Scarcity in the Danner-MeeksForum exchange: Supplying the demand for clarity

The dialog on scarcity in the Fall 1995 issue of the Forum exemplifies the problems inherent in cross-disciplinary communication. Careful analysis of this dialog between Peter Danner and M. Douglas Meeks reveals an equivocal use of the crucial term in question: “scarcity.” By pointing out these various shades of meaning and demonstrating the negative effects of linguistic confusion on the Danner-Meeks dialog, this article seeks to show how clarity and precision in the use of the term “scarcity” can open important avenues for further interdisciplinary reflection on this fundamental economic principle.     

Labor demand and trade reform in Latin America

Trade liberalization is thought to result in higher own-wage elasticities of labor demand, particularly for unskilled labor, with adverse implications for both labor market volatility and wage dispersion. The paper first argues that theoretically the link between liberalization and labor-demand elasticities is less clear than has previously been asserted. It then uses dynamic panel techniques to estimate labor-demand relations for manufacturing establishments in Chile, Colombia, and Mexico across periods of trade policy reform. The results do not strongly support the hypothesis that trade liberalization has a direct impact on own-wage elasticities.     

Conceptualising the dynamics of employee information and consultation: evidence from the Republic of Ireland

The debate concerning the emerging regulatory environment for employee voice continues apace, in particular the requirements to inform and consult employees as a result of the European Employee Information and Consultation Directive. This article examines the processes used to inform and consult employees across 15 case studies in the Republic of Ireland. It evaluates different voice arrangements using a conceptual framework that seeks to capture the dynamics of different employee voice schemes across union and non‐union companies. The findings suggest that participation is more robust when the channels for information and consultation accommodate both conflictual and cooperative processes. It is shown that robust forms of participation are more likely through processes that facilitate independent representation. The evidence also shows that some employers may devise their own counterbalancing forms of (pseudo) consultation, in an attempt to minimise the impact of regulatory rights for employee voice.     

Microenterprise Dynamics in Developing Countries: How Similar are They to Those in the Industrialized World? Evidence from Mexico

A rich panel data set from Mexico is used to study the patternsof entry, exit, and growth of microenterprises and to comparethese with the findings of the mainstream theoretical and empiricalwork on firm dynamics. The Mexican self-employment sector ismuch larger than its counterpart in the United States, whichis reflected in higher unconditional rates of entry into thesector. The evidence for Mexico points to the significant presenceof well-performing salaried workers among the likely entrantsinto self-employment, as opposed to the higher incidence ofpoorer wageworkers among the entrants into the U.S. self-employmentsector. Despite these differences, however, the patterns ofentry, survival, and growth with respect to age, education,and many other covariates are very similar in Mexico and theUnited States. These strong similarities suggest that mainstreammodels of worker decisions and firm behavior are useful guidesfor policymaking for the developing-country microenterprisesector. Furthermore, they suggest that, as a first approximation,the developing-country microenterprise should probably be viewedas they are in the advanced countries as offering potentiallydesirable job opportunities to low-productivity workers.     

A review of Personalist Economics

The recent focus on sustainability as guiding principle for economic activity has generated many (often conflicting) definitions of sustainable economic development. Yet while the terminology may be new, the discussion is not. It parallels the discussion about biases of economic valuation concepts that have led to the neglect of the domestic and subsistence contributions relegated to the "informal" or household sector. This paper argues that the narrow definition of economic theory, methodology, and valuation concepts has led to the detrimental neglect of sustaining functions without which economic activity is impaired. To move toward sustainability it is imperative to regain a broader understanding of economics. Three principles are identified as essential for this conceptual expansion of economics. They are: concreteness rather than abstraction, connectedness rather than isolation, and diversity rather than homogeneity. All three are informed by feminist theory. Thus it is argued that the voices of women who have gone largely unheard in economics are essential to reconceptualizing economics as sustainable.     

Foreign informational lobbying can enhance tourism: Evidence from the Caribbean

There exist legal channels for informational lobbying of US policymakers by foreign principals. Foreign governments and private sector principals frequently and intensively use this institutional channel to lobby on trade and tourism issues. This paper empirically studies whether such lobbying effectively achieves its goal of trade promotion in the context of Caribbean tourism, and suggests the potential for using foreign lobbying as a vehicle for development. Panel data are used to explore and quantify the association between foreign lobbying by Caribbean principals and US tourist arrivals to Caribbean destinations. A variety of sensitivity analyses support the finding of a strong association. The policy implications are obvious and potentially important for developing countries.     

Trade liberalization,labor reforms and formal–informal employment dynamics

This paper studies gross worker flows to explain the rise in informality in Brazilian metropolitan labor markets from 1983 to 2002. In particular, we examine the impact of trade and constitutional reforms (that include increased firing costs, tighter restrictions on overtime work, and fewer restrictions on union activity) occurring during the period. We find aggregate sectoral movements to be driven largely by changes in the hiring rates which, in turn are driven largely by the constitutional reforms. Trade liberalization accounts for roughly 1–2.5% of the increase in informality, while the constitutional reforms account for 30–40%.