The Political Economy of Policy Vacuums: The European Commission on Demographic Change

ABSTRACT

Supranational organisations can only confront politico-economic issues that are recognised as important. Typically, issues gain recognition either when they provide an external shock to the system, shaking political actors into action, or when they are framed as important in policy networks concerned with developing the appropriate scientific approach. Ideally political and scientific actors align in creating pressures to recognise the issue as salient and to mobilise organisational responses. Issues differ in their capacity to be driven by both political and scientific pressures, creating crisis management, technocratic, and reform agenda outcomes. Here we explore a further variation, where pressures around an issue are insufficient, creating a policy vacuum. We examine one such policy vacuum in Europe: demographic change. This issue belongs to no particular Directorate-General in the European Commission, but is subject to policy frames from DG EMPL and DG ECFIN. Without sufficient political and scientific pressures, no particular policy position is occupied and advocated despite recognition of the issue’s importance. We discuss the role of policy vacuums and the need for their identification in political economy research.     

Recent Trends in the Size and the Distribution of Inherited Wealth in the UK

In this paper, we use HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) estate statistics and micro data from four UK household surveys to examine changes in the size, the composition and the distribution of inherited wealth in the UK over the period 1985?2010. Our findings indicate that the period under examination is characterised by a substantial increase in the flow of inheritance. This increase, which was particularly marked in the early 2000s, was mainly driven by an increase in housing inheritance, which in turn reflected the rise in house prices and, to a lesser extent, the increase in the proportion of inheritances that included housing assets. The distribution of inheritance amongst recipients became more unequal over this period. However, the inequality‐increasing effect from the greater dispersion in the distribution of inheritance was counterbalanced by the increase in the percentage of the population who received an inheritance, resulting in a small decrease in the inequality of inheritance for the population overall. Analysis of the distribution of inheritance by socio‐economic status suggests a positive association between inheritance and socio‐economic status, with some evidence suggesting that this association might have strengthened over time. Overall, however, the value of inheritance for most people is rather small and the differences across groups rather moderate.     

Downsizing and Stakeholder Orientation Among the Fortune 500: Does Family Ownership Matter?

While downsizing has been widely studied, its connection to firm ownership status and the reasons behind it are missing from extant research. We explore the relationship between downsizing and family ownership status among Fortune 500 firms. We␣propose that family firms downsize less than non-family firms, irrespective of performance, because their relationship with employees is based on normative commitments rather than financial performance alone. We suggest that their actions are related to employee- and community-friendly policies. We find that family businesses do downsize less irrespective of financial performance considerations. However, their actions are not related to their employee- or community-friendly practices. The results raise issues related to the motivations of large multinationals to␣downsize and the drivers of their stakeholder management practices. Eleni T. Stavrou is an Assistant Professor of Management and Organization at the Department of Public and Business Administration of the University of Cyprus. She received her Ph.D. in Management and Organization from George Washington University, USA. Her work has been published in various academic journals including Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, Journal of Applied Social Psychology, Journal of Organizational Behavior, Journal of Small Business Management, International Small Business Journal and Journal of European Industrial Training. Her research interests are: flexibility at work, strategic human resource management, succession planning, group and family dynamics, intergenerational transitions, and organizational culture. George I. Kassinis is an Assistant Professor of Management at the Department of Public and Business Administration of the University of Cyprus. He received his Ph.D. from Princeton University, USA. His work has been published in various academic journals including the Academy of Management Journal, Production and Operations Management and Strategic Management Journal. His research focuses on stakeholders, organizations and the natural environment, environmental management issues in services, social networks, and industrial ecology. He serves on the editorial board of Organisation Studies. Alexis Filotheou holds an MSc in Finance from the University of Cyprus and is currently employed in the private sector in Cyprus.     

Consumer food safety perceptions and self‐reported practices in Greece

A substantial proportion of foodborne illness is associated with food prepared in households. The primary understanding of how foods are handled in private homes comes mostly from questionnaire based studies and direct observation. The aim of this survey was to examine consumers' perceptions and knowledge of safe food handling practices in Greece. More specifically, their attitudes, opinions and self‐reported practices were studied. Data were collected from a total of 399 consumers living in Greece by the use of a self‐administered on‐line survey. The questionnaire consisted of four positive and five negative statements according to the 5‐point Likert scale, which grouped into three constructions using principal component analysis in order to investigate food safety perceptions of consumers. Furthermore, the survey included 11 demographic questions, two close‐ended questions (type yes/no) and four questions that are related to self‐reported food‐handling practices. The results showed that the most commonly known bacterium causing food‐related illness according to respondents' knowledge is Salmonella (99.7%), followed by Escherichia coli (73.9%) and Listeria (58.4%). The overall consumers' score concerning food safety was 32.8 ± 5.37 (full score was 45). No significant differences to the mean score of food safety knowledge were found according to gender, age or the incidence of foodborne illness over the past 12 months. Knowledge and awareness of safe food handling practices was enhanced at higher education levels, while homemakers were found to have deficiencies at this level. Information obtained from consumers can be used to shape educational programs and determine where food safety educational efforts would be most effective and the needed content of the messages.     

The determinants of retail petrol prices in Greece

The purpose of this article is to examine the relationship between retail prices of petrol, international oil prices and tax rates in Greece. We examine not only the hypothesis that retail prices act asymmetrically to crude oil price changes and the pass-through rates of tax increases, but also use the cross-sectional dimension of the data to explore whether the existence or otherwise of market power affects retail prices. Our results provide little evidence for asymmetric behaviour. However, the degree to which prices overreact to tax changes and the significance of market power across the different regions suggests that the market for petrol/diesel is not very competitive.     

Experience from a multivenue program to increase the use of car restraints in Greece

Objectives To evaluate a multivenue educational campaign aimed at increasing the use of car restraints in Greater Athens, Greece. Methods From October 1997 to June 1998, the campaign was implemented by a road safety coalition comprising 50 governmental and non-governmental organizations, while during the same period, seat belt law enforcement was not intensified. A pre-intervention survey was conducted in the summer of 1996 among the occupants of 1400 passenger cars and a post-intervention survey was carried out in the summer of 1998 (2250 cars). Both surveys followed the same protocol, focusing on the availability and use of seat belts. The data from the two surveys were modeled through multiple logistic regression. Results The odds ratio of seat belt use was significantly higher in 1998 than in 1996 (1.8 with 95% confidence interval = 1.5-2.1). Improvement was evident in highway traffic and among 25-64 year-old car occupants, but it was minimal among rear seat passengers, younger occupants, and in low-speed city and suburban traffic. There is evidence from the 1998 surveys that among front seat occupants, those travelling in larger engine capacity cars, frequently equipped with airbags, were less likely to use seat belts, whereas seat belting was more frequent among occupants of newer car models. Conclusion An education and information campaign in a Southern European country resulted in increased prevalence of seat belt use. A more intensive and sustained effort is required, however, to increase seat belt use in low-speed traffic and among rear seat occupants.     

Estimating the Euler Equation for Aggregate Investment with Endogenous Capital Depreciation

This article looks at the empirical consequences of introducing endogenous capital depreciation in the standard neoclassical model with quadratic adjustment costs. To this end, we formulate an empirical specification that accommodates capital maintenance and utilization in the Euler equations for aggregate investment. The empirical estimates with data from the Canadian Survey on Capital and Repair Expenditures show that, in contrast to the existing literature, the performance of the Euler equations is improved when we account for the impact of variable capital depreciation.     

Estimating differences in gasoline consumption among socio‐economic groups in Greece

This study presents insights into the determinants of gasoline consumption for transportation based on cross section data for Greece. Given that car ownership decisions and gasoline demand decisions are taken jointly, in the empirical analysis, we employ the two‐step Heckman approach. Quantile regression analysis is used to investigate disparities in behaviour among different levels of gasoline consumption. The empirical results report that demographic and economic characteristics specify the consumer's choices with respect to gasoline consumption. An energy conservation framework can improve upon the situation by facing consumers as socio‐economic subgroups with different transportation needs and different lifestyle aspects.     

Design of a novel adaptive inventory control system based on the online identification of lead time

In this paper, an adaptation method for the online identification of lead time is incorporated in production–inventory control systems. Based on the lead time estimate, the tuning parameters are updated in real time to improve the efficiency of the system. Combination of the adaptive scheme with a proportional control law is able to eliminate the inventory drift that appears when the actual lead time is not known in advance or when it varies with time. A detailed analysis is provided for the proposed production–inventory system, including a stability analysis and the quantification of its bullwhip effect. Several examples and comparison with state-of-the-art alternative approaches illustrate the efficiency of the system.