The Tenth District's defining industries: changes and opportunities for rural communities

Rural areas ; Rural development ; Federal Reserve District, 10th

Earnings Inequalities and Educational Mobility in Brazil over Two Decades

This paper studies the impact of changes in educational opportunities on various definitions of labour market inequalities in Brazil over two decades (1976-96). Using four editions of the nationally representative PNAD survey, we analyze the evolution of overall inequalities and inequalities of opportunity in 40-49 year old males’ earnings. We design and implement semiparametric decompositions of the respective effects of (i) schooling expansion, (ii) changes in the structure of earnings, and (iii) changes in intergenerational educational mobility. Earnings inequalities varied little over the period, with a peak in the late 1980s that can be imputed to hyperinflation. First of all, the decompositions show that changes in the distribution of education contributed to the increase in both overall earnings inequalities and inequalities of opportunity among the oldest generations, before sharply reducing them among the post-WWII cohorts. Secondly, the decrease in returns to education also contributed to equalizing labour market opportunities in the 1988-96 period. Thirdly and lastly, the changes in educational mobility were not large enough to significantly affect earnings inequalities, whereas it is shown that they should play a prominent role in equalizing opportunities in the future.Equality of opportunities, Labour market, Inequality decomposition, Brazil

Historically Black Colleges and Universities Facing the Future: A Fresh Look at Changes and Opportunities

This paper reviews the status of historicallyblack colleges and universities (HBCUs) and assesses their mission in light of the changing nature of higher education and the new challenges that HBCUs and other higher education institutions must address. It is based on extensivediscussions with HBCU presidents and chancellors, campus visits, and reviews of documents and data.HBCUs continue to play a critical role in "advancingm the race" and achieving President Obama's national goals for higher education and economic competitiveness, including a dramatic increase in college completion rates by 2020. To have the world's best-prepared workforce requires the United States to produce 10 million new college graduates and to makesure every young person completes at least one year of postsecondary education.Two generations ago, before desegregation, more than three-quarters of black college graduates attended HBCUs. Today, less than one-sixth of college-going black students attend these institutions, but this still representsa significant portion of a much bigger collegegoing population facing an increasingly large and complex array of educational opportunities

Addressing Tobacco in Managed Care Capstone Conference

Outlines discussions from the program's "Synthesizing Lessons Learned and Identifying Future Research Opportunities" conference. Highlights policy and healthcare changes proven effective in reducing tobacco use, successful strategies, and future visions

Diversity & Inclusion Update - Fall 2016

This Fall 2016 newsletter discusses ongoing campus initiatives to facilitate diversity and inclusion efforts on campus. Topics discussed include continued changes inspired by the January 2016 Town Hall meeting, such as the restructuring of the Office of Multicultural Engagement, and other changes made to make college resources more accessible and promote educational opportunities on multicultural viewpoints

Sustainability as corporate culture of a brand for superior performance

This is the post-print version of the final paper published in the Journal of World Business. The published article is available from the link below. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. Copyright @ 2012 Elsevier B.V.Sustainability research highlights new challenges and opportunities for businesses. This paper reviews the literature to understand the ability of sustainable green initiatives when practiced as a corporate culture to individually create new opportunities for operations, management and marketing. According to current research, business opportunities exclusively available to different functions of a firm can drive its performance. The role of marketing in the achievement of superior performance by virtue of sustainability practices is also explained by the existing literature. Branding literature, however, fails to explain the influence of a brand on sustainability-driven opportunities available to a firm for superior performance. The objective of this study is to explore if a brand can strengthen the ability of sustainability-based green initiatives of managers to drive opportunities available to a firm for superior performance. A conceptual framework grounded in the triple bottom line theory is presented based on the assumption that brand as a stimulating factor can accelerate the conversion of opportunities available to a business into superior performance. Academic and managerial perspectives have been used to draw upon the implications of the model. Both practitioners and academic researchers will benefit from future research on this topic

Justice in Review: New Trends in State Sentencing and Corrections 2014-2015

In 2014 and 2015, 46 states enacted at least 201 bills, executive orders, and ballot initiatives to reform at least one aspect of their sentencing and corrections systems. In conducting this review of state criminal justice reforms, Vera found that most of the policy changes focused on three areas: creating or expanding opportunities to divert people away from the criminal justice system; reducing prison populations by enacting sentencing reform, expanding opportunities for early release from prison, and reducing the number of people admitted to prison for violating the terms of their community supervision; and supporting reentry into the community from prison. By providing concise summaries of representative reforms in each of these areas, this report serves as a practical guide for other state and federal policymakers looking to affect similar changes in criminal justice policy

Poverty in America: Trends and Explanations

Despite robust growth in real per capita GDP over the last three decades, the U.S. poverty rate has changed very little. In an effort to better understand this disconnect, we document and quantify the relationship between poverty and four different factors that may affect poverty and its evolution over time: labor market opportunities, family structure, anti-poverty programs, and immigration. We find that the relationship between the macro-economy and poverty has weakened over time. Nevertheless, changes in labor market opportunities predict changes in the poverty rate rather well. We also find that changes in female labor supply should have reduced poverty, but was counteracted by an increase in the rate of female headship. Changes in the number and composition of immigrants and changes in the generosity of anti-poverty programs seem to have had little effect.

SAARC Agricultural Vision 2020

This paper has visualized how agricultural scenario would evolve in the near future and what policies and strategies would be appropriate to adjust to the emerging changes and to harness the new opportunities. The major challenges for agriculture in the region are: raising and sustaining agricultural growth; ensuring food and nutritional security; facing impact of climate change; adjusting to changes in energy scenario; maintaining biosafety and bio-security; make sustainable use of natural resources and protecting biodiversity. The new opportunities lie in trade, marketing, biotechnology, shifting demand preferences in domestic and overseas markets, technology sharing, resource sharing and investments in research, extension and infrastructural development. SAARC countries need to develop science-based strategies for collective response to challenges and opportunities and global shocks in agriculture.Agricultural and Food Policy,