The local effects of mining might simply come and go with mine production. In this paper we revisit Aragón and Rud's (2013) study of the Yanacocha mine, frequently cited to account for local economic effects and backward linkages, but we offer a more nuanced interpretation: first, effects fade with the mine exhaustion; and second, impacts are the result of consumption boom-and-bust dynamics. While we find it more conceptually accurate to reserve the concept of backward linkages for effects of a productive nature, our evidence reveals that unskilled services is the one sector that benefits, in contrast to manufactures and skilled services. We stress that impact evaluations of mines are contingent to time and place, and contend that exploring the extent to which multipliers generate spillovers is central. The short-run effects of a mine might in fact give little indication of how to tell or make a blessing from a curse.

Social protection (SP) has been demonstrated as an effective tool against poverty and severe hunger. In Ghana, SP interventions have been employed to address vulnerability to poverty since 1965. Nevertheless, its potential for enhancing nutrition has hardly been explored. To harness the cross-sectoral benefits of scaling up nutrition-sensitive actions in Ghana, the national development planning commission requested an assessment of nutrition linkages across existing SP policies and programmes. The present paper presents gaps and opportunities for improving nutrition-sensitivity of existing SP programming in Ghana. The evidence draws heavily on desk review of available published and grey literature. The data show that SP provides an entry point for mainstreaming nutrition into other programmes. However, designing and coupling SP programmes with nutrition programmes remain a challenge in Ghana. Local SP interventions are predominantly designed as standalone services and therefore are implemented independent of each other. To increase synergy between SP and nutrition, including nutrition as an explicit objective of SP policies/strategies is recommended.

Periodically, events occur in the domestic and global economies that remind agricultural economists that macroeconomics matter. This was evident in the early 1980s when the Federal Reserve responded to double-digit inflation by driving interest rates to post-World War II period highs. The Asian financial crisis in the late 1990s, rising oil prices this past decade, and current stress in domestic and overseas financial markets serve to remind us again that externalities can have an effect on the economic performance and financial strength of U.S. agriculture. These effects are transmitted through interest rates, inflation, unemployment, real gross domestic product, and exchange rates.

This paper studies the obstacles that hinder the formation of linkages among local firms, multinational corporations and universities in the Costa Rican information and communication technologies cluster. It examines both the social and the economic reasons for forming or participating in linkages, ranging from the capabilities of potential partners to compliance with customs. The research is based on qualitative information collected over four years through more than 150 direct and detailed interviews with different stakeholders in the cluster. Costa Rica is often used as a positive benchmark of cluster policy in Latin America, but it is argued here that linkages among firms in the sector have developed much more slowly than anticipated.

This study investigated the linkages between socio-economic variables and the efficient marketing of poultry feeds in Delta State. Primary data collected from 100 randomly selected respondent poultry feed marketers, using structured questionnaire/interview schedule, were analysed using descriptive statistics and pairwise correlation model. The study revealed that marketers' years of experience (0.89) and improved packaging (0.62) have positive and significant relationship (linkages) with efficient marketing of poultry feeds; while distance between source of procurement and selling centre (−0.74) and associated cost of transportation (−0.98) have negative relationship (linkages) with the efficient marketing of poultry feeds. Price per bag and poor road network (market access condition) were the major problems affecting efficient marketing of poultry feeds in the study area. Implication for extension officers participation in poultry feeds marketing was emphasized.

This lesson is a continuation of Disasters and Development: Part 2: Understanding and Exploiting Disaster-Development Linkages published in Prehospital and Disaster Medicine in Volume 17, Number 3. It identifies the goals of a specific damage mitigation project that can be incorporated into a regular development project and the mechanisms for obtaining the mitigation component of such a project. Mechanisms for assessing the success of such a project are discussed. It stresses the importance of the application of building codes, associated training programs, and more extensive use of zoning regulations in urban development that decrease the population at risk and the likelihood of damage to industrial facilities. Disasters can elevate the development potential of a society at risk for damage from a hazard. The political impact of damage and disruption can be a catalyst for change. Development opportunities often are compromised because of an excessive focus on relief assistance. Interventions designed to mitigate the damage from a given hazard are particularly effective when they focus on areas at particularly high risk for actualization of the hazard. Support from the private sector, including the non-formal sector, is a key element of successful reconstruction management. The period of recovery is an opportunity for general assistance to government with administrative procedures, including enhanced management training programs.

A unique approach to providing orientation and supervised field experience for newly graduated paramedics and for the continuing education and recognition of experienced, skilled, operational paramedics is described. A group of 30 paramedic field instructors (PFI) was selected following application, development of criteria for selection, and interviews. This program had a positive effect in both realms during its first year of operation in the emergency medical services system in which it was implemented.

International emergency medical services (EMS) consultation requires many sensitivities to cross-cultural issues. Contemporary EMS models in developed countries have, by necessity, a systems framework. This study compares evolving EMS systems in the United States and China. It is concluded, that, no matter what the potential and cultural differences might be, a systems framework inherently will emerge in EMS development. As such, the EMS components recognized often will expose an evolving systems approach with more similarities than differences and can reveal strategies for improvement. Providing a developmental comparison process is a necessary first phase in analysis of a country's systems development or restructuring.