The nineteenth century was a critical period in the evolution of Puerto Rican society, as the following citation from Fernández Méndez eloquently indicates: The century of Salvador Brau [the noted Puerto Rican social historian] is the century of the forging on Puerto Rican soil of a native bourgeoisie of planters – padres de agrego or señores de ingenio— born in a movement of cultural transformation which converted the preponderant subsistence economy of the eighteenth century into an active agrarian capitalism of sugar and coffee plantations. This system of plantations in the realm of the Spanish Antilles was in its epoch the revolutionary equivalent of the manufacturing system which transformed life in European society in innumerable ways during the nineteenth century.1
Large pre-fabricated housing estates were erected all over Europe, however the political and ideological factors conspired to ensure that they developed on the largest scale in communist countries. Today, they continue to provide some 30–40% of the housing stock in this part of Europe. The present paper discusses the transformations of large housing estates in Poland 25 years after of the collapse of communism. The main purpose of the study was to identify the social and demographic changes in Polish large housing estates and to clarify the crucial factors underpinning them. The key questions were: (1) How the social and demographic structures of the large housing estates in Poland have changed since the collapse of communism? (2) What are the main determinants of these processes? (3) Whether the processes occurring in large housing estates reproduce the negative phenomena of social degradation observed in many Western European countries? The study is based on a review of the available literature concerning transformations of large housing estates in several of the large Polish cities and the results of the author's own investigations conducted within Łódź – one of the largest cities in the country.
The full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russian troops on 24 February 2022 led to significant changes in the Ukrainian labour market, which require a detailed analysis and understanding of their further dynamics. The purpose of this paper is to find out how the changes in the demographic structure of the national labour market have affected Ukraine's macroeconomic indicators. Using such methods as statistical analysis, comparison, synthesis and forecasting, the study of current demographic and economic indicators was conducted. The study obtained and analysed statistics on the forced displacement of refugees both within Ukraine and abroad, taking into account age, gender, education and other demographic indicators – at least 12 million Ukrainian citizens were relocated, 75% of whom are able-bodied and more than half of whom have high professional qualifications. Separately, information on young people and students who continue or start studying abroad was studied and conclusions were drawn on their assimilation in the new society and the likelihood of their return to Ukraine. In the process of analysing the conditions for the growth of unemployment, the number of enterprises that ceased operations due to hostilities or temporary occupation was calculated – both geographically, by region, and by type of ownership. It turned out that in eastern Ukraine, the number of closed business entities reaches 80%, and almost a third of individual entrepreneurs have ceased their activities. The study also forecasts the conditions for post-war reconstruction of Ukraine, taking into account the fate of returning refugees and the country's prospects for joining the European Union. The practical significance of this study is to assess the impact of changes in the structure of the labour market on the Ukrainian economy. The results may be useful for government agencies that are already formulating a strategy for Ukraine's post-war recovery
The population census in Serbia has a long tradition, dating back to the era of Prince Milos. However, initially, its purpose was not directed towards understanding the population but rather predicting the state?s certain revenue from taxes. After the Second World War, the census?s purpose changed. Namely, the number and structure of the population came to the forefront. Thus, among other things, it represents a source of information for decision-makers. Regarding data on migration populations, they have been regularly collected since the 1971 Census. Many standards recommended by the United Nations have been accepted but adjusted to local capabilities and needs. Considering that data is collected from household members who are in the country, not from emigrants, discrepancies in the actual numbers and structure of this group are expected. However, analyses of data collected in population censuses represent a valid sample based on which one can conclude about the directions of movement and the structure of emigrants.
The demographic structure of countries has significant effects on economic growth. Most developing countries are passing through a demographic transition. Although African countries still have higher fertility rates than other developing countries, fertility rates show a decreasing trend, which leads to a window of opportunity for potential demographic dividend for African countries. Within this context, this paper investigates the relationship between growth accelerations and demographic structure in ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States) countries over the period 1961-2019. To do so, first, we identify the growth acceleration episodes using the growth acceleration methodology developed by Hausmann et al. (2005). Then, we test the demographic determinants of growth accelerations employing the panel probit regression method. The results show that while urban population and life expectancy have a significant and positive impact on the likelihood of growth accelerations, the fertility rate has a negative and significant impact on the probability of growth accelerations. In other words, an increase in urban population and life expectancy at birth increases the likelihood of growth accelerations, whereas an increase in fertility rate decreases the probability. However, the results show a negative but statistically insignificant relationship between age dependency, young-age dependency, and old-age dependency ratios and the likelihood of growth accelerations.
The TwinLife panel is the first longitudinal study of twin families in Germany based on a national probability sample. TwinLife has been developed to facilitate genetic sensitive research on social inequalities. The aim of this paper is to assess the usability of the TwinLife sample for such research. Therefore, first, we analyze if the social background of twins living in Germany is adequately represented in the TwinLife sample; and second, we also investigate if there are socio-demographic differences between twin and other multiplechild households in Germany which would restrict the generalizability of findings based on the TwinLife study. Specifically, we compare the distributions of key socio-demographic indicators in TwinLife with the German Microcensus using a proxy-twin and a multiplechild household sample. Our analyses show that the TwinLife sample covers the full distributions of core social inequality indicators including the lower and upper bounds, enabling researchers to use TwinLife for detailed studies of the gene-environment interplay. Furthermore, we demonstrate that (proxy-)twin and other multiple-child households in Germany are similar regarding most socio-demographic indicators. However, our analyses also indicate that participation in the first wave of the TwinLife panel was slightly selective with respect to parental education and German citizenship, especially in the younger cohorts of the study. We suggest a weighting scheme to address this selectivity.
In this paper we analyze the correlation between the demographic structure of the municipalities of the state of Boyacá (Colombia) and their financial development for 2015. The aim is to determine theoretically and empirically if there is a correspondence between the reduced population observed in the municipal entities of Boyacá and the financial performance of the municipalities, by means of a quantitative study of linear correlation among the two variables cited, from institutional data, supporting the results with the relevant theoretical postulates. We conclude that there is a strong relationship concerning the population size and the fiscal development of the entities of the department, where the first variable generates a negative trend in municipal financial indicators, which implies immense institutional challenges for the entities. ; En este escrito se analiza la correlación entre la estructura demográfica de los municipios del departamento de Boyacá, Colombia, y su desenvolvimiento financiero para el año 2015. Se busca determinar teórica y empíricamente si existe relación de correspondencia entre la reducida población observada en las entidades municipales del departamento y el desempeño financiero de las alcaldías, mediante un estudio cuantitativo de correlación lineal entre las dos variables citadas, a partir de datos institucionales y apoyando los resultados con los postulados teóricos de relevancia. Se concluye que hay una fuerte relación entre el tamaño poblacional y el desenvolvimiento fiscal de las entidades del departamento, donde la primera variable genera una tendencia negativa en los indicadores financieros municipales, lo que implica grandes retos institucionales para las entidades.
