Global Trade after the
COVID Pandemic
Protectionist Isolation or More Efficient Globalization
Presented at 10th International Conference on Business and Economic Development (ICBED) June 2021 – Chinyere Emmanuel Egbe – Professor Medgar Evers College
The Corona virus (COVID-19) swept through the world rapidly and all but took the world by surprise. From its earliest beginnings in March 2020, there were only 629,000 cases worldwide. As of April 29, 2021, just one year later, worldwide infection grew at an exponential rate to 151 Million infections. This represents a 240-fold increase in less than 15 months in spite of lockdowns and other preventive behaviors across the world. Besides the severe strain on public health facilities all over the world and the concomitant reallocation of economic resources, the COVID-19 precipitated a near calamitous shock to the world economy. The COVID-19 is not first pandemic to give rise to a lockdown or quarantine. However, there no known pandemic that has put such a strain on world trade and economic cooperation during the last 150 years of human history. Besides the internal disruption of economic activities that led to sharp increase in unemployment and domestic production, world trade experienced a drastic shock.
One of the earliest measures taken to curb the COVID pandemic was to restrict travel across countries and even within countries. The immediate consequence was the decline in world recreational and business travel. However, this was followed soon by drastic declines in imports and exports of major trading economies such as the USA, Japan, China, India and much of Western Europe. During the first six months of 2020, all major trading economies suffered severe declines in their imports and exports. Even up to the end of the year, 2020 and going into 2021, world trade did not recover to their 2019 levels, though some countries like China experienced significant recovery.
Although improvements have been seen from the lows earlier in the year, the value of trade remained lower for nearly all major economies in the third quarter of 2020 than in the same quarter of the previous year. Growth of around 3 per cent in Chinese goods exports was the exception to this trend. In the fourth quarter of 2020, while trade in goods improved across many major economies, trade in services, in contrast, remained below averages. What is more, investment flows were adversely impacted, and multinational corporations reduced their Foreign Direct Investments (FDI). The reductions in world trade flows rudely shocked policy makers into a realization of the implications mutual dependency in world trade. For example, national security issues surfaced and instigated and emboldened isolationists to argue for more protection of industries. This shock reawakened fears of renewed isolationism and protectionism.
This paper presents the trends in world trade just before and during the ongoing pandemic and identifies the theoretical and practical justifications of apprehensions about protectionist proclivities. But also, the paper identifies and analyzes other possible reasons why globalization may still thrive in a post-COVID world economic order. For example, improvements in technology pose both a danger and provide an opportunity to increase globalization as well as efficiency in world economic cooperation and trade.
Market Intelligence Generation, Social Capital and Firm Creation
A Focus on Nascent Entrepreneurs
Edwin Knox and Chinyere Emmanuel Egbe
Journal of Small Business and Entrepreneurship Development June 2014, Vol. 2, No. 2, pp. 37-55
Prior research on entrepreneurship has identified social, demographic and economic variables that contribute to an individual propensity to engage in entrepreneurial activities. These efforts led to the need for a comprehensive understanding of the firm creation process beyond socio-economic and demographic variables. Consistent with that recommendation, marketing is one area that has been argued to offer additional insight into entrepreneurship and more specifically the firm creation process. This paper proposes to study the relationship between Market Orientation (MO) and Entrepreneurial Firm Creation (FC) of Nascent Entrepreneurs. Extant research on Market Orientation (MO) and its use by Nascent Entrepreneurs (NE) have largely focused on managers in existing firms and individuals who are employees of other businesses. This paper focuses on the individual who takes that fateful step to create a firm and will seek to (a) determine whether individual nascent entrepreneurs who engage in market intelligence gathering are more likely to complete the firm creation process by starting a business, (b) assess the role of social capital in the relationship between market intelligence gathering and firm creation. This will add to the understanding of why some nascent entrepreneurs succeed at creating new firms and others do not.
Entrepreneurial Orientation, Social Capital and Firm Creation for Nascent Entrepreneurs
Edwin Knox, Ph.D , Medgar Evers College , K. Nathan Austin, PhD, Morgan State University, Chinyere Emmanuel Egbe, PhD ,
Medgar Evers College (CUNY)
Journal of Business and Economics, June 2015 Pp. 1057 – 1070
Prior research on entrepreneurship has identified social, demographic and economic variables that contribute to an individual propensity to engage in entrepreneurial activities (Fairlie, 2005). In this paper, we propose to study the relationship between Entrepreneurial Orientation (EO) and Entrepreneurial Firm Creation (FC) of the Nascent Entrepreneurs. We argue that Entrepreneurial Orientation in and of itself will not lead to Firm Creation. We posit that the Nascent Entrepreneur (NE) takes calculated risks, as clearly indicated in the literature This paper goes beyond the extant literature and examines the individuals who enter business as an independent agent. We also assess the role of social capital (SC) in the relationship between Entrepreneurial Orientation and firm creation. Using a logistic regression model and interaction analyses, it appears that Entrepreneurial Orientation by itself is not sufficient to lead to Firm Creation. Market Intelligence Gathering (MIG) continues to be a critical variable. Our results clearly indicate that the Nascent Entrepreneur takes a calculated risk. We also find moderating or potentially mediating effects of other variables on the process of firm creation.
BRAIN DRAIN FROM THE DEVELOPING COUNTRIES AND AN ANALYSIS FOR THE
CARIBBEAN ISLANDS
PRESENTED AT ST. JOHN’S UNIVERSITY, QUEENS, NY ON DECEMBER 3, 1993
CHINYERE E. EGBE, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR,
MEDGAR EVERS COLLEGE, (CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK)
This topic is one that has given rise to extensive study and discussion for a considerable length of time. I would therefore like to set the stage for my discussion in a general context, and then discuss it vis-a-vis the Caribbean countries.
The brain drain refers to the out migration of highly trained professional and managerial manpower – – Doctors, engineers, teachers, scientists etc – – from one country to another. The impression has been created among some observers that it is a situation that affects only the developing nations. The fact is that it occurs everywhere, and it is a source of concern for all countries. For the developing countries, it has been particularly troubling because policy makers see the phenomenon as a contradiction in the development process. For one of the problems said to hinder the drive to economic and social development is the lack of or the shortage of professional or high-level manpower. (Henceforth, I will use professional and highly trained manpower interchangeably). Meanwhile, after resources have been expended to train professionals in various fields, they migrate to the advanced industrial countries, who do not face the same manpower shortages. The result is that the economic gap between the LDCs and the advanced countries becomes even wider.
In the technical jargon of the economics profession, and economic development literature, highly trained manpower is referred to as human capital–Indeed any labor in which some training experience in embodied is referred to as human capital. This reference to human capital is what gives the contradiction its importance. High level manpower takes time and resources to develop and embodies tremendous amounts of information and technology. Therefore, in a way, the brain drain is a form of capital transfer from the developing nations to the advanced industrial countries.
According to Carlos Cortes (1980), “… The gain to the United States is substantial … The dollar value of this medical manpower approximately equal to the cost of all US medical assistance to Latin America….” Cortes was referring to a study of t he migration of medical school graduates from Latin America into the United States. Cortes concludes from this study that excluding the graduates from Cuba, it would take three (3) academic medical schools of average size for the USA to produce the n umber of graduates of Latin American physicians that were resident in the USA (At this time, 1966, there were about 5000 of these graduates, and the annual migration was about 757 medical graduates). A similar point was echoed by a professor at Oklahoma State University, who said inter alia that “…The USA would have to build 12 new medical schools, in 1964-65, to produce the number of medical that it derives yearly from immigration all over the world….” (Adams P. 2). In the 1960s, for example, France received from its former colony of Togo, more medical doctors than she sent to Togo for medical assistance to that nation (Adams, p.2). In effect, the advanced countries give with one hand and with the other hand they take even more – whether it be aid in the form of expatriate personnel or just plain capital resources.
There is a seemingly curious irony to all of this. While large numbers of professionals are migrating from the developing countries to the advanced countries, the advanced are sending large numbers of professionals to the developing countries as part of their foreign aid program. Many world bank and USAID technical assistance projects include substantial numbers of so called expatriate personnel. According to Apraku (1990) there are about 70,000 African professional working in the advanced countries. This number according to him this is the same number of foreign experts working in Africa today. Meanwhile the number exceeds the number of colonial professional personnel in Africa on the eve of independence from colonialism.
The brain drain has been a source of explosive contentiousness between the developing countries and the advanced industrial nations. So the question that needs to be asked is whether there is any real problem here. There would be problems if it could be ascertained that there are costs to immigrant sending countries which in turn provide benefits to the receiving countries. Suppose that the migrating professionals represent unemployed resources, the maintenance of which might even be socially costly to the sending countries? Then there might even be some benefit to the developing countries that these professionals migrate to other countries.
The fact is that even the advanced industrial countries were and are still complaining about brain drain to other countries. In the 1960s the British were alarmed by the exodus of doctors to the USA and that they were relying on Indian and Pakistani doctors to run their health system (Adams P.2) Noting further that 16% of British Ph.Ds were lost through emigration, a British technical journal expressed the fear that “… by spending so much money for the expansion of technical education, the British were erecting a vast and expensive preparatory school system for American industry …” (Adams p. 2)
The British health minister, Kenneth Robinson insisted that Britain cannot afford to train doctors in order to swell the membership of the AMA. Lord Bowden said that it may well mean that some fields in India would go uncultivated in order for the USA to send a man to the moon. Meanwhile the Israeli Levi Eshkol referred to emigrating scientists as gypsies. The Israeli minister of education of the same period called them traitors. Even an American senator once pronounced the brain gain to America as a national disgrace (Adams P.2).
More recently, the Chronicle of Higher Education (March 30 1988) reported that an Australian scientist was moving his research to the United States. This and similar actions by other scientists prompted the Australian government to begin to express fears about a brain drain to the USA. Similarly, the Russians and the other states under the former Soviet Union expressed fears that the USA is attracting away their physicians and other scientists (Chronicle of Higher Education, June 3, 1992). So the brain drain is a source of concern for everyone.
Historically, though, the way the issues of the brain drain has always been present, and always a source of contention–from the ancient world, to the middle ages, the early modern period, and the present day. If the advanced industrial countries of Europe, the Soviet Union and Australia are complaining, it must be concluded that the out migration of professional manpower is troubling to the sending countries. What then is the source and extent of the problem for developing countries, and especially for the Caribbean nations.
Even if there are costs, could there benefits that outweigh the costs. If the latter is true, then the out migration of professional manpower may not be a costly drain after all. It is possible that the educational systems of the sending countries create an oversupply of high-level manpower. Hence, migration becomes a vent for the surplus that is not needed in the source countries. Migrant professionals might be making remittances of money that outweigh the social costs of training them in their countries of origin. Even if they do not make financial remittances, they may be transferring knowledge through exchanges with their colleagues at home that are beneficial to their countries. With regard to the information feedback benefits, we could also ask whether the information being sent back is relevant to the immediate development needs of the developing countries that send the immigrants.
INSTITUTIONAL FACTORS AND IMMIGRANT INVESTMENT IN HOMELAND NIGERIANS
IN THE USA
Presented at the Eastern Economic Association (March 1994)
During the decade of the 1970s, tens of thousands of Nigerians entered the United States of America to study. The overwhelming majority of these students came on student visas, with the expectation of returning home after their studies. When the oil boom ended in the mid 1980s, from about 1984, the Nigerian economy stagnated, and actually went into decline: Economic opportunities disappeared, and living standards declined sharply. As a result of the adverse changes that took place in the Nigerian economy, these former students decided to remain in the United States after they completed their studies.
Today it is estimated that there are between 60,000 and 100,000 Nigerian immigrants working in the USA. The circumstances by which the Nigerians entered the USA make them an interesting cohort of immigrants for study, for at least two reasons. First of all, the Nigerian immigrant cohort in the USA is highly educated, and most of them hold highly paid professional positions. Secondly, compared to immigrants in extant studies of immigrant economic behavior they are permanent immigrants, who have a peculiar choice set. Specifically, Nigerian immigrants in the USA, are highly educated, highly skilled, well established, and therefore may not have an incentive to return home. Nevertheless, the overwhelming majority of them have expressed a desire to return home and do business in Nigeria. Against this background, it would be useful to study the factors that may affect the motivation to remit funds home, do business in Nigeria, return permanently to Nigeria, and encourage their descendants to be interested in returning
to and or doing business in Nigeria.
This study is important because extant studies of immigrants (Gould, 1994, and Light 1985) show that there are substantial benefits to immigrant economic activities between host and home countries. In the case of Nigerians in the USA, they in the USA, each family remits about $3,700 per year. If there are between 40,000 and 60,000 Nigerian families, the total remittance will amount to between $170 million and $400 million per year. This amount is as much as 5 times the total annual foreign exchange earnings from the export of natural rubber. As much as 50% of Nigerians in the USA ship goods to Nigeria, at least occasionally. Gould (1994), shows that immigrant information links may reduce information costs, and hence transaction costs between host, and home countries. The reduction in transaction costs in turn increase trading and business links. For developing countries, immigrant links can be an easy source of technological transfer. Given that the Nigerian immigrant population in the USA, there is a tremendous potential for the Nigerian economy to benefit from the economic activity of her nationals in the USA.
Given the reduced level of emigration from Nigeria to the United States, it would be useful that the descendants of the present Nigerian immigrants continue to have interest in Nigeria through their parents’ continued activities in the country. Their links to Nigeria could continue to provide them relevant information about Nigeria that will ultimately prove advantageous to them in the course of business activities in Nigeria. By extension their activities can be beneficial to the country. This point is not overemphasized. In recent years, business, academic and political leaders from the African continent and the Americas have organized a series of summits and conferences designed to foster economic and business links between African people in the diaspora. These efforts are being made with peoples of African origin whose ties to the continent have been severely disrupted for centuries. On the other hand, second generation immigrants (descendants of the present first-generation cohort) are in a unique position because they can develop strong links between the African continent and America.
To accomplish this, Nigeria must be made attractive for the immigrant cohort, and for their descendants. The immigrants should be able to choose Nigeria as a place in which they can invest their resources. The immigrant population should also be able to make their children identify with Nigeria as their ancestral home and seriously explore business opportunities. In effect, economic institutions should be made more credible.
It is widely understood and documented in the economics literature that material incentives for economic activity are more effective if they supported by credible economic institutions (North, 1990, North and Thomas, 1973, and Eggerston, 1990). When economic institutions are not credible, it becomes difficult to enforce contracts and property rights. The difficulty of enforcing contracts and property rights increases transaction costs, and may discourage or choke off business activities.
Mediating and Moderating Correlates and Socio-Economic Factors In Firm Creation Among Nascent Entrepreneurs
Edwin Knox, Ph.D, School of Professional Studies, City University of New York
Chinyere Emmanuel Egbe, PhD, Medgar Evers College (CUNY)
Entrepreneurship, the creation of new ventures and firms, has been hailed as the engine that drives an economy. The creation of new firms for example, results in innovation, new products, added market competition and employment, contributing to economic growth, productivity and overall performance and thus the need to understand the correlates of Firm Creation (FC). The firm creation process includes (a) the decision to initiate the creation of a new firm, (b) the organization and identification of resources to establish the new firm, or gestation/start up process and (c) the establishment of an operational new firm.
Research has found that a close relationship exists between the nascent entrepreneur’s entrepreneurial orientation traits and market orientation. Further, a market orientation suggests that an entrepreneur would make decisions as a response to Market Intelligence (MI) and Market Intelligence Gathering (MIG). Other variables such as Social Capital (SC), Relational Capital (RLC) and Structural Capital (STC) and the entrepreneurs Cognitive Capital (CGC) have been found to be significant.
Extant studies of how MO, EO and MIG affect FC have been limited to the firm level. However, this study differs from extant studies is that it will be the first to explore, in part, the market orientation construct at the individual entrepreneur level during the pre-startup phase, or gestation period of the firm creation process. Previous work by the authors found that (Knox, Austin and Egbe, 2015 and Egbe & Knox 2014) Entrepreneurial Orientation by itself is not sufficient to lead to Firm Creation. In this study, we also investigate the effects of Race, Gender, Education, Age and other socio-economic variables as correlates of FC. We found significant relationship between these socio-economic variables and firm creation. This study used logistic regression models to assess the effects of marketing intelligence generation (MIG), entrepreneurial orientation (EO), structural capital (STC), relational capital (RLC), and cognitive capital (CGC) at the individual level, of firm creation (FC).
A Comparative Analysis of Transportation and Job Access
Low Income Residents in Brooklyn, NY Chinyere Emmanuel Egbe, PhD
Paper Presented at the Eastern Economic Association March 2009
In 1996, the US Congress enacted the “Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act”. This law required work in exchange for time-limited public assistance. Its objective was to significantly decrease the number of families dependent on public assistance, while strengthening and promoting responsibility. As a means to attain these goals, the Act makes provisions for continued support of families (medical and childcare), as they make the transition from public assistance to the workforce.
It is generally acknowledged that adequate transportation is a major barrier confronted by low-income workers and recipients of various forms of public assistance, as they seek to return to work. This problem of transportation continues to be an issue for low income and public assistance in many major cities. In May 2003, the Brookings Institute conducted a survey of the mayors of major cities including New York City. According to the results of this survey, the Mayors ranked inadequate transportation services and lack of affordable childcare among the top three or four out of ten problems in preventing welfare-to-work clients from obtaining and keeping jobs. Around the country, numerous programs and services have been developed to respond to the transportation impediments to work for low-income individuals.
There have been two major efforts to conduct statistical surveys on the transportation needs of the residents of the region: the Regional Travel Household Interview Survey (RT-HIS – 1997/1998) and the Transit Users Survey (TUS). The RT-HIS was designed to provide general information on the travel behavior of households from a 28 county area in the New York Metropolitan region that includes three states: New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.
One of the important findings of the RT-HIS study was the variations in transportation access based on income, especially in New York City. Specifically, in New York City, 55% of work trips by workers in households earning less than $15,000 per year were by public transit (largely subway or bus). This percentage drops to 44% for workers in households with earnings between $15-25,000 and 36% for workers in households earning more than $25,000. Only 13% of workers in the lowest income categories commute by car or motorcycle, far lower than either of the other two income categories. Because transit travel times can be much longer than auto travel times, this decreases the number of job opportunities accessible to the low income population.
Work times show little variation by either income or location. For trips originating in New York City, the data on commute times indicate low-wage workers are at least as likely to commute long distances as higher-wage workers, and it is clear a relatively large number of low-income workers are making long commutes.
In an earlier study of Transportation and Job Access, selected public housing developments in Northern Brooklyn and Southeastern Queens surveyed. This survey was utilized to analyze significant transportation issues that the subjects encountered in their Journey to Work. An important aspect of the study was that it was limited to Low Income residents of Public Housing facilities. It was, therefore, limited in scope in that it could assume that the issues that were addressed in that study were limited to Low Income residents of the public housing facilities. However, it is equally plausible that Low Income residents in non-Public Housing facilities or even other residents have similar problems.
The findings of the transportation analysis in the previous study indicated the residents living in the study area experience job access problems, and have fewer transportation options compared to the general population, due to their dependence on the transit system along with other constraints. The primary problems identified as a result of the survey analysis were: irregular service, infrequent service, long waits during transfers, long trips, and high fares. In addition, issues with childcare transportation appear to be a problem for some of the parents with children.
Poor accessibility to transit can prevent a client from accepting a job offer or retaining a job. If a transit stop or station is not within a reasonable walking distance. Travel times could be affected by the number of transfers that need to be made while traveling to work by public transit and the frequency and regularity of the transit system. Transportation costs may also constitute a relatively large portion of the income of recipients of public assistance, it is important to examine the costs of transportation.
Situations like these impact on the sensitivity to transportation and childcare needs of the working parent. These kinds of questions and issues make the development of a profile of transportation patterns extremely complex when dealing with those that are affected. The linked trip becomes especially important because it poses a more challenging problem for low income populations. In this paper, we compare and contrast the Transportation and Job Access experiences and perspectives of Low and Medium Income residents of Brooklyn who do not live in public housing with Low and Medium Income residents of Brooklyn who live in public housing projects. Data collected during the earlier study and data from our most recent surveys are compared. Several hypotheses comparing the differences in the transportation issues that these different groups face in their Journey to Work are tested. Such issues include accessibility of private and public transportation, trip chains, child care issues. Gender related differences are also analyzed.
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Colonial and Post Colonial Exploitation of Nigeria and the Case for Reparations
Chinyere Emmanuel Egbe, PhD
Paper Presented at the American Economic Association Annual Conference January 1995 – Allied Social Sciences Association
The issue of the unjust enrichment of the wealthy nations at the expense of poor nations has been analyzed and discussed for a considerable length of time. Africans, in particular, will claim to be the worst victims of exploitation and deprivation. In early studies, Wilson Williams and Eric Williams (1938 and 1944) have proposed that the growth of manufacturing and the success of capitalism in England relied crucially on African slave trade and the product of slave labor in the Americas. Even more recently, Darity (AEA May 1992) have supported this proposition by stating that “ … the capital accumulation that was essential for the industrialization of West was fueled by cheap African labor from slavery …”, while depriving Africa of the same labor. Furthermore, Africans were actually diverted into trading in the same instrument that was so essential to the accumulation of economic surplus. One issue that is raised is that the slave trade stimulated industrial technical progress and investment in Europe , but only led the expansion of predatory coastal states and the disruption of the hinterland in West Africa, ….” [AEA 1992, pp. 158-61].
Following the end of the slave trade, African countries were colonized by Europe. With European colonialism began a new type of exploitation. Trading arrangements between the colonies and their colonizing powers were generally one sided. The colonies provided agricultural and mineral raw materials, and imported manufactured goods from the metropolis. The trade relations that developed resulted in the deterioration in the Terms of Trade of African nations because of the predominance of primary products in their exports to the advanced countries. On the other hand, most advanced industrial countries export mostly manufactured goods to the developing countries.
Against this backdrop of the Nigerian experience, this paper discussed, philosophically, the idea of seeking compensation for past social injustices. The crux of the argument in the paper is that it is not difficult to demonstrate that Africans have been exploited through colonialism or other activities of Europeans on the African continent. At the same time, however, it is a waste of time and energy to seek reparations from the descendants of European colonizers and slave masters. The author argued that Africans must be held ultimately responsible, to some extent, for what happened on the African continent. To the extent that Africans cannot be held responsible, then what happened was the inevitable outcome of natural historical processes that were perfectly acceptable when they occurred. Present day descendants cannot be held responsible for that.
Colonial and Post Colonial Exploitation of Nigeria and the Case for Reparations
Chinyere Emmanuel Egbe, PhD
Paper Presented at the American Economic Association Annual Conference January 1995 – Allied Social Sciences Association
The issue of the unjust enrichment of the wealthy nations at the expense of poor nations has been analyzed and discussed for a considerable length of time. Africans, in particular, will claim to be the worst victims of exploitation and deprivation. In early studies, Wilson Williams and Eric Williams (1938 and 1944) have proposed that the growth of manufacturing and the success of capitalism in England relied crucially on African slave trade and the product of slave labor in the Americas. Even more recently, Darity (AEA May 1992) have supported this proposition by stating that “ … the capital accumulation that was essential for the industrialization of West was fueled by cheap African labor from slavery …”, while depriving Africa of the same labor. Furthermore, Africans were actually diverted into trading in the same instrument that was so essential to the accumulation of economic surplus. One issue that is raised is that the slave trade stimulated industrial technical progress and investment in Europe , but only led the expansion of predatory coastal states and the disruption of the hinterland in West Africa, ….” [AEA 1992, pp. 158-61].
Following the end of the slave trade, African countries were colonized by Europe. With European colonialism began a new type of exploitation. Trading arrangements between the colonies and their colonizing powers were generally one sided. The colonies provided agricultural and mineral raw materials, and imported manufactured goods from the metropolis. The trade relations that developed resulted in the deterioration in the Terms of Trade of African nations because of the predominance of primary products in their exports to the advanced countries. On the other hand, most advanced industrial countries export mostly manufactured goods to the developing countries.
Against this backdrop of the Nigerian experience, this paper discussed, philosophically, the idea of seeking compensation for past social injustices. The crux of the argument in the paper is that it is not difficult to demonstrate that Africans have been exploited through colonialism or other activities of Europeans on the African continent. At the same time, however, it is a waste of time and energy to seek reparations from the descendants of European colonizers and slave masters. The author argued that Africans must be held ultimately responsible, to some extent, for what happened on the African continent. To the extent that Africans cannot be held responsible, then what happened was the inevitable outcome of natural historical processes that were perfectly acceptable when they occurred. Present day descendants cannot be held responsible for that.
Perceptions of Black Women in Executive Positions in Corporate America,
Joyce B. Siler, Sharlene James and Chinyere Egbe August 1999
The purpose of this study was to determine several key attributes that Black women in managerial roles perceive as necessary to achieve success in corporate America. In 1992, a preliminary survey was mailed to more than 500 black women who held executive and supervisory positions in companies throughout the USA. About 100 of them responded to the survey. Respondents were distributed fairly well across sectors of economic activity, including utilities, transportation, manufacturing, insurance and finance and government services.
All respondents were full time employees, who had worked with their company for an average of 8 years and had held their current positions for about four years. Before joining their present employers, the respondents had about six years of prior experience and had held an average of four positions prior to their current position. About 82% considered themselves in top managerial positions. The rest (18%) considered their positions supervisory or lower level management. About 78% indicated that their positions were classified as executive or managerial. The respondents supervised an average of seven subordinates. The respondents indicated that they had received an average of between 3 and 4 promotions. Between 50% and 60% indicated that they have been denied promotion at least once.
The respondents were fairly well educated. More than 60% had a graduate school degree. About 48% were married. Twenty percent were either divorced or separated. The average rate of fertility was one child (.99 with a standard error of .13). While about 60% had ever been married, only 49% had children. A cross tabulation indicated that those that were ever married were likely to be the ones with more than one child. There is a general feeling among the female managers in the survey that holding an MBA was not an important factor in their initial employment with their company. The years of experience was found to be a more significant factor than level of education in explaining the salary differences and managerial position held among the managers. It is not likely that family obligations or family situation had an adverse effect on the careers of the respondents in the survey. Among the divorced, the preponderant opinion was that work was not instrumental in becoming divorced.
CORRELATES OF FEMALE MANAGERS’ OPINIONS
Cross-tabulations and X2 tests of association are used to investigate if there is any association between the relative position of the respondents and their opinions or perspectives along three dimensions, namely: Equity in the managerial work place, how conducive the work environment is, the factors that determine success for the female manager, and social change. Equity is measured by such factors as 1) Whether blacks are promoted as readily as other ethnic groups, 2) Willing and able black women are able to move up the managerial ladder, 3) Whether black managers tend to be promoted. The work environment is measured by 1) Whether the managers perceive their positions have real power (Title but No Future), 2) Have the respondents encountered racism, 3) Whether non-black female managers respond favorably (White males, black females, other ethnics, black males), 4) Experience with sexual harassment and 5) Whether their company fosters mentorship.
In general, there are no significant association between the vantage position of the managers (Education, Position held as Top Level, Mid-Level, or Supervisory, or Classification as Executive, Managerial, or Other Managerial Position.) and their perspectives along broad categories of measurements. However, within each dimension of measurement (Equity, Environment, Factors for Success, or Social Change) there are some significant differences. For example significant differences in opinion do not exist within the broad category of Equity. However, within this broad dimension, significant differences in perspectives about whether blacks tend to be promoted exist based on position held or managerial classification. In general, no significant differences exist due to education attainment.
ISSUES IN EQUITY
Majority of respondents are not confident that there is equitable treatment of black women in organizations. In general, the respondents do not agree (48%) that their organizations are willing to promote black women who are in managerial positions (Table 1). Only about 31% state that their organizations are willing to promote black women. Twenty one percent do not express an opinion. There is an even stronger feeling that many companies are not inclined to promote female managers, even if the female managers are willing and are capable of working hard. Eight six percent (86%) of the managers surveyed respond, stated that companies do not tend to promote black women in managerial positions. They also responded negatively to question of when willing and capable black women mangers (Table 1).
Opinions Differentiated by classification, Position Held or Education Managerial Classification (Executive, Managerial, Other)
While the average respondents tended to feel that there is discrimination against black female managers, there was an association between managerial classification and opinion about different aspects of equity. Executives are more likely to believe that black women are readily promoted. At less that .5% level of significance, about 52% of the respondents who classified themselves as executives felt that black female managers were not readily promoted, compared to 60% of those that classified themselves as supervisors or managers (Table 2). While there was no significant association between classification and managerial opinion, a smaller percentage of executives consistently stated that there was no tendency to promote black women (75% 95% 88%) or that willing and able black women are able to move up the ladder (82%, 85%, 90%).
POSITION HELD (Top, Mid-level, Supervisory)
There is a significant association between position held and opinion on whether black women are readily promoted. While 62% of Top-level managers think that black women are readily promoted, only 12% each of mid-level and supervisory managers believe that black women tend to be promoted.
There is no significant statistical association between position held and opinion on whether black women tend to be promoted or whether “Willing and Able” black women move up. However, a consistently, smaller percentage of Top-level managers state that black women do not tend to be promoted or that willing are not able black female managers do move up the ladder (79% 88% 94% and 79% 85% 100%).
Education
There is no significant association between education and opinion about any aspect of equity in managerial positions (Table 3).
PERSPECTIVES ON SOCIAL CHANGE
Perspective on Social Change is measured by 1) Expectation about Whether the 21st Century is expected to be more difficult, 2) Whether the respondents believes that Affirmative Action is Necessary in the work place 3) Whether there is a need to address diversity in the managerial market place. The Factors for Success in the Market Place were 1) The Need for Political Savvy to succeed 2) Whether the Old Boy Network in Penetrable 3) Whether Mentorship is essential for success in the managerial market place.
WHAT IS IN THE HORIZON?: HOPE FOR THE FUTURE?
There is near unanimous agreement that affirmative action is necessary. However, the respondents are generally optimistic about the next century. They also believe that there may not be any need to address the issue of diversity. Among the respondents, 74% responded that there is no particular need to address the issue of diversity. About 56% are confident that the 21st century will not be more difficult. On the other hand, 98% were of the opinion that affirmative action is still necessary (Table 5). .
CLASSIFICATION
While the respondents are generally inclined to be optimistic about the 21st century, There is a significant positive association (.089 level of significance) between the classification of the respondents and their opinion about the next century. About 68% of executives believed that the 21st century would be more difficult, compared with 35% of managers and 54% of other classifications. On the other hand, there is no significant association between classification and opinion about the need for diversity or the need for affirmative action. There is a unanimous agreement that affirmative action is still necessary.
POSITION HELD
There was a significant association between position held and opinion about the need for diversity and optimism about the next century. Supervisory level mangers are more likely to see need for diversity. About 26% of Top Level managers and 17% Mid Level managers stated that the is a need for address diversity, compared to 50% of Supervisory level managers. Similar differences are significant regarding their perspectives on the prospects for the 21st century. Specifically, 15% of Top Level managers and 29% of Mid Level managers believe that the next century will be more difficult, compared to 56% of supervisory managers. There is no significant difference in the perspectives regarding the need for affirmative action (Table 7)
EDUCATION
There were no significant differences in opinions based on education. It might appear, though, that the more highly educated could be more optimistic about the next century, though the differences were not quite significant.
Table 8 Perspectives on Social Change Based on Education
THE WORK ENVIRONMENT
This section addresses two aspects of the work environment: the systemic issues and the human relations aspects. The work environment is not universally perceived as hostile. Most respondents claim to have experienced racism. They also believe that their jobs have titles but no future and hence might be token jobs that do not confer effective power. On the other hand, the majority of the respondents perceive that white males, other females and other ethnic constituencies respond favorably to their positions. The respondents were evenly distributed among those that claimed to have experienced sexual harassment and those that had not experienced harassment.
In general, the respondents stated that their colleagues responded favorably to their positions as managers. Between 63% and 71% responded affirmatively that their Black female, white female colleagues, black male and other ethic group colleagues responded positively or supportively to their positions. The only exception was with white males where a significantly lower 52% of the respondents indicated that white males responded positively or supportively to their position (Table 10).
Perspectives on Work Environment Based on Managerial Classification
With the exception of comparable pay, there is generally no association between categories of managers and their opinion on the different aspects of the managerial environment. However, respondents who classify themselves as executives consistently express a more positive or less negative view. About 13% of executives do not feel that while females respond positively, about 20% each of the other two groups do not feel that white males respond positively. While 84% of the respondents agree (Yes) that black females respond positively, only 60% and 64% of the other groups express this positive perspective.
NEW YORK CITY DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
TRANSPORTATION JOB ACCESS STUDY
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
BACKGROUND
The background to this study is the “Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996. This law requires work in exchange for time-limited public assistance. Its objective was to significantly decrease the number of families dependent on public assistance (PA), while strengthening and promoting responsibility. The Act makes provisions for continued support of families (medical and childcare), as they make the transition from public assistance to the workforce.
Nationally, numerous studies have been conducted acknowledging that access to inadequate transportation is a major barrier confronted by low-income workers and individuals on welfare, and other forms of public assistance, as they seek to return to work. With this understanding, the federal government has provided resources to facilitate equitable access to transportation to enable low-income individuals and welfare recipients to obtain and hold jobs. Around the country, numerous programs and services have been developed to respond to the transportation impediments to work for low-income individuals. In one of its interim “Access-to-Jobs Inventory” reports, November 2000, the Regional Planning Authority (RPA) cites two partial such examples in Chicago, Illinois and Detroit, Michigan.
This study was done in response to a request from Congress Member Edolphus Towns to conduct a localized study of transportation needs of low income population. The study builds upon the regional Job Access Reverse Commute (JARC) plan performed by the RPA for the New York Metropolitan Transportation Council (NYMTC).
STUDY AREA
This study utilizes the concepts developed in the JARC Plan and provides a detailed analysis of the needs of neighborhoods in Northern Brooklyn and Southeast Queens.
The three key housing sites selected for this study included Tompkins area housing projects, Linden area housing projects, and Arverne area housing projects. These housing project sites are located in the communities of Bedford, Williamsburg, Bushwick, East New York (in Brooklyn), and Arverne / Edgemere (in Queens).
Tompkins: Tompkins area residents living in public housing projects total 27,687, the size of a small city. There were 12,419 households living in the public housing developments of which 4,687 (more than a third) are single parent households. The number of persons on public assistance was 2,463.
Linden: Linden area residents total 11,536, less than half of Tompkins area residents. The number of households totaled 4,608 of which 2,014 were single parent households. The number on public assistance was 976.
Arverne: The Arverne population is the lowest of the three at 2,766, with 8,962 households. Single-parent households accounted for 1,435, with 847 on public assistance.
The study areas were selected because their population contained a comparatively high number of low income residents living in housing projects.
The study team focused on job sites for which transportation potentially would be a problem, (e.g. Sunset Park/ JFK) and selected a set of Origins/ Destinations (O/D) to examine how various solutions may be applicable to (O/D) pairs exhibiting similar characteristics. The home-to-work connections selected for the transportation analysis were:
Brooklyn:
1) Tompkins—JFK Passenger Terminal
2) Tompkins—Sunset Park
3) Linden—JFK Passenger Terminal
Queens:
1) Arverne—Sunset Park
2) Arverne—Garden City
3) Arverne—Hauppauge
These job sites were selected based on findings in the JARC plan (Pg 53, pg 55).
PROJECT OBJECTIVE
The overall objective of this project was to identify the transportation-related impediments to job access for individuals on welfare, and other public assistance (PA) recipients. The project team consisting of Medgar Evers College of The City University of New York (CUNY), Polytechnic University, and Pratt Institute, examined two target areas: North Brooklyn and Southeast Queens, and identified barriers to adequate transportation affecting low-income and public assistance public housing residents in the target locations. Utilizing the data obtained in this study, the project team recommended transportation improvement alternatives for selected home-to-work corridors to enable the residents of the study areas to access specific employment centers.
TASK 1: DEFINITION OF TRANSPORTATION ISSUES
The first task was to define potential transportation issues facing the target groups, and to study the target area to identify transportation deficiencies that could be addressed once appropriate data is obtained and analyzed. At this stage, the team developed potential performance measures which could be used in describing the problems and evaluating the effectiveness of potential solutions to be recommended at the end of the study.
TASK 2: COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS OF SECONDARY DATA
Additionally, the team identified information gaps in available databases, and designed a survey to collect new data necessary to fortify the database. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) was used to map social network and transportation resource data of the study areas for presentation purposes. The data collected at this phase of the project was in the form of generalized data sets at the local level from New York City as a whole. These data sets established a baseline for the examination of the targeted areas of Brooklyn and Queens. This data was also used to describe the economic and demographic characteristics of the target population, existing transportation facilities in the target area, and available social network facilities that may facilitate, or constitute potential barriers to job access for the target population.
TASK 3: STATISTICAL ANALYSIS OF SECONDARY AND PRIMARY DATA
In Task 3, the team analyzed the secondary data collected in Task 2, conducted focus groups and workshops to seek the input of the target population in the study areas; and conducted a survey to collect additional information from the target study areas. The findings of the workshops and focus groups of the target population groups were used to design the survey. The results of the analysis of the secondary data and the primary data were used as input for analyzing the existing transportation facilities and developing and recommending transportation alternatives in Task 4.
The project team surveyed selected housing developments in Northern Brooklyn and Southeastern Queens. The survey questions were limited to transportation-related issues, demographic, and economic variables essential to an effective analysis of the transportation impediments to job access. More than 4,500 surveys were distributed in Brooklyn, the surveys were distributed in the neighborhoods of Bedford – Stuyvesant (Community Board #3), and the neighborhood of Williamsburg / Greenpoint (Community Board #1) and East New York (Community Board #5). In Queens, the surveys were distributed in the neighborhoods of Arverne / Edgemere (Community Board #14). Out of the 4,500 instruments distributed, 1,618 usable surveys were returned.
TASK 4: ANALYSIS OF TRANSPORTATION ALTERNATIVES
The transportation analysis performed in Task 4 of the study focused on the identification of existing transportation conditions and problems facing the public assistance clients and low-income population for the housing clusters, and the home-to-work connections targeted for this study. In order to accomplish this, performance indicators measuring overall accessibility, accessibility to transit, and other accessibility and mobility measures, e.g., availability of transit, and number of required transfers were developed. The sources of data for the performance measures were: 1) the extensive survey of the housing clusters conducted by Medgar Evers College (MEC), 2) NYMTC’s Best Practice Model database, which is based on a large household transportation survey conducted by NYMTC in New York City, and 3) GIS maps of the study area, transit characteristics, locations of the housing projects, daycare centers, schools, and the targeted job sites created by the Poly TRI team. The sources for the GIS maps were the datasets provided by Pratt and MEC in Task 2 of this study. Other sources of information for the transportation analysis included: Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA), New York City Transit (NYCT), Long Island Railroad (LIRR), and MTA Long Island (LI) Bus schedules.
DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS
Data collection and attitudes on the transportation system were obtained by a survey of the targeted communities. This survey was utilized to develop service characteristics that the residents would desire for their journey to work trips. These service characteristics are not meant to serve as operational guidelines to transit providers but rather help define where service levels do not meet community preferences. It also should be noted that although the terms used in the survey have the same or similar names to transit operator performance standards they should not be confused with transit operator performance standards established by agencies such as the MTA. It should be noted that travelers preferences cannot always be met as they may not be realistic operational standards for transit operators.
The study team focused on job sites for which transportation potentially would be a problem, (e.g. Sunset Park/ JFK) and selected a set of Origins/ Destinations (O/D) to examine how various solutions may be applicable to (O/D) pairs exhibiting similar characteristics. The home-to-work connections selected for the transportation analysis were:
Brooklyn:
Tompkins—JFK Passenger Terminal
Tompkins—Sunset Park
Linden—JFK Passenger Terminal
Queens:
Arverne—Sunset Park
Arverne—Garden City
Arverne—Hauppauge
These job sites were selected based on findings in the JARC plan (Pg 53, pg 55).
In order to accomplish the study’s objectives, the project team performed a data-mining project to investigate the social and geographic relationship of transportation resources to public housing residents in the target areas. The team then developed primary data, gathering activity through focus groups, workshops and designed a survey instrument targeted to public housing residents. The team defined accessibility obstacles affecting low-income people in terms of transportation-related accessibility barriers and other problems uncovered by the research.
Key Issues and Findings
KEY ISSUES
- Population characteristics: There is a higher percentage of minorities and lower educational attainment than the general population. Also, higher percentages of single parent households and higher percentages of single parent female households live in the target areas than in other areas of the City (see chapter 3). Higher percentages of families with minors also live in the study areas than citywide.
- Economic characteristics: The target population has lower incomes, higher unemployment rates and poverty levels. In addition, a higher percentage of households receive public assistance than households in other areas. Also, all respondents have lower rates of auto ownership.
- Childcare requirements: About 20% of all respondents indicate they need to make a stop to take their children to childcare or school. In terms of facility preference, parents prefer childcare facilities to be located in the building where they live, or in their neighborhood.
- Transportation problems: A significant portion of the respondents have frequent transportation problems (40.2%), though not all residents experience the same problems at the same level of severity. Ordinarily, a low level worker of the type we have in the target population would be terribly concerned if they anticipate problems as frequently as every other week. If these problems cause them to arrive late to work a few times, they could get into significant trouble at work, since they are easily replaceable.
Mode to Work: The predominant mode to work for the survey respondents is transit with 80% of the respondents taking bus, subway, or both, followed by walking at 6% and drive alone at 5%
KEY FINDINGS
The findings of the transportation analysis indicated the residents living in the study area experience job access problems, and have fewer transportation options compared to the general population, due to their dependence on the transit system along with other constraints. The primary problems identified as a result of the survey analysis were: irregular service, infrequent service, long waits during transfers, long trips, and high fares. In addition, issues with childcare transportation appear to be a problem for some of the parents with children.
Three of these problems (infrequent service, long trips, and fare) coincide with issues identified based on the performance measures generated from the transportation analysis. Based on the performance indicators and the survey analysis, the following solutions were identified and recommended.
RECOMMENDATIONS
The report recommends a series of operational measures to improve the travel time and efficiency of the transit trip, including, shuttle service, service frequency, transit cost, reliability, and ridesharing.
Some of these improvements are already part of the MTA/NYCT operating procedures and are done by the NYCT on a continuous basis. Some of the measures which reduce congestion and improve traffic flow for both buses and general traffic are being examined by NYCDOT independent of the study.
As the City continues to grow, new development projects will provide job opportunities for low-income residents. Plans should be advanced that maximize the ability for low-income residents to obtain and access these jobs. A recent development that provides such an opportunity is the Gateway Mall in Southeast Brooklyn. Since these developments began after this study was initiated, the Gateway Mall was not one of the worksites that were analyzed for this study. However, the study team believes that this site has great promise as an employment center for the target population and warrants further investigation.