Revisiting the Meaning of Development: A Multidimensional Taxonomy of Developing Countries

Many have challenged the use of income per capita as the primary proxy for measuring development since Seers’s seminal works. This article continues this tradition with a more recent twist. We use cluster analysis to build a multidimensional taxonomy of developing countries using a set of indicators covering four conceptual frames on ‘development’. The value-added of the article is not to suggest that our classification is the end in itself, but – more modestly – to demonstrate that more work on taxonomies is required in light of the weakness of classifications based solely on income and the changing distribution of global poverty.     

The Feminisation of Agriculture with Chinese Characteristics

The objectives of this article are to assess whether or not the feminisation of agriculture is occurring in China, and if so, to measure its impact on productivity. To meet these objectives, we rely on three data sets that allow us to explore who works on China's farms and the effects of the labour allocation decisions of rural households on productivity. We find that since the late 1990s, the role of women has increased in both the supply of farm labour and in the duties that they take on in the management of farms. While this expansion is important, we further demonstrate that when women do a majority of farm work or manage the farm, their farms are equally efficient as farms managed by men.     

From Polarisation to Integration in Vietnam

This paper analyses the growth trajectory of China and related structural change to assess China's capacity to continue its rapid growth over the next decade. The evidence demonstrates that the multi-path approach undertaken has enabled China to transform its economy from low value-added towards high value-added activities through structural change from low to high value-added industries, as well as upgrading within industries. In doing so, China did not follow the neo-liberal advocacy of freeing markets. Selective state interventions facilitated China's transformation from an agricultural to an industrial economy over the last few decades. Upgrading towards higher value-added activities and the continuing strength of macroeconomic indicators, such as balance of payment and capital account surpluses, and low trade intensity of GDP and debt service along with significant deepening in human capital and R&;D activities, suggests that China will continue to grow relatively rapidly over the next decade. To do this China needs to find solutions to growing deficits in power and water supply, and potentially dangerous political upheavals if growing economic inequality problems are not solved.     

Factor markets and resource allocation in colonial Punjab

It is often argued that agricultural factor markets in colonial India were underdeveloped, leading to inefficient resource use and slow agricultural development. However, there is little econometric evidence on these issues. This article outlines a model which incorporates the factor market imperfections discussed in the literature and tests the model against data from the Punjab. There is, in the statistical sense, evidence of resource misallocation; however, these effects are too small to be of much economic significance.     

Book Reviews

Jarol B. Manheim, All of the People all the Time: Strategic Communication and American Politics (New York: M.E. Sharpe, Inc., 1991), 255 pp. $25.00.

Harry C. Mansfield, Jr., America's Constitutional Soul (Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins Press, 1991), pp. 236.

Donald L. Horowitz, A Democratic South Africa? (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1991), 293 pp. $24.95.     

Acute Psychosis Induced by Bath Salts: A Case Report with Clinical and Forensic Implications

Bath salts are new designer drugs with stimulant effects on the central nervous system. White or brown powder sold online and in mini‐marts under different brand names, bath salts can be used by injecting, snorting, smoking, or ingesting with food or drink. The case of a 30‐year‐old Caucasian male who developed acute psychosis within a few hours of injecting himself with bath salts is described. The patient was hospitalized with a complaint of hearing voices. The drug also induced in the patient a state of euphoria, increased energy level, along with decreased need for sleep and decreased appetite. The psychological effects of the bath salts subsided within a few hours of injection and his reality testing remained consistently intact over the next 3 days of hospitalization. This case brings to attention the fact that bath salts were legal throughout the United States until recently and is still not completely controlled. This report informs clinicians of harmful effects of bath salts, including severe agitation with possible rhabdomyolysis, psychosis, suicidal ideation, hypertension, tachycardia, and death.     

The Effects of Continuous Application of the TASER X26 Waveform on Sus scrofa,

This study investigated and evaluated the safety margins of the continuous long duration (up to 30 min) effect of the TASER X26 waveform, using a Sus scrofa model. Long duration continuous stimulus has not been evaluated on humans or human surrogates prior to this study. Swine were used as models due to similarities with humans in their skin and cardiovascular systems. Very long duration was used to determine both exposure dose and possible adverse physiological effects of dose. The trial began with an application of 10 min, and subsequent animals received increasing exposure time up to a survived maximum duration of 30 min. At the onset of this work, it was hypothesized that there would be a time limit after which most animals would not survive consistent with increased dose response. However, this hypothesis was not supported by the experimental results. All animals (10 of 10) survived up to 3 min. Seven of the 10 animals survived up to a 10‐min exposure and 3 of 5 animals with a 30‐min target exposure survived the full exposure. Surviving animals were recovered and observed for 24 h, with no postrecovery deaths. This suggests that swine (based on physiology) will not experience a fatal event when exposed to the TASER X26 for a continuous 3 min. Conclusions regarding longer duration (10–30 min) are not as certain due to the small sample sizes at these time intervals.     

Establishing Correspondence in Wood: The Challenge and Some Solutions?

Establishing correspondence between the upper portion of a white birch sapling, a suspected weapon, and a potential source from a stand of trees was posed to one of us (GMC). A bending force shattered the sapling, precluding physical matching. Three white birch saplings were taken from the same stand of trees in a similar manner. Correspondence was achieved by measuring the width of the annual rings along four radii from a disk cut above and below the break. The regression coefficient of the data from the two disks from the same sapling was r² = 0.95. Regressing the upper disk against the lower disk of two other saplings resulted in r² values of 0.26 and 0.17, respectively. The various characteristics that are confined to a wood stem as part of its normal process of growth can be used to eliminate candidate saplings and establish correspondence between two pieces of wood.     

The Better Angels of Our Nature: How the Antiprejudice Norm Affects Policy and Party Preferences in Great Britain and Germany

Existing research on public opinion related to race and immigration politics emphasizes the role of prejudice or bias against minority groups. We argue that the social norm against prejudice, and individual motivations to comply with it, are crucial elements omitted from prior analyses. In contemporary Western societies, most citizens receive strong signals that prejudice is not normatively acceptable. We demonstrate that many majority‐group individuals have internalized a motivation to control prejudiced thoughts and actions and that this motivation influences their political behavior in predictable ways. We introduce measures capturing this motivation, develop hypotheses about its influence, and test these hypotheses in three separate experimental and nonexperimental survey studies conducted in Britain and Germany. Our findings support a dual‐process model of political behavior suggesting that while many voters harbor negative stereotypes, they also—particularly when certain contextual signals are present—strive to act in accordance with the “better angels of their natures.”     

Running for office again: evidence from Portuguese municipal elections

Using a data set that covers all Portuguese mainland municipalities for the period 1979–2005, this study performs an empirical analysis of the economic determinants of mayors’ decisions to run for another term in office. The literature on the subject is mainly centered on the United States and, as far as we know, there are no papers addressing the economic factors influencing those choices. Probit panel estimations show that local economic conditions matter more than the national or regional economic environment. The results also confirm that political variables are important and that they influence the likelihood of seeking reelection in much the same way as they affect vote and popularity functions.