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Resumen.Con datos de una encuesta oficial de hogares, se verifican el axioma del «lujo» y el axioma de la «sustitución» para explicar el trabajo infantil en Nepal. Ambos parecen confirmarse: a más ingresos per cápita de un hogar, menos horas de trabajo infantil, y cuando los adultos no trabajan por enfermedad, estas horas aumentan. Las niñas trabajan más que los niños. Otros factores que reducen el trabajo infantil son: las becas de estudios, la escolarización en escuelas privadas, el número de hermanos y los años de escolaridad de los adultos. En cambio, un mayor consumo no correlaciona con menos horas de trabajo infantil.

Résumé.Partant d'une enquête auprès des ménages du Népal, les auteurs testent les hypothèses dites du luxe et de la substitution à propos du travail des enfants. Les deux semblent vérifiées: l'augmentation du revenu par tête d'un ménage réduit la durée du travail des enfants, et l'absence d'un adulte du travail pour cause de maladie augmente cette durée. Les filles font plus d'heures que les garçons. Les autres variables qui réduisent la durée du travail des enfants sont: les aides à la scolarisation, la scolarité privée, la présence de frères et sœurs au foyer, la durée de la scolarité des parents. Toutefois, l'augmentation de la consommation n'induit pas une réduction de la durée du travail des enfants.

Abstract.Using official household survey data, the authors test two axioms regarding child labour in Nepal. Both the "luxury" and the "substitution" axioms appear to hold in the case of Nepal's child labour: a household's higher per capita income reduces child work hours; and the absence from work of an adult household member owing to illness increases child work hours. Girls work more hours than boys. Other variables reducing child work hours are: scholarship provision, private schooling, the presence of siblings at home, and adults' years of schooling. However, higher consumption is not effective in reducing child work hours.

ABSTRACTThis 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.

ResumenSe investiga el efecto de la migración laboral internacional en la práctica del barbecho, la adopción de tecnologías de intensificación agrícola y la diversificación de medios de subsistencia en Nepal. Aplicando métodos empíricos que admiten inferencias causales a datos nacionales representativos, se observa que la probabilidad de tener tierras en barbecho (estimada con el emparejamiento por puntaje de propensión) es más de un 50 por ciento mayor en los hogares con migrantes que en los demás. La migración promueve las tecnologías de intensificación agrícola y la diversificación de los medios de subsistencia. El barbecho aumenta la inseguridad alimentaria, pero la intensificación agrícola puede reducirla, con un efecto neto incierto.

RésuméLes auteurs étudient l'effet de la migration internationale temporaire de main‐d'œuvre sur l'abandon de terres cultivées, l'adoption de techniques d'intensification agricole et la diversification des moyens de subsistance au Népal. Ils appliquent des méthodes empiriques d'inférence causale en s'appuyant sur des données représentatives au niveau national. Ils établissent que les familles de migrants ont plus de 50 pour cent de chances en plus de laisser des terres en friche que celles de non‐migrants. La migration internationale temporaire favorise l'adoption de pratiques d'intensification agricole et incite les ménages ruraux à diversifier leurs moyens de subsistance. Si la déprise agricole est susceptible d'aggraver l'insécurité alimentaire, l'intensification de l'agriculture peut en revanche la réduire, d'où un effet net incertain.

This article investigates the effect of temporary international labour migration on farmland fallowing, adoption of agricultural intensification technologies and livelihood diversification. Using nationally representative data, combined with empirical methods that allow causal inference, the authors find that households with international migrants are over 50 per cent more likely (based on propensity score matching estimates) to have fallow land than those without. Temporary international migration promotes the adoption of some agricultural intensification technologies and causes rural households to diversify their livelihoods. Land fallowing may increase food insecurity, while agricultural intensification may improve it, for an uncertain net effect.

AbstractThe extensive use of plastic bags in Nepal has led to growing concern in recent years. We investigate the impact of a municipal plastic bags ban on bags use behavior, based on a field survey carried out among consumers and retailers across selected municipalities. Our results indicate that the effectiveness of the ban critically depends on its enforcement and sanctioning system. In particular, our results suggest that the perceived sanction is a critical determinant of plastic bags use, as a doubling of the perceived sanction could reduce plastic bags use by two-thirds for retailers and by one-half for consumers. While the nominal amount of the fine does not seem to play a role, the probability of being detected appears to play a key role in the perceived sanction. This implies that effective monitoring of the ban by the municipal authorities is critical for the success of the policy.

The hypothesis of inequality as the source of violent conflict is investigated empirically in the context of killings by Nepalese Maoists in their People's War against their government during 1996–2003. The dependent variable is the total number of people killed during that period by Maoist rebels in each of 3,857 villages. Inequality is measured by the Gini, the Esteban‐Ray polarization index, and four other between‐groups indexes. Using models with district fixed effects, and instrumenting for endogeneity of the inequality measures, we find strong evidence that greater inequality escalated killings by Maoists. Poverty did not necessarily increase violence. Education moderated the effect of inequality on killing, while predominance of farmers and of Nepali speakers exacerbated it. We find evidence that more killings occurred in populous villages, lending support to the idea that violence was directed at expanding the Maoist franchise by demonstrating that opposition to the monarchy and elites in power was possible to achieve.

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.