Problems Produced by the Growth Pattern of Botswana's Mineral-based Economy

A bstract . Botswana's record of economic development and social stability is challenged by a set of socioeconomic problems, which threaten the country's progress. They are: (a) inequities in income distribution and asset ownership rooted in agricultural underdevelopment; (b) rapidly expanding demands for water , the supply of which is virtually always uncertain; (c) endemic declines in cereal crop production leading to food insecurity; and (d) progressively more profound dependence upon the Republic of South Africa. These lead to conflict among classes. Botswana's history and aid donors' recent emphasis on basic human needs have led to three initiatives: the Arable Land Development Program, the Tribal Grazing Land Policy and the Financial Assistance Program. But problems remain which must be dealt with.     

SARS凸显经济社会发展六大典型问题

非典型肺炎是一场突如其来的灾难,这次疫情既对我国经济社会发展造成一定程度的不利影响,同时也使我国许多典型问题得到了充分暴露。虽然这些典型问题在抗击非典过程中已经通过非常措施     

Application of Quality of Life Indicators to Socioeconomic Problems:

Abstract . Liu has presented and applied to several categories of areas a method of estimating comparative values for measuring the quality of life. This method is analyzed and extended through an application permitting evaluation of social and economic policies for country towns in Australia. Issues in Liu's method, particularly relating to the procedure for standardizing measurements and a much-needed validation test, are examined and, it is hoped, resolved. The nature of Liu's results is compared with that of the Australian results and they are found to be similar, particularly in that the quality of life values were useful in explaining migration, and were even better in explaining certain components of migration. The study extended the method to analysis of policy choices.     

Poverty and Mass Unemployment in Mineralrich Botswana

Abstract . The economic plight of Botswana's poor has worsened as a direct consequence of the mining sector's success. Their condition results from the process by which economic expansion and modernization has taken place. It has created an economic elite composed of a government bureaucracy and an emerging military “salariat,” and a small group of corporation officials and managers. The elite have joined white farming families as the country's largerscale land and cattle owners, purchasing land and cattle from savings out of relatively high salaries in the mining and public sectors. They have drilled boreholes for water and mechanized their farms and ranches. In effect, the elite have enjoyed access to the revenue from mining; their wealth is a product of that sector's growth, and the consequence is the emergence of a dual Botswana. One is rich, the other is poor, and the emerging clash between rich and poor could destabilize and threaten an African success story.     

当前投资增长问题与对策分析

2006年上半年,我国固定资产投资高速增长,投资结构趋于优化,地区投资的均衡性有所提升.但投资增长过快也带来了一系列的新情况与新问题,需要采取稳健而灵活的调控措施加以疏导和解决.     

Language Nuances and Socioeconomic Outcomes

While language enables communication, it also provides a reassuring quality more closely related with issues linked with trust, social capital, and cultural identification. Research on the role of language as a learning process is widespread but there is little evidence on its role as a signal for cultural affinity. We pursue this latter avenue of research and show that subtle language affinity is positively linked with change in socioeconomic outcome variables when using English‐speaking data for cities in the Golden Horseshoe area in Southern Ontario during the period 1991 to 2001.     

Socioeconomic Conditions and Property Crime:

A comprehensive review of the crime literature indicates varying and often opposing hypotheses of relationships between property crime and socioeconomic conditions such as poverty, business cycle conditions, demographics, criminal justice system actions, and family structure. Employing measures of each of the hypothesized factors, time-series models for robbery, burglary, and vehicle theft are estimated from yearly and national Uniform Crime Report (UCR) data for the period 1959 through 1992 and are used to test these hypotheses' current empirical relevance. The empirical findings selectively confirm the importance of macroeconomic stability and criminal justice system actions in reducing property crime activity. In contrast, decreases in absolute poverty and general income inequality are associated with increased criminal activity; and age demographics and family/community structure apparently have little impact on any of the analyzed property-crime trends, A reduction in inflation apparently decreases property crimes.     

稳增长与调结构面临的问题

中国经济发展条件出现了重要变化,经济增长趋势将从高速增长转向中速增长。要实现经济稳定增长,必须保持适度的固定资产投资规模和扩大国内需求。结构调整既要继续发挥比较优势,更要增强竞争优势。在积极发展战略性新兴产业的同时,更要立足现有产业,瞄准与工业发达国家的差距,在技术密集型产业领域缩小差距。服务业的发展主要取决于经济发展阶段的客观条件,也受政策环境的制约。解决城乡二元经济结构问题的关键是从农村转移出来的劳动力在城镇有稳定的就业机会并纳入城镇社会保障体系。     

论政府在社会经济转型中的作用

一、稳定、强大的政府是实现社会经济平稳转型的重要前提 从世界历史发展来看,在社会经济转型时期,政治和社会稳定是一个国家实现经济长期发展的前提.只有在一个稳定的政治、社会环境中,各个经济主体才会确信他们获得的报酬与其在经济活动的贡献存在一种相对稳定的关系,并且会积极地工作和从事创新活动,从而会推动社会经济的长期发展;相反,一个政治不稳定、社会关系趋于紧张甚至发生严重冲突的国家要实现社会经济的长期发展是不可想象的.     

Public Homeownership, Housing Finance and Socioeconomic Development in Singapore

This paper first presents an analytic review of Singapore public homeownership policy developments over the past 35 years. The analysis will then focus on the two main reasons contributing to the success of Singapore public homeownership: the country's model of public housing finance; and the significant role public homeownership has played in its economic development. Finally, the paper concludes that the Singapore public housing system is not a ready package that can be applied anywhere, but that it does offer experiences that could be useful for other countries.     

Socioeconomic inequality in health-related behaviors: a lifestyle approach

The adoption of certain behaviors—like smoking or physical activity—is recognized as a major factor affecting health. Analyzing the social determinants of these behaviors, then, should be considered an important goal, since it may improve our understanding of the more general phenomenon of health inequalities. In this paper we analyze the association between socioeconomic status (SES) and health-related behaviors among the Italian population aged 18–74 in 2004/2005. Using large-scale sample survey data and a Weberian lifestyle approach, we first identify an ordered multidimensional space of health-related behaviors, and partition this space into a meaningful set of discrete regions representing a fine-grained taxonomy of health lifestyles. Then, we use regression analysis to determine if, and to what extent, the identified lifestyles are associated with SES. Using level of education as an indicator of SES, we find that the propensity to adopt healthier lifestyles exhibits a positive educational gradient, whereas the probability of following less healthy lifestyles is inversely associated with the level of education. We conclude that, in general, focusing on health lifestyles—i.e., on combinations of multiple health-related behaviors—instead of single behaviors may lead to a better understanding of health-related practices and their relationship with socioeconomic status.     

Socioeconomic Advance in the Republic of China (Taiwan)

A bstract . The significance of economic development in the Republic of China on Taiwan cannot be adequately recognized without a concomitant assessment of the social changes that have taken place over the last 30 years. The concept of social indicators as measures of such changes is explored and their applicability to the island determined. Levels of the quality of life from different periods are studied and their advances analyzed. Taiwan's levels are compared with those of developed countries and of the People's Republic of China (Mainland China). Taiwan's show evidence of remarkable progress. The impacts of energy developments and of the recession's deterioration of foreign trade have threatened the rate as well as the absolute level of this progress.     

A Critique of the Orthodox Approach to Indonesia's Growth and Employment Problems and Post Keynesian Alternatives

Indonesia continues to bear the scars of the 1997 financial crisis, with the highest open unemployment rate in Southeast Asia. The orthodox interpretation is that the post‐crisis era is typified by overly generous labor legislation granting higher minimum wages and other provisions; the rise in real wages adversely impacted the investment climate and employment growth. However, detailed sectoral analysis reveals very little evidence of a wage‐driven profit squeeze. This article contends that Indonesia's current unemployment woes are best understood as the reflection of a demand‐constrained economy, where important sectors are operating at around 70 percent of their capacity. It, thus, outlines an alternative macroeconomic policy framework in the Post Keynesian tradition.     

Socioeconomic Impacts of Disinvestment on Communities in New York State

Abstract . In order to determine the effect of industrial decline on local tax revenues and to discern the stresses caused by higher demand for social services in a period of government fiscal crisis, the industrial migration activities and local government budgets of New York State from 1962 to 1976 are analyzed. These regression analyses show that: (1) manufacturing decline handicaps the growth of local property tax revenues; (2) when possible, local governments compensate for their lost property tax revenues by raising non-property taxes; displaced workers are likely to seek public assistance; and (4) local welfare expenditures do not correspond to the soaring social service demands. Provided that plant openings seldom re-employ displaced workers, the authors suggest that it is as important for local governments to adopt policies for retaining their current manufacturing plants as to attract new industrial investments.     

The adoption of HIV/AIDS policies and practices in businesses in Botswana: an exploratory study

This paper contributes to an under-researched area through an exploration of the factors motivating the adoption of HIV/AIDS policies and practices in businesses in Botswana. The focus of analysis is a developing country where HIV/AIDS is acknowledged to have had a detrimental impact on its human resources. The objective of this research was to assess whether a voluntary, non-legally binding National Policy on HIV/AIDS is an adequate motivator for the adoption of HIV/AIDS policies in businesses. The study engaged employers and managers across a number of key sectors in Botswana. The findings are explored through a theoretical lens that acknowledges institutional isomorphism and rational economic decision-making as potential motivating factors. The data indicate that the National Policy on HIV/AIDS had motivated certain businesses to adopt such policies, but a variety of other factors were also found to be involved in this process. There was, however, lack of engagement with the National Policy and with issues surrounding HIV/AIDS by a high number of the participating organisations. The research findings reveal the complexity of factors involved in adopting HIV/AIDS policies in a developing country, and therefore provide an insight in an under-researched area. They can serve as a foundation for future research on human resource management policies and practices in relation to HIV/AIDS in African economies.     

Human resource management in Botswana: approaches to enhancing productivity in the public sector

Public-sector productivity is an issue that is now squarely on the agenda in the global arena. In recent times it has also emerged in the research and literature on human resource management and development as a significant aspect of the advocacy for re-engineering or re-inventing government, entrepreneurial government, quality management in the public sector, public sector efficiency and so on. This paper discusses and analyses productivity in the public sector in Botswana, the current approaches being employed to enhance it, and advocates, from a human resource management perspective, policy areas which can be beneficial for the sustainable enhancement of that productivity in the country.     

"十一五"农民收入增长机制问题研究

"十五"时期,我国农民收入整体进入恢复性增长时期.农民人均年纯收入实际增长5.3%.农民收入增长仍存在不平衡性,农业收入的比重逐年降低,非农收入持续增长,政策性因素对农民增收减负发挥了阶段性作用.