This thesis presents three essays, which each address a salient recent pattern in the British labour market. The first essay concerns whether or not men and women experience the business cycle differently, through their labour market outcomes, and why this might be the case. The second essay seeks to explain the cyclical amplification of unemployment duration, in particular the substantial and persistent increase in UK long-term unemployment observed during and since the Great Recession. The final essay studies recent changes in British wage inequality. To shed light on the possible factors driving these changes, it asks simply whether they are mostly determined by increasing or decreasing wage dispersion within or between firms. Gender and the business cycle: an analysis of labour markets in the US and UK Starting from an improved understanding of the relationship between gender labour market stocks and the business cycle, we analyse the contributing role of flows in the US and UK. Focusing on the post-2008 recession period, the subsequent greater rise in male unemployment can mostly be explained by a less cyclical response of flows between employment and unemployment for women, especially the entry into unemployment. Across gender and country, the inactivity rate is generally not sensitive to the state of the economy. However, a flows based analysis reveals a greater importance of the participation margin over the cycle. Changes in the rates of flow between unemployment and inactivity can each account for around 0.8-1.1 percentage points of the rise in US male and female unemployment rates during the latest downturn. For the UK, although the participation flow to unemployment similarly contributed to the increase of the female unemployment rate, this was not the case for men. The countercyclical flow rate from inactivity to employment was also more significant for women, especially in the US, where it accounted for approximately all of the fall in employment, compared with only forty percent for men. Long-term unemployment and the Great Recession: evidence from UK stocks and flows Although modest by historical standards, long-term unemployment nonetheless more than doubled during the UK’s Great Recession. Only a small fraction of this persistent increase can be accounted for by the changing composition of unemployment across personal and work history characteristics. Through extending a well-known stocks-flows decomposition of labour market fluctuations, the cyclical behaviour of participation flows can account for over two-thirds of the high level of long-term unemployment following the financial crisis, especially the procyclical flow from unemployment to inactivity. The pattern of these flows and their changing composition suggest a general shift in the labour force attachment of the unemployed during the downturn. Recent changes in British wage inequality: evidence from firms and occupations Using a linked employer-employee dataset, we study the increasing trend in British wage inequality over the past two decades. The dispersion of wages within firms accounts for the majority of changes to wage variance. Approximately all of the contribution to inequality dynamics from firm-specific factors are absorbed by controlling for the changing occupational content of wages. The modest trend in between-firm wage inequality is explained by a combination of changes in between-occupation inequality and the occupational composition of firms and employment. These results are robust to using weekly, hourly or annual measures of employee pay.

How do homeless people make homes on the street? Over two years of fieldwork in Paris, I observed the daily practices and routines of people who are sleeping rough. How do they earn money through begging? What factors do they consider when finding and making shelters? I followed people through different institutional settings – a homeless day centre, a needle exchange, a centre for people with alcohol problems and ultimately also a homeless shelter – on their way away from the street always documenting the conflicts between their short term – drugs and alcohol – and long term hopes. I observed the ways which they were supported by assistants socials and other institutional actors in their struggle to create spaces of reflective freedom. I argue that their efforts were about home making and as such about making a better life first on and then away from the street.

This study was based on the present writer's perception that inequality in education is a result of people's negative traditional cultural attitudes to girls and women and that, to provide equal opportunities for both girls and boys, there is a need for changes in the primary and secondary school curricula that will alter peoples' attitudes. The thesis of this dissertation is that equal opportunities policies are often based on developed countries' models, recommended for implementation in developing countries' education systems by funding and research bodies. These policies do not take into account the perceptions of the key players in the implementation process and how their perceptions might influence the success or failure of intended measures to provide equal opportunities in education for boys and girls. It is hypothesised that in Uganda, the government has chosen affirmative action policies to reduce gender inequality in education but, from the perceptions of the key players, they have had unexpected consequences which reinforce past patterns of advantage and disadvantage for the targeted group. The advantages and disadvantages are grounded in the contradictory and paradoxical outcomes of internationally and nationally recommended educational policies. This is because policies deal with only one aspect of educational inequality, which is perceived in terms of girls' non-participation in education (access, enrolment and retention). They ignore the attitudinal problem, which is an outcome of the socio-economic, socio-cultural, and school related factors which not only further disadvantage girls but boys as well, thus creating more inequalities. The study focuses upon a cross-section of those who inform and implement policies in the Ministry of Education, those who implement policies at the district and school level and those whom policies target in the classroom. The data, which is selectively quoted in the study, was derived from standardised open-ended elite and group interviews. Key players' perceptions, which impact on the provision of equal opportunities in education, are discussed in relation to international and national policies in education. Particular attention is paid in the study to understanding key players' perceptions of the meaning of equal opportunities in education. This was considered as central to the successful implementation of equal opportunities measures in a way that will not disadvantage any group. It soon became clear from the perceptions on equal opportunities held by key policy makers and implementers in the Ministry of Education and at the district levels, that the problem was not changing attitudes, but increasing access, enrolment and retention for girls within the system of education. At the school level, the problem involved increasing: enrolment; retention; academic competition between boys and girls; participation of girls in school leadership; interaction; and strategies to reduce discrimination practices between boys and girls by their teachers. These perceptions were reflected in individual schools. Implications for theory and practice of equal opportunities in education are drawn from findings from the study.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / Decentralisation has been considered by many as one of the most important strategies in public sector reform in several of the developing countries. Both donors and governments have regarded decentralisation as a tool for national development through the realisation of the objectives of enhancing popular participation in development and the management of development at the regional or local level. Countries are expected to reap the benefits of decentralisation through improved service delivery, namely, through bringing service delivery closer to the consumers, improving the responsiveness of the central government to public demands and,thereby,reducing poverty and inequalities, improving the efficiency and quality of the public services and empowering lower levels of government to feel more involved and in control. However, decentralisation also has the potential to widen the gap in fiscal resources at the sub-national leveland this may, in turn, result in inequities in service delivery tocitizens of the same countryanddepending on where they live. Over the years Ghana has experimented with amix of decentralisation reforms with the current policy integrating elements of political, administrative and economic decentralisation. The current system of local government in Ghana is based on a decentralisation programme that was launched in 1988 with the introduction of district assemblies (DAs) by the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) government. Nevertheless, years after the launch of the decentralisation process there are still significant disparities and inequities between districts and regions in Ghana as regards health variables. This study set out to investigate the link between decentralisation and health inequities by exploring the spatial dimensions of health equities in Ghana. The thesis used a concurrent mixed method approach by combining a quantitative inequality indices analysis and a qualitative analysis of interviews with policy makers in both the health sector and the decentralised system. The analysis used household level data from the Ghana Demographic and Health Survey 2003 and 2008 to construct inequality curves and indices in order to illustrate the existing inequities across and within regions in Ghana after an increase in the intensity of decentralisation. The study then decomposed the indices to determine the extent to which these inequities were accounted for by variations both within the regions and between the regions. The thesis also used available data from the common fund records of district assemblies to assess the level of inequities in selected health resources across districts. The thesis then investigated the micro-foundations of health decentralisation using the qualitative and quantitative descriptive analyses. The analysis conducted revealed that inequities in maternal health utilisation decreased between 2003 and 2008‒the two data points used based on theresearch design. However,these inequities were attributed primarily to within region inequities as the level of between regions inequities was significantly lower for both the concentration index and the Theil’s index. However, although, at the regional level the general trend revealed that inequities had also decreasedbetween 2003 and 2008, some individual region s had recorded increases. The concentration index, which provided information on the gradient of the inequities, revealed that the health inequities in Ghana‒the total health inequities and also for both years between and within regions‒were pro rich. In the instances of the regional inequities these inequities generally manifested a pro rich nature, with the exception of the Upper East region which had showed pro poor inequities in 2008. The analysis of the district level inequities in selected health resources and as regards health facilities, doctors and nurses indicated that the distribution of these facilities favoured the richer districts as the inequities revealed a pro rich gradient. The inequities in the health facilities at the district level were highest in respect of the nurses, followed by doctors and health facilities with scores of 0.32, 0.29 and 0.084 respectively. The analysis of the qualitative data corroborated the results of the quantitative analysis as it emerged that policy makers at all levels believed that, over the years since the decentralisation, inequities had reduced, albeit marginally. The policy makers highlighted the high levels of the inequities in health resources,especially human resources,as a major area of concern. However, they also raised major concerns regarding inequities within regions, arguing that a number of factors, includingthe nature of the decentralisation regime in Ghana, the variations in the economic strength of districts and certain political factors,continued to cause inequities within the decentralised system. They argued that these factors impacted on the ability of both districts and regions to address inequities at a local level. In addition, they also pointed to the need to re-examine the definition of inequities in the Ghana health sector, inequities which result from focusing the attention on a number of regions and areas to the detriment of others.

In late 1999, the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) jointly launched the Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS) Initiative, under which low income countries (LICs) would be supported to develop multi-sectoral economic and social development plans. As such, these national PRSs would serve as the effective policy conditionality for concessional lending and the allocation of debt relief. Heralded by many as path breaking, the Initiative refocused attention on the role of the State and identified poverty reduction, as opposed to growth alone, as the primary goal of policy. However, from the outset, PRSs have been controversial. The most trenchant critics have described these plans as merely re-formulated structural adjustment packages. Other, more considered accounts, have questioned whether PRSs’ are capable of overcoming the agency problems inherent to donor-recipient relationships, and their ability to succeed in the weak policy environment typified by most LICs.In spite of the passage of some ten years, a rigorous evaluation of performance has yet to be published. This thesis aims to provide such an appraisal drawing on both quantitative and qualitative evidence. It employs cross-sectional statistical and econometric methods to examine poverty, growth and inequality outcomes based on a specially constructed dataset; and two detailed analytical case studies (for Mongolia and Vietnam) to probe the causal processes.Although some aggregate evidence is found of performance gains (relating to both poverty reduction and growth), these effects are partial and statistically fragile. Moreover, while no direct evidence is found of dis-inflationary policy biases, it is possible to detect a new narrowness within PRS policymaking. This reflects an orthodox policy consensus which favours growth over distributional improvements and places emphasis on a managed liberalization process. Additionally, it proved very difficult to find a causal link been PRS adoption and beneficial outcomes. The case study materials underline the pivotal role played by the IFIs in the design and management of PRSs, and their transitory and limited impact on actual national policy responses. Conclusions support many of the propositions put by the critical literature, and find that PRSs are poorly adapted to local institutional frameworks and neglect national political economies. As a result, their substance and longer term effectiveness is in doubt.

This study focuses on Zimbabwe's first hyperinflation which began in March 2007 and peaked at 231 million percent in July 2008. Through a comparative pre-post analysis, the study investigates hyperinflation's effects on the well-being of households, its empirical chapters assessing changes in asset poverty, asset inequality and child malnutrition before and after the hyperinflation. The first empirical chapter assesses the shifts in asset poverty. Household holdings of physical assets and recorded access to public utilities are drawn from the 1994, 1999, 2005 (prehyperinflation) and the 2010 and 2015 (post-hyperinflation) Zimbabwe Demographic and Health Survey datasets. These are used to construct an asset index, with the 20th and 40th percentiles as relative poverty lines. Asset-derived poverty headcount and poverty gaps are measured and compared across the two periods. The national asset poverty headcount ratio decreased by 27 percent largely driven by of the experience of rural households whose asset poverty headcount fell by 31 percent. In contrast urban households experienced a 51 percent increase in asset poverty in this period. The second empirical chapter assesses the shifts in asset inequality during the hyperinflation. Rather than focus on income inequality, it continues using asset holdings and constructs pre- and post-hyperinflation asset Gini coefficients for urban and rural households. These show decreased asset inequality during the hyperinflationary period. At a national level, inequality decreased by 7 percent and in rural areas by 2 percent. The decrease in inequality on a national level was mainly attributable to the increase in private assets among rural households. However, there was a 2 percent increase in inequality among urban households, largely attributable to ownership of private assets. Land and livestock were the main drivers of inequality. The final empirical chapter focuses on the changes in child nutrition during the hyperinflation, and the factors contributing to these changes amongst children under the age of 5. Using Mosley and Chen's (1984) proximate determinants analytic framework, multivariate Logistic regression analyses revealed that wasting and stunting increased with inflation. Other related factors were poor access to electricity, safe drinking water, improved toilets and healthcare, as well as low levels of mother's education and asset wealth.

What economic factors prevent democratic breakdowns? Since the beginning of the 20th century, more than a hundred countries in the world have transformed their political regime types into democracies. However, not every transition to democracy continued without interruption. Even though some democracies continued without any breaks, some others relapsed into authoritarian regimes via military coups. The consensus in the literature is that wealthy countries are less likely to experience democratic breakdowns. I argue that wealth alone is not enough to increase the duration of democracies. Using quantitative cross-national survival analysis, I show that temporal and international context change the impact of wealth on democratic survival. In addition, I investigate whether democratic survival is more likely in countries where national income is evenly distributed.

This dissertation focuses on exploring boys’ perspectives of masculinity and gender inequality before and after participating in the Hero Empathy Bystander Programme for Boys. The purpose of this research was to explore the impact of this programme in facilitating a change in boys’ perspectives of masculinity, attitudes to gender inequality and views on gender-based violence. The researcher conducted a qualitative study and used the social learning theoretical framework to gain insight into the boys’ perceptions as revealed in the focus-group discussions held with them before and after the intervention. Through thematic analysis the researcher was able to identify boys’ perspectives of masculinity, attitudes to gender inequality and views on gender-based violence before the intervention and change in these perceptions after the intervention. This research formed part of a larger study. The intervention was implemented in 2018 by Action Breaks Silence, a non-profit organisation. Participants in the intervention were Grade 5 boys from ten different primary schools in Soweto and Atteridgeville, South Africa. A research team from the University of Pretoria held focus-group discussions with ten of the Grade 5 boys in each school that participated in the intervention. The researcher of the present study analysed the focus group data collected before and after the intervention using the thematic analysis method in order to explore, identify and report on emerging patterns (themes). The results revealed that the boys’ communities, families and peers had influenced the development of their perceptions of masculinity, attitudes to gender inequality and views on gender-based violence. Further, the data obtained from the discussions held before the intervention indicated that the boys perceived themselves in a superior position, and having the power to impose their views on girls and demand obedience and compliance from women. After participation in the intervention, a noticeable shift was observed in their perceptions of gender roles and gender stereotypes and the inappropriateness of violence and aggression towards girls. Some behaviour change was noted in how boys related to girls. However, this change brought challenges; because they deviated from the traditional group norm of masculinity, their peer groups viewed them as outsiders. / Mini Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2020. / HWSETA Postgraduate Bursary / Psychology / MA / Unrestricted

Land and land reform have long been contentious and highly charged topics in South Africa, with land performing the dual functions of redress for the past and development for the future. This research explores both these aspects of land, with the focus being on the impact of land receipt on household welfare and food insecurity, and social preferences for fairness and redistribution more generally. One of the main aims is to contribute to the land reform debate by providing previously-lacking quantitative evidence on the aggregate welfare outcomes of land redistribution, as well as the extent of social preferences for redistribution in the land restitution framework. In exploring these issues, the welfare outcomes of land are first explored using the National Income Dynamics Study (NIDS) data and unconditional quantile regression analysis. The focus is then narrowed to the food insecurity impact of land receipt, beginning with a methodological chapter outlining the development of a new food insecurity index applying the Alkire-Foster method of multidimensional poverty measurement (2009; 2011). This is followed by the presentation and discussion of food insecurity profiles of land beneficiary and non-beneficiary households. The new index is also used as an outcome measure in exploring the determinants of household food insecurity. These two sections again use the NIDS data. The final section shifts the emphasis from the economic welfare benefits of land redistribution to notions of fairness and social justice encapsulated by land restitution. A behavioural laboratory experiment is used to investigate social preferences for fairness, and the factors that influence redistributive inclinations, by exploring the relative weights placed on fairness considerations and self-interest, as well as the fairness ideal. The findings indicate that beneficiaries do not use the land received for productive purposes, a possible explanation for the limited economic welfare impacts of land reform that are observed. Despite this limited developmental impact, the laboratory experiment makes it clear that land reform plays an important role in addressing other needs and wants in society, particularly in respect of preferences for fairness and addressing historical injustices.

South Africa is food secure at the national level; however widespread food insecurity persists at the household level. To understand the dynamics of micro-level food insecurity this dissertation investigates how two different aspects of 'food access' - diet quality and diet quantity - affect two outcomes of 'food utilisation' - hunger and nutrition. Diet quantity is captured by food expenditure in Wave 1 of the National Income Dynamics Study (NIDS). To capture diet quality I use dietary diversity, which is not directly available in NIDS. I build and test a food group dietary diversity score and a food variety dietary diversity score using NIDS Wave 1. Both dietary diversity indicators are found to usefully summarise information about food security in South Africa by using methods found in the dietary diversity literature. The dissertation then turns to testing whether the theoretical differences between diet quality and quantity play out empirically in the case of nutrition (adult BMI) and hunger (self-reported household hunger). The results reveal that food variety and food quantity are complementary in explaining the chance of household hunger, with food quantity having a slightly more important effect. The pathways to BMI differ by gender. Dietary diversity and food expenditure are substitutes in the case of male BMI; however, food variety and food expenditure are complementary to explaining female BMI when food expenditure enters into the model as a quadratic. Overall, food variety proved to be a stronger and more significant correlate of both outcomes than the food group dietary diversity score.