A comparison of blue- versus white-collar grievance behavior: A field assessment

This study examines the differences between blue-collar and white-collar employees with respect to grievance behavior in the work place. Specifically, the grievance-filing behavior of blue-collar and white-collar bargaining unit workers-members of the same union local-were compared with respect to number of actions, their severity, and their outcomes. Analyses of these grievances (n=604) indicated gross differences in the grievance-filing activity of these groups. These groups are, however, invariant with respect to severity or outcomes of the contested issues.     

GOVERNMENT SIZE AND GROWTH: A SURVEY AND INTERPRETATION OF THE EVIDENCE

Abstract The literature on the relationship between the size of government and economic growth is full of seemingly contradictory findings. This conflict is largely explained by variations in definitions and the countries studied. An alternative approach – of limiting the focus to studies of the relationship in rich countries, measuring government size as total taxes or total expenditure relative to GDP and relying on panel data estimations with variation over time – reveals a more consistent picture. The most recent studies find a significant negative correlation: an increase in government size by 10 percentage points is associated with a 0.5% to 1% lower annual growth rate. We discuss efforts to make sense of this correlation, and note several pitfalls involved in giving it a causal interpretation. Against this background, we discuss two explanations of why several countries with high taxes seem able to enjoy above average growth. One hypothesis is that countries with higher social trust levels are able to develop larger government sectors without harming the economy. Another explanation is that countries with large governments compensate for high taxes and spending by implementing market‐friendly policies in other areas. Both explanations are supported by ongoing research.     

Ethnic Minorities and Integration Process in France and the Netherlands: An Institutionalist Perspective

This article examines the ethnic minorities integration policies as implemented in France and the Netherlands. This study will be based on an institutionalist approach relying on North's analytical framework in order to explain the recent changes in these policies. I emphasize the existence of four patterns of social integration: reciprocity, redistribution, exchange, and coercion. I will also be insisting on the importance of ideology and the way it has evolved over time. This theoretical framework is then used to “tell the story” of the two countries. While France's historical and ideological backgrounds have forced it to adopt a universalist view and fight against communautarisme, the Dutch position was quite different as it does not deny the ethnic minorities cultural and religious freedom. Nevertheless, there is a hardening of the dominant ideology taking place in France. As to the Netherlands, there is a noticeable shift in the government's attitude toward ethnic minorities.     

Public Management Reforms and Social Cohesion in Europe: The view from the top

Drawing upon data from a survey of senior public managers in ten European countries, we examine the relationship between public management reforms and perceptions of social cohesion. We find a positive connection between reforms which treat service users as customers and government openness (outward-downward reforms), and managers’ perceptions of the civic culture and social solidarity within their countries. However, for reforms, such as privatization, with an outward-upward orientation, a negative association with social solidarity is observed. The theoretical and practical implications of our findings are discussed.     

城市绅士化进程中的公民住宅权保障

城市绅士化带来的住区隔离和贫困集中已经成为阻碍城市外来人员和低收入市民群体实现住宅权的重要因素。从国内外城市发展的经验看,绅士化现象是政府住宅与城市规划相关法律及政策实施的结果。针对城市绅士化过程中涌现的社会问题,特别是其对低收入居民住宅权的负面影响,应树立住宅权保障的理念,防范和限制政府权力对公民住宅权的侵犯,进一步明确和强化政府保障公民住宅权的责权,在普遍、和谐和包容的城市绅士化进程中保障和促进各个阶层公民住宅权的实现。     

国外地方政府执行保障性住房政策的经验及启示——以加拿大多伦多市为例

国外地方政府担负着执行保障性住房政策的重要责任,多伦多市政府在此过程中根据加拿大联邦政府、安大略省政府的政策规定,制定了加强房租补贴、倡导建房第一、设立资本周转基金、完善租赁市场环境等具体措施,呈现出多元的政策执行主体、灵活的政策执行机制、坚强的政策执行保障、丰富的政策执行手段等特点。其做法和经验给我们执行保障性住房政策在强化执行主体的政策认知、建立政策执行的保障机制、形成政策执行的社会合力、加大政策执行的宣传力度、扩大政策对象的受益范围等方面以深刻的启示。     

Considering grievance mediation

This article uses a public sector case study and a review of the social science literature on disputing processes to question assumptions made by labor relations advocates of grievance mediation. The author argues that labor policy on alternative grievance resolution processes cannot be adequately made without consideration of the specific labor-management relationship within its social context. A model is proposed to assist parties considering grievance mediation by making the social context more explicit.     

Political market failure? The effect of government unity on energy technology policy in industrialized democracies

When do governments implement technology policies that allow society to solve social problems at a lower cost? Focusing on the case of energy, we argue that in industrialized democracies, severe social problems provoke an effective technology policy response when the government is unified. A unified government can easily strike the bargains required to secure political support for new technology programs. We test this theory against data on public energy research and development (R&D) in 22 OECD countries, 1980–2006. We find that as government fractionalization increases in a country, the sensitivity of public energy R&D to wasteful energy use, which presents economic and environmental difficulties to the society, declines. The analysis reveals a new reason for ineffective technology policies and contributes to the broad literature on political market failure.     

AGRICULTURAL POLICY AS A SOCIAL ENGINEERING TOOL: A NEW JERSEY CASE STUDY

This study uses logistic regression to examine the preferences for social engineering policies in the agricultural sector in a New Jersey case study. It finds that farm operators are unlikely to support a policy allowing countries to restrict trade to pursue domestic economic and social policy goals if the policies affect international trade. In particular, it suggests that farm operators with annual gross sales including government payments between $500 000 and $999 999 are 80 percent less likely to indicate such a preference. Farm operators with advanced degrees, some college education, and a high school diploma are also unlikely to indicate such a preference. In contrast, farm operators who receive no income from farming or ranching and those who receive a percentage of family income from farming or ranching indicate that countries should be allowed to restrict trade to pursue domestic economic and social policy goals even if the policies affect international trade.     

A public choice model of the role of multinational firms in international relations

Multinational firms play a crucial role in the transmission of international policies across sovereign states. The present paper models the international policy equilibrium when conflict arises between two states, in which one state wishes to modify the policy choices of another state, and both the governments and their policy choices are subject to a self-interest maximization process on the part of voters, firms and government agents. Multinational firms are able to engage in lobbying activity in both their home countries and host countries in order to maximize firm-level profits. The analysis examines cases of both democratic and autocratic host countries.     

HOUSING CONDITIONS AND AFFORDABILITY IN HONG KONG

Housing in Hong Kong is of interest as an example of how improvements in living conditions have not kept pace with the territory's economic growth. This paper describes basic housing conditions in Hong Kong, and assesses them against the background of progress over time and within the context of housing conditions in other countries. Housing affordability is a growing problem, particularly for population groups that are marginal to the housing market. We discuss the emerging affordability crisis, especially for homeowners in the private sector, analyze the reasons behind it and review government policies to overcome the housing problems.     

Changes in Clientelism and Urban Government: A Comparative Case Study of Naples and Marseilles

This article discusses changes to political clientelism and forms of urban government in Naples and in Marseilles in the period from the 1960s to the 2000s. From a socio-historical, comparative perspective I show that, even in two Southern European cities, the expansion of political clientelism does not depend principally on cultural factors, but rather on politico-institutional processes. The generalization of clientelistic relationships and the increase in policies for redistributing resources on the basis of clientelistic criteria go hand in hand with two historical trends that were evident in the 1960s and 1970s. Those decades were a period both of demographic development and of welfare state expansion at both central and local levels, the latter leading to the distribution of public resources to growing masses of individuals and social groups. In this phase, clientelistic redistribution policies promoted the integration and the upward social mobility of sections of the middle classes and some strata of the working classes in the local and national political system. From the late 1970s and early 1980s onwards, however, these policies were less and less able to promote this upward mobility and social integration. The article ends with a favourable account of some of the new urban management policies conducted by new political leaderships.     

论重商主义对世界经济发展的影响

重商主义是西欧在资本主义兴起时期占统治地位的一种经济思想。随着民族国家的建立,西欧国家纷纷推行重商主义政策,这促进了西欧国家经济的发展,引起了世界社会发展的重大变化,并对世界经济的发展产生深远的影响。重商主义推动了资本主义的建立与发展,为工业革命的发展创造了必要条件,促进了民族资本主义强国的崛起,强化了国家对经济发展的干预。对中国经济发展的启示重大。     

中外少数民族经济发展模式比较研究

不同国家由于历史的不同,其国内民族结构也是不一样的,由此导致少数民族经济发展模式的不同。少数民族经济发展是影响民族内涵的一个重要诱因。纵观民族国家发展史,中国的少数民族经济发展模式与其他国家存在明显的不同。国外一般是强调地域而忽视民族,以地区代替民族;中国则不同,我们是先组成了多元的国家,然后通过一体的精神文化逐渐培育出了统一的中华民族,借由各民族之间的经济发展实现文化交融,最终形成中华民族共同体意识。经济动因在中国少数民族经济发展模式形成过程中,一直发挥着至关重要的作用。     

Social mix policies in Paris: discourses, policies and social effects

Since the 1980s, the issue of social mix has become a public policy category in France. Enshrined in legislation, yet remaining controversial, it represents a major premise on which housing policies have been reconfigured. The concept of social mix is essentially based on who lives where, but it is also evoked in the context of urban renewal schemes for social housing estates, as well as in relation to new-build developments. A study of the bases of social mix policies conducted in Paris since 2001 in the context of the embourgeoisement of the capital shows the fundamental role of social housing stock. The City Council has become involved in policy decisions about both the location and the allocation of social housing. Particular attention has been paid to the middle classes in the name of the principle of ‘balancing the population’. In order to measure the effects of the policy, this article relies on an analysis of two City of Paris schemes that have the stated intent of creating social mix. One of these schemes consists of redeveloping a working-class neighbourhood, Goutte d'Or, while the other involves the new acquisition of social housing in various more affluent neighbourhoods in the capital. This comparative study of the population shows that, whether in a neighbourhood poised for gentrification or in a more affluent neighbourhood, this policy has major effects on forms of local social cohesion, setting in motion individual trajectories and reshaping social and/or ethnic identities.     

A model for predicting determinants factors for NEETs rates: Support for the decision-makers

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the determining factors of the high levels of NEETs both in EU member states and in partner countries, to support policy steering and increase socio-economic cohesion. The use of longitudinal data (2005–2020) from Eurostat and World Bank databases and selected and the testing of a number of 19 factors likely to influence the rate of NEETs show us that the effectiveness of public policy solutions focused on this category of population increases when complex factors and not singular elements are targeted. From a methodological point of view, we will use MARS models and fixed effects panel models. To account for countries’ heterogeneity, these models are applied to homogeneous groups of countries, identified through cluster analysis. Social cohesion and sustainability measures for policy steering have higher chances if the action of the responsible institutions targets both meso and macro levels, if it acts not only on a factor but also on the causes that favor its manifestation. Our analysis demonstrated that the measures aimed at increasing the chances of NEETs in order to facilitate their access to education, the labor market, and social inclusion must be coordinated with those of support for combating poverty and any type of exclusion, the support given to employers (subsidizing jobs, for example), the family and the community to which the young person belongs or local authorities. Also, the research results show us that there are more common elements between countries when we analyze the factors likely to increase the rate of NEETs than when we focus on their analysis by geographical criteria, based on EU membership status or EU partner status, etc.     

Career Exploration and Perceived Employability within an Emerging Economy Context

Following four decades of unprecedented economic, social, and cultural change, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) labor market is highly segmented: The native population is almost exclusively employed in the government sector, while the private sector is effectively outsourced to foreigners. This has created an unsustainable situation with growing numbers of young citizens reaching working age and with a public sector that has reached the saturation point. Policymakers repeatedly try to legislate to encourage private‐sector employers to hire citizens. These policies have had limited success. We explored the career attitudes of 2,267 United Arab Emirates citizens prior to their entry into the labor market. Using structural equation modeling, we found that the social contract and resulting expectations toward state employment have strong implications for willingness to work in the private sector. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

20 YEARS AFTER: THE FALL AND RISE OF SOCIALISM IN EAST GERMANY

Twenty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, public opinion in East Germany is dominated by a deep hostility towards free markets and an uncritical attitude towards state intervention. This article argues that the mistakes that have been made in the economic transformation of East Germany continue to have an effect to this day. Supporters of the free economy failed to explain why the grievances people faced were not caused by allegedly 'unbridled' markets, but by false policies. Hopefully, a future reunified Korea will avoid repeating these mistakes.     

EUROPE AND CHINA: THE FATAL CONCEIT1

China's recent economic growth has been driven by an apparent acceptance by the Chinese government of many of the key insights of Hayek's economic and social thought. Current Chinese economic policies stand in stark contrast to those being pursued by the EU and many European countries, where interventionist policies of the kind Hayek predicted would lead to relative impoverishment and declining freedom are being pursued. The long‐term consequence of these two trends is likely to be the economic dominance of China over Europe in the present century.