Are Americans more individualistic and less collectivistic than members of other groups? The authors summarize plausible psychological implications of individualism-collectivism (IND-COL), meta-analyze cross-national and within-United States IND-COL differences, and review evidence for effects of IND-COL on self-concept, well-being, cognition, and relationality. European Americans were found to be both more individualistic-valuing personal independence more-and less collectivistic-feeling duty to in-groups less-than others. However, European Americans were not more individualistic than African Americans, or Latinos, and not less collectivistic than Japanese or Koreans. Among Asians, only Chinese showed large effects, being both less individualistic and more collectivistic. Moderate IND-COL effects were found on self-concept and relationality, and large effects were found on attribution and cognitive style.

/pdf/rethinking-individualism-and-collectivism-evaluation-of-47xorn4mh7.pdf

Rethinking individualism and collectivism: evaluation of theoretical assumptions and meta-analyses.

World Investment Report

Thinkers have discussed the “good life” and the desirable society for millennia. In the last decades, scientists offered several alternative approaches to defining and measuring quality of life: social indicators such as health and levels of crime, subjective well-being measures (assessing people's evaluative reactions to their lives and societies), and economic indices. These alternative indicators assess three philosophical approaches to well-being that are based, respectively, on normative ideals, subjective experiences, and the ability to select goods and services that one desires. The strengths and weaknesses of the various approaches are reviewed. It is argued that social indicators and subjective well-being measures are necessary to evaluate a society, and add substantially to the regnant economic indicators that are now favored by policy makers. Each approach to measuring the quality of life contains information that is not contained in the other measures.

https://lemosandcrane.co.uk/resources/RISE%20Measuring%20quality%20of%20life.pdf

Measuring quality of life: Economic, social, and subjective indicators

Subjective well-being (SWB) in 55 nations, reported in probability surveys and a large college student sample, was correlated with social, economic, and cultural characteristics of the nations. The SWB surveys, representing nations that include three fourths of the earth's population, showed strong convergence. Separate measures of the predictor variables also converged and formed scales with high reliability, with the exception of the comparison variables. High income, individualism, human rights, and societal equality correlated strongly with each other, and with SWB across surveys. Income correlated with SWB even after basic need fulfillment was controlled. Only individualism persistently correlated with SWB when other predictors were controlled. Cultural homogeneity, income growth, and income comparison showed either low or inconsistent relations with SWB.

Factors Predicting the Subjective Well-Being of Nations

Competition among manufacturers in developing countries is remarkably vigorous. Nonetheless, markets are imperfect, so the general trend toward trade liberalization has yielded benefits beyond the traditional gains from specialization. Manufacturing firms in developing countries have traditionally been relatively protected. They have also been subject to heavy regulation, much of it biased in favor of large enterprises. Accordingly, it is often argued that manufacturers in these countries perform poorly in several respects: - Markets tolerate inefficient firms, so cross-firm productivity dispersion is high. - Small groups of entrenched oligopolists exploit monopoly power in product markets. - Many small firms are unable or unwilling to grow, so important economies of scale go unexploited. Tybout assesses each of these conjectures, drawing on plant - and firm - level studies of manufacturers in developing countries. He finds systematic support for none of them. Turnover is substantial, exploited scale economies are modest, and convincing demonstrations of monopoly rents are generally lacking. Overprotection and overregulation are probably less a problem in developing countries than are uncertainty about policies and demand, poor rule of law, and corruption. Tybout does find some evidence that protection increases firms' price-cost margins and reduces average efficiency levels at the margin. And although the econometric evidence on technology diffusion in developing countries is limited, it does suggest that protecting learning industries is unlikely to foster productivity growth. All of which suggests that the general trend toward trade liberalization has yielded greater benefits than the traditional gains from trade. This paper - a product of Trade, Development Research Group - is part of a larger effort in the group to link firm-level performance with commerical policy.

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/Delivery.cfm/SSRN_ID569211_code382649.pdf?abstractid=569211&mirid=1

Manufacturing Firms in Developing Countries: How Well Do They Do, and Why?

World development report 1994, the seventeenth in this annual series, examines the link between infrastructure and development and explores ways in which developing countries can improve both the provision and the quality of infrastructure services. In recent decades, developing countries have made substantial investments in infrastructure, achieving dramatic gains for households and producers by expanding their access to services such as safe water, sanitation, electric power, telecommunications, and transport. Even more infrastructure investment and expansion are needed in order to extend the reach of services especially to people living in rural areas and to the poor. But as this report shows, the quantity of investment cannot be the exclusive focus of policy. Improving the quality of infrastructure service also is vital. Both quantity and quality improvements are essential to modernize and diversify production, help countries compete internationally, and accommodate rapid urbanization. The report identifies the basic cause of poor past performance as inadequate institutional incentives for improving the provision of infrastructure. To promote more efficient and responsive service delivery, incentives need to be changed through commercial management, competition, and user involvement. Several trends are helping to improve the performance of infrastructure. First, innovation in technology and in the regulatory management of markets makes more diversity possible in the supply of services. Second, an evaluation of the role of government is leading to a shift from direct government provision of services to increasing private sector provision and recent experience in many countries with public-private partnerships is highlighting new ways to increase efficiency and expand services. Third, increased concern about social and environmental sustainability has heightened public interest in infrastructure design and performance. This report includes the World development indicators, which offer selected social and economic statistics for 132 countries.

World development report 1994 : infrastructure for development

Infrastructure for Development

World development report 1994, the seventeenth in this annual series, examines the link between infrastructure and development and explores ways in which developing countries can improve both the provision and the quality of infrastructure services In recent decades, developing countries have made substantial investments in infrastructure, achieving dramatic gains for households and producers by expanding their access to services such as safe water, sanitation, electric power, telecommunications, and transport Even more infrastructure investment and expansion are needed in order to extend the reach of services especially to people living in rural areas and to the poor But as this report shows, the quantity of investment cannot be the exclusive focus of policy Improving the quality of infrastructure service also is vital Both quantity and quality improvements are essential to modernize and diversify production, help countries compete internationally, and accommodate rapid urbanization The report identifies the basic cause of poor past performance as inadequate institutional incentives for improving the provision of infrastructure To promote more efficient and responsive service delivery, incentives need to be changed through commercial management, competition, and user involvement Several trends are helping to improve the performance of infrastructure First, innovation in technology and in the regulatory management of markets makes more diversity possible in the supply of services Second, an evaluation of the role of government is leading to a shift from direct government provision of services to increasing private sector provision and recent experience in many countries with public-private partnerships is highlighting new ways to increase efficiency and expand services Third, increased concern about social and environmental sustainability has heightened public interest in infrastructure design and performance This report includes the World development indicators, which offer selected social and economic statistics for 132 countries

Informe sobre el desarrolo mundial 1994 : infraestructura y desarrollo

As documented in the World Development Report 1994 , infrastructure's links to economic development work through its contributions to economic growth, poverty alleviation, and environmental sustainability. These benefits are realized through the services infrastructure delivers. Widespread failures to provide reliable services that users demand stem from inadequate maintenance, misallocated investment, and inefficient operation, which in turn are largely rooted in institutional factors including the following: lack of competition in infrastructure service provision; lack of managerial autonomy for service providers; pricing practices that involve heavy public subsidies; and few incentives for service providers to be responsive to the needs of users. An opportunity to improve infrastructure's performance in developing countries is being created by technology change in some sectors, by successful experiments in many countries with new ways of providing services, and by a new willingness of many governments ...

Gregory K. Ingram

Papers

World development report 1994 : infrastructure for development

Infrastructure for Development

Informe sobre el desarrolo mundial 1994 : infraestructura y desarrollo

Infrastructure's Impact on Development: Lessons from WDR 1994

Rapport sur le developpement dans le monde 1994 : une infrastructure pour le developpement