Red Cities, Blue Cities: Creativity, Growth and Politics

The 2006 Congressional elections seemed to be about change, as well as the war in Iraq. The 2008 Presidential election, though only at the primary stage, seems to be about change as well as the war in Iraq and the faltering economy. What is the force behind Americans wanting “change?” Is it simply frustration or is it because of important changes in the economy and the demography of the United States? In his 2002 book, Richard Florida looked at one of those changes and developed a “creativity index” measuring the existence of creative people, economic activity, and cultural tolerance for Metropolitan Statistical Areas in the U.S. This study looks at the connection between the rise of the creative class, economic growth and voting patterns. We find that more creative metropolitan areas grow faster on average and creative areas are more likely to have voted Democratic in the past. Even after controlling for union membership, the presence of creative people explains how metropolitan areas voted in the 2004 Presidential election, hinting at one force behind Americans’ desire for political change.

Resolving the Paradox of Social Standards and Export Competitiveness

Over the last decade there has been increasing international pressure on countries to raise social standards (i.e., production standards based on environmental and labor conditions). Currently, the World Trade Organization does not allow countries to impose minimum standards on imports based on environmental or labor standards because it is assumed to undermine competition. There is no consensus in the empirical literature, however, to support this claim. In fact, the evidence suggests that while stronger environmental standards hurt competitiveness, stronger labor standards do the opposite. This paper offers one possible explanation for this paradox. In a simple model of incomplete information, externally-imposed standards may either increase or decrease the competitiveness of infant firms from developing countries depending on the degree of complementarity between the standard and the production of high-quality goods.

Ultrasonic Blind Stick for Completely Blind People to Avoid any Kind of Obstacles

The ability to live without being controlled by any action, judgment and any outside factors including any opinions and regulations is defined by the term Independent. But in reality physical movement for travelling or simply walking through a crowded street pose great challenge for a visually impaired person. Also they must learn every detail about the home environment such as placement of tables; chairs etc. to prevent injury. Because of this disability they have to sacrifice their independence in daily living by depending on the sighted people in every busy place like bus, footpaths, railway stations etc. This paper aims to design an artificial navigating system with adjustable sensitivity with the help of ultrasonic proximity sensor to assist these blind persons to walk fearlessly and independently in both indoor and outdoor environment. This system can detect any type of upcoming obstacles and potholes using the reflection properties of ultrasound. Attachment of the system to different body areas makes its utilization more versatile and reliable

Mirror, mirror on the wall: The effect of time spent grooming on wages

It is well understood that personal grooming provides an important source of communication about individuals, their values and personalities. From an economic point of view, grooming is a non-market activity. The standard view is that time spent in non-market activities is counterproductive as it reduces work effort and job commitment. But grooming is different. There is reason to believe that certain productive personality traits may be inferred on the basis of personal grooming. Using data from the American Time Use survey, we investigate whether workers who spend more time grooming earn higher wages. The evidence shows that while higher levels of grooming time increases wages for men, there is no significant effect on women’s wages. We also find evidence that the returns to grooming are even larger for minority males.

Human Trafficking: The Role of Culture

Human trafficking, like any market, involves both a supply and a demand.  In reference to the demand side, wealth has been generally recognized as the significant ‘pull’ factor to human trafficking; however, a debate remains, with exception to income, as to the significant ‘push’ or supply factors.  It is argued here that culture is an important, overlooked push factor.  Using Hofstede’s (1980) four dimensions of national culture, the primary purpose of this study is to empirically test to role of culture as a ‘push’ factor in human trafficking.  An ordered probit regression is estimated using the UNODC’s (2006) scaled measure of national human trafficking outflows across countries.  While controlling for economic development, the impact of Hofstede’s (1980) four cultural dimensions on human trafficking outflows are examined.  The analysis provides empirical evidence that two of the four Hofstede (1980) cultural dimensions significantly affect the likelihood that a country has a higher outflow of people being trafficked.    The results suggest that efforts to combat human trafficking should include educational campaigns that are tailored to address the cultural dimensions within a country. Keywords: Human Trafficking, Push Factors, Culture, Individualism, Power Distanc

The Spillover Effects of Country Fragility in Africa

With a focus on African countries, the purpose of this study is to test if country fragility, defined as  failing social, political, and economic systems, can spillover and ‘infect’ its neighbors. In other words, can failure in one country spillover and weaken the systems of its contiguous neighbor(s)?  This question extends previous research exploring negative country-neighbor contagion effects and the results are relevant to current debates regarding best strategies for building regional stability in Africa.  The spillover effect is tested using the Fund for Peace’s 2015 Fragile States Index (FSI), a broad measure of country fragility, and the Moran Index, a measure of spatial autocorrelation. The results of this analysis indicate that country failure has a significant spillover effect with its contiguous neighbors, which supports the policy shift some international aid organizations have made toward building regional resilience in Africa.  Specifically, policy makers have begun to consider responses to global crises that take a more regional, rather than national, perspective and the results of this analysis support this strategic policy shift. Key Words: Weak States, Failed States, Spillover Effect, Country Neighbor Effect