Prison Recruitment as a Policy Tool of Local Economic Development: A Critical Evaluation

Like the sports franchises and foreign auto plants that preceded them, state and local governments are touting prisons as the latest means of economic miracle‐making, often for small towns and communities that are economically depressed. The building of prisons is supposedly tied to the development of a just, fair, and rational criminal justice policy in a civil democratic society. Prison building has positive and negative social and political consequences for these communities. This critical essay explores some of these consequences in light of the literature on prison siting, the experiences of communities and prisoners, and relevant statistical data in the public domain. It also offers an alternative framework for evaluating prison recruitment as a strategy for local economic development.     

Economic opening and society endogamy: migratory and reproduction logic in the Insubric mountains (18th and 19th centuries)

This article illustrates the character of the alpine and prealpine societies of the Insubric area, which is both open and closed. In these mountains, various migratory forms (periodic, temporary, and definitive) could be both exclusion and stability factors. Even if under a lineage model, family reproduction forms were close to a “unilineal” system. Yet, emigration left open pluriestablishement, the intensity of which depended on the openness of the local economy and demographic configuration of the households.     

Signing on to liberalization: AFTA and the politics of regional economic cooperation

From the inception of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 1967 to 1991 economic cooperation among its members was virtually non-existent. However, in January 1992 the leaders of the member states agreed to work towards an ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA). Following an uncertain initial phase the leaders rededicated themselves in 1995 to an accelerated implementation of the AFTA agreement. The key to the change in policy and to the relatively successful implementation of AFTA was the shift in the domestic balance of power in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand from economic nationalists to liberal reformers. This occurred as the result of a series of recessions and booms that affected the economies of the region from the early 1980s onwards. Also crucial to the successful implementation of AFTA was the distinctive approach to regional cooperation that has developed among the ASEAN members.     

The Legal Obligations of Albania in the Stabilization and Association Agreement Between Albania and EU

The purpose of this article is to discuss the legal effects of the preliminary agreement between Albania and EU （European Union） on the EU and on the Albanian national legal system. The topic is ＂The Legal Obligations of Albania in the SAA （Stabilization and Association Agreement） With EU＂, and the purpose is to address the issue of harmonization and application of the obligation in the most effective way regarding the EU legislation. The method used is systematic, comparative and teleological analysis of the European and national legal systems and inherent principles and reflection on the ways of integration and coordination between them. At first the sources and features of the EU legal system will be presented. Then the application of these principles in preliminary and pre-accession agreement and through them their influence over the EU and over the national legal system of the pre-accession states will be presented. The contribution will be to argue that the preliminary agreement between EU and Albania creates legal effects both on the EU and on the national legal system of the pre-accessions countries. Their lull and effective application will be the duty of national court and legislators.     

山东省会城市群经济圈产业结构优化研究

山东省会城市群经济圈的发展离不开区域内产业结构的协调优化。本文在对山东省会城市群经济圈的产业发展状况进行简要分析的基础上,提出了山东省会城市群经济圈产业结构存在的问题,主要包括产业结构趋同、产业集群竞争力不强、济南市产业集聚和辐射能力不够强以及经济圈内各市产业有效整合难度比较大四个方面。针对这些问题,本文还给出了优化省会城市群经济圈产业结构的对策建议。     

Labour supply and wages among nuclear and extended households: The Surinamese experiment

This article explores labour market behaviour of members of extended and nuclear households in Suriname. Previous analyses have found that co‐operative childcare opportunities within the extended household increase female labour force participation. Such coordination implies correlated participation decisions, which invalidates standard assumptions made in estimating participation with probits and wages with regressions. We employ a GMM estimation, which allows correlation among household members. We find that extended and nuclear household members are not significantly different in participation propensities, but do differ significantly in wages. We argue that greater home production opportunities in extended households dilute labour market effort and hours, reducing earnings.     

Income and Wealth Inequality in Nepal, 1996 and 2004: Changes and Socio-demographic,Spatial and Economic Determinants

Micro-data from national surveys indicate that economic inequality remained high and relatively unchanged in Nepal during the middle 1990s and early 2000s. Using household income and wealth as indicators, this study finds that many of the demographic characteristics, such as age, caste, ethnicity and widowhood, determined mostly along traditional social hierarchies, play influential roles in determining inequality in much of Nepal. In urban areas and especially in Kathmandu, however, these factors have proved increasingly less influential, replacing them with such factors as migration, education and labour market participation. These changes highlight the mechanisms through which different social groups are experiencing inequality, with important implications for the much needed economic, social and political stability of the country.     

Innovation and growth in traditional agriculture of the lower Volta,Ghana

This article addresses the important question of whether foreign direct investment enhances economic growth and labour productivity in Mexico, both from a theoretical and empirical perspective. After briefly reviewing the Mexican experience with net FDI inflows during the 1990s, the article presents a simple endogenous growth model which explicitly incorporates any positive (negative) externalities generated by additions to the foreign capital stock. Using cointegration analysis, the article estimates a dynamic labour productivity function for the 1960-95 period that includes the impact of the growth rate in the stocks of both private and foreign capital (as opposed to the flows) and the economically active population (EAP) (rather than the rate of population growth). The error correction model (ECM) estimates suggest that increases in both private ad (lagged) foreign investment spending, as well as the rate of growth in exports, have a positive and economically significant effect on the rate of labour productivity growth. In addition, the results show that increases in the EAP have a negative and statistically significant effect on the rate of labour productivity growth, while changes in the government consumption variable have a negative but marginally significant impact. The error correction terms of the estimated models are negative and statistically significant, thus suggesting that deviations of actual labour productivity growth from its long-run value are corrected in subsequent periods. Finally the article generates historical simulations from the estimated ECM's and offers some policy recommendations to enhance the positive externalities associated with FDI inflows.     

中越两国跨境经济合作区政策比较初探——以中越凭祥一同登跨境经济合作区为例

广西努力推进中越跨国经济合作区已经有几年时间了,但是遇到很多问题和困难,建设进展和效果远低于期望。其中的重要原因之一就是中越两国的跨境经济合作区政策的差异性,导致双方发展错位或者说发展不同步。因此,有必要比较两国的有关政策,通过克服这些差异,加快推进中越跨境经济合作区的步伐。