3 Democracy in the new Congo? - Nothing is Sacred: Economic Ideas for the New Millennium by Robert J. Barro

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The overthrow of Zaire's (now the Democratic Republic of Congo's) long-time dictator, Mobutu Sese Seko, had barely been accomplished in 1997 when the victor, Laurent Kabila, heard the standard Western clamor for democracy.Read more at location 946

Note: CONGO. CAMBIO DELLA GUARDIA. BDA VKABILA CI SI ATENDE DEMOCR Edit

Interestingly, we are now hearing similar ideas expressed for the post-conflict Afghanistan. Read more at location 948

Note: STESSO COPIONE AFGH Edit

The push for instant democracy in 1997 in the new Congo somehow seemed unfair.Read more at location 948

Note: LA RICHIESTA DI DEMO INGIUSTA: NESSUN PREMIO X I MERITEVOLI Edit

What then was the reward for leading a risky revolution that eliminated the person who had led his country to more than thirty years of negative average economic growth?Read more at location 950

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History makes clear that democratic institutions have little chance of survival when the standard of living is this low.Read more at location 954

Note: POVERTÀ... DEMO NSOSTWNIBILE. LA DEMO BENE DI LUSSO Edit

One also has to recall that the prospects for democracy in Africa looked better in the 1960s than they do now. However, the optimistic outlook in the 1960s was never realistic;Read more at location 959

Note: DEM IN AFRICA. MEGLIO NEI 60 Edit

Democracy, in the sense of political rights and civil liberties, is, in any case, not the characteristic of institutions that matters most for economic performance.Read more at location 961

Note: DEMO E CRESCITA. NESSUN VINCOLO Edit

although some dictators have delivered good economic results-Pinochet in Chile, Lee in Singapore, Fujimori for awhile in Peru, Park in South Korea, and the shah in Iran-the list of economic failures among dictators is larger: Marcos in the Philippines, Mao in China, Saddam Hussein in Iraq, Duvalier in Haiti, and a cast of despots in sub-Saharan Africa.Read more at location 963

Note: DOTTATORI E CRESCOTA. PROBLEMI Edit

The favorable economic effects from democracy seem, however, to disappear once a country attains a moderate degree of liberalization, such as that characteristic through the 1990s in places such as Malaysia, Mexico, and Turkey. Further expansions of democratic freedoms toward the Western ideal seem to come at the expense of economic growth. Read more at location 965

Note: IL BENE DELLA DEMO SPARISCE SUBOTO Edit

Such a system tends to favor redistributions from rich to poor and, more specifically, the expansions of social welfare programsRead more at location 967

Note: PERCHÈ DEMO IMPOVERISCE? WELFARE Edit

maintenance of secure property rights, promotion of the rule of law, fostering of free markets domestically and for international trade, macroeconomic stability, and investments in education, health, and some forms of infrastructure.Read more at location 969

Note: COSA GIOVA ALLA CRESITA. SOLITO ELENCO Edit

Singapore, Chile, Peru, China, South Korea, Taiwan,Read more at location 971

Note: DITRATIRE VORTUOSE Edit

there is a good deal of evidence that economic prosperity leads eventually to sustainable expansions of democracy.Read more at location 971

Note: PROSPEROTÀ SPINGE DEMO Edit

The best advice that outsiders could have offered Kabila, before he was assassinated in 2001 and then succeeded by his son, was not to focus on elections and power sharing but rather to emphasize the growth-promoting policiesRead more at location 972

Note: IL MIGLIOR CONSOGLIO X KABILA. PUNTA SULLA CRESCITA NN SULLA DEMO Edit

2 Economics of beauty - Nothing is Sacred: Economic Ideas for the New Millennium by Robert J. Barro

TheRead more at location 654

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In times past, stewardesses were usually attractive women, and this arrangement added to the pleasure of many air travelers, usually men. By the 1990s, however, stewardesses had become flight attendants, who were much less likely to be attractive and were sometimes even male. Many people view these changes as progress.Read more at location 654

Note: IERI HOSTESS BELLISSIME. OGGI NMENO. PROGRESSO? Edit

Is it not a good thing if flight attendants are selected by job skills-meaning the ability to serve people well and to carry out safety procedures efficiently-and not at all on physical appearance? I would say no. The only meaningful measure of productivity is the amount that a worker adds to customer satisfaction (and, hence, to willingness to pay)Read more at location 657

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I would say no. The only meaningful measure of productivity is the amount that a worker adds to customer satisfactionRead more at location 658

Note: NO. CONTA SOLO LA SODDISFAZ DEL CLIENTE Edit

A worker's physical appearance-to the extent that this characteristic is valued by customers and coworkers-is as legitimate a job qualification as intelligence, dexterity, job experience, personality, and so on. Read more at location 660

Note: LA BELLEZZA VALE L INTELLIGENZA Edit

it makes no sense to say that employment and wages based on physical appearance is a form of discrimination, whereas employment and wages based on intelligence is something else. The two cases are fundamentally the same. Read more at location 667

Note: DISCRIMINAZIONE IN BASE ALL INTELLIGENZA Edit

Most people (and the law) accept this approach to beauty for some fields, for example, for movie and television personalities and modeling.Read more at location 669

Note: DISCRIMINAZ TRA AREE DI LAVORDO Edit

But the difference between glamour fields and others in terms of the role of physical appearance is merely a matter of degree.Read more at location 670

Note: c Edit

The legitimacy of beauty as a job qualification even for movies and television was challenged in the litigious 1990s. In a celebrated court case in 1998, a jury determined that Hunter Tylo was, despite being pregnant, sufficiently attractive to appear on the television programRead more at location 674

Note: SFIDATI ANCHE I SETTORO TRADIZ Edit

Some solace can be taken from the 1997 settlement involving the restaurant chain Hooters. This agreement allowed the company to continue to limit its wait staff to attractive young women.Read more at location 677

Note: HOOTERS VINCE LE SUE CAUSE Edit

A number of research studies have documented that beautiful people do better in life. Dan Hamermesh and his coworkers have used subjective information on appearance based on opinions of interviewers or of researchers looking at photographs.'Read more at location 679

Note: IL LAVORO DI DAN HAMERMESH Edit

the wage differential between attractive and ugly people is around 9 percent for women and 14 percent for men.Read more at location 682

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A study by Susan Averett and Sanders Korenman measures attractiveness by body weight and finds that obesity lowers wages by similar amounts for women (12 percent) and men (9 percent).2Read more at location 684

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obesityRead more at location 684

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by similar amounts for women (12 percent) and men (9 percent).2Read more at location 685

Note: OBESITÀ PENALIZZATA Edit

obesity may matter because of its correlation with other characteristics, such as health status and degree of self-control, rather than just for physical appearance. Read more at location 687

Note: OBESITÀ. SEGNALE DI SALUTE Edit

The problem is that discrimination in the marriage market has historically been much more important for women than discrimination in the job market.Read more at location 690

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discrimination in the marriage market has historically been much more important for women than discrimination in the job market. Perhaps these researchers should have recommended an extension of the ADA to the marriage market. Read more at location 690

Note: COMBATTERE LE DISCRIMINAZ HA EFFETTO MINIMI. QUELLE CHE PIÙ CONTANO RESTANO Edit

A more difficult issue is whether beauty counts in a relative or absolute sense. For instance, if everyone were suddenly to become more attractive, as judged by current standards, would we all be happier?Read more at location 697

Note: CONTA LA BELLEZZA RELATIVA O QUELLA ASSOLUTA? Edit

benchmarkRead more at location 698

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Height is an example of a trait that is mainly relative;Read more at location 699

Note: ALTEZZA... RELATIVA Edit

However, if beauty is only relative, then these investments are socially wasteful, and the government could rationalize a policy to discourage such expenditures. This line of reasoning could support taxes on cosmetics, hair coloring, antibaldness treatments, breast implants, high-heeled shoes, and so on.Read more at location 700

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wasteful,Read more at location 701

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taxes on cosmetics,Read more at location 701

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antibaldness treatments, breast implants, high-heeled shoes, and so on. But even in this case, it would be valuable to allocate beauty across sectors in an efficient manner, and, hence, it would still be reasonable for wages to reflect a beauty premium. Thus, more argument would be needed to expand the ADA to include ugliness as a socially protected disability. Perhaps the best idea is for the government to stay out of the beauty arena. AbortionRead more at location 701

Note: TASSA SUI COSMETICI Edit