The Political Economy of Unemployment

Unemployment, as defined by the U.S. Government. is the number of people seeking work who cannot find it during the period of study, usually a month. This definition reflects a neoclassical economic theory which links total employment with aggregate demand. In other words the higher the Gross National Product (ONP) the higher the employment. According to the theory the actual number of people working is the result interaction of this aggregate demand and the number of people willing to work at the going wage rates, i.e., the supply of labor. Willing to work is translated in the government definition as those seeking work. This approach to defining unemployment combines elements of the theories originally put forth in the 1930\u27s by john Maynard Keynes and more classical free market notions as put forth by the likes of Milton Friedman. However, the policy prescriptions which emerge from this definition are distinctly Keynesian

The deindustrialisation/tertiarisation hypothesis reconsidered: a subsystem application to the OECD7

The diffusion of outsourcing, both national and international, and vertical FDIs among manufacturing firms, along with the higher integra- tion of business services in manufacturing, has recently led to question the empirical evidence supporting the Deindustrialisation/Tertiarisation (DT) hypothesis. Rather than a \real" phenomenon, it has been argued, DT would be an \apparent" one, mainly due to the reorganization of production across national and sectoral boundaries. The empirical studies that have dealt with the topic so far have not been able to effectively rule out such possibility, because of two main limitations: the sectoral level of the analysis and/or the national focus. In order to overcome them, the paper carries out an appreciative investigation of the actual extent of the DT occurred in the OECD area over the '80s and the '90s by moving from a sector to a subsystem perspective, thus retaining both direct and indirect relations, and by referring to a \pseudo-World" of 7 OECD countries, thus taking into account the \global" dimension of the phenomenon. The results strongly support the DT hypothesis: although the weight of business sector services in the manufacturing subsystem increased, acting as a counterbalancing tendency to the manufacturing decline, subsystem shares significantly decreased, thus confirming DT as a more fundamental trend of modern economies

Magmatically folded and faulted schlieren zones formed by magma avalanching in the Sonora Pass Intrusive Suite, Sierra Nevada, California

The southwestern margin of the Late Cretaceous Sonora Pass Intrusive Suite, northern Sierra Nevada, California (USA), preserves a densely populated zone of magmatic structures that record dynamic magmatic layer formation and deformation (faulting and folding) within a solidifying upper-crustal magma mush. This zone consists largely of coupled melanocratic (or schlieren) and leucocratic bands hosted within the 95.6 ± 1.5 Ma Kinney Lakes granodiorite (Leopold, 2016), with orientations approximately parallel to the intrusive margin and with inward younging directions. Schlieren consist of a high modal abundance of medium-grained ferromagnesian minerals (hornblende + biotite), zircon, sphene, apatite, opaque minerals, and minor plagioclase and interstitial quartz. Leucocratic bands are dominated by coarse-grained feldspar + quartz with minor ferromagnesian and accessory minerals. Whole-rock geochemical and Sr and Nd isotopic data indicate that the schlieren are derived from the Kinney Lakes granodiorite by effective mechanical separation of mafic minerals and accessory phases. We interpret that the schlieren zone at the margin of the Kinney Lakes granodiorite formed by large-scale collapse of crystal mush by “magma avalanching,” facilitated by gravity, local convection, and possibly by host-rock stoping at the margin. This process eroded a significant portion of the solidifying margin of the chamber and resulted in the formation of magmatically deformed layered structures, which experienced further mingling, re-intrusion, magmatic erosion, and recycling processes. We envisage that magma avalanching of magma mushes in plutons can be achieved by any unstable process (e.g., tectonic, fluid-assisted, stoping, or gravity-driven) in large, longlived magma-mush chambers.Fil: Alasino, Pablo Horacio. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Regional de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia Tecnológica de La Rioja. - Universidad Nacional de La Rioja. Centro Regional de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia Tecnológica de La Rioja. - Universidad Nacional de Catamarca. Centro Regional de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia Tecnológica de La Rioja. - Secretaría de Industria y Minería. Servicio Geológico Minero Argentino. Centro Regional de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia Tecnológica de La Rioja. - Provincia de La Rioja. Centro Regional de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia Tecnológica de La Rioja; ArgentinaFil: Ardill, K.. University of Southern California; Estados UnidosFil: Stanback, J.. University of Southern California; Estados UnidosFil: Paterson, Scott Robert. University of Southern California; Estados UnidosFil: Galindo, C.. Universidad Complutense de Madrid; EspañaFil: Leopold, M.. San Juan College; Estados Unidos. School of Science, Math, and Engineering; Estados Unido

Outsourcing and structural change: shifting firm and sectoral boundaries

The paper aims at investigating the structural change implications of outsourcing. In trying to bridge the organizational/industrial and the sectoral/structural analysis of outsourcing, it discusses the rational and the methodological pros and cons of a “battery” of outsourcing measurements for structural change analysis. Their functioning is then illustrated through a concise application of them to the OECD area over the ’80s and the early ’90s. A combined used of them emerges as recommendable in checking for the role of outsourcing with respect to that of other structural change determinants

Magmatically folded and faulted schlieren zones formed by magma avalanching in the Sonora Pass Intrusive Suite, Sierra Nevada, California

The southwestern margin of the Late Cretaceous Sonora Pass Intrusive Suite, northern Sierra Nevada, California (USA), preserves a densely populated zone of magmatic structures that record dynamic magmatic layer formation and deformation (faulting and folding) within a solidifying upper-crustal magma mush. This zone consists largely of coupled melanocratic (or schlieren) and leucocratic bands hosted within the 95.6 ± 1.5 Ma Kinney Lakes granodiorite (Leopold, 2016), with orientations approximately parallel to the intrusive margin and with inward younging directions. Schlieren consist of a high modal abundance of medium-grained ferromagnesian minerals (hornblende + biotite), zircon, sphene, apatite, opaque minerals, and minor plagioclase and interstitial quartz. Leucocratic bands are dominated by coarse-grained feldspar + quartz with minor ferromagnesian and accessory minerals. Whole-rock geochemical and Sr and Nd isotopic data indicate that the schlieren are derived from the Kinney Lakes granodiorite by effective mechanical separation of mafic minerals and accessory phases. We interpret that the schlieren zone at the margin of the Kinney Lakes granodiorite formed by large-scale collapse of crystal mush by “magma avalanching,” facilitated by gravity, local convection, and possibly by host-rock stoping at the margin. This process eroded a significant portion of the solidifying margin of the chamber and resulted in the formation of magmatically deformed layered structures, which experienced further mingling, re-intrusion, magmatic erosion, and recycling processes. We envisage that magma avalanching of magma mushes in plutons can be achieved by any unstable process (e.g., tectonic, fluid-assisted, stoping, or gravity-driven) in large, long-lived magma-mush chambers

Schlieren bound magmatic structures record crystal flow sorting in dynamic upper crustal magma mush chambers

The size, longevity, and mobility of upper-crustal magma mushes, and thus their ability to mix and interact with newly arriving magma batches, are key factors determining the evolution of magma reservoirs. Magmatic structures in plutons represent local sites of structural and compositional diversity and provide an opportunity to test the extent of physical and chemical processes that operated through time. Regional compilation of compositionally defined magmatic structures, specifically those involving schlieren, in the Tuolumne Intrusive Complex (TIC), yields a synthesis of ∼1500 schlieren-bound structure measurements. Field observations, petrography, and whole-rock geochemistry were integrated to test schlieren formation mechanisms. At a local scale (1 mm–1 m), we find that schlieren-bound structures formed from the surrounding host magma during dynamic magmatic processes such as crystal flow-sorting, magmatic faulting, and folding. Fluidization of the magma mush, interpreted from 1 m to 1 km wide domains of clustered schlieren-bound structures, appears to have operated within a hydrogranular medium, or “crystal slurry” (Bergantz et al., 2017). At the regional scale (10’s km), outward younging patterns of troughs, migrating tubes, and plumes indicate that the mush convected, driven by intrusion of new pulses. Troughs and planar schlieren are weakly oriented parallel to nearby major unit contacts, which could be related to internal mush convection or effects of high thermochemical gradients at internal unit boundaries. We hypothesize that these younging patterns and orientations have the potential to constrain the size of mobile magma mixing regions, that in the TIC extended to a minimum of 150 km2 (∼1500 km3) and were long-lived (>1 m.y). These require the generation of extensive melt-present reservoirs that could flow magmatically, formed from the amalgamation of intruding magma pulses, and precludes dike, sill, or laccolith emplacement models. We conclude that schlieren-bound structures are faithful recorders of the multi-scale, hypersolidus evolution of upper-crustal magma bodies, and represent useful tools for studying plutonic systems.Fil: Ardill, Katie E.. University of Southern California; Estados UnidosFil: Paterson, Scott Robert. University of Southern California; Estados UnidosFil: Stanback, Jonathan. University of Southern California; Estados UnidosFil: Alasino, Pablo Horacio. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Regional de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia Tecnológica de La Rioja. - Universidad Nacional de La Rioja. Centro Regional de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia Tecnológica de La Rioja. - Universidad Nacional de Catamarca. Centro Regional de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia Tecnológica de La Rioja. - Secretaría de Industria y Minería. Servicio Geológico Minero Argentino. Centro Regional de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia Tecnológica de La Rioja. - Provincia de La Rioja. Centro Regional de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia Tecnológica de La Rioja; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de La Rioja; ArgentinaFil: King, James J.. University of Oxford; Reino Unido. University of Durham; Reino UnidoFil: Crosbie, Simon E.. University of Durham; Reino Unid

Decision Rules for Egg-Color-Based Rejection by Two Cavity-Nesting Hosts of the Brown-Headed Cowbird

Hosts of obligate avian brood parasites often evolve defense mechanisms to avoid rearing unrelated young. One common defense is egg rejection, for which hosts often rely on eggshell color. Most research has assumed that hosts respond to perceived color differences between their own eggs and parasite eggs regardless of the particular color; however, recent experiments have found that many hosts respond more strongly to brown foreign eggs than to equally dissimilar blue eggs. Yet, none of these prior studies tested a brown-egg-laying species and, with only one exception, all were conducted in open nests where light levels are considered sufficient for effective color-based egg discrimination. Here, we explored how two cavity-nesting hosts of the parasitic brown-headed cowbird (Molothrus ater) – the blue-egg-laying eastern bluebird (Sialia sialis) and the brown-egg-laying house wren (Troglodytes aedon) – respond to experimental eggs painted six distinct colors ranging from blue to brown. Rejection responses of both hosts were best predicted by perceived differences in color between the model egg and their own eggs. Specifically, we found that house wrens preferentially rejected eggs bluer than their own eggs. However, although we found that bluebirds relied on perceived differences in color for their egg rejection decisions, further tests are needed to determine whether they preferentially rejected brown eggs or simply responded to absolute perceived differences in color. These findings demonstrate that these cavity-nesting birds treat perceived color differences in distinct ways, which has important implications on the coevolutionary arms races and the interpretation of avian-perceived color differences

Excluding pregnancy among women initiating antiretroviral therapy: efficacy of a family planning job aid

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Guidelines for initiating ART recommend pregnancy testing, typically a urine test, as part of the basic laboratory package. The principal reason for this recommendation is that Efavirenz, a first-line antiretroviral medication, has the potential of causing birth defects when used in the first trimester of pregnancy and is therefore contraindicated for use by pregnant women. Unfortunately, in many African countries pregnancy tests are not routinely provided or available in ART clinics, and, when available outside clinics, are often not affordable for clients.</p> <p>Recently, the World Health Organization added a family planning job aid called the 'pregnancy checklist,' developed by researchers at Family Health International, as a recommended tool for screening new ART clients to exclude pregnancy. Although the checklist has been validated for excluding pregnancy among family planning clients, there are no data on its efficacy among ART clients.</p> <p>This study was conducted to assess the clinical performance of a job aid to exclude pregnancy among HIV positive women initiating ART.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Non-menstruating women eligible for ART were enrolled from 20 sites in four provinces in Zambia. The pregnancy checklist was administered followed by a urine pregnancy test as a reference standard. Sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values were estimated.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Of the 200 women for whom the checklist ruled out pregnancy, 198 were not pregnant, for an estimated negative predictive value of 99%. The sensitivity of the checklist was 90.0%, and specificity was 38.7%. Among the women, 416 out of 534 (77.9%) did not abstain from sex since their last menses. Only 72 out of the 534 women (13.4%) reported using reliable contraception. Among the 416 women who did not abstain, 376 (90.4%) did not use reliable contraception.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The pregnancy checklist is effective for excluding pregnancy in many women initiating ART, but its moderate sensitivity and specificity precludes its use to completely replace pregnancy testing. Its use should be encouraged in low resource settings where pregnancy tests are unavailable or must be rationed. Family planning methods should be available and integrated into ART clinics.</p

The role of urine pregnancy testing in facilitating access to antenatal care and abortion services in South Africa: a cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND: Effective confirmation of pregnancy is a basic component of reproductive health services. It is a prerequisite for accessing antenatal care (AnC) if the pregnancy is wanted and abortion services if the pregnancy is unwanted. This study examined the role of urine pregnancy testing in the timing of presentation for pregnancy-care. METHOD: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 158 women presenting for antenatal care and 164 women presenting for abortion at public sector clinics in Cape Town, South Africa. RESULTS: The median gestational age at first presentation was 23 weeks for AnC clients and 13 weeks for abortion clients. Obtaining a urine pregnancy test of one's own accord was associated with a decrease in the gestational age at presentation of 3.6 and 1.4 weeks for antenatal and abortion clients, respectively, independently of all other factors. CONCLUSION: Given the proven clinical benefit and public health impact of early presentation for antenatal and abortion services, strategies to decrease gestational age at presentation for pregnancy care should be given priority. 'Fast-track' urine pregnancy testing services should be established in public sector clinics in South Africa

The availability of six tracer medicines in private medicine outlets in Uganda​

OBJECTIVES: Many low income countries struggle to provide safe and effective medicines due to poor public health care infrastructure, budgetary constraints, and lack of human resource capacity. Private sector pharmacies and drug shops are used by a majority of the population as an alternative to public pharmacies. This study looks at the availability of six essential medicines in private drug outlets across Uganda. METHODS: A standardised medicines availability survey developed by the World Health Organization and Health Action International was adapted for use in this project to collect availability data for six tracer medicines in 126 private medicine outlets across four districts in Uganda from September 2011 to October 2012. RESULTS: Artemisinin-based combination treatments and metformin were the most commonly found medicines in the private medicine outlets surveyed. Ninty-nine percent of all outlets carried artemisinin-based combinations while 93% of pharmacies and 53% of drug shops stocked metformin. Oxytocin was found in one third of outlets surveyed. Fluoxetine was in 70% of pharmacies yet was not found in any drug shops. Rifampicin and lamivudine were found infrequently in outlets across all districts; 10% and 2%, respectively. Not all brands found in surveyed outlets were listed on the Ugandan National Drug Register. In particular, five unlisted brands of rifampicin were found in private medicine outlets. CONCLUSIONS: The regulatory process should be improved through the enforcement of outlet licensing and medicine registration. Additional studies to elucidate the reasons behind the use of private medicine outlets over the public sector would assist the government in implementing interventions to increase use of public sector medicine outlets