Добірка наукової літератури з теми "Social mobility – united states – case studies"

AbstractIn this article, we attempt to develop a conceptual framework of “ethnic capital” in order to examine the dynamics of immigrant communities. Building on the theories of social capital and the enclave economy, we argue that ethnic capital is not a thing but involves interactive processes of ethnic-specific financial capital, human capital, and social capital. We use case studies of century-old Chinatowns and emerging middle-class immigrant Chinese communities in New York and Los Angeles to illustrate how ethnic capital affects community building and transformation, which in turn influence the social mobility of immigrants. We also discuss how developments in contemporary ethnic enclaves challenge the conventional notion of assimilation and contribute to our understanding of immigrant social mobility.

Human mobility datasets collected from personal mobile device locations are integral to understanding how states, counties, and cities have collectively adapted to pervasive social disruption stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic. However, while indigenous tribal communities in the United States have been disproportionately devastated by the pandemic, the relatively sparse populations and data available in these hard-hit tribal areas often exclude them from mobility studies. We explore the effects of sparse mobility data in untangling the often inter-correlated relationship between human mobility, distancing orders, and case growth throughout 2020 in tribal and rural areas of California. Our findings account for data sparsity imprecision to show: 1) Mobility through legal tribal boundaries was unusually low but still correlated highly with case growth; 2) Case growth correlated less strongly with mobility later in the the year in all areas; and 3) State-mandated distancing orders later in the year did not necessarily precede lower mobility medians, especially in tribal areas. It is our hope that with more timely feedback offered by mobile device datasets even in sparse areas, health policy makers can better plan health emergency responses that still keep the economy vibrant across all sectors.

Abstract Mobility devices significantly enhance the activities and participation for individuals with mobility disability, particularly in the rapidly expanding population of older adults globally. This research reports patterns of mobility device use among community-dwelling older adults in the United States. Using the National Health and Aging Trends Study (NHATS) waves 1-9, data on basic demographics and mobility device use were collected in a nationally representative group of community-dwelling older adults (65+ years old). Mobility device use included canes, walkers, wheelchairs, and scooters. In a total of 47,722 person-years observed in community settings, 2,943 incident mobility device uses over an average of 3.8±3.0 years were identified among 2,591 participants, with an incidence rate of 61.7/1,000 person-year. Participants had an average age of 80.3±7.2 years, with 57.7% female, 70.2% White, 20.1% Black, and 5.7% Hispanic, and 34.6% living alone. The majority (51.3%) of incident mobility device use lasted no longer than one year, and only 18.6% continued for four or more years. The most popular combinations of mobility device types were cane only (44.3%), cane+walker (15.7%), walker only (15.1%), and walker+wheelchair (8.3%). 30.5% of community-dwelling older adults changed their patterns of mobility device use at least once, with the most common changes including cane only to cane+walker (16.4%), cane+walker to cane only (7.97%), walker only to walker+wheelchair (5.2%), and cane+walker to walker only (5.1%). Mobility device use among community-dwelling older adults is dynamic: use of mobility devices involves mostly short bouts and changes frequently, with a preference for a combination of mobility devices.

Undocumented immigration status is a structural barrier to socioeconomic mobility. The regularization of legal status may therefore promote the socioeconomic mobility of formerly undocumented immigrants. The 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program provided protection against deportation and access to work authorization for eligible undocumented immigrants who came to the United States as children. While studies using cross-sectional data find that DACA led to improved socioeconomic status, no studies have examined the socioeconomic status of DACA recipients over time and few have disaggregated among groups of DACA recipients. Drawing from one of the only longitudinal studies of DACA recipients, we use growth curve models to estimate individuals’ wage trajectories from the year prior to DACA receipt up to 77 months post-DACA receipt among Latino/a DACA participants in California. In this sample, DACA is associated with improved earnings trajectories for recipients, compared with nonrecipients. Among DACA recipients, there is variation in earnings growth by stage of the life course, as measured by age and educational attainment. Notably, DACA tenure appears to be particularly beneficial for individuals who attain DACA at earlier ages and who earn college degrees. This study contributes to our understanding of the role of immigration laws and policies in structuring immigrant integration and socioeconomic mobility in the United States.

Municipalities are concerned with addressing social issues such as mobility inclusion and safety by increasing access to transport facilities and services for all groups in society to create equitable and equal access for all citizens. Moreover, the public transportation systems provided in cities have to be inclusive and safe, driven by emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based services that provide personalized recommendation to improve mobility inclusion and safety for all citizens in society, especially vulnerable road users such as senior citizens or older people. But at the moment, there are few studies that have investigated how municipalities can provide inclusive and safe public transportation in general and for senior citizens, particularly those aged 65 and above. Therefore, this study aimed to examine how to provide inclusive and safe mobility for senior citizens to improve out-of-home mobility services for senior citizens towards age-friendly cities and communities. Accordingly, a systematic literature review grounded on secondary data was adopted to investigate inclusive and safe mobility needs for senior citizens. The data were collected from previous research and existing documents, and a descriptive data analysis was carried out to provide insights on urban transportation policies related to senior citizens. Furthermore, case studies were adopted to present polices and strategies employed in Norway, Canada, the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Sweden, and Northern Ireland to identify measures employed to address the public transportation needs of an aging society, focusing on the provision of inclusive and safe mobility to senior citizens. Further findings from this study included the possible use of emerging technologies such as AI-based machine learning for inclusive and safe mobility.

Background and Purpose. Inpatient rehabilitation in countries other than the United States (US) has been described as a time where patients are often not engaged in intensive physical activity. The purpose of this case report is to explore the amount and intensity of physical activity provided in inpatient rehabilitation after stroke in the US.Methods. This study presents a case report of a person admitted to an inpatient rehabilitation unit after sustaining a first stroke. A customized data collection tracked type of activity, activity intensity and social interaction every 5 minutes during the rehabilitation day.Results. 74 percent of the day was spent in low intensity, often seated, physical activity; 14% of the day was spent resting or sleeping. Only 2.91% the day was spent in moderate or high intensity activity with a mobility focus.Conclusions. Consistent with other studies, this case report suggests a relatively low physical demand to rehabilitation delivered in inpatient stroke rehabilitation. This case begins to raise questions about optimized rehabilitation parameters for acute stroke rehabilitation.

Abstract Beginning with the purchase of the schooner Nellie May and concluding with the docking of the schooner Ernestina in the Port of New Bedford, Cape Verdeans in southeastern New England and on the Cape Verde islands off the West African coast purchased and refurbished old, decommissioned ships from New Bedford's bygone whaling and fishing era. Between 1892 and 1965, this fleet of ships, named the Cape Verdean Packet Trade, specialized in the transportation of goods, people, and news between the United States and the Cape Verde islands. The packet trade was a large-scale effort that transformed the Atlantic into a highway for Cape Verdean trade, communication, emigration, and family reunification. Cape Verdeans’ radical repurposing of the packet vessels converted the Atlantic Ocean from a site of dispossession, enslavement, and immobility to a reimagined zone of possibility and freedom through mobility for African-descended peoples. These Cape Verdean–owned and operated packets assisted Cape Verdean Americans in maintaining long-term connections to loved ones separated by the Atlantic. In this way, the Cape Verdean Packet Trade's more than 1,200 voyages connected the United States to Cape Verde as part of a transnational social field and single economic universe for more than seventy years.

Background/Context Within the United States, wealth disparities are growing and upward social mobility is becoming increasingly difficult to attain. These trends call into question the American Dream ideology that anyone can succeed through hard work. This meritocratic ideal has traditionally been one of the unifying ideologies promoted through the public school curriculum. The topic of economic inequality, on the other hand, is largely absent from most social studies curricula. When teachers do address this issue, they tend to omit discussions of causes or potential policy solutions. Students are thus left with few resources with which to develop positions on policies related to inequality that would help them become more informed voters and contributors to public discourse on this issue. Purposes Critical pedagogy is an educational approach that aims to develop students’ sociopolitical consciousness of the world and understanding of the underlying causes of contemporary injustices such as rising economic and social inequality. We investigated whether students in classrooms using critical pedagogy might develop understandings of the roots of contemporary inequality. Setting and Participants The study took place in two U.S. History classrooms in culturally diverse public high schools in a midsized city in the Southeast. The classrooms were selected because both teachers demonstrated critical pedagogy by helping students question norms and analyze underlying causes of contemporary social and economic inequalities. Research Design We used a critical case study design with ethnographic methods to examine students’ understandings of structural causes of inequality in classrooms where they are most likely to encounter this knowledge, namely critical history classrooms. Data included 10 weeks of observations in both classrooms, classroom artifacts, in-depth interviews with 14 students, and two in-depth interviews with each teacher along with daily informal interviews. Findings/Results Students critiqued the notion of the American Dream and described ways in which certain social structures such as the judicial and educational systems reproduce social inequalities. Some pointed out how the “rags to riches” ideology precludes tax structures that might reduce economic inequality. However, many also made comments reflecting a belief that the United States is indeed a meritocracy. Conclusions/Recommendations We recommend that teachers explicitly teach the structural causes of economic inequality so that students have the language needed to understand their dual consciousness that both meritocratic elements (e.g., hard work) and non-meritocratic elements (e.g., race, family wealth) play a role in social mobility within the United States.

Recent studies have documented frequent use of female sex workers among Latino migrant men in the southeastern United States, yet little is known about the context in which sex work takes place or the women who provide these services. As anthropologists working in applied public health, we use rapid ethnographic assessment as a technical assistance tool to document local understandings of the organization and typology of sex work and patterns of mobility among sex workers and their Latino migrant clients. By incorporating ethnographic methods in traditional public health needs assessments, we were able to highlight the diversity of migrant experiences and better understand the health needs of mobile populations more broadly. We discuss the findings in terms of their practical implications for HIV/STD prevention and call on public health practitioners to incorporate the concept of mobility as an organizing principle for the delivery of health care services.

In today’s unstable and uncertain economy, middle-class and professional workers are expected to participate in employability activities, such as ongoing higher education and obtaining additional credentials. These activities are expected by employers, protect workers against layoff, and help to advance workers’ careers. In this article, we argue that the expectations of employability are increasingly being placed on lower-level workers by their employers, in partnership with educational institutions. We draw on 20 case studies of career development programs in a variety of health care settings across the United States. We found that through the development (and requirement) of credentials and partnerships with educational institutions, employers encouraged low-level employees to be continually considering their employability and career pathways. However, while the career development programs in our sample use many of the same employability practices seen among middle-class and professional workers, there were often minimal financial or educational rewards for low-level workers. Career programs that focused on established credentials (e.g. surgical technicians, registered nurses), though, were able to provide substantial upward social mobility for workers.

This study describes how some members of the Cherokee Tribe of Northeast Alabama, a state recognized community, reacts to the ways in which Native peoples are represented in the social studies curriculum of DeKalb County, Alabama. Tribal members, ages 30--80 were interviewed about their educational experiences, as well as about their perspectives on the current curriculum. Social studies curricula of this school district, as well as elsewhere in the Alabama public school system, portrays Native peoples in a negative manner, and through the interviews and an extensive analysis of the curriculum, specific examples of these negative portrayals are pinpointed. This study specifically looks at the content, language and illustrations of seven state adopted textbooks, resulting in some specific recommendations on how teachers, as well as administrators, could improve the curriculum.

This dissertation examines learning as part of social transformation in a semi-rural town in New Mexico, United States. It incorporates a focus on young people through direct work with children and observations in school and argues that each person's understanding is historically emergent from what sense they make of the events of their personal history as this unfolds over time in intersubjective relations with others. This has implications for the ways in which Hispano/a and Latino/a people living in “Bosque Verde” make sense of concepts like respect, hard work and obligation, as well as how they think about family and children's wellbeing. The ways in which people experience and understand getting older and their movements from child to adult/parent and from parent to grandparent/elder are central to this process of making sense. As people age, what they know to be true transforms, as does how they perceive the effects of social change. For people living in Bosque Verde, this includes both the experience of contemporary social and economic shifts in New Mexico and the United States, as well as how people there have made sense of social marginalisation over the past century and back into the more distant past. Parents and elders manifest historical consciousness of these transformations in part through their concerns for children and their vulnerability in an insecure and unequal world. Children, however, constitute their own ideas about family, hard work, care and respect in ways that potentially transform their meaning, as well as the possibilities of their own futures. This thesis therefore describes ‘keeping it tight' in Bosque Verde as a microhistorical process that shapes how people understand and experience social relationships over the lifetime. This process, in turn, influences how people living there make sense of the past and imagine the future for themselves and others.

The uses and management of water resources play an important role in the development of a culture and the health of its environment and population. Humans throughout history have consistently exploited rivers, which degrades water quality and leads to water scarcity. This thesis is an examination of two river restoration projects, one on the Oder River in Germany and the other on the Klamath River in the United States, that represent each country's efforts to reverse river exploitation. These cases in Germany and the United States demonstrate the importance of achieving a better understanding of the political instruments and strategies for mitigating environmental issues on a global scale.

This project utilizes a case study approach to explore the various ways in which the portrayals of gay people have changed on American television. Three contemporary programs - Will & Grace, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy and The L Word - are examined as examples of how far American television has progressed in terms of treating gay people with respect. Whether those shows move beyond merely presenting gay characters and into a level of actively challenging mainstream views on gay people is also examined. Findings suggest different factors affect the ability of the individual programs to test said views - including the genres to which each belongs, and their presence on network television (Will & Grace), basic cable (Queer Eye for the Straight Guy) or premium cable (The L Word). While all three programs show some tendencies toward queerness, they also take steps toward negotiating with mainstream culture, indicating that complete queerness may be an unattainable goal on American television.

In this qualitative investigation, the ways in which four ethnically diverse mothers' perceptions of early childhood education combined with the school experiences of their children were examined. Research tools included audiotaped interviews with Mexican-American, Korean-American, African-American, and Anglo mothers; videotaped school experiences; and a video message with a viewing guide requesting written reaction.

This dissertation will focus on how the bicycle industry dealt with a period of dwindling popularity for their product how the bicycle found redemption—as a child’s toy. The central question that will serve as the driving force of this dissertation is: Why did Americans lose interest in cycling and what can this tell us about American culture and societal ideals? By examining industry practices and American consumption of the bicycle, this dissertation will seek to understand this question by mapping changes in American culture that occurred from the 1880s-1960. It examines why Americans lost interest in cycling and what this tells us about American culture and American’s self-perceptions, as individuals and as a nation. It interrogates how Americans used the bicycle to demonstrate ideals of race, class, age, and gender and how the bicycle’s role as a status symbol changed over time. This study also considers how larger historic changes, such as urbanization, suburbanization, changes in the economy, war, and political decisions regarding the built environment affected cycling. Shifts in social and cultural norms instigated changes in the symbolic nature of the bicycle and the public’s use of it to attain and affirm socially constructed ideals. Attempts to manage the image of the bicycle in reaction to cultural changes—as well as the societal contestations and negotiations arising in response to those attempts, what they teach us, and how those lessons can be applied in a contemporary setting—drive this dissertation. This examination of cycling in the U.S. will argue that the manner in which the bicycle was marketed and designed as well as the manner in which it was consumed both relate directly to alterations in American culture. As bicycle production increased and prices fell the bicycle lost the interest of its target market—white middle-class males—and manufacturers began a series of attempts at redefining the bicycle and broadening its market. By arguing that the bicycle industry itself was culpable in the bicycle’s loss of status, this dissertation will go beyond overly simplistic arguments that fail to look beyond automobiles.

AbstractOne of the original purposes of schools in the United States was to prepare students to inherit democracy (Mann, An oration, delivered before the authorities of the City of Boston, July 4, 1842. WB Fowle and N. Capen, 1842; Krutka, 2014). Given the trends in youth civic participation over the last few decades, civic education is not effectively working to support this goal. Research has shown effective civic education practices (e.g., participatory pedagogies, an open classroom climate, service learning), but little civic education follows these suggestions (Torney-Purta et al., Citizenship and education in twenty-eight countries: Civic knowledge and engagement at age fourteen. IEA Secretariat, 2001). Further, most teachers report not having sufficient time, preparation, or resources to teach civics effectively (Hahn, Challenges to civic education in the United States. In J. Torney-Purta, J. Schwille, & J. A. Amadeo (Eds.), Civic education across countries: Twenty-four national case studies from the IEA civic education project (pp. 583–607). IEA Secretariat, 1999). Social media could provide a way for teachers to deepen their teaching of civics by making it more accessible and more relevant, and by having students engage in civic participation in real time.

Abstract Weiss-Wolf explains why the menstrual equity frame—which makes the case for an agenda that advances systemic solutions to address the societal and financial impact of menstruation—is distinct in its direct linkage to core principles of democratic participation, citizen engagement, gender parity, and economic opportunity. She describes a social movement that has coalesced in the United States and details recent policy advocacy in which momentum has been both unusually bipartisan and swift. She also shows how related tools can be leveraged—in particular, law and litigation, coupled with extensive use of traditional and social media. Finally, Weiss-Wolf concludes with a preview of policy proposals ripe for further advocacy.

AbstractThis chapter discusses the origin, spirit, objectives and methodology of this study on the surrogacy international debate. The aim of this study is to explain the politics of signification on surrogacy carried out especially by the women’s movement, verifying how it is contributing to the public discourse and policies on the subject, how it is being organized, as well as dividing, and how the proposed instances fit into global discourses and are recontextualized on the basis of social specificities. These aims are pursued through three case studies in the United States, Mexico and Italy. The key concepts of the theoretical framework of the research will also be described in this chapter, such as: the women’s movement, diagnostic and prognostic frames.

Abstract The research of a generation of economic and social historians has given us considerable insight into the occupational mobility experienced in the United States by immigrants in the first half of the nineteenth century. This work has shown that upward occupational mobility was infrequent during the careers of first-generation immigrants in the United States: no more than a third of immigrants who began their careers in the United States as unskilled workers in cities as different as Newburyport, Boston, Poughkeepsie, and South Bend were able to rise into the ranks of skilled or white collar workers, even after several decades in the United States. This poor performance seems inconsistent with the belief expressed by many immigrants that the United States was a place where economic advancement—particularly occupational mobility—was likely. This apparent paradox may result from a censoring problem in these studies: they examine immigrants’ U.S. occupations using sources such as the U.S. census, city directories, and local tax records, while immigrants were probably least likely to be enumerated in such sources in their first years in the United States. As a result, these studies may miss a great deal of occupational mobility if mobility was most likely in the first years after arrival. Even if occupational mobility was genuinely infrequent among recent arrivals, immigrants’ optimism may have been justified if some of those observed as white collar, skilled workers, or farmers in the United States had been unskilled workers before they left Europe. To see whether either of these is the case, we need to know how immigrants’ postmigration occupations changed as their time in the United States increased, and how their premigration and postmigration occupations compared.

Hogan and Ortiz sum up the reality that social and political fabric has broken for all but the wealthiest in the United States over the last three decades and to remind readers that we wrote the book to provide readers with tools, historical case studies, and examples from struggles past and present that provide pathways to building the kind of solidarity needed to mobilize people power and take our country back.

Abstract Using a multidisciplinary approach, this chapter examines how Tandas (ROSCA) and cooperativas (cooperatives) are part of a system of social purpose business arrangements of mutual aid and group economics that assist in the integration of precarious immigrants to the United States. Historical political dynamics have set legal restrictions limiting the legal migration of people from Latin America to the United States; hence, vulnerable working-class Latin American immigrants entering the United States to work arrive into racialized economic environments where they are forced to function as full participants in society via direct engagement in the informal and gig economy. This chapter examines two case studies of indigenous Latin American immigrants organizing their social capital to bring together economic resources, in the form of formal community worker-owned cooperativas or under informal financial arrangements called Tandas that help them survive and integrate into local communities. Cooperativas and Tandas support community-based entrepreneurship that aids undocumented immigrants in their economic survival and integration. Immigrants of indigenous backgrounds have a long history of pooling economic resources to finance their activities outside the formal economy. Theories of immigrant integration combined with an analysis of racial capitalist theory help explain how capitalism and racism intertwined create an environment of limited resources that truncate social and economic mobility for poor Black and brown immigrants entering local US urban communities. Faced with limited options for economic survival, these immigrants tap into their collectives and cultural support systems to survive and develop their livelihoods in American business and society.

Following World War II, as America grappled with the cultural revolution of the 1950s and 60s and defining its identity domestically and on the world stage, a core tenet of American life bubbled to the surface of political, social, and aesthetic discourse: privacy. Once the revelry of the Allies’ win in the World War cooled into the precarity of the Cold War, American democracy and the culture it afforded its citizens were positioned and advertised, first and foremost, in opposition to the totalitarian government and culture of the Soviet Union. In her book Pursuing Privacy in Cold War America (2002), American literature scholar Deborah Nelson attributes the eulogizing of privacy that emerged in Cold War America to heightened national security discourse and the accompanying fear of the Eastern Bloc.1 The trajectory of American life would be forever shaped by this discourse, and nowhere is its lasting influence more evident than in two layers of American infrastructure: law and the built environment. Conceptually, privacy presents a straightforward notion, so much so that it’s often defined and understood in a binary condition: that which is not public. However, the public versus private dichotomy quickly dissolves when presented in legal and architectural contexts. Perhaps surprisingly, the word privacy does not appear in the United States Constitution and, thus, has not always been a guar-anteed, fundamental right. Privacy was first acknowledged as a right bestowed in America’s founding documents in the U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) case of Griswold v. Connecticut (1965). This case granted married couples the right to use contraception on the grounds that this was within the confines of their private lives and not to be meddled with by the government. Justice William Douglas wrote for the Court’s majority: “Specific guarantees in the Bill of Rights have penumbras, formed by emanations from those guarantees that help give them life and substance. Various guarantees create zones of privacy.”2 Exceedingly spatial in this description, these shadowy zones of implied privacy rights can be located in the First, Third, Fourth, Ninth, or Fourteenth Amendments, or some combination therein, depending on constitutional interpretation. In the discipline of architecture, where we construct and delineate private and public spaces, it’s worth mapping the evolution of legal privacy with the evolution of private space. Where do these zones of privacy exist spatially, and how are they occupied? How can we begin to characterize the role of architecture, past and present, as good or bad, antagonistic or protective, and as an active player in this discourse? Using digital modeling and imaging tools, Corpus Comunis assembles and excavates material from a lineage of seven Supreme Court cases from 1965 to 2022 to establish a cohesive visual language through which we can speculate on how law and architecture together have, and may continue to, define the extents of our private, interior lives.

As U.S. states are planning and designing for future nationwide and regional high-speed rail (HSR) services, an important issue to consider is where to locate stations. Station location determination is critical not only because it influences the perceived utility of the HSR services and can greatly influence ridership, but also due to its impact upon the local and regional transportation mobility, land use, and urban economic development. The main purpose of this paper is to provide information to HSR planners, engineers, and decision-makers in the U.S. on the practices of other countries in locating HSR stations. This paper examines HSR stations in several of the earliest countries which built HSR infrastructures: France, Spain, and Japan, to analyze how HSR station locations were selected, as well as the applicability of those methodologies in the planning process for the United States.

The purpose of this overview is to give a short introduction to the ideas and activities of nineteenth-century American pragmatism theory for a philosophy conference at the BEN Science Institute in Bulgaria. Pragmatism is a philosophical theory that sees thought as a tool and device for predicting, solving problems and planning action. The philosophy of pragmatism addresses the practical consequences of ideas by examining them in the light of human experience, so that the truth of a claim is determined by practical results and the utility it serves. Pragmatism began in the United States around 1870 by Charles S. Pierce. In addition to Peirce, philosophers such as William James and John Dewey who were members of the “Metaphysical Club” held at Cambridge University in the late 19th century (where the theory was formulated) helped to develop its principles. By reviewing the theory of pragmatism, we must concentrate on the Pragmatic Maxim, the rule for clarifying ideas, which for both Peirce and James, was the core of pragmatism. Another important idea in the theory is Skepticism and fallibilism. This idea claims, according to Pierce, that we should try to doubt propositions and keep them only if they are with absolutely certainty and there is no way to doubt them. The test of certainty, as Peirce points out, lies in the individual mind: trial by doubt is something each must do for himself, and the examination of our beliefs is guided by reflection on hypothetical possibilities: we cannot trust our perceptual beliefs. For example, because we cannot rule out the possibility that they were created by a dream or by evil scientists manipulating our minds. The more we try to avoid errors, the more likely we are to miss truths; And the more effort we put into searching for truths, the more likely we are to introduce errors. The doubt method may make sense in the special case where enormous weight is given to avoiding mistakes, even if it means losing truth. Once we recognize that we are making a practical decision about the relative importance of two good options, the Cartesian strategy no longer seems the only rational one. Inquiry, as already suggested, is pragmatic accounts of the normative standards to which we must act in arriving at beliefs about the world cast in terms of how we can conduct inquiries in a disciplined, self-controlled manner. That is, our ability to think about external things and constantly improve our understanding of them is based on our experience. It would be wrong to conclude that pragmatism is limited to the United States or that the only important pragmatist thinkers were Peirce, James, and Dewey. Richard Rorty has described his philosophy as “pragmatist” on several occasions - what pragmatists teach us about truth, he tells us, is that there is nothing very systematic or constructive to say about truth at all.

The METROPOLE Project is an international collaboration between Brazil, the United Kingdom, and the United States designed to evaluate local decision making processes and to provide feedback to local urban managers on possible actions toward adaption to sea level rise (SLR). The goal of the project is to help coastal communities better understand factors that facilitate or hinder their intrinsic, local decision-making processes related to planning for adaptation to risk. The test used case sea level rise to develop case studies on long-term planning by local government and society as a means to gauge the of municipalities in different settings to address possible future risks. The framework was designed by an interdisciplinary team that incorporated social and natural scientists from these three nations, and which included local government officials. This paper focuses on some of the factors that affect decision-making in the coastal city of Santos, in the state of Sao Paulo in southeastern Brazil, and provides insight on possible actions that a coastal city, such as Santos, can do to prepare for impacts of SLR.

The METROPOLE Project is an international collaboration between Brazil, the United Kingdom, and the United States designed to evaluate local decision making processes and to provide feedback to local urban managers on possible actions toward adaption to sea level rise (SLR). The goal of the project is to help coastal communities better understand factors that facilitate or hinder their intrinsic, local decision-making processes related to planning for adaptation to risk. The test used case sea level rise to develop case studies on long-term planning by local government and society as a means to gauge the of municipalities in different settings to address possible future risks. The framework was designed by an interdisciplinary team that incorporated social and natural scientists from these three nations, and which included local government officials. This paper focuses on some of the factors that affect decision-making in the coastal city of Santos, in the state of Sao Paulo in southeastern Brazil, and provides insight on possible actions that a coastal city, such as Santos, can do to prepare for impacts of SLR.

The increasing movement of people and products caused by modern economic dynamics has burdened transportation systems. Both industrialized and developing countries have faced transportation problems in urbanized regions and in their major intercity corridors. Regional and highway congestion have become a chronic problem, causing longer travel times, economic inefficiencies, deterioration of the environment and quality of life. Congestion problems are also occurring at airports and air corridors, with similar negative effects. In the medium distance travel market (from 160 up to 800 km), too far to drive and too short to fly, High Speed Rail (HSR) technology has emerged as a modern transportation system, as it is the most efficient means for transporting large passenger volumes with high speed, reliability, safety, passenger comfort and environmental performance. HSR system’s feasibility will depend on its capacity to generate social benefits (i.e. increased mobility rates, reduced congestion, capacity increase and reduced environmental costs), to be balanced with the high construction, maintenance and operational costs. So, it is essential to select HSR corridors with strong passenger demands to maximize these benefits. The first HSR line was Japan’s Shinkansen service, a dedicated HSR system, between Tokyo and Osaka, launched in 1964, which is currently the most heavily loaded HSR corridor in the world. France took the next step, launching the Train à Grande Vitesse (TGV), in 1981, with a dedicated line with shared-use segments in urban areas, running between Paris and Lyon. Germany joined the venture in the early 1990 with the Inter City Express – ICE, with a coordinated program of improvements in existent rail infrastructure and Spain, in 1992, with the Alta Velocidad Espanola – AVE, with dedicated greenfield lines. Since then, these systems have continuously expanded their network. Currently, many countries are evaluating the construction of new HSR lines, with European Commission deeming the expansion of the Trans European Network as a priority. United Kingdom, for example, has just awarded construction contracts for building the so called HS2, an HSRexpanded line linking London to the northern territory. China, with its dynamic economic development, has launched its HSR network in 2007 and has sped up working on its expansion, and currently holds the highest HSR network. United States, which currently operates high speed trainsets into an operationally restricted corridor (the so called Northeast Corridor (NEC), linking Washington, New York and Boston), has also embarked into the high speed rail world with the launch of Californian HSR Project, currently under construction, aimed to link Los Angeles to San Francisco mega regions, the ongoing studies for Texas HSR project, to connect Dallas to Houston, into a wholly privately funding model, as well as studies for a medium to long term NEC upgrade for HSR. Australia and Brazil are also seeking to design and launch their first HSR service, into a time consuming process, in which a deep discussion about social feasibility and affordability is under way. This work is supposed to present an overview of HSR technology worldwide, with an assessment of the main technical, operational and economical features of Asian and European HSR systems, followed by a snapshot of the general guidelines applied to some planned HSR projects, highlighting their demand attraction potential, estimated costs, as well as their projected economic and environmental benefits.

We review case studies of stakeholder participation in the environmental cleanup of radioactive wastes in the United States, Japan and United Kingdom (e.g., [21,26,27,66,78]). Citizen participation programs in these three countries are at different stages: mature in the US, starting in Japan, and becoming operational in the UK. The US issue at the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina (SC) had been focused on citizens encouraging Federal (DOE; US Environmental Protection Agency, or EPA; and the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, or NRC) and State (SC’s Department of Health and Environmental Compliance, or DHEC) agencies to pursue “Plug-in-RODs” at SRS to simplify the regulations to accelerate closing seepage basins at SRS. In Japan, the Reprocessing of spent fuel and deep geological disposal of vitrified high-level waste have been among Japan’s priorities. A reprocessing plant in Rokkasho, Aomori Prefecture is expected to commence operations in October 2010. The search of a site for a deep geological disposal facility has been ongoing since 2002. But the direct engagement of stakeholders has not occurred in Japan. Indirectly, stakeholders attempt to exert influence on decision-making with social movements, local elections, and litigation. In the UK, the issue is gaining effective citizen participation with the UK’s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA). We hope that the case studies from these countries may improve citizen participation.

Abstract The Automated People Mover (APM) technology has been systematically used to handle increasing airport local passenger demands and for connecting transit systems, into short rides, with medium capacity vehicles (up to 300 passengers per ride), short headways (up to 60 seconds), and, hence, with a high service level. The APM technology enables the use of the decentralized passenger terminals layout, required for large capacity airports, in order to ensure its operational feasibility, through the safe integration of remote located passenger concourses, as well as assuring reasonable walking distances (up to 300m/1,000 ft) to both airport terminals (passenger boarding, transfers and connections), parking facilities and transit system connections. The APM can be classified as an advanced transportation system, which uses driverless automated, operating on fixed guideways (single or multicar trains) along an exclusive right-of-way (RoW), on steel or concrete guideways, with capacities ranging from 1,000 to 16,000 passengers per hour direction (pphd), with the ability to operate in an on demand mode, especially during off-peak hours, to minimize the energy used, as well as a ride quality comparable with the best of any transit system. The APM vehicles are electric-powered, rubber tired, steel wheeled or air cushion suspended, as well as tractioned by onboard electric motors, drawn by cables or pneumatically driven, with different guiding, switching, and control concepts, depending on the technology adopted. The APM technology was firstly implemented in the United States (U.S.), at the Tampa International Airport, in the early 70’s, followed by other systems in other U.S. and North American airports, as a tool to address the increasing walking distances, caused by the passenger terminals growing, required to accommodate the large passenger traffic. In the late 80’s and early 90’s, the APM technology was also introduced in Asia and Europe for both airports and amusement parks, while in the early 2000’s, in Latin America, for both airports and transit systems. This work presents an overview of the APM technology, in a review format, based on the available technical literature, followed by an assessment of the APM’s technical and operational features, associated with the different technologies. It also reports some case studies of the main APM systems worldwide and ongoing projects to be implemented.

This study aims to explore the idea of sustainable transportation in the United States, China, Canada, and South Korea. Sustainable transportation has an essential role in developing a sustainable city that pays attention to an effectiveness-oriented transportation system that impacts the economy, the environment, and the quality of social life. The selection of case studies in four countries motivated the top four countries from the keywords sustainable transportation. This study uses a bibliometric analysis method using data sources from 306 articles (Scopus). The data search was carried out using the keyword "sustainable transportation" from 2012-to 2022. The highest number of research trends in the United States is 166 articles; China has 102 pieces, Canada has 46 papers, and South Korea has 26 articles. The data analysis stage was carried out using the Vos Viewer and Nvivo 12 Plus software. The results show that each country has a different focus measured from three aspects: planning, information, and investment. Planning factors include types of transportation, routes, costs, carbon emissions, and applications. The information aspect consists of estimation, trip, and performance. The investment aspect includes current demands and issues to shape future policies. Development strategy Sustainable Transportation in the planning stage only focuses on the use of vehicle emissions. In contrast, in the information aspect, it focuses on travel modes, then in the investment aspect, there is no attention to future policies related to issues that occur today. In the planning part of Sustainable Transportation, China has a varied focus, such as the type of transportation used, emissions, and the route used for transportation. In contrast, the Chinese state has not paid attention to this focus on the information and investment aspects. Meanwhile, Canada and South Korea have not focused on planning, information, and investment aspects. From these findings, it is hoped that it can provide input for various countries to pay more attention to these aspects to achieve sustainable transportation in smart cities. The concept of sustainable transportation is also helpful for achieving SDG's 11th goal.

<p>Suspension bridges generate critical transportation and trade links in areas requiring the spanning of large obstacles. Such structures are, by nature of their scale, highly utilized and rarely redundant from a transportation network perspective. As such, the reliable maintenance of long-span bridges is of eminent importance. Various hazards have been well-quantified, namely earthquakes, high wind events, and, more recently, corrosion to critical structural members. However, to date, the hazard of fire on suspension bridges, stemming both from the environment (e.g. wild fires) or vehicles (e.g. car and truck fires), remains poorly understood. Building codes consequently fail to address this hazard, on both the load and resistance sides of the equation. We present here a thorough survey of suspension bridge fire incidents in the United States of America, focusing specifically on parameters such as location, duration, intensity, height of the fire and damage caused thereby. The data integrates often sparse event logs of bridge owners with forensic analyses of the various events using photogrammetry and videogrammetry of professional and social media footage. The incidents are then categorized with respect to the danger posed to the structure. A set of case studies are presented to detail the investigation method. The goal of the final database is to effectively quantify the hazard of fire on suspension bridges such that appropriate actions may be taken by owners and authorities to protect their infrastructure.</p>

Migration and displacement related to climate change have received increasing attention in the media, in research and among policymakers in recent years. A range of studies have produced extremely concerning statistics and forecasts about the potential scale of migration and displacement due to climate change now and in the future. For example, the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre calculated that in 2019 alone almost 25 million people were displaced by disasters such as floods and tropical storms – three times the number displaced by conflict and violence (IDMC 2020a). The World Bank’s 2018 Groundswell report estimated that, if substantial climate change mitigation and development measures are not taken, slow-onset climate impacts could displace as many as 143 million people in just three world regions, or 55 percent of the developing world’s population, by 2050 (Rigaud et al. 2018). These kinds of figures have been widely reported and drive the prevailing narrative in media and policy debates that climate change will lead to mass migration and displacement, which, in turn, can lead to conflict. There is empirical evidence that rising temperatures, leading to disasters and slow-onset impacts such as drought or sea-level rise are already playing a role in setting people across the world on the move, and these numbers are likely to increase as climate change impacts intensify (UNINE n.d.; IOM’s GMDAC 2020). However, the links between climate change, migration, displacement and conflict are complex, and vary widely between contexts. The growing community of research on this topic has warned that, without an adequate understanding of the pathways of mobility, predictions of millions of climate migrants and displaced people can cast responses in alarmistic and counter-productive tones (Flavell et al. 2020). Policy on displacement, migration and climate change can therefore profit from investing in fine-grained analyses of the different factors shaping human mobility, and using them to support the development of effective responses that address the needs of migrants, as well as their home and destination communities. Along these lines, this paper examines the interaction between biophysical climate impacts, migration, displacement and (in)security. It aims to go beyond the prevailing narratives to better understand the different ways in which mobility can serve as an adaptive strategy to climate- and conflict-related risks and vulnerabilities. It also aims to assess how effective mobility is as an adaptation strategy and will continue to be in light of other stresses, including the COVID-19 pandemic. The analysis focuses on two case studies, Bangladesh and Central Asia, each presenting different human mobility pathways. It adopts a diversity lens to consider how the success/effectiveness of mobility strategies is sensitive to the position of individuals in society and the opportunities they have. It also considers how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting the ability of climate-vulnerable populations to use mobility as an effective adaptation strategy, considering movement restrictions, increased unemployment in cities, reduced opportunities for seasonal work (e.g. in the agriculture sector), return migration and impacts on remittance flows. In conclusion, the paper makes recommendations to inform governments in countries of origin and international development and humanitarian policies and programmes in relation to mobility and climate change/security, including those of the EU and EU member states. Firstly, climate-induced mobility should be included in and addressed through broader adaptation and development efforts, for example building urban infrastructure, promoting nature-based adaptation, and ensuring adequate social protection and education. Policies and legal frameworks on migration and displacement in countries of origin should also be strengthened, ensuring the coordination between existing policies at all levels. Global cooperation will be essential to build international standards. And finally, all programming should be supported by an improved knowledge base on climate-induced migration and displacement, including gender- and age- disaggregated data.

This paper reviews evidence on social mobility in Latin America. Several studies have used data sets that collect intergenerational socio economic information. The data, though limited, suggest that social mobility is low in the region, even when compared with low social mobility developed countries like the United States and United Kingdom, with high levels of immobility at the lower and upper tails of the income distribution. While Latin America has improved education mobility in recent decades, which may have translated into higher mobility for younger cohorts, the region still presents, except for Chile, lower education mobility than in developed countries. The paper also reviews studies on the main determinants of the regions low levels of social mobility, including social exclusion, low access to higher education, and labor market discrimination.

In recent years, Latin American and Caribbean countries (LAC) have modernized their public procurement systems and have been able to increase the efficiency and effectiveness in the use of public resources through new practices and technologies to promote greater competitiveness. The award decision based solely on price to ensure efficiency has also evolved into amulticriteria approach to include, beyond price, quality and sustainability criteria (economic, environmental, and social). Through this study, the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) contributes to the dialogue in LAC to promote the use of new public procurement procedures and practices. The study presents four innovative cases of procurement practices used in the region. These are inspired in practices in other regions, such as Europe and the United States. This study identifies some trends in public procurement procedures, which promote more flexible contracting frameworks in order to incorporate additional methods based on a broader approach of Value for Money in accordance with the principles of transparency, efficiency, economy, integrity and fairness. Innovation in public procurement contributes towards the achievement of development goals in the region.

This study examines the transformative influence of the rapidly growing Latino and Caribbean community in the United States, both as a demographic and an economic powerhouse. Accounting for nearly one in five U.S. residents, this community is reshaping the nation's social, economic, and cultural landscapes. In 2019 alone, the economic output of Latinos in the U.S. was $2.7 trillion, marking them as a global economic force. The report highlights the community's role in enhancing trade and economic relations with Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), including its influence on foreign direct investment (FDI) and diaspora direct investment (DDI). Remittances to LAC countries remain strong, further solidifying economic ties. Culturally and politically, the Latino and Caribbean community is becoming mainstream in the U.S., as evidenced by its growing impact on music, food, and voter participation. The study includes case studies from Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, and New York to underline the community's diverse contributions across various sectors. In summary, the Latino and Caribbean community is not just growing in numbers but is a formidable force that is shaping the U.S. and strengthening its international ties with LAC. This growth presents numerous opportunities for both domestic and international economic and cultural collaborations.

This report critically examines the nature of the distinction between traditional inter-state diplomacy and sustainable development diplomacy. It then sets out the institutional changes which are necessary for the achievement of sustainable development diplomacy. Multi-stakeholder partnerships have been identified as a key means of implementation for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Given the increasing centrality of the United States (US)–China relationship in global development cooperation, understanding the modalities of their engagement may provide useful insights into how partnerships may be cultivated and deepened to realise the SDGs. The Covid-19 pandemic and climate change have demonstrated the interconnection of the world, as well as the interconnection of challenges of the world. Sustainable development diplomacy is needed now more than ever to prioritise development strategies of different states and work on common shared challenges. Sustainable development diplomacy can only work when different actors recognise the value of the common goals and are willing to make an effort to accomplish them. Global sustainable development diplomacy requires a stronger policy agenda and greater cohesion. This report explores the idea of sustainable development diplomacy and, through two sectoral case studies, explores the nature, function, and rationale for interactive engagement. The form and structure of multi-actor relationships are a response to complex, trans-border political, social, economic, and environmental challenges which require a more nuanced and varied management approach than narrowly defined state-led development. However, the power dynamics, the modalities, and experiences of engagement that underpin these dynamic relationships, remain understudied, especially with regard to their impact on sustainable development.

Macroeconomic summary Several factors contributed to an increase in projected inflation on the forecast horizon, keeping it above the target rate. These included inflation in December that surpassed expectations (5.62%), indexation to higher inflation rates for various baskets in the consumer price index (CPI), a significant real increase in the legal minimum wage, persistent external and domestic inflationary supply shocks, and heightened exchange rate pressures. The CPI for foods was affected by the persistence of external and domestic supply shocks and was the most significant contributor to unexpectedly high inflation in the fourth quarter. Price adjustments for fuels and certain utilities can explain the acceleration in inflation for regulated items, which was more significant than anticipated. Prices in the CPI for goods excluding food and regulated items also rose more than expected. This was partly due to a smaller effect on prices from the national government’s VAT-free day than anticipated by the technical staff and more persistent external pressures, including via peso depreciation. By contrast, the CPI for services excluding food and regulated items accelerated less than expected, partly reflecting strong competition in the communications sector. This was the only major CPI basket for which prices increased below the target inflation rate. The technical staff revised its inflation forecast upward in response to certain external shocks (prices, costs, and depreciation) and domestic shocks (e.g., on meat products) that were stronger and more persistent than anticipated in the previous report. Observed inflation and a real increase in the legal minimum wage also exceeded expectations, which would boost inflation by affecting price indexation, labor costs, and inflation expectations. The technical staff now expects year-end headline inflation of 4.3% in 2022 and 3.4% in 2023; core inflation is projected to be 4.5% and 3.6%, respectively. These forecasts consider the lapse of certain price relief measures associated with the COVID-19 health emergency, which would contribute to temporarily keeping inflation above the target on the forecast horizon. It is important to note that these estimates continue to contain a significant degree of uncertainty, mainly related to the development of external and domestic supply shocks and their ultimate effects on prices. Other contributing factors include high price volatility and measurement uncertainty related to the extension of Colombia’s health emergency and tax relief measures (such as the VAT-free days) associated with the Social Investment Law (Ley de Inversión Social). The as-yet uncertain magnitude of the effects of a recent real increase in the legal minimum wage (that was high by historical standards) and high observed and expected inflation, are additional factors weighing on the overall uncertainty of the estimates in this report. The size of excess productive capacity remaining in the economy and the degree to which it is closing are also uncertain, as the evolution of the pandemic continues to represent a significant forecast risk. margin, could be less dynamic than expected. And the normalization of monetary policy in the United States could come more quickly than projected in this report, which could negatively affect international financing costs. Finally, there remains a significant degree of uncertainty related to the duration of supply chocks and the degree to which macroeconomic and political conditions could negatively affect the recovery in investment. The technical staff revised its GDP growth projection for 2022 from 4.7% to 4.3% (Graph 1.3). This revision accounts for the likelihood that a larger portion of the recent positive dynamic in private consumption would be transitory than previously expected. This estimate also contemplates less dynamic investment behavior than forecast in the previous report amid less favorable financial conditions and a highly uncertain investment environment. Third-quarter GDP growth (12.9%), which was similar to projections from the October report, and the fourth-quarter growth forecast (8.7%) reflect a positive consumption trend, which has been revised upward. This dynamic has been driven by both public and private spending. Investment growth, meanwhile, has been weaker than forecast. Available fourth-quarter data suggest that consumption spending for the period would have exceeded estimates from October, thanks to three consecutive months that included VAT-free days, a relatively low COVID-19 caseload, and mobility indicators similar to their pre-pandemic levels. By contrast, the most recently available figures on new housing developments and machinery and equipment imports suggest that investment, while continuing to rise, is growing at a slower rate than anticipated in the previous report. The trade deficit is expected to have widened, as imports would have grown at a high level and outpaced exports. Given the above, the technical staff now expects fourth-quarter economic growth of 8.7%, with overall growth for 2021 of 9.9%. Several factors should continue to contribute to output recovery in 2022, though some of these may be less significant than previously forecast. International financial conditions are expected to be less favorable, though external demand should continue to recover and terms of trade continue to increase amid higher projected oil prices. Lower unemployment rates and subsequent positive effects on household income, despite increased inflation, would also boost output recovery, as would progress in the national vaccination campaign. The technical staff expects that the conditions that have favored recent high levels of consumption would be, in large part, transitory. Consumption spending is expected to grow at a slower rate in 2022. Gross fixed capital formation (GFCF) would continue to recover, approaching its pre-pandemic level, though at a slower rate than anticipated in the previous report. This would be due to lower observed GFCF levels and the potential impact of political and fiscal uncertainty. Meanwhile, the policy interest rate would be less expansionary as the process of monetary policy normalization continues. Given the above, growth in 2022 is forecast to decelerate to 4.3% (previously 4.7%). In 2023, that figure (3.1%) is projected to converge to levels closer to the potential growth rate. In this case, excess productive capacity would be expected to tighten at a similar rate as projected in the previous report. The trade deficit would tighten more than previously projected on the forecast horizon, due to expectations of an improved export dynamic and moderation in imports. The growth forecast for 2022 considers a low basis of comparison from the first half of 2021. However, there remain significant downside risks to this forecast. The current projection does not, for example, account for any additional effects on economic activity resulting from further waves of COVID-19. High private consumption levels, which have already surpassed pre-pandemic levels by a large margin, could be less dynamic than expected. And the normalization of monetary policy in the United States could come more quickly than projected in this report, which could negatively affect international financing costs. Finally, there remains a significant degree of uncertainty related to the duration of supply chocks and the degree to which macroeconomic and political conditions could negatively affect the recovery in investment. External demand for Colombian goods and services should continue to recover amid significant global inflation pressures, high oil prices, and less favorable international financial conditions than those estimated in October. Economic activity among Colombia’s major trade partners recovered in 2021 amid countries reopening and ample international liquidity. However, that growth has been somewhat restricted by global supply chain disruptions and new outbreaks of COVID-19. The technical staff has revised its growth forecast for Colombia’s main trade partners from 6.3% to 6.9% for 2021, and from 3.4% to 3.3% for 2022; trade partner economies are expected to grow 2.6% in 2023. Colombia’s annual terms of trade increased in 2021, largely on higher oil, coffee, and coal prices. This improvement came despite increased prices for goods and services imports. The expected oil price trajectory has been revised upward, partly to supply restrictions and lagging investment in the sector that would offset reduced growth forecasts in some major economies. Elevated freight and raw materials costs and supply chain disruptions continue to affect global goods production, and have led to increases in global prices. Coupled with the recovery in global demand, this has put upward pressure on external inflation. Several emerging market economies have continued to normalize monetary policy in this context. Meanwhile, in the United States, the Federal Reserve has anticipated an end to its asset buying program. U.S. inflation in December (7.0%) was again surprisingly high and market average inflation forecasts for 2022 have increased. The Fed is expected to increase its policy rate during the first quarter of 2022, with quarterly increases anticipated over the rest of the year. For its part, Colombia’s sovereign risk premium has increased and is forecast to remain on a higher path, to levels above the 15-year-average, on the forecast horizon. This would be partly due to the effects of a less expansionary monetary policy in the United States and the accumulation of macroeconomic imbalances in Colombia. Given the above, international financial conditions are projected to be less favorable than anticipated in the October report. The increase in Colombia’s external financing costs could be more significant if upward pressures on inflation in the United States persist and monetary policy is normalized more quickly than contemplated in this report. As detailed in Section 2.3, uncertainty surrounding international financial conditions continues to be unusually high. Along with other considerations, recent concerns over the potential effects of new COVID-19 variants, the persistence of global supply chain disruptions, energy crises in certain countries, growing geopolitical tensions, and a more significant deceleration in China are all factors underlying this uncertainty. The changing macroeconomic environment toward greater inflation and unanchoring risks on inflation expectations imply a reduction in the space available for monetary policy stimulus. Recovery in domestic demand and a reduction in excess productive capacity have come in line with the technical staff’s expectations from the October report. Some upside risks to inflation have materialized, while medium-term inflation expectations have increased and are above the 3% target. Monetary policy remains expansionary. Significant global inflationary pressures and the unexpected increase in the CPI in December point to more persistent effects from recent supply shocks. Core inflation is trending upward, but remains below the 3% target. Headline and core inflation projections have increased on the forecast horizon and are above the target rate through the end of 2023. Meanwhile, the expected dynamism of domestic demand would be in line with low levels of excess productive capacity. An accumulation of macroeconomic imbalances in Colombia and the increased likelihood of a faster normalization of monetary policy in the United States would put upward pressure on sovereign risk perceptions in a more persistent manner, with implications for the exchange rate and the natural rate of interest. Persistent disruptions to international supply chains, a high real increase in the legal minimum wage, and the indexation of various baskets in the CPI to higher inflation rates could affect price expectations and push inflation above the target more persistently. These factors suggest that the space to maintain monetary stimulus has continued to diminish, though monetary policy remains expansionary. 1.2 Monetary policy decision Banco de la República’s board of directors (BDBR) in its meetings in December 2021 and January 2022 voted to continue normalizing monetary policy. The BDBR voted by a majority in these two meetings to increase the benchmark interest rate by 50 and 100 basis points, respectively, bringing the policy rate to 4.0%.