The employment effects of immigration: a balance sheet approach

The impact of immigration on unemployment in Canada is examined for the period 1983-1985. The authors attempt to construct a balance sheet of immigration in terms of labor supply and demand. They conclude that immigrants create more jobs than they fill, and that their net effect on the employment situation is positive. (SUMMARY IN FRE AND SPA)     

New sources on the demographic history of the Southern Andes (sixteenth to eighteenth centuries)

The author describes and evaluates some little-known sources of data on the Southern Andes for the period from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century.     

RESPONSE-TIME MEASUREMENT IN SURVEY RESEARCH A METHOD FOR CATI AND A NEW LOOK AT NONATTITUDES

The paper introduces a methodology for measuring accuratelythe time it takes respondents to answer questions in computer-assistedtelephone surveys. The methodology, which is completely invisibleto respondents, comprises a computer "clock," capable of timingresponses with millisecond accuracy, and a "voice-key" thatconverts sounds emitted by respondents into signals capableof triggering the computer clock. Response times to questionson a range of attitude questions, including stable and unstableattitudes, were measured. The results revealed orderly normsin the latencies associated with various types of survey questions.The latencies associated with the expression of stable and unstableattitudes are discussed in the context of the notion of "nonattitudes"and shed new light on this controversial thesis. Overall, ourresults demonstrate that response latencies can be measuredprecisely and reliably in telephone surveys and that the datafrom such measurement open new windows on the cognitive dynamicsof survey responses.     

Family ties and economic stability concerns of migrant labour families in Jordan

74 labor migrant families from various socioeconomic classes in Amman, Jordan were interviewed to examine changes in relationships among family members, extended family, and neighbors and their concerns about economic stability in the host country, Jordan, and the world market. Another purpose was to determine how current migration policies of the Arab oil-producing countries which prohibit labor migrants from bringing their families to the host country affect labor migration among families. The families consisted of either those who did or did not accompany the labor migrant. Overall labor migration affected unaccompanied families more than accompanied families, e.g., only 19% of the unaccompanied families reported increased family unity compared with 56% of accompanied families. Problems within unaccompanied families increased in 43% of the cases but in only 6% of the accompanied families. Many of these problems resulted in children dropping out of school which reflected the control fathers had within the family, separation, or divorce. Yet labor migration reduced family ties with extended family members and neighbors almost equally for both groups. Accompanied families were not as concerned about economic stability in Jordan as unaccompanied families (38% vs. 50%). Perhaps these families tended not to invest remittances received from the labor migrants working in Arab oil-producing countries in Jordan. Both groups were quite concerned about the economic stability in the host countries (66% and 72%, respectively) and the world market (59% and 62%, respectively), however. Since family unity suffers when families do not accompany labor migrants, it is suggested that oil-producing nations that depend on foreign labor should guarantee family unity as a human right.     

Of orphans and balloons

Technologies with significant implications for expenditures continue to reach the health care system. These technologies range from orphan drugs/biologicals used to treat rare diseases to balloons used to treat the common occurrence of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) in aging men. Because payment for these technologies can represent a serious financial drain on third-party payers, utilization has to be carefully evaluated, monitored, and controlled.     

Investigational: what's in a name

The term "investigational" has become the fulcrum upon which coverage decisions turn. All third-party payers, including the federal government, use varying definitions of the term for the purpose of excluding treatments from coverage for payment. Unfortunately, no consistent definition of the term is available to payers to guide them in their coverage decisions.     

Coverage, technology assessment, and the courts

Coverage decisions by third-party payers are relying more and more heavily on the conclusions of technology assessment programs about the safety and effectiveness of technologies applied in specific clinical situations. Assessment programs vary markedly in the sophistication and rigor of their methodology. Payers differ as to how such assessment information is integrated into their decision-making processes. Finally, coverage decisions about a specific technology can vary widely across the country.