DAVID KINLEY, University of Sydney - Faculty of Law
Email: D.Kinley@usyd.edu.au

For the poor, finance is always about much more than economics. In practical as well as philosophical terms it is a matter of basic human rights. As the dust begins to settle on the global financial crisis it is certain that all economies will suffer, but it is in the poorest, least developed states that we will likely see the most dramatic effects, simply because they have less to lose. On top of the sharp price increases in staple foods and fuel earlier this year, least developed nations are especially vulnerable to reductions in foreign direct investment in their economies, in export trade, in the levels of remittances, and in the quantities of economic aid they receive. Thoughts are now starting to move beyond the immediate concern of how to staunch the haemorrhaging global capital markets, to questions of how to repair the system for the long-term. In these discussions, considerations of how best to serve the poor must be front and centre. This essay outlines the key legal, moral, political and economic arguments why this must be so and offers some pointers as to how it might achieved.

MARTIN KAHANEC, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Tilburg University - Center for Economic Research
Email: kahanec@iza.org
KLAUS F. ZIMMERMANN, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin), University of Bonn, Journal of Population Economics, Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)
Email: zimmermann@iza.org

While the allocative efficiency of mobility is typically considered to be positive but small in the long run, the induced changes in equality may be considerable in size. In practice, however, migrants typically improve their income position in comparison to those at home, stimulate the economic situation of the sending countries through remittances and rise the economic performance of natives and of capital in the host country through complementarities. The chapter suggests that at least skilled immigration promotes economic equality in the host country under standard conditions. The context is empirically documented und theoretically explained in a core model. Also, immigrant assimilation and selection is discussed, as is the role of ethnicity and ethnic identity for relative economic performance.

PRAKASH KRISHNAMOORTHY, University of Kerala - Palayam, Thiruvanthapuram
Email: krishnprakash@gmail.com

An attempt to treat axiomatically the measurement of economic inequality.

DEBRA LYN BASSETT, University of Alabama School of Law
Email: dbassett@law.ua.edu

This chapter in the forthcoming book, Law and Recovery from Disaster: Hurricane Katrina (Robin Paul Malloy ed., forthcoming 2009) addresses the unique considerations at the intersection of place, disasters, and disability. Despite the desire for laws and policies with broad societal applicability, the failure to account for place can create false generalities. Urban assumptions regarding technology, communication, and transportation - as well as urban assumptions regarding accessibility, availability, and options more generally - are largely untrue for rural areas, especially remote rural areas. In particular, place puts rural dwellers, and especially disabled rural dwellers, at higher risks during natural disasters and hinders their recovery. As was seen during Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the failure to include the special considerations of the rural and the disabled in disaster planning has the potential for life-threatening consequences.