American Economic Association Nashville, TN 0022-8282 Journal of Economic Literature http://www.aeaweb.org/journal.html 45 1 March 2007 http://www.aeaweb.org/articles/issue_detail.php?journal=JEL&volume=45&issue=1&issue_date=March 2007 Regular Article Making Famine History Cormac ÓGráda 5 38 This paper reviews recent contributions to the economics and economic history of famine. It provides a context for the history of famine in the twentieth century, which is unique. During the century, war and totalitarianism produced more famine deaths than did overpopulation and economic backwardness; yet by its end, economic growth and medical technology had almost eliminated the threat of major famines. Today's high-profile famines are "small" by historical standards. Topics analyzed include the role played by food markets in mitigating or exacerbating famine, the globalization of disaster relief, the enhanced role of human agency and entitlements, distinctive demography of certain twentieth-century famines, and future prospects for "making famine history." http://www.aeaweb.org/articles/article_detail.php?journal=JEL&volume=45&issue=1&article=1&issue_date=March 2007 10.1257/jel.45.1.5 American Economic Association Nashville, TN 0022-8282 Journal of Economic Literature http://www.aeaweb.org/journal.html 45 1 March 2007 http://www.aeaweb.org/articles/issue_detail.php?journal=JEL&volume=45&issue=1&issue_date=March 2007 Regular Article Distributional Effects of Globalization in Developing Countries Pinelopi KoujianouGoldberg NinaPavcnik 39 82 The authors discuss recent empirical research on how globalization has affected income inequality in developing countries. They begin with a discussion of conceptual issues regarding the measurement of globalization and inequality. Next, they present empirical evidence on the evolution of globalization and inequality in several developing countries during the 1980s and 1990s. The authors then examine the channels through which globalization may have affected inequality, discussing theory and evidence in parallel. They conclude with directions for future research. http://www.aeaweb.org/articles/article_detail.php?journal=JEL&volume=45&issue=1&article=2&issue_date=March 2007 10.1257/jel.45.1.39 American Economic Association Nashville, TN 0022-8282 Journal of Economic Literature http://www.aeaweb.org/journal.html 45 1 March 2007 http://www.aeaweb.org/articles/issue_detail.php?journal=JEL&volume=45&issue=1&issue_date=March 2007 Regular Article A Flat World, a Level Playing Field, a Small World After All, or None of the Above? A Review of Thomas L Friedman’s The World is Flat Edward E.Leamer 83 126 Geography, flat or not, creates special relationships between buyers and sellers who reside in the same neighborhoods, but Friedman turns this metaphor inside-out by using The World is Flat to warn us of the perils of a relationship-free world in which every economic transaction is contested globally. In his "flat" world, your wages are set in Shanghai. In fact, most of the footloose relationship-free jobs in apparel and footwear and consumer electronics departed the United States several decades ago, and few U.S. workers today feel the force of Chinese and Indian competition, notwithstanding the alarming anecdotes about the outsourcing of intellectual services. Of course, standardization, mechanization, and computerization all work to increase the number of footloose tasks, but innovation and education work in the opposite direction, creating relationship-based activities—like the writing of this review. It may only be personal conceit, but I imagine there is a reason why the Journal of Economic Literature asked me to do this review. http://www.aeaweb.org/articles/article_detail.php?journal=JEL&volume=45&issue=1&article=3&issue_date=March 2007 10.1257/jel.45.1.83 American Economic Association Nashville, TN 0022-8282 Journal of Economic Literature http://www.aeaweb.org/journal.html 45 1 March 2007 http://www.aeaweb.org/articles/issue_detail.php?journal=JEL&volume=45&issue=1&issue_date=March 2007 Regular Article Whither Russia? A Review of Andrei Shleifer’s A Normal Country EkaterinaZhuravskaya 127 146 In this review, the author reflects on the heated debates around views about Russia's postcommunist transition expressed in essays collected in new Andrei Shleifer's book, A Normal Country: Russia after Communism (Harvard University Press, 2005), which were initially published at different times during transition. She focuses on the three questions that have been in the center of the debate among academics and policymakers: What should the sequencing and the speed of reforms be? Should a country have political centralization for fiscal decentralization to be efficient? Is Russia normal? The author argues that Russia's most recent history provides convincing evidence in support of the logic of political and economic transformation as it was understood by Shleifer as early as the beginning of the 1990s. http://www.aeaweb.org/articles/article_detail.php?journal=JEL&volume=45&issue=1&article=4&issue_date=March 2007 10.1257/jel.45.1.127 American Economic Association Nashville, TN 0022-8282 Journal of Economic Literature http://www.aeaweb.org/journal.html 45 1 March 2007 http://www.aeaweb.org/articles/issue_detail.php?journal=JEL&volume=45&issue=1&issue_date=March 2007 Regular Article The Big One: A Review of Richard Posner’s Catastrophe: Risk and Response Edward A.Parson 147 213 Richard Posner's Catastrophe: Risk and Response (Oxford University Press, 2004) examines four risks whose worst cases could end advanced human civilization or worse: asteroid impacts, a catastrophic chain reaction initiated in high-energy particle accelerators, global climate change, and bioterrorism. He argues that these all warrant more thought and response than they are receiving, and that they can usefully be assessed using a simple analytic framework based on cost–benefit analysis. This essay reviews knowledge of these risks and critically examines Posner's claims for a consistent analytic approach. While the conclusions that each risk merits more thought and effort appear persuasive, these rely on ad hoc arguments specific to each risk. The general analytic claims do not hold up well, as Posner develops his proposed framework thinly and applies it unevenly. Applying such a framework consistently to catastrophic risks would require engaging some fundamental problems that Posner does not address. The book's major contributions are to identify and describe these risks, highlight the inadequate attention they are receiving, and advance a persuasive argument for their more serious examination. http://www.aeaweb.org/articles/article_detail.php?journal=JEL&volume=45&issue=1&article=5&issue_date=March 2007 10.1257/jel.45.1.147 American Economic Association Nashville, TN 0022-8282 Journal of Economic Literature http://www.aeaweb.org/journal.html 45 1 March 2007 http://www.aeaweb.org/articles/issue_detail.php?journal=JEL&volume=45&issue=1&issue_date=March 2007 Book Review Book Reviews 165 218 http://www.aeaweb.org/articles/article_detail.php?journal=JEL&volume=45&issue=1&article=6&issue_date=March 2007 10.1257/jel.45.1.165 American Economic Association Nashville, TN 0022-8282 Journal of Economic Literature http://www.aeaweb.org/journal.html 45 1 March 2007 http://www.aeaweb.org/articles/issue_detail.php?journal=JEL&volume=45&issue=1&issue_date=March 2007 Journal Article Annotated Listing of New Books 219 312 http://www.aeaweb.org/articles/article_detail.php?journal=JEL&volume=45&issue=1&article=7&issue_date=March 2007 10.1257/jel.45.1.219 American Economic Association Nashville, TN 0022-8282 Journal of Economic Literature http://www.aeaweb.org/journal.html 45 1 March 2007 http://www.aeaweb.org/articles/issue_detail.php?journal=JEL&volume=45&issue=1&issue_date=March 2007 Journal Article JEL Classification System 313 325 http://www.aeaweb.org/articles/article_detail.php?journal=JEL&volume=45&issue=1&article=8&issue_date=March 2007 10.1257/jel.45.1.313