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Aquaculture has expanded rapidly over the past half century and has surpassed capture fisheries as a source of seafood globally. However, most of the aquaculture production growth has occurred in developing countries. Despite early leadership in the global aquaculture industry, most developed countries have played only a minor role in the Blue Revolution. This paper examines the potential for developed nations to increase aquaculture production using recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) based production. The United States is used as a case study to highlight potential benefits associated with RAS-based production for developed country producers. The paper examines potential marketing and production benefits associated with RAS-based production in developed countries and evaluates the potential for RAS to avoid some regulatory and social opposition obstacles that have hindered other forms of aquaculture in developed countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Innovative interventions are needed to address the growing burden of breast cancer globally, especially among vulnerable patient populations. Given the success of Community Health Workers (CHWs) in addressing communicable diseases and non-communicable diseases, this scoping review will investigate the roles and impacts of CHWs in breast cancer screening programs. This paper also seeks to determine the effectiveness and feasibility of these programs, with particular attention paid to differences between CHW-led interventions in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) and high-income countries (HICs).Methods: A scoping review was performed using six databases with dates ranging from 1978 to 2019. Comprehensive definitions and search terms were established for 'Community Health Workers' and 'breast cancer screening', and studies were extracted using the World Bank definition of LMIC. Screening and data extraction were protocolized using multiple independent reviewers. Chi-square test of independence was used for statistical analysis of the incidence of themes in HICs and LMICs.Results: Of the 1,551 papers screened, 33 were included based on inclusion and exclusion criteria. Study locations included the United States (n=27), Bangladesh (n=1), Peru (n=1), Malawi (n=2), Rwanda (n=1), and South Africa (n=1). Three primary roles for CHWs in breast cancer screening were identified: education (n=30), direct assistance or performance of breast cancer screening (n=7), and navigational services (n=6). In these roles, CHWs improved rates of breast cancer screening (n=23) and overall community member knowledge (n=21). Two studies performed cost-analyses of CHW-led interventions.Conclusion: This review extends our understanding of CHW effectiveness to breast cancer screening. It illustrates how CHW involvement in screening programs can have a significant impact in LMICs and HICs, and highlights the three CHW roles of education, direct performance of screening, and navigational services that emerge as useful pillars around which governments and NGOs can design effective programs in this area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although there has been an accelerated growth in the education field in developed countries since the second half of the 20th century, it is not the case among developing regions where progress is slow and uneven. To help the Southeast Asian region move forward, it is imperative to examine the topographical trends within this field of study. Thus, this study sought to gain empirical insights into the current status of educational research in Southeast Asia and how it compares globally and to the United States as the leading country in the field. A total of 13,527 documents from 709 education-related source titles from the Scopus database were examined. Using a bibliometric approach, the findings revealed that despite the region's progress in educational research, its contribution to global scientific knowledge remains modest compared to other leading countries. A stable growth rate and selective publications in favour of top-tier journals were also observed among the leading countries in the region. Meanwhile, education scholars from emerging countries frequently publish their work in low-tier journals. A substantial link between research productivity, impact, and collaboration was also observed. The paper concludes with practical, theoretical, and methodological implications of the findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aimed to explore the characteristics of the top-100 cited articles on the biomarkers in the depression field and strive to find the future trend. The top-100 cited articles were selected from the Web of Science Core Collection database. Excel 2016 and VOSviewer 1.6.9 were used to analyze the information. Forty-six journals contributed to these 100 articles, and Biological Psychiatry published the largest number of articles (n = 18). Holsboer F (n = 4) contributed the most, and Maes M (n = 118) was the most co-cited author. Twenty-six countries and 220 organizations contributed to the top-100 articles, respectively. The USA (n = 48) was the main contributor. NIMH and Kings Coll London both participated in seven articles. Major depression (n = 62), depression (n = 38) and biomarker (n = 31) were the top three keywords. These results indicated that articles published in journals with higher impact factors are more likely to spread. Compared with developing countries, developed countries have contributed more to these articles. It is suggested that cooperation should be strengthened between developed countries and developing counties in the future. More research on biomarkers in the depression field may still mainly focus on major depression. Abbreviation: WoS = Web of Science; JCR = Journal Citation Reports; UK = United Kingdom; NIMH = The National Institute of Mental Health; UCL = University College London; IF = Impact factor; BDNF = brain-derived neurotrophic factor; USA = United States [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a country, the United States spends significantly more on healthcare than other advanced industrialized countries, and Americans have comparably worse health outcomes. Both are developments of the last four decades. In this paper, we look at how change in antitrust and patent law and thus change in market power in the largest four subsectors of healthcare, hospitals, physician groups, prescription drugs, and net medical insurance, have contributed to the increasing cost of medical care in the United States. We show that the annual rent – the degree to which health care is overpriced as a result of market power – was between 2.47 and 4.30 percent of GDP in 2016 – truly a big cost for big medicine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Domestic savings and investment are positively correlated across countries and through time, as first suggested by Feldstein and Horioka (1980). However, whether this long-lasting correlation implies causation is still an open question. In this paper, we use instrumental variables in a panel setting and show that domestic savings do cause investment in developing economies. In contrast, for advanced countries the statistically significant correlation found in the data seems to result from endogeneity bias. Our identification strategy relies on the idea that age structure influences savings, but not total investment directly. Time-series data patterns for the United States and the theory of Direct Technological Change lend credence to our exclusion restriction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To fill the gap in health research capacity-building efforts, we created the 'Virtual Library' (VL) – a web-based repository of context-relevant resources for health researchers in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). This paper describes the participatory process used to systematically develop the VL, and describes how our interprofessional team – representing both an LMIC (Nepal) and a high-income country (HIC) (USA, US) – engaged in shared meaning-making. A team of researchers and clinicians representing a range of subdisciplines from Nepal and the US created a replicable search strategy and standardized Resource Screening Guide (RSG) to systematically assess resources to be included within the VL. Descriptive methods were used to summarize findings from the RSG and lessons learned from the collaborative process. Collectively, 14 team members reviewed 564 potential resources (mean = 40, SD = 22.7). Mean RSG score was 7.02/10 (SD = 2). More than 76% of resources met each of the four quality criteria (relevant; reputable, accessible; understandable). Within the published VL, 298 resources were included, organized by 15 topics and 45 sub-topics. Of these, 223 resources were evaluated by the RSG; 75 were identified by team member expertise. The collaborative process involved regular meetings, iterative document revisions, and peer review. Resource quality was better than expected, perhaps because best practices/principles related to health research are universally relevant, regardless of context. While the RSG was essential to systematize our search and ensure reproducibility, team member expertise was valuable. Pairing team members during peer-review led to bi-directional knowledge sharing and was particularly successful. This work reflects a highly collaborative global partnership and offers a model for future health research capacity-building efforts. We invite engagement with the Virtual Library <> as one supportive pillar of infrastructure to develop individual and institutional research capacity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the regressive nature of tax exemptions for children compared to child allowances and estimates the decline in child poverty in several developed countries due to child allowances. The paper then estimates the decline in child poverty in the United States due to tax exemptions for children and simulates the impact of various possible child allowance programs on child poverty in the United States. It finds that a $3000 to $4000 child allowance would reduce child poverty in the United States to the level of other developed nations and, due to the costs associated with child poverty, be a cost effective policy change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

F. W. Taylor (1856–1915) is a seminal figure in the history of industrial society and a key reference point for the study of technology, work and the organization of production. This paper locates Taylor's work in the broad historical development of formal systems and ‘rational’ management. The paper notes the historical continuities that link the ‘technologies of control’ which emerged in US industry during Taylor's lifetime and those which appear in contemporary work organizations. This is counterpoised with recent comment on the information technology and the ‘end’ of Taylorist work practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While Japan is today an advanced industrial society, much like the advanced industrial societies of Europe and North America, there are significant cultural and social structural differences found in modern Japan. In this respect, as the first advanced industrial society in Asia, Japan provides us with an interesting test of many sociological theories and concepts which have been formed from the experiences of Western industrial societies. Beginning with the recent example of the Recruit stock scandal in Japan, the present paper will outline some of the important aspects of Japanese social structure, such as extensive group unity and vertical organization, which influence the nature of white collar crime in Japan's current political-economy. From such an examination as this social scientists can better understand not only white collar crime in Japan, but also the nature of white collar crime in the United States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With growing scarcity and competition for water, urban wastewater is increasingly marketable because of its water and nutrient values. Commodification has implications for the current “residual” uses of wastewater (particularly by poor farmers in developing countries), for the risk of disease transmission, and for wastewater-dependent agro-ecosystems. Using examples from Pakistan, India, Ethiopia, Ghana, Mexico, and the United States, this paper contrasts commodification as it occurs in the developed and developing worlds and demonstrates the need for public information and coherent institutional frameworks, including private- and public-sector participation. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper investigates for possible effects of information and communication technology (ICT) in reducing aggregate technical inefficiency. A translog stochastic production frontier is simultaneously estimated with a technical inefficiency model across a panel of forty-two countries in 1993-2001. Strong evidence is provided for a significant impact of ICT in reducing country inefficiencies. Further evidence indicates a significantly positive ICT impact on labor productivity, while it seems that a substitute relationship between ICT and non-ICT capital exists. Based on the model's estimates, the most efficient country in the sample is the United States, followed by India, and a number of other developed countries. Overall, developed countries operate closer to the world frontier. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines whether a large geopolitical event, such as the war in Iraq, can affect foreign bank lending from developed countries to emerging markets. Using country-level data, the paper analyzes the effects of economic shocks and the Iraq war on the availability of foreign bank credit to five countries in the Middle East and North Africa. The war has had a nonuniform effect on foreign banks: Although the war has led to higher U.S. lending, it has also discouraged British and Italian banks from lending to the region. Implications concerning the stability and reliability of foreign bank credit in the face of increased geopolitical risks are identified and discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Africa is a giant market with a population of Europe and Japan combined, and highly diversified with respect to culture, natural resources, economic development, and political regimes. Yet, the continent is largely ignored with respect to research on the multinational activities of U.S. firms. In this paper, we provide the first evidence regarding the operating characteristics of U.S. firms that operate in Africa. We find that firms with operations in Africa are larger, more diversified, and more profitable than a matched control sample of multinational firms. This paper also shows that technology firms, manufacturing firms, and mining firms dominate the rest of companies operating in Africa. Certain geographical regions in Africa also seem to attract more companies than others, with Southern Africa being the most preferred region, while Central Africa is the least preferred. Finally, when a multinational firm invests in a specific country in Africa, it tends to do so in several business sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The premise of this paper is that the U.S. private sector differs from other major industrialized nations with respect to the allocation of capital between commercial structures, residential structures and machinery and equipment. This paper compares the seven major industrialized nations with respect to capital allocation differences among various asset categories, the role of tax depreciation rules in capital allocation and capital formation. The results shed light on how the U.S. compares with its trading partners regarding the proportion of gross domestic product (GDP) that supports capital formation. The results provide evidence on capital allocation differences among the countries and on the influence of tax depreciation in capital allocation, while indicating how various tax acts in the U.S. have affected capital allocation in the U.S. private sector. This study adds to prior studies by disaggregating capital allocation into residential rental structures, commercial structures and machinery and equipment and by examining the influence of various tax acts on capital allocation in the U.S. private sector.

Older Americans are residentially segregated in the American metropolis. This paper reports the results of an ecological analysis of 70 SMSAs and 612 census tracts within these metropolitan areas. Two basic research questions are explored: 1) Why are the elderly segregated from the young? and 2) Where do the elderly reside within the metropolitan area? Metropolitan differences in the level of age segregation can be explained by traditional ecological forces. The effect of these forces however, is regionally variable. Residential patterns of the elderly also vary by region. A general theme of residential choice pervades the regional variation in age segregation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We construct a GFAVAR model with newly released global data from the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas to investigate the drivers of global official/policy interest rate. We find that 66% of movement in global official/policy interest rates is attributed to changes in global monetary aggregates (23%), oil prices (19%), global output (16%) and global prices (8%). Global official/policy interest rates respond significantly to increases in global output, inflation and oil prices. Increases in global policy interest rates are associated with reductions in global prices and global output. The response in official/policy interest rate for the emerging countries is more to global inflation, for the advanced countries (excluding the U.S.) is more to global output, and for the U.S. is to both global output and inflation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Provision of cochlear implants (CIs) for those within the criteria for implantation remains lower in the United States than in some other developed nations. When adults and children are grouped together, the rate of utilization/provision remains low at around 6%. For children, the provision rate is about 50% of those who could benefit from an implant, compared with figures of about 90% for the Flanders part of Belgium, the United Kingdom and other European countries. The probable reasons for this underprovision include: low awareness of the benefits of CIs among the population; low awareness among health-care professionals; the lack of specific referral pathways; some political issues relating to the Deaf Community; and financial issues related to health provision. Such financial issues result in situations which either fail to provide for access to implants or provide too low a level of the necessary funding, especially for low-income individuals covered by public health-care programs such as Medicaid. These issues might be mitigated by adoption and publication of standards for best clinical practices for CI provision, availability of current cost-effectiveness data, and the existence of an organization dedicated to cochlear implantation. Such an organization, the American Cochlear Implant Alliance (ACI Alliance), was recently organized and is described in the paper by Niparko et al. in this Supplement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper documents short- and long-run performance of initial public offerings on the Warsaw Stock Exchange from 1998 to 2008. The study reveals positive initial market-adjusted returns of 13.95 percent and significant long-term underperformance with mean of -22.62 percent for the three-year buy-and-hold strategy. We introduce ordinary least squares regressions to find determinants of initial returns. Our findings document strong explanatory power of early aftermarket volatility, issuer's size, growth opportunities, and profitability before the offering. Moreover, those variables that can partly explain differences in initial returns can also help to shed light on the long-term underperformance issue. Our results are thus consistent with Miller's (1977) divergence of opinion hypothesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given a growing demand of peanut-based products in the developed countries, investing in peanuts production and marketing may provide a way to address the needs for both food and foreign exchange in the developing countries. It is, however, important to consider ever changing preferences and tastes for food products among the consumers in the developed countries while designing such marketing program. This paper examined the attitudes toward reduced fat peanut butter among consumers in the United States for peanut butter. The results showed that consumers' attitudes toward reduced fat peanut butter differed across gender, race, and income groups. Female respondents were more likely to favor reduced fat peanut butter than their male counterpart. Perceptions about peanut butter regarding its nutrition content played a role in formulating consumer attitude. Those who considered peanut butter as a “nutritious” food were less likely to favor reduced fat peanut butter. Single adults and married couples trying to develop a healthy lifestyle with regular exercise habit were likely to be the prime target group for reduced fat peanut butter. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The course of ethnicity in advanced industrial societies continues to be debated without satisfactory resolution. Earlier social theorists, inspired by a vision of the erosion of traditional structures under the impact of a tide of modernization, tended to see ethnicity as receding. More recently, sociologists and others have proclaimed the resilience of ethnicity for some, this is because ethnicity is an affiliation apart, primordial and only superficially modified by currents of modernization, while for others, it is due to ethnicity's moorings in durable structures of inequality. Proponents of the view that ethnicity is resilient are the dominant voice in contemporary discussions, but their dominance is by no means assured, since the conceptual groundwork for interpreting ethnicity remains unsettled. This paper examines some of the interpretative difficulties surrounding ethnicity through the experiences of one group, Italian Americans. In particular, Italians are taken to constitute a strategic test case for some reigning assumptions in the study of ethnicity of European ancestry groups in the United States. Italian Americans are on the verge of the twilight of their ethnicity.

The global man-made-fibre industry has had to endure considerable structural change since the early 1970s. This paper studies both the reasons for the emergence of excess capacity in the industrialised nations and the manner in which producers and governments have dealt with it. It is clear from this study that the pattern and speed of adjustment to different market conditions have varied according to region, and possible reasons are examined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The performance of format demographic feedback models, like Ronald Lee's, provides a test of whether theories of endogenous fertility adjustment, like Richard Easterlin's, can explain the cyclic swings in U.S, and other births that they were designed to explain. This paper shows how the specification of a demographic feedback model determines its ability to sustain cycles of a given period and amplitude observed in data. Only a few of the many versions of Easterlinastyle theories imply formal models which do prove capable of matching U.S. targets, and then only by narrow margins. The general methods presented here are suitable for a broad investigation of the possible role of age- specific feedback in the diversity of more and less cyclic patterns in birth series in the developed world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses vector autoregressions to investigate the interdependence of the monetary policies of the central banks of Germany, Japan and the United States. Granger-Sims causalities and innovation accounting mechanisms suggest that trilateral linkages are strong and complex. The results imply that the influence of foreign central banks' policies limit each central bank's capacity to determine an independent domestic policy.
This paper investigates the relationships among the monetary policies employed by the central banks of three major industrial countries. It employs vector autoregression (VAR). The monetary linkages are based on the money supply reaction functions discussed by Hamada (1976), Canzoneri and Gray (1985), Cooper (1985), Rogoff (1985) and Frankel and Rockett (1988). The VAR technique, which in the past has mostly been applied to the question of money-income causality,[2] has been controversial. King (1983), Runkle (1987) and Spencer (I989) raised doubts about the robustness of VAR estimates, while Jacobs et al. (1979), Cooley and LeRoy (1985) and Learner (1985) questioned its ability to test for the causal inference. However, Sims (1980a, 1980b, 1986) and Todd (1990) in particular respond to critics by asserting that numerical instabilities in VAR estimates cannot overturn the findings on money-income causality. Even skeptics recognize that the technique has many valid uses. Economists such as King and Plosser (1984), Evans (1985, 1986, 1987), Fackler (1985), Bernanke (1986), Blanchard and Watson (1986), Taylor (1986), Barnhart and Darrat (1989), Blanchard (1989) and Brocato and Smith (1991) continue to employ the VAR technique in the areas of macroeconomic fluctuations (not confined to the money-output relationship) and fiscal deficits.
The VAR results for Granger-Sims causalities and innovation accounting mechanisms suggest that monetary linkages among the G-3 are strong. Causality runs from the United States to the other two... [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global health researchers often discount mutual learning and benefit to address shared health challenges across high and low- and middle-income settings. Drawing from a 30-year partnership called AMPATH that started between Indiana University in the US and Moi University in Kenya, we describe an innovative approach and program for mutual learning and benefit coined 'reciprocal innovation.' Reciprocal innovation harnesses a bidirectional, co-constituted, and iterative exchange of ideas, resources, and innovations to address shared health challenges across diverse global settings. The success of AMPATH in Kenya, particularly in HIV/AIDS and community health, resulted in several innovations being 'brought back' to the US. To promote the bidirectional flow of learning and innovations, the Indiana CTSI reciprocal innovation program hosts annual meetings of multinational researchers and practitioners to identify shared health challenges, supports pilot grants for projects with reciprocal exchange and benefit, and produces educational and training materials for investigators. The transformative power of global health to address systemic health inequities embraces equitable and reciprocal partnerships with mutual benefit across countries and communities of academics, practitioners, and policymakers. Leveraging a long-standing partnership, the Indiana CTSI has built a reciprocal innovation program with promise to redefine global health for shared wellbeing at a global scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last decade, Sci-Hub has become prevalent among academic information users across the world. Providing thousands of users with millions of uncopyrighted electronic academic resources, this information pirate website has become a significant threat to copyrights in cyberspace. Information scholars have examined the unequal distribution of IP addresses of Sci-Hub users' nationality and emphasized the high proportion taken by users from the developed countries. This study finds new evidence from Google Scholar. Searching "Sci-Hub.tw" in the academic search engine, the author finds 531 results containing the keyword. Considering the result, the author argues that academic users in South American countries may use Sci-Hub more frequently than their counterparts in the rest of the world. Moreover, users in the Global North also rely on Sci-Hub to complete their research as well. The new evidence on Google Scholar proves the universal use of Sci-Hub across the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Kaldor's growth laws are applied to the post-World War II United States. Each variable employed in the time-series analysis is smoothed with a moving average. This procedure successfully mitigates the effects of short-term cyclical changes and emphasizes long-term economic growth. The empirical tests employing time-series, measuring long-term growth, indicate that Kaldor's laws are compatible with the economic growth of United States.
The purpose of this paper is to analyse post-World War II United States economic growth by applying Kaldor's growth laws. There have been several tests of Kaldor's laws of economic growth using cross-section data for industrially advanced countries (see Thirlwall, 1983). These studies although informative are not able to provide an account of Kaldor's laws in explaining variations of the economic growth of a country over time.
In this paper in order to apply Kaldor's laws to long-term economic growth, the annual growth of each variable employed in time-series analysis is smoothed with a moving average. This procedure, by emphasizing long-term economic growth, is in conformity with the intent of Kaldor's laws and successfully mitigates the effects of short-term cyclical changes. The empirical tests discussed below, employing time-series measuring long-term growth, reveal that Kaldor's laws are compatible with the economic growth of the United States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite taking on several forms throughout history such as colonial medicine, tropical medicine, and international health, the field of global health continues to uphold colonialist structures. History demonstrates that acts of colonialism inevitably lead to negative health outcomes. Colonial powers promoted medical advancements when diseases affected their own people, and only did so for locals when in the colonies' best interests. Numerous medical advancements in the United States also relied on the exploitation of vulnerable populations. This history is critical in evaluating the actions of the United States as a proclaimed leader in global health. A significant barrier to progress in the field of global health is that most leaders and leading institutions are located in high-income countries, thereby defining the global standard. This standard fails to meet the needs of most of the world. In times of crisis, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, colonial mentalities may be more evident. In fact, global health partnerships themselves are often ingrained in colonialism and may be counterproductive. Strategies for change have been called into question by the recent Black Lives Matter movement, particularly in evaluating the role that less privileged communities should have in their own fate. Globally, we can commit to evaluating our own biases and learning from one another. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we use a cross-sectionally correlated and timewise autoregressive model and panel data for the period 1966–2000 to investigate human development as a measure of host country absorptive capacity in 30 developed and developing countries. The results suggest that technology diffusion from US foreign affiliates has a positive and significant impact on labor productivity only if host countries have a minimum level of human development. This condition may partially explain why previous studies show mixed support for the hypothesis that foreign affiliates have a positive effect on productivity in developing countries. Although the results have to be interpreted with caution, the policy implication is that human development enhances the capacity of countries to reap the benefits of foreign direct investments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to provide some empirical explanations for the gaps in information and communication technologies (ICT) diffusion between industrialized countries and especially between European countries and the USA. National macro-economic panel data are mobilized for 11 OECD countries over the 1981–2005 period. The analysis is based on factor demand estimates. It provides some original results: (i) the impact on ICT diffusion is positive for the level of education and negative for market rigidities, and both increased over time (in absolute terms) until mid-1990s; (ii) in each country, the price-elasticity of demand for ICT decreased (in absolute terms) over time, from 2 at the beginning of the 1980s to 1 in the middle of the 2000s. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This special issue contains five articles on the subject of living standards and well-being, important topics in social economics. The authors assess the so-called squirrel cage of work-and-spend, and the culture of overconsumption in the USA and other industrialized countries. They evaluate overwork and the implications for balancing work and family, and underwork and the need for a basic income. The articles in this special issue point to a myriad of policy proposals to be found not only in employer practices but through broader universal policy solutions as well, such as nationally applicable labor standards, and access to paid leave and flexible scheduling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the rapid growth of China's share in the international commodity market and the structural changes of China's commodity exports. It demonstrates a significant improvement of international competitiveness in China's manufacturing sector. The panel data analysis, based on a Solow–Swan type growth model on China's 37 manufacturing industries from 1991 to 2002, reveals that the main sources of the strengthened competitiveness of China's manufacturing sector have been mainly from Total Factor Productivity (TFP), while labour productivity has been increasing and capital productivity has been falling. A preliminary empirical analysis on the impacts of China's increasing competitiveness finds that there are negative correlations between China and most of its neighbouring countries, both newly industrialised economies and other Southeast Asian developing economies. However, there is no evidence of negative impacts of China's increasing competitiveness on developed countries such as the United States and Japan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Achieving a high-quality health system is a complicated journey. Countries employ distinct approaches and build upon lessons learned along the way. Several wealthy industrialized countries have had measurable success advancing the quality of health care provided to their people. In contrast, many developing countries are still endeavoring to identify and implement robust strategies to promote quality health care. By observing the challenges and successes experienced by industrialized nations, developing countries can identify effective methods to advance the quality of their health care systems while avoiding known obstacles. This article describes approaches pursued by the United States and Egypt to advance the quality of their respective health care systems. Contrasting each country's health care initiatives highlights various quality improvement methods that have been undertaken and how one country's experience can inform other countries striving to implement similar efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The article presents an overview of papers published in the September 1, 1996 issue of the "International Journal of Public Administration." This issue discusses the current challenges facing public administration in Canada, the U.S. and Mexico, as viewed by authors. It includes articles on challenges that are emerging from economic integration in both North America and Europe as well as an article no the similarities and differences of policy making process of developed and developing countries. Essays reveal that the domestic problems demand primary attention in Mexico, Canada and the United States. Achieving the goal of greater interaction among the three countries and with the world depends on their capacity to solve their internal problems or conflicts which in turn depends on more efficient and at the same time, more democratic policies. On the basis of the articles published in the periodical one may conclude that the hypothesis that the Mexican case is more complex than is usually thought, while the U.S. system is more integrated than its formal structure would at first lead one to believe.

Health tourism is a booming billion-dollar business, which has attracted the attention of academia and industry. Most of the research conducted on health tourism has been conceptual or has mainly focused on health tourism activities from developed to developing countries. This study investigates the impact of tourism demand on health-related tourism spending in a developed country (Canada) with a dominant tourism market (United States (U.S.)). The study considers both volume and price effects of health tourism during the period of 1986–2016, by applying time-series analysis, including unit root and cointegration testing and application of autoregressive distribution lag modelling. The results show a positive long-term effect of U.S. tourism demand on overall health-related tourism spending in Canada, but varying results when considering the volume and price dimensions. The findings provide further insights for managing the niche business of health tourism in Canada. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work examines the clashes, conflicts, and contentions that exist between science and the law. The traditional and contemporary way through which to finesse any one particular expression of these plural inconsistencies between these respective realms of human endeavour, is to suggest that science and the law occupy radically different 'magesteria' of thought. That is, they prove necessarily incommensurate, one with the other, since they are framed by, react to, and serve fundamentally different human constituencies. I formally reject both the theoretical and pragmatic expressions of this division here by juxtaposing their evident, mutual consideration of a common reality. I explicate the origin of this schism between science and law but point out that not all cultures have rended apart these two facets of humanity. I illustrate my general arguments with brief reference to specific Human Factors/Ergonomic (HF/E) forensic cases and look to elucidate to what degree these examples are typical or exceptional. I also examine various traps and seductions that beset the scientific expert involved in the legal realm. Most examples are drawn from civil litigation and relatively few specific observations are made here concerning criminal proceedings. Also, international forms of judicial administration are not explicitly considered, except where applicable to illustrative circumstances in the western world. Polemic assertions are provided to stimulate future discussion amongst HF/E forensics professionals, as well as those involved with the wider processes of science in court. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent immigration to the United States and other developed nations has increasingly been from countries that have relatively traditional gender norms. This study uses data from the Current Population Survey for 2000–14 to investigate how source-country gender norms influence the labor supply and fertility of married women across immigrant generations in the US. It finds that immigrants' and descendants' labor supply and fertility are associated with the female-to-male labor force participation ratio and total fertility rate in the source country; importantly, the association declines across successive generations. Husbands' source-country characteristics are also associated with the labor supply and fertility of immigrant women. These findings indicate evolution and assimilation of traditional gender norms in the long run. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This study aimed to analyze the Austrian health care system using the ecology of care model. Our secondary aim was to compare data from Austria with those available from other countries. Design: 3508 interviews employing a 30-item questionnaire related to the utilization of the health care system including demographic factors were conducted. Participants were chosen by a Random Digital Dialing procedure. Further, a literature review of studies of other countries use of the ecology of care model was conducted. Main outcome measures: Austria has one of the highest utilization of health care services in any of the assessed categories. The comparison with the literature review shows that Austria has the highest utilization of specialists working in the outpatient sector as well as the highest hospitalization rates. Taiwan and Korea have comparable utilization patterns. Canada, Sweden, and Norway are countries with lower utilization patterns, and the U.S. and Japan are intermediate. Conclusion: In Austria and similarly organized countries, high utilization of all health care services can be observed, in particular, the utilization of specialists and hospitalizations. The over-utilization of all levels of health care in Austria may be due to the lack of a clear demarcation line between the primary and secondary levels of care, and the presence of universal health coverage, which also allows for unrestricted and undirected access to all levels of care. Previous studies have shown that comparable countries lack the health benefits of a strong primary care system with its coordination function. In Austria and similarly organized countries, there appears to be high utilization of health care in general, as well as with particular utilization of specialists and hospitalizations. The high utilization of all levels of care in Austria may be the result of competition, lack of a clear demarcation line between the primary and secondary level of care, and the presence of universal health coverage. Pathways between primary and secondary care should be strengthened as previous studies have shown that comparable countries lack the health benefits of strong primary care and its function for health care coordination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite numerous scholarly attempts to understand and improve the health outcomes of childbearing in highly technical, developed countries, a theoretical and methodological deficit persists in regard to capturing a woman and her newborn's intrapartal experience. In an effort to construct a criterion measure and research tool that is not limited to one or two aspects of the labor and delivery experience, the authors created the Labor and Delivery Outcome Scale (LDOS). The LDOS survey was mailed to a nationwide, random sample of 1500 experienced U.S. accoucheurs, including nurse-midwives, family practice physicians, and obstetricians, and they were asked to rate 102 physiological and psychosocial events and outcomes along a Likert scale regarding their relationship to the overall intrapartal experience. The goal of this forced-choice format was to have practitioners quantify the quality of individual labor and delivery experiences. The authors received a total of 391 questionnaires, representing an overall response rate of 26.1%. On a scale of –16 to +16 the scores ranged from –15.7 (SD = 1.5) for the outcome of infant born as fetal demise (stillbirth) to +12.6 (SD = 4.4) for active involvement of support person(s) in assisting woman during labor. Reliability of the instrument was demonstrated with a Cronbach's alpha score of r = 0.92. Criterion-related validity was established, since the LDOS scores were significantly related to type of delivery (vaginal versus Cesarean-section), Apgar scores at 1 and 5 min, gestational age, and the total number of labor and delivery complications experienced. The creation of the LDOS, and the subsequent testing of its reliability and validity as described here, has been an important step toward quantifying for research purposes the intrapartal experience of women in highly technical, developed countries. Potential uses for the LDOS are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the increasing frugality of consumers. The rate of economic growth continues to decelerate all through the industrialized world because many consumers opt for frugal lifestyles. The Stanford Research Institute projects that almost five million American adults practice the life of voluntary simplicity. The phenomenon of frugality started when middle-class people reject high-consumption lifestyles in the industrialized world. American consumers continue to lose confidence on materialism and they are joined by other people who accept frugality because of the unstable economy.

The article offers information on solar sea power. It is noted that the tropical oceans store large quantities of solar power. The recovery of this type of energy could offer a major share of the energy for the United States and other industrial countries close to tropical seas. The U. S. Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA) termed their program for transforming into electric energy the solar energy gathered by the tropical seas as Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC). In an OTEC plant, the identified heat input is the surface water of the tropical seas heated by the sun.

The article focuses on the physical and social factors that influenced the distribution of raw materials in developing and industrialized countries such as the U.S. The author notes that the unequal distribution of natural resources is one physical factor that influence access to raw materials while social factors stem from the uneven economic development that resulted to the need for raw materials. Other factors are derived from the demand of developing countries for primary metals such as iron ore and cooper. Information about the available oil reserves and world steel production are discussed.

The article discusses the difficulties that Asian countries encounter in their process of economic development. The author gives a comparison between the economic development of the U.S. and India. He notes that Americans started under conditions of extreme abundance of natural resources relative to population while the Indians started under conditions of extreme population relative to natural resources. Several factors are presented that affect the economic difficulties of Asian countries which include the underestimation of natural resources, change in demographic structure, and rapid population.

Miguel Sabido's entertainment-education (EE) serial drama strategy has been applied effectively in several developing countries. However, in media-saturated industrialised countries, the full application of his serial drama strategy and EE practices has been rare, due to a number of challenges. This article 1) presents the step-by-step processes involved in the design and implementation of two localised EE radio serial drama projects:BodyLovein the State of Alabama in the US andBay for the Seventeenin Kumamoto, Japan, and 2) discusses the lessons learned from these two cases. Although the two projects were developed and produced in very different local contexts, overarching lessons learned were that collaboration with local stakeholders using a participatory approach is key to project success, and that efforts, resources and creativity are required for evaluating EE mass media programmes in a media-saturated environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the United States and the rest of the developed world lurch toward austerity economics-spending cuts-to deal with the latest financial crises of 2011 and surely 2012, Stephen Dunn says John Kenneth Galbraith offered us one of the most cogent warnings-that these events do repeat-always believing that financial markets were inherently unstable. His lessons went unheeded for the past few decades, but now, the same arguments these nations were given in the 1930s are being repeated. How can this be? We need a good history. Galbraith wrote one. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates the impact of the Financial Services Modernization Act (FSMA) on foreign banks. We find that the banking sectors of most developed countries experience significant negative spillover effect. However, the impacts on any two countries' banking sectors are not identical. Most importantly, we show that exposure to systematic risk with respect to the world equity index can explain the cross-sectional variation of the wealth effects. We also find that larger banks are more adversely affected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates the Environmental Kuznets Curves (EKC) for CO2 emissions in a panel of 109 countries during the period 1959 to 2001. The length of the series makes the application of a heterogeneous estimator suitable from an econometric point of view. The results, based on the hierarchical Bayes estimator, show that different EKC dynamics are associated with the different sub-samples of countries considered. On average, more industrialized countries show evidence of EKC in quadratic specifications, which nevertheless are probably evolving into an N-shape based on their cubic specification. Nevertheless, it is worth noting that the EU, and not the Umbrella Group led by US, has been driving currently observed EKC-like shapes. The latter is associated to monotonic income-CO2 dynamics. The EU shows a clear EKC shape. Evidence for less-developed countries consistently shows that CO2 emissions rise positively with income, though there are some signs of an EKC. Analyses of future performance, nevertheless, favour quadratic specifications, thus supporting EKC evidence for wealthier countries and non-EKC shapes for industrializing regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study draws attention to one of the most significant but least examined aspects of the global security environment: the transnational private security business. The importance of private military companies (PMCs), which have tactical warfare capabilities equivalent to those of the militaries of developed countries, has increased since the inception of the Iraq War in 2003. The weakness of state security forces in countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan, combined with the need to downsize and outsource an already overtasked US military, has left security gaps in these countries. Some argue that filling these gaps with PMCs is an economically feasible, politically viable, and flexible option for US policymakers. Our study tests this argument by asking about the political effects of PMCs, profit-focused corporations that operate largely outside national and international law, on the sovereignty and legitimacy of the fragile states in which PMCs operate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The saving rate for U.S. households has long been low relative to those in other wealthy countries and in recent decades this rate has plummeted. Most studies of household saving behavior are based on the life-cycle theory of saving, However, there is doubt as to whether these studies adequately explain the low and declining rate in the United States. This study explores two hypotheses that depart from the life-cycle explanatory framework. The first hypothesis examines the possibility that the low rate of household saving in the United States is related to Americans' strong belief that vertical mobility in the United States is readily possible and hence their relatively weak sense of class identity. A second corollary hypothesis is that in an economy in which a high degree of vertical mobility is thought possible, a high degree of inequality in the distribution of income and wealth may reinforce the tendency to save little. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]