European holiday-taking surveys—problems of method,measurement and interpretation

“So reisten die Europäer 1982”, ITB Berlin 83. Report on the conference, held in Berlin in March 1983, by Gillian Gardner-Smith of the British Tourist Authority.     

Financial Safety Nets: Lessons from Chile

Should governments ever override bank regulators who are attemptingto close down insolvent financial institutions? An analysisof Chile's history shows that time after time from the 1850sto the 1980s, prudential banking regulations were abandonedduring economic crises when attempts to impose tight solvencystandards proved impossible to enforce. Chile's current stringentbanking regulations may prove more durable, but mounting financialdistress is equally likely to lead the government to adopt policiesthat prevent bank failure but undermine the authority of regulators. Bank regulators, including the central bank, are responsiblefor creating a financial safety net to protect depositors againstloss and for enforcing the rules of prudent behavior that arerequired for a stable financial system. Because safety netsoften additionally cover losses to bank owners and borrowers,the support they offer encourages risk-taking by the privatesector an action that may promote financial deepening, but ata high budgetary cost to the government. Poorly designed safetynets may have to be suspended during crises to prevent lossesfrom mounting and to limit the government's liability.      

Migration transition or migration transformation in the Asian dragon economies?

There has been a marked tendency to interpret the recent transformation of international migration systems in Eastern Asia in terms of a ‘migration transition’ model. The transition in these countries from net emigration to net immigration, with major inflows from poorer adjacent countries, is seen as being driven by an intricate regional pattern of uneven development but growing economic integration. This paper challenges this view through an examination of the trade, investment and migration linkages of the region’s four dragon economies (Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan). It argues that the key influences on their international migration streams reflect, above all, the functions of these states as second-order, global city regions. Their place in the global capitalist system creates a shared demand for very particular types of both highly skilled and unskilled labour, but the migration policies of the four states are independently, and therefore distinctively, socially constructed. — Il y a une tendance à utiliser un modèle de ‘transition de migration’ pour interpréter les transformations récentes des systèmes de migration internationaux en Asie de l’est. La transition de l’émigration nette à l’immigration nette dans ces pays, avec des arrivées massives des pays adjacents plus pauvres, est supposée être due à un modèle régional complexe de développement inégal mais d’intégration économique croissante. Cet article questionne ce modèle et examine les liens entre le commerce, l’investissement, et la migration dans les quatre économies dragons de la région (Hong Kong, Singapour, la Corée du sud et Taï?wan). Il soutient que les influences majeures sur leur flux de migration internationale reflète avant tout les fonctions de ces états en tant que régions urbaines globales de deuxième ordre. Leur place dans le système capitaliste global crée une demande pour un type très particulier de travailleurs qualifiés et non qualifiés, mais les politiques de migration des quatre états sont indépendemment, et donc distinctement, socialement construites.