Business Commons^™

Workers, Families, And Immigration Policies, Shannon Gleeson

Shannon Gleeson

[Excerpt] Unauthorized immigration to the US has a long and varied history shaped by a number of shifts in immigration policy. Of the global immigrant stock, 10–15 % is estimated to be undocumented (20–30 million; International Organization for Migration 2008). Today, undocumented immigrants comprise roughly 40 % of the immigrant flow to the US. Although immigrants often come to this country as a result of complex factors that were initiated or supported by the US—including free trade agreements and wars that devastated immigrants’ home countries and their national economies—once they become unauthorized, they find themselves in extremely vulnerable positions. Besides …

Developing A Holistic Approach For Tackling Undeclared Work: Background Paper, Colin C. Williams

Colin C Williams

Multilevel Marketing Diffusion And The Risk Of Pyramid Scheme Activity: The Case Of Fortune Hi‐Tech Marketing In Montana, Stacie A. Bosley, Kim Mckeage

Stacie Bosley

While statisticians have simulated the expected rate of growth in pyramid schemes, this research examines actual data on the spread of an alleged pyramid scheme in Montana. Fortune Hi-Tech Marketing (FHTM) was a multilevel marketing firm, sued by six states and the Federal Trade Commission and permanently shut down in 2014. Data from a settlement with the State of Montana provide a population of participants in a geographic region with definable markets and offer unique insights into local contagion. The authors analyze the pattern of FHTM adoption within a diffusion-of-innovation framework. The findings confirm that nearly all adoption results from …

Innovation In The Not For Profit Sector: A Regional Australian Case Study., Grant Cairncross, Charlie Brennan, Julie Tucker

Grant Cairncross

This paper explores the impact of the “Innovation Farm,” a social innovation project that aimed to help long-term unemployed, highly disadvantaged jobseekers living on the Coffs Coast of the Mid-North Coast of New South Wales, overcome barriers to employment and/or further training. The project was delivered by the Coffs Harbour Employment Support Services (CHESS), a not-for-profit, social enterprise organisation. It was funded from 2009-2012 by the Australian Federal Government’s Department of Employment Education and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) through the Department’s Innovation Fund. The research found that whilst the project achieved a commendable level of success its on-going viability was compromised …

The Shadow Economy, Colin C. Williams, Friedrich Schneider

Colin C Williams

No abstract provided.

Attracting Fdi: The Chilean Government's Role Promoting Renewable Energy, Kyle Herman

Dr. Kyle S. Herman

The development and implementation of renewable energy power plants is important for Chile in order to increase energy security, supply remote mines with electricity, and eventually decrease energy costs. The Chilean government has promoted renewable energy and attracted Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) to develop large-scale renewable energy projects. However, the policies cannot sufficiently attract FDI in unproven renewable energies such as Concentrated Solar Power, though it is proven elsewhere. This paper examines the Chilean government’s renewable energy policies, related government agencies, and the extent that these provide a stable backdrop for FDI in large-scale renewable energy projects. Following that summary, …

Counterpoint: Reply To Orrenius And Zavodny, Vernon Briggs

Vernon M Briggs Jr

[Excerpt] On the fundamental conclusions, the positions argued by Pia Orrenius and Madeline Zavodny and my own are in essential agreement. The immigration policy of the United States is in dire need of changes. The public concern is, in their words, “driven by the increase in immigration in recent years, particularly of unauthorized immigration.” Our mutual worries pertain to the disproportionately adverse impacts of the immigrant inflow on the nation’s low-skilled work force and the high fiscal burden borne by local communities and states with growing immigrant populations. The differences between the two papers center on the approaches taken to …

The Elusive Goal: The Quest For A Credible Immigration Policy, Vernon Briggs

Vernon M Briggs Jr

[Excerpt] The starting point for all immigration reform efforts must be making the immigration system enforceable. Nothing else makes sense. Otherwise, immigration policy is on a squirrel wheel going nowhere. Illegal immigrants will keep coming in defiance of its terms.

Workers’ Rights: Rethinking Protective Labor Legislation, Ronald G. Ehrenberg

Ronald G. Ehrenberg

This paper focuses on a few directions in which protective labor legislation might be expanded in the United States over the next decade and the implications of expansion in each area for labor markets. Specifically, it addresses the areas of hours of work, unjust dismissal, comparable worth, and plant closings. In each case, the discussion stresses the need to be explicit about how private markets have failed, the need for empirical evidence to test such market failure claims, the need for economic analysis of potential unintended side effects of policy changes, and the existing empirical estimates of the likely magnitudes …

Oportunidades De Desarrollo Productivo De La Población De Afectación Prioritaria En La Operación Estratégica Fontibón – Aeropuerto Eldorado – Engativá, Iván A. Rojas V

Iván Rojas V

The book analyzes the case of Operation Strategic Fontibón - Eldorado Airport - Engativa (OEFAE) and the implications on the urban economy of the city and potential opportunities for productive development for the population affected by the project in 2010 in Bogotá DC. El libro analiza el caso de la Operación Estrategica Fontibón - Aeropuerto ElDorado - Engativa (OEFAE) y las implicaciones sobre la economía urbana de la ciudad y las posibles oportunidades de desarrollo productivo para la población afectada por el proyecto en el 2010 en la ciudad de Bogotá DC.

Poverty Measures And Anti-Poverty Policy, Francois Bourguignon, Gary S. Fields

Gary S Fields

[Excerpt] Amartya Sen has made fundamental contributions to the study of distributional aspects of economic growth and decline. Among his pathbreaking works are his lectures on the economics of inequality (Sen, 1973), his article on the axiomatics of poverty measurement (Sen, 1976), and his book on anti-poverty policy in the context of famines (Sen, 1981). This paper is concerned with one of these areas, namely, the measurement of poverty and the implications for anti-poverty policy. In the 1960's and 1970's those who were working in the poverty field held a number of somewhat incompletely articulated views as to the extent …

Estimating The Effects Of Changing Social Security Benefit Formulas, Gary S. Fields, Olivia S. Mitchell

Gary S Fields

[Excerpt] The U.S. Social Security system faces serious financial difficulties in both the short and the long run. The short-run problem is that the system has very meager financial reserves. In the long run—after the year 2010, when the post-World-War-II baby-boom generation reaches retirement age—the financial problems of Social Security will intensify because of population aging and the consequent decline in the ratio of workers to retirees.

These problems have led to proposed reforms aimed at assuring the financial stability of the system. The question addressed here is: what effects would these reforms have on three variables—retirement ages, retirement incomes, …

The Impact Of Government Policies On Urban Employment In Small Economies, Gary S. Fields

Gary S Fields

[Excerpt] Most of the policies intended to affect urban employment are not specifically employment policies nor are they specifically urban. Rather, the amount of urban employment, the composition of that employment, and the returns from it are determined by a whole host of policies. To review them all in a short paper is an impossible undertaking. The criterion by which I decided which policies to consider is policy-relevance, asking which set of policies is apt to have the largest impact on employment.

Employment In Construction And Distribution Industries: The Impact Of The New Jobs Tax Credit, John H. Bishop

John H Bishop

Excerpt] The New Jobs Tax Credit (NJTC) offers a tax credit of fifty percent of the first $4200 of wages per employee for increases in employment of more than two percent over the previous year. Economic theory predicts that such a tax credit should stimulate employment, decrease hours worked per week, and reduce product prices of the subsidized industries. A time series analysis of the construction, retailing, and wholesaling industries finds strong support for these hypotheses. Our results suggest that the NJTC was responsible for 150,000-670,000 of the more than 1-million increase in employment that occurred between mid-1977 and mid-1978 …

Holding The Line: Labor’S Safety & Health Movement, Lance A. Compa

Lance A Compa

[Excerpt] Is OSHA finally enforcing the law after years of laxity? Or, as most activists and analysts involved in safety and health believe, do the high-profile penalties constitute an attempt by OSHA to shore up its reputation? A recent independent federal study, the conclusions of which were confirmed by the agency's own consultants, found OSHA in a state of "total paralysis." Another, private, study by the National Safe Workplace Institute showed that OSHA's inspections are inadequate and untimely, that the agency consistently fails to insure that what hazards it does uncover are corrected, and that it often and unjustifiably reduces …

Job Loss: Causes, Consequences, And Policy Responses, Kristin F. Butcher, Kevin F. Hallock

Kevin F Hallock

From 2001 to 2003, 5.3 million workers were displaced. Beyond quantifying the numbers of jobs lost lie important questions about gains and losses from these changes and what policies may affect them. These questions will be addressed at an upcoming Chicago Fed conference.

Assessing The Impact Of Job Loss On Workers And Firms, Kristin F. Butcher, Kevin F. Hallock

Kevin F Hallock

Many economists agree that the United States’ openness to competition and technological change raises our living standards, but sometimes results in job losses. This article summarizes “Job Loss: Causes Consequences, and Policy Responses,” a conference which was cosponsored by the Federal Reserve Bank Chicago and the Joyce Foundation.