International Migration,Remittances Inflow and Household Welfare: An Intra Village Comparison from Pakistan

This study explores the financial costs, time involved in migration and benefits at household level. A household survey has been conducted to investigate about characteristics of migrants, transaction costs and sources of financing by which overseas migration is financed. Results of PSM technique explored that overseas migration conveys worthwhile benefits as measured by their total expenditures, food expenditures, non-food expenditures, clothing expenditures, expenditures on pots and pans, expenditures on vehicles and saving levels. Establishment of technical training institutions, creation of micro-finance institutions and enhancing their functioning as well as sensitization about ‘Pakistan Remittance Initiative’ would be some of the policy options in order to tackle with the problem.     

Recent trends in the union wage premium

Estimates of union-nonunion wage differentials are updated by examining a wide variety of subgroups in the general population. Variations in union wage premiums are tracked over a 15-year period, allowing inter-temporal comparisons that are not usually available. One important finding is that union wage premiums have been generally rising since 1972–1973. It also appears that females and nonwhites no longer gain the huge payoffs from unionism that evidence has suggested. The impact of race and education on union wage premiums is weighed, and there is an examination of how levels of education, association with blue-collar or white-collar occupations, and employment in specific industries affect union premiums. The author thanks Professor Jack Skeels for invaluable comments and Northern Illinois University for financial support.     

Does Transformational Leadership Better Predict Work-Related Outcomes Than Transactional Leadership in the NPO Context? Evidence from Italy

VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations - With limited studies on the relative effectiveness of different leadership styles in NPOs, the purpose of this paper is to...     

Social Health Indicators and Economic Growth: Evidence from East Asia and Pacific,Middle East and North Africa,South Asia,and Sub-Saharan Africa

The objective of this study is to empirically investigate a two-way statistical relationship between the social health indicators and economic growth in the context of four major regions of the world i.e., East Asia and Pacific, Middle East and North Africa (MENA), South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. To recognize the relationship between the two variables, a time series, co-integration and Granger causality tests have been employed. Aggregate secondary data pertaining to these four regions from 1975 to 2011 on economic growth and social health indicators i.e., infant mortality, child abuse, child poverty, unemployment, weekly wages, health insurance coverage, teenage suicide, teenage drug abuse, high school dropouts, poverty, out-of-pocket health costs, homicides, alcohol related traffic fatalities, food insecurity, income inequality, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, basic health units and rural health centers has been used for analysis. This study evaluates four alternative but equally plausible hypotheses, each with different policy implications. These are: (1) social health indicators Granger cause economic growth, (2) economic growth Granger cause social health indicators (the conventional view), (3) There is a bi-directional causality between the two variables and (4) Both variables are causality independent (although highly correlated). The empirical results only moderately support the conventional view that economic growth has significant long run casual effect on social health indicators in East Asia and Pacific, MENA, South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. The present study find evident of unidirectional causality running towards economic growth to social health indicators, although, there are some bidirectional causality also exists between the variables. The percentage of unidirectional causality between economic growth and social health indicators is larger than bidirectional or neutrality hypothesis.     

Islam as Drama: Wedding Rites and the Theatricality of Islam in South Sulawesi

This article discusses the prominence of wedding rituals in South Sulawesi to illuminate Islamic development in post-Suharto Indonesia and theatrical expressions of Islam through dramaturgical and social drama analysis. Theatre metaphors help explain the theatricality of Islam and the centrality of wedding rites in social and religious life in South Sulawesi, two social facts not easily understood by people outside this region. Through the performance of wedding rites, Muslims know themselves as Muslims, display social status and transform local politics. Analysis of wedding rites illustrates not only the importance of theatricality in the expression of Islam for the Bugis Makassar Muslims, but also how massive social and religious transformation is structured around a particular life-cycle ritual, namely weddings. Giving emphasis to theatricality, this article nuances recent studies about contemporary Islam, which largely focus upon the importance of discourses in the life of contemporary Muslims.     

An Empirical,Nonparametric Simulator for Multivariate Random Variables with Differing Marginal Densities and Nonlinear Dependence with Hydroclimatic Applications

Multivariate simulations of a set of random variables are often needed for risk analysis. Given a historical data set, the goal is to develop simulations that reproduce the dependence structure in that data set so that the risk of potentially correlated factors can be evaluated. A nonparametric, copula‐based simulation approach is developed and exemplified. It can be applied to multiple variables or to spatial fields with arbitrary dependence structures and marginal densities. The nonparametric simulator uses logspline density estimation in the univariate setting, together with a sampling strategy to reproduce dependence across variables or spatial instances, through a nonparametric numerical approximation of the underlying copula function. The multivariate data vectors are assumed to be independent and identically distributed. A synthetic example is provided to illustrate the method, followed by an application to the risk of livestock losses in Mongolia.     

The effect of unions on professors’ salaries: The evidence over twenty years

No study has recently examined how unions affect professors’ salaries. In the only studies using micro-level data, both Ashraf (1992) and Barbezat (1989) used data from 1977. I update earlier work by using data from 1988. In conjunction with data from 1969 and 1977, the effect of faculty unions over a twenty-year period is examined. While faculty at unionized colleges earned significantly less than their counterparts at nonunion institutions in 1969, they earned marginally more in 1977 and 1988. The author is currently on leave from the University of West Florida and is serving as Professor and Vice-President of the Textile University of Pakistan. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Southern Economic Association meetings in New Orleans, November 21–23, 1993. The author thanks some of the participants for very useful suggestions.     

The Impact of in-Service Training and Motivation on Job Performance of Technical & Vocational Education Teachers: Role of Person-Job Fit

In-service education and training (INSET), motivation and person-job fit of workers are considered vital for the performance of employees. The focused purpose of the study is to examine the associations between in-service training and motivation impact on job performance of Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) teachers, while examining the moderating role of person-job fit. Using convenience sampling technique, data is collected from TVET teachers in South Asia. The finding of this study revealed a significant impact for in-service training and motivation on job performance. This research study is useful for the HR managers and practitioners to utilize their employee’s true potential to get the desired results.