This paper explores how senior citizens in the far north-eastern Russian city of Magadan have restructured their lives in order to ensure their survival in the face of enduring post-Soviet marginalization. While this is an extreme example of the problems Russia's senior citizens must now face,...

This paper investigates the impact of international trade on manufacturing employment in developing countries, by undertaking a comparative study of four countries—Bangladesh, Kenya, South Africa and Vietnam. It does so by employing a variety of methodological approaches: factor content;...

This paper explores the dilemmas involved in an anthropological examination of both corruption and the international anti-corruption agenda, arguing that the two must be seen as closely related. The dilemma for anthropologists is that in either unpacking the “meaning” of corruption at a...

The process of modernization in China is occurring in a context of rapid population ageing—the reverse of the sequence in the West—and presents serious challenges to the tradition of reliance on family and work unit support. This paper examines the impact of post-Mao economic reform,...

Comparing the Korean labour productivity growth in the last two decades with the Japanese and US labour productivity growth, data confirm a process of catching up in several important manufacturing sectors. The paper investigates its determinants using a non-neoclassical model. Investments in...

It has often been suggested that the trade-off between equity and efficiency can be overcome by achieving both goals sequentially. This article shows how the government of President Lula has tried to follow this rule, by first emphasizing economic orthodoxy, to be followed by measures to achieve...

This paper explores the meaning of “old age” in reform-era Beijing from complementary perspectives. Based on extensive, multi-sited anthropological fieldwork and document analysis, it contrasts the experiences of older people in Beijing with a critical investigation of public debates about...

Many financial crises during the last decade have derived more directly from political than purely economic problems. When democratic institutions, government transparency, regulatory oversight or the rule of law break down, the likelihood that politicians will implement unsustainable economic...

This paper analyses the evolution of reforestation in Brazil and evaluates the federal government's previous programmes to stimulate that activity, focusing on the discontinued Programme of Fiscal Incentives for Afforestation and Reforestation (PIFFR). Despite the great increase in reforested...

In Tanzania, at least two contradictory meanings of participation are circulating amongst development workers. One, concerning “empowerment” and the facilitation of local decision-making, is associated with international development discourse; the other, concerning the obligation of Tanzanian...