David Coleman, Professor of Demography, Department of Social Policy and Social Work, University of Oxford
Robert Rowthorn, Professor of Economics, University of Cambridge This article is concerned with the economic effects of immigration. The emphasis is on Britain, but extensive material is also provided on other countries. Since 1997 a new British immigration policy has displaced previous policy aims, which were focused on minimizing settlement. Large-scale immigration is now seen as essential for Britain's economic well-being, and measures have been introduced to increase inflows. The benefits claimed include fiscal advantages, increased prosperity, a ready supply of labor, and improvements to the age structure. Fears that large-scale immigration might damage the interests of unskilled workers are discounted. This article examines these claims. It concludes that the economic consequences of large-scale immigration are mostly minor, negative, or transient, that the interests of more vulnerable sections of the domestic population may well be damaged, and that any economic benefits are unlikely to bear comparison with immigration's probable substantial and permanent demographic and environmental impact. Our claims are in line with those from other developed countries. [30, no. 4 (Dec 04): 579–624]
Michael T. Molla, Demographer, National Center for Health Statistics
Jennifer H. Madans, Associate Director for Science, National Center for Health Statistics
Diane K. Wagener, Senior Research Epidemiologist, RTI International This study examines mortality differentials and health disparities between educational groups within the 1998 adult population (ages 25 and older) in the United States. Mortality differentials are measured using average life expectancy and health disparities by expected years without activity limitation. The results indicate that for both sexes, higher education is associated with higher life expectancy. Those with higher levels of education also have higher life expectancy without activity limitation. Adults with higher education can also expect to enjoy a greater percentage of their expected lives free of any form of activity limitation. At each level of education, adult females have a higher level of activity limitation compared to adult males. At the same level of education, adult females expect to enjoy smaller percentages of their remaining lives free of activity limitation compared to adult males of the same age. [30, no. 4 (Dec 04): 625–646]
Anne H. Gauthier, Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair in Comparative Public Policy, University of Calgary
Timothy M. Smeeding, Maxwell Professor of Public Policy and Professor of Economics and Public Administration, Syracuse University
Frank F. Furstenberg, Jr., Zellerbach Family Professor of Sociology, University of Pennsylvania Trends in parental time invested in children since the 1960s are examined in 16 industrialized countries using time-use survey data. Despite the time pressures that confront today's families, parents appear to be devoting more time to children than they did 40 years ago. Results also suggest that mothers continue to devote more time to childcare than fathers, but the gender gap has been reduced. The consistency of these results across countries suggests a global trend toward an increase in parental time investment in children. Multivariate analysis of trends in parental time by type of activity was undertaken for Canada. It revealed a significant increase in parental time even after controlling for changes in the demographic composition of the population during the past few decades. [30, no. 4 (Dec 04): 647–671]
- Navigating the AIDS Epidemic in Rural Malawi
Susan Cotts Watkins, Professor, Department of Sociology, and Associate, Population Studies Center, University of Pennsylvania This article provides a perspective on rural Malawi during the unsettled times following the recognition by village residents that AIDS is a profound danger. The primary data are observational field journals in which local ethnographers wrote their recollections of conversations about AIDS that they overheard or participated in during the course of their daily lives. In their networks of friends, relatives, and neighbors, rural Malawians are publicly discussing a range of strategies of prevention. These strategies range from the abstinence, fidelity, and consistent condom use prescribed by international and national experts to innovative strategies of partner selection, divorce, and renewed religious commitment. The article also considers the effectiveness of these strategies and speculates about the applicability of the findings to other populations. [30, no. 4 (Dec 04): 673–705]
Notes and Commentary Evelyn L. Lehrer, Professor of Economics, University of Illinois at Chicago This note reviews and synthesizes research on the effects of religion on various economic and demographic behaviors of individuals and families in the United States, including the choice of marital partner, union formation and dissolution, fertility, female time allocation, education, wages, and wealth. Using a theoretical framework based on Gary Becker's contributions to the economics of the family, it demonstrates that religious affiliation affects economic and demographic behavior because of its impact on the costs and benefits of many interrelated decisions that people make over the life cycle. In addition, for behaviors that pertain to married-couple households, religious affiliation matters because it is a complementary trait within the context of marriage. Religiosity, another dimension of religion, also affects economic and demographic outcomes, partly because it accentuates differences by religious affiliation, partly because religious involvement has generally beneficial effects on health and well-being. [30, no. 4 (Dec 04): 707–726]
Data and Perspectives Eric Neumayer, Senior Lecturer in Environment and Development, London School of Economics and Political Science This article analyzes the effect of HIV/AIDS on the cross-national convergence in life expectancy as well as infant and child survival rates by comparing three scenarios. One is based on historical and future best-guess estimated values given the existence of the epidemic. The second scenario assumes that the effect of the epidemic is much worse than expected. The final scenario is based on hypothetical values derived from estimations where the mortality caused by the epidemic is removed. For life expectancy, convergence becomes stalled in the late 1980s (without weighting by country population size) or 1990s (with weighting). Convergence in infant and child survival rates does not become stalled, but slows down. These results are mainly attributable to the epidemic since all signs of stalled convergence or even divergence disappear in the "No AIDS scenario." Given the existence of the epidemic, however, the reduced degree of inequality in life expectancy attained by 1985 is only expected to be achieved again by 2015 at the earliest. If the epidemic turns out much worse than expected, divergence could continue to 2050. No divergence is to be expected in infant and child survival rates in any of the scenarios. [30, no. 4 (Dec 04): 727–742]
Archives Book Reviews Biotechnology Foreseen and Forestalled: A Review Essay on the President's Council on Bioethics, Beyond Therapy: Biotechnology and the Pursuit of Happiness, reviewed by Bernard M. Dickens Laurence J. Kotlikoff and Scott Burns, The Coming Generational Storm: What You Need to Know about America's Economic Future, reviewed by F. Landis MacKellar Brian Fagan, The Long Summer: How Climate Changed Civilization, reviewed by Paul E. Waggoner Catherine Hakim, Models of the Family in Modern Societies: Ideals and Realities, reviewed by Heather Joshi Frank D. Bean and Gillian Stevens, America's Newcomers and the Dynamics of Diversity, reviewed by Marta Tienda Ben J. Wattenberg, Fewer: How the New Demography of Depopulation Will Shape Our Future, reviewed by Charles F. Westoff
Short Reviews Lester Russell Brown, Plan B: Rescuing a Planet Under Stress and a Civilization in Trouble Paul A. David and Mark Thomas (eds.), The Economic Future in Historical Perspective Sarah Earle and Gayle Letherby (eds.), Gender, Identity and Reproduction: Social Perspectives Paul R. Ehrlich and Anne H. Ehrlich, One with Nineveh: Politics, Consumption, and the Human Future Wolfgang Lutz, Warren C. Sanderson, and Sergei Scherbov (eds.), The End of Population Growth in the 21st Century: New Challenges for Human Capital Formation and Sustainable Development Maura I. Toro-Morn and Marixsa Alicea (eds.), Migration and Immigration: A Global View United Nations, Population Division, World Fertility Report: 2003 Adam Wagstaff and Mariam Claeson, Rising to the Challenges: The Millennium Development Goals for Health
Documents - Alan Greenspan on the Economic Implications of Population Aging
- The IMF on Policies Responding to Demographic Change
- The European Union Constitution on Border Checks, Asylum, and Immigration
|
