Massey University Departments

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    Profiles and dynamics of the urban informal sector in Indonesia : a study of pedagang kakilima in Bandung : a thesis presented in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Development Studies at Massey University
    (Massey University, 2002) Suharto, Edi
    This study analyses the ways in which the trajectory of development in Indonesia affects the poor who work in the urban informal sector. Situated in the context of Bandung, the third largest city in Indonesia, this study targets street traders, pedagang kakilima, to pursue three areas of inquiry: the economics of the street enterprises; human development of the traders; and coping strategies of the households. The data cover the period of economic crisis, notably between 1997 and 1999. This allows the study to emphasise how the crisis - along with the processes of capitalist industrialisation and urbanisation - affected the activities and lives of street traders and how they coped with the problems they faced. This study has seen that the current economic crisis in Indonesia, following the advent of structural changes of the 1970s and 1980s, has been followed by the prevalence of employment shifts from the formal to informal sector. At the macro level, the informal sector continues to cater for a majority of total employment in the Indonesian economy and thereby sustains livelihoods, especially of the low-income households. The data on the economics of pedagang kakilima show that profiles of the small and informal enterprises are distinctively different from those of larger and formal businesses. Although a few of the street traders demonstrate characteristics of successful merchants, most of their features still exhibit vulnerability These include volatile incomes, insecure premises, limited economic resources, inadequate technology for advancement, and lack of access to formal financial services. These limitations are generally typical of small-scale production and were already in existence prior to the crisis. On the basis of human development indicators, the findings suggest that there is no automatic link between street trading and poverty, but equally there is no such link belween street trading and prosperity. The widespread economic crisis detrimentally affected pedagang kakilima, especially their economic capital. Reduced consumer demand and price rises, for example, were widely found to diminish income earnings in street trading during the period of recession. With specific reference to human capital, however, it is clear that the crisis had not yet had a detrimental effect on their access to education, health, and housing facilities. Information about coping strategies adopted by street trader households reveals that the urban informal sector is dynamic. Instead of being passive and static, pedagang kakilima make every effort to succeed in the city during economic hardship and try as best as they can to curtail the effect of the crisis. Those participating in this street trading, including men, women and children, prove to be active and creative in the ways they manage and manipulate a threatening situation in both enterprise and household settings. This study ultimately suggests that together with the existing conventional approach, the holistic framework drawn from the human development and coping strategy perspectives can be combined and developed to shape thinking and actions concerning the urban informal sector. This combination will enable research and policy to become more sensitive to the needs and reality of urban development in Indonesia that more often than not neglects the reality of its human, social, and cultural fabrics.
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    The politics of economic restructuring in the Pacific with a case study of Fiji : a thesis presented in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, Department of Social Policy and Social Work, School of Social and Cultural studies, Massey University, Albany Campus, Auckland
    (Massey University, 2004) Slatter, Claire
    The subject of this thesis is the politics of economic restructuring, euphemistically termed 'reform' in the Pacific. Although structural adjustment policies are essentially neoliberal economic policies, the project of global economic restructuring, and its supposed end, a global regime of free trade, is a political one in several respects. It involves the wielding of economic power over developing countries by powerful multilateral institutions, developed countries and private corporate entities to such a degree that it is considered by some to represent the disciplining/subjugating and dis-empowering of developing states. It is supported by a successfully propagated ideology that combines economic growth theories (held to be infallible), 'good governance' rhetoric (with which no-one can reasonably disagree), and new notions of equality and 'non-discrimination' - the 'level playing field' and 'national treatment, in WTO parlance (which have been enshrined in enforceable global trade rules). It entails redefining the role of the state, transferring public ownership of assets to private hands, and removing subsidies that protect domestic industries and jobs, all of which are strongly contested. Successfully implementing 'reform' is widely acknowledged to require not only 'reform champions' but also 'ownership', and thus broad acceptance and legitimacy, yet commitments to restructuring are often made by government ministers without reference at all to national parliaments. National economic summits are used to rubber stamp or legitimate policies in a fait accompli. The thesis begins by situating the global regime of structural adjustment within the political context of North-South relations in the 1970s, the debt crisis of the early 1980s, and the collapse of socialist regimes and consequent discrediting of the socialist economic model and other variants of state-led development. It shows the key role of the World Bank in advocating the neoliberal model and setting the development aid agenda, and its abdication of this lead role after 1995 in favour of the World Trade Organisation and its agenda of global trade liberalisation. The thesis then examines the origins, agents and interests behind structural reform in the island states of the Pacific before focusing on how a regional approach to achieving regional wide economic restructuring and trade liberalisation is being taken, using a regional political organisation of Pacific Island states (The Pacific Islands Forum), and regional free trade agreements. It then illustrates the path of economic restructuring embarked on by Fiji following the 1987 coups, examines the implementation of 'economic reform' concurrently with policies to advance the interests of indigenous Fijians, and discusses some of the less acknowledged dimensions of reform.
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    The development impact of workers' remittances in Fiji : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2009) Prakash, Nilesh
    Remittances by international migrants have become an important source of finance for livelihood development amongst the households in Fiji. This is substantiated by the country’s rising migrant stock as a result of unstable political environment and the increasing economic opportunities for skilled manpower. It has been noted that the flow of remittances to Fiji excelled the amount of other capital inflows such as foreign aid and foreign direct investment and have surpassed commodity export earnings in the recent years. This has made remittances the second largest foreign exchange earner in Fiji after tourism. This thesis examines the developmental impact of workers’ remittances in Fiji, particularly its impact on economic growth, financial sector development, welfare development of the recipient households and an examination of the sustainability of remittance flows. Using an extended neoclassical framework, the empirical evidence finds a positive impact of remittances on economic growth and financial sector development. The welfare development hypothesis is tested using the Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES) data. This is analyzed first, by examining the expenditure patterns of the remittance-recipient households, the poverty and inequality effects followed by an assessment of human capital development impact of remittances. The empirical results show that households which receive remittances do not only expend their remittance income on basic consumption but have other substantive uses such as that on education of children, housing and expenditure on durables and nondurables. The poverty and inequality reducing effects of remittances, employ two counterfactual methodologies to estimate first, what the poverty and inequality indicators would be in a scenario where remittances are treated as an exogenous addition to household income. Second, it tests the effect in a scenario without migration and remittances, which treats remittances as a substitute for migrants’ foregone earnings. The results show strong poverty reducing effects of remittances irrespective of the methodology used while the effects on income distribution are not unambiguous. The results obtained for the human capital development analysis indicate the positive role of remittances in providing education opportunities for children in the recipient households. In noting these positive effects of remittances, it must however be acknowledged that the flow of remittances has to be sustainable overtime for households to benefit from human development. From a survey of Fijian-New Zealander migrant households, this study examines the remittance-sustainability debate. The results suggest that a combination of factors such as income of migrants, acquisition of higher education prior to migration and the intention to inherit assets from families in Fiji contribute to continued flow of remittances. These results do not support the hypothesis of remittance decay amongst Fijian migrants in New Zealand but reflect a strong altruistic motive of remittances sent to households in Fiji as insurance against economic shocks. This highlights the importance of development policy in facilitating the flows of migrant remittances for the socio-economic progress of Fiji.
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    Change content and aid effectiveness : how the size of change content affects implementation of technical assistance recommendations in developing Pacific Island countries
    (2008) Cotton, Margaret
    International aid agencies offer development aid with the expectation that developing countries will transform to such an extent that they can look after themselves, yet many countries have not developed as expected. This study identifies how the size of the change content of technical assistance recommendations affects their implementation: Technical assistance recommendations from the Pacific Financial Technical Assistance Centre, Fiji, to developing Pacific Island countries were studied. A content analysis was conducted to assess size using traditional transactional and transformational change definitions, and a survey questionnaire was used to assess size from the perspective of the technical assistance recipients. The content analysis findings suggest the majority of the changes are transactional, whereas, the recipients have rated the majority of the changes as large. The recipient’s perspective of size was most indicative of the likely implementation of the change. Changes rated as ‘small’ by the recipients are almost certain to be implemented whereas changes rated as ‘large’ have only a one-in-three chance of being implemented. If technical assistance recommendations are transactional manageable reforms in the eyes of aid agencies but are not seen the same way by recipients the chances a recommendation will be implemented, and the technical assistance successful, are compromised. The study supports the notion that to be effective technical assistance recommendations need to be seen through the eyes of the recipient.
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    The effect of migration on development in Tuvalu : a case study of PAC migrants and their families : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Philosophy in Development Studies at Massey University, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2009) Simati, Sunema Pie
    International migration and development have been traditionally treated as separate policy portfolios; however, today the two are increasingly viewed as interlinked. While the development status of a country could determine migration flows, migration can, in turn, contribute positively to national development, including economic, social and cultural progress. Consequently, if migration is not well managed, it can pose development challenges to a country’s development and progress. Therefore, partnership through greater networking between countries of origin and destination is needed to fully utilise the development potential of migration. For Tuvalu, migration has remained a vital ingredient for economic development and more importantly, the welfare of its people. The implementation of New Zealand’s Pacific Access Category (PAC) scheme in 2002 offered for the first time a formal migration opportunity for permanent or long-term migration of Tuvaluans. The PAC scheme allows 75 Tuvaluans per year to apply for permanent residence to work and live in New Zealand, provided they meet the scheme’s conditions. The goal of this research is to investigate, more than five years after PAC’s implementation, the ways in which long-term migration of Tuvaluans, through the PAC scheme, has benefited Tuvalu. To give a broader perspective on the issues explored in this study, the views of Tuvaluan leaders, as significant players in traditional Tuvaluan society, are included, in addition to the perspective of migrants’ families in Tuvalu and the migrants themselves in New Zealand. Combining transnationalist and developmental approaches as a theoretical framework, this thesis explores how Tuvalu’s mobile and immobile populations, through articulation of transnationalism, enhance family welfare, and grassroots and national development. The eight weeks’ fieldwork in Tuvalu and Auckland demonstrated that the physical separation of Tuvaluans from one another through migration does not limit the richness of the interactions and connections between them. In fact, the existence of active networking between island community groups and other Tuvaluan associations in Auckland and in Tuvalu strengthens the Tuvaluan culture both abroad and at home, thus ensuring strong family and community coherence. Maintaining transnational networks and practices is identified as of great significance to grassroots and community-based development in Tuvalu. However, the benefits of long-term migration can only be sustained as long as island loyalty, or loto fenua, and family kinship stays intact across borders, and networking amongst families, communities and church remains active.
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    Organic agriculture: an empowering development strategy for small-scale farmers? A Cambodian case study : a thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Philosophy in Development Studies at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2008) Beban, Alice
    This thesis explores claims that organic agriculture may be an empowering development strategy by investigating the impacts of conversion to organic farming systems on the lives of small-scale farmers in Cambodia. The thesis interrogates the diverse uses and abuses of the term =empowerment‘ in development rhetoric and argues for an empowerment model that is derived from farmers‘ self-defined concepts of development. This model was used to conduct a qualitative case study involving semistructured interviews and focus groups with members of organics initiatives in seven diverse Cambodian communities. Results indicate that many farmers in all communities felt that their most important objective was not only to achieve food security, but to be able to grow sufficient rice to feed their family. Farmers joined the organics initiatives primarily to improve their health and reduce the cost of farming inputs. As a result of joining the initiatives, all farmers (including both certified and non-certified organic farmers) felt they had improved their health and food security. Most farmers also increased incomes, created stronger family and community ties and felt they had more control over their livelihoods. These benefits were not, however, distributed equally amongst individuals or communities. Very poor and isolated farmers could not generally access benefits. The three main factors that determined the impact of the organics initiatives on farmer empowerment were identified as: the individual‘s level of resources, the strength of the farmer group, and the policies and values of the supporting organisation. The implications for future initiatives are, firstly, the tremendous potential for farmers and wider rural communities to benefit from organic agriculture as a development strategy. However, this study also shows that if organics is to be viable for low-resource people, it may be necessary to promote both resources and techniques in organics initiatives. Also, a focus on building strong relationships both within the farmers group and linkages with local and wider stakeholders may enhance long-term sustainability of organics initiatives.
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    Agricultural export growth and economic development for Tonga : the quest for efficiency : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Public Policy at Massey University, Albany, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2008) Kautoke-Holani, Alisi Wenonalita
    Neo-liberalism has become the dominant approach to economic development since the 1980s. Based on the economic principle of “efficiency”, the Washington Consensus and its supporters have avidly promoted the neoliberal orthodoxy as the ideal blueprint for the economic development of all countries in every region. However, as this thesis has discovered, the efficiency of public policy is weighed not by its conformity to an ideology but on how effective it responds to the economic and social problems of the population in question. In recent years Tonga has endured severe economic shocks which have pushed its low growth economy to the brink of economic crisis. In response to this crisis, the Government has chosen greater economic liberalisation and private sector – led growth to lead the economy to recovery. The Washington Consensus and its international supporters claim that this is the best policy response for Tonga due to the belief that greater liberalisation leads to greater efficiency. This thesis however believes that at the current dire state of the economy, it is not enough for Tongan public policy to just conform to international views on efficient economic development but to ensure that its economic development policies address the economic and social needs of the general Tongan population. With this in mind, this thesis investigated the role of agriculture in economic development. It identified that for an agriculture-based country such as Tonga, at low levels of growth, agricultural development is fundamental to long term economic growth. This research also revealed that agricultural growth is maximised through trade hence suggesting increased focus on agricultural export development. Based on these findings, this research project set out to verify the efficiency of Government agricultural policies by identifying the views of agricultural exporters and comparing these with Government approaches to agricultural export development in Tonga.