Mani Nepal

Opportunity, Democracy, and the Exchange of Political Violence: A Subnational Analysis of Conflict in Nepal

With more than 12,000 deaths in nine years, a homegrown Maoist insurgency, reinforced by ethnic and socioeconomic cleavages, has resulted in high levels of political violence and human rights violations in Nepal. With fresh district-level data and drawing on theoretical insights from both the conflict and human rights literatures, research that has relied primarily on cross-national comparisons, the authors develop and test hypotheses using a subnational research design. They find an exchange of violence between government and opposition forces that depends on the political and geographical opportunities for violence. Their findings contribute new evidence for the importance of geography but also suggest that democracy and social capital influence the selection of violence by both government and opposition.

Unbelievable but improved cookstoves are not helpful in reducing firewood demand in Nepal

This paper analyzes the effect of different types of cookstoves on firewood demand at the household level. Using nationally representative household survey data from Nepal, we find that stove type significantly affects the firewood demand for household uses. Traditional mud-stove user households seem to use less firewood than the open-fire stove users. Surprisingly, households with the so-called ‘improved’ stoves seem to use more firewood than the households with mud stoves. Thus, converting traditional open-fire stoves to mud stoves may be a better conservation strategy in the short term rather than installing improved stoves, unless the technology improves. However, in the long run, making cleaner fuel more accessible to rural households is desirable to reduce indoor air pollution.

The Impacts of Social Networks and Household Forest Conservation Efforts in Rural Nepal

This paper investigates links between the strength and type of social networks and private forest conservation activity in rural Nepal. Using Nepal household survey data, this paper tests the effects of alternative social network indices on the number of trees planted on private land. Our findings show that social networks can have positive spillovers effects. However, this generalization requires careful qualification about the type of social network involved. While there has been considerable discussion about building and enhancing social networks, the policy implication is that not all networks are created equal when it comes to enhancing critical conservation activities. (JEL Q23, O17)