Suchergebnisse

Russia and many other transition countries are now facing the challenges of opening up, restructuring, and modernizing their economies, which requires addressing numerous institutional weaknesses and supply-side distortions. From a regional perspective, drawing on the experience of other reforming countries, the papers examine these issues. Aspects addressed include the implications of trade and capital flows, the process of labor market reform, financial market development, productivitiy growth, and innovation dynamics. The dynamics of the reform process are also studied in the context of new political economy models. Contents: Lane, T., Oding, N., Welfens, P.: Introduction.- Lane, T., Lipschitz, L., Mourmouras, A.: Capital Flows to Transition Economies: Reasons, Risks, and Policy Responses.- Gavrilenkov, E.: Long Term Structural Change and Productivity Growth in Russia.- Jungmittag, A., Welfens, P.: Innovation, Growth and Wage Structure in Transforming Economies.- Wiegert, R.: Financial Sector and Human Capital in a Long-Term Growth Perspective: The Case of Russia.- Faber, C., Strohe, H.: Structure and Growth of Private Consumption in Russia and East Germany.- Oding, N.: Labor Market Transformation and Hidden Unemployment in Russia.- Addison, J.: Principles of Market-Oriented Labor Market Policies.- Zaostrovtsev, A.: Rent-Seeking and Rent-Setting: Government Versus Competition (The Case of St. Petersburg).- Bohn, F.: Powerful Groups and Corruption.- Grinberg, R., Vardomsky, L.: Regional Dimension of the Market Transformation in Russia.- Nosova, O.: Foreign Trade Policies in Transformational Russian and Ukrainian Economies.- Doehrn, R., v. Westernhagen, N.: The Role of Foreign Direct Investment in Transformation.

Impoverished and African American fathers are often criticized by policy makers for lack of involvement in their children's lives. These criticisms are limited to defining responsible fatherhood as providing economic support while ignoring other forms of nurturing. Recent studies provide a broader perspective on how impoverished and African American fathers nurture their children. This article analyzes data from five studies carried out in Syracuse, New York, between 1996 and 2011. The studies support the contention that structural violence, inherent in the disproportionate incarceration of African American fathers, is a critical factor impeding the fathers from fulfilling their paternal roles. We discuss policy issues affecting incarcerated fathers that limit the extent to which they are able to bond with their children.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) mandates ongoing research on postpartum depression; however, very little research has been published in social work journals and in advanced-level textbooks on this topic. This article describes the problem of postpartum depression and argues that social work educators and researchers must pay greater attention to this issue in light of the ACA mandates, so that social workers can provide effective services to postpartum mothers and their children. The Council on Social Work Education's recently published Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards are considered while making curriculum recommendations on postpartum depression for social work educators.

Despite prevalence estimates indicating that upwards to 38% of new mothers of color will experience perinatal depression, little research has been published that investigates how they cope with the stressors in their daily lives. This article presents the findings of semi-structured in-depth interviews with 30 low-income new mothers of color about parenting their children despite the burden of ongoing depression. Narrative analyses revealed three themes: feeling alone, isolated, and overwhelmed; feeling misunderstood, betrayed, and judged by others; and having to carry their burden alone. Despite having depression, the mothers spoke of ways they were able to persevere even with the enormous burden of raising their children while living in high-crime, low-income neighborhoods. Recommendations include the need for social workers to recognize low-income mothers' inner strengths; recognize why mothers may not trust professionals to be of help; and take the time to build strong therapeutic relationships with mothers who perceive their families, friends, partners, and often social service professionals as being of little help.

This paper reviews the design of and experience with IMF-supported programs formulated in response to capital account crises in the 1990s, focusing on the experiences of eight countries: Turkey (1994), Mexico (1995), Argentina (1995), Thailand (1997), Indonesia (1997), Korea (1997), the Philippines (1997), and Brazil (1998). The capital account crises in emerging markets confronted both the affected countries and the IMF with a new set of challenges. The central feature of all these crises was the rapid reversal of capital inflows, bringing about a large and abrupt current account adjustment with pervasive macroeconomic consequences. The crises were characterized by an over-adjustment of external current accounts in relation to what was needed for any reasonable means of sustainability. This over-adjustment was associated with severe macroeconomic disruptions. Beyond the importance of crisis prevention, the experience of these countries suggests a number of lessons for program design in the context of high capital mobility-such as the appropriate roles for monetary, fiscal, and structural policies

Perinatal depression among impoverished mothers adds an enormous burden to their family responsibilities, which are often further stressed by living in high-crime communities. Thirty impoverished mothers of color living with depression were interviewed about the difficulties they face raising their children. Qualitative interviews about living with depression revealed four themes: recognizing their own depression, feeling isolated, experiencing violence, and living with depression. This article examines how neighborhood and relationship violence, intermittently involved fathers, and isolation contribute to the mothers' depression. Social workers working with depressed, low-income mothers of color can benefit from understanding the mothers' lived experience and the barriers the mothers face while trying to achieve well-being for themselves and their children. This study fits within the "Close the Health Gap" area of the Grand Challenges for Social Work.

AbstractIn Syracuse, New York more than 10% of children are lead poisoned each year, a toxic exposure that lowers the children's ability to learn and increases risky behaviors in adolescence. African American children are affected at nearly twice the rate of White children. We describe a community‐university collaboration to reduce childhood lead poisoning in Syracuse, and the effects these efforts have had on public policy to date. This paper documents the effectiveness of the Community Action, Research, and Education model to deliver community‐based prevention strategies on child lead poisoning in Syracuse, New York. The community‐based strategies were successful for promoting legal and policy change, increasing the public awareness of this tragic problem, holding elected and appointed officials to their commitments in addressing this toxic injustice, and obtaining needed intervention and disability accommodations for lead‐poisoned children in the community and educational institutions.