Saturday, March 30, 2013
Friday, March 29, 2013
Thursday, March 28, 2013
A demographic projection of engineering workforce
Title:
A demographic projection of engineering workforce in Brazil through 2020
Abstract:
One major hurdle for the Brazilian economy relates to the availability of qualified workforce in key occupations. This paper contributes in this matter presenting a demographic projection of engineering workforce availability in Brazil up to 2020. The projection method we have used adapts the cohort-component method to a simplified model of entries and exits in the labor market. Data from five different public databases available in Brazil were used to run the projections on yearly basis. The method is rather flexible and can be used to project almost any population group with higher education degree from different backgrounds, by sex and age. We draw four scenarios that differ in terms of possible growth rates to be observed in the number of student entries, including a constant enrollment number (CER) variant. The results suggest that Brazilian labor market would have between 1.6 and 2.3 million people holding a degree in engineering fields in the year 2020. Finally, our findings suggest that the claimed lack of engineering workforce in the country might not be a matter of purely quantitative supply, but rather of education quality and geographical concentration of engineering schools and engineering workforce.
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
Academic Impacts on Governments
It has become much easier to assess the academic impact of published papers and authors (Google Citations Page* and T. Reuters). However, the assessment of academic impact on public policy is not that straightforward, although it's a crucial issue for Research Institutes, Think-thanks and Funding Agencies.
A team at LSE leads a project on the subject and they are developing quantitative metrics for measuring the impact of research in the 'public sphere'. It's the Impact of Social Sciences Project. self-recommending
*I encourage you to register at Google Scholar Citations. This is one of the best ways for academics to compute citation metrics and track them over time. You only need a gmail account and Google does the rest for you. Besides, anyone can register!
Monday, March 25, 2013
Assorted Links
- Most common Origins and Destinations of international refugees
- Location, Location, and Pacification: The Effect of UPPs in Rio (via Brandon Fuller)
- March 15 marked the 200th anniversary of John Snow’s birth, aka the father of modern epidemiology
- Foreign-Borns in the US: Then and Now
- Woody Allen Answers 12 Unconventional Questions
- PDR Journal has recently published a supplemental issue in honor to Paul Demeny focusing current themes in population and public policy
- The lasting effect of the initial allocation of land
- Demographic convergence in US metro areas by Alan Berube (via Peter Gordon)
- A neat animation by Oliver O`Brien (CASA/UCL) showing the touch-ins (red) and touch-outs (green) at London’s tube and train stations
There's no such thing as a free parking spot
In a recent Freakonomics podcast, Donald Shoup (UCLA) talked about his studies on the costs of free parking. Shoup's main argument is that most parking spaces are underpriced, especially in great urban areas. Ok, it's hard to disagree on that. But still, I would like to see some more evidence that reducing parking actually reduces traffic congestion.
Saturday, March 23, 2013
Friday, March 22, 2013
Quote of the Day
"Old demographers never die. They just get broken down by age and sex."
(@conradhacket via Population Eco)
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
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