Population Aging

Population Aging
Author: Daniel Cotlear
Publisher: World Bank Publications
Total Pages: 324
Release: 2010-12-13
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0821384694

Latin America and the Caribbean will soon face the challenges of an aging population. This process, which took over a century in the rich world, will occur in two or three decades in the developing world; seven of the 25 countries that will age more rapidly are in LAC. Population aging will pose challenges and offer opportunities. This book explores three sets of issues. First is a group of issues related to the support of the aging and poverty in the life cycle. This covers questions of work and retirement, income and wealth, and living arrangements and intergenerational transfers. It also explores the relation between the life cycle and poverty. Second is the question of the health transition. How does the demographic transition impact the health status of the population and the demand for health care? And how advanced is the health transition in LAC? Third is an understanding of the fiscal pressures that are likely to accompany population aging and to disentangle the role of demography from the role of policy in that process. This book provides an introduction to the concepts and techniques at the intersection of demography and economics. It summarizes the policy debate about potential reforms needed to make population aging an opportunity for development.

Aid that Works

Aid that Works
Author: James Manor
Publisher: World Bank Publications
Total Pages: 324
Release: 2007
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 082136202X

Research in recent years on aid effectiveness shows that significant obstacles in fragile states - insecurity, poor governance and weak implementation capacity - usually prevent aid from achieving the desired results in these environments. This study investigates the attributes and effectiveness of donor-supported programmes and projects that worked well under difficult conditions in fragile states. Presented in this study are nine development initiatives in six less developed countries - Afghanistan, Cambodia, Mozambique, Sierra Leone, Timor Leste and Uganda. The cases show that development initiatives, which engage local communities and local level governments, are often able to have significant impact. However, for more substantial improvements to take places, localized gains need to be scaled up either horizontally (other localities) or vertically (to higher levels). Given the advantages of working at the local level and the difficulty of working through mainstream bureaucratic agencies at higher levels in these countries, donors often prefer to create 'parallel-agencies' to reach out to larger numbers of beneficiaries. However, this may in the long run weaken the legitimacy of mainstream government institutions, and donor agencies may therefore choose to work as closely as possible with government officials from the beginning to build trust and demonstrating that new initiatives are non-threatening and help prepare the eventual mainstreaming of 'parallel agencies'.

Homer Economicus

Homer Economicus
Author: Joshua Hall
Publisher: Stanford University Press
Total Pages: 256
Release: 2014-05-14
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0804791821

In Homer Economicus a cast of lively contributors takes a field trip to Springfield, where the Simpsons reveal that economics is everywhere. By exploring the hometown of television's first family, this book provides readers with the economic tools and insights to guide them at work, at home, and at the ballot box. Since The Simpsons centers on the daily lives of the Simpson family and its colorful neighbors, three opening chapters focus on individual behavior and decision-making, introducing readers to the economic way of thinking about the world. Part II guides readers through six chapters on money, markets, and government. A third and final section discusses timely topics in applied microeconomics, including immigration, gambling, and health care as seen in The Simpsons. Reinforcing the nuts and bolts laid out in any principles text in an entertaining and culturally relevant way, this book is an excellent teaching resource that will also be at home on the bookshelf of an avid reader of pop economics.

The Second Law of Economics

The Second Law of Economics
Author: Reiner Kümmel
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 309
Release: 2011-06-24
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1441993657

Nothing happens in the world without energy conversion and entropy production. These fundamental natural laws are familiar to most of us when applied to the evolution of stars, biological processes, or the working of an internal combustion engine, but what about industrial economies and wealth production, or their constant companion, pollution? Does economics conform to the First and the Second Law of Thermodynamics? In this important book, Reiner Kümmel takes us on a fascinating tour of these laws and their influence on natural, technological, and social evolution. Analyzing economic growth in Germany, Japan, and the United States in light of technological constraints on capital, labor, and energy, Professor Kümmel upends conventional economic wisdom by showing that the productive power of energy far outweighs its small share of costs, while for labor just the opposite is true. Wealth creation by energy conversion is accompanied and limited by polluting emissions that are coupled to entropy production. These facts constitute the Second Law of Economics. They take on unprecedented importance in a world that is facing peak oil, debt-driven economic turmoil, and threats from pollution and climate change. They complement the First Law of Economics: Wealth is allocated on markets, and the legal framework determines the outcome. By applying the First and Second Law we understand the true origins of wealth production, the issues that imperil the goal of sustainable development, and the technological options that are compatible both with this goal and with natural laws. The critical role of energy and entropy in the productive sectors of the economy must be realized if we are to create a road map that avoids a Dark Age of shrinking natural resources, environmental degradation, and increasing social tensions.

The Fluxus Reader

The Fluxus Reader
Author: Ken Friedman
Publisher:
Total Pages: 328
Release: 1998-11-18
Genre: Architecture
ISBN:

Part I. Three histories : Developing a fluxable forum: Early performance & publishing / Owen Smith -- Fluxus, fluxion, flushoe: the 1970's / Simon Anderson -- Fluxus fortuna / Hannah Higgins -- Part II. Theories of Fluxus: Boredom and oblivion / Ina Blon -- Zen vaudeville: a medi(t)ation in the margins of Fluxus / David T. Doris -- Fluxus as a laboratory / Craig Saper -- Part III. Critical and historical perspectives: Fluxus history and trans-history: competing strategies for empowerment / Estera Milman -- Historical design and social purpose: a note on the relationship of Fluxus to modernism / Stephen C. Foster -- A spirit of large goals: fluxus, dada and postmodern cultural theory at two speeds -- Part IV. Three Fluxus voices : Transcript of the videotaped Interview with George Maciunas -- Selections from an interview with Billie Maciunas / Susan L. Jarosi -- Maybe Fluxus (a para-interrogative guide for the neoteric transmuter, tinder, tinker and totalist) / Larry Miller -- Part V. Two Fluxus theories : Fluxus : theory and reception / Dick Higgins -- Fluxus and company / Ken Friedman -- Part. VI-- Documents of Fluxus : Fluxus chronology : key moments and events -- A list of selected Fluxus art works and related primary source materials -- A list of selected Fluxus sources and related secondary sources.

The New Public Health Law

The New Public Health Law
Author: Professor of Law and Public Health Scott Burris
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 345
Release: 2022-11-22
Genre:
ISBN: 019761597X

"This book offers a new approach to teaching and learning public health law. At its heart is a "transdisciplinary" model of public health law, one that recognizes that many different kinds of professionals in public health are using law and need to have the training and skills to apply it effectively in their work: non-lawyers in public health design legal initiatives, advocate for legal reform, implement the law, and monitor and evaluate its effects. For their part, lawyers in public health law practice also do many things beyond their core job description and training in law. They work with epidemiological and behavioral data that define problems and inform legal solutions. They collaborate with others to study the law's implementation and impact. They make the case for public health in the political process. This book supports a public health law and policy course that teaches students in law schools, schools of public health, social work, and other non-JD programs to do these things-and do them collaboratively, using shared frameworks and language"--

Changing the Industrial Geography in Asia

Changing the Industrial Geography in Asia
Author: Shahid Yusuf
Publisher: World Bank Publications
Total Pages: 282
Release: 2010
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0821382403

A Great Burst Of Globalization brought the 20th century to a close, creating upheaval in the world economy from roughly 1995 to 2008. And now, with the new century barely commenced, a second upheaval is in the offing following the severe financial crisis that plunged the global economy into recession in 2008-09. The first upheaval witnessed a massive migration of manufacturing and certain business services that transformed Asia into the industrial heartland of the world. The second upheaval will likely consolidate Asia's industrial preeminence and could result in a concentraion of industrial activities in the two most populous and fastest-growing Asian economies---China and India. As the two Asian giants become the industrial equals of the United States, Germany, and Japan, the ramifications will affect trade and growth worldwide, the future of development in China and India, and industrialization throughout Asia. Changing the Industrial Geography in Asia: The Impact of China and India examines these developments, focusing specifically on China and India. Its analysis and conclusions will be of particular interest to policy makers and academics, as well as anyone with an interest in how China and India are likely to reshape industry throughout Asia. "Changing the Industrial Geography inAsia is rich in detailed analysis of the continuing transformation of the manufacturing sector in Asia, both in terms of its moving geography and its composition. For those intrested in understanding the prospects of post-financial crisis Asia, this book is a must read. It is a refreshing return to economic fundamentals, including the new problems of climate change and dwindling energy resources, and will remain the leading reference on Asian transformaton for a long time to come." "The authors consolidate a remarkable amount of data and analysis on the on the industrial structure of Asia and its emergence as theindustrial center of the global economy."