Do women lack ambition?

For men, ambition is considered a necessary and desirable part of life. Most women, however, associate ambition with egotism, self-aggrandizement, or manipulation. Getting to the bottom of why this is so required study of what ambition consists of--for both sexes. In childhood, the research uncovered, girls are clear about their ambitions. Their goals are grand, and they make no apologies for them. In nearly all childhood ambitions, two distinct factors are in place: the mastery of a special skill, and recognition for it. And what's true in childhood is no less true in later life: We all want our efforts and accomplishments acknowledged. Yet there are dramatic differences in how women and men create, reconfigure, and realize (or abandon) their goals. Most women are demure when praised for their achievements. One could chalk up this behavior to women's innate modesty or see it as a passive way of highlighting their accomplishments. But the fear of recognition that many women express suggests otherwise. Research has shown that such behavior varies according to social context: Women more openly seek and compete for affirmation when they are with other women, but they behave differently when competing with men. The underlying problem has to do with cultural ideals of femininity. Women face the reality that to appear feminine, they must provide or relinquish scarce resources to others--and recognition is indeed a scarce resource. Although women have more opportunities than ever before, they still come under social scrutiny that makes hard choices--such as when and whether to start a family or advance in the workplace--even harder. There are no easy solutions, but there are ways women can hold fast to their dreams. They must band together, learn to blow their own horns, and structure their lives in a way that promotes recognition.     

Cooperatives,women and political practice*

Cet article essaie d' examiner le rapport socio-culturel/politique entre l'etat et l'idéologie dominante et les nouvelles initiatives en Grande-Bretagne en matière de coopération ourvrière, notamment en ce qui concerne les femmes en situation urbaine. Il envisage les méthodes de récupération et d'interdiction d'une participation ouvrière active, et réciproquement, les conditions où la participation ouvrière change à son tour la politique de l'état et apporte des changements aux structures sociales imposées par une idéologie dominate. Il pose aussi des questions théoriques sur le fait de posséder des aptitudes, la connaissance, et l'efficacité de groupes coopératifs urbains travaillant à contre-courant de la culture dominante. De plus, au sein du cadre théorique qui entoure ces problèmes, il interroge le rapport qui existe actuellement entre la théorie universitaire et la pratique, son rapport avec les besoins de la grande masse de la population urbaine, et propose diverses formes de discussion dialectique entre ceux qui font l'expérience et ceux qui l'étudient-formes qui englobent et encouragent une pratique socialement transformatrice. Il essaie, particulièrement en ce qui concerne les femmes, de définir la façon dont la pratique coopérative, en ce qu'elle forme de nouvelles catégories et de nouveaux rapports sociaux, met en question le fondement des rôles intrasociaux que la plupart des femmes tiennent et les changements qui doivent suivre si les femmes sont appelées à jouir de la pleine participation au même titre que les hommes. The relationship between theory and practice are far more partial and fragmentary. … The relationship which holds in the application of theory is never one of resemblance. … No theory can develop without eventually encountering a wall and practice is necessary for the piercing of that wall. … A theorizing intellectual, for us, is no longer a subject, a representing or representative consciousness. … Those who act or struggle are no longer represented. Who speaks and who acts? It is always a multiplicity even within the person who speaks and acts … (Deleuze, G. in Foucault, 1977).     

The role of China in the world economy: evidence from a global VAR model

Since the 1980s, China has experienced very high economic growth, and its share in global trade has increased rapidly. Currently, however, the Chinese economy is rebalancing, and its growth is slowing. This paper investigates the spillover effects on other countries of a negative demand shock and negative stock price shock in the Chinese economy. We apply a global vector autoregressive model, which enables us to model international linkages between countries. Our results show that a one per cent negative China GDP shock reduces global growth by 0.22% in the short run. We find that GDP shock affects emerging economies more strongly than advanced economies. We also show that a stock price shock affects only emerging economies and does not affect advanced economies.     

A New Solution to the Random Assignment Problem

A random assignment is ordinally efficient if it is not stochastically dominated with respect to individual preferences over sure objects. Ordinal efficiency implies (is implied by) ex post (ex ante) efficiency. A simple algorithm characterizes ordinally efficient assignments: our solution, probabilistic serial (PS), is a central element within their set. Random priority (RP) orders agents from the uniform distribution, then lets them choose successively their best remaining object. RP is ex post, but not always ordinally, efficient. PS is envy-free, RP is not; RP is strategy-proof, PS is not. Ordinal efficiency, Strategyproofness, and equal treatment of equals are incompatible. Journal of Economic Literature Classification Numbers: C78, D61, D63.     

污染产业转移成因及政府规制探讨

产业转移是地区分工和国际分工的客观要求,但由于环境外部性内在化程度在地区间存在差异以及地方政府追求特定目标动机的存在,使得污染问题伴随产业转移而影响了转入地的生态环境.结合江苏省内产业转移现状,探讨污染产业转移的成因,认为现有政府规制方式失灵,提出了解决污染转移的新方式.     

Employer branding: Attracting and retaining talent in financial services

This study develops and investigates a framework for better understanding employer branding. More specifically, the overall purpose is to provide a deeper understanding on how employer branding is used to attract and retain talent. An extensive literature review leads to a proposed conceptual framework focusing on two key research questions: How can the relationship between corporate branding, internal branding and employer branding in service industries be described? And, How can the role of corporate values in delivering the brand promise be described? A qualitative, case study approach is used to collect data from a financial services company in Sweden. The data collected and analyzed reveals that the areas of employer, internal and corporate branding are not mutually exclusive, but instead an intertwined collection of branding issues that together form the corporation’s core values. All of this together is what allows the corporation to in turn deliver its brand(s) promise to several stakeholder groups.     

Informal Employment Dispute Resolution among Low‐Wage Non‐Union Workers: Does Managerially Initiated Workplace Voice Enhance Equity and Efficiency?

The decline of collective industrial relations has shifted the focus of industrial relations research to the study of individual employment disputes. In this article, we investigate whether employer‐initiated workplace voice is associated with improved resolution of individual complaints or grievances workers make against employers. We find that our measure of workplace voice is associated with less serious problems, more informal methods of dispute resolution, more satisfactory outcomes for workers and lower quit rates. However, these findings need to be set against generally low rates of satisfactory dispute resolution for all employees in our sample.