Search

I have examined cross-section evidence on differential fertility in Israel, focusing on the relation between education and fertility. The interpretation of this relation as reflecting the relation between education and the cost of women's time and the relation between cost of time and the "price" of children is helpful in understanding some of the phenomena; what is left unexplained is the large decline in fertility at the bottom of the education ladder.
This sharp decline may be dominated by informational and cultural differences concerning family planning, of the sort suggested by sociologists (see, e.g., the evidence presented by Bachi and Matras [1962], Matras and Auerbach [1962], and Peled [1969]). Several pieces of evidence are consistent with a view that most of the cross-section and time-series variation in fertility reflects differential movement to a low level of fertility where the long-term optima do not vary much. (Thus, see the very flat curve relating fertility to education among couples of European origin married in Israel.)
Even if such a view were to be accepted, the need for explaining the mechanisms of transition remains. The possibilities of the simple cost-of-time hypothesis are far from exhausted in this paper: a more explicit treatment of the cost of time (see Gronau's paper in this Supplement), a more satisfactory treatment of husbands' lifetime or permanent income, and a fertility variable that takes timing and survival into account are some of the more immediate needs. What seems to be quite important is a simultaneous examination of several aspects of behavior.
In the specific Israeli context, I regard as the main challenge the understanding of the differentials between those born in Europe-America, Asia-Africa, and Israel and the linking of the cross section to the changes over time. The unexplained differences between these groups are partly a result of measurement problems of the economic variables. Better u... [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a discussion on the research paper "Economic Integration in the European Soviet Bloc," by Edward Ames, professor at Purdue University, Indiana, published in the May 1959 issue of the journal "American Economic Review." The term "integration" has been used rather abusively in relation to the area, and any systematic effort toward its definition needs to be welcomed heartily. After sketching briefly the pattern of international economic relations in the bloc, Ames advances two sets of standards against which he attempts to measure the integration achieved in the area. In his first solution, he refers specifically to market economies. In that framework, he equates integration to optimal distribution of goods within an area which amounts to the reaching of a single price for the same goods with differences in prices due only to transportation costs in a market which comprises either the whole globe or only a group of countries. This optimal distribution subsumes optimal utilization of factors even though the latter might not move freely. Integration thus requires that all or most goods be traded within the area. The movement toward or away from integration will be indicated for the given group of countries by the movement of their internal price structures toward similar or dissimilar patterns.

The article develops an economic hypothesis about the origin of social movements. The paper is divided into three parts: the first elaborates a theory of demand for social change or, more specifically, a theory about why the demand for change manifests itself in social movements. This first part, in turn, is subdivided into two sections examining: first, some structural components of the environment in which social movements originate and discussing, second, the definitions and assumptions of the proposed theory as well as its essential mechanisms. The second part introduces the concept of the supply of social movements and examines how this supply is related to the demand for social change. This discussion sheds some new light on the question of social change itself. This is briefly discussed in Section III. The hypothesis formulated appears to be consistent, at least in the large, with what is known of the history of social movements in Canada, in the United States, and in Europe during the first part of the twentieth century.

Recently, professors Karl Kafer and V. K. Zimmerman presented an excellently documented paper on the evolution of the funds statement in the U.S. and in Europe. Following extensive exploration, they pointed out some significant deficiencies of the funds statement. The main purpose of this article, however, is to present a different format for the construction of this flow statement. It is hoped that a structural change in this flow statement will throw some additional light on the study of flows of economic resources at the business-enterprise level. In addition to recognizing the distinction between financial and nonfinancial flows of business operations, it is important to analyze their interplay. Productive activities may be financed internally, externally, or both. A detailed presentation of the financial activities of an enterprise will show not only how additional productive resources are acquired, but will also provide a basis, in part at least, for analyzing expansion and future income flow. The conventional balance sheet and income statement are deficient in depicting financial activities of a firm and in relating theft relationship to the firm's productive activities. It must be remembered that net income is "attributable to the whole process of business activity" and that the operations involves continuous movement of productive and financial resources. The resources-flow statement should not be treated as a supplementary device. It is a basic statement in its own right. With two basic types of flows, the need for at least two flow statements is quite dear. In addition, the resources-flow statement is much more than a statement of financial flows.

While there is an increasing interest in European transnational consolidations, no one ever ascertained what obstacles corporate strategists actually encounter in developing such consolidations, and what recommendations they might make. Using over 150 interviews with top executives, this study attempts to supply the missing information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The era in which the U.S. was the overwhelmingly dominant economic entity in the world is at an end; the U.S. is today a giant among giants. The ambitions and priorities of the U.S. must therefore be adjusted, and certain propositions which have hitherto been accepted must be renounced or amended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In their paper on the mechanism by which European economies have adjusted to increases in the money supply, Professors Robert Triffin and Herbert Grubel argue (among other things) that the members of the European Economic Community (EEC) are highly interdependent, that each of the member economies is relatively open, but that the EEC as a whole is less open, relative to the rest of the world, than its individual members. Their evidence for these assertions is the comparison of simple correlation coefficients between changes in import surpluses and changes in money supply. Roughly speaking, they contend that a sample correlation coefficient between these two variables that is close to unity is evidence of the openness of an economy. An economy for which the same coefficient is close to zero (or negative, presumably) is relatively closed. Thus, when they find that these correlation coefficients for the individual EEC countries are high, and higher than for the Community as a whole, they draw the conclusions indicated above.

Discusses the history of European economic growth. Details of industrial expansion; International trade relations of the country; Effect of economic policies on its growth; Discussion on scientific and commercial revolution.

Presents information on various articles related to economics, published in the June 1963 issue of 'Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv.' Economic integration in the field of trade and labor movements in Europe; Taxation of good in common markets.

This article examines the earnings and employment in Eastern Europe from 1957 to 1963. Much effort has gone into the statistical analysis of labor markets to determine whether they operate according to the canons of economic theory. The results have been largely negative. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, in a recent comprehensive study covering the experience of ten Western nations, asserted that there is no evidence of a strong systematic statistical relationship between changes in earnings among individual industries and variations in relative employment and reached the following conclusions, the observed changes in the allocation of labor are often brought about by mechanisms other than changes in the wage structure and the observed changes in the wage structure are often brought about by forces other than those that allocate labor. Possible reasons for the lack of correspondence between the two principal labor market variables includes inertia of traditional wage relationships, the factor of worker morale, managerial wage policy and trade union bargaining power.

The article focuses on the United Nations (UN) report on "Measures for the Economic Development of Under-Developed Countries," prepared by a group of experts appointed by the UN Secretary-General. This report was prepared by a group of experts appointed by the Secretary-General after the Economic and Social Council adopted a far-reaching series of recommendation resulting from a discussion of the earlier report. Notwithstanding the extraordinarily wide scope of these formal terms of reference, it is worth noting that a resolution of the General Assembly of the United Nations even asked the experts to deal with a vast range of other matters. It is not surprising that the authors of the report could not even attempt to comply with all these further requests. The report is a significant document. It is significant of the increasing world concern with the economic condition and problems of what were once the peripheral regions of a closely integrated "world-economy" with its center in Europe. It is significant, because of the problems arising out of the new-found independence of many of these regions, and their sensitivity to the alleged benefits, but not to the shortcomings, of the driving forces of nationalism.

The article discusses a comparative study of insurance integration in the United States and in Europe. The objectives of insurance regulation are described. Preconditions of effective regulation are examined, particularly resources of the regulator, nature of the insurance market, controlling access to the European market, and making the American market controllable. Scaled capital and surplus requirements are likewise investigated. Regulation of marketing and control of policy terms are discussed.

Manpower developments should be examined against the population background. Population and manpower structure of post-war Europe is the haphazard result of various trends, war losses and tremendous shifts of population. Conditions have been changing rapidly, so that computations regarding the structural changes of populations prior to 1949 are in many cases not significant. The major pre-war trends in economic structure appear to have continued after the war with the exception of commerce, which has not maintained its previous upward trend. The present disturbed situation is not a convenient platform for projections of population or of manpower. Anyhow, any speculation as to future developments should be based on the knowledge of the specific conditions obtaining in the various countries. Differences in the economic and social structure, as well as in legislation between the various parts of Europe, no longer warrant a smooth and uniform development in accordance with the pre-war pattern. There are, on the other hand, some features of a prospective rapprochement in the economic and social field between Western and Eastern Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents information on the "new economic history," sometimes called econometric history or cliometrics. The new economic history is not often practised in Europe. However, it is fair to say that efforts to apply statistical and mathematical models currently occupy the centre of the stage in American economic history. Econometric history gained its present eminence with extraordinary rapidity. Perhaps the first definitely formulated expression of the new approach is contained in a pair of essays written by economists Alfred H. Gonrad and John R. Meyer in 1957, less than a decade ago. The considerable impact of the new economic history on research in the United States is due primarily to the novelty of its substantive findings. If cliometrics merely reproduced the conclusions of previous scholarship, its methods would be of trivial consequence. However, the studies of the new economic historians have substantially altered some of the most well-established propositions of traditional historiography.

The article examines the German literature to investigate the problems of European integration. The author states that the German study concentrates on the problems which European integration raises only in public and civil law and of economic policy and theory. It was the popular media of communication that articulates attitudes to the political problems of European integration. One literature suggests the need for European union of the basic consensus in favor of integration including the geographical delimitation and institutional form of communities.