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Stephen C. Smith (economist)
Stephen Charles Smith (born April 24, 1955) is an economist, author, and educator. He is Chair of the Department of Economics, and Professor of Economics and International Affairs at George Washington University. He is also a Research Fellow of the Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). Background Smith received his PhD in economics from Cornell University in 1983 for thesis titled ''On Employment and Local Public Goods in Labor-Managed and Participatory Firms and Labor Unions: Institutions, Economic Theory and Econometrics''. He has been a Fulbright Research Scholar and a Fulbright Senior Specialist; a UNICEF Senior Fellow; and a Jean Monnet Research Fellow at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy. Smith is also a former Visiting Fellow and Non-resident Senior Fellow of the Brookings Institution. He is a former director of the Institute for International Economic Policy, and has served as the director of The George Washington University's Research Program in P ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
New Institutional Economics
New Institutional Economics (NIE) is an economic perspective that attempts to extend economics by focusing on the institutions (that is to say the social and legal norms and rules) that underlie economic activity and with analysis beyond earlier institutional economics and neoclassical economics. The NIE assume that individuals are rational and that they seek to maximize their preferences, but that they also have cognitive limitations, lack complete information and have difficulties monitoring and enforcing agreements. As a result, institutions form in large part as an effective way to deal with transaction costs. NIE rejects that the state is a neutral actor (rather, it can hinder or facilitate effective institutions), that there are zero transaction costs, and that actors have fixed preferences. Overview It has its roots in two articles by Ronald Coase, " The Nature of the Firm" (1937) and " The Problem of Social Cost" (1960). In the latter, the Coase theorem (as it was su ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Michael Todaro
Michael Paul Todaro (born May 14, 1942) is an American economist and a pioneer in the field of development economics. Todaro earned a PhD in economics from Yale University in 1968 for a thesis titled ''The Urban Employment Problem in Less Developed Countries – An Analysis of Demand and Supply''. Todaro was Professor of Economics at New York University for eighteen years and Senior Associate at the Population Council for thirty years. He lived and taught in Africa for six years. He appears in Who's Who in Economics and Economists of the Twentieth Century. He is also the author of eight books and more than fifty professional articles. In a special February 2011 centenary edition, the American Economic Review selected Todaro's article "Migration, Unemployment and Development: A 2-Sector Analysis" (with John Harris) as one of the twenty most important articles published by that journal during the first one hundred years of its existence. He is the co-author of the widely used textboo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bottom Billion
''The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries are Failing and What Can Be Done About It'' is a 2007 book by Paul Collier, Professor of Economics at Oxford University, exploring the reasons why impoverished countries fail to progress despite international aid and support. In the book Collier argues that there are many countries whose residents have experienced little, if any, income growth over the 1980s and 1990s. On his reckoning, there are just under 60 such economies, home to almost 1 billion people. Synopsis Development traps The book suggests that, whereas the majority of the 5 billion people in the "developing world" are getting richer at an unprecedented rate, a group of countries (mostly in Africa and Central Asia but with a smattering elsewhere) are stuck and that development assistance should be focused heavily on them. These countries typically suffer from one or more development traps. The Conflict Trap: Civil wars (with an estimated average cost of $64bn ea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Easterly
William Russell Easterly (born September 7, 1957) is an American economist specializing in economic development. He is a professor of economics at New York University, joint with Africa House, and co-director of NYU's Development Research Institute. He is a Research Associate of NBER, senior fellow at the Bureau for Research and Economic Analysis of Development (BREAD) of Duke University, and a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington DC. Easterly is an associate editor of the '' Journal of Economic Growth''. Easterly is the author of three books: '' The Elusive Quest for Growth: Economists’ Adventures and Misadventures in the Tropics'' (2001); ''The White Man’s Burden: Why the West’s Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little Good'' (2006), which won the 2008 Hayek Prize; and '' The Tyranny of Experts: Economists, Dictators, and the Forgotten Rights of the Poor'' (2014), which was a finalist for the 2015 Hayek Prize. Biography ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The End Of Poverty
''The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time'' () is a 2005 book by American economist Jeffrey Sachs. It was a ''New York Times'' bestseller. In the book, Sachs argues that extreme poverty—defined by the World Bank as incomes of less than one dollar per day—can be eliminated globally by the year 2025, through carefully planned development aid. He presents the problem as an inability of very poor countries to reach the "bottom rung" of the ladder of economic development; once the bottom rung is reached, a country can pull itself up into the global market economy, and the need for outside aid will be greatly diminished or eliminated. Clinical economics In order to address and remedy the specific economic stumbling blocks of various countries, Sachs espouses the use of what he terms "clinical economics", by analogy to medicine. Sachs explains that countries, like patients, are complex systems, requiring differential diagnosis, an understanding of context, monitori ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Poverty
Poverty is a state or condition in which an individual lacks the financial resources and essentials for a basic standard of living. Poverty can have diverse Biophysical environment, environmental, legal, social, economic, and political causes and effects. When evaluating poverty in statistics or economics there are two main measures: ''absolute poverty'' which compares income against the amount needed to meet basic needs, basic personal needs, such as food, clothing, and Shelter (building), shelter; secondly, ''relative poverty'' measures when a person cannot meet a minimum level of living standards, compared to others in the same time and place. The definition of ''relative poverty'' varies from one country to another, or from one society to another. Statistically, , most of the world's population live in poverty: in Purchasing Power Parity, PPP dollars, 85% of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
United Nations Development Programme
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is a United Nations agency tasked with helping countries eliminate poverty and achieve sustainable economic growth and human development. The UNDP emphasizes on developing local capacity towards long-term self-sufficiency and prosperity. Based at the headquarters of the United Nations in New York City, it is the largest UN development aid agency, with offices in 177 countries. The UNDP is funded entirely by voluntary contributions from UN member states. Founding The UNDP was founded on 22 November 1965 through the merger of the Expanded Programme of Technical Assistance (EPTA) and the Special Fund in 1958. The rationale was to "avoid duplication of heiractivities". The EPTA was set up in 1949 to support the economic and political aspects of underdeveloped countries while the Special Fund was to enlarge the scope of UN technical assistance. The Special Fund arose from the idea of a Special United Nations Fund for Economic D ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
World Institute For Development Economics Research
The United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER) is part of the United Nations University (UNU). UNU-WIDER, the first research and training centre to be established by the UNU, is an international academic organization set up with the aim of promoting peace and progress by bringing together leading scholars from around the world to tackle pressing global problems. UNU-WIDER The establishment of the UNU and UNU-WIDER In 1969 the UN Secretary-General U Thant suggested that the time had arrived when serious consideration might be given to establishing an international university. An international university, the Secretary-General said, would be devoted to the Charter objectives of peace and progress. It would be staffed with professors from many nations and all parts of the world. The university would thus serve to break down the barriers that created misunderstanding and mistrust between nations and cultures. The UNU was established by t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
International Labour Office
The International Labour Organization (ILO) is a United Nations agency whose mandate is to advance social and economic justice by setting international labour standards. Founded in October 1919 under the League of Nations, it is one of the first and oldest specialized agencies of the UN. The ILO has 187 member states: 186 out of 193 UN member states plus the Cook Islands. It is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, with around 40 field offices around the world, and employs some 3,381 staff across 107 nations, of whom 1,698 work in technical cooperation programmes and projects. The ILO's standards are aimed at ensuring accessible, productive, and sustainable work worldwide in conditions of freedom, equity, security and dignity. They are set forth in 189 conventions and treaties, of which eight are classified as fundamental according to the 1998 Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work; together they protect freedom of association and the effective recognition ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
World Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and Grant (money), grants to the governments of Least developed countries, low- and Developing country, middle-income countries for the purposes of economic development. The World Bank is the collective name for the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and International Development Association (IDA), two of five international organizations owned by the World Bank Group. It was established along with the International Monetary Fund at the 1944 Bretton Woods Conference. After a slow start, its first loan was to France in 1947. In its early years, it primarily focused on rebuilding Europe. Over time, it focused on providing loans to developing world countries. In the 1970s, the World Bank re-conceptualized its mission of facilitating development as being oriented around poverty reduction. For the last 30 years, it has included NGOs and environmental groups in its loan portfolio. Its ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Development Economics
Development economics is a branch of economics that deals with economic aspects of the development process in low- and middle- income countries. Its focus is not only on methods of promoting economic development, economic growth and structural change but also on improving the potential for the mass of the population, for example, through health, education and workplace conditions, whether through public or private channels. Development economics involves the creation of theories and methods that aid in the determination of policies and practices and can be implemented at either the domestic or international level. This may involve restructuring market incentives or using mathematical methods such as intertemporal optimization for project analysis, or it may involve a mixture of quantitative and qualitative methods. Common topics include growth theory, poverty and inequality, human capital, and institutions. Unlike in many other fields of economics, approaches in development econ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Millennium Development Goals
In the United Nations, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were eight international development goals for the year 2015 created following the Millennium Summit, following the adoption of the United Nations Millennium Declaration. These were based on the OECD DAC International Development Goals agreed by Development Ministers in the "Shaping the 21st Century Strategy". The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) succeeded the MDGs in 2016. All 191 United Nations member states, and at least 22 international organizations, committed to help achieve the following Millennium Development Goals by 2015: # To eradicate extreme poverty and hunger # To achieve universal primary education # To promote gender equality and empower women # To reduce child mortality # To improve maternal health # To combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases # To ensure environmental sustainability # To develop a global partnership for development [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
