{"id":2421,"date":"2022-12-29T13:11:49","date_gmt":"2022-12-29T13:11:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress.test\/globaldev-2022-our-most-read-articles\/"},"modified":"2023-04-23T11:17:25","modified_gmt":"2023-04-23T11:17:25","slug":"globaldev-2022-our-most-read-articles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globaldev.blog\/globaldev-2022-our-most-read-articles\/","title":{"rendered":"GlobalDev in 2022: Our most read articles"},"content":{"rendered":"
Among the many development challenges discussed on GlobalDev over what is nearly five years of publishing, issues around migration, young people and the role of the private sector have been prominent. This column summarizes the key messages of the most popular pieces of 2022 in the three languages in which our blog operates.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n As 2022 draws to an end, the GlobalDev team has looked back at your favorite articles of the year. Below are the most read articles in English, French and Spanish!<\/p>\n Child marriage in Pakistan: evidence from three development programs<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n This year, our most read article in English shed light on the causes, consequences, and potential ways to tackle child marriage in Pakistan, where, according to a survey conducted in 2017, nearly 40% of women had been married before the age of 18.<\/p>\n Albena Sotirova and her colleagues explain that \u2018although fines and punishments exist, laws on child marriage have little impact as they are not well enforced.\u2019 Social norms, religion but also economic reasons are among the main causes of child marriage in Sindh and Punjab, where it is usually the father and grandfather who arrange marriages.<\/p>\n Although according to the authors\u2019 research, \u2018young people in both Sindh and Punjab speak positively about some aspects of early marriage\u2019, child marriage has been proven to cause mental and physical harm to girls, and also to have negative effects on boys.<\/p>\n Married girls typically become pregnant early, which leads to them dropping out of school. In case they do not conceive early or do not give birth to a son, they also face the risk of being treated harshly by their in-laws, \u2018to the extent of not being allowed to speak in extreme cases.\u2019 In parallel, \u2018young men \u2013 who are seen as responsible for supporting their wives financially \u2013 often struggle to secure a stable income, leading to household poverty and stress. This in turn can increase the chances of domestic violence.\u2019<\/p>\n The authors conclude that child marriage should be addressed through a multi-dimensional approach, seeking not only to help at-risk girls but also to influence social norms as well as leaders and decision-makers responsible for enforcing laws.<\/p>\n Entrepreneurship and development economics: convergence for better policy<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n In 2022, our French-speaking audience was most interested in the role of entrepreneurship in development. In their article, Jolanda Hessels and Wim Naud\u00e9 argue that the persistence of weak entrepreneurship policies might be caused by the fact that \u2018the positive impact of entrepreneurs is overestimated, and their detrimental effect underestimated.\u2019<\/p>\n As they explain, these biases might exist due to the absence of a unified scientific approach that studies the intersection between entrepreneurship economics and development economics. Nonetheless, to determine the impact of entrepreneurship on development, they identify five areas in which the two fields are converging:<\/p>\n They first talk about externalities: \u2018unintended consequences or actions not captured in the market price of the product or service provided.\u2019 They argue that the more externalities an entrepreneur creates the more they drive development.<\/p>\n Second, they explain that the role of entrepreneurs varies across different stages of development. They give the example of Asia, where, in order to catch up with the first industrial revolution in Western Europe, entrepreneurs \u2018identified, copied, and adapted existing technologies.\u2019 Once rapid growth was underway, the most prosperous countries shifted to \u2018innovation at the frontiers of knowledge.\u2019<\/p>\n Third, they talk about the importance of \u2018entrepreneurial ability\u2019 in the transition to an innovation-driven economy.<\/p>\n Fourth, the authors pinpoint the central role of institutions in facilitating development. They give the example of the West in which the growth take-off \u2018was accompanied by facilitating institutions (\u2026) that encouraged and rewarded risk-taking by entrepreneurs.\u2019<\/p>\n Last but not least, \u2018there has been a recognition in entrepreneurship research that development is about more than monetary wealth and that subjective wellbeing matters as well.\u2019<\/p>\n The authors conclude on the importance of these convergences in creating a better environment for start-ups, a more effective allocation of funds, and \u2018better support of the kind of entrepreneurship that generates positive externalities.\u2019<\/p>\n Migration: evidence from Mexico of the effects on sending countries<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n