Research note: challenges of identifying female human trafficking victims using a national 1-800 call center

Human trafficking is a complex global and national crime problem harming victims physically, psychologically, and financially. The Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA), Pub. La 106–386, and subsequent reauthorizations, provide assistance and benefits to foreign born victims of labor or sexual human trafficking who are here in the United States. The strategies used to encourage victims to come forward were modeled on those used in the anti- domestic violence (DV) and child protection movements. These include initiatives alerting the public to domestic violence situations through awareness campaigns to increase tips as well as calls for service to police. Other public service initiatives urge victims themselves to self-identify by calling 1-800 numbers. While these techniques have shown success in reducing incidences of domestic violence and providing help to victims, their use to combat sex trafficking has not produced the same level of results. This note explores the challenges for immigrant women victims to self-identify as trafficking victims and urges that evidence-based research is needed to determine the efficacy of a national call center approach.     

Parteien,Namen, Gerichte und Behörden

Für die Bezeichnung von wahlwerbenden Parteien finden sich bestimmte Regeln in § 44 NRWO. Diese Regeln hat eine Verwaltungsbehörde, die Wahlbehörde, anzuwenden. Gleichzeitig stellt § 43 ABGB ein allgemeines System des Namensschutzes zur Verfügung, das vor den ordentlichen Gerichten in Anspruch genommen werden kann. Die österreichische Rechtsordnung unterscheidet zwischen Wahlpartei, politischer Partei und im Nationalrat vertretener Partei. Aufgrund der verfas sungsmäßigen Trennung von Justiz und Verwaltung in allen Instanzen können Entscheidungen von Verwaltungsbehörden nicht in jenen Bereichen ergehen, in denen eine Zuständigkeit von Gerichten besteht, und umgekehrt. Für die Bezeichnung von wahlwerbenden Parteien bedeutet dies, dass die Frage der Namensver wendung am Stimmzettel von der Wahlbehörde zu lösen ist. Für durch eine rechtswidrige Verwendung einer Bezeichnung verursachte Schäden sind jedoch die ordentlichen Gerichte im Rahmen einer Schadenersatzklage zuständig.     

Firm performance and privatization in Ukraine

Investigating the effects of privatization in transition countries is the focus of a large body of current research. Generally, privatization stimulates private sector development, attracts foreign direct investment, fosters competition and contributes to the formation of stock markets. In addition, privatization may improve individual enterprises’ performance. This paper investigates the impact of privatization on Ukrainian firms’ productivity. The empirical research is based on a sample of 466 Ukrainian joint-stock enterprises for the period of 1997–1999. Estimation results indicate that privatization positively influences labor productivity, sales and profitability, but also that these effects diminish over time.

Information exchange through non-binding advance price announcements: an antitrust analysis

We study the welfare effects of non-binding advance price announcements. Applying a simulation-based approach in a differentiated Bertrand model with horizontal products and asymmetric information, we find that such announcements can help firms to gain information on each other thereby allowing them to achieve higher profits. However, our results also show that the overall welfare effects of such announcements in a context of heterogeneous products are not as clear-cut as previous research in a homogeneous products framework has suggested. We conclude that—although non-binding advance price announcements may raise competition concerns—in many settings, their positive effects are likely to outweigh the potential detrimental effects on welfare.     

Electoral Reform – Cui Bono? Attitudes of Romanian MPs to the Electoral System Change

Drawing on an original parliamentary survey, an analysis is undertaken of what motivates MPs elected in a closed proportional representation (PR) setting to consider changing this electoral system. Moves in this direction are quite rare and for this reason a case study of Romanian parliamentarians is proposed. Bivariate and multivariate statistical techniques are used to assess the impact of both power maximisation incentives and values. The main findings indicate that MPs were willing to replace the closed-list PR with a single member district alternative only when they perceived clear benefits for them (that is, re-election) or their party (that is, a positive impact, either at intra-party level or within the party system). These self-interested motivations are prioritised over nomination-related reasons and the possibility of a constituency-centred focus of representation.     

Book reviews

Mike Marqusee, REDEMPTION SONG: MUHAMMAD ALI AND THE SPIRIT OF THE SIXTIES (Verso Books, 1999)

Marilyn Buck, David Gilbert, and Laura Whitehorn, ENEMIES OF THE STATE, (Brooklyn, N.Y.: Resistance in Brooklyn Publication, 1998). Meyer, c/o WRL, 339 Lafayette Street, NY 10012 or mmmsrnb@igc.org.

Viviane Forrester, THE ECONOMIC HORROR (Cambridge, UK: The Polity Press [in association with Oxford, UK, and Maiden, Mass.: Blackwell Publishers], 1999).

Peter Roman, PEOPLE'S POWER: CUBA'S EXPERIENCE WITH REPRESENTATIVE GOVERNMENT (Boulder: Westview Press, 1999).

Stanislao G. Pugliese, CARLO ROSSELLI: SOCIALIST HERETIC AND ANTIFASCIST EXILE (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1999).     

Do African Manufacturing Firms Learn from Exporting?

We use firm-level panel data for the manufacturing sector in four African countries to investigate whether exporting impacts on efficiency, and whether efficient firms self-select into the export market. Based on simultaneous estimation of a production function and an export regression, our preferred results indicate significant efficiency gains from exporting, which can be interpreted as learning by exporting. We show that modelling unobserved heterogeneity by a flexible approach is important for deriving this conclusion. A policy implication of our results is that Africa would gain from orientating its manufacturing sector towards exporting.     

The Effects of Competition Policy on Development – Cross-Country Evidence Using Four New Indicators

Over the last two decades, many developing countries have introduced competition policies. This paper introduces four new indicators on various aspects of competition laws and competition agencies to make competition policies comparable. These indicators are used to estimate the effects of competition policies and all four contribute at least marginally to explaining differences in total factor productivity. This is also true if developing countries are analysed separately. In addition to the direct effects of competition policy on total factor productivity, an indirect effect is identified: countries scoring high with regard to competition policy suffer less from corruption.     

The Depoliticisation of Development and the Democratisation of Politics in Tanzania: Parallel Structures as Obstacles to Delivering Services to the Poor

Local democracy and the involvement of local communities in the provision of social services are central issues in the local government reforms that are presently being implemented in many developing countries. At the same time, institutions that run parallel to local authorities, such as social funds and various user-committees, are established to improve accountability and participation. By focusing on actual political processes rather than administrative, legal and fiscal aspects of decentralisation, this article traces the breakdown of two development projects in Tanzania to the existence of parallel structures. It suggests that user-committees and social funds should be integrated in local authority structures to avoid fragmentation of participation and to enhance local democracy.