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182. Globalization and Formal Sector Migration in Brazil (Revised)
- Author:
- Marc-Andreas Muendler, Jennifer Pamela Poole, and Ernesto Aguayo-Tellez
- Publication Date:
- 03-2008
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- United Nations University
- Abstract:
- Comprehensive linked employer{employee data allow us to study the relationship between domestic formal sector migration in Brazil and globalization. Considerable worker flows in the formal labor market between 1997 and 2001 are directed toward lower income regions|the reverse flows of those often posited for informal labor markets. Estimation of the worker's multi-choice migration problem shows that previously unobserved employer covariates are significant predictors associated with migration flows. These results support the idea that globalization acts on internal migration through job stability at exporting establishments and employment opportunities at locations with a concentration of foreign owned establishments. A 1% increase in exporter employment predicts a 0.3% reduced probability of migration. A 1% increase in the concentration of foreign owned establishments at potential destinations is associated with a 0.2% increase in the migration rate.
- Topic:
- Economics, Globalization, Markets, Migration, and Labor Issues
- Political Geography:
- Latin America
183. Drugs, Civil War, and the Conditional Impact of the Economy on Democracy
- Author:
- Michael Coppedge, Angel Alvarez, and Lucas González
- Publication Date:
- 10-2007
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Kellogg Institute for International Studies
- Abstract:
- Theorizing about the influence of modernization on democracy is once again in vogue. Nevertheless, this theme faces an important obstacle: the leverage of modernization hypotheses is generally modest. Key modernization variables, especially per capita GDP, almost always explain part of the variance in democracy, but rarely more than half. Also, as one can see in certain Latin American cases, economic growth sometimes has a negative impact on democracy. This paper argues that the impact of economic growth varies from country to country for systematic, not random, reasons. Using Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM) in a cross-regional sample of 108 countries from 1978 to 1999, the paper shows that it is crucial to distinguish between the short- term effect of per capita GDP growth within each country and the cross-national effect of long-term growth. A distinct causal mechanism is at work at each level of analysis. More precisely, the paper identifies four factors that condition the impact of economic growth on democracy: the existing political regime, the democratic experience of each country, the frequency of civil war, and the importance of drug trafficking in the domestic economy. Although other factors probably also condition the effect of the economy on democracy and democratization, the model used in this paper explains 82 percent of the variance in the sample, which is substantially greater than what is typically found in other studies of democratization. Consequently, this paper shows that it is necessary to continue to refine hypotheses about the conditional effect of the economy in order to improve conventional explanations of variation in levels of democracy, whether within one country or in comparative perspective.
- Topic:
- Economics, Government, and War on Drugs
- Political Geography:
- Latin America
184. The Economic Logic of Illegal Immigration
- Author:
- Gordon H. Hanson
- Publication Date:
- 04-2007
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Council on Foreign Relations
- Abstract:
- Illegal immigration is a source of mounting concern for politicians in the United States. In the past ten years, the U.S. population of illegal immigrants has risen from five million to nearly twelve million, prompting angry charges that the country has lost control over its borders. Congress approved measures last year that have significantly tightened enforcement along the U.S.-Mexico border in an effort to stop the flow of unauthorized migrants, and it is expected to make another effort this year at the first comprehensive reform of immigration laws in more than twenty years.
- Topic:
- Conflict Prevention, Development, and Economics
- Political Geography:
- United States, Latin America, and Mexico
185. The Provision of Banking Services in Latin America: Obstacles and Recommendations
- Author:
- Liliana Rojas-Suarez
- Publication Date:
- 06-2007
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Center for Global Development
- Abstract:
- The depth of and access to financial services provided by banks throughout Latin America are extremely low in spite of its recognized importance for economic activity, employment and poverty alleviation. Low financial depth and access hurts the poor the most and is due to a variety of obstacles that are presented in this paper in four categories, along with recommendations to overcome them. The first category groups socio-economic obstacles that undercut the demand for financial services of large segments of the population. The second category identifies problems in the operations of the banking sector that impedes the adequate provision of financial services to households and firms. The third category captures institutional deficiencies, with emphasis on the quality of the legal framework and the governability of the countries in the region. The fourth category identifies regulations that tend to distort the provision of banking services. Recommendations to confront these obstacles include innovative proposals that take into consideration the political constraints facing individual countries. Some of the policy recommendations include: public-private partnerships to improve financial literacy, the creation of juries specialized in commercial activities to support the rights of borrowers and creditors, and the approval of regulation to allow widespread usage of technological innovations to permit low-income families and small firms to gain access to financial services.
- Topic:
- Development, Economics, International Trade and Finance, and Poverty
- Political Geography:
- Latin America
186. Jacob K. Javits and Latin American Economic Integration
- Author:
- Salvador Rivera
- Publication Date:
- 08-2007
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Independent Institute
- Abstract:
- Since the end of the Second World War the United States has zealously pursued internationalism, the policy of establishing a new economic and political order based on free trade. Internationalism views the world as one community. It seeks to create a common body of political, economic and social values with an emphasis on human rights, environmentalism and the expansion of democracy.
- Topic:
- Economics, International Trade and Finance, and Regional Cooperation
- Political Geography:
- United States and Latin America
187. Intergenerational Influences of Wealth in Mexico
- Author:
- Seymour Spilerman and Florencia Torche
- Publication Date:
- 12-2007
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy at Columbia University
- Abstract:
- Using the 2006 Mexican Social Mobility Survey, this research evaluates the influence of parental wealth on several outcomes of adult children, including educational attainment, consumption level, asset holdings, home ownership, and value of residence. Two mechanisms of parental influence on economic wellbeing are explored: an indirect effect mediated by parental investment in human capital, and the direct transfer of resources. Three main findings emerge from the analysis. First, parental wealth is a strong determinant of educational attainment, net of the standard indicators of advantage regularly used in stratification research, and the influence of wealth is stronger among the most disadvantaged children (those with low cultural capital, and residing in non-urban areas). Second, the mechanism of parental influence on adult children's economic wellbeing differs depending on the outcome: In the case of consumption level, the influence is largely indirect, mediated by parental investment in offspring's human capital, while the opposite is true for children's asset holdings, where a direct transfer of resources predominates. Third, while access to homeownership is only weakly stratified by parent's and children's resources, the value of the acquired home is significantly affected by parental wealth. These patterns of influence are similar to those found in Chile (Spilerman and Torche 2004, Torche and Spilerman 2006) and they highlight the critical impact of parental wealth in less developed countries.
- Topic:
- Demographics, Economics, Political Economy, Poverty, and Third World
- Political Geography:
- Latin America, Mexico, and United Arab Emirates
188. "BRIC countries are opaque"
- Author:
- George Vojta
- Publication Date:
- 06-2007
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Media Tenor International
- Abstract:
- Media Tenor: Even within the BRIC States one cannot say that all three are on the Media Agenda, not mention developing countries. What could be the reason for this salience? Vojta: My sense is that the four BRIC countries are rising in media visibility as they become more significant players in the global system. Very shortly these four countries will surpass the G7countries in annual absolute growth results.
- Topic:
- Development, Economics, International Trade and Finance, and Infrastructure
- Political Geography:
- Russia, China, South Asia, and Latin America
189. Argentina on Kirchner's Time
- Author:
- Mark Falcoff
- Publication Date:
- 04-2007
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
- Abstract:
- Since its financial crisis six years ago, Argentina has faded somewhat from the headlines. This is no doubt due in large part to the disproportionate space our media outlets now devote to Iraq and Iran, but also to the fact that other Latin American news stories—particularly Fidel Castro's surgery and the antics of Venezuela's clownish president Hugo Chávez—have dominated coverage of the area. Argentina is not, however, a negligent regional actor.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Economics, and Government
- Political Geography:
- Iraq, Iran, Argentina, South America, Latin America, and Venezuela
190. Un repaso a la regionalización y el regionalismo: Los primeros procesos de integración regional en América Latina
- Author:
- Maria Fajado
- Publication Date:
- 10-2007
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- CONfines de Relaciones Internacionales y Ciencia Política
- Abstract:
- This article analyses the first regionalism in Latin America, understood as the first regional economic integration agreements which appeared in the sixties, particularly the mechanisms of integration ALALC-ALADI, MCCA and PA. For such purpose, firstly the author presents a theoretical reflection about the regionalization and its political projects, in other words, the regionalism. Then, the international circumstances and the economic policies that served for developing these mechanisms of regional integration in Latin America are depicted.
- Topic:
- Economics, International Cooperation, and Regional Cooperation
- Political Geography:
- Latin America