Posts Tagged Demographics
Michael Clemens (Washington) on the Economics of Migration
Posted by sangus in Development on 23 April, 2013
Dr Michael Clemens
In this podcast we meet Dr Michael Clemens from the Center for Global Development in Washington. Dr Clemens is a passionate advocate of greater migration flows due to the economic benefits such flows bring, be it in spillovers to education and technology, or via direct reductions in labour costs. Dr Clemens’ recent work exploited a lottery system which was used to provide a temporary working visa to a sub-set of Indian software workers from a single firm, allowing Clemens to differentiate between place of work, whilst keeping all other aspects constant (type of work, firm policies and practices, etc.). Like other workers, Dr Clemens found that a large component of wage differentials was place-based, the so-called ‘Big-Mac Theory’ of development.
Pietro Peretto (Duke) on The Economics of Prosperity on a Finite Planet
Posted by sangus in Growth, Podcast, Sustainability on 1 May, 2012
Pietro Peretto (Duke)
Pietro Peretto, Professor of Economics, Duke University, is tackling the very biggest topic in Economics — How can humanity experience increasing living standards in a world of finite resources? Or more particularly, does the stabilisation of population levels imply the cessation of economic prosperity gains? Professor Peretto is a theorist who has been developing analytical models of human output and interaction with the environment. Professor Peretto was in Melbourne recently for the 17th Australasian Macroeconomic Workshop, at Monash University.
Read the paper on which this Podcast is based: Peretto, Pietro F. and Valente, Simone, Growth on a Finite Planet: Resources, Technology and Population in the Long Run (June 29, 2011). Economic Research Initiatives at Duke (ERID) Working Paper No. 103.
Or download the podcast here: download (mp3)
Margaret Docking on Family Planning in Uganda and the Struggle Behind MDG goal 5
The United Nations’ Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) put much emphasis on health, and infant and maternal health at that. Unfortunately, however, it is the maternal health goal — goal 5 (Improve Maternal health) — that is proving the most stubborn of all the MDGs to bring down. Indeed, the annual maternal mortality rate is falling at just 1.3%, well below the target of 5.5%. And as is sadly common, the African picture is far worse than the average. For example, whilst some improvements have been made in the use of skilled attendants at birth, less than half of all births are attended by such assistance in Africa, comparing to the global developing country average of over 60%.
In this post, we hear from Margaret Docking, an Australian trained midwife, who with her plumber husband, headed to Uganda in 2010 on a short-term mission. Expecting to work as a midwife in the hospitals of Uganda, Margaret quickly changed tack, eventually deciding that working on the causes of the extreme fertility rate (nudging 10) would be far more worthwhile than trying to incrementally improve the disastrous conditions under which most babies are born in Uganda.
Or download the podcast or transcript here: Podcast (mp3) | Transcript (pdf)
Global maternal mortality ratio data, 2008 (top) and trend (bottom)
Links:
Tim Hatton on Height and Health in Britain 1880-1950
Professor Tim Hatton of the Economics Program at the Research School of Social Sciences (ANU) spoke to us about his research on health and height (stature) in turn-of-the-century Britain. What is interesting about his work, is that his data set comes from the 1937 study by Sir John Boyd Orr of working class children in 16 locations in England and Scotland and allows the study of the famous `quality, quantity tradeoff’. The interview begins by asking Tim to explain exactly what this means.
Or download the podcast here: download (mp3)
The IMF says 1.4% Contraction for Australia in 2009: Can we afford it?
It seems to me that the recent discussion and alarm about the world economic recession has somehow got itself unhinged from the basic importance of the matter. For instance, take this plot:
From the BBC’s report, ‘Deeper’ recession ahead says IMF’. The text around the figure goes like this:
Whilst this is all interesting stuff, it actually gives us only half the story on global economic activity. From this report, there is no way that you can determine what is happening on the ground in these countries, or for that matter, on the lovely planet called Earth.
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Reporting on Closing the Gap - Should we Already Expect Progress?
Posted by sangus in Development, Health, Podcast, Poverty on 24 March, 2009
For those Australians who think that Development issues are something to do with Sub-Suharan Africa, think again. There is all the terrible and tragic action happening right on our doorstep.
The recent first report card speech delivered by the PM to parliament went for 40min and by some accounts and responses, didn’t deliver a great deal.
In my opinion though, we should give the PM a break, for now at least.
When you consider the situation, to think that substantial progress would have been made in 12 months on the ‘gaps’ in health and education between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians is fanciful. These are long-run statistics that capture generational change, not intra-generational progress.
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