The mortality of Allied prisoners of war and Belgian civilian deportees in German custody during the First World War: A reappraisal of the effects of forced labour

Influenced by results for the Second World War, recent research on forced labour in Imperial Germany during the Great War has stressed continuities of racial discrimination against East European workers. While agreeing that prisoners of war (POWs) from Russia were discriminated against, I reject the view that this led to a significantly worse mortality regime for the group as a whole. Using the same raw data, I calculate annual rates which show that the mortality of POWs from Russia was only slightly higher than that of French and Belgian POWs but much lower than that of British and Italian POWs and of Belgian civilian deportees. I argue that this unexpected outcome is explained by the fact that the POWs who came early into German captivity faced a lower risk of being employed in urban industrial areas, with their much more unfavourable food and disease environment.     

Demographic transition in sub-Saharan Africa: How big will the economic dividend be?

In mid-demographic-transition, many Asian countries enjoyed a large demographic ‘dividend’: extra economic growth owing to falling dependant/workforce ratios, or slower natural increase, or both. We estimate the dividend, 1985–2025, in sub-Saharan Africa and its populous countries. Dependency and natural increase peaked around 1985, 20 years after Asia. The UN projects an acceleration of the subsequent slow falls but disregards slowish declines in young-age mortality and thus, we argue, overestimates future fertility decline. Even if one accepts their projection, arithmetical and econometric evidence suggests an annual, if not total, dividend well below Asia's. The dividend arises more from falling dependency than reduced natural increase, and could be increased by accelerating the fertility decline (e.g., by reducing young-age mortality) or by employing a larger workforce productively. Any dividend from transition apart, low saving in much of Africa (unlike Asia) means that, given likely natural increase, current consumption per person is unsustainable because it depletes capital per person.     

Health conditions in rural and urban areas of developing countries

The poor quality and meagre supply of data prohibit conclusions as to the relationship of health status to rural-urban residence in underdeveloped countries. Demographic indicators of health, specifically infant mortality and average life expectancy, do not seem to vary systematically according to rural-urban residence in the less developed countries ofAsia, Africa and Latin America. Further differences between rural and urban areas in availability of health services and facilities do not always conform with apparent differences between the areas in health status. However, nutritional standards, housing conditions, and sanitation, water supply and other pertinent environmental circumstances account to some extent for differences observed in health status between rural and urban inhabitants of these countries.     

Editors' Introduction

For the professional middle class in information industries, “working from home” is an increasingly common feature of the employment landscape, resulting from the affordability and portability of information and communication technologies (ICTs). The phrase invokes a sense of freedom from the banality of the traditional office, offering flexibility in both working hours and location when other commitments prevail. In recent debates in Australian politics, working from home is also offered as an empowered choice for women who seek to combine paid work and childcare duties, thereby consecrating a preferable version of (post)feminist subjectivity suited to neoliberal economics and ideologies. This paper shows how these subjectivities have been represented in recent ICT advertising for two purposes: firstly, to highlight the role of mainstream media in normalising preferred uses of new media technology for work purposes; and secondly, to note how this process contributes to wider discourses limiting the aspirations of middle-class feminist politics to an individual level. In doing so, the paper seeks to question the ethical horizon of new media advertising as well as the feminist and labour politics upon which its appeal relies.     

Who decides the position for birth? A follow-up study of a randomised controlled trial

BackgroundPhysical benefits are suggested for women and their babies when women adopt an upright position of their choice at birth. Available care options during labour influence women's impressions of what intrapartum care is. This indicates that choice of birth positions may be determined more by midwives than by women's preferences.QuestionThe aims of this study were to investigate factors associated with adherence to allocated birth position and also to investigate factors associated with decision-making for birth position.MethodAn invitation to answer an on-line questionnaire was mailed.FindingsDespite being randomised, women who gave birth on the seat were statistically significantly more likely to report that they participated in decision-making and that they took the opportunity to choose their preferred birth position. They also reported statistically significantly more often than non-adherers that they felt powerful, protected and self-confident.ConclusionsMidwives should be conscious of the potential impact that birth positions have on women's birth experiences and on maternal outcomes. Midwives should encourage women's autonomy by giving unbiased information about the birth seat. An upright birth position may lead to greater childbirth satisfaction. Women's experience of and preferences for birth positions are consistent with current evidence for best practice.     

我国东南“民工荒”问题的经济学分析

2004年在我国东南沿海地区首次出现了较大规模的民工短缺现象,被人们称之为“民工荒”。这一现象产生的主要原因是受民工工资水平低和农产品价格上涨的影响,其根本原因是由中国无限供给的廉价劳动力阻碍产业结构升级缓慢所致;解决“民工荒”问题的最有力的措施在于提高沿海土地价格迫使低级产业迁出,降低内地制度成本接纳迁出产业,在此基础上引进先技术设备,促进沿海地区企业技术迅速升级。     

Below-replacement fertility and prospects for labour force growth in Taiwan

Fertility in Taiwan had declined to replacement level in 1983. In 1986–1997, the total fertility rate dropped to 1.7–1.8, with continuing decreases observed in 1997–2001. Fertility will probably be sustained at the 2001 level of 1.48 or even decline further in the future. If the current fertility and labour-force participation rates persist, the size of the labour force will increase only slightly in the next 15 years and begin to shrink soon after 2015. After 2034, the labour force will fall below the current level and Taiwan will face a labour shortage. Though efficient, the policy option of importing more foreign workers is fraught with political sensitivities, especially given the current economic downturn and rising unemployment. Another policy approach, to increase the participation rates for women and mature men, would lead to growth in the labour supply sometime after 2030 and, combined with a modest increase in fertility, would prevent the labour force from falling below its current size in the next 50 years. Notwithstanding that any increase in fertility will have a delayed effect on labour supply, strong incentives are still required to affect fertility behaviour.     

“异化劳动”与“以人为本”——重读马克思《1844年经济学哲学手稿》

马克思《1844年经济学哲学手稿》为什么在前苏联和中国会发生争论？一个原因就是研究者未能从工业化、现代化的视角进行阅读,而只是从阶级斗争的视角去阅读;另一个原因,就是研究者把它与列宁的《唯物主义与经验批判主义》和斯大林的《联共（布）党史简明教程》四章二节“辩证唯物主义与历史唯物主义”对立起来阅读,所以研究者们长期以来把马克思的这一手稿看作是早期的不成熟的著作,从而贬损了手稿的科学价值和现代意义。现在看来这是完全不对的。我们从资本主义工业化、现代化的视觉来看,却能体会到另一番新意。马克思是从生产方式的变革上来揭示人类社会发展的,资本主义现代化,把劳动、资本和土地作为生产力的要素和生产关系的实现形式,资本创造利润,土地创造地租,工人劳动获得工资,资本家通过资本、土地不断地使资本增值,而工人通过劳动所得的工资,只能勉强维持其劳动力的再生产。资本家越来越富,工人越来越贫穷,两极对立贫富悬殊扩大,出现了工人运动。工人运动带领无产阶级展开对资产阶级的斗争。而要进行斗争必须要研究工人劳动现状,研究劳动异化;承认劳动异化就必须研究改变异化劳动这个经济事实;要改变异化劳动这个经济事实,就必须把工人当成社会的人;要把工人当成社会的人,而不是物,就必须坚持以人为本。这是马克思主义的根本问题,不仅不能否认,而且很值得我们认真研究,并努力解决这个根本问题。     

Social networks and labour market outcomes in a meritocracy

This paper examines the significance of personal contacts in job searches, in the context of Singapore's meritocratic system. I show that in certain sectors, such as the state bureaucracy, social networking brings no distinct advantages as appointments are made exclusively on the basis of the academic credentials of the candidates. Thus, personal contacts are not always useful, especially in labour markets that rely heavily on the signalling role of academic credentials to match persons to jobs and allocate rewards. In contrast, personal contacts are more useful among less qualified job searchers in the private sector.     

Women's Occupational Trends in the Irish Economy: Moving towards High‐skilled Occupations or Evidence of Deskilling?

In recent years the increased participation of women in the Irish labour market and in tertiary education would appear to have placed them in an advantageous position to make use of the expanded opportunities in knowledge‐based occupations. Using occupational data from the 1996 and 2006 census this article examines the experience of women in high‐ and low‐skilled occupations. The data indicate that women are over‐represented in high‐skilled occupations relative to their overall participation rate in the labour force but there is also an increase in the proportion of women in low‐skilled occupations. The employment of women in high‐skilled occupations is substantially weaker in the private sector than the public sector. Public sector employment, we argue, is a crucial factor in the increased participation of women in high‐skilled occupations.