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ID:
083660
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| Publication |
2008.
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| Summary/Abstract |
Despite the vast literature on the economic and social affects of micro-financing in poor countries, little attention has been given to its political implications. At a time when the broader development implications of micro-financing are being recognized-thanks, in part, to the Nobel Prize Award to Prof. Yunus and the Grameen Bank-political scientists have an opportunity to contribute to and learn from the study of this financial instrument. This paper traces the existing microcredit-and more broadly the microfinance-literature to delineate the ways in which microcredit can contribute to the political awareness and activism of the poor, i.e., their political empowerment. I argue that the link between microcredit and political empowerment is self-efficacy and social capital, which can be generated from a particular form of microcredit lending where clients apply for loans as a group and share responsibility for repayment. Furthermore, I make the case for why the Central Asia and Caucasus region would provide an appropriate case to analyze the political effects of microfinance. Research in this area will not only fill an obvious gap in the literature, but it will also help microfinance institutions, donor communities and governments to better understand the wider political implications of microfinance and the ways by which to measure them
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| 2 |
ID:
181791
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| Summary/Abstract |
Spatial electoral repercussions of wind turbine developments are surprisingly understudied in the literature. How people vote based on the personal costs and benefits of living in the vicinity of wind turbines is an important empirical question that can improve our understanding about the political feasibility of a clean energy transition. Given the assumption that any potential nuisances or benefits associated with wind turbines are likely to be highly spatially concentrated, we merge the GIS turbine data with voting and census data at the precinct level to examine how wind turbine development affects the electoral fortunes of incumbent state legislators in the state of Minnesota in elections that occurred between 2006 and 2018. We also examine whether the incumbency advantage of turbine development favors Republicans or Democrats more. We find that turbine development has a positive impact on incumbent performance. In precincts where wind turbines are constructed, our models estimate that adding at least one turbine within that precinct increases the share of the incumbent party's vote in the next election by an average of 1.8–9 percentage points. We also find that Republicans benefit electorally from turbine development as much as or more than Democrats. The finding that voters usually reward rather than punish local politicians in both parties for wind development bodes well for the future of energy transition in the US as it suggests that most people are supportive of green energy even in their backyards.
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