This thesis builds on previous United Nations’ research investigating factors affecting the Total Fertility Rate (TFR) in six (6) states: Burkina Faso, Mexico, Morocco, Nepal, the Philippines, and Uganda. The present research, however, provides a broader assessment of the TFR and the potential causes of its decline by examining countries across nine (9) regions of the world – sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, South Asia, East Asia, the Middle East and North Africa, the Caribbean, the Pacific Islands, Eastern and Southeastern Europe, and the former Soviet Socialist Republics of the Commonwealth of Independent States. The present analyses are also conducted over time, specifically from 1960 through 2002. Five (5) primary hypotheses regarding factors affecting the Total Fertility Rate are examined using feasible generalized least squares regression analysis. First, foreign debt is hypothesized to have a positive relationship to TFR. That is, holding all else constant, as foreign debt increases, TFR is expected to increase as well. Foreign debt is operationalized first, as total external debt; second, as long-term debt, and third, as total debt service as a percentage of exports of goods and services. Second, foreign aid, the level of socioeconomic development, and the extent of females’ education are all hypothesized to have negative relationships to TFR. That is, all else constant, as foreign aid increases, TFR is expected to decrease. All else constant, as the level of socioeconomic development increases, TFR is also expected to decrease. All else constant, as the extent of females’ education increases, TFR is also expected to decrease. Foreign aid is operationalized as first, International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) loans and International Development Agency (IDA) credits; and second, as official development assistance and official aid. The level of socioeconomic development is operationalized as the Gross National Income (GNI) per capita in terms of purchasing power parity. The extent of females’ education is operationalized as first, the adult female literacy rate (ages 15 and above), and second, as the ratio of young literate females to males (ages 15 – 24). Finally, whereas previous scholars have hypothesized that industrialization reduces TFR (the Western European “demographic transition” hypothesis), the present research proposes that this relationship may not hold in developing countries. This possibility is investigated by analyzing the relationships between TFR and first, the value added of agriculture (as a percentage of GDP); second, the value added of industry (also as a percentage of GDP); third, the value added of manufacturing as a percentage of GDP; and fourth, the value added of services as a percentage of GDP. The findings presented here suggest first, that the foreign debt and foreign aid have differing effects on TFR in different regions of the world. Second, the effects of socioeconomic development and females’ education are more consistent (than foreign debt and foreign aid) across the different regions – but intriguing variations still exist. Finally, it appears that, with very few exceptions, the Western European-based demographic transition model does not hold for non-Western and developing areas. Therefore, new, region-specific models of TFR need to be developed – and public policy needs to be based on these more accurate, more context-appropriate models.

Cities of possibility? – A cohort study of social mobility during the urbanization of Sweden 1890-1940  This cohort study examines the social mobility of countryside migrants to Swedish cities in the period of 1890-1940. The purpose is to determine whether the claim that cities had enhanced possibilities for the individual and therefore offered a chance for social advancement. The question in operation is whether migration to a city meant an improved social advancement. To aid the analysis classic urbanization theory and multi-phasic demographic response were added. To observe the social mobility in cities a cohort of 315 people born in the southeast of Kalmar län in the year 1890 were observed on indicators of geographical and social mobility as well as family life. This group was then divided into one cohort that moved to the cities and one that stayed in the countryside. The study found, in agreement with previous research on the area, that most of the individuals moving to the cities were from a blue-collar [obesutten] background and that this group had a small majority of women. The individuals from a white-collar [besutten] background mostly skirted the cities, preferring to stay in the countryside or to emigrate. However, Swedish urbanization studies of this period have not agreed on whether cities had a positive, neutral, or negative impact on the social mobility of those who migrated there. This study found a complicated pattern where blue-collar women had an improved social advancement in the cities. Meanwhile, white-collar women had a larger risk of degrading socially and blue-collar men in the cities had the least mobility of all groups involved. To summarize, migration to the cities were mostly a choice by those with blue-collar background and while the women did enhance their social advancement as a group the rest of those who urbanized were negatively impacted. This, on top of only a few white-collar women and only two white-collar men choosing to move to a city indicates, with aid of the theory of multi-phasic demographic response, that cities mostly did not offer an opportunity better than the countryside or a life overseas could. Hence, it was found that cities did not improve social advancement.

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Forest trees are an important pool of biodiversity at the gene, individual and an ecosystem level. This variation is a result of complex environmental interactions, as well as neutral and selective forces acting on populations. Patterns of standing genetic variation are the result of adaption to past and contemporary climate change, but also historical demographic events, and disentangling the role of these forces is a central problem in population genomics. The overall goal of this study is to characterize the relative effects of demography and selection in the genome of Populus trichocarpa, a riparian deciduous tree species of North America. Specifically, I used a variety of methods to summarize patterns of genetic diversity and population structure in P. trichocarpa, and to reconstruct its demographic history. I subsequently incorporated these demographic insights to guide the application of several methods to identify genome-wide targets of natural selection within and among rangewide populations adapted to heterogeneous selection regimes. Results of this study provide insights into the history of divergence and differentiation in P. trichocarpa populations and help us identify the functional genetic variants contributing to phenotypic divergence and fitness of the individuals in it. / Ph. D. / The extant genetic variation in the forest tree populations is a product of evolutionary history and complex environmental interactions. This genetic variation can therefore be leveraged to identify both the adaptive genetic variation and understand the demographic events that might have caused these patterns. We, in this study, present and analyze the range-wide population genomic dataset of western poplar (Populus trichocarpa) and show that the current distribution of western poplar originated from the southern western poplar populations around hundred thousand years ago. Our study also identified large number of loci associated with environmental local adaptation. We identified number of genes involved in temperature sensing, light signaling pathways, and plant immunity, suggesting role of biotic and abiotic factors as major drivers of adaptation. We also detected significant overlap between highly divergent loci and adaptive genetic variation, indication the role of adaptation in species diversification. Overall, the results of this study advance our understanding of the demographic history and the major drivers of local adaptation in western poplar populations. It also gives us an observational and experimental evidence of role of environment and demographic history in shaping the genetic make-up of organism.

Yes / Drawing on collective contributions and group performance perspectives, this paper examines the role of board diversity in firms’ R&D investment decisions. Building on a fault-line argument about a team’s demographic attributes, this study also decomposes the impact of demographic and cognitive diversity on R&D spending. The study sample contains UK data of non-financial companies covering the period between 2005 and 2018. We employ panel data analysis techniques and control for potential endogeneity issues through the application of the two-step system Generalised Method of Moments (GMM) estimations. The findings demonstrate a positive and significant relationship between board diversity and level of corporate R&D spending. The findings also show cognitive diversity as significantly positively associated with corporate R&D investments. Demographic diversity, however, has an insignificant relationship with corporate spending on R&D. The results further show that demographic diversity negatively moderates the relationship between cognitive diversity and spending on R&D. Our main findings document that the board’s attributes as a group significantly influence decisions of strategic importance such as, investment in R&D projects. The findings on sub-dimensions of board diversity imply that as compared to demographic diversity, functional/cognitive diversity is more relevant to strategic decisions and related outcomes. The study has practical implications for shareholders in documenting the importance of board diversity, and policy implications for regulators in highlighting the separate roles of behavioural and cognitive diversity in shaping firms’ strategic investment decisions.

China is growing old before it is growing affluent. This situation is not unique to China; at least three other countries are in the same situation. While some of these had family planning campaigns, none had a one-child policy which implies that one-child policy is not the direct cause of this predicament. While China’s working-age share of the population has peaked, any shortages of low-skill labor currently observed in China are primarily caused by the hukou system and its barriers to labor mobility. A reform of the hukou system would secure ample supplies of migrant labor even in the face of mildly declining working-age share of the population. The absence of reforms could mean the arrival of a policy-induced Lewis Turning Point, prompting a premature and potentially counterproductive reorientation of industry. China does not yet possess an advantage in capital and technology intensive production and thus risks falling into the middle-income trap if the reorientation of industry takes place too early. If the Lewis Point can be postponed and the current rate of capital stock growth can be maintained for another decade or two, China might be able to avoid the middle-income trap. Both China’s and Japan’s current pension systems are unsustainable and their PAYGO nature is detrimental to long-run economic growth, especially so for aging societies. It is possible for China to make the system sustainable in the long if reforms are implemented while the transition costs are manageable. Although China is aging, the pace will be relatively slow until 2030. It will still take many years before the country is as old as Japan is a present. A low debt-to-GDP ratio also offers China more flexibility than Japan currently enjoys. / published_or_final_version / China Development Studies / Master / Master of Arts in China Development Studies

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Wyoming, 2008. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on August 9, 2009). Includes bibliographical references (p. 44-55).