John M. Shandra

Ecologically Unequal Exchange, World Polity, and Biodiversity Loss: A Cross-National Analysis of Threatened Mammals

There have been a few cross-national studies published that examine the determinants of threatened mammal species. However, these studies neglect insights from both ecologically unequal exchange theory and world polity theory. We seek to address this gap in the literature using cross-national data for a sample of 74 nations to construct negative binomial regression models with the number of threatened mammal species as the dependent variable. In doing so, we find substantial support for ecologically unequal exchange theory that flows of primary sector exports from poor to rich nations are associated with higher levels of threatened mammals in poor nations. We also find support for world polity theory that environmental non-governmental organizations are associated with lower levels of threatened mammals in poor nations. We conclude with a discussion of the findings, some policy implications, and possible directions for future research.

The World Polity and Deforestation A Quantitative, Cross-National Analysis

Over the past decade, there has been a growth in international organizations concerned with environmental matters. These organizations include international non-governmental organizations (INGOs), inter-governmental organizations (IGOs), and treaties. This article presents cross-national models examining the effects of these variables on deforestation. In doing so, I use data for up to 73 nations to examine the determinants of deforestation from 1990 to 2000. I fi nd substantial support for world polity hypotheses that all these organizations reduce deforestation. I also fi nd support for world system arguments that economic dependency relationships based upon commodity concentration increase deforestation. Finally, I fi nd that economic growth decreases deforestation and population growth increases deforestation. I conclude with some brief policy recommendations and directions for future research.

ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION, ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY, AND OVERURBANIZATION IN THE DEVELOPING WORLD: A QUANTITATIVE, CROSS-NATIONAL ANALYSIS

This is the first quantitative, cross-national study that incorporates predictors designed to test hypotheses linking overurbanization to environmentally induced migration. The study is based on a sample of fifty-eight developing countries using lagged dependent variable panel regression. Our major findings are quite clear with respect to newer ruralpush and urban-pull arguments that developing countries suffering from various forms of environmental degradation are prone to overurbanization. Deforestation exerts a positive and significant effect on overurbanization, whereas environmental sustainability exerts a negative and significant effect on overurbanization. In addition, our results support hypotheses derived from the political modernization perspective that civil society and democratic regimes help to reduce overurbanization, as well as hypotheses suggested by neo-Malthusian theory that high levels of population growth contribute to high levels of overurbanization. We also find support for dependency theory in that transnational economic linkages based on multinational corporations and international lending institutions foster increased overurbanization in the developing world.

Hours of work and the ecological footprint of nations: an exploratory analysis

Concerns over the unsustainability of current social and economic practices persist, despite significant improvements in recent decades in ecological efficiency – i.e. the ability to produce each dollar of economic output with fewer resource inputs and pollution outputs. As increases in production frequently outpace eco-efficiency improvements, the ecological impacts of many nations continue to grow. In light of such trends, eco-efficiency improvements may be inadequate to address ecological challenges unless accompanied by the notion of sufficiency, i.e. moderating the growth of production and consumption. One sufficiency-based option involves a shift in emphasis in the way already-affluent nations benefit from economic progress. Rather than taking advantage of continued labour productivity gains – the ability to produce more in every hour of labour – in the form of more production and material affluence, several writers have called for all or part of these gains to be channelled toward a reduction in hours of work and greater “time affluence”. However, there has not been sufficient empirical study of the connections between hours of work and environmental impacts. Through a cross-national comparison of OECD and other nations using a structural equation model that builds on Dietz and Rosas [1994. Rethinking the environmental impacts of population, affluence, and technology. Human Ecology Review, 1 (2), 277–300.] and York et al.s [2003a. Footprints on the earth: the environmental consequences of modernity. American Sociological Review, 68 (2), 279–300.] STIRPAT design, we find support for the hypothesis that hours of work are positively related to ecological footprint. This finding suggests that socially appealing ways to limit the volume of consumption growth, while creating opportunities for people to live better, may be available to complement the pursuit of eco-efficiency.

World Bank Structural Adjustment, Water, and Sanitation: A Cross-National Analysis of Child Mortality in Sub-Saharan Africa

The authors conduct a cross-national analysis that seeks to accomplish two important goals. First, they test dependency theory’s hypotheses that World Bank structural adjustment adversely affects child mortality in Sub-Saharan Africa. Second, they empirically evaluate the effect of access to clean water and basic sanitation on child mortality. In doing so, they use two-way fixed effects regression models to analyze child mortality using data on 31 nations and four time points (1990, 1995, 2000, and 2005). They find substantial support for their first goal relating to dependency theory that when a Sub-Saharan African nation is under a World Bank structural adjustment loan, then it tends to have higher levels of child mortality. They also find support for their second goal concerning the importance of including environmental variables in cross-national research on health. Specifically, they find that higher levels of access to an improved water source and an improved sanitation facility are associated with lower levels of child mortality within Sub-Saharan African nations. The authors conclude by discussing the findings, theoretical implications, methodological implications, policy suggestions, and possible directions for future research.

Debt, Structural Adjustment, and Organic Water Pollution A Cross-National Analysis

This article presents cross-national models examining the determinants of organic water pollution per capita. The authors use lagged dependent variable panel regression models for a sample of 50 poor nations from 1990 to 2000. They find substantial support for dependency theory that debt, structural adjustment, and industrial exports increase water pollution. The authors also find support for world polity theory that international non-governmental organizations decrease water pollution. They conclude with a brief discussion of the findings, some policy implications, and directions for future research.

Do Non-Governmental Organizations Impact Health?: A Cross-National Analysis of Infant Mortality

According to world polity theory, international health and women’s non-governmental organizations should improve health in poor nations by providing health, reproductive, and educational services. However, there are suggestions that their effectiveness may be limited by a variety of factors. These factors include their projects being small-scale, ad hoc, or reformist. Further, non-governmental organizations may implement projects that satisfy donor interests rather than a local population’s needs. In order to evaluate these claims, we construct cross-national models of infant morality from 1990 to 2005 for a sample of 74 poor nations. Initially, we find no support for world polity theory claims that health and women’s non-governmental organizations decrease infant mortality. However, we re-specify the models to test a ‘political opportunity structure’ hypothesis that democracy enhances the ability of non-governmental organizations to improve health. We do so by including interaction terms between these two variables and find substantial support for this hypothesis. Specifically, the results suggest that health and women’s non-governmental organizations decrease infant mortality in democratic but not repressive nations.

Ecologically Unequal Exchange and Deforestation: A Cross-National Analysis of Forestry Export Flows

The theory of ecologically unequal exchange suggests that rich nations are able to externalize their resource demands and environmental degradation onto the poor nations of the world through the vertical flow of exports. However, there has been no cross-national research that examines if forestry export flows from poor to rich nations is associated with higher rates of deforestation in poor nations. As such, we seek to address this gap in the literature by constructing cross-national regression models of forest loss from 1990 to 2005 for a sample of 60 poor nations. In doing so, we find substantial support for ecologically unequal exchange theory that poor nations with higher levels of forestry export flows to rich nations tend to have higher rates of deforestation.We also find that a number of other factors are related to deforestation. These include international nongovernmental organizations, democracy, total forestry production, total population growth, rural population growth, and tropical climate. We conclude with a discussion of the findings, theoretical implications, methodological implications, policy suggestions, and possible directions for future research.

Global Capitalism and the Flow of Foreign Direct Investment to Non-Core Nations, 1980-1996: A Quantitative, Cross-National Analysis

This paper updates an earlier quantitative cross-national study (London and Ross 1995) by examining a more recent time period and re-specifying the original model in a number of significant ways. These include the incorporation of measures of (a) International Monetary Fund penetration into non-core nations (demonstrating that IMF conditionality increases the flow of FDI), (b) the presence of “attractive investment opportunities” in nations (to incorporate a predictor suggested by neoclassical economic theory), and (c) an interaction term that points to the multiplicative significance of intranational and international factors. Our findings generally confirm those of the earlier study and produce some significant new results.

Environmental Ascription: High-Volume Polluters, Schools, and Human Capital:

Studies of ascription often focus on the relationship between inherited characteristics such as gender, race, or social class and educational inequalities that limit life chances. This project proposes that reduced educational outcomes, and hence ascription, can also emerge from physical/spatial inequalities, specifically, the place where a child attends school. The place where one lives is often not a matter of choice; rather, it is determined by other ascriptive forces such as race and social class—hence making environmental ascription not only a physical dimension of inequality in the direct sense but also another dimension of socially constructed inequality in the indirect sense. The prevalence of toxins near schools and the potential correlation with limited life chances and racial and class characteristics remains an understudied topic in the environmental inequality literature. To explore these connections, the authors mapped the locations of the top 100 polluters of developmental and neurotoxins in the United States and then determined the number of schools within a 2-mile radius, as well as the racial and socioeconomic composition of the areas surrounding each site. Overall, it was found that a significant proportion of the top industrial polluters were located in close proximity to multiple schools and that these schools were more likely to be located in neighborhoods with a disproportionate number of poor, minority residents. Because this exploratory study reveals a pattern of exposure to developmental neurotoxins in precisely those places where educational outcomes are already compromised, it suggests the need for further research specifying the relationship between environmental inequalities and school performance.