Immigration policies in most host nations of the west have undergone significant changes in recent years. Based on the four country‐specific papers that appear in this section of the journal, and also on our own research, we present an overview of these changes and their context. In all countries, economic considerations play a central role in shaping immigration policy and greater importance is given to scientific research. Several common policy changes are noted in Australia, Canada and New Zealand which include: a shift away from a human capital focus toward more targeted selection based on labor market demand for specific skills, increased emphasis on temporary foreign worker programs, attraction of international students, an overhauling of the refugee system, and regionalization of immigration. In the U.S., while adoption of some of these changes has often surfaced in public policy and academic discussions, legalization of unauthorized migrants remains an important policy debate, with recent arguments focusing on the economic benefits of legalization.

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This paper examines the distribution of gambling dollars in Nova Scotia, Saskatchewan and Canada and studies the impact of this spending on households. We focus first on how gambling expenditures are related to the level and source of household income as well as to other demographic characteristics such as age, education, household composition, geographical area, and sources of income. Next we analyze how gambling expenditures are distributed among those households that gamble. We show how expenditure patterns differ in the intensity of gambling as measured by the proportion of household income or total amount of dollars spent on gambling. Then we study the affects that gambling has on spending on household necessities, changes in net worth, retirement savings and household debt. Finally we determine whether gambling expenditures act as a substitute or a complement to other recreational spending on entertainment products and services. Throughout the paper we offer a comparative analysis of provincial and national data.

This paper looks at the interactions between environmental and industrial restructuring within the Newfoundland and Labrador fishery and regime shifts in three main policy areas related to fisheries. Our focus is the gendered consequences of interactive restructuring across policy areas for the ability of women and men in fisheries households in Newfoundland and Labrador to make a living. The three main policy areas include fisheries management policy, Employment Insurance policy and policy related to the regulation of occupational health and workers compensation. We document important similarities in the overall pattern and outcomes of regime shift within these three policy areas and point to ways these changes have interacted with resource degradation and industrial restructuring to influence the lives and livelihoods of fishery dependent people.Cette étude porte sur l’interaction entre la restructuration environnementale et industrielle dans le secteur des pêches de Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador, et les changements de régime survenus dans trois secteurs de dépenses importants des pêches. L’étude concerne les répercussions pour les sexes de la restructuration interactive dans les secteurs de dépenses sur la capacité des femmes et des hommes des ménages de Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador qui vivent de la pêche de gagner leur vie. Les trois principaux secteurs de dépenses comprennent la politique sur la gestion des pêches, la politique sur l’assurance-emploi et la politique sur la réglementation de la santé au travail et la rémunération des travailleurs. L’étude fait état des ressemblances importantes dans la structure générale et les résultats des changements de régime dans ces trois secteurs de dépenses et indique des façons dont ces changements ont interagi avec le dépérissement des ressources et la restructuration industrielle pour influer sur la vie et le gagne-pain des personnes tributaires de la pêche

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