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58472. Immigrants in New York: Their Legal Status, Incomes, and Taxes
- Author:
- Jeffrey S. Passel and Rebecca L. Clark
- Publication Date:
- 04-1998
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Urban Institute
- Abstract:
- This report provides essential demographic and economic information on legal immigrants residing in New York State and addresses significant shortcomings in the existing data for immigrants and in analyses of fiscal impacts of legal immigrants. It focuses on four major issues: the size of the legal immigrant populations; the characteristics of legal status groups, including both legal and undocumented populations; the incomes and taxes paid by immigrant populations and natives; and the economic adaptation of immigrants and their descendants.
- Topic:
- Government, International Law, and Migration
- Political Geography:
- United States and New York
58473. The Number and Cost of Immigrants on Medicaid: National and State Estimates
- Author:
- Leighton Ku and Bethany Kessler
- Publication Date:
- 09-1998
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Urban Institute
- Abstract:
- This work was conducted under Subtask 2.2.12 of HHS Contract HHS-100-94-1009. Many constructive comments were provided by staff of the Department of Health and Human Services, including Linda Sanches, David Nielsen, Penelope Pine and Bob Tomlinson. We gratefully acknowledge data and advice made available by Ron North and Roger Buchanan of the Health Care Financing Administration and Charles Scott of the Social Security Administration. Many colleagues at the Urban Institute offered useful advice or data, including Brian Bruen, Rebecca Clark, Teresa Coughlin, Linda Giannarelli, Jeff Passel, Karen Tumlin and Wendy Zimmerman. All opinions expressed are the authors' and should not be interpreted as opinions of the Urban Institute or the Department of Health and Human Services.
- Topic:
- Government and Migration
- Political Geography:
- United States
58474. Information Technology and Economic Development: An Introduction to the Research Issues
- Author:
- Matti Pohjola
- Publication Date:
- 11-1998
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- United Nations University
- Abstract:
- There is substantial evidence that new information technologies are in many ways transforming the operations of modern economies. More than half of employees use a computer at work in the most advanced industrial countries. About 10 per cent of the value of all private investment in fixed non-residential capital is devoted to computers and peripheral equipment in the United States and some other economies. This share goes up to 25 per cent when investment in information processing equipment is included. Nevertheless, all spending on information technology, including hardware, software and services, does not amount to more than 3-4 per cent of nominal GDP in these countries. The share is, however, increasing rapidly, indicating that a steady state has not yet been reached.
- Topic:
- Economics, Government, and Science and Technology
- Political Geography:
- United States
58475. Computers and Labour Markets: International Evidence
- Author:
- Francis Kramarz
- Publication Date:
- 10-1998
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- United Nations University
- Abstract:
- The rapid diffusion of computers has widely changed the consequences of computer use on the labour market. While at the beginning of the eighties knowledge of computers was an obvious advantage in a career, this same knowledge is now so commonplace that the inability to use these tools is widely seen in many industries as a professional handicap. In relation to such drastic transformations, changes in the North American wage structure during the eighties in favour of the better educated have been interpreted by many analysts as evidence of skill-biased technical change. Evidence outside the US, and in particular in Europe, seems to support the idea that similar transformations affected most other labour markets.
- Topic:
- Economics, Government, and Science and Technology
- Political Geography:
- United States and Europe
58476. Underdevelopment, Transition and Reconstruction in Sub-Saharan Africa
- Author:
- Tony Addison
- Publication Date:
- 10-1998
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- United Nations University
- Abstract:
- Reconstructing Africa's war damaged economies is an urgent task. This is especially so in a group of countries - Angola, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Guinea-Bissau, and Mozambique - which must also complete their economic and political transition from state socialism. Somalia, which shares their common history, must eventually be rebuilt. All of these countries must address their deep problems of underdevelopment and poverty. The challenges are therefore three-fold: to overcome underdevelopment, to make the transition from state socialism, and to reconstruct economies and societies.
- Topic:
- Democratization, Development, Economics, and Emerging Markets
- Political Geography:
- Africa, Mozambique, Ethiopia, Somalia, Angola, Eritrea, and Guinea-Bissau
58477. Resource Abundance and Economic Development: Improving the Performance of Resource-Rich Countries
- Author:
- Richard M. Auty
- Publication Date:
- 09-1998
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- United Nations University
- Abstract:
- Since the 1960s the resource-rich developing economies have under-performed compared with the resource-deficient economies. This paper explains why and outlines the reforms that are required in order to achieve environmentally and socially sustainable resource-rich development. It argues that structural change in the resource-rich countries causes the tradeable sector to shrink vis-à-vis the nontradeables sector (that includes protected manufacturing) in a manner that is not sustainable. This adverse trend in the production structure is associated with policies to close the economy and create discretionary rents behind protective barriers that result in the cumulative misallocation of resources. The build-up of produced capital and skills is slower than in the successful resource-deficient countries. Overall, the inherently slower and less egalitarian economic growth trajectory of the resource-rich countries is intensified and the end result is usually a growth collapse. The collapse causes all forms of capital, including institutional, social and natural capital, to run down. Economic reform is therefore protracted and it may take in excess of one generation to restore sustainable rapid growth. The adverse features of resource-rich development tend to be more pronounced in the smaller countries. They are also heightened where the resource rents accrue mainly to the central government, as in the mineral economies and in the slow-reforming transition economies. Successful reform requires not only appropriate macro and micro policies, but also the construction of institutions to limit the scope for governments to misallocate resources. Part of the explanation for the superior performance of the resource-deficient countries is that their spartan endowment of natural capital acts as a constraint on government failure by placing a premium on the need to nurture scarce resources, including skills, institutions and social capital, and to achieve an efficient allocation of capital.
- Topic:
- Economics, Environment, Government, and International Political Economy
58478. The Role of Knowledge and Capital in Economic Growth
- Author:
- Sergio Rebelo
- Publication Date:
- 09-1998
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- United Nations University
- Abstract:
- Starting from the celebrated neoclassical (Solow) model of economic growth, this paper discusses new ideas in growth theory focussing on how to make sustained growth feasible. It first reviews models that broadened the notion of capital to include human capital and the state of technology. These extensions of the neoclassical theory are not very satisfying at a descriptive level because productivity growth is associated with either human or physical capital accumulation in a way that does not interact with the invention of new technologies.
- Topic:
- Economics and Science and Technology
58479. The Basel Convention And Transboundary Movements Of Hazardous Wastes
- Author:
- Jonathan Krueger
- Publication Date:
- 05-1998
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Chatham House
- Abstract:
- The international community is increasingly turning to the use of multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs) to solve problems of global environmental degradation and transboundary pollution. One of the most important of these MEAs is the 1989 Basel Convention dealing with transboundary movements of hazardous waste. The Convention has been instrumental in helping to eliminate the dumping of industrialized countries' hazardous wastes on developing countries. However, the development of the regime has been slow and it is now tackling the more controversial issue of regulating 'recyclable' hazardous wastes. This briefing paper provides a short guide to the development and current status of the international effort to manage transboundary movements of hazardous wastes.
- Topic:
- Environment and Globalization
58480. Renewable Energy Investment and Technology Transfer in Asia
- Author:
- Tim Forsyth
- Publication Date:
- 10-1998
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Chatham House
- Abstract:
- This workshop was arranged by the RIIA under the sponsorship of the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) of Japan to explore ways of increasing international investment in renewable energy technology in Asia. Enhancing renewable energy investment is clearly relevant to global strategies to mitigate climate change. However, the two debates on climate change policy and renewable energy investment have largely remained separate, and characterized by tendencies to discuss large-scale global flows of energy and investment on the one hand, and local development-oriented practice on the other. The workshop attempted to integrate these two debates, and therefore form part of a growing body of knowledge to inform the current climate change negotiations with practical options available to small and large businesses. The workshop had three main aims: to identify the implications of the Kyoto Protocol for international renewable energy investment; to define technology transfer and identify how it may be increased for renewable energy in South and Southeast Asia; to assess what public and private forms of finance could be sought to ensure the success of renewable energy businesses in South and Southeast Asia. The workshop was attended by some 30 industrialists, financiers and renewable energy specialists from around the world. This paper is a summary of the proceedings. In order to encourage frank exchange, the workshop was held under Chatham House Rule of confidentiality and anonymity, so individual speakers are not named.
- Topic:
- Energy Policy, Environment, and International Trade and Finance
- Political Geography:
- Asia