Population and development

This paper explores the relationship between nation's competitiveness and Olympic results of 2008 Beijing and 2010 Vancouver. We analyzed these data by correlation coefficient, regression analysis, and path analysis. We chose every nation which has at least one bronze medal as a unit of analysis. We found the following outcomes from the analysis of Beijing Olympic. First, the direct effect of population size on medals is positive but weak. Second, the indirect effect of population size on medals is positive and about twice larger than that of direct effect. Third, the direct effect of GDP on medals is negative and very weak. Fourth, the indirect effect of GDP on medals is positive and about ten times larger than that of direct effect. Fifth, the most effective path on medals is the number of athletics which come from population size and GDP. We also found the following outcomes from the analysis of Vancouver Olympic. First, the direct effect of population size on medals is statistically not important. Second, the direct effect of GDP on medals is positive and statistically significant. Third, the most effective path on medals is the number of athletics which come from GDP. We concluded that population is important variable in summer Beijing Olympic and that GDP is important variable in winter Vancouver Olympic.

In this study, we investigated the relationship between per capita income and environmental degradation in Africa, using longitudinal data between 1990 and 2000. The specific objective was to estimate environmental Kuznets curves for two indicators of environmental quality, namely: lack of access to sanitation, and lack of access to safe water, and to establish whether the estimated relationships conform to the inverted U-shape hypothesis. The results of the empirical investigation generally suggest that evidence of an EKC for lack of access to sanitation is relatively weak. No concrete evidence was found to support the existence of an EKC for lack of access to safe water. The turning point levels of income established for the various indicators of environmental quality were however generally low. This suggests that African countries may be turning the corner of the environmental Kuznets curve, much faster, and at lower levels of income than expected. This also implies that African countries do not need to wait long for a high threshold per capital income for them to appreciate cleaner environment. Consequently, African countries should still keep up efficiency improvements in form of active policy intervention (and in the face of market failures) to prevent environmental degradation.

This paper asks whether children conceived during heat waves have better health and educational outcomes later in life. Using Census data from 16 countries, we show that children conceived during heat waves have higher literacy rates, attain more years of schooling, and have lower rates of disability than children conceived during periods of normal temperatures. We also show, using a combined AIS, DHS, and MIS data set from Africa, that infant mortality is lower for children conceived during heat waves. We then explore several channels through which this effect may occur, including differential reductions in sexual activity during heat waves among higher quality parents; biological effects of heat on conception and spontaneous abortion in utero; and changes in the proportion of unintended pregnancies during heat waves, among others.

The effects of climate change are likely to have adverse impacts on human life and livelihood of the people in Bangladesh. Indeed people at first instance try to adapt with the changed circumstances. However, migration in many cases is used as an adaptation strategy to respond to changes in the environment. The extreme natural disasters such as cyclones, floods and tidal waves, together with others socio-economic factors such as poverty and unemployment motivate people to move from their original place to other rural and urban areas in search of seasonal harvesting and employment. In response to multifarious challenges posed by climate change on human migration, organised and planned both internal and international migration can play a significant role. In this context, this paper argues to view migration itself as part of adaptation strategies not simply a failure of adaptation. It also analyses a range of possible policy responses to be adopted by the government of Bangladesh to facilitate climate related migration as a part of adaptation strategy.

China and India are the two most populous countries in the world. However, they have followed different demographic courses. Both countries have experienced substantial expansion of their markets for a range of commodities. However, dissimilar household composition and socioeconomic paths have affected household preferences in the two countries. The paper reviews macro demographic trends that have led to different demographic structures with significant implications for productivity and household purchasing power and discretionary spending spending in the two countries. It then conducts an examination of household expenditures based on household surveys undertaken in 2005 and assesses similarities and disparities in household preferences for broad categories of goods and services in rural and urban areas, and also for households with varying levels of income. This view provides a basis for hypothesis building concerned with market growth for progressive commodities, in light of current demographic structures in the two countries and projected fertility and population growth.

This paper discusses some key conceptual and policy issues to understand the linkages between population mobility and development in the Amazon. The empirical evidences are from a representative longitudinal sample of individuals, households and communities in the Northern Ecuadorian Amazon (NEA) collected between 1990 and 1999. Based on this data it is identified the levels and patterns of rural out-migration (to other rural areas or urban areas) and off-farm employment (labor circulation) within the community, to urban areas or other rural areas, as well as the motivations and reasons to engage in mobility by type of farm household (in order to distinguish older or new cohorts of settlements). It is also assessed the main drivers of population mobility based on previous multivariate studies and how they can inform specific public policies for the region. The paper ends with some implications of the results for policymaking in the Amazon, highlighting the need to understand the multi-scale nature of processes involving the causes and consequences of population mobility on regional development and its impacts on rural and urban areas.

We propose new measures to summarize and compare age profiles of consumption and labor income. One measure is the lifetime support ratio or the ratio of effective lifetime labor to effective lifetime consumption. Two other measures quantify the timing of work and consumption over the lifecycle. Using a highly stylized model we show how changes in these features of the lifecycle influence the standard of living that can be achieved. To illustrate the value of these measures we consider two practical applications. In the first we analyze the effect of increasing life expectancy on lifetime effective labor and consumption. We show that longer life is leading to greater lifetime consumption but little response in lifetime labor supply. The exception to this generalization is in low income, high mortality countries where the gains in life expectancy are occurring at the working ages as well as the non-working ages. In the second application we consider whether the lifetime support ratio and the timing of consumption relative to labor income are influenced most by variation in life cycle patterns of work or lifecycle patterns of consumption. The answer depends on the level of development. In lower income countries only labor income appears to matter while in other countries both consumption and labor income are important.

Recent research by Myrskyla, Kohler, and Billari (2009) and Luci and Thevenon (2010) have determined that, at the country level, the relationship between development and fertility becomes positive when development is very high. This project examines this finding at the regional level for 337 regions across 21 European countries. Investigating this association at the regional level will show whether this change occurs only at the national level, or at the regional level as well. In addition, it allows the specification of a country-by-year fixed effects model, thereby controlling for all country level, time-varying effects that so often confound estimates from normal fixed effects frameworks. Estimates indicate that the relationship between fertility and income is also convex at the regional level, with the turnaround occurring at about $32,000 year 2000 U.S. dollars. These estimates also suggest that it takes extremely high levels of per capita income to reach replacement level fertility.

India achieved unprecedented economic growth since the early 1990s. Questions however are raised about India’s ability to distribute the fruits of economic growth equally among individuals belonging to different socioeconomic groups. Using data from nationally representative employment and unemployment surveys, this paper explores the inclusiveness of Indian economic growth by looking at the changes in socioeconomic inequalities in regular employment over the period 1993-94 to 2009-10. Our findings reveal that, at the all India level, socioeconomic inequalities in regular employment increased minutely by 0.2 percentage points (from 39.9% to 40.1%) during 1993-94 to 2009-10. However, the changes at the regional level are mixed. However, the changes at the regional level are mixed. Regions of North, Central and East show a decrease against an increase in Western and North Eastern regions. In Southern region the socioeconomic inequalities in regular employment have remained almost same.

The aim of this research is to study the effects of leadership six intelligence on hardiness and mental health. To test the research hypothesis, path analysis testing is used by using Liserl software and also Pierson’s correlation coefficience and analysis multiple linear regressions. Multiple regression equation showed that chalenge and commitment have more positive effects on predicting mental health and emotional intelligence, social intelligence and spiritual intelligence were the best predictor of hardiness. Then, by means of factor analysis, the questions of the questionnaires were studied to be used in the path analysis model and finally the useful questions in the model were selected based on the number of questions for each variable according to the sample size and also their potentiality to enter the model that RMSEA = 0.48 level in the model of path analyzing represents suitable fitness of research model and K-square testing conclusion shows the harmony between model with empirical reality. The amount of t in nonstandard for leadership six intelligence and hardiness is 3.22 , leadership six intelligence with mental health is 3.54 and hardiness with mental health is 2.89 which were meaningful in the model of analyzing these variations connecting route.