Singapore is an affluent city state which finances its social security system through a mandatory, publicly managed, defined contribution system based on individual accounts. The main vehicle embodying this is the Central Provident Fund (CPF). There are two other pension systems operating in...

This paper focuses on what determines labor redundancy in selected modes of transport (rails, ports, and buses) in six countries: Brazil, Chile, Ghana, Mauritius, Sri Lanka, and Yugoslavia. It also analyzes different approaches for solving the problem, and concludes that analysis of the labor...

This study presents an analysis of non-farm family businesses in Peru. It uses the enterprise rather than the individual as the unit of analysis, and incorporates enterprise characteristics (capital, nonlabor inputs, focus of operation) explicitly. The central question addressed is: does formal...

Where do industries locate within a metropolitan area? Do different industrial sectors have different patterns of location/clustering? Can these patterns be understood with reference to industry characteristics? What is the geographical relationship between clusters of different types of...

The authors use a retrospective survey of 9,608 individuals, aged 16 to 75, to monitor the effects of Estonia's economic transition on wages and employment. Estonia is an interesting case because of its early adoption of relatively free labor market policies. Estonia's transition led to rapid...

Although China has made impressive progress in economicdevelopment and improving social well-being, it is facing many daunting challenges while transforming toward a knowledge and service-based economy and further opening up to international competition after its WTO accession in the context of...

Part of the rationale for the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was that it would increase trade and foreign direct investment (FDI) flows, creating jobs and reducing migration to the United States. Since poor data on illegal flows to the United States make direct measurement...

Before 1973, the labor market in Europe was tight and immigration from the South (chiefly North Africa and Southern Europe) was encouraged. But with the slowdown in growth in the mid-1970s, the rise in unemployment, and increased economic uncertainty, immigration came to be viewed as a burden by...

The authors argue that significant adjustment took place in Polish industry after Poland's 1990 reforms. They analyze data on two- and three-digit manufacturing industries, disaggregated by firm ownership and size. By applying a statistical model to labor productivity growth, they try to...

This paper offers an interim review of the Bank's experience with public sector pay and employment reform. Its aim is to establish what has been done and what has been learnt to date. The objectives of the paper are to inventory and analyze Bank operational work in selected countries and to...