Simon Feeny
Biographic Data
| ID | 266911 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Simon Feeny |
| GIVEN NAMES | Simon |
| FAMILY NAME | Feeny |
| SIGNATURE | FEENY S |
| AFFILIATIONS | RMIT University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-5955-0045 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 38 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 41 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 37 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2005 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Do White Saviour perceptions reduce charitable giving? Evidence from five online studies
International aid charities face a dilemma by virtue of the White Saviour: Appeal photos of Caucasian helpers in Global South settings can build a bridge to donors or cause donor resentment with changing social norms. We examine four resulting empirical questions using a series of online studies: What is the White Saviour? How do White Saviour perceptions arise from charitable appeals? And what is their effect on both donation intentions and beha…
Aggregating the Human Development Index
The United Nations’ Human Development Index remains a widely used and accepted measure of human development. Although it has been revised over the years to address various critiques, a remaining concern is the way the three dimensions are aggregated into the single index. A deterioration in one dimension can be compensated for by an improvement in another. Since compensability is inextricably linked with trade-offs and intensity of preferences, a…
Using surveys in realist evaluation
Realist evaluation is a theory-based approach to evaluation which examines what works in what respects and to what extent, for whom, in what contexts and how. It focuses on identifying underlying mechanisms which cause outcomes and the contextual factors necessary for their operation. Despite realist evaluation being ‘agnostic’ about methods, qualitative approaches have been heavily favoured in practice. This paper argues that the use of surveys …
Understanding sustainable outcomes in international development
Billions of dollars continue to be provided in foreign aid each year. However, few scholarly studies have examined whether the outcomes from foreign aid interventions are sustained after donor funding has ceased. This paper examines current approaches to assessing this issue before arguing that a realist evaluation approach is ideally suited to understand why and how sustained outcomes are—or are not—achieved. It contributes to the existing liter…
Impacts of child sponsorship communications
Child sponsorship programmes often seek to establish a personal relationship between a sponsor and child through the exchange of letters, photos, and sometimes gifts. This paper examines the impact of these activities using data from communities supported by World Vision in Georgia, Ethiopia, Peru, Senegal, and Sri Lanka. Findings indicate that some types of communications were associated with higher levels of psychosocial wellbeing. While findin…
Detecting Disasters and Disaster Recovery in Southeast Asia
This paper builds on the group of studies that have used satellite night light data to measure the impact of natural disasters on economic development. It examines the dynamics of disasters using monthly subnational-level data for Southeast Asian countries covering the period 2012–2018. Four issues are considered. First, the paper determines the proportion of disasters that can be detected through an exogenous structural break in the night light …
Political connections and post-disaster assistance in rural Vietnam
Optimism Bias and World Bank Project Performance
This paper examines the correlates of optimism bias and its impact on World Bank project performance. We measure optimism bias in different ways using estimated Economic Rates of Return (ERR) of projects at approval and closure. We examine over 2,800 World Bank projects that were appraised between 1960 and 2019. We find that approximately 60% of projects in the sample were prone to optimism bias. Correlates of optimism bias include both project a…
What are Valid Weights for the Human Development Index? A Discrete Choice Experiment for the United Kingdom
The impact of natural disasters on migration
Increasingly, studies are examining whether the incidence of natural disasters influences household migration. This paper examines whether the severity of natural disasters is important for migration decisions in Vietnam, rather than just examining their occurrence. Data for a sample of 1,003 farm households from the Vietnam Household Living Standard Survey are examined for the period 2006–2008. A residual generated regressor approach is adopted …
Rainfall shocks and child health
This study examines the impacts of rainfall shocks on child health in Vietnam. It uses Young Lives data matched with province level climate data covering the period 1970–2014. Existing literature demonstrates that shocks can impact on child health by reducing household income or through the incidence of disease. This paper identifies and confirms a third mechanism: shocks impacting on parents’ mental health which, in turn, reduce children's physi…
A Potent Fuel? Faith Identity and Development Impact in World Vision Community Programming
This paper explores the role of faith identity on impact in development by looking at the programming of a major international faith‐based development organisation (FBDO). It argues that faith identity rests not only in the internal projected identity of the FBDO but also on perceptions of that identity in the community, highlighting the role context plays in the formulation of faith identity and its impact. Secondly, the paper argues that FBDOs …
Factors affecting the adoption of sustainable agricultural practices
Weighting the Dimensions of the Multidimensional Poverty Index
The dragon versus the kangaroo
China's engagement within the South Pacific has increased dramatically in recent years mainly through significant increases in development assistance. Development assistance is provided to address humanitarian needs but to also secure national interests of the donor. This paper examines the extent and nature of Australia's and China's influence in Vanuatu from the perspectives of the Ni-Vanuatu people using new data. China is perceived as having …
Are Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers Associated with Reductions in Poverty and Improvements in Well-being
Should Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) be the tool for implementing the new Sustainable Development Goals, as they were for the Millennium Development Goals? Surprisingly, despite the controversies around them, there has never been a quantitative evaluation of PRSPs. This paper estimates the impact of having a PRSP on various targets of the Millennium Development Goals. Results suggest that countries under PRSP treatment achieve much gr…
Improving Well-Being in Bhutan
Vulnerability to Multidimensional Poverty
This paper examines vulnerability in two Melanesian small island developing states: Solomon Islands and Vanuatu. With large proportions of the population living semi-subsistence lifestyles in rural areas, consumption poverty is notoriously difficult to measure. The paper therefore departs from the standard approach and assesses household vulnerability to multidimensional poverty. The paper employs cross-sectional data from a household survey. Res…
Beyond enrolments
The second millennium development goal (MDG) is to achieve universal primary education and while developing countries have made good progress on primary-school enrolment rates, school attendance remains low. This paper addresses the determinants of school attendance using unique household survey data for two Melanesian economies rarely reported in the international literature: Solomon Islands and Vanuatu. There is a high degree of heterogeneity i…
Explaining Aid Project and Program Success
What firm characteristics determine women ' s employment in manufacturing? Evidence from Bangladesh
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the principal determinants of women’s employment in the manufacturing sector of Bangladesh using a firm-level panel data from the World Bank’s “Enterprise Survey” for the years 2007, 2011 and 2013. The paper sheds light on the demand-side factors, mainly firm-level characteristics, which also influence this decision. Design/methodology/approach – The authors estimate a fractional logit model t…
Remittances and Economic Growth
This paper examines the impact of remittances on economic growth in Small Island Developing States (SIDS). Results from variants of an empirical model suggest that while, on average, there is at best no association between remittances and growth in developing countries, there is a positive association between these variables in SIDS. This finding holds for SIDS in sub-Saharan Africa and the Pacific but not for those in Latin America and the Carib…
Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Interventions in the Pacific
Are Poor People Less Happy? Findings from Melanesia
Policies in Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers
Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) were introduced in 1999 by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund as a requirement for Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPCs) to gain access to debt relief and concessional loans. They signalled a new focus by including a participatory framework of “nationally driven” policies. Employing 81 PRSPs for 58 countries, published during 2000–2008, this paper develops a unique scorecard to evaluate the …
Explaining Aid Project and Program Success
Improving Well-Being in Bhutan
Are Poor People Less Happy? Findings from Melanesia
Measuring Attitudes to National Identity and Nation-building in Papua New Guinea
Nation-building and the tasks of encouraging a sense of national identity and political community pose an immense challenge in Papua New Guinea (PNG). With over 830 languages, it is one of the most linguistically and ethnically diverse countries in the world. Since independence in 1975, PNG has experienced high levels of political instability with frequent changes of government and allegations of corruption. Local and traditional obligations to e…
Achieving the Millennium Development Goals in the Asia‐Pacific region
The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are a set of international development targets agreed to by members of the United Nations in 2000. The goals aim to improve many of the dimensions of extreme poverty and are to be achieved by 2015. This paper provides an overview of the issues relevant to the achievement of the MDGs in the Asia‐Pacific region. The paper begins by discussing the critiques of the MDGs before assessing whether countries in the…
Using surveys in realist evaluation
Realist evaluation is a theory-based approach to evaluation which examines what works in what respects and to what extent, for whom, in what contexts and how. It focuses on identifying underlying mechanisms which cause outcomes and the contextual factors necessary for their operation. Despite realist evaluation being ‘agnostic’ about methods, qualitative approaches have been heavily favoured in practice. This paper argues that the use of surveys …
The Impact of Housing Assistance on the Employment Outcomes of Labour Market Programme Participants in Australia
This paper examines whether the employment outcomes of Australian labour market programme participants vary according to whether they receive housing assistance. This issue attracted attention when a series of US studies showed that clients of welfare-to-work programmes are more likely to achieve positive employment outcomes if housing assistance is also received. This paper tracks the employment outcomes of labour market programme participants u…
Foreign Aid and Fiscal Governance in Melanesia
Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Interventions in the Pacific
The Determinants of Economic Growth Versus Genuine Progress in South Korea
Impacts of Foreign Aid to Melanesia
This paper investigates aid effectiveness in Melanesia, a region consisting of Fiji, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and New Caledonia. These countries are of great interest since they have not performed well despite being rich in resources and receiving large amounts of foreign aid. The paper examines the impact of foreign aid on agricultural growth and overall economic growth in Melanesia. The impact on agricultural growth is imp…
Do White Saviour perceptions reduce charitable giving? Evidence from five online studies
International aid charities face a dilemma by virtue of the White Saviour: Appeal photos of Caucasian helpers in Global South settings can build a bridge to donors or cause donor resentment with changing social norms. We examine four resulting empirical questions using a series of online studies: What is the White Saviour? How do White Saviour perceptions arise from charitable appeals? And what is their effect on both donation intentions and beha…
Weighting the Dimensions of the Multidimensional Poverty Index
The dragon versus the kangaroo
China's engagement within the South Pacific has increased dramatically in recent years mainly through significant increases in development assistance. Development assistance is provided to address humanitarian needs but to also secure national interests of the donor. This paper examines the extent and nature of Australia's and China's influence in Vanuatu from the perspectives of the Ni-Vanuatu people using new data. China is perceived as having …
What firm characteristics determine women ' s employment in manufacturing? Evidence from Bangladesh
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the principal determinants of women’s employment in the manufacturing sector of Bangladesh using a firm-level panel data from the World Bank’s “Enterprise Survey” for the years 2007, 2011 and 2013. The paper sheds light on the demand-side factors, mainly firm-level characteristics, which also influence this decision. Design/methodology/approach – The authors estimate a fractional logit model t…
National identity in fragile states
The challenges of nation building in Melanesia and Timor-Leste have often been neglected in the regional focus on state-building challenges. High levels of ethno-linguistic diversity, combined with an array of regional, historical and cultural divisions, continue to present obstacles to the creation of a cohesive sense of national political community leading these nations to be labelled ‘fragile’. This paper presents the findings of a comparative…
The Impact of Foreign Aid on Economic Growth in Papua New Guinea
This article investigates the impact of foreign aid on economic growth in Papua New Guinea (PNG) using time-series data for the period 1965 to 1999. Following the most recent literature, the article examines whether aid effectiveness is conditional on levels of economic policy and governance. An empirical model is estimated using the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) approach to cointegration proposed by Pesaran and Shin [1995 Pesaran HM Shin…
Impacts of Foreign Aid to Melanesia
This paper investigates aid effectiveness in Melanesia, a region consisting of Fiji, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and New Caledonia. These countries are of great interest since they have not performed well despite being rich in resources and receiving large amounts of foreign aid. The paper examines the impact of foreign aid on agricultural growth and overall economic growth in Melanesia. The impact on agricultural growth is imp…
Foreign Aid and Fiscal Governance in Melanesia
Achieving the Millennium Development Goals in the Asia‐Pacific region
The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are a set of international development targets agreed to by members of the United Nations in 2000. The goals aim to improve many of the dimensions of extreme poverty and are to be achieved by 2015. This paper provides an overview of the issues relevant to the achievement of the MDGs in the Asia‐Pacific region. The paper begins by discussing the critiques of the MDGs before assessing whether countries in the…
The Millennium Development Goals and Beyond
This book examines how international aid donors and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) can assist countries in the Asia-Pacific region achieve the Millennium Development Goals. The book examines th
Aid and Growth in Small Island Developing States
Aid flows to small island developing states (SIDS) are enormous by international standards when compared to the size of their economies. Yet these countries face many severe economic challenges and many have experienced declines in the living standards of their citizens. This paper looks at the impact of aid on what is treated as a necessary precondition for improvements in living standards, typically defined. Specifically, it examines the impact…
Old challenges and new opportunities for the MDGs
As we approach the 2015 date by which the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) are to be achieved, there is increasing scrutiny as to the progress towards their achievement. The MDGs were intended to be global targets and not necessarily to be assessed at the country level. In other words, countries were to contribute to the global targets but not be held to account against them, as they were originally conceived. In practice though, countries are …
Service delivery and human development in Papua New Guinea
Most indicators of health and education are much lower in Papua New Guinea (PNG) than they are in other countries in the Pacific. Successive waves of decentralisation have devolved most responsibility for service delivery to the country's Provincial Governments (PGs) yet a widespread deterioration in services has continued. Recent reforms and a strongly performing economy are leading to a sharp rise in resources for service delivery for most PGs.…
The Impact of Housing Assistance on the Employment Outcomes of Labour Market Programme Participants in Australia
This paper examines whether the employment outcomes of Australian labour market programme participants vary according to whether they receive housing assistance. This issue attracted attention when a series of US studies showed that clients of welfare-to-work programmes are more likely to achieve positive employment outcomes if housing assistance is also received. This paper tracks the employment outcomes of labour market programme participants u…
Measuring Attitudes to National Identity and Nation-building in Papua New Guinea
Nation-building and the tasks of encouraging a sense of national identity and political community pose an immense challenge in Papua New Guinea (PNG). With over 830 languages, it is one of the most linguistically and ethnically diverse countries in the world. Since independence in 1975, PNG has experienced high levels of political instability with frequent changes of government and allegations of corruption. Local and traditional obligations to e…
Millennium Development Goals
1. Old Challenges and New Opportunities for the MDGs: Now and Beyond 2015 Matthew Clarke and Simon Feeny 2. A Fresh Look at the MDGs Jan Vandemoortele 3. 'All the World's a Stage': Structure, Agency and Accountability in International Aid Gerhard Hoffstaedter and Chris Roche 4. Cultivating Model Developing Citizens: Exposing the Grassroots to the MDG Tanya Jakimow 5. The MDGs and the Incomplete Relationship between Development and Foreign Aid Tho…
National identity in fragile states
The challenges of nation building in Melanesia and Timor-Leste have often been neglected in the regional focus on state-building challenges. High levels of ethno-linguistic diversity, combined with an array of regional, historical and cultural divisions, continue to present obstacles to the creation of a cohesive sense of national political community leading these nations to be labelled ‘fragile’. This paper presents the findings of a comparative…
The Determinants of Economic Growth Versus Genuine Progress in South Korea
Remittances and Economic Growth
This paper examines the impact of remittances on economic growth in Small Island Developing States (SIDS). Results from variants of an empirical model suggest that while, on average, there is at best no association between remittances and growth in developing countries, there is a positive association between these variables in SIDS. This finding holds for SIDS in sub-Saharan Africa and the Pacific but not for those in Latin America and the Carib…
Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Interventions in the Pacific
Are Poor People Less Happy? Findings from Melanesia
Policies in Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers
Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) were introduced in 1999 by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund as a requirement for Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPCs) to gain access to debt relief and concessional loans. They signalled a new focus by including a participatory framework of “nationally driven” policies. Employing 81 PRSPs for 58 countries, published during 2000–2008, this paper develops a unique scorecard to evaluate the …
Vulnerability to Multidimensional Poverty
This paper examines vulnerability in two Melanesian small island developing states: Solomon Islands and Vanuatu. With large proportions of the population living semi-subsistence lifestyles in rural areas, consumption poverty is notoriously difficult to measure. The paper therefore departs from the standard approach and assesses household vulnerability to multidimensional poverty. The paper employs cross-sectional data from a household survey. Res…
Beyond enrolments
The second millennium development goal (MDG) is to achieve universal primary education and while developing countries have made good progress on primary-school enrolment rates, school attendance remains low. This paper addresses the determinants of school attendance using unique household survey data for two Melanesian economies rarely reported in the international literature: Solomon Islands and Vanuatu. There is a high degree of heterogeneity i…
Explaining Aid Project and Program Success
What firm characteristics determine women ' s employment in manufacturing? Evidence from Bangladesh
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the principal determinants of women’s employment in the manufacturing sector of Bangladesh using a firm-level panel data from the World Bank’s “Enterprise Survey” for the years 2007, 2011 and 2013. The paper sheds light on the demand-side factors, mainly firm-level characteristics, which also influence this decision. Design/methodology/approach – The authors estimate a fractional logit model t…
Are Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers Associated with Reductions in Poverty and Improvements in Well-being
Should Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) be the tool for implementing the new Sustainable Development Goals, as they were for the Millennium Development Goals? Surprisingly, despite the controversies around them, there has never been a quantitative evaluation of PRSPs. This paper estimates the impact of having a PRSP on various targets of the Millennium Development Goals. Results suggest that countries under PRSP treatment achieve much gr…
Improving Well-Being in Bhutan
The dragon versus the kangaroo
China's engagement within the South Pacific has increased dramatically in recent years mainly through significant increases in development assistance. Development assistance is provided to address humanitarian needs but to also secure national interests of the donor. This paper examines the extent and nature of Australia's and China's influence in Vanuatu from the perspectives of the Ni-Vanuatu people using new data. China is perceived as having …
The impact of natural disasters on migration
Increasingly, studies are examining whether the incidence of natural disasters influences household migration. This paper examines whether the severity of natural disasters is important for migration decisions in Vietnam, rather than just examining their occurrence. Data for a sample of 1,003 farm households from the Vietnam Household Living Standard Survey are examined for the period 2006–2008. A residual generated regressor approach is adopted …
Economics (32 works) · Economic growth (25 works) · Political science (23 works) · Development economics (16 works) · Poverty, Education, and Child Welfare (15 works) · Geography (14 works) · International Development and Aid (13 works) · Psychology (12 works) · Sociology (12 works) · Business (10 works)