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Articles 31 - 60 of 128
Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
The Dynamics Of Poverty, Inequality And Economic Well-Being: African Economic Growth In Comparative Perspective, Gary S. Fields
The Dynamics Of Poverty, Inequality And Economic Well-Being: African Economic Growth In Comparative Perspective, Gary S. Fields
Gary S Fields
Two hundred and fifty million Africans (about 45% of the population) are poor. In rural areas, where most Africans live, there is, alas, a 'poor majority'. Rural poverty rates range from 37% in Madagascar and 41% in Kenya to 88% in Zambia and 94% in Ghana (Table 1). It is hard to imagine an issue in development economics that is of greater importance to humankind than the effects of economic growth on poverty and economic well-being. Yet there is remarkably little consensus on this vitally important issue, as illustrated by the following two polar positions: New patterns of growth will …
Changes In Poverty And Inequality In Developing Countries, Gary S. Fields
Changes In Poverty And Inequality In Developing Countries, Gary S. Fields
Gary S Fields
This paper presents new data on poverty, inequality, and growth in those developing countries of the world for which the requisite statistics are available. Economic growth is found generally but not always to reduce poverty. Growth, however, is found to have very little to do with income inequality. Thus the "economic laws" linking the rate of growth and the distribution of benefits receive only very tenuous empirical support here.
Income Distribution In Developing Economies: Conceptual, Data, And Policy Issues In Broad-Based Growth, Gary S. Fields
Income Distribution In Developing Economies: Conceptual, Data, And Policy Issues In Broad-Based Growth, Gary S. Fields
Gary S Fields
[Excerpt] The aim of economic development is to raise the standard of living of a country's people, especially its poor. Economic growth, particularly when broadly based, is a means to that end. 'Underdevelopment' can be defined as a state of severely constrained choices. When one is choosing from among an undesirable set of alternatives, the outcome will itself be undesirable. Standards of living will be low. If standards of living are to be improved, people must have a better set of alternatives from which to choose. 'Economic development' is the process by which the constraints on choices are relaxed. Based …
Private Returns To Investment In Higher Levels Of Education In Kenya, Gary S. Fields
Private Returns To Investment In Higher Levels Of Education In Kenya, Gary S. Fields
Gary S Fields
[Excerpt] A widespread phenomenon in less-developed countries-has been the rapid growth of schools and institutions of higher learning resulting in a so-called “education explosion." One possible explanation for the education explosion is that education is a profitable personal investment, as evidenced by high private rates of return. The high private returns are translated into demands on politicians for additional schooling spaces. To gain or maintain public favor, each politician uses his influence to try to increase the number of schools in his constituency. By this chain of events, growth of educational systems might be anticipated as long as private rates …
Wage Floors And Economic Development, Gary S. Fields
Wage Floors And Economic Development, Gary S. Fields
Gary S Fields
[Excerpt] I shall refer to minimum wages and other wage-increasing institutions collectively as "wage floors." Throughout the paper, they are assumed to be set in real terms, therefore not be eroded by inflation or devaluation. These wage floors typically are sector-specific: unions are stronger in some firms and industries than in others, minimum wage laws apply to some establishments and localities but not to others and are enforced with different degrees of diligence, and so on. As a stylized version of the differential applicability of wage floors, economists from such disparate fields as development economics, labor economics, and international trade …
A Labor Market Approach To The Crisis Of Health Care Professionals In Africa, Mabel Andalón, Gary S. Fields
A Labor Market Approach To The Crisis Of Health Care Professionals In Africa, Mabel Andalón, Gary S. Fields
Gary S Fields
This paper adopts a labor market economics perspective to understanding the crisis of healthcare professionals in Africa. Five challenges resulting from this crisis are identified: a production challenge, an underutilization challenge, a distributional challenge, a performance challenge, and a financing challenge. Differences between the labor market approach and others used in the health field are noted. We conclude that more empirical data, a full labor market analysis, and the use of social benefit-cost criteria are all needed before policy recommendations to address any of these challenges can be confidently offered.
Labor Force Migration, Unemployment And Job Turnover, Gary S. Fields
Labor Force Migration, Unemployment And Job Turnover, Gary S. Fields
Gary S Fields
[Excerpt] In this paper, we show how labor turnover considerations can be integrated into the human investment theory of migration and demonstrate that such a model provides a much better explanation for migration rates into major metropolitan areas than the conventionally-used unemployment rate. The method used here may be of interest as well to researchers working on other human investment problems that also have a multi-period dimension.
[Review Of The Book Jobs And Incomes In A Globalizing World], Gary S. Fields
[Review Of The Book Jobs And Incomes In A Globalizing World], Gary S. Fields
Gary S Fields
[Excerpt] This is a timely book about the labour market effects of globalization – specifically, the effects of globalization on jobs, wages and incomes in industrialized and developing countries. Ajit Ghose defines globalization as “a process of integration of national markets into a global market.” Globalization, he writes, is of such great concern now because of a new development: trade between developed and developing countries in competing products.
[Review Of The Book Social Security: A Critique Of Radical Proposals], Gary S. Fields
[Review Of The Book Social Security: A Critique Of Radical Proposals], Gary S. Fields
Gary S Fields
[Excerpt] This book consists of six essays on Social Security. Charles Meyer leads off with a survey of the history of Social Security, its funding problems, and a radical reform proposal by Peter Ferrara to phase out the system. The remaining essays address various features of Social Security.
[Review Of The Book Beneath The Miracle: Labor Subordination In The New Asian Industrialism], Gary S. Fields
[Review Of The Book Beneath The Miracle: Labor Subordination In The New Asian Industrialism], Gary S. Fields
Gary S Fields
[Excerpt] Have workers in the newly industrializing countries (NIC's) of Asia benefited from the rapid economic growth in their economies? In this important book, Frederic Deyo contends that "beneath the miracle" of economic growth is the "extreme political subordination and exclusion of workers" in the economic development of Hong Kong, Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan. He sees the inability of East Asian workers to "influence the political and economic decisions that have shaped their lives" as the "dark underside" of Asian economic growth. The main body of the book is an examination of why this subordination has taken place.
[Review Of The Book Retirement Income Opportunities In An Aging America: Income Levels And Adequacy], Gary S. Fields
[Review Of The Book Retirement Income Opportunities In An Aging America: Income Levels And Adequacy], Gary S. Fields
Gary S Fields
[Excerpt] The slant of this volume will not appeal to everyone. Consider the following: "During the last twenty years, the elderly's financial status has improved substantially. Today those who are over age 65 receive income from more sources and have greater financial independence than previous generations of elderly. . . . This report concludes that the elderly's income levels and sources will continue to improve during the next twenty years or more" (p. v). But what of the poverty that remains among the elderly, especially single individuals? What of the threat to real social security benefit levels? What of the …
[Review Of The Book Technology Choice And Employment Generation By Multinational Corporations In Developing Countries], Gary S. Fields
[Review Of The Book Technology Choice And Employment Generation By Multinational Corporations In Developing Countries], Gary S. Fields
Gary S Fields
[Excerpt] The present volume, by addressing technology choice and employment in multinational enterprises (MNEs), adds to our understanding of the determinants of demand for labor in developing countries. The book synthesizes results from case studies of MNEs in Singapore, Nigeria, Brazil, India, and Kenya, and it does so in such a way that the main conclusions can easily be identified.
[Review Of The Book Studies Of Urban Labour Market Behaviour In Developing Areas], Gary S. Fields
[Review Of The Book Studies Of Urban Labour Market Behaviour In Developing Areas], Gary S. Fields
Gary S Fields
[Excerpt] In the 1970s social scientists from all disciplines became aware that an understanding of how labor markets function is central to determining who benefits from economic growth. Only a few researchers concerned with the economic development of Asia, Africa, and Latin America, however, have examined labor markets in any serious way. Hence, a compendium entitled Studies of Urban Labour Market Behavior in Developing Areas is particularly welcome.
[Review Of The Book Bridging The Gap: Four Newly Industrialising Countries And The Changing International Division Of Labour], Gary S. Fields
[Review Of The Book Bridging The Gap: Four Newly Industrialising Countries And The Changing International Division Of Labour], Gary S. Fields
Gary S Fields
[Excerpt] The central focus of this book is the labor force in the context of structural change. Its title, "Bridging the Gap," signifies a concern with drawing the NICs closer to the developed world. The author, a senior economist and staff member of the International Labour Organisation, argues that "the experience of these four NICs also holds lessons for OECD countries, as it deals with such now universal issues as the role of government in the promotion of new ventures; how new growth areas can be identified; how foreign investors are attracted; and what the costs and benefits of government …
[Review Of The Book The Four Little Dragons: The Spread Of Industrialization In East Asia], Gary S. Fields
[Review Of The Book The Four Little Dragons: The Spread Of Industrialization In East Asia], Gary S. Fields
Gary S Fields
[Excerpt] This slim and eminently readable volume presents the 1990 Edwin O. Reischauer lectures delivered by Ezra Vogel, the Henry Ford II Professor of Social Sciences at Harvard University and a leading scholar on Asia. In the first chapter Vogel establishes the context for the experiences of the "late late industrializes". Japan and "the Four Little Dragons" (Hong Kong, Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan). The next three chapters are devoted to the experiences of Taiwan, Korea, and Hong Kong and Singapore, respectively. The last chapter offers an explanation for the dragons' successes.
[Review Of The Book Labor Regulation In The Global Economy], Gary Fields
[Review Of The Book Labor Regulation In The Global Economy], Gary Fields
Gary S Fields
[Excerpt] This is a practical and useful volume on labor standards in today’s highly globalized world. An introduction is followed by ten chapters, some of them general, talking about the ILO or the WTO, and some more specific, focusing on the United States and Europe. The general chapters cover the ILO, corporate codes of conduct, efforts to introduce labor standards into the multilateral trade regime, arguments for and against labor standards in trade, and policy implications. The specific chapters cover U.S. initiatives on child labor, labor standards in the bilateral trade agreements entered into by the United States and the …
[Review Of The Book Urban Labour Market Structure And Job Access In India: A Study Of Coimbatore], Gary S. Fields
[Review Of The Book Urban Labour Market Structure And Job Access In India: A Study Of Coimbatore], Gary S. Fields
Gary S Fields
[Excerpt] This is a book about "labor status"—what it is, how it works, and how it can be used in labor market analysis. The authors make a convincing case that the labor status approach is indeed a useful one to follow.
[Review Of The Book Growth With Equity], Gary S. Fields
[Review Of The Book Growth With Equity], Gary S. Fields
Gary S Fields
[Excerpt] This book, by three nationally respected researchers in the Brookings Institution's Center on Economic Progress and Employment, addresses two problems facing the American economy: anemic productivity improvement and consequent slow economic growth, and growing income inequality. Contrary to their distinguished predecessor at Brookings, the late Arthur Okun, who maintained in a widely cited 1975 book that the twin goals of growth and more equal distribution of income conflict with each other (Arthur M. Okun, Equality and Efficiency: the Big Tradeoff [Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution, 1975]), Baily, Burtless, and Litan argue—correctly, I believe—that growth and equality are compatible goals. "Unless …
[Review Of The Book Successes In Anti-Poverty], Gary S. Fields
[Review Of The Book Successes In Anti-Poverty], Gary S. Fields
Gary S Fields
[Excerpt] Michael Lipton has devoted a long career to studying and fighting poverty in the developing world. In this volume he talks about how to make anti-poverty programs work.
[Review Of The Book Forecasting Retirement Needs And Retirement Wealth], Gary Fields
[Review Of The Book Forecasting Retirement Needs And Retirement Wealth], Gary Fields
Gary S Fields
[Excerpt] This volume enables researchers to learn about some of the latest research findings on specific issues. It is not the place to seek an introduction to current thinking on retirement, pensions, and Social Security—the papers are too narrowly focused for that. But for current or would-he pension specialists, this volume and the larger series of which it is a part are indispensable resources.
[Review Of The Book Private Pension Policies In Industrialized Countries: A Comparative Analysis], Gary S. Fields
[Review Of The Book Private Pension Policies In Industrialized Countries: A Comparative Analysis], Gary S. Fields
Gary S Fields
[Excerpt] John Turner and Noriyasu Watanabe have written numerous articles and books on pensions and employee benefits. In this collaborative effort, they synthesize a great deal of institutional and analytical material on a wide range of countries, including those typically regarded as industrialized (most of the OECD countries are the subjects of case studies and illustrations) and those that would probably be happy to learn that they now fall into that category (in particular, Chile and Argentina). The book is both accessible (there are no equations in sight) and analytical.
[Review Of The Book International Labour Standards And Economic Interdependence], Gary S. Fields
[Review Of The Book International Labour Standards And Economic Interdependence], Gary S. Fields
Gary S Fields
[Excerpt] What can be done to raise the living standards of working people around the world? This collection of 29 essays focuses on an issue currently in the air: the setting of international labor standards. Although the writers come from every continent and represent employers, workers, government, and academia, virtually all favor international labor standards. One should perhaps not be too surprised by this agreement, given that the volume is published under the auspices of the International Institute for Labour Studies, a sister organization of the ILO. Things get interesting when the authors stop lamenting how tough conditions are for …
[Review Of The Book Personnel Economics], Gary S. Fields
[Review Of The Book Personnel Economics], Gary S. Fields
Gary S Fields
[Excerpt] What is personnel economics? Despite its name (non-economists may be put off by the use of the word “personnel,” which was left behind by what is now called human resource management about a quarter century ago), personnel economics deals with issues of fundamental importance in the workplace. As the editors explain in the introduction, “The literature is distinguished from other parts of labour economics primarily by its focus on problems that are central to business.” Thus, personnel economics is economics, it is that part of economics that deals with workplace issues, and it is firmly grounded in labor economics. …
[Review Of The Book Resources, Values And Development], Gary S. Fields
[Review Of The Book Resources, Values And Development], Gary S. Fields
Gary S Fields
[Excerpt] Sen will not let us forget that development economics is a branch of social science. I expect that he will contribute as much to it in the future as he has in the past. For those wishing to join in the study of these issues, Resources, Values and Development would be an excellent place to start.
Who Benefits From Economic Development? - A Reexamination Of Brazilian Growth In The 1960'S, Gary S. Fields
Who Benefits From Economic Development? - A Reexamination Of Brazilian Growth In The 1960'S, Gary S. Fields
Gary S Fields
[Excerpt] The purpose of this paper is to reexamine one of these two challenges, namely, the distributional impact of Brazilian economic growth during the 1960's. My results lead to a quite different interpretation from the conventional one. I will show that the poor in Brazil did participate in the rapid economic growth of the decade. Estimates presented below indicate that average real incomes among families defined as poor by Brazilian standards increased by as much as 60 percent while the comparable figure for nonpoor families is around 25 percent. However, since nonpoor families receive incomes which are much greater than …
[Review Of The Book Income Distribution In Less Developed Countries], Gary S. Fields
[Review Of The Book Income Distribution In Less Developed Countries], Gary S. Fields
Gary S Fields
[Excerpt] This book by R. M. Sundrum, a professor at the Australian National University and former director of the World Bank, is a compilation of issues, ideas, and data on income distribution in less developed countries (LDCs). Each chapter or section has something meaningful to say, and for this reason the book bears careful study. However, no overarching theme or approach is apparent, so the reader is likely to come away with numerous small lessons about distribution and development but few larger conclusions.
Place-To-Place Migration: Some New Evidence, Gary S. Fields
Place-To-Place Migration: Some New Evidence, Gary S. Fields
Gary S Fields
[Excerpt] This paper presents new evidence on the determinants of place-to-place migration in the United States. For understanding the causes of differential migration rates into and out of labor markets, knowledge of place-to-place migration functions is of interest for a number of reasons. Given a thorough understanding of gross place-to-place flows, one can proceed to calculate net flows; the reverse, of course, is not possible. There are also other advantages of place-to-place studies: parallelism to microeconomic behavior, opportunity to investigate specific 'origin-destination match-ups, recognition of the number and location of alternative opportunities for persons residing in different origins, and exploration …
[Review Of The Book The Distribution And Redistribution Of Income: A Mathematical Analysis], Gary S. Fields
[Review Of The Book The Distribution And Redistribution Of Income: A Mathematical Analysis], Gary S. Fields
Gary S Fields
[Excerpt] This book seeks "to bring together, in a single body, the many strands of formal analysis of income distribution and redistribution which have developed since the beginning of the 1970s" (p. ix). It does this beautifully. Peter Lambert has produced an eminently readable and instructive volume, suitable for researchers, practitioners, and students alike.
Who Benefits From Economic Development? Reply, Gary S. Fields
Who Benefits From Economic Development? Reply, Gary S. Fields
Gary S Fields
[Excerpt] Before the appearance of my 1977 paper in this Review, it was widely thought that the income distribution worsened during the economic growth which took place in Brazil during the 1960's. My paper demonstrated that the familiar data, when analyzed from an absolute perspective, could show that the poor had benefited from growth. I found that the entire income distribution shifted, benefiting every income class; that the proportion of the economically active population with incomes below the poverty level (as defined by Brazilian standards) declined during the decade; that those who remained poor were less poor than before in …
Educational Progress And Economic Development, Gary S. Fields
Educational Progress And Economic Development, Gary S. Fields
Gary S Fields
[Excerpt] Many development agencies seek to channel economic assistance to those less-developed countries (LDCs) and activities that will help the poor to achieve a better life (this phraseology is from the U.S. Foreign Assistance Act as amended in 1975). Education is an important indicator of countries' performance. This chapter examines the suitability of alternative education indicators as guides for planning and evaluating countries' progress and commitment toward increasing the participation of the poor in development.