Is international economic migration spreading?

"Are the numbers of migrants growing? Proof is hard to come by--many countries' statistics do not provide reliable data for legal migration; most countries do not have good estimates for illegal migration; quite a few have no useable data at all, especially migrant-sending countries. We make use of an alternative yardstick, which over a period of time compares the number of countries that receive foreigners who are economically active or that are these persons' countries of origin.... Our yardstick includes only countries of a minimum population size fixed in terms of a comparable population base in the years 1970 and 1990."     

What does economic freedom buy?

The debate regarding “positive” versus “negative” freedom is discussed in terms of past theoretical and empirical studies. This is followed by an analysis of the impact of “negative” freedom, using a recently developed index of economic freedom for each of the 50 U.S. states allowing for an analysis of otherwise quite homogenous political entities, an advantage not realizable in previous international comparisons. Using several indicators of social well-being, the analysis suggests that the minimalist government aspects of negative freedom are often perversely related to other conditions of well-being, across states, and by implication among nations. Further, it is argued that such an adverse relationship may well flow from the behavior patterns embodied in and encouraged by a single-minded focus on negative freedom.     

Is family planning an economic decision?

This study examines economic models of household choice and the role of economic factors in determining the timing of births. A static economic model is presented and tested with data from the Netherlands. After the availability of contraceptives, the family size variable shifted from being an exogenous to an endogenous one, because births could be regulated. Costs of childbearing were construed to have maintenance costs for parents and society, attendance costs of care, and intangible costs such as anxiety or personal freedom. Benefits were intangible ones, such as joy and happiness; income; public benefits; and attendance benefits. Intangible benefits enlarged the utility of children, but maintenance costs diminished resources available for consumption. Child quality was a product of market goods purchased by parents and others and household labor. Household time allocation varied with child's age. Private responsibility for children varied by country. Quality of child care varied between countries and over time. Quality was dependent upon economies of scale, variable costs by the age of the child, variable time commitments by age of the child, and market substitutes for private child care. Higher income families spent more money but less time on children. It is pointed out that Becker's model explained number of children, but not timing of births. Postponement of birth was unlikely for those with a limited education, an unpleasant job, and low wages. When the advantages and disadvantages of having a baby were positive, spouses or single women with a high subjective preference were expected to bear a child as soon as possible. Government policy can affect the average family size by increasing or decreasing the financial and/or time burden of children. Postponement may be chosen based on long term analysis of a couple's future, the formation and use of capital, and/or high subjective time preference. Before and after first birth are different frames of reference for couples. Before the birth, the future may be vague. After the birth, life without a child becomes unimaginable.     

Where did the new economic sociology come from?

Like all new research fields, the “new economic sociology” was produced by the redeployment of relatively diverse researchers under a single academic label. Academic entrepreneurs in the second half of the 1980s took up the traditional term of the European “founding fathers” claiming they were renewing the discipline while distinguishing themselves from (1) the old homegrown denomination “economy and society,” (2) anti-disciplinary currents such as neo-Marxism, and (3) interdisciplinary movements like “socioeconomics.” The relative unity of the new economic sociology was due more to this set of demarcations than to a specific intellectual approach. The new economic sociology obtained its scientific legitimacy by bringing together two promising new currents: network analysis and neo-institutionalism, along with a more marginal cultural mode of analysis. While there had been very little exchange among these currents, mutual references became more ecumenical once a common label had emerged and distinct intellectual programs were launched. Institutional legitimacy was quickly obtained thanks to the support of the Russell Sage Foundation, enabling a process of expansion that in Europe developed far more slowly. The case of the “new economic sociology” demonstrates that the creation of new subdisciplines cannot be understood merely through the analysis of direct interactions among persons linked to each other by inter-acquaintanceship. In accordance with a field theoretical approach, academic entrepreneurs function under structural conditions which must also be taken into account. Among these structural conditions were changes in the academic field itself (due to demographical effects, the imperialism of economics, and the surge in Business Schools) as well as in the political sphere (the rise of neo-liberalism).

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Asian migrants in Australia: A socio‐economic study

This paper presents a socio‐economic profile of Asian migrants in Australia, using data from the 1981 Census of Population. It shows that Asian migrants are highly educated (large proportions are university graduates and are in professional occupations), English‐speaking (many are bi‐lingual) and mostly Christian. The paper then goes on to estimate the economic benefits Asian migrants bring when they migrate to Australia, as well as the costs they might impose on the economy. Benefits were estimated by measuring the costs of education and training that Australia avoided by allowing skilled migrants to enter the country. In addition, migrants brought in financial capital when they came to Australia. They also contributed to the supply of goods and services by participating in productive employment. The costs that migrants might impose on the economy relate to the possibility of taking jobs and other resources (such as education, health and other public services) which might otherwise have gone to other Australians. Careful estimates of these factors indicate that, far from imposing a burden, Asian migrants make a substantial net contribution to the economy. In addition, the findings do not lend support to the view that they may be a cause of societal dissention, or a threat to Australian democratic institutions. On the contrary, the social attributes they possess indicate that they are well placed to settle successfully, and to make a substantial contribution to the development of Australian society.     

Freedom ossified or economic crisis? A comment on Holger Henke

This article contends with the view that the political crisis in some Anglophone Caribbean countries—primarily Jamaica—can be understood as arising from the black middle‐class leadership's use of race and nationalism to obscure class issues. It argues that the race and national issues were and are legitimate class issues and that it is theoretically and practically a mistake to counterpose the two. The black middle class achieved important victories against colonialism and racism but now is faced with global economic and political forces for which it is ill‐equipped to address. The political crisis that it faces is more a result of these global forces than it is of the internal weakness of this class.     

Interfamily economic exchange: A function of culture or economics?

This study explores differences in inter-household exchange of goods and services in Anglo- and Mexican-American families controlling for income level and for ethnicity. The extent of such exchange, its perceived importance to the family's quality of life, satisfaction with the exchange, and the relation of persons in the exchange process are examined. Significant differences are found more often between higher income Anglo- and Mexican-Americans than between low-income families, both in the family providing goods and services for others and in the receipt of them. Higher income Mexican-American families are more likely than their Anglo- counterparts to exchange with relatives. Ethnic effects are more prevalent in higher income households than in low-income households. Economic effects are more predominant than ethnic effects.This study contributes to interregional Agricultural Experiment Station Research Project NC-128, Quality of Life as Influenced by Area of Residence. Cooperating states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, Ohio, Texas.Flora L. Williams' current research interests include income adequacy, financial problems, and indicators of change in economic well-being. She is an Associate Professor, Consumer Sciences and Retailing, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907.     

The concept of a “merit good” the ethical dimension in economic theory and the history of economic thought or the transformation of economics into socio-economics

The purpose of this paper is to defend the concept of a “merit good” and to expand its application. This is achieved by using a Kantian philosophical argument applied to the writings of foundational economists such as Adam Smith and Henry Simons (and Walter Eucken in the German literature). As a result the concept of a “merit good” is used to classify and argue for a number of governmental tasks such as the institutional arrangements to make a free market economy work, work efficiently and work in a humane way. Methodologically, this paper connects—as the work of Joseph A. Schumpeter already has—economic theory, the history of economic thought and institutional economics and thereby demonstrates that economics is necessarily about socio-economics.     

How do economic downturns affect welfare leavers? A comparison of two cohorts

Early welfare reform research showed high rates of employment for TANF leavers. However, work-focused welfare may not be effective during an economic downturn. We investigate the employment of Wisconsin TANF leavers, contrasting outcomes among early leavers (1998) with those who left during the 2001 recession. We use data from administrative records on about 6000 welfare leavers, tracking quarterly employment for 3 years after they left benefits. Separate panel data analyses of those exiting in two different time periods show that individual leavers are less likely to be employed when their local unemployment rate is high in the later cohort; no relationship is found for the early cohort. In a panel analysis in which the cohorts are combined, we find that leavers in the later cohort, who experienced the recession early in their post-welfare career, are less likely to be employed, a result that holds controlling for observed and unobserved characteristics. These findings raise questions about how well single-parent families and their children will fare during difficult economic times now that welfare reform has such a strong emphasis on work.     

Does housework matter anymore? The shifting impact of housework on economic inequality

In recent years, American women’s housework time has declined while American men’s housework time has risen. We examine how these changes have affected economic inequality in the United States. Using time-diary data from the Time Use in Economic and Social Accounts, 1975–1976 (N = 1,484) and the American Time Use Survey, 2003 (N = 5,534), we value adults’ housework using two alternative methodologies and assess its influence on households’ real access to goods and services in both years. Results suggest that housework reduces economic inequality in both years. But, between 1975–1976 and 2002–2003, overall economic inequality rose largely because of the growing wage inequality and also, in part, because of growth in housework inequality. Socio-demographic change partially inhibited the overall growth in economic inequality.

Public governance of information asymmetries—The gap between reality and economic theory

There are numerous situations where governments take action due to systematic information asymmetries in society, while economics textbooks do not offer an integrated theory to justify these interventions in terms of utility. This paper starts with a taxonomy of situations where governments try to correct for information asymmetries. A distinction is made between government interventions due to information asymmetries between market partners, within political markets and between the government and citizens. It is then shown that Public Choice Theory offers only few and Public Finance Theory not enough explanations for the prevalence of such government interventions. Further explanations for government actions are given by Institutional Economics and Cultural and Behavioural Economics. The latter will probably generate the best progress towards creating better explanations.     

Building an economic field with supranational supports? Lessons from wine production in Romania

In empirical studies of the real estate market, Pierre Bourdieu shows that the structuring of the ‘economic field’ is closely linked to that of the ‘bureaucratic field’. Through its regulatory activity, government plays a part in the legitimation of particular forms of economic activity as well as in the construction of the resulting hierarchies. This analytical framework is generally applied at the level of the State. Our point is to extend the scope of that analysis. An extension of the bureaucratic field can be characterized if one takes the view that international and supranational administrations play an active role in the organization of economic activities. In order to assess the relevance of this interpretative standpoint, light is shed on the case of the Romanian wine-making economy. The aim is to study a sectoral policy over which the European Commission has recently taken control and to measure its effects within a new Member State. This perspective is even more informative because Romanian wine production is being restructured: new operators have made their presence felt over the last decade, while the national government has lacked the means to make a determined effort to place these operators within a hierarchy. The Commission offers support to various agents who speak on behalf of Romanian ‘wine-making interests’ and influences the directions taken by conflicts between these interests. At the same time, it maintains a structural contradiction which prevents the formation of an economic field in the full sense of the term: the points at issue are defined in such a way as to conflict with the shape of any stable coalition between the dominant agents. The demonstration is supported by qualitative data collected during field studies carried out in 2010 and 2011.     

Migration from Jamaica in the 1970s: political protest or economic pull?

This article discusses the high rates of out-migration from Jamaica in the late 1970s. The principal receiving countries of Jamaican migrants since World War II have been in the UK, the US, and Canada. Average yearly out-migration from Jamaica between 1964 and 1984 stands at 20,736. Since the 1950s 1) the actual number of migrants from Jamaica to the UK has decreased considerably with the introduction of prohibitive legislation in 1962, 2) the "slack" has been taken by the US and Canada, and 3) migration to the US dipped slightly in the early to mid 1970s, yet increases during those years of Jamaicans migrating to Canada adequately compensated for any loss of an outlet to the US. The "brain drain" forms a chronic feature of the Jamaican economy--a permanent sapping process of much needed labor--not simply an occasional event capable of being explained primarily by the political position of a particular politician. The increases in the migration rates of professional, technical, administrative, and managerial workers, and skilled craftsmen in 1977 and 1978 did not herald a new event; high rates of migration for these categories of workers have existed for several years. The volume and the composition of the actual Jamaican migrant population are decided in the main by legislation in other parts of the world. Although Jamaica's population problem has been eased over the years by as much as 50% of the country's natural increase being removed by migration, many of those who left were of the type whose skills might have contributed to the national economy--and in ways that might have created employment for others. The economic pull of loss of skilled labor is a permanent feature; legislative pull is the key.     

Review essay: Psychological disorders,socio‐economic forces and American race relations

The Crucible of Race: Black‐White Relations in the American South Since Emancipation. By Joel Williamson. New York: Oxford University Press, 1984. xviii + 561 pp. Notes and index. $25.00

Chains of Fear: American Race Relations Since Reconstruction. By Michael J. Cassity. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press, 1984. xxxv + 253 pp. Index. $35.00.     

Who’s minding the kids? An economic comparison of sole and joint custody

We examine the allocation of spending by divorced parents on both private goods and goods which they share with their child. Sole and joint custody arrangements differ in the pattern of shared goods. Parents play a non-cooperative game. We compute and compare the outcomes under sole and joint custody, and examine the effects of income redistribution.     

Where’s the glue? Institutional and cultural foundations of American Indian economic development

Since the mid-1970s, the hundreds of American Indian reservations in the United States have been afforded substantial powers of self-government –from law enforcement and taxation to environmental and business regulation. The result has been a set of diverse efforts to overcome widespread poverty, with equally diverse outcomes. This study reports the results of research into the sources of development success during the “take-off” stage of self-government. Little evidence is found to support hypotheses that resource or human capital endowments hold keys to launching Indian economies. Instead, tribal constitutional forms appear to be make-or-break keys to development. Development takes hold when these forms provide for separations of powers and when their structures match indigenous norms of political legitimacy.     

Declining inequality? The changing impact of socio‐economic background and ability on education in Australia

The paper addresses several debates surrounding the reproduction of socio-economic inequality: (i) the persistent inequality thesis, which maintains that despite the increases in educational participation socio-economic inequalities in education have not declined; (ii) the related thesis of maximally maintained inequality, which proposes that socio-economic inequalities decline only when participation levels for the most privileged socio-economic group approach saturation levels; (iii) the meritocracy debate on the importance of ability vis-à-vis socio-economic background and changes in its influence over time; and (iv) the effect of policy changes on socio-economic inequalities in education. These issues are addressed using data from six Australian youth cohorts born between 1961 and the mid-1980s.     

Income generation, local economic development and community development: paying the price for lacking business skills?

The introduction of the notion of developmental local governmentas entrenched in the South African constitution in 1994 hasrequired municipalities and cities to consider initiatives toenhance their local economies. At the same time, the socialwelfare paradigm has shifted from one of welfare to development.One way of ensuring the sustainability of this developmentalparadigm is to embark on income-generating projects or businesses.The Free State provincial government created various projectsto develop local economies and to establish income-generatingprojects with a view to making people more self-reliant andtheir livelihoods more sustainable. This article aims to evaluatelocal economic development and income-generating projects inthe Free State province from the perspective of business principles.     

How do private entrepreneurs transform local social capital into economic capital? Four case studies from rural Denmark

Bourdieu's (1986) General Theory of the Economy of Practices assumes that people perpetually transform tangible and intangible forms of capital according to certain ‘laws of conversion’. On this background, and combining sociology and micro-economics, we analyze specific strings of capital conversion in time and space. More specifically, we raise the question: How do private entrepreneurs transform local social capital into economic capital? We combine in-depth interviews with four private entrepreneurs in rural Denmark with Prisoner's Dilemma game theory. Thus each of our cases illustrates one of the outcomes in the PD matrix. In this way we explain why only one of the four entrepreneurs succeeds in capitalizing social capital.