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3321. Iran — Protest Aftermath

Author:
Oxford Analytica
Publication Date:
07-1999
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Oxford Analytica
Abstract:
Despite last week's crackdown on pro-reform demonstrations, there is still considerable momentum behind President Mohamed Khatami's political liberalisation drive. While the democratisation movement may have suffered a short-term setback and is likely to encounter further opposition from right-wing clerics, Khatami's reform coalition remains in place and is still likely to be buoyed by next year's parliamentary election results. Nonetheless, the president needs quickly to reassert his commitment to change in the run-up to the election.
Topic:
Security, Democratization, Government, and Politics
Political Geography:
Iran and Middle East

3322. Role of the Private Sector: Study Group

Author:
Virginia Haufler
Publication Date:
11-1998
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Abstract:
The study group addressed four topics: the definition of what we are examining; whether it is a new phenomenon; some of the factors driving it; and the concerns it raises. The goal at this meeting was to set the context for further discussion at the next meeting. Participants stressed that this is an important topic and a timely project. Please note that this summarizes the main points and imposes a certain order on what was in reality a wide-ranging discussion.
Topic:
International Relations, Globalization, Government, and International Political Economy

3323. Perspectives From Four Continents: Solving the Global Public Pensions Crisis

Author:
Cato Institute
Publication Date:
04-1998
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Cato Institute
Abstract:
On December 8-9 the Cato Institute and The Economist cosponsored a conference on the global public pensions crisis at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre in London. Among the speakers were Michael Tanner, director of the Cato Project on Social Security Privatization; Clive Crook, deputy editor of The Economist; Carlos Boloña, former finance minister of Peru; Mukul Asher of the University of Singapore; and Peter Ferrara, chief economist at Americans for Tax Reform and an associate policy analyst at the Cato Institute. Excerpts from their remarks follow.
Topic:
Economics, Government, and International Political Economy
Political Geography:
London

3324. The Specter of Pervasiveness: Pacifica, New Media, and Freedom of Speech

Author:
Jonathan D. Wallace
Publication Date:
02-1998
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Cato Institute
Abstract:
Under the legal doctrine of pervasiveness, media such as television and radio get much less protection from censorship than do print media. The Supreme Court should reject the pervasiveness doctrine as a dangerously broad and vague excuse for speech regulation. If the doctrine applies to any medium, it could arguably apply to all media. The pervasiveness doctrine thus threatens to curtail the First Amendment's protection of freedom of speech.
Topic:
Government, Industrial Policy, Political Economy, and Science and Technology

3325. The Future of the Public Sector--The Challenges for Policy Research in a Changing Environment

Author:
George Galster
Publication Date:
09-1998
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Urban Institute
Abstract:
As we approach the 21st century, the public seems increasingly disenchanted with the record of government, and less and less inclined to believe in the value of empirical analysis as a guide to action. Evidence of the loss of confidence in the public sector's ability to operate effectively and efficiently is found in opinion polls, falling rates of electoral participation, and the rising influence of "anti-government" politicians. In such an environment, it is useful to reflect on the historical role that applied social science has played in the public sector and the role it might play in the future.
Topic:
Government
Political Geography:
United States

3326. 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

3327. 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

3328. 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

3329. 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

3330. 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