The Effect of Immigrant Selection and the IT Bust on the Entry Earnings of Immigrants

Immigrant selection rules were altered in the early 1990s, resulting in a dramatic increase in the share of entering immigrants with a university degree and in the skilled economic class. These changes were very successfully implemented following significant deterioration in entry earnings during the 1980s. This paper asks whether these change in immigrant selection contributed positively to immigrant entry earnings during the 1990s. Moving to the 2000s, the paper asks whether, after almost two decades of deterioration, the entry earnings of immigrants improved early in the decade, and if not, why not. We find that through the 1990s, altering immigrant characteristics did little to improve earnings at the bottom of the earnings distribution, and hence poverty rates among entering immigrants. A rapidly increasing share of immigrants with university degrees and in the skilled class found themselves at the bottom of the earnings distribution. They were unable to convert their education and “skilled class†designation to higher earnings. This inability may be related to language, credentialism, education quality, or supply issues, as discussed in the paper. However, the changing charcateristics did increase earnings among immigrants at the middle and top of the earnings distribution. We also find that from 2000 to 2004 the entry earnings of immigrants renewed their slide, but for reasons that differed from the standard explanations of the earlier decline. Following a significant increase in the supply of entering immigrants intending to work in IT and engineering during the late 1990s and early 2000s, these immigrants were faced with the IT downturn. The result was declining entry earnings, concentrated largely among these workers.immigration, earnings, high tech, immigrants

Book review: out of nowhere: the Kurds of Syria in peace and war by Michael M. Gunter

Michael Gunter looks to analyse recent events in Syria and discuss what they might portend for the future. William Eichler recommends this well written and accessible read to undergraduate students of politics and international relations

Alimentación de los pollos de Pico Menor (Dendrocopos minor) en un nido de la Val d'Aran (Lleida, NE de España)

Les dades sobre la dieta dels polls del picot garser petit es van obtenir mitjançant observacions directes en el primer niu descobert a la Vall d'Aran. Els adults van alimentar els polls amb insectes i aranyes entre les quals hi havia Coleoptera (44%), Lepidoptera (13%), Formicidae (10%), Arachnida (4%) i Diptera (2%). El 27% de les preses no van ser identificades (n=339). La femella va alimentar els polls més sovint que el mascle, especialment a principi del matí, encara que més avançat el dia el nombre de visites al niu fou similar. El menjar agafat pel picot garser petit en aquest estudi és bastant similar al trobat en altres estudis d'Europa, encara que amb lleugeres diferències en els percentatges dels diferents tipus de presa

Short-term outcomes of laparoscopic gastric plication in morbidly obese patients: Importance of postoperative follow-up

Demand for feasible, safe, and preferably low-cost methods of weight reduction is rising every day. The present study reports findings from laparoscopic gastric plication (LGP), which is a new restrictive bariatric technique, combined with a postoperative follow-up program. A 2-year prospective study was performed following LGP in 53 female morbidly obese patients from Gorgan, Iran, with a mean age of 36.3 years and mean body mass index (BMI) of 42.6 kg/m2 (35.3-62.4). Through a four-port approach, the greater omentum and short gastric vessels were transected and the greater curvature was imbricated into the body of the stomach with two rows of nonabsorbable sutures. After surgery, all patients were scheduled to attend a weekly group meeting for behavioral modification and psychotherapy. The mean operative time and hospital stay was 95 min and 72 h, respectively. No intraoperative complications occurred. Mean percentages of excess weight loss (%EWL) were 25.6 %, 54.2 %, 70.2 %, and 74.4 % after 1, 6, 12, and 24 months, respectively. Six patients lost >84 % of their excess weight after 24 months. Patients who did not participate in the group meetings had a lower %EWL after 12 (79.5 % vs. 55.6 %) and 24 months (90 % vs. 43.4 %) compared with the patients who regularly participated in the group meetings (P < 0.005). LGP is a feasible, safe, and effective surgical method for weight loss for at least 24 months when performed on morbidly obese patients. Postoperative group meetings (POGM) for psychotherapy and behavioral modification helped patients to achieve better results. © 2012 Springer Science + Business Media, LLC

Nachtrag: Public Private Partnership – Allheilmittel für die Finanzkrisen der öffentlichen Haushalte oder Risikofaktor?

Ergänzend zu den im ifo Schnelldienst 24/2006 veröffentlichten Beiträgen stellt Peter Friedrich (em.), Universität der Bundeswehr München und Universität Tartu, ein Modell zur Beurteilung der volkswirtschaftlichen Effekte eines PPP-Projektes vor, da sich seiner Meinung nach die bisherigen Untersuchungen meist nur auf die betriebswirtschaftlichen Effekte, insbesondere der Finanzierung der PPP, konzentrieren. Gerhard Picot und Sabine Kamp, PICOT Rechtsanwaltsgesellschaft, Köln, unterstreichen in ihrem Beitrag, »dass PPP zwar kein Allheilmittel für die Finanzkrisen der öffentlichen Haushalte beinhaltet, da jedes staatliche Projekt im Einzelfall auf seine »PPP-Tauglichkeit« hin untersucht werden muss. PPP stellt aber eine Möglichkeit dar, um die Projektrisiken zwischen den Projektpartnern optimal zu verteilen, Effizienz zu sichern und somit den Risikofaktor für die Verwaltung gering zu halten.«Public Private Partnership, Öffentlicher Sektor, Öffentlicher Haushalt, Finanzmarktkrise, Wirtschaftliche Effizienz, Deutschland

Precise measurements of hydrogen and helium isotopes with BESS-Polar II

A precise knowledge of cosmic-ray hydrogen and helium isotopes provides important information to better understand Galactic cosmic-ray propagation. Deuteron and helium 3 species are mainly secondary particles created by the spallation of primary proton and helium 4 particles during their propagation in the Galaxy. Secondary-to-primary ratios thus bring direct information on the average amount of material traversed by cosmic rays in the interstellar medium. The Balloon-borne Experiment with Superconducting Spectrometer BESS-Polar II flew over Antarctica for 24.5 days from December 2007 through January 2008, during the 23rd solar cycle minimum. The instrument is made of complementary particle detectors which allow to precisely measure the charge, velocity and rigidity of incident cosmic rays. It can accurately separate and precisely measure cosmic-ray hydrogen and helium isotopes between 0.2 and 1.5 GeV/nucleon. These data, which are the most precise to date, will be reported and their implications will be discussed

The Prince and the Pauper: Movement of Children Up and Down the Canadian Income Distribution, 1994-2004

This paper uses longitudinal microdata from the Statistics Canada National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth (NLSCY) spanning the years 1994 through 2004 to study patterns of family income experienced by a cohort of 7163 Canadian children for most of their childhood. Five principal questions are addressed: 1) What trends in the level of real family income are apparent?; 2) What happens to inequality of income among this group of children as they grow up?; 3) Are the same children always the ones to be ‘stuck at the bottom’ or, alternatively, ‘secure at the top’ of the relative income distribution?; 4) What are the characteristics of the children who are most likely to ever or always be in the bottom (or top) of the distribution?; 5) What changes in characteristics are associated with movements up or down the income distribution?Children, Inequality, Child Poverty

MMOGs as Emerging Opportunities for Research on Virtual Organizations and Teams

Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOG) offer new promising opportunities to research virtual organizations and teams. The characteristics of MMOGs allow researchers to obtain objective data from a large and multi-national population. Lasting over months or even years, MMOGs facilitate longitudinal studies and ensure a high involvement of participants. Moreover, collecting data from online surveys and game servers keeps the costs of MMOG studies low. In this paper, we illustrate how research in MMOGs can utilize these opportunities to overcome some limitations of traditional research environments. Further we discuss the diverse information and communication technology (ICT) usage in MMOGs and therefore argue that research in MMOGs can provide a glimpse into the future application of ICT in real life organizations