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The purposes of this paper are twofold: a presentation of the theoretical basis of benchmarking and a discussion on practical benchmarking applications. Benchmarking is also analyzed as a productivity accelerator. The authors study benchmarking usage in the private and public sectors with due consideration of the specificities of the two areas. Special attention is paid to the presentation of the current picture of higher education and conditions for the application of benchmarking. The chosen examples of benchmarking projects conducted in higher education illustrate the spectrum of benchmarking usage. The authors conclude the paper with a recommendation for the employment of benchmarking in the higher education environment, especially in the light of competition pressures and rapid economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper (1) examines whether there is a bilateral relationship between HIV/AIDS and economic development; (2) estimates the impact of HIV/AIDS on economic development; and (3) identifies some of the factors affecting the spread of HIV/AIDS. Analyses are based on data from 39 sub-Saharan African countries for the period 1989-1998. HIV/AIDS negatively impacted economic development, with no evidence of a reciprocal relation. Expenditures on health and education as well as political freedom had positive impacts on development, but negative impacts on HIV/AIDS incidence. Expenditures on female education impacted development and HIV/AIDS incidence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the debate concerning the influence of cultural and economic contexts on the adoption of modern values by individual members of society. We have applied for this purpose a multilevel analysis (HLM), using the World Value Survey (WVS) and European Value Survey (EVS) data bank for 36 of the countries included in the 2000 wave. The cultural and economic higher-level variables are represented by religious zones (Protestant, Catholic, Ex-Socialist Catholic and Islamic) and level of economic development (Real Gross Domestic Product per Capita). The individual-level variables include age, gender, schooling and religiousness (N =51792). The dependent variables consist of two measures: political liberal values (PLV) and social liberal values (SLV). The results of the HLM analysis indicate that although most of the variance in both measures derives from differences in individual characteristics across countries, there is also strong evidence for contextual effects of religious zones and economic development, when each factor is examined by itself. Yet because of multi-colinearity, we cannot estimate the effects of the two higher-level variables independently of each other. We end by discussing the theoretical and methodological implications of our findings. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper investigates whether foreign direct investment (FDI) affects economic growth based on a panel of data for 84 countries over the period 1970-99. Both single equation and simultaneous equation system techniques are applied to examine this relationship. A significant endogenous relationship between FDI and economic growth is identified from the mid-1980s onwards. FDI not only directly promotes economic growth by itself but also indirectly does so via its interaction terms. The interaction of FDI with human capital exerts a strong positive effect on economic growth in developing countries, while that of FDI with the technology gap has a significant negative impact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past three decades, those advocating for arts funding have shifted their arguments. When the National Endowment of the Arts (NEA) was created in 1965, its supporters praised arts and culture for their uplifting qualities, and for their ability to counterbalance trends toward materialism and militarism. By the 1990s, arts advocates were far more likely to use instrumentalist arguments, showing that investment in arts and culture produce other desirable benefits, most notably economic development advances. This article reviews the changing discourse of arts advocacy in several ways: (1) by reviewing and coding Congressional debates on arts funding from 1965–2000, (2) reviewing arts coverage in the New York Times and selected arts periodicals during this same time period. Comparing this case to others in the literature on policy redefinition, the paper argues that cultural advocates have consciously reframed their arguments to broaden their appeal in the face new and more threatening opposition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper devises a new indicator (ArCo) of technological capabilities that aims at accounting for developed and developing countries. Building on similar attempts as those devised by UN Agencies, including the UNDP Human Development Report''s Technology Achievement Index (TAI) and UNIDO''s Industrial Performance Scoreboard, this index takes into account a number of other variables associated with technological change. Three main components are considered: the creation of technology, the technological infrastructures and the development of human skills. Eight subcategories have also been included. ArCo also allows for comparisons between countries over time. A preliminary attempt to correlate ArCo to GDP is also presented. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The theoretical section of this paper describes three mechanisms through which science in non-Western countries is institutionalized to follow the forms that are prevalent in the major industrial nations. The empirical section, which is based on a sample of 73 less developed countries (LDCs) and underdeveloped countries (UDCs) demonstrates that the findings are inconsistent with predictions made by theories of economic development and modernization. These theories predict a positive relationship between the degree of institutionalization and economic performance, but, for LDCs we find no such relationship; for the UDCs, it is even negative. Thus we conclude that institutional isomorphism and conformity to external rational myths are loosely coupled with internal economic efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]