Social service provision, efficiency labor and economic development

This dissertation provides a theory of the effects and determinants of an economy's level of social services. The dissertation focuses on how the provision of social services will affect the effort decisions of workers, which will ultimately determine the economy's level of output. A worker decides on how much effort to contribute in relation to the level of social services he/she receives. The higher the level of social services received, the lower the cost—disutility—from providing effort will be. The government provides public infrastructure and social services (i.e. health services) in accordance with the economy's endowment of effort. In doing so, the government takes the aggregate effort endowment as given. Since, with higher individual work effort the higher the economy's total level of effort, failure by workers to coordinate effort levels will result in possible instances of low effort, low social services and low output; and, other instances of high effort, high social services and high output. Therefore, this dissertation predicts that in the context of social services, coordination failures in effort levels can lead to development traps. ^

Big city days: Race and labor in early Miami, 1914--1925

The purpose of this study was to recast Miami's social history during the first three decades of the twentieth century through an examination of working class life. The thesis attempts to fill a gap in the literature while also expanding on the advances made in race and class studies of the United States. Through an analysis of local newspapers, minutes of a carpenter's union, and other archival sources, the thesis demonstrates how white workers obtained a virtual monopoly in skilled jobs over black workers, particularly in the construction industry, and exacted economic pressure on business through the threat of work stoppages. Driven by the concern to maintain smooth and steady growth amidst a vibrant tourist economy, business reluctantly worked with labor to maintain harmonious market conditions. Blacks, however, were able to gain certain privileges in the labor market through challenging the rigid system of segregation and notions of what constituted skilled labor. The findings demonstrate that Miami's labor unions shaped the city's social, cultural, and political landscape but the extent of their power was limited by booster discourse and the city's dependence on tourism. ^

Social funds as a strategy for poverty reduction in Jamaica: An exploratory study

This study explored the relationship between social fund projects and poverty reduction in selected communities in Jamaica. The Caribbean nation's social fund projects aim to reduce “public” poverty by rehabilitating and expanding social and economic infrastructure, improving social services, and strengthening organizations at the community level. Research questions addressed the characteristics of poverty-focused social fund projects; the nexus between poverty reduction and three key concepts suggested by the literature— community (citizen) participation, social capital, and empowerment; and the impact of the projects on poverty. ^ In this qualitative study, data were collected and triangulated by means of in-depth, semi-structured interviews, supplemented by key informant data; non-participant observation; and document reviews. Thirty-four respondents were interviewed individually at eight rural and urban sites over a period of four consecutive months, and 10 key informants provided supplementary data. Open, axial, and selective coding was used for data reduction and analysis as part of the grounded theory method, which included constant comparative analysis. The codes generated a set of themes and a substantive-formal theory. Findings were crosschecked with interview respondents and key informants and validated by means of an audit trail. ^ The results have revealed that the approach to poverty reduction in social fund-supported communities is a process of development-focused collaboration among various stakeholders. The process encompasses four stages: (1) identifying problems and priorities, (2) motivating and mobilizing, (3) working together, and (4) creating an enabling environment. The underlying stakeholder involvement theory posits that collaboration increases the productivity of resources and creates the conditions for community-driven development. In addition, the study has found that social fund projects are largely community-based, collaborative, and highly participatory in their implementation, as well as prescription-driven, results-oriented, and leadership-dependent. Further, social capital formation across communities was found to be limited, and in general, the projects have been enabling rather than empowering. The projects have not reduced poverty per se; however, they have been instrumental in improving conditions that were concomitants of poverty. ^

Current State of Management/Union Relations in Hospitality Sector

Labor management relations in the hospitality sector is an important aspect of effective management. Increasingly, unions are becoming proactive in organizing hospitality workers. This manifests itself in strikes, boycotts, picketing, sexual harassment complaints, and complaints to OSHA regarding safety and health workplace violations. This research monitors the current scene with respect to labor management relations and analyzes work issues that have been brought up for third-party resolution by NLRB staff or arbitrators. The study reports on 66 NLRB cases and 104 arbitration cases. Issues brought before the NLRB include mostly contract interpretations. In arbitration, there were mostly discipline issues, including work rule violations, disorderly conduct, poor performance and employee theft. Quite often, the proposed job action on the part of the employer was discharge. In NLRB cases, the employee usually prevailed, while in arbitration the employer usually prevailed.

Non -traded goods, product differentiation and integration of factor markets

This research sought to determine the implications of a non-traded differentiated commodity produced with increasing returns to scale, for the welfare of countries that allowed free international migration. We developed two- and three-country Ricardian models in which labor was the only factor of production. The countries traded freely in homogeneous goods produced with constant returns to scale. Each also had a non-traded differentiated good sector where production took place using increasing returns to scale technology. Then we allowed for free international migration between two of the countries and observed what happened to welfare in both countries as indicated by their per capita utilities in the new equilibrium relative to their pre-migration utilities. ^ Preferences of consumers were represented by a two-tier utility function [Dixit and Stiglitz 1977]. As migration took place it impacted utility in two ways. The expanding country enjoyed the positive effect of increased product diversity in the non-traded good sector. However, it also suffered adverse terms-of-trade as its production cost declined. The converse was true for the contracting country. To determine the net impact on welfare we derived indirect per capita utility functions of the countries algebraically and graphically. Then we juxtaposed the graphs of the utility functions to obtain possible general equilibria. These we used to observe the welfare outcomes. ^ We found that the most likely outcomes were either that both countries gained, or one country lost while the other gained. We were, however, able to generate cases where both countries lost as a result of allowing free inter-country migration. This was most likely to happen when the shares of income spent on each country's export good differed significantly. In the three country world when we allowed two of the countries to engage in preferential trading arrangements while imposing a prohibitive tariff on imports from the third country welfare of the partner countries declined. When inter-union migration was permitted welfare declined even further. This we showed was due to the presence of the non-traded good sector. ^

The economic well -being of low -income immigrants in the U.S.: An examination of the impact of the 1996 welfare reform on immigrants

The 1996 welfare reform, for the first time in U.S. history, set a five-year residence requirement for immigrants to be eligible for federal welfare benefits. This dissertation assessed the impact of the 1996 welfare reform, specifically the immigrant provisions, on the economic well-being of low-income immigrants. This dissertation also explored the roles that migration selection theory and social capital theory play in the economic well-being of low-income immigrants. ^ This dissertation was based on an analysis of the March 1995, March 2002, and March 2006 Annual Demographic Supplement Files of the Current Population Survey (CPS). Both logistic regression and multiple regression were used to analyze economic well-being, comparing low-income immigrants with low-income citizens. Economic well-being was measured in the current survey year and the year before on the following variables: employment status, full-time status (35 or more hours per week), the number of weeks worked, and the total annual wage or salary.^ The major findings reported in this dissertation were that low-income immigrants had advantages over low-income citizens in the labor market. This may be due to immigrants' stronger motivation to obtain success, consistent with migration selection theory. Also, this research suggested that immigrant provisions had not ameliorated employment outcomes of low-income immigrants as policymakers may have expected.^ The study also confirmed the role of social capital in advancing the economic well-being of qualified immigrants. Ultimately, this dissertation contributed to our understanding of low-income immigrants in the U.S. The study questioned the claim that immigrants are attracted to the U.S. by welfare benefits. This dissertation suggested that immigrants come to the U.S., to a large extent, to pursue the goal of upward mobility. Consequently, immigrants may employ greater initiative and work harder than native-born Americans.^

Building Global Labor Solidarity Today: Learning from the KMU of the Philippines

New labor movements are currently emerging across the Global South. This is happening in countries as disparate as China, Egypt, and Iran. New developments are taking place within labor movements in places such as Colombia, Indonesia, Iraq, Mexico, Pakistan and Venezuela. Activists and leaders in these labor movements are seeking information from workers and unions around the world. However, many labor activists today know little or nothing about the last period of intense efforts to build international labor solidarity, the years 1978-2007. One of the key labor movements of this period, and which continues today, is the KMU Labor Center of the Philippines. It is this author’s contention that there is a lot unknown about the KMU that would help advance global labor solidarity today. This paper focuses specifically on the KMU’s development, and shares five things that have emerged from this author’s study of the KMU: a new type of trade unionism, new union organizations, an emphasis on rank and file education, building relations with sectoral organizations, and the need to build international labor solidarity.