Flunking economics?

Economists are in revolt over President Clinton's health care reform proposal. Many contend that the Administration is abandoning free-market principles and embracing price controls that could have disastrous consequences. But others argue that traditional rules of supply and demand don't apply to the health care sector.     

Antwerp, a city on the move

Afewyearsago,themunicipalorganizationofthecityofAntwerpwas,duetoitsdisastrousfinancialsituation,forcedtoreduceitsPersonnelandtoshrinkitsbudgets.Allnecessaryandpainfuloperationsresultedinalotofcommotionandunrest.Thecitymanagementfounditselfconfrontedwithanumberofexternalandinternalfactors.overtheyears,thedissatisfactionoftheAntwerpcitizenstowardstheaservice-performance"ofthemunicipalorganizationhadgrown.Ingeneral,thepublicliadanextremelynegativeimageofthemunicipalofficial.Moreover,theresultso…     

The big story

When a mega-policy issue--health care reform--runs up against the Information Age, the result is likely to be increased earnings and career-making opportunities for journalists.     

A note on the equality of distribution of child mortality: Java-Bali, 1950-1976

Infant mortality is a widely recognized social indicator that is a useful index of the relative socioeconomic condition of subgroups of the population of a developing country. In developed countries, a more appropriate indicator of mortality is the proportion of babies who die before they reach their 5th birthday. 3 birth cohorts are identified from data provided by the Indonesian Fertility Survey conducted in Java and Bali in 1976 in order to examine the trend in mortality: births occurring 15 or more years before the survey, 10-14 years before the survey, and 5-9 years before the survey. 4 characteristics of parents related to education, occupation and urban vs. rural residence are used to analyze child mortality trends. A table shows the estimates for various combinations of these characteristics. Child mortality has decreased, but more importantly, it has decreased most for parents on the low end of the socioeconomic scale. Either parent having secondary education appears to be the key factor in the experience of low child mortality, although as more parents achieve secondary education, another factor may emerge as more important.     

Remittances from international labour migration: a summary of findings and issues for labour-exporting developing countries of the ESCAP region

International labor migration from the ESCAP region to the Middle East is analyzed, and patterns of remittances from migrants are examined. The focus is on "contract" migration, in which the workers involved have no intention of settling in the country of employment and which is characterized by a job contract that is concluded by the employer on behalf of the workers. Topics discussed include the labor market situation, controversies over the benefits of remittances, the flow of migration and the stock of workers in host countries, characteristics of migrating workers, management of the migration flow, the size and significance of remittance flows to ESCAP countries, and policy issues.