Female headship,feminization of poverty and welfare

Female-headed households are at greater risk of slipping into poverty than male-headed households. Indeed, sex and marital status of the head of household are the most important determinants of a family's poverty status in the US. Divorce, separation, death of a husband, and out-of-wedlock births can lead to female headship. Transfer payments, especially the Aid to Families with Dependent Children program, are blamed for contributing to increased marital instability and out-of-wedlock births. The authors examined the role of welfare benefits in influencing female headship. Preliminary results using standard estimation procedures indicate that transfers do not significantly influence female headship. Standard estimation procedures are, however, erroneous because they ignore differences in propensities to establish mother-only households. Therefore, adjusting for differences in propensities to establish female-headed households, the level of welfare benefits is indeed an important factor in explaining the variation in the changes in the birth rates to unmarried women. The use of a weighted measure suggests that welfare benefits, by increasing female headship of women who otherwise have low propensities to be female heads, have played a significant role in the feminization of poverty.     

Food Stamp Caseloads over the Business Cycle

We use a dynamic model of food stamp caseloads with state-level panel data to estimate the impact of the business cycle on food stamp caseloads in the era of welfare reform. The macroeconomy has a substantial impact on food stamp caseloads: A one-percentage-point increase in the unemployment rate leads to a 2.3% increase after one year. In terms of welfare policy, a 10-percentage-point increase in the share of a state's population waived from rules limiting food stamp receipt among able-bodied adults without dependents (ABAWDs) results in a 0.5% increase in contemporaneous caseloads. States with waivers from the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program in the mid-1990s had caseloads about 1.9% higher than nonwaiver states. While changes in AFDC caseloads have historically resulted in coincident changes in food stamp caseloads, our results suggest that the link between AFDC caseload and food stamp caseload changes has dissipated substantially after welfare reform. The cyclical sensitivity of food stamp caseloads indicates the importance of food stamps in smoothing consumption during economic recessions.     

Quantifying the impact of aid to dependent children: An epidemiological framework

This paper shows that conditional cash transfers under Aid to Dependent Children (ADC), a main program of the 1935 Social Security Act, reduced infant, children and adult mortality. I take advantage of the transition from mothers’ pensions to ADC and the large differences in ADC payments and eligibility across 104 cities, 2,260 counties, and 49 states to estimate the impacts of cash transfers on mortality rates, by age, sex, race, and cause between 1929 and 1944. I find that ADC's expansion reduced infant and adult mortality by between 10 and 20 percent. This finding, based on an event-study design, is robust to a range of specifications, difference-and-differences, an instrumental variable strategy, a range of fixed effects, placebo tests and a border-pair policy discontinuity design. The largest mortality reductions came from drops in communicable and infectious diseases, such as influenza, pneumonia and tuberculosis.     

国际援助再分类及其对受援国经济增长的异质性影响

国际援助对受援国的经济影响在学界并没有一致的答案，文章从不同类型国际援助的影响具有异质性的角度再次探讨这一问题。文章的主要工作有两点：一是对援助类型的重新分类；二是根据新分类的援助，实证分析不同类型援助的异质性影响。首先，基于中观经济学对生成性资源的分类方式，文章提出资源配对援助法，将国际援助分为了商业性援助、开发性援助和公益性援助三类，并与经合组织债权人申报系统相衔接，建立了分类后的国际援助数据集。然后，在实证分析部分，分别研究了援助总规模和不同类型国际援助对受援国经济发展的影响。结果发现，援助总规模对受援国的经济正向影响显著。同时，开发性援助和公益性援助存在门槛效应和滞后性，两者都有显著的正向影响，而且开发性援助对受援国经济发展促进作用要强于公益性援助。     

用马克思主义指引我们继续书写新的光辉篇章——重读《共产党宣言》

本文提出,要研究和正确认识21世纪中国坚持马克思主义、谱写新的光辉篇章这一全新课题。文章认为,面对未来发展和进步,最为重要的问题之一,是要进一步清楚认识资产阶级、资本主义的本质,看清它们的策略更为灵活、手段更为隐蔽和方法更为温和的特征。面对资产阶级变得更加聪明、手段更为多种多样和巧妙的现实,共产党人决不能在思想上解除马克思主义武装,不能丧失对资本主义复辟的警惕,要坚决拿起马克思主义武器,保持艰苦奋斗精神,敢于和善于带领无产阶级和劳动人民,揭露资本主义的剥削和压迫的本质,以共产党人高超的智慧、坚定的原则性与灵活性结合的策略,与资产阶级作坚持不懈的斗争,建设社会主义强国,书写21世纪中国新的光辉篇章。     

Socializing adaptation: A perspective on world capitalism

This paper proposes a hypothesis on world capitalist development: capitalist societies have responded to the major economic problems which they have generated by ‘socializing adaptation’; now, in response to the development of a world economy with world economic problems, there is emerging a new process of global socializing adaptation. The paper discusses the nature of socializing adaptation in response to national problems, the nature of global socializing adaptation, and possible LDC development orientations.     

Effects of Child Health on Sources of Public Support

We estimate the effects of having a child in poor health on the mother's receipt of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Supplemental Security Income (SSI), and public support in the form of food (Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children [WIC] or food stamps), health insurance (Medicaid), and housing. We find that mothers with unhealthy children are between 2 and 8 percentage points (8-33%) more likely to rely on TANF than those with healthy children. There are stronger effects for mothers with older children than for those having first births. Mothers of children in poor health are also more likely than those with healthy children to receive SSI, Medicaid, and housing assistance but not WIC or food stamps. Given the restrictive new welfare environment, mothers who rely on TANF to cope with the burden of caring for unhealthy infants may soon encounter difficulties making ends meet and have insufficient resources to invest in their children's health.     

The riot as politics

Conclusion Two independent tests with a total of 36 large and medium-sized non-southern cities have demonstrated support for a political explanation of the major riots of the 1960s. It is argued that politically interested and motivated segments of the black community were disaffected because of the failure of government to respond to their demands. Their participation turned minor disorders into major uprisings. An alternative hypothesis, that public policy response generates increased expectations and ultimately greater violence, has been rejected. However, the findings rest upon the riot experience of a small number of cities in the 1960s. It seems very unlikely that the public policies of these cities would have much impact on the expectations of their black citizens and thus the rationale of the alternative hypothesis is undermined. The public policies of other governments, at other times, might have more influence on the expectations of their citizens. Additional research would be required to identify circumstances under which public policy response might lead to increased expectations, disaffection, and ultimately greater violence.     

The politics of social protection expenditure and financing in southern Africa

Social protection is expanding in southern Africa, but consideration of its fiscal base is usually limited to affordability concerns. Little attention is paid to the different sources of revenue or how the interests of contributors to social protection may affect spending priorities. This article suggests there is a link between revenue source and social protection spending. Aid dependent countries' social protection policy is mostly determined by donors. The governments of countries that rely on natural resources or Southern African Customs Union revenue are relatively free to shape social protection policy. Only in countries that rely on domestic tax-based revenue, where the government must consider the interests of the taxpayer, is there something resembling a social contract for social protection, in which the citizens engage with their government through an exchange-based logic. This article concludes that a broad and diversified tax base is an important mechanism for creating a reciprocal relationship of this kind and thus increasing social spending.     

Land reform and rural development in the Transvaal

This paper considers and contrasts agriculture on the white‐owned farms and in the black‐occupied areas of the Transvaal. It outlines the limitations of the existing tribal tenure system in the black areas, and argues that the various development initiatives that have taken place there have not left the people either financially better off, or with a greater degree of control over their land than before. The whole Transvaal should be seen as a single unit for agricultural planning purposes. This would mean that natural resources, as well as agricultural services, could be spread more equitably among the entire population of the area, which would boost agricultural production, as well as lessen the gross inequalities currently pertaining between black and white agriculture in the area.     

我国东部地区创新资源配置效率评价研究

使用DEA模型对我国东部11个省市创新资源配置效率进行研究，研究结果表明：我国东部地区虽然有6个省市创新资源配置效率较高，但仍有5个省市效率不高，存在不同程度的创新投入冗余或产出不足。基于此提出各省市应该充分发挥资源和地理位置的优势，不断优化创新资源配置效率的对策建议，使其能够在经济转型期间以创新驱动发展并带动中西部地区创新发展。     

国有企业人力资源危机的现状分析及防范策略

人力资源不仅是一个国家发展的源泉,也是一个企业存在的生命线。尽管有愈来愈多的企业已经认识到人力资源开发与管理的重要性,但是国有企业的人力资源仍危机重重。据此,文章从我国国有企业人力资源危机管理的必要性出发,分析了我国国有企业人力资源危机的现状和产生原因,在此基础上提出了营造良好的外部发展环境、强化人力资源优化配置、提高人员整体素质和加强激励体系建设等相应的防范策略。     

对临沧茶文化风情园旅游发展的思考

临沧茶文化风情园虽然拥有丰富的旅游资源,但在旅游发展过程中仍存在许多问题。其旅游业管理和从业人员有必要更新观念,创新机制,制定行之有效的发展策略,以实现可持续发展。     

From a labor-managed economy to a market economy: A contribution to economic transformation

Does transition of a labor-managed economy to a capitalist economy really lead to an efficient economy? Which transformation strategies can be established during the transition? Which type of capitalist economy can be predicted by such transition strategies? This paper answers these questions by using the economic models described and explained by the main principles of post-Keynesian economic theory. It is found that the transition process leads to replacing the investment function, instituting the labor market, and replacing the expectations of a personal income rate with a profit rate. To achieve these processes, privatization and institution building, or institutional restructuring, are crucial. They also remove problems that should be removed by stabilization and restructuring.     

要素配置、产业发展与产业结构——基于政府主导的产业发展战略视角

文章构造了理论模型分析政府主导的发展战略通过影响资本和劳动力的配置,从而影响产业发展以及产业结构调整,并利用1984-2015年省际数据实证检验了发展战略对于产业发展以及产业结构调整的影响效应。结果发现,产业发展战略提升了各产业的资本深化程度,对于中国产业发展以及产业结构有很大的主导作用。具体来说,产业发展战略促进了各产业的发展,对第二产业发展的促进效应最大,并且产业的发展存在内部滞后效应;发展战略可以显著地促进产业结构高级化,但是对于产业结构合理化和有效产业结构存在负向作用,即不利于资本-劳动在产业中的配置以及经济增长的结构效应,同时,产业结构调整也存在明显的滞后效应。     

安徽省乡村旅游发展的现状、问题与对策

安徽乡村旅游资源丰富,近年来乡村旅游发展较快,对于带动农村发展、农民增收等具有积极意义,但是在发展中也存在一些障碍,在乡村旅游问题分析的基础上提出相应对策。     

Constraints on assistance to refugees: Some observations from the Sudan

The plight of refugees in Africa is compounded by the fact that they often seek asylum in poor host countries which are as politically and economically fragile as their countries of origin. Attempts to help these refugees become self-sufficient demonstrate the underlying contradictions of all aid programmes.This paper discusses these contradictions in the light of the author's experience in the Sudan. It shows how the concept of ‘humanitarian assistance’ and the relief programmes designed by aid agencies, as well as the laws and regulations designed by governments, have contributed to the increasing powerlessness of the refugee recipients. Refugees themselves have been ignored throughout the decision-making process in the three phases of relief, rehabilitation and development. Aid agencies and host governments often have conflicting goals which result in exacerbation of the refugees' situation.The author suggests that assistance has been directed towards the symptoms of the refugee problem but not the root causes. As a result, there is an urgent need to reassess the assumptions underlying refugee assistance and to propose new strategies and options.     

Aid Effectiveness in Africa*

Abstract: This paper revisits the issue of aid effectiveness in Africa by examining the effect of aid on growth. Historically, Africa's development context appears to be an aid‐dependent one, and with the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) calling for additional capital flows to improve growth levels on the continent, and the attainment of the UN's Millennium Development Goals partly conditioned on aid inflows, there is a new urgency to evaluate the effectiveness of aid. Using a sample comprising 40 member countries of the African Union, and estimating fixed‐effects growth models, we find a positive and statistically significant effect of aid on growth. Aid increases investment, which is a major transmission mechanism in the aid‐growth relationship. An extension of our analysis to examine sources of growth finance shows aid, workers' remittances, debt‐service resources and domestic savings are important sources of development finance. Thus, for now, aid matters for the continent's growth. However, given the apparent donor aid fatigue and the debt servicing implications of concessional loans, the paper supports the need to strategize to reduce future dependence on aid.     

Women’s Empowerment and Child Malnutrition: The Case of Mozambique

Using data from the 2011 Demographic and Health Survey in Mozambique this paper checks whether women empowerment has an impact on the nutritional status of children. We evaluate the degree of empowerment of women via multidimensional approaches, making a distinction between five domains: decision making, use of violence by husband/partner, attitude of the woman towards this use of violence, available information, material resources. Each domain includes several questions reflecting different aspects of empowerment. For each domain of empowerment, three different methods of aggregation are used: correspondence analysis, the so‐called Alkire and Foster methodology and the “fuzzy sets” approach. The impact of women empowerment on the nutritional status of children is analyzed via the MIMIC approach. No clear‐cut conclusion concerning the possible impact of women’s empowerment on the nutritional status of children could be drawn. But, ceteris paribus, the material wealth of the household, the educational level of the mother and her BMI are positively correlated with the nutritional status of children which is also higher when the child is female. Finally, there are important differences in the nutritional status of children between the various regions of Mozambique and this nutritional status is in most regions lower in rural areas.     

Quality of Institutions and Violence Incidence: a Cross-Country Analysis

This paper utilizes two alternative econometric strategies to test the hypothesis that countries with poor institutional arrangements create an environment with increased impunity, thus providing incentives for potential law-breakers to engage in criminal activities that lead to rapid contagion of violence. Several measures of institutions including legal, political, market, government, and sociocultural institutions are considered in the paper. The empirical analysis provides evidence that the impact of institutional quality on violence is important regardless of income levels. This finding implies that differences in quality of institutions explain why countries with similar levels of income per capita may have different rates of violence and crime. In addition, the results show that quality of institutions matter for a successful long-term strategy to reduce violence.