Debt and the Built Urban Environment: Examining the Growth of Urban Slums in the Less Developed Countries, 1990–2010
The present study examines the influence of external debt on the change in the proportion of the total population living in urban slum conditions in the less developed countries between 1990 and 2010, drawing from a political economy of the world-system theoretical perspective. Ordinary least squares panel regression illustrates external debt as a percent of gross national income has a statistically significant positive effect producing higher levels of urban slum growth. This result is recurrent across all developing countries but is particularly strong among sub-Saharan African nations. Further, urban population growth 1960–1990 exhibits a positive effect contributing to higher urban slum growth. The results support the hypothesis that external debt burden is an important factor contributing to higher levels of urban slum growth in the less developed countries between 1990 and 2010. This effect, moreover, is particularly strong among sub-Saharan African countries relative to developing countries within ...
Every person should be grateful for what he has.However,as government and universities are exerting more effort to offer financial aid to poor students,there are phenomena like apathy to aid and social irresponsibility among some students financed,which has become inconsistent with harmonious society building process.Therefore,it is a key task for higher education institutes to enforce education of gratefulness,molding sound personality,cultivating social responsibility among poor students.