Search

Begin New Search Topic Demographics Publication Year within 25 Years

201. Korea's Growth Performance: Past and Future

Author:
Marcus Noland
Publication Date:
11-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
East-West Center
Abstract:
South Korea is arguably the premier development success story of the last half century. For 47 years starting in 1963, the economy averaged 7 percent real growth annually, and experienced only two years of economic contraction: 1980 after the second oil shock and the assassination of President Park Chung-hee, and 1998 at the nadir of the Asian financial crisis. At the start of that period South Korea had a per capita income lower than that of Mozambique or Bolivia; today it is richer than Spain or New Zealand, and was the first Asian and first non-G7 country to host a summit of the G20, the unofficial steering committee of the world economy.
Topic:
Demographics, Development, Economics, Industrial Policy, International Trade and Finance, and Political Economy
Political Geography:
Israel, Asia, South Korea, Spain, Mozambique, New Zealand, and Bolivia

202. A systematic review of parenting interventions to prevent child abuse tested with Randomised Control Trial (RCT) designs in high income countries

Author:
Laura McCloskey
Publication Date:
12-2011
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Sexual Violence Research Initiative (SVRI)
Abstract:
Child abuse is not a stand-alone family problem, and is associated with multiple risk factors. Some demographic risk factors which correlate with child abuse are low family income; bearing a child before age 18; mother unmarried and low educational attainment. Psychosocial risks include drug or alcohol dependency, depression and parenting stress. Finally, parents who are coercive, lack knowledge about childrearing, and tend to blame infants and children for age appropriate behaviors are at risk for abusing their children. Many parenting interventions reviewed in this paper target more than one risk factor.
Topic:
Demographics, Gender Issues, Human Rights, Poverty, and Sociology

203. Not (yet) an Energy Revolution. India between Climate Change Mitigation and Development Imperatives

Author:
Lidia Puka
Publication Date:
10-2011
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Polish Institute of International Affairs
Abstract:
Indian decisions regarding the country's energy mix have global consequences. For this reason it is of paramount importance whether Indian declarations to take on climate change mitigation efforts could, indeed, mean a shift away from a fossil fuels-dominated energy mix and towards the deployment of renewable energy sources.
Topic:
Climate Change, Demographics, Development, Economics, and Energy Policy
Political Geography:
Asia

204. India's Growth in the 2000s: Four Facts

Author:
Arvind Subramanian and Utsav Kumar
Publication Date:
11-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE)
Abstract:
This paper marks the first attempt at examining the growth performance across Indian states for the 2000s, a period also marked by the global financial crisis. Four key findings are reported. First, consistent with the fact that the 2000s was the best ever decade for Indian macroeconomic performance, growth increased across almost all major states in 2001–09 compared to 1993–2001. Second, nevertheless, there is a continued phenomenon of divergence or rising inequality across states: On average the richer states in 2001 grew faster in 2001–09. Third, during the crisis years of 2008 and 2009, states with the highest growth in 2001–07 suffered the largest deceleration. Since states with the highest growth were also the most open, it seems that openness creates dynamism and vulnerability. Finally, although the demographic dividend—a young population boosting economic dynamism—was evident before 2000, there is little evidence that there was any dividend in the 2000s. Demography alone cannot be counted on for future economic growth.
Topic:
Demographics, Development, Economics, Industrial Policy, International Trade and Finance, and Social Stratification
Political Geography:
South Asia and India

205. Social Security: The House that Roosevelt Built

Author:
Pamela J. Perun and Patricia E. Dilley
Publication Date:
07-2011
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Aspen Institute
Abstract:
Critics of the Social Security program are fond of disparaging it as a "Ponzi" scheme or as a redistributive transfer of income from the young to the old. Others go even further, labeling the Social Security trust fund as a fiction or claiming the program is bankrupt. Some also suggest that the government bonds held in the trust fund are mere IOUs. Still others say that the program's legal basis is ephemeral, subject to the whims of Congress.
Topic:
Demographics, Economics, and Government
Political Geography:
United States

206. FREE CORSICA ! A Study of Contemporary Chinese Nationalism

Author:
James Pearson
Publication Date:
11-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for Strategic Research and Analysis (CESRAN)
Abstract:
In April 2008, the combination of a threat by French president Nicholas Sarkozy to boycott the Olympic Games and a disrupted Olympic torch relay in Paris caused outcry and prompted an online call by Chinese netizens to boycott French pro-ducts. In the events that followed, the French supermarket Carrefour become the target of out-bursts of nationalist and anti-French sentiment and a small campaign to promote Corsican independence to outline French hypocrisy briefly be-came a popular cause. But how did events in Paris evolve Into a mass protests against a seemingly unrelated French company in China? Do the events of the Carrefour boycott fit within the existing theories of Chinese nationalism or did they present a new direction in its evolution? This study first looks at existing academic work on Chinese nationalism in order to create the framework within which to debate the developments of the Carrefour case. In an effort to uncover its origins, the boycott itself is analysed through online posts and text messages from the time. Additionally, by using a four-step formula to address the pattern by which protests in Paris led to boycotts in China, this study suggests that such a formula could be used in the anticipation of future outbursts of nationalist sentiment. Indeed, through this formula, the author agrees with existing academic work that posits Chinese nationalism is continually used as a method for the CCP to promote its own political agenda and academic work that links the formation of Chinese national identity with Chinese historiography is also found to be relevant to the development of this movement. However, in conclusion, this study also suggests that including all mass movements in China under an umbrella of nationalism is arguably misleading as, without further scrutiny of the manner in which online networks and social media are used to propagate such causes, we run the danger of misinterpreting all popular unrest as aggressive nationalism.
Topic:
Demographics and Nationalism
Political Geography:
China and France

207. Population Growth, Reproductive Health and Sustainable Development

Publication Date:
12-2011
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Aspen Institute
Abstract:
Sustainable development "meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." In the 20thcentury, a tripling of human numbers was accompanied by dramatic gains in development, as measured in food production and economic growth. But much of that development was unsustainable—it focused on the needs of the present at the expense of future generations. Today, the world's nations must provide for an ever-growing population against a backdrop of food and water shortages, depleted resources, and a changing climate. Slower population growth would make that challenge easier to meet.
Topic:
Climate Change, Demographics, Development, Natural Resources, Food, and Health Care Policy

208. Averting Crisis on the Mekong River

Author:
Prashanth Parameswaran
Publication Date:
07-2010
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Project 2049 Institute
Abstract:
The Mekong River faces challenges from hydropower, demographic and development pressures to climate change that threaten to alter the river. These trends have the potential to trigger a serious crisis characterized by water shortages, forced migration, food insecurity, and prolonged floods and droughts. Concerted efforts will be necessary to avert serious crisis along the Mekong.
Topic:
Climate Change, Demographics, Development, Energy Policy, Migration, and Food Security
Political Geography:
Cambodia, Laos, and Mekong River

209. Very Low Fertility in Asia: Is There a Problem? Can It Be Solved?

Author:
Sidney B. Westley, Robert D. Retherford, and Minja Kim Choe
Publication Date:
05-2010
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
East-West Center
Abstract:
Fifty years ago, women in Asia were having, on average, more than five children each, and there was widespread fear of a “population explosion” in the region. Then birth rates began to fall—in several countries more steeply than anyone had anticipated. This unexpected trend has now raised concerns about the social and economic impact of extremely low fertility. Today, four of Asia's most prosperous economies—Japan, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan—have among the lowest birth rates in the world. With women having, on average, only one child each, these societies have expanding elderly populations and a shrinking workforce to pay for social services and drive economic growth. And in Japan, overall population numbers are already going down. Why are women choosing to have so few children? How are policy- makers responding to these trends? Government leaders have initiated a variety of policies and programs designed to encourage marriage and childbearing, but to what effect? Given current social and economic trends, it is unlikely that Asia' s steep fertility decline will be reversed, at least not in the for eseeable future.
Topic:
Demographics, Health, and Population
Political Geography:
Japan, Taiwan, Asia, South Korea, and Singapore

210. Beyond Population: Everyone Counts in Development

Author:
Joel E. Cohen
Publication Date:
07-2010
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Global Development (CGD)
Abstract:
This essay reviews some of the most important demographic trends expected to occur between 2010 and 2050, indicates some of their implications for economic and global development, and suggests some possible policies to respond these trends and implications. The interactions of population, economics, the environment, and culture are central. In the past decade, for the first time in history, old people outnumbered young people, urban people outnumbered rural people, and women of reduced fertility outnumbered women of high fertility. The century from 1950 to 2050 will have included the highest global population growth rate ever, the largest voluntary fall in the global population growth rate ever, and the most enormous shift ever in the demographic balance between the more developed regions of the world and the less developed ones. In the coming half century, according to most demographers, the world's population will grow older, larger (albeit more slowly), and more urban than in the 20th century, but with much variance within and across regions. No one knows what numbers and demographic characteristics of humans are sustainable, but it is clear that the prodigious stain of a billion or so chronically hungry people at present results from recent and ongoing collective human choices, not biophysical necessities. Concrete policy options to respond to demographic trends include providing universal primary and secondary education, particularly education for global and household civility; eliminating unmet needs for contraception and reproductive health; and implementing demographically sensitive urban planning, particularly construction for greater energy efficiency and friendliness to older people.
Topic:
Demographics, Development, Economics, and Environment
Political Geography:
Washington