Bernard Banda and Joseph Simumba
Publication Date:
11-2013
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Zambia Institute for Policy Analysis and Research (ZIPAR)
Abstract:
This paper deals with the dynamics of Zambia’s export performance, analyzing the birth, death and persistence of exporting in various products and destinations. We use a framework that has recently proliferated in international trade to decompose the growth of Zambia’s exports into an “intensive” and “extensive” margin. Our results show that the extensive margin is the dominant driver of export growth in Zambia. We attribute the poor performance of the intensive margin to the low survival among exporters that hardly lasts for more than a year. Our findings imply that interventions to support new-exporting should be encouraged. But it also raises key questions on the sustainability of export growth in the long-run. Therefore, we propose that interventions should target improving the duration of survival among exporters and deepen their intensity of exporting once they are able to survive longer. In conclusion, there is urgent need to carefully understand the factors that are responsible for the high mortality among exporters within the first year of birth.
Topic:
Economics, International Trade and Finance, and Exports
Political Geography:
Africa and Zambia

42002. The Distribution of Household Income and the Middle Class in Zambia

Author:
Zambia Institute for Policy Analysis & Research (ZIPAR)
Publication Date:
12-2013
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Zambia Institute for Policy Analysis and Research (ZIPAR)
Abstract:
The middle class is increasingly becoming a topical issue in Zambia. However, the lack of a definitive measure of the middle class in the country makes it difficult to have targeted policies on this group of people, perceived worldwide to be the drivers of economic growth. With high and rising income inequality in Zambia, we propose two operational definitions of the middle class by exploring the middle class from a median perspective and from a ‘relative affluence’ perspective. Defining the middle class on the basis of the ‘actual middle’ versus ‘relative affluence’ provides vastly different pictures. The results show that individuals and households that fall in the ‘relative affluence’ group have achieved a modest standard of living and are actually near the top of the country’s income ladder while households in the actual middle of the income distribution in Zambia have a standard of living well below what can be perceived as a ‘middle-class lifestyle’ elsewhere. This requires targeted policy designs when referring to changes in the economic status of the Zambian middle class. We propose a household income distribution framework which combines both the actual middle households and the relatively affluent middle households to create an enabling environment for inclusive growth policies, rather than just pro-poor policies.
Topic:
Income Inequality, Economic Growth, Middle Class, and Household Income
Political Geography:
Africa and Zambia

42003. A Proposition “Bhutan is a Democracy”: Beyond the Constricted, Popular Wisdom of “Democracy”

Author:
Katsu Masaki
Publication Date:
10-2013
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Bhutan Studies
Institution:
Centre for Bhutan & GNH Studies (CBS)
Abstract:
This article seeks to dissect, with reference to Bhutan’s polity, how the Eurocentric, popular wisdom of democracy, privileging liberal democracy, inadvertently enforces closure to other plausible, non-liberalistic interpretations. In Bhutan, the monarchy and Buddhism carry moral authorities constraining the arbitrary use of governmental power, and nurturing associative bonds in society. This “natural democracy” contravenes the orthodoxy of liberal democracy, according to which the state, as a neutral arbiter, must not accord a special status to any leader or religion. For this reason, political analysts tend to doubt whether Bhutan is a democracy. The circumscribed, liberal-democratic notion emanates from the history in which European universalism has been fabricated as a universal standard to be disseminated throughout the globe. It has thus served to rank different societies in a linear trajectory that positions Europe at the pinnacle of “progress”. The case of Bhutan potentially helps to rectify the constricted wisdom of democracy, to facilitate more open, thorough deliberations, and to start conceptualizing a multipolar world.
Topic:
Government, Democracy, Multipolarity, and Eurocentrism
Political Geography:
South Asia and Bhutan

42004. Was Tobacco Described in Bhutanese Buddhist Texts Before the 16th Century?

Author:
Michael Givel and Rebecca A. Sherry
Publication Date:
10-2013
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Bhutan Studies
Institution:
Centre for Bhutan & GNH Studies (CBS)
Abstract:
The small Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan has banned tobacco sales since 2004, citing prophets of the country's state religion, Mahayana Buddhism, who described the evils of tobacco 200 years before its introduction to Asia. To address whether tobacco really is the plant designated in these early texts, we commissioned new translations of these documents, including one of the first translations out of Choekey of the first legal code of Bhutan, known as “The Golden Yoke of Legal Edicts.” A set of allegorical stories predict that a demon will make a plant appear that will be smoked, sniffed or eaten, and will cause a myriad of physical and societal ills. The stories in the ancient documents are allegorical and apocryphal (in the sense of mystic and esoteric) and do not describe the plant in enough detail to identify it as any real plant. In some cases, the word “thamakha,” meaning “the very worst black poison,” was transliterated as tobacco. Nevertheless, modern day interpretations in Bhutan of “thamakha” as tobacco are congruent with Buddhist tenets that intoxicants of any type will cloud the mind and inhibit the journey to seek Nirvana.
Topic:
History, Tobacco, and Buddhism
Political Geography:
South Asia and Bhutan

42005. Examining Rupee Reserves in Bhutan: An SVAR Approach

Author:
Jigme Nidup
Publication Date:
10-2013
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Bhutan Studies
Institution:
Centre for Bhutan & GNH Studies (CBS)
Abstract:
The substantial deterioration of rupee reserves in 2012 had detrimental effect on the economic growth in Bhutan. Therefore, this study investigates the implication of government investment on construction, private credit expansion and imports from India, on the rupee reserves through a four-dimensional SVAR approach. The results indicate that in the immediate term, it is the government construction expenditure, private credit growth and imports from India that deteriorates the rupee reserves. Over the medium period, it is found that the government investment on construction leads to private credit expansion. Though government investment on construction is desired for economic growth, policy makers, however, should strategize investments so that it does not create rapid private credit growth.
Topic:
Finance, Credit, Imports, Public Investment, and Reserves
Political Geography:
South Asia, India, and Bhutan

42006. Factorial Validity and Reliability of 12 items General Health Questionnaire in a Bhutanese Population

Author:
Tshoki Zangmo
Publication Date:
10-2013
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Bhutan Studies
Institution:
Centre for Bhutan & GNH Studies (CBS)
Abstract:
The aim of this study is to test the factorial structure and the internal consistency of the 12-items General Health Questionnaire. A sample of 6861 Bhutanese completed the GHQ-12. Internal consistency was assessed by Cronbach’s alpha coefficient. The factorial structure was extracted with an exploratory factorial analysis (EFA). The EFA run on the data yield to a one- factor structure without rotation and two factor structures after rotation. Cronbach’s alpha showed a very good internal consistency of the scale (α= 0.88). Cluster analysis resulted in two clusters. Overall, the findings support that the GHQ-12 is a reliable and valid instrument for measuring minor psychological distress in a Bhutanese sample.
Topic:
Public Opinion, Public Health, and Gross National Happiness (GNH)
Political Geography:
South Asia and Bhutan

42007. The Role of English in Culture Preservation in Bhutan

Author:
Dorji Thinley and T. W. Maxwell
Publication Date:
03-2013
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Bhutan Studies
Institution:
Centre for Bhutan & GNH Studies (CBS)
Abstract:
This study explores issues surrounding the preservation and promotion of culture in the context of the secondary school English curriculum in Bhutan. The languages of Bhutan carry a rich and diverse tradition of oral literatures, but these genres and the cultural values they embody may disappear if they are not promoted. In Bhutan, schools are an active culture preservation site. For this reason, and also since English is the language of curricula for most subjects taught in school, we assumed that one of the ways in which Bhutan’s diverse cultures can be honoured and enlivened is through the study of folk literature in the English curriculum. We asked two questions: (1) “How do secondary English teachers perceive the long-term role of Bhutanese folk literature as a source of cultural knowledge in the English curriculum?” and (2) “What knowledge and attitude do secondary students show following three months of learning about Bhutanese folk literature in the secondary English curriculum?” To address the first question, 38% of all secondary English teachers (n-181) responded to a purpose-built questionnaire followed by in-depth interviews undertaken with six (expert) teachers. The second research question was addressed using action research conducted with twenty-four Class 11 science students over three months in a higher secondary school in south Bhutan. Three important perspectives on the role of English in culture maintenance were identified. First, the latter can create opportunities for students to learn English in culturally familiar contexts. Second, using folk literatures that exist in different languages but translated into English as pedagogical catalysts will not only promote the values of cultural diversity in school but will also ensure the intergenerational continuity of Bhutanese culture through the education of children. Third, since English is a global language and a language of growing popularity in Bhutan, English translations of oral literature will promote cultural diversity and continuity in the face of globalization.
Topic:
Education, Culture, Language, and English
Political Geography:
South Asia and Bhutan

42008. Diversity in Food Ways of Bhutanese Communities Brought About by Ethnicity and Environment

Author:
Kunzang Dorji, Kesang Choden, and Walter Roder
Publication Date:
03-2013
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Bhutan Studies
Institution:
Centre for Bhutan & GNH Studies (CBS)
Abstract:
In mountainous Bhutan, geographical isolation has helped in conserving local cultures and traditions in isolated pockets. The small population of about 700,000 is said to speak 19 living languages (Van Driem, 2004). Many of these communities are small in numbers, economically and socially marginalized, and live in remote regions. With road access and penetration of global forces like the media and international markets, many of these communities are in transition and their distinctive cultural practices are in serious danger of being lost without having been documented. While substantial information has been generated by scholars, promoters for culture, the tourist industry and the international media on the culture, language and religious practices typical of western Bhutan, information available for most of the minority communities is limited. Recent research documenting the traditional knowledge and practices of particular ethnic groups vulnerable to assimilation were published by Giri (2003) for the Monpa communities in Trongsa and by Sharma (2005) for the Lhops in Samtse district.
Topic:
Environment, Food, Ethnicity, and Diversity
Political Geography:
South Asia and Bhutan

42009. Exploring Bhutan’s ‘Natural Democracy’: In Search of an Alternative View of Democracy

Author:
Katsu Masaki
Publication Date:
03-2013
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Bhutan Studies
Institution:
Centre for Bhutan & GNH Studies (CBS)
Abstract:
This paper seeks to make an alternative translation/ interpretation of Bhutan’s democracy, in place of the mainstream view that the country has recently made a decisive transition toward democracy. It calls our attention to the country’s time-honored ‘natural democracy,’ which rests on monarchical authority and cohesive rural communities. Both of them represent vernacular forms of freedom and equality, contrary to their widely held image as being averse to democracy. This research was made possible by funding from the Japanese Government's Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research.
Topic:
Government, Politics, Democracy, Monarchy, and Authority
Political Geography:
South Asia and Bhutan

42010. Wangdü Chöling Dzong: The Masterpiece of Gongsar Jigme Namgyel

Author:
Gengop Karchung
Publication Date:
03-2013
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for Bhutan & GNH Studies (CBS)
Abstract:
Due to political and spiritual significance, Dzongs hold a special place in the minds of the Bhutanese people. Unlike any other dzongs in Bhutan, Wangdü Chöling Dzong in Bumthang Shamkhar is quite unique due to factors like (1) the builder who was the father of Monarchy in Bhutan, (2) the accomplishment of victory over Jakar Dzongpön Tsöndrü Gyaltshen and (3) the place being used for Buddhist teachings by lama Je Jangchub Tsondrü. Constructed with elaborate Bhutanese architectural designs, it is said to have been built by Gongsar Jigme Namgyel himself in 1857, particulary the Utse. This paper attempts to figure out the significance and role of this well-known historical structure besides throwing some lights on establishment of the dzong and its renovation. It also tries to present other information related to this Dzong through available written and oral sources. Besides researching on written sources, interviews were conducted with Lam Jampel Dorje, Wangdü Chöling Lam, Agäy Rinzin Dorje, 84 (2010) and Agäy Sherub Wangdü, 76 (2010) who shared valuable information.
Topic:
Politics, Religion, Culture, and Architecture
Political Geography:
South Asia and Bhutan