The Hukou system, a Chinese system of household registration, has been deeply internalised as part of China’s political, cultural and social norms. The report surveys different arguments from a range of authors about the direct economic effects and indirect social effects which the restrictions imposed by the Hukou system on migrant workers have on the Chinese economy. The report focusing on the debate of the trade-off between maintaining the current system and proceeding with reforms.

On the one hand, the Hukou system gives economic incentives for capital accumulation in urban areas and prevents capital flight. It has provided and prolonged the large pool of unskilled labour force that is essential to Chinese economic growth. Its economic importance is unlikely to change in the near future given the huge risks underlying the reform. On the other hand, the system has created a huge underclass of people that is lacking access to basic social services and securities, hence widening the inequality between urban and rural areas. By exploring different authors’ arguments and their methodology, this paper argues that although Hukou system had serviced China relatively well in the past, it need to adopt the changes of the economic environment due to globalisation and the social costs of implementing the system will soon be reflected in the economy in terms of inefficient allocation of resources. The report finishes by suggesting the possibility that a similar system could be imposed on different countries where it is experiencing population explosion.

This paper addresses the rise of the global migration crisis. Many recent migration incidents stress the negative effects of tightened immigration policies and border control in Mediterranean Europe and South Africa resulting from the general trend of illegal migration, and criminalisation of migration. Taking the paradigmatic case of the 2015 xenophobic incidents in South Africa and the 2015 Libyan crisis with the drowning of 800 immigrants on Italian waters, it engages an approach to address the contemporary migration phenomenon. Drawing on the above, the paper discusses how integration and social cohesion can be achieved in host countries and how to reduce illegal immigration fluxes. The paper also provides an analysis of the extent to which migration policies are selective and discriminatory. To what extent have these incidents echoed in the public perception and hypocritical approach of policy-makers. The paper is structured around three major orientations. Firstly, it discusses a retrospective account on the political upheaval and economic instability state of Africa as migration push factors. Secondly, the paper extends analyses policies in place for migration management such as border control and immigration policies of South Africa, and the Mediterranean coast precisely Italy and the broader EU. Thirdly, there is a very likelihood that this is going to be a repeated process. Thereafter concluding remarks will be made on the possibility of a more inclusive and integrative immigration policy regime. Such an exploration can in turn provide a foundation for articulating a more normative agenda for migration studies looking at migration as a new open-minded cosmopolitan culture in our globalised world.

The success of microcredit loans to low-income individuals for poverty alleviation is commonly attributed to the joint-liability lending model; however there remains ambiguity on its effectiveness with contrasting works by Besley and Coate, and Varian for example. Theoretically joint-liability bypasses lender requirements for physical collateral, instead making groups mutually responsible (jointly-liable) for loans. This predicts social relationships between borrower groups to incentivise repayment as groups support each other’s repayment; however it can promote free-riding where individuals strategically default expecting other members to shoulder their repayment.

The author conducts game-theoretic fieldwork in Manikganj in Bangladesh based on methodology by Kono (2013) from which results are used to model and analyse the key theoretical hypothesise predicted in joint-liability. Treated groups of microcredit borrowers are compared to control groups of non-borrowers alongside questionnaire findings.

Results find treated groups to more likely repay loans and subsequently play more rounds compared to control groups under a joint-liability setting. Treated players are significant less likely to free-ride and more likely to help their partner compared to control. The experiments also find that treated players forego short-run gains from non-repayment and benefit from long-run gains from progressing onto further rounds. Characteristics of optimal groups that maximise likelihood of repayment are then identified.

The findings provide evidence of social relationships positively impacting microcredit repayment, predicting the sustainable success of joint-liability for poverty alleviation. The application of game-theory to microcredit remains novel and methods used can be extended to compare different lending models or variations in joint-liability in future.

In this project, the Finite Element Analysis modelling tool Abaqus is used to run simulations of double-sided asymmetric joints with beams of different vertical alignment under different loading conditions. There is an absence of guidance on asymmetric joints within Eurocode 3. This work evaluates the suggestions made by The Steel Construction Institute (SCI) on calculating the level of shear present in the column web panel for asymmetric joints. In a steel frame, joints are responsible for 50% of the cost. By developing an understanding of the strength behaviour of asymmetric joints, designers can ensure that the joints are designed in the most effective way possible. The component method is currently used which considers the mechanical properties of each component in a joint and their overall impact on the strength. This paper focuses on the column web panel in shear and the contribution it makes to the joint strength and deformation characteristics. A series of simulations are conducted on a single-sided joint, a double-sided symmetrical joint and 3 double-sided asymmetric joints. The results are presented using stress plots, moment-rotation curves and shear-rotation curves. The deformation of the column web panel for each configuration is also displayed. The results show that in some of the models tested there is an interaction between the left and right beams which negatively impacts the stiffness of the joint. Additionally, if the model has a gap large enough between the two beams, the joint can be treated as two single-sided joints. Further research is required which tests more configurations at smaller increment.

This essay will be begin by exploring the theoretical debate in the literature on the economics of climate change. Specifically, it will critique the strategies for climate change mitigation that one might describe as rooted in the neoclassical school of economics, before contrasting these with Keynesian strategies. Furthermore, it will do so in the context of UK government policies which have been aimed at promoting sustainability. Despite the UK’s strong role in pursuing climate change mitigation discourses in the international community, internally, the country has failed to deliver compared to other members of the G8. Indeed statistics from the EU point to a lowly 4% increase in the consumption of renewable energy between 2004 and 2013. In contrast, countries like China who take a much more hands on approach with climate change mitigation has actually seen renewable power installation surpass new fossil fuel and nuclear capacity in 2013. The aim of this paper will be to argue that the failures of climate change policy in the UK can be attributed to the laissez faire type thinking that has guided UK climate policy, and that using Keynesian theory, the UK can reach better outcomes from its green policies.

Similar to humans, all organisms experience different kinds of stresses which can impact health in the short or long term. Correlative evidence suggests that early life stress profoundly influences later life success, but experimental evidence is still rare. Therefore, we designed an experiment to study the effects of early life stress on the later life history of honey bees, Apis mellifera. Honey bees are ecologically important and good biological models due to their abundance and relatively short life span. To test the hypothesis that early life stress affects behavior and life expectancy, we exposed honey bee workers to two economically and ecologically important stressors. We exposed young bees to either a parasitic mite, Varroa destructor, or a commonly used herbicide, paraquat. Individuals were observed daily to quantify effects of stressors on their behavior and lifespan. Additionally, we conducted molecular assays to test for physiological consequences of stress. Behavior and life expectancy were affected by both stressors. Contrary to our hypothesis, we observed a decrease in survival only during the first fifteen days in stressed individuals. Behavior effects were minor. Additionally, there was no significant treatment effect on gene expression patterns and measures of oxidative stress in the adult workers. Together, our results suggest that early life stress effects can persist through metamorphosis into adulthood of honey bees. However, the mortality effects were not long term and other stress outcomes were minor, which might be explained by social protection of the individual.

During the hurricane season, residents in southeast coast area experience frequent warnings for hurricanes. The residents need to be evacuated to safety at least 20 to 50 miles away from the impacted area. With a mass evacuation, even 24-hour notice may not be enough since necessities such as lodging are limited and the actual evacuation distance can easily be more than 100 miles. When a hurricane is approaching, the residents prepare with installing blocks on windows, buying gas/food and deciding if and when to evacuate. In general, if they are getting ready too early, the cost to prepare is too high due to the frequent false warnings (long term hurricane path predictions are not yet reliable). However, if the residents wait almost till the end, their lives get threatened (short term predictions are relatively accurate). Moreover, when everybody evacuates at the same time, there will be logistical issues such as traffic congestions and no fuel in gas stations. The goal of this project is to find an optimal evacuation time. The optimal time depends on individual circumstances and risks (for example, a family with young children is in a different situation than a single healthy young person) and the objective is to find the time as a function of the individual risk and the rick distribution within the population.

This research project focuses on the issue of water privatisation within a democratic framework. It focuses on one case study: Tunisia. Since the Arab Spring in 2011, the country aspires to be democratic and transparent. This is currently reflected in the management of their water resources, with two public companies in charge. However, both companies are running at a loss. According to a report written by the OECD, one solution would be to privatise, at least partially, water resources. Through qualitative research – especially structured and semi-structured interviews – the conclusion reached is the following: Although the privatisation of water resources in Tunisia would make sense from an economical point of view, it doesn’t necessarily fit within a democratic framework. On the assumption that water should be a human right, privatising such a resource puts the lives of many in the hands of a few. While water privatisation in Tunisia is a very specific issue, a further aim of this research project is to extrapolate the case of Tunisia. That is, raising awareness to the problem of water privatisation, not simply from an economical point of you, but mostly from an ideological and political point of view.