The Brazilian Amazon is being affected by the new worldwide geopolitical transformation that is tending towards an integrated global economy. In the region environmental considerations have not been adequately incorporated into long-term land use planning and this failure has partly been due to the complexities of the country's existing inter-sectorial institutional arrangements. In this paper, we briefly explore two distinct economic development phases that have been reshaping Amazonian landscapes since the 1990s.
Elsevier, Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, Volume 26-27, 1 June 2017
Accountability and adaptive management of recent global agreements such as the Sustainable Development Goals and Paris Climate Agreement, will in part rely on the ability to track progress toward the social and environmental targets they set. Current metrics and monitoring systems, however, are not yet up to the task. We argue that there is an imperative to consider principles of coherence (what to measure), standardization (how to measure) and decision-relevance (why to measure) when designing monitoring schemes if they are to be practical and useful.
Elsevier, Research Policy, Volume 46, 1 June 2017
The paper contributes to the literature on gender gap in research investigating whether there is a gender gap in research evaluation. We use detailed data on 180,000 research papers evaluated during the Italian national research assessment (VQR 2004–2010) conducted by the Agency for the Evaluation of Universities and Research Institutes (Anvur). The data are merged with information on individual researchers and characteristics of referees. The most important empirical finding is that there is a significant gender gap in research evaluation.
Elsevier, The Lancet Oncology, Volume 18, June 2017
Background Cancer is a major cause of death in children worldwide, and the recorded incidence tends to increase with time. Internationally comparable data on childhood cancer incidence in the past two decades are scarce. This study aimed to provide internationally comparable local data on the incidence of childhood cancer to promote research of causes and implementation of childhood cancer control.
Elsevier, World Development, Volume 94, 1 June 2017
Existing evidence on the impacts of parental education on child nutrition is plagued by both internal and external validity concerns. In this paper we try to address these concerns through a novel econometric analysis of 376,992 preschool children from 56 developing countries. We compare a naïve least square model to specifications that include cluster fixed effects and cohort-based educational rankings to reduce biases from omitted variables before gauging sensitivity to sub-samples and exploring potential explanations of education-nutrition linkages.
Elsevier, Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, Volume 26-27, 1 June 2017
The 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations present a novel approach to global governance where goal-setting features as a key strategy. ‘Governance through goals’, as exemplified by the SDGs, is new and unique for a number of characteristics such as the inclusive goal-setting process, the non-binding nature of the goals, the reliance on weak institutional arrangements, and the extensive leeway that states enjoy.
Elsevier, NJAS - Wageningen Journal of Life Sciences, Volume 81, June 2017
Approaches to food security primarily focus on technological solutions, seeking to produce more food, preferably with fewer resources. It has been argued that access to food involves issues of resource distribution and social marginalization. Governance is seen as one of the keys to redressing the institutional inequity that affects resource distribution. Rural women's empowerment is seen as a means to reduce social marginalization and to hasten progress towards hunger eradication and gender equitable institutions.
Elsevier, Psychiatric Clinics of North America, Volume 40, June 2017
Although sexual minority women (SMW) and transgender women have become increasingly visible in recent years and have made progress in achieving civil rights, they continue to face significant levels of discrimination, stigma, and physical violence. As a result, each group faces a wide variety of health disparities, including mental illness and substance use disorders. Overall, both SMW and transgender women experience higher rates of mood and anxiety disorders, suicidality, and substance use disorders than their heterosexual and cisgender counterparts.
Elsevier, Research in Economics, Volume 71, June 2017
The study presents comparative global evidence on the transformation of economic growth to poverty reduction in developing countries, with emphasis on the role of income inequality. The focus is on the period since the early-mid-1990s when growth in these countries as a group has been relatively strong, surpassing that of the advanced economies. Both regional and country-specific data are analyzed for the $1.25 and $2.50-level poverty headcount ratios using World Bank Povcalnet data.
Elsevier, NJAS - Wageningen Journal of Life Sciences, Volume 81, June 2017
Approaches to food security primarily focus on technological solutions, seeking to produce more food, preferably with fewer resources. It has been argued that access to food involves issues of resource distribution and social marginalization. Governance is seen as one of the keys to redressing the institutional inequity that affects resource distribution. Rural women's empowerment is seen as a means to reduce social marginalization and to hasten progress towards hunger eradication and gender equitable institutions.
