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Economists since Adam Smith have recognized the contribution of innovation to profitability and growth. The relationship between corporate research and development and subsequent sales growth, both across and within industries, has been examined by many authors. Results have been varied showing at best no more than the suggestion of a causal relationship between research and development input and growth. These results are reviewed together with the various theories which have been developed in an attempt to explain the connection between technical innovation and growth. Starting with an exami nation of various national economies, the rate of commercial research and development expenditure has been compared to the rate of national growth. A number of industries in the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan and the United States of America were also examined, taking the automotive industry as a particular case. In addition to using published data a survey of smaller vehicle manu-facturers in the United Kingdom was conducted. Although positive correlation was found at an international and industry level, no association between research and development expenditure and sales growth was found at a company or project level in the United Kingdom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Review of International Affairs (04866096) is the property of Institute of International Politics & Economics and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The purpose of this study is to assess the impact of micro enterprises in employment and income generation post-2008 financial crisis in United States. The paper uses a causal correlation research design employing Linear Regression and Kernel Regression analysis. It establishes a stronger positive correlation between employment and income creation as measured by annual payroll for micro firms than that for other firm sizes. The paper suggests that developing micro-enterprises have proven return on investment, making a case for further initiatives by the government and development organizations. Findings from this study will provide useful information to shape economic development policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Graphical abstract Abstract In the photovoltaic (PV) industrial chain, polysilicon is the most vital product affecting the scale of the entire industry. Polysilicon trade holds the highest profit margin, and the technological developments among countries is unbalanced, promoting international trade among countries. Therefore, analysis of the international polysilicon trade is crucial for understanding the development of the global PV industry. In this paper, we use a social network analysis (SNA) method to study the structure of the global polysilicon trade network and each country's characteristics in the network based on international trade data from 2006 to 2016. Our results show that the network is very concentrated and shows an obvious core-periphery structure. The United States of America (USA), China, Germany and Japan are the most powerful countries in the trade network. We also find that the development of polysilicon trade can represent progress of the PV industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Projects to improve airport ground access not only provide important intermodal connections but can also present difficult funding challenges. This paper reviews the recent literature on funding airport ground access projects as well as some of the wider literature on funding transportation projects in general in the United States (U.S.) that is indirectly relevant to airport ground access projects. This is followed by a review of current U.S. federal transportation funding programs relevant to airport ground access projects, as well as a discussion of state and local funding programs and potential opportunities for private sector funding. The paper then describes several case studies of airport ground access project funding that were undertaken as part of this research. Based on this discussion, the paper discusses potential funding strategies for intermodal airport ground access projects in the U.S., requirements for effective implementation of these strategies, and a recommended approach to facilitate successful project development and implementation. It also presents recommended changes to the transportation funding program rules and regulations in the U.S. that could facilitate and simplify the development of intermodal solutions to meet future airport ground access needs. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Four years after the French Revolution, in 1793 a series of wars among France and other major powers of Europe began and they lasted until 1815. There is disagreement among economic historians about the effects of these wars on the trend of US economic growth. This paper aims to answer the following question. Did America as a neutral nation take advantage of economic possibilities caused by Europe at war through trade? To put it differently, this paper questions whether there was an export-led growth due to the war. To answer this question, we re-examined the export-led growth hypothesis for the period 1790-1860 using the ARDL methodology. Based on this methodology, a co integrated relationship is found among the variables of real GDP, labor, exports and exchange rates. The results suggest that the economic growth of the US was not export-driven. In addition, parallel to the results of unit root tests with structural breaks, the coefficient of the dummy variable was statistically significant in the long run, implying that the war did have a significant effect on the economic growth trend of the US. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Urban policy transfer between the US and UK has long been of interest to researchers and practitioners. Given the recent wider context of reduced direct funding and the absence of a coherent regeneration policy, this paper considers the introduction of Tax Increment Financing (TIF) to the UK as a method of stimulating spatially targeted economic development initiatives. The paper explores whether TIF could be considered a form of policy transfer, and in doing so uncovers whether the transfer of TIF could – (a) be successful and unsuccessful under certain circumstances; (b) require the actions of certain stakeholders; and (c) be enabled via prescribed frameworks and negotiation. The results are evidenced using qualitative approaches and find that TIF is more of a modified policy ‘idea’ rather than transfer. Further discussion argues that TIF can be successful, if it considers flexible but local elements and has the capacity to balance stakeholders for development brokerage. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: During the entire period of the 2007-2009 global financial crisis, different types of countries showed different characteristics on their economic development process. Comparing the economic development process between different types of countries contributes a lot to get an in-depth understanding of the different impacts of the crisis on national economy. In this paper, the method of Functional Analysis of Variance (FANOVA) is applied to make a comparative study on the economic development process of different types of countries, including the differences on the economic growth rate, the time of the economy recession, the extent of the recession and the recovery situation of the economy. Moreover, the paper performs a dynamic test on the significance of the difference on the economic growth rate during the whole stage. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The political, economic, and military relationship between the former Pacific Trust Territories of the United States is defined by the Compact of Free Association (COFA) treaty. The respective COFA treaties allow the United States military and strategic oversight for these countries, while COFA citizens can work, reside, and travel with unlimited lengths of stay in the United States. The unforeseen consequences of the diaspora of the people of the COFA nations to the United States and its territories is called the "Compact Impact." In 2007 the social, health, and welfare system costs attributed to the estimated 13,000 COFA migrants in Hawai'i was $90 million dollars. The US federal government does not take full responsibility for the adverse economic consequences to Hawai'i due to COFA implementation. The lack of health and education infrastructure in the COFA nations, as well as the unique language, culture, political, and economic development of the region have contributed to the adverse elements of the Compact Impact. The Department of Human Services of Hawai'i, once supportive of the COFA peoples, now looks to withdraw state sponsored health care support. This paper reviews the historical, political, and economic development, which surrounds the Compact Impact and describes Hawai'i's government and community response. This paper attempts to understand, describe, and search for solutions that will mitigate the Compact Impact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper attempts to provide detailed quantitative analysis of Indian contributions on thorium in terms of publications output as per International Nuclear Information System database during 1970-2004. A total of 2399 papers were published by the Indian scientists in the field of thorium. There were only nine publications in 1970. Thereafter, a steady growth was observed except for the period 1983-1985. The highest papers (188) ware published in the year 2000. USA with 8049 (28.05 per cent) and India with 2399 (8.30 per cent) publications were the top two countries who published work on thorium. Authorship and collaboration trend was towards multi-authored papers as 65.70 per cent of the papers were collaborative. There were 79 international collaborative papers. Bilateral collaboration accounted for 90.14 per cent of total collaborative papers. Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai topped the list with 1251 authorships followed by Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, Kalpakkam with 168, Atomic Minerals Division, Hyderabad with 71, Utkal University, Bhubaneswar with 43 and Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics. Kolkata with 31 authorships, respectively. The journals most preferred by the scientists for publication of papers were: Journal of the Indian Chemical Society with 78 papers, followed by the Indian Journal of Chemistry A with 60 papers, Bulletin of Radiation Protection with 56 papers, Journal of Radio Analytical and Nuclear Chemistry with 54 papers, Radiation Protection and Environment with 37 papers, Exploration and Research for Atomic Minerals and Journal of Geological Society of India with 35 papers each. English was the most predominant language used by the scientists for communication. The high frequency keywords were: thorium (559), uranium (316), thorium oxides (269), India (257), solvent extraction (236), quantitative chemical analysis (221) and thorium 232 (202). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper offers a new perspective on the energy efficiency literature by bringing evidence of political contextual factors as the predictors of energy efficiency. Specifically, we posit that the Democrat administration is more energy-efficient considering the reduction of environmental impact, in contrast, the Republican administration is more efficient considering only financial expenditures leading to the production of economic growth. In addition, we predict that political administration tenure is negatively correlated with green energy efficiency and that political distancing moderates the relationship between political party administration and energy efficiency. This study sheds light on these matters by performing an efficiency analysis of fifty North American states through a bootstrap DEA non-parametric model, followed by Tobit regressions to evaluate our hypotheses concerning the effect of the contextual factors on the calculated efficiency scores. • We investigate the impact of political factors on energy efficiency in the United States. • We perform a two-stage DEA-Tobit bootstrapped regression analysis. • The Democrats consistently demonstrated higher energy efficiency scores. • The political tenure as a feature had mild or mixed impact on energy efficiency. • We confirmed the positive time-passage effect on energy efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Ensayos Sobre Política Económica is the property of Banco de la Republica and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper examines the relationship between growth and migration with the case of Korean migrants in the Latin American region. It first shows the trends of economic growth and Korean migrants in Latin American countries and then empirically tests if the growth rate affects the number of Koreans in eighteen countries in Latin America. The regression results confirm that countries with higher economic growth attract more Koreans, notably from other countries in the region that experience lower growth. This analysis provides an interesting perspective in understanding determinants of migration, where 'economic growth' has not been considered as an important factor yet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Both community development activities and economic development activities are described in this paper. The paper shows that many important social and economic institutions have emerged either directly or indirectly from the Black church. Large churches with substantial resources, and activist ministers have pioneered community and economic development activities. Examples are given and implications drawn for policy and for further research. It is important to realize, as sociologists C. Eric Lincoln and Lawrence Mamiya observed, Black churches involved in such efforts are the exception rather than the rule. The majority of Black pastors and churches lack adequate knowledge about financial investments to exercise proper economic stewardship, such as careful record keeping, business management, financial accountability and investment mechanisms for economic development. While individual churches launch most of the community and economic development activities, some of the most successful ventures have been those involving church cooperatives or consortiums in which their resources are pooled. Moreover, because of the excessive red tape and restrictive regulations, many Black churches are very reluctant to seek government assistance for many of their initiatives.

The controversial Rahn Curve is the relation of government spending with economic growth. It is argued that government spending is inefficient and should therefore be negatively related or uncorrelated with the growth of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Whether there is a Rahn Curve is an empirical question which has been examined with mixed results for the U.S. economy. There has been little effort to disaggregate federal expenditures to see if there are components which are highly correlated with economic growth. However, some components of government spending which are theoretically related to economic growth, e.g., social security, funding of research grants, infrastructure building, and education. On the other hand, other expenditures such as debt service, police protection, even military spending does much to aid GDP growth. This paper uses components of federal expenditures as the explanatory variable for GDP growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study is to investigate the impact of exchange rate fluctuation on economic growth in Nigeria within the context of four profound theories: purchasing power parity; monetary model of exchange rates; the portfolio balance approach; and the optimal currency area theory. Data was collected from the CBN statistical bulletin in Nigeria from 2003-2013 and the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model was employed to estimate the model. In the model, real GDP (RGDP) was used as the proxy for economic growth while Inflation rate (IF), Exchange rate (EXC), Interest rate (INT) and Money Supply(M2) as proxies for other macroeconomic variables. The empirical results show that exchange rate fluctuation has no effect on economic growth in the long run though a short run relationship exist between the two. Based on these findings, this paper recommends that the Central bank for policy purposes should ensure that stern foreign exchange control policies are put in place in order to help in appropriate determination of the value of the exchange rate. This will in the long run help to strengthen the value of the Naira. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Secular stagnation refers not to the literal stagnation, i.e., stopping of economic growth but rather to the slowing of U.S. potential real GDP growth to half or less of its historical pace. The retardation of potential real GDP growth matters both because of its direct impact on the standard of living and also because of its indirect effect on net investment, which in turn feeds back to slower productivity growth. During the decade ending in 2014:Q4, U.S. real GDP grew at only 1.55% per year, almost exactly half the growth rate of 3.12% per year achieved during the previous three decades, 1974-2004, and an even smaller fraction of the 3.62% per year performance of 1929-1974. This paper predicts that slow growth of around 1.5% per year will continue over the next decade or two. Part of the slowdown in output growth is due to a decline in the growth rate of the working-age population. A second reason is a shift in worker hours per capita from an increase due to the entry of women into the labor force during 1965-1995 to a future decrease due primarily to the retirement of the baby-boom generation. A third reason is an ongoing slowdown in the growth rate of output per hour, from 1.72% per year during 1974-2004 to 1.10% per year in 2004-2014 and to an even slower 0.55% per year during 2009-2014. The sources of the decline in productivity growth combine diminishing returns that have set in following the ICT revolution of the 1996-2004 "dot.com" era with a decline in business dynamism, as the entry of new business firms has steadily declined over the past three decades relative to the exit of existing firms. Moore's Law describing the steady exponential increase in the number of transistors on a chip became obsolete a decade ago. The historic rise of educational attainment has slowed to a crawl, and the declining share of children growing up in two-parent families may lead to a future decrease in highschool completion and an increase in criminal activity among youth. While future productivity growth will be slower than before 2004, it will still continue as in the past decade at a rate slightly in excess of one% per year. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following the global financial crisis (GFC) in 2007, questions have been raised regarding the prospect of the US dollar continuing its dominance as the principal reserve currency. The increased volatility of the US dollar exchange rate and the uncertain sustainability of the US economic growth since that time have created pressure for central banks around the globe to shift their US dollar reserve holdings to other currencies. Amongst the major reserve currencies, the euro has been considered by a number of central banks to be an alternative currency to the US dollar. In light of the above considerations, this paper aims to present an empirical analysis on the different transaction factors that affect the currency composition holding of the reserve currencies held by the central bank of Australia, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The incorporation of Clean Air Act regulations into the mandate of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was a progressive step in protecting all Americans from adverse health effects of air pollution. Despite this, from the beginning of EPA tensions have existed between those who support tighter protective regulation and those who argue that this will harm economic growth, even when growth involves industries that might pollute and be harmful to human and environmental health. Often polluted areas are in underserved communities. Using the example of regulation of trophospheric (ground level) ozone, the following paper discusses ways that the needs of underserved communities have not been served, and will consider ways to more effectively address these concerns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Almost a decade after the end of Cold War, South Asia, a 'strategic backwater 'for policy-makers in the United States emerged as an important arena of US Foreign Policy concerns. It was but natural that India, the most important power in South Asia, should surface as a 'crucial player ' and 'natural partner ' of the US Administration. In recognisation of India's increasing global stature and economic growth here was a rethinking among US policy -- makers on the need for greater engagement with India. This paper identifies some enduring dynamics of the relationship and sources of change, emerging opportunities and remaining constraints. It will also highlight how and why US policy makers view India as a long- term and reliable partner in a region plagued by terrorism and consequent instability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unplanned, exponential economic growth has been the liberal standard for evaluating economies, societies and effectiveness of political leaders and for addressing problems of all sorts. In the later twentieth century, the American conservative movement revived market liberalism to restore growth after the long post- World War II boom ended. The neoliberal policy regime stressed the growth imperative to the exclusion of other social ends, which were alleged to undermine innovation and growth. Neoliberalism conflates growth with development, precludes sustainable growth, and trends toward plutocratic dedemocratization. This immoderate policy regime denies the reality of the commons and disregards the interdependence of nature and culture and individual and society. This paper addresses crisis tendencies, which have been exacerbated by neoliberal policies, and concludes with a departure point for an alternative. John Dewey's naturalism stressed the need to secure the commons, biotic and social, and to balance individualism with community, efficiency with social justice, and markets with planning to cultivate uncoerced cooperation and preserve democracy, in the face of crises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper hypothesized that democratic nations, as characterized by Polity IV Project regime scores, spend more on health care than autocratic nations and that the association reported here is independent of other demographic, health system or economic characteristics of nations. WHO Global Observatory data on 159 nations with roughly 98% of the world’s population were examined. Regime scores had significant, direct and independent associations with each of four measures of health care expenditure. For every unit increment in a nation’s regime score toward a more democratic authority structure of governance, we estimated significant (p <0.05) increments in the percent of GDP expended on health care (+0.14%), percent of general government expenditures targeted to health care (+0.25%), total per capita expenditures on health (+34.4Int$) and per capita general government expenditures (+22.4Int$), while controlling for a population’s age distribution, life expectancy, health care workforce and system effectiveness and gross national income. Moreover, these relationships were found to persist across socio-economic development levels. The finding that practices of health care expenditure and authority structures of government co-vary is instructive about the politics of health and the challenges of advancing global health objectives. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Nearly every state in the United States has developed a voluntary land cleanup program to support an alternative, more decentralized approach to the revitalization of contaminated and underperforming land. Yet, despite the ubiquity of such programs and the thousands of properties enrolled in them, we know relatively little about their formation and attractiveness. This paper reports results from interviews of officials in voluntary cleanup program in all fifty states, and from a survey of program participants in one state. It seeks to characterize attitudes about the desirability and performance of voluntary cleanup programs and to motivate further research into policies to improve their efficacy. Results suggest the primacy of economic redevelopment in motivating state officials to develop voluntary cleanup program, with improving environmental quality, promoting regulatory reform, easing political pressures, and improving the cleanup process also playing roles. Program participants in the state examined in detail indicated that gaining liability protection, decreasing cleanup costs, and facilitating property sales constitute the most important potential benefits of enrolling properties in voluntary cleanup programs. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The paper discusses the change of the influence of certain branches and branch changes on the economic growth, particularly the labor productivity observed in the last few decades. As a result the processing industry is replaced by the service sector, which gradually becomes dominating since 1970s. For this purpose it is proved with the results of a long-lasting work of the Groningen Growth and Development Centre (The Netherlands) concerning countries from European Union and USA in the second half of 20th century - mainly in 1980s and 1990s and until the middle of the first decade of 21st century. The achieved results give reasons for a change of the existing stylized facts formulated by N. Kaldor (1967), S. Kuznets (1971) and A. Maddison (1980). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Although always a part of city life, urban agriculture has recently attracted increased attention from diverse groups in the United States, which promote it as a strategy for stimulating economic development, increasing food security and access, and combatting obesity and diabetes, among other goals. Developing effective policies and programs at the city or neighborhood level demands as a first step the accurate mapping of existing urban agriculture sites. Mapping efforts in major U.S. cities have been limited in their focus and methodology. Focusing on public sites of food production, such as community gardens, they have overlooked the actual and potential contribution of private spaces, including home food gardens, to local food systems. This paper describes a case study of urban agriculture in Chicago which used the manual analysis of high-resolution aerial images in Google Earth in conjunction with ArcGIS to identify and map public and private spaces of food production. The resulting spatial dataset demonstrates that urban agriculture is an extensive land use type with wide variations in the distribution of sites across the city. Only 13% of sites reported to be community gardening projects by nongovernment organizations and government agencies were determined, through image analysis, to be sites of food production. The production area of home gardens identified by the study is almost threefold that of community gardens. Study results suggest opportunities may exist for scaling up existing production networks—including home food gardens—and enhancing community food sovereignty by leveraging local knowledges of urban agriculture. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The purpose of this article is to investigate the relationship between economic growth, globalization and trade. The manuscript uses the assumptions of the economic growth exogenous and endogenous models. It introduces new proxies for explain the economic growth as in intra-industry trade, foreign direct investment and globalization index. The results indicate that economic growth is a dynamic process. The intra-industry has a positive impact on economic growth. This paper confirms relevant theoretical hypothesis as foreign direct investment and globalization promotes the economic growth. The good results obtained with GMM system estimator suggest that the building of dynamic theoretical models will be of interest to academic researchers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Offshore wind power developed rapidly in Northern Europe in the first decade of the 21st century and is expected to spread to Southern Europe, North America and Asia before 2020. To date, no projects have been built offshore North America because of the high development costs and economic risk and uncertain profitability. The purpose of this paper is to review the development cost of constructing offshore wind farms to inform the U.S. market. The capital expenditures of a reference class of 18 European wind farms constructed after 2005 with monopile foundations are normalized to proxy U.S. capital cost. Regression models are developed to investigate the physical features that influence expenditures. U.S. capital costs are expected to range between $4 and $5.6 million/MW for projects built between 2012 and 2015. Capital costs increase with increasing water depth and steel prices. For most farm components, capital expenditures are expected to be similar in Europe and the U.S., but the installation markets differ and this may impact the reliability of the reference class approach. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Economic contribution rate of education (ECRE) is the key factor of education economics. This article selected China, South Korea, United States and other countries for a total of 15 samples, and put the data of the same period under the framework of soft computing, to simulate the production chain of “education–potential human capital–actual human capital–economic growth”. The basic idea is: Firstly, 15 countries are softly categorized according to the level of science and technology (S&T) progress. Secondly, potential human capital and actual human capital establish the internal correlation (fuzzy mapping) in the same classification, and we conceptualize actual human capital as one production factor, joined with the other two production factors, fixed asset and land, to set up the fuzzy mapping to economic growth., and then calculate economic contribution rate of education of China and foreign by two fuzzy mapping of them. Thirdly, this paper analyzes the present state and differences in the development of education between China and foreign according to different ECRE, and offers proposals for promoting the education in China. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The integration and development of financial markets is an important issue because it can result in economic growth via increasing exchange and more efficient allocation of scarce resources. It is also important for defining and conducting appropriate policies to counteract adverse spill-over effects across markets. The main goal of this paper is to assess the degree of integration or segmentation of the UAE stock market with the USA market by conducting new causality tests developed by that separate the effect of positive shocks from the negative ones. The empirical results based on standard symmetric causality tests indicate that the UAE market is segmented from the USA market. However, when the asymmetric causality tests are implemented the results reveal clearly that the UAE market is indeed integrated with the USA market. These results show, in addition, that the degree of integration is stronger when the markets are falling than rising. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: We are living in a global service economy in which services now make up more than 78% of the US Gross Domestic Product (GDP). This growth in Service has also become a global phenomenon and this has brought much needed attention to Service Science and Service Systems Engineering (SSE). As part of these efforts, this paper proposes the enhancement of existing architectural frameworks for Service Systems. We readily concede that IT is at the heart of Service Systems but we argue existing frameworks need to be expanded to address service systems governance and insertion of technology breakthroughs. A modified NIST framework is illustrated, that includes an Enterprise/Service Management plane to analyze energy Smart Grids as an end-to-end service provider. We also realized the need for integration of tools for the real-time dynamic analysis of ever-changing requirements within a Service System. This concept is illustrated in the form of an internet manufacturing laboratory where design, fabrication, IT, and other supporting tools are integrated to rapidly fabricate complex 3D prototype models. Finally, we discuss issues which need to be addressed for the creation of curricula and professional degree programs in Service Systems Engineering at the graduate level. As a result, we propose a plan for including a Service Systems Engineering specialization track within traditional Systems Engineering programs. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Taller children perform better on average on tests of cognitive achievement, in part because of differences in early-life health and net nutrition. Recent research documenting this height–achievement slope has primarily focused on rich countries. Using the India Human Development Survey, a representative sample of 40,000 households which matches anthropometric data to learning tests, this paper documents a height–achievement slope among Indian children. The height–achievement slope in India is more than twice as steep as in the U.S. An earlier survey interviewed some IHDS children''s households eleven years before. Including matched early-life control variables reduces the apparent effect of height, but does not eliminate it; water, sanitation, and hygiene may be particularly important for children''s outcomes. Being one standard deviation taller is associated with being 5 percentage points more likely to be able to write, a slope that falls only to 3.4 percentage points controlling for a long list of contemporary and early-life conditions. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

We are witnessing a change in volume, direction, and diversity of migrant flow patterns between China and the United States. These changes are a result of China's unprecedented level of economic growth. In this paper, we examine the migration flow of highly-skilled migrants, who are increasingly targeted by both United States and China migration policies. Finally, we will conclude with policy implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This article investigates agricultural productivity growth over several decades, emphasizing to a great extent the agricultural economic development condition for the nine agricultural divisions of the United States, and China''s 27 provinces in terms of Malmquist productivity growth index. The paper sets up a technique to make use of two-stage linear programming method, based on sequential production technology, to estimate the most fitted and reliable distance functions in relevant agricultural sectors, and thus to compute the Malmquist productivity indexes. Especially, it proposes to decompose the productivity growth index into two major components, technical progress and efficiency improvement, and their sub-components, to study the sources of growth in productivity. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

People use the neighborhood Main Street for shopping but also for other leisurely activities, active and passive engagement, social affiliation and interaction, sensory stimulation, and relaxation. Traditionally, small businesses have made up a fair share of businesses on Main Street. Small businesses have been an integral part of the American culture of entrepreneurship, individualism, and self-reliance and have played an important role in American economic development. Community development programs recommend supporting small businesses for their social and economic benefits. This paper examines the role of small businesses in supporting public lift on the neighborhood Main Street. The study was conducted in two cities and one town in the Boston, Massachusetts, metropolitan area. Extensive behavior mapping and interviews were conducted to determine the relationship between social interaction and small businesses, The findings expand our understanding of the social value of small businesses and suggest a strong relationship between small businesses and the vitality of Main Street as a result off our qualities of small businesses.' uniqueness, engagement, friendliness, and responsiveness. These findings have implications for urban design, community planning, and economic development policies because they suggest that small businesses influence their immediate public space by paying more attention to it than large businesses. Small businesses provide qualities that help make Main Street a good place for people to interact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The “Antebellum Puzzle” has been the subject of comment since the 1980s. It involves the paradox that, although the American economy was experiencing rapid economic growth in the several decades prior to the Civil War (1861–1865), the stature of native-born white males had been declining for the birth cohorts from the late 1820s. This was also true for free blacks (Komlos, 1992), but was apparently not true for slaves. This paper uses a sample of 8592 adult back males who were recruits to the United States Colored Troops during the Civil War. They were recruited significantly among ex-slaves. Recruits from the birth cohorts of 1838–1842 were then linked to characteristics of their counties of birth from the 1840 and 1850 U.S. Censuses. Unlike slaves in the coastal manifests, these African American recruits showed evidence of a decline in heights from the birth cohorts of the 1820s onwards. Unlike the native-white recruits, however, the characteristics of their counties of birth had relatively less power in explaining differences in heights. There was some support for the mortality hypothesis, but the nutrition hypothesis needs to be interpreted in light of the fact that slave owners has a strong interest in monitoring and controlling the diet of their slaves. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Music scenes are increasingly included in the discourse of how art and culture function as tools for economic development, but they are rarely discussed in terms of being catalysts for urban redevelopment. This gap in the literature is important to address as music-based urban redevelopment projects gain traction in the United States. One recent example is the “Slowdown” project in Omaha, Nebraska. This paper will offer insight into how a successful music scene can function as a catalyst for urban redevelopment by examining the $10.2million dollar mixed-use Slowdown project and its connection to Omaha’s music scene. Laissez-faire public policy, low cost-of-living, and inexpensive technological tools all played roles in the development of a local music scene capable of reaching international significance and fostering a project the magnitude of Slowdown. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Previous studies of rising inequality in the United States have overlooked the potential role of subnational political economic variation as an institution that shapes earnings restructuring. This paper uses hierarchical linear models to examine how state right-to-work laws contribute to growth in inequality in 80 metropolitan labor markets from 1970 to 2000. Contrary to conventional expectations, labor markets in states with right-to-work laws experience relatively mild growth in earnings inequality, and are less unequal by 2000 than non-RTW labor markets. The trend cannot be fully explained by union density, job growth, uneven development or variation in racial inequality. The findings contribute to a distinctly sociological perspective on rising inequality that considers how social, institutional and economic factors interact at the local and state levels to shape earnings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Economic policy attempts to stimulate growth after the subprime crisis. In light of the theory of the monetary circuit, this paper focuses on a too much neglected phenomenon associated with this crisis, which makes it difficult for growth to restart in the United States. The phenomenon at issue is as follows: home equity extraction gave an increasing support to consumption, but this support is suppressed by the subprime crisis. We first explain home equity extraction and the related support, before incorporating the latter within the theory of the monetary circuit. This leads to consider this support as a decisive component of the working of the economy, as it increasingly contributes to the reflux phase of monetary circuits. We then explain the suppression of this support by the subprime crisis. As this comes to suppress a decisive component of the working of the economy, we there after explain why recovery is undermined, since monetary circuits can no longer rely on the above support to achieve their reflux phase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with the trends, issues and challenges that are being faced in public personnel management. These trends and issues may be categorized under (a) management practices, (b) technology, and (c) economy and politics. Governments all over the world should learn how to manage their personnel so that they can become more efficient and more effective in facing the mentioned challenges. Public or civil service is a big part of the lives of the citizens of a nation whether they want it or not. A number of government agencies require the services of public servants and professionals. These professionals are free from the political affiliations of people who serve in the bureaucracy. Developments in society, technology and other areas of management all have an impact in the lives of public personnel. This article explores these new trends by looking at the various areas that affect the lives and performance of public personnel. These new trends, issues and emerging practices will be divided into three major categories. They are (a) management practices, (b) technology, and (c) economy and politics. The first category will deal mainly with the emerging issues in management, such as diversity, the rights and benefits of public personnel, and how the government is reacting to these trends. The second category will examine the technological advancements that impact the work of public personnel and note how these are revolutionizing the way that public personnel do their work. The last category will discuss economic developments in the United States and the world along with their impact on the lives of workers in the civil service sector. The government as an employer should take note of these developments and improve appropriately. Oftentimes, however, bureaucracy tends to react too slowly to the changes in the world, and in the process, place public personnel at a disadvantage. This article will put forward several recommendations as to how the plight of public personnel could be improved by the government through the effective and efficient use of resources in their respective organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Economic losses caused by tropical cyclones have increased dramatically. Historical changes in losses are a result of meteorological factors (changes in the incidence of severe cyclones, whether due to natural climate variability or as a result of human activity) and socio-economic factors (increased prosperity and a greater tendency for people to settle in exposed areas). This paper aims to isolate the socio-economic effects and ascertain the potential impact of climate change on this trend. Storm losses for the period 1950–2005 have been adjusted to the value of capital stock in 2005 so that any remaining trend cannot be ascribed to socio-economic developments. For this, we introduce a new approach to adjusting losses based on the change in capital stock at risk. Storm losses are mainly determined by the intensity of the storm and the material assets, such as property and infrastructure, located in the region affected. We therefore adjust the losses to exclude increases in the capital stock of the affected region. No trend is found for the period 1950–2005 as a whole. In the period 1971–2005, since the beginning of a trend towards increased intense cyclone activity, losses excluding socio-economic effects show an annual increase of 4% per annum. This increase must therefore be at least due to the impact of natural climate variability but, more likely than not, also due to anthropogenic forcings. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: A new federal administration, alongside initiatives proposed by the President''s US Commission on Ocean Policy, provides a timely and critical opportunity for maritime archaeologists and cultural resource managers to re-consider management frameworks for maritime cultural heritage in the USA. Policy is urgently needed that defines governments’ roles and responsibilities in protecting and managing maritime cultural heritage in federal waters. Implementation of a regional governance structure based on the tenets of ecosystem-based management is proposed in this paper to manage and develop these resources effectively. Through regional governance, the maritime heritage of the USA can be conserved for future generations, keeping its citizens connected to deep-rooted maritime traditions and contribute to the well-being, economic growth and development of coastal communities. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Copyright of Ensayos de Política Económica is the property of Pontificia Universidad Catolica Argentina and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Relaciones Internacionales is the property of Facultad de Ciencias Politicas y Sociales and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Cahiers de Recherche Sociologique is the property of Universite du Quebec a Montreal, Department de Sociologie and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Abstract: This paper examines the relationships that exist between skilled labor markets and air transportation by US metropolitan area. The goal is to enhance the current literature by conducting a more specific investigation of the links that exist between air passenger demand and employment levels within metropolitan economies focusing especially on employment patterns and the number of establishments for both the professional, scientific, and technical (PST) services sector and the high-technology sector. The results suggest that employment opportunities and the number of establishments in both sectors are systematically linked to the geography of air passenger demand. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper is a response to the failures of past efforts to stimulate any remarkable socioeconomic and technological development in virtually all developing countries. Africa ii countries, for example, have not recorded any significant development despite 18 development plans in the last 20 years (Mills and Oppenheimer, 2002). Rather than develop iii the true sense of the word, the economies of African countries have been fluctuating between stagnation and retrogression with just occasional flashes of what resembles development. Using the analytic and critical methodology of philosophy, this article tries to show that the global capitalist order can never facilitate widespread and balanced improvements in the standards of living of people in the so-called developing countries. This is because the ideal of the unregulated market and the myth of the invisible hand inherent iii the global market render it essentially unjust, deceptive and flawed. We argue that it is erroneous to suppose that self-interest, when it is set free, will somehow generate benefits for all. The unregulated global market, within which self-interest is primary and sacrosanct, can only lead to disaster and the widening of the gap between the rich industrialized countries of Europe and America and the poor developing countries of Africa, Asia and Latin America. Consequently, it ought to be jettisoned or at least substantially reformed in important respects, if developing countries are to wit/less any significant development and improvements in the standards of living of their people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many social scientists believe that supporting entrepreneurship development within low-income communities is a viable development strategy to combat poverty. Some even suggest that if economic development is to be effective, new businesses in low income areas must be started through local initiatives, and that entrepreneurship is critical to the maintenance of a healthy economy. Underpinned by recent scholarship and grass-roots movements that suggest that presence of smaller scale, locally-controlled enterprises can help determine whether communities prosper or decline, this paper explores the links between entrepreneurship and rural development. Using a theory of change framework (Oldsman and Hallberg 2002), the authors examine the USDA 1890 Entrepreneurial Outreach Initiative (USDA 2004) and its use as a local, community-based strategy to spur economic growth and development in rural communities across the South. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the strategies for economic development to emerge during the 1970s and 1980s to stem decline due to industrial restructuring in the United States was the formation of science and technology initiatives in many states. This strategy was of interest because it suggests the creation of high-wage jobs through the application and development of technology. States in the industrialized part of the United States were losing large numbers of high-wage industrial jobs, as restructuring occurred and the jobs moved offshore or were replaced with technology. These initiatives took several forms including, in some states, departments or secretariats of technology, the formation of authorities that were state agencies but one step removed from the legislature and executive branches and the initiatives that were set up as nonprofit corporations. Today, science and technology programs exist in every state of the United States.In the mid-1990s, the authors were asked to develop a methodology to measure the outputs and outcomes of one of the state centers in science and technology, a program that was increasingly being focused on technology and commercialization rather than primarily on basic or pure research. A methodology was created by the authors in collaboration with the Battelle Institute and was implemented first in 1996. The purpose of this paper is to explain the methodology developed and how it was implemented in an effort to illustrate a number of issues that arise around the issue of evaluating such programs and to explore the policy impact of such studies. The issues include sample selection, survey design, interview protocol, management of client and research team relations, validity and research protocol. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper examines the feedback from the last day of a three-day forum on "Women, Community, and Sustainable Development" held in May 1996 The participants represented 13 countries, including the United States. The conference was successful in seeking representation from a broad spectrum of participants from grassroots community leaders to academic researchers and grant makers. On the last day, discussion focused on skills needed by women to be equal partners with men in sustainable development activities. The result from small-group discussions involving approximately 100 people and the response to a Forum Feedback survey completed by 57participants forms the basis for our discussion. The focus of our analysis is on skills needed by community members, especially women, to be more effective in working toward sustainable development goals. Understanding these needs provides direction to organizers/facilitators working with such groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years increasing attention has been focused on the relationship between the quality of a state's system of higher education and the rate of economic growth in that state. The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of this renewed emphasis on quality in higher education using a coalitional model of organizations as a basic framework. We operationalize two alternative models of quality, assess the costs and benefits of investments in each type of quality, and discuss prospects for educational reform. Oklahoma is used as an example of a state heavily involved in this issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]