Academic literature on the topic 'Country comparison'

In the 60’s, the first article identifying the relationship between output growth and unemployment were released, with the purpose of providing a tool for US authorities to estimate the effect of labour policy on output. This article, presented by Arthur Okun, came to lay the foundation for the commonly known empirical relationship, named Okun’s law. However, since the 60’s, the world has gone through political and economic shocks, such as the oil crisis, fall of the berlin wall, the crisis of the 90’s, the financial crisis and crisis of 2008. These events open up the question: has the relationship changed? This study focuses on 21 OECD countries for the time period 1991-2016, with the purpose to identify their respective relationship between output growth and unemployment, namely their Okun coefficient. The test that will be performed calculates the marginal effects of respective country to observe differences. Further, this study aims to give the reader a greater understanding of the complexity underlying the simple model Okun presented in the 60’s. This is done by investigating whether there are any differences in the coefficient for countries within the EU, compared to those out of the EU. To explain the complexity further we check whether factors that affects labour market rigidity, such as union density, create differences in the Okun coefficient. The results from the study shows that the Okun coefficient differs between different countries. They also show that countries belonging to the European Union has a lower Okun’s coefficient on average. Finally, the results show that countries with a union density of over 75 % have a lower coefficient on average.

We compare the performance of the perturbation-based (local) portfolio solution method of Devereux and Sutherland (2010a, 2011) with a global solution method. We find that the local method performs very well when the model is designed to capture stylized macroeconomic facts and countries/agents are symmetric, i.e. when the latter have similar size, face similar risks and trade assets with similar risk properties. It performs less satisfactory when the agents engaged in financial trade are asymmetric. The global solution method performs substantially better when the model is parameterized to match the observed equity premium, a key stylized finance fact. (authors' abstract)<br>Series: Department of Economics Working Paper Series

A study was undertaken to document and compare the aquatic bird communities of two high country lakes, Lake Pearson and Lake Grasmere, located in the Cass Basin, Waimakariri Valley, Canterbury. The two lakes show differences in shoreline structure, riparian communities and humun use patterns. Lake Pearson is regularly used by people for recreation while Lake Grasmere is a Wildlife Refuge and recreation activities are restricted. Data is gathered on bird abundance and feeding activity over the course of eleven months. The bird communities of these lakes showed differences in species composition and abundance within their community structure with Lake Pearson exhibiting greater species richness and Lake Grasmere greater abundance. These differences were the result of many interactions occurring between lake morphology and component aquatic and terrestrial vegetation, season and life cycle influences and human disturbances to the lakes. Species demonstrated different responses to these factors. Extensive aquatic macrophytes in Lake Grasmere attract large abundances of waterfowl, particularly Black Swans and Canada Geese. The latter species has the potential to significantly add to the nutrient loading of the lake. Species composition and abundance were also influenced by season, with some bird species migrating away from the lakes to escape the harsh winter or to travel to breeding grounds. Lake Grasmere is important as a moulting site for waterfowl, particularly Paradise Shelduck and as a feeding habitat for the threatened species, crested Grebe. Lake Pearson is an important breeding habitat for Crested Grebe but experiences regular disturbance from human recreation.

This item is only available in print in the UCF Libraries. If this is your Honors Thesis, you can help us make it available online for use by researchers around the world by following the instructions on the distribution consent form at http://library.ucf.edu/Systems/DigitalInitiatives/DigitalCollections/InternetDistributionConsentAgreementForm.pdf You may also contact the project coordinator, Kerri Bottorff, at kerri.bottorff@ucf.edu for more information.<br>Bachelors<br>Sciences<br>Political Science

The focus of both academic and public debate on the expression of work-related conflict has long been focused on strikes. Substantial declines in collective disputes have been associated with more harmonious and less conflict-laden employment relations. This research deals with another, often forgotten form in which conflict is manifested, namely the settlement of individual conflicts through labour courts or employment tribunals. Its aim is to explore and explain differences in application rates to national judicial bodies both across countries and over time. Using a novel database on 23 European Union Member States, it is found that a substantial degree of variance exists; claim rates across Europe differ substantially, and countries have developed along different lines. The explosion of court applications is found to be exceptional, and stability or volatility is identified in the large bulk of EU Member States. In order to explain cross-sectional and time differences, the research draws on wide range of literature, develops a new procedural concept of conflict, and proposes a comparative neo-institutionalist framework accounting for both institutions and actors. The theoretical discussion elaborates three sets of arguments to predict claim incidence. First, it is argued that the existence of comprehensive collective industrial relations institutions, particularly employee workplace representation and collective agreements, tend to reduce the frequency of labour court claims. Second, the amount and complexity of employment regulation is argued to have an impact on the incidence of court applications. Finally, cyclical economic conditions and individual characteristics of the potential grievant are expected to predict the phenomenon. Empirical evidence is presented from a range of different data sources, such as national administrative data and large-scale surveys for three country case studies on France, Germany and the United Kingdom. Findings support that all three sets of explanations contribute to the explanation of the incidence of labour court claims. Moreover, data seem to confirm the need for an interdisciplinary approach drawing on different bodies of literature.

We compare the performance of the perturbation-based (local) portfolio solution method of Devereux and Sutherland (2010a, 2011) with a global solution method. As a test suite we use model specifications that broadly capture features of international financial trade, between advanced economies, and between advanced and emerging economies. We consider both symmetric country setups and asymmetric setups, that capture important empirical facts such as differences in macroeconomic volatility, differences in portfolio composition, and high equity premia. We find that the local method performs well at business cycle frequencies, both in the symmetric and asymmetric settings, while significant differences arise at long horizons in asymmetric settings. (authors' abstract)

While people all over the world are vulnerable to natural disasters, the available data clearly demonstrate a great deal of cross-country variance in the impact of catastrophic events. For example, while Hurricane Mitch took an estimated 13,000 lives when it struck Honduras and Nicaragua, the stronger Hurricane Andrew took only 26 lives when it impacted the United States. What factors explain this difference? Thus far, disaster researchers have emphasized economic and social vulnerability as determinants of disaster impact; the conventional wisdom accepts that poor and underdeveloped countries are more vulnerable than wealthy, developed countries. I argue that the political institutions of a country also matter and then examine the relative importance of political vulnerability as a determinant of disaster impact. I present evidence from case studies and large-N statistical analysis that demonstrates that, like social and economic vulnerability, political vulnerability is an important determinant of the impact of a natural disaster.