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This publication is intended for three primary audiences: international development professionals who want to define "workforce" for program design purposes, those who seek information about field activities, and those who want to reflect on the implementation of successful, high impact programs--whether they were broad-based or sector-specific projects or local activities. The goal is to provide readers with options and strategies for connecting diverse sets of development objectives through international workforce initiatives. Following a brief introduction, the first chapter briefly reviews international workforce initiatives' historical roles in United States economic and political diplomacy and how they became part of the practice of development assistance. The chapters that follow provide definitions and design principles. The annexes contain more than 80 profiles of projects the Academy for Educational Development (AED) is currently or has recently implemented that have had workforce components. Most of the examples used come from projects implemented in partnership with the U.S. government, projects funded by the United Nations (UN), the Group of Eight (G-8), private foundations, and national governments are also included. Annexes contain: (1) AED Workforce Initiatives--Project Profiles ; (2) AED-Managed Global Technical Assistance Programs; and (3) Profiles of AED Projects with Workforce Components by Category.(Contains 23 endnotes.) [Primary support for this publication has come from AED's Leadership and Institutional Development Group and the AED Center for Enterprise and Capacity Development (CECD).]

Intended to provide background for study and discussion, this publication gives updated information on development in sub-Saharan Africa and provides a basis for understanding U.S. policy toward this vital region. The strengths, problems, politics, natural resources, and language and ethnolinguistic groups of this area of the world and the international and regional organizations active here are discussed in detail. Extensive data tables include information on the population, culture, education, labor force, imports, exports, estimated U.S. economic assistance, date of independence, type of government, and chief of state and/or head of government for each of the 46 independent countries south of the Sahara. The 55-item bibliography is divided into three sections: reference and introductory material, historical and cultural background, and contemporary sub-Saharan Africa. (AA)

Two papers consider the effects and advantages of a nation's development of a modern information technology. The first paper, "Information, Information Technology, Modern Telecommunications and Economic Growth: A Case Study of New Zealand" (Herbert S. Dordick), examines the effects of information technology on the economies of such nations as New Zealand, whose position in the world economy will be threatened unless they are able to make significant investments in information technology that will lead to higher productivity, innovations in both products and process, and new market growth. Eight tables and nine references are provided. The second paper, "From Public Access to Private Connections: Network Policy and National Advantage" (Francois Bar and Michael Borrus) examines the changes being brought about in the United States, France, and Japan by business' increased access to private telecommunications networks. The text is supplemented with 44 footnotes. (Author/EW)

This document contains two essays: "Toward a High-Wage, High-Productivity Service Sector" by Lester Thurow; and "Service Sector Wages, Productivity and Job Creation in the U.S. and Other Countries" by Louise Waldstein. The first essay analyzes the recent and currrent U.S. economy under headings called Growth Nodes, Falling Productivity, and Lower Wages. Under the heading Looking Forward, likely future economic conditions are outlined. Endnotes and a 15-item bibliography complete this section. After an introduction, the second essay examines the nature of U.S. service sector growth by analyzing its most important components and by comparing U.S. performance to that of several sectors in other comparable industrialized countries (France, Germany, and Japan). Drawing on those analyses, the various examinations of service sector growth are assessed. References, the sources for the 27 tables used, and a 70-item bibliography conclude the document. (CML)

Historians work in a discipline with few inherent concepts and are obliged to draw upon many fields in recreating the past. Yet authors of most school history texts, state and national standards and curriculum materials seldom incorporate economic analysis in their work. Just look at state standards that include Adam Smith and John Locke but draw no connections between their economic thought and contemporary institutions, to world history texts that treat the British Industrial Revolution as a virtual crime against humanity. This essay's objective is to integrate an economic perspective into five common topics that are taught, depending upon the course, in every world or U.S. history survey class; Ancient Greece and Rome, Imperial China, Colonial English America, the British Industrial Revolution, and the U.S. depression of the 1930s. An annotated list of pedagogical resources for topics is also included along with general resources. (Contains 1 table.)

This paper discusses Canada's response to international television programming competition, both directly from signals from the United States that are available over the air or by cable, and from foreign programming exhibited by Canadian broadcasters. Major topics discussed are: (1) failure of government regulation to induce significant Canadian drama, variety, or children's programming prior to the establishment of the Canadian Broadcast Program Development Fund (the Fund) in 1983, which is administered by Telefilm Canada; (2) provision and guidelines for the Fund; (3) economic incentive provided by the Fund; (4)justification of Fund subsidies from television production in terms of externalities associated with the cultural significance of the programming; (5) evaluation of the Fund experience; and (6) lessons from the Canadian experience with the Fund. It is concluded that the Canadian experiences with, and responses to, American and other competition, are becoming increasingly relevant to other countries, given the technological developments that are globalizing the market for television programming. (18 references) (CGD)

Would large-scale, free-market reforms improve educational outcomes for American children? That question cannot be answered by looking at domestic evidence alone. Though innumerable "school choice" programs have been implemented around the United States, none has created a truly free and competitive education marketplace. Existing programs are too small, too restriction laden, or both. To understand how genuine market forces affect school performance, everyone must cast a wider net, surveying education systems from all over the globe. This paper undertakes such a review, assessing the results of 25 years of international research comparing market and government provision of education, and explaining why these international experiences are relevant to the United States. In more than one hundred statistical comparisons covering eight different educational outcomes, the private sector outperforms the public sector in the overwhelming majority of cases. Moreover, that margin of superiority is greatest when the freest and most market-like private schools are compared to the least open and least competitive government systems (i.e., those resembling a typical U.S. public school system). Given the breadth, consistency, relevance, and decisiveness of this body of evidence, the implications for U.S. education policy are profound. Source Studies are appended. (Contains 3 tables, 2 figures and 16 notes.)

American society is based on work. The industrial revolution exposed a growing proportion of the population to unemployment, underemployment, and dislocation. Early theoreticians believed that unemployment was a temporary labor market imbalance that would correct itself with downward wage adjustments. John Maynard Keynes, on the other hand, argued that unemployment is involuntary and results from government policies that can be changed. The Employment Act of 1946 legislated the nation's intent to achieve full employment, an ideal still held. However, the only way to achieve full employment is through increased spending that fuels inflation. To date, the principal strategy for fighting inflation has been economic restraint, which results in ever-higher levels of unemployment. The strategy proposed to correct the situation emphasizes policies that conform to the actual operation of the labor market, with a full range of anti-inflationary policies in place before attempts are made to reach the 8 percent unemployment barrier. Probably the best device above the 6 percent unemployment rate is a temporary marginal wage subsidy to create jobs. Below the 6 percent rate, strategies to improve productivity in the lower range of jobs are appropriate. To provide the training needed to increase productivity, American educational systems will have to do a better job of making sure youth acquire a high level of basic skills. However, overall economic expansion is a necessity if unemployment is to be reduced. (KC)

Results from the testing of a representative sample of U.S. high school students (N=8,205) reveals a significant lack of economic literacy, with the students correctly answering only 40 percent of the items on the Test of Economic Literacy. This is especially disturbing since the questions were drawn from economic concepts and related issues as they are discussed daily in the national media. To improve the level of economic understanding, school districts need to make a commitment to economic education in both elementary and secondary education, with students being required to take a course in economics before they graduate from high school. Teachers must be better equipped to teach about economics if they are to instill any knowledge in their students. Economics knowledge is critical for an informed citizenry, both for its understanding of domestic economic issues and for the United States to maintain a competitive position in the world economy. (PPB)

Presents a list of books and articles on U.S. economic policy. "Paper Victories: U.S. Steel Mills Win Even When They Lose Trade Cases," by Chris Adams; "Child Care and Mothers' Employment Decisions," by Patricia M. Anderson and Phillip B. Levine; "Press Round-Table," by Charlene Barshefsky.

Presents a list of books and articles about economic policy in the U.S. "Economic Effects of Fundamental Tax Reform," edited by Henry J. Aaron and William G. Gale; "The Future of Fundamental Tax Reform," by Alan J. Auerbach; "High-Income Tax Returns," by Brian Balkovic.

This paper considers the influence of labor demand for new PhD recipients on time to the doctorate. I use student-level data on all doctorates awarded by U.S. universities in seven humanities and social science fields together with the annual number of job listings by field from 1975 to 2005. An increase in the number of job listings in a field does not affect the completion probability contemporaneously but does increase it three to six years later. Time series variation in job listings by field can account for about 20 percent of the variation in average time to degree by entry year. Data Sources and Variable Definitions are appended. (Contains 3 figures, 7 tables and 13 footnotes.)

Rates of tuition increases in both private and public higher education that continually exceed inflation, coupled with the fact that the United States no longer leads the world in terms of the fraction of young adults who have college degrees, have focused attention on why costs keep increasing in higher education and what categories of higher education expenditures have been growing the most rapidly. In a series of publications, the Delta Cost Project has shown that during the last two decades median instructional spending per full-time equivalent (FTE) student in both public and private 4-year colleges and universities in the United States grew at a slower rate than median expenditures per FTE student in many other categories of expenditures (research, public service, academic support, student services, and scholarships and fellowships). Similarly, the Center for College Affordability and Productivity reports that during the same time period, managerial and support/service staff at colleges and universities grew relative to faculty. Do such changes reflect increased inefficiency and waste or do some non instructional categories of employees and expenditures contribute directly to the educational mission of American colleges and universities? In this paper, the authors use institutional level panel data and an educational production function approach to estimate whether various non instructional categories of expenditures directly influence graduation and persistence rates of undergraduate students in American colleges and universities. They find, not surprisingly, that the answer is several of these expenditure categories do influence students' educational outcome, but that the extent that they matter varies with the socioeconomic backgrounds and the average test scores of the students attending the institutions. Appended are: (1) Graduation Rate Equations Using Shares of Expenditures (Subsamples); and (2) Allocative Differences in Expenditure Ratios. (Contains 2 figures, 8 tables and 29 footnotes.) [Additional support for this research was provided by the TIAA-CREF Institute. For a related report, see ED506277.]

In this paper we offer an appraisal of the economics of education research area, charting its history as a field and discussing the ways in which economists have contributed both to education research and to education policy-making. In particular, we highlight the theoretical and methodological contributions that economists have made to the field of education during the last 50 years. Despite the success of the economics of education as a field of inquiry, we argue that some of the contributions made by economists could be limited if the economics of education is seen as quite distinct from the other disciplines working in the field of education. In these areas of common interest, economists need to work side by side with the other major disciplines in the field of education if their contribution to the field is to be maximised, particularly in terms of applying improved methodology. We conclude that the study of education acquisition and its economic and social impact in the economics of education research area is very likely to remain a fertile research ground. (Contains 7 notes and 1 table.)

This paper finds a significant influence of Milton Friedman on U.K. economic policy from the 1970s onward, and especially during the period of the Thatcher Government. The finding is based on a consideration of statements by policymakers and key economic advisers, as well as an analysis of Friedman's commentary in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s on U.K. economic developments. Explicit, public acknowledgments of Friedman's influence were given by Margaret Thatcher, Chancellor of the Exchequer Geoffrey Howe, Bank of England officials, and others in policy circles. Examples of Friedman's influence include the absorption into U.K. policy doctrine of the permanent income hypothesis and the natural rate hypothesis, the rejection from 1979 onward of incomes policy as a weapon against inflation, and U.K. officials' repeated appeals to monetary sovereignty when arguing against monetary union or a sterling peg. Evidence of influence by Friedman on privatization policy and on the official perspective on the current account deficit can also be discerned. Although he had only limited interaction with U.K. policymakers, Friedman had a major influence, reflected in the adoption into actual U.K. policymaking of recommendations made in his writings and in the fact that those writings--which were studied closely by a number of senior U.K. economic advisers--helped alter U.K. economists' conceptual framework and thereby fostered doctrinal changes in U.K. economic policy. This paper's analysis also shows that two prominent critics of the Thatcher economic policy--Labour's Harold Wilson and the Conservatives' Edward Heath--saw this policy as partly due to the influence of Friedman, whom each of them had met before the Thatcher era. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since November 2007, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) of the U.S. Federal Reserve has regularly published participants' qualitative assessments of the uncertainty attending their individual forecasts of real activity and inflation, expressed relative to that seen on average in the past. The benchmarks used for these historical comparisons are the average root mean squared forecast errors (RMSEs) made by various private and government forecasters over the past twenty years. This paper documents how these benchmarks are constructed and discusses some of their properties. We draw several conclusions. First, if past performance is a reasonable guide to future accuracy, considerable uncertainty surrounds all macroeconomic projections, including those of FOMC participants. Second, different forecasters have similar accuracy. Third, estimates of uncertainty about future real activity and interest rates are now considerably greater than prior to the financial crisis; in contrast, estimates of inflation accuracy have changed little. Finally, fan charts--constructed as plus-or-minus one RMSE intervals about the median FOMC forecast, under the expectation that future projection errors will be unbiased and symmetrically distributed, and that the intervals cover about 70 percent of possible outcomes--provide a reasonable approximation to future uncertainty, especially when viewed in conjunction with the FOMC's qualitative assessments. That said, an assumption of symmetry about the interest rate outlook is problematic if the expected path of the federal funds rate is expected to remain low. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reassesses the link between ICT prices, technology, and productivity. To understand how the ICT sector could come to the rescue of a whole economy, we introduce a simple model that sets out the steady-state contribution of the sector to the growth in U.S. labor productivity. The model extends Oulton (2012) to include ICT services (e.g., cloud computing) which has implications for the relationship between prices for ICT services and prices for the capital stocks (i.e., ICT assets) used to supply them. ICT asset prices are then put under a microscope, and official prices are found to substantially understate ICT price declines. And because ICT use continues to diffuse through the economy--increasingly via cloud and related services which are not fully accounted for in the standard narrative on ICT's contribution to economic growth--the contribution of ICT to growth in output per hour going forward is calibrated to be substantially larger than thought in the past. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]