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The analog city: maintaining everyday life through repair and Jugaad
No full textUrban scholarship consistently discusses improvisation and heterogeneity as central to urban life in the Global South. In this paper, I bring together scholarship on urban improvisation and the digital world of smart cities to understand the city as analog. In response to conceptions of the smart city as an uncontested space of technical expertise and efficiency, the analog city recognizes the city as being made and remade through analog labor: hands-on, relational work responsive to the city around it. I use the example of maintenance and repair work to explore the analog nature of cities, building on years of ethnographic research on electronics repair in Delhi. I follow this labor along two seemingly different scales: local electronics repair in informal shops, and the maintenance of data centers for India’s smart cities. Drawing on the north Indian term ‘jugaad’, used to describe circumstances in which nonelite strategies intervene to fix things, I argue that the analog city recognizes a world of things with which we can negotiate and work, but never control. I conclude by reflecting on the importance of embodied relationality to the analog city and speculate on an urban futurity focused on the openness of possibilities for urban life
Can crew onboard ships be incentivised to go green? Understanding the role of incentives in nudging behaviour for improving operational energy efficiency
Get PDFThis paper examines the measures available to improve operational energy efficiency from the perspective of onboard crew, the barriers associated with implementing those measures and how crew behaviour can be nudged using incentives. A total of 25 semi-structured interviews and subsequent surveys with 42 onboard crew were carried out to gather qualitative information on two main domains: operational efficiency and incentive schemes. In-depth thematic analysis of interviews showed the central and recurring themes such as stakeholder hierarchy, autonomy and accountability, temporal restrictions, profitability and type of charter. Due to the heterogeneity in interview responses on the topic of incentives, online surveys were conducted. The findings of the study show that whilst speed reduction was seen as the single most important measure to optimise, it was also the most difficult to implement in practice due to several barriers. These include contractual obligations, a complex web of accountability and perverse incentives to increase speed. Other measures such as trim–draft optimisation and auxiliary engine load optimisation have smaller efficiency gains but were found to have more potential for increasing implementation through behavioural changes and encouraged through incentives. Both monetary and non-monetary incentives were perceived to be important and going beyond the status quo of incentivising captains so that rewards are shared equitably amongst the crew. Whilst not generalisable, preliminary findings suggest that there is room to consider alternatives to the current approaches on incentives, which do not take advantage of the importance of acknowledgment and recognition, as well as fostering positive interpersonal relationships
Labor market risk shapes individuals’ environmental attitudes and policy preference
No full textIn an era of increasing economic precarity and labour market polarization, meaningful efforts to mitigate climate challenges face a fundamental political challenge. We examine how indviduals’ long-term labour market risk shapes their environmental attitudes and support for green policies. We argue that longterm labour market risk is expected to reduce environmental concern amongst those affected due to a deprioritization of problems with high levels of uncertainty and that require deep reforms to be addressed. Therefore, we expect labour market risk to subsequently reduce support of environmental policy that imposes immediate direct costs, such as carbon taxation. Using European Social Survey data from 2002 to 2018 and several waves of the International Social Survey Programme across European countries, our analysis reveals that individuals’ facing long-term labour market risks are less likely to hold environmental concerns and less supportive of carbon taxes that impose immediate visible costs. Our findings have important implications for understanding how structural transformations in the economy shape individuals’ preferences for tackling long-term societal problems like climate change
Dynamic and heterogeneous impacts of granting and revoking elective c-section rights in São Paulo
No full textElective caesarean sections (c-sections) present a significant public health challenge due to associated health risks and increased costs. This study examines the causal impacts of a unique natural experiment in São Paulo, Brazil: Law 17,137/2019, which temporarily allowed pregnant women to opt for c-sections in public healthcare facilities. Using a difference-in-differences estimator, we analyse the Law's effects on c-section rates across various hospital types, municipal characteristics, and demographics. The Law led to a significant and immediate 3.03% point increase in c-section rates in public hospitals. Notably, this effect was limited to the public sector, with no consistent changes observed in private or mixed facilities. The impact was also temporary; following the Law's revocation less than a year later, c-section rates promptly reverted to pre-enactment levels, indicating no lasting effects. We find no evidence that the Law shifted deliveries from paid private care to free public hospitals. Our analysis reveals heterogeneous impacts, with the largest increases in c-section rates occurring in municipalities that had lower baseline c-section rates, a greater reliance on public healthcare, and fewer healthcare resources. These findings suggest that the law disproportionately affected areas with greater public health system strain. Interestingly, the increase in c-sections primarily occurred among low-risk births and had no detectable effect on newborn health outcomes, such as birth weight or Apgar scores. The additional 4500 c-sections performed under the law created an added fiscal burden of approximately R$459 000 for the public health system, based on the cost difference between vaginal and c-section deliveries. This study underscores that while granting elective choice may seem empowering, it can lead to a surge in unnecessary, costly, and riskier procedures, highlighting the crucial need to consider both equity and resource implications when designing healthcare policies
A qualified defence of the rule in Gibbs
No full textThis article concerns the ‘rule in Gibbs’: a controversial principle of English private international law that provides a debt is only discharged in a foreign insolvency proceeding if the contract is governed by the law of that proceeding. Critics of the rule consider that it undermines the foundation of corporate insolvency as a unitary process in which individual collection efforts are replaced by a collective proceeding for all creditors. This article offers a qualified defence of the rule. It suggests that it could be abandoned in ‘true’ insolvency cases in which the company’s assets are sold to a third party and the proceeds distributed to its creditors, but only if the rule is replaced with a cross-border insolvency law framework. It also suggests, however, that Gibbs is the ‘right’ rule in a cross-border corporate restructuring, in which only some of the company’s creditors stay with the firm to benefit from any future upside that the third party would otherwise capture in a sale. It argues that EU private international law adopts this approach to a restructuring and that the Gibbs rule is, therefore, not nearly as exceptional as it is sometimes made out to be
The Grooming Gangs Inquiry and the absence of girls' voices
Get PDFThe Government’s Grooming Gang Inquiry has rightly included the testimonies of adult women victims and survivors of child sexual exploitation. But as Selena Gray points out, the perspective of girls, often the victims of such crimes – a perspective which differs widely from that of adult women – is altogether missing both from the inquiry, and the broader cultural conversation around the Grooming Gang scandal
Historicising the employment of migrant domestic workers and ‘Modern Slavery’ in Britain
No full textA welfare analysis of mergers of complements: lessons from the Hotelling line
No full textThis paper examines the welfare effects of mergers between complement producers. We use a Hotelling model with vertical differentiation and a captive market (hinterland). Unlike standard Bertrand or vertical differentiation models, which predict unambiguous consumer benefits, our model reveals a richer set of welfare outcomes. Consumer surplus and total welfare may increase or decrease post-merger. Total welfare depends on allocative efficiency (how consumers are distributed between firms) and output efficiency (total output achieved). We show that mergers can increase consumer surplus while reducing total welfare. This depends on the interaction between intrinsic value effects, transportation cost effects, and the size of the hinterland. The type of differentiation – whether vertical or in transportation costs – is critical, as it influences the balance between the elimination of double marginalisation and raising rivals’ costs. These findings underline the need to account for market-specific factors when assessing the welfare implications of mergers between complement producers
Evolutionary fraud, the global scamming ecosystem and a typology of actors
Get PDFThis study examines the adaptive nature of the global scamming ecosystem, focusing on developing a novel typology based on the size and organizational structure of scam operations. Through a combination of qualitative and case study analysis, the research categorizes scammers into five distinct groups, namely, “Demons,” “Gorgons,” “Ogres,” “Behemoths,” and “Mega Behemoths,” ranging from lone actors to large-scale enterprises with intricate hierarchies and international reach. The findings highlight how organizational size, specialisation, and corrupt actors' involvement contribute to scam operations' effectiveness and resilience. Findings also illustrate the adaptive processes observed in legitimate business practices, including role specialisation and hierarchical organization strategic planning. The paper also notes the evolutionary processes creating more effective scams and means of delivering them. The study provides a foundational understanding of these dynamics, offering a framework for targeted, flexible strategies and robust international cooperation. Findings also highlight the importance of continued interdisciplinary collaboration to address these evolving threats