This dissertation analyses the consequences of seemingly placeless processes like the European integration and the increasing economic globalisation on Brussels and the people living there. The study shows that Brussels has become one of our time's most important international political capitals and a leading business node in Europe. European institutions, international organisations, headquarters and subsidiaries of transnational corporations are increasingly locating themselves in Brussels. Simultaneously there has been an influx of transnational professionals working in the international sector. This research shows that with the internationalisation of Brussels there has been concomitant economic restructuring with the emergence of an advanced service economy. The labour market has become polarised between those who have jobs and those who do not. Brussels has also experienced a spatial and socio-economic polarisation along ethnic lines. The thesis explores the connections between these changes and Brussels' international role. Drawing on the world / global city thesis of Saskia Sassen and John Friedmann, a theoretical framework is developed to analyse this. One of the important results of this study is that the world / global city thesis needs to be complemented with a thorough analysis of the place: the political and historical context, and also the role of the local agents, to enable an explanation of the observed development. The interplay between global and local processes needs to be clarified. It is also argued that to properly understand cities with an international role like Brussels, we need to know why international agents locate there. Michael Storper's concepts of 'economic reflexivity' and 'territorial specificities' are used to analyse the rise of Brussels into a reflexive world city - a city vibrating with specific knowledge, produced through inter alia social interaction and critical reflection, that some transnational agents find extremely vital to tap into.

In this dissertation the question of why people want to stay in the county-side has been analysed from an economic-historic perspective. The specific research question has been: Using which formal economic means of sustenance could those who remained in Ängersjö parish ensure their survival in the years 1950 to 1990? A number of different types of sources have been used, including income tax registers, data on migration, agricultural statistics, parish registers, interviews, and printed public statistics. The population of Ängersjö parish decreased through the entire period of investigation. In the early 1950s the population pyramid in Ängersjö resembled Sweden’s quite considerably. After this point, the tendencies towards depopulation grew stronger. By the early 1990s, the population had returned to the levels of the early 1800s, i.e. before the forest became valuable. This time, however, the proportion of older inhabitants was much larger. Most of the remaining households supported themselves through wage labour in the forestry sector, which essentially was a male preoccupation. At the margin, supplementary incomes, such as the renting of cottages and capital revenues, could add to household earnings, and contributions by women probably played an important part in that context. In addition, informal economic activities, such as berry-picking and the exchange of labour, could expand the means of support by a maximum of 20 percent. In spite of all these efforts, most of the remaining households earned less than an average Swedish industrial worker. The income differences could to some degree be compensated by lower housing and living costs, but many households probably enjoyed a lower material standard of living. Demonstrably, most of the remaining inhabitants of Ängersjö were willing to pay the economic price associated with the “feelings of freedom” or the upkeep of their ancestral home of which many inhabitants spoke. / Flexibilitet som tradition

Contesting international strategies for combatting child labour that derive from modern, Western conceptions of childhood, several developing country organizations have embraced the principle of child protagonism by declaring that working children can become the leading agents in struggles to advance their interests when they are mentored in forming their own independent organizations. This thesis first explores how an African NGO, informed by its urban animation experiences, developed its own specific discourse of child protagonism and employed it as the basis for establishing an African working children’s organization designed to provide compensatory literacy and skills training and to empower members to improve their own and other children’s working conditions. The thesis considers this foundational child protagonism discourse in light of data collected in Senegal by means of participant observation and interviews in grassroots groups and associations of working children, as well as in the offices of both the local NGO and its international NGO donor. Fieldwork revealed limitations of the specific child protagonism practice pursued over the past two decades. Specifically, redirecting resources from direct pedagogical accompaniment of grassroots working child groups towards bureaucratic capacity building for the “autonomization” of higher hierarchical levels of the organization, as well as towards international meetings, has resulted in the organization’s diminished impact for vulnerable groups in Dakar, particularly migrant girl domestic workers. Deepening implication with international donors has forced shifts in the priorities of the local NGO and the working children’s organization it facilitates, yet the two have been largely successful in buffering donor probes precisely into the ground level effectiveness of their child protagonism strategy. No previous independent research has sought to confront the discourse of child protagonism with a comprehensive examination of a working children’s organization’s practice, from its most local processes to its international dimensions and donor relations.

Through the broader contextualization of ethnographic fieldwork in Havana’s newly reformed housing market, this study theorizes the Cuban late socialist condition through a lens of utopian ideological conflict. A popular narrative of free market utopia has emerged in the face of the state’s recalcitrant ideology of state socialism. The popular narrative is reproduced through growth in the informal economy, while the socialist utopian narrative is maintained by the ubiquity of its bureaucratic apparatus. Inspired by postmodern theorist Jean Baudrillard’s Simulacra and Simulation (1994), this thesis theorizes the Cuban state narrative as an ideological simulation, supported only through its strongest simulacrum – the government bureaucracy. Previous work on Cuba has cited the importance of access to government-purchased goods to fuel the informal economy and individual wealth accumulation. This study highlights the reproduction of a narrative of free market utopia in the desire for access to transactions as intermediaries, particularly as the deals increase in hard currency value. The passage of Decreto-Ley Number 288, which authorized the buying and selling of homes has served to rapidly capitalize the market and encourage further development of an informal network of brokers. Greater economic hybridization in the housing sector, among others, is gradually eroding the totalizing nature of the state’s socialist utopia. / text

The objective of the study is to identify how micro-enterprises can be integrated into local value chains by using the so-called "value chain approach". The "value chain approach" has become a relatively popular approach among donor agencies and NGOs engaged in Private Sector Development in recent years, being based on insights from studies on global value chains. The study includes investigation into the following points: 1) Which business linkages exist among micro-enterprises and with enterprises of different sizes and sectors, and how are they related to the upgrading process of micro-enterprises? 2) What influence does the legal status of micro-enterprises have on the development of business linkages and on the upgrading process? 3) How can the development of business linkages and the upgrading process (and, therefore, the integration into value chains) be supported and enhanced within the framework of PSD? The empirical study was conducted in Uganda. It includes a combination of qualitative and quantitative approaches: (1) a questionnaire-based survey among micro-entrepreneurs, and (2) expert or key informant interviews, using a semi-structured interview guideline. The study provides an assessment of the relevance and applicability of the "value chain approach" to micro-enterprises and local value chains in the context of a developing country characterised by low levels of industrialisation, as well as policy recommendations for practitioners (from public and private sectors, as well as donor community, NGOs and civil society). Furthermore, the study highlights the importance of the issue of informality of micro- and small-scale enterprises. (author's abstract)

Contesting international strategies for combatting child labour that derive from modern, Western conceptions of childhood, several developing country organizations have embraced the principle of child protagonism by declaring that working children can become the leading agents in struggles to advance their interests when they are mentored in forming their own independent organizations. This thesis first explores how an African NGO, informed by its urban animation experiences, developed its own specific discourse of child protagonism and employed it as the basis for establishing an African working children’s organization designed to provide compensatory literacy and skills training and to empower members to improve their own and other children’s working conditions. The thesis considers this foundational child protagonism discourse in light of data collected in Senegal by means of participant observation and interviews in grassroots groups and associations of working children, as well as in the offices of both the local NGO and its international NGO donor. Fieldwork revealed limitations of the specific child protagonism practice pursued over the past two decades. Specifically, redirecting resources from direct pedagogical accompaniment of grassroots working child groups towards bureaucratic capacity building for the “autonomization” of higher hierarchical levels of the organization, as well as towards international meetings, has resulted in the organization’s diminished impact for vulnerable groups in Dakar, particularly migrant girl domestic workers. Deepening implication with international donors has forced shifts in the priorities of the local NGO and the working children’s organization it facilitates, yet the two have been largely successful in buffering donor probes precisely into the ground level effectiveness of their child protagonism strategy. No previous independent research has sought to confront the discourse of child protagonism with a comprehensive examination of a working children’s organization’s practice, from its most local processes to its international dimensions and donor relations.

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2011. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The constitution of the Republic of South Africa (1996) states that local governments are responsible for the creation of a socioeconomic environment that enables citizens to make a living for themselves. It is on the grounds of this responsibility that the study is based on the relationship between street traders and the City of Cape Town within the Cape Town CBD. This relationship is investigated with the aim of assessing what the nature of the relationship is between street traders and the City of Cape Town. A survey was conducted wherein 71 street traders were interviewed and to complement the survey interviews were conducted with individuals from local government and the private sector who deal with street traders on a daily basis. The survey results indicated that there is a positive relationship between traders and the City of Cape Town, but that local government does not live up to expectation when it comes to the facilitation of informal business development. At the hand off these findings; policy interventions are put forth that would lead to the creation of a facilitative relationship between the City of Cape Town and street traders. Proposed policy interventions are focussed on the improvement of channels of communication between street traders and local government. The proposed policy framework places emphasis on the active participation of local government in the formalisation process of informal traders. The study concludes by proposing policy intervention that would promote a facilitative relationship between street traders and local government and contribute to a sustainable street trading economy in Cape Town. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die grondwet van die Republiek van Suid Afrika (1996) daag elke plaaslike owerheid uit met die taak om ’n sosio-ekonomiese omgewing te skep wat dit vir landsburgers moontlik maak om ’n bestaan te kan maak. Dit is op grond van hierdie verantwoordelikheid dat die studie gebaseer is op die verhouding tussen straathandelaars, binne die sentrale sake kern, en Kaapstad se plaaslike owerheid. Die verhouding tussen straathandelaars en die Stad Kaapstad is ondersoek met die doel om die aard van die verhouding te omskryf. ’n Vraelys is uitgedeel aan 71 straathandelaars en om die opname te komplementeer is onderhoude gevoer met individue van beide die openbare en privaat sektor wat saam met straathandelaars werk op ’n daaglikse basis. Die resultate van die vraelys het gewys op die positiewe verhouding tussen handelaars en die Stad Kaapstad, alhoewel dit aan die lig gekom het dat plaaslike owerhede nie voldoen aan verwagtinge ten opsigte van die fasilitering van informele besigheidsontwikkeling nie. Beleidsmaatreëls wat ’n fasiliterende verhouding sou bewerkstellig; sowel as ’n beleidsraamwerk word voorgestel aan die hand van die bevindinge van die opname. Die voorstelle is grootliks gegrond op die verbetering van kommunikasie tussen die plaaslike owerhede en straathandelaars sowel as die aktiewe deelname van die plaaslike owerheid in die formaliseringsproses van informele handelaars. Deur die implementering van die voorgestelde beleidsmaatreëls is die studie van mening dat ’n fasiliterende verhouding tussen straathandelaars en plaaslike owerhede gevestig kan word met die doel om ’n bydra te maak tot ’n volhoubare straathandel-ekonomie in Kaapstad.

Contesting international strategies for combatting child labour that derive from modern, Western conceptions of childhood, several developing country organizations have embraced the principle of child protagonism by declaring that working children can become the leading agents in struggles to advance their interests when they are mentored in forming their own independent organizations. This thesis first explores how an African NGO, informed by its urban animation experiences, developed its own specific discourse of child protagonism and employed it as the basis for establishing an African working children’s organization designed to provide compensatory literacy and skills training and to empower members to improve their own and other children’s working conditions. The thesis considers this foundational child protagonism discourse in light of data collected in Senegal by means of participant observation and interviews in grassroots groups and associations of working children, as well as in the offices of both the local NGO and its international NGO donor. Fieldwork revealed limitations of the specific child protagonism practice pursued over the past two decades. Specifically, redirecting resources from direct pedagogical accompaniment of grassroots working child groups towards bureaucratic capacity building for the “autonomization” of higher hierarchical levels of the organization, as well as towards international meetings, has resulted in the organization’s diminished impact for vulnerable groups in Dakar, particularly migrant girl domestic workers. Deepening implication with international donors has forced shifts in the priorities of the local NGO and the working children’s organization it facilitates, yet the two have been largely successful in buffering donor probes precisely into the ground level effectiveness of their child protagonism strategy. No previous independent research has sought to confront the discourse of child protagonism with a comprehensive examination of a working children’s organization’s practice, from its most local processes to its international dimensions and donor relations.

This thesis examines the development of the micro-insurance sector in less developed countries, using the theoretical approach of new institutional economics. The main research questions are whether it is the insufficient compatibility between formal and informal institutions that hinders the development of micro-insurance below what had been widely predicted by the academic community? And what has to be done institutionally to make this industry an active contributor to economic growth? To investigate these questions, three distinct empirical studies, of which one is based on field work data generated for the thesis specifically, were carried out using a Probit model, a system of Generalized Method of Movements model, and a Vector Error Correction model. The hypotheses tests suggest that (i) the relevant informal institutions have a significant influence on the decision of individuals to enrol into micro-insurance product in Nigeria; (ii) by controlling for institutional quality, a positive development of the institution of micro-insurance contributes to reducing the size of the informal economy in Nigeria and other less developed countries); and (iii) that micro-insurance has both short and long term positive impacts on the economic growth in Nigeria.:Table of contents Versicherungen 2 Table of contents 3 List of tables 8 List of figures 9 list of Appendices 11 List of Abbreviations 12 Acknowledgement 15 Abstract 17 Chapter 1 19 1. Overview of the study 19 1.1 Introduction 19 1.2 Aims and objectives 23 1.3 Structure of the Thesis 23 1.4 reference 26 Chapter 2 29 2. Theories and concepts of (micro) insurance 29 2.1 The poor and risk 29 2.2 The theoretical framework of insurance 36 2.3 The meaning of micro-insurance 40 2.4 The two faces of micro-insurance 42 2.5 Micro-insurance and traditional insurance 44 2.6 Demand and supply of micro-insurance 48 2.7 Micro-insurance supply chain 53 2.8 Reference 59 Chapter 3 65 3. New institutional economy 65 3.1 Introduction 65 3.2 Institution 65 3.3 Institution and organization 67 3.4 Neoclassical Approach 68 3.5 Institutional economic approach 70 3.6 New institutional economics 72 3.6.1 Property right 73 3.6.2 Transaction costs 76 3.6.3 Agency theory 78 3.7 New institutional economics and insurance 79 3.8 Conclusion 84 3.9 Reference 86 Chapter 4 90 4. Methodology 90 4.1 Introduction 90 4.3 Mixed-research strategy 92 4.3.1 Qualitative research 92 4.3.2 Quantitative research 93 4.4 The research method 95 4.4.1 Data collection 96 4.4.2 The sampling framework 96 4.4.3 Sample size and sampling technique 97 4.4.4 Questionnaire design 98 4.5 Instrument validity and reliability 98 4.5.1 Pre-testing of the instruments 100 4.6 Analytical approaches 100 4.7 Reference 102 Chapter 5 105 5. Nigeria and the development of micro-insurance industry 105 5.1 Introduction 105 5.2 Broad country context 106 5.3 Insurance Sector 109 5.4 Segments of the Nigerian insurance industry 110 5.4.1 Non-life insurance 112 5.5 Regulatory Landscape 115 5.5.1 Market development and restructuring initiative (MDRI): 117 5.6 Nigerian Insurance industry vs Global peers 118 5.7 Problems of the insurance industry in Nigeria 120 5.8 Micro-insurance in Nigeria 123 5.9 Reason to be optimistic 125 5.10 Distribution Channel of Micro-Insurance 127 5.11 Conclusion 129 5.12 Reference 130 Chapter 6 133 6. The effect of Societal norms on the likelihood of individuals to enrol in different forms of Micro-insurance products 133 6.1 Introduction 133 6.2 Institution, Values and Norms 134 6.3 Methods and variables 137 6.3.1 Dependent Variable: Micro-insurance enrolment 137 6.3.2 Independent variables 138 6.4 Justification for control variables 144 6.4.1 Formal institutional variables 144 6.4.2. Personal Characteristics 145 6.5 Model estimation 149 6.6 Result, analysis and discussion of findings 151 6.6.1 Presentation of the result 151 6.6.2 Analysis of the impact of values and norms 152 6.6.3 Analysis of the impact of formal institutions 156 6.6.4 Analysis of the impact of personal characteristics 158 6.7 Robustness of the Result 161 6.8 Conclusion 162 6.9 Reference 164 6.10 Appendix 171 Chapter 7 179 7. The Role of Institutions in the relationship between micro-insurance development and Size of the Informal economy in Sub-Saharan Africa 179 7.1 Introduction 179 7.2 A theoretical review of Informal economy 183 7.3 Theoretical and conceptual review 186 7.4 Data 186 7.5 Descriptive statistics 194 7.6 Model specification and estimation strategy 197 7.7 Empirical Results 200 7.8 Estimation and interpretation of system GMM 202 7.9 Robustness Checks 205 7.10 Conclusion 207 7.11 Reference 208 7.12 Appendix 213 Chapter 8 221 8. How does micro-insurance impact the economic growth of Nigeria? 221 8.1 Introduction 221 8.2 The conceptual and theoretical framework 224 8.3 Literature review 225 8.4 Theoretical model and empirical analysis 228 8.5 Empirical result and findings 229 8.5.1 Descriptive statistics 229 8.5.2 Stationarity test 230 8.5.3 Co-integration test 233 8.5.4 Vector error correction model (VECM) 235 8.6 Diagnostic test on VEC Model (robustness of the model) 237 8.7 Conclusion and recommendation 238 8.8 Reference 241 8.9 Appendix 246 Chapter 9 250 9. The conclusion and policy recommendations 250 9.1 Introduction 250 9.2 Summary of the study 250 9.3 Research conclusions and implications 252 9.4 Contributions of the research 254 9.5 Research limitations 256 9.6 Direction for future research 257 9.7 reference 259

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