Has the rise in globalization reduced U.S. inflation in the 1990s?

This article investigates whether increased globalization of the U.S. economy has helped hold down inflation in the 1990s. Based on several measures, we find that globalization has increased. Further, we find that import prices exert a greater impact on prices of products in industries faced with greater import penetration. High foreign excess capacity accounts for much of the recent decline in U.S. inflation. Our results suggest that the decline in inflation is explained by the interaction of increased globalization and high excess foreign capacity. Globalization by itself does not lead to less inflation, just greater sensitivity to foreign economic conditions.     

Assessment of Intimate Partner Violence by Child Welfare Services

The purpose of this study was to describe policy and practice with respect to the assessment of intimate partner violence in a sample of child welfare agencies located throughout the United States and to examine the relationship of contextual characteristics and assessment practices. Telephone interviews were conducted with key informants from child welfare agencies. A snowball interviewing strategy was used to identify the best informant in each agency. Almost all of the participating agencies conducted some assessment of intimate partner violence, with most reporting that the majority of screening or assessment occurred during investigation of referrals. However, only 43.1% reported that all of the families referred to the child welfare system were assessed for intimate partner violence, and 52.8% indicated they had a written policy pertaining to screening and assessment of the problem. There was little relationship between county or agency characteristics and assessment practices. Additional research is needed to determine factors that influence assessment practices and to identify strategies to support and extend efforts to identify intimate partner violence and provide appropriate services for families in the child welfare system.     

A note on shtetl definitions and the dating of the first shtetl

Consideration of two different working definitions of a shtetl, and the two different datings of the first shtetl that they produce, leads to the following conclusions. (1) The definition of a shtetl is formed by a set of criteria, one of which distinguishes it from similar settlements by providing a characteristic termed “sufficient Jewishness.” Because “sufficient Jewishness” exists in multiple forms, such as “at least 40% Jewish population,” and “the presence of certain specified institutions of religious observance,” a number of valid definitions can coexist. (2) The dating of the earliest shtetl will vary from one study to another, because it is determined by the selected definition of a shtetl used to arrive at that dating, and ultimately by the selected form of that definition's distinguishing criterion. (3) Therefore, just as more than one definition of a shtetl can coexist, each with a different form of the distinguishing criterion, so more than one valid dating of the first shtetl can coexist.     

Competition and privatization amidst weak institutions: evidence from Mongolia

Mongolia's mass privatization program was implanted in a country that lacked the very basic institutions of capitalism. This paper examines the effects of competition and ownership on the efficiency of the newly privatized enterprises, using a representative sample of enterprises and controlling for possible selection biases. Competition has quantitatively large effects; perfectly competitive firms having nearly double the efficiency of monopolies. Enterprises with residual state ownership appear to be more efficient than other enterprises, reflecting an environment where the government was pressured to focus on efficiency and institutions gave little voice to outsider owners.