The impact of branding on low‐income adolescents: A vicious cycle?

This study examines the impact of consumerism and consumer culture on low‐income British adolescents. Specifically, it investigates the effects of branding and advertising on the formation of selfconcept clarity (SCC) and consumer susceptibility to interpersonal influence (CSII). A comparative study was conducted between two groups, low‐ and high‐income teenagers, assessing SCC and CSII by means of quantitative scales. It was found that low‐income teenagers are less clear in their self‐concept and are more susceptible to interpersonal influence than their high‐income counterparts. A significant negative correlation between the two scales revealed that the less clear one's self‐concept is, the more susceptible one is to interpersonal influence. It is proposed that an inability to “keep up” with the latest fashion trends (due to restricted consumption opportunities) may result in a damaged self‐concept among low‐income teenagers, which leads to heightened susceptibility to consumption pressures and hence heightens the negative socio‐psychological impacts of living in poverty. The results of the study are reviewed in terms of branding, advertising, and consumer behavior and a proposed conceptual model of branding's impact on low‐income teenagers is presented as a “vicious cycle.” © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Einkommensschwache Personen: die jüngere Entwicklung in Deutschland

The article examines the structure and development of persons in low income households in Germany from 2011 to 2016. Low income is operationalised as a fixed percentage of median income of all households, similar to the EU’s risk of poverty definition. The low income population rose to 16 per cent in this period but this was the result of increasing average incomes. Above average levels of low income are seen in Eastern Germany and in the migrant population. Employed and retired persons are less affected than the unemployed or students. The increase in the numbers of low income households is mainly due to an increase in the number of migrants. The number of “poor” students has also increased.     

Paraguay

Summary

Nations with low per-capita GDP may find themselves in a “poverty trap,” a vicious circle in which low income leads to low savings and investment. Similarly, if production depends in part on the level of infrastructure, a poverty trap can arise in which low infrastructure leads to low investment and income. Foreign direct investment can help break this cycle by increasing capital accumulation without causing consumption to drop. Paraguay is examined as a prototypical low income country, with stagnant GDP growth over the past twenty years. Employing a model first proposed by Figueroa (1998), FDI is prescribed as the remedy for the ill of low output.     

Kombilöhne gegen Erwerbsarmut: Warum die USA erfolgreicher sind als Deutschland

“Make work pay” strategies are an integral part of labour market policy instruments in developed countries. There are two considerations behind these measures. Firstly, subsidizing employment at the bottom of the income distribution should motivate the unemployed to accept jobs with lower market wages. Secondly, the wage supplement should increase the living standards of the recipients and reduce the risk of poverty. The U.S. EITC and the German UB II based on these two goals. Our paper begins with an overview of these two wage top-up schemes. This is followed by an empirical evaluation of the two instruments regarding their capacity to prevent in-work poverty and to strengthen labour market participation. The EITC obtains better results compared to UB II in both regards.     

社会资本异质性与农村减贫成效差异——基于收入增长和差距缩小的双重视角分析

中国农村是一个典型的"关系社会",社会资本对于信息分享和资源配置具有较强的干预。本文基于中国家庭追踪调查2016年的农村样本数据,采用分位数回归方法,从收入增长与收入差距缩小的双重视角考察社会资本对中国农村贫困户减贫的影响。研究结果显示:2010-2016年间,中国农村的贫困发生率呈逐年下降趋势,这一趋势主要源于收入增长,而不是收入差距缩小。社会网络、社会参与和社会信任所体现的社会资本可以显著提高农户的收入水平,有效发挥减贫作用。就缩小收入差距的视角看,社会网络对农村的减贫作用比社会参与和社会信任更为显著。注重农村贫困人口社会资本的构建,尤其是提高贫困农户的社会网络质量,对于农村减贫具有重要的政策意义。     

“去商品化”视角下的中国养老金问题研究

艾斯平-安德森在其开创性的著作《福利资本主义的三个世界》中提出了运用“去商品化”这一概念对资本主义国家的福利体制进行分析,并以“去商品化”程度高低把西方资本主义国家划分为三种模式。近年来,“去商品化”程度已经成为国内外众多学者分析各国福利体制时必然使用的衡量指标。本文也利用这一工具对中国养老保险体系的发展进行量化分析和比较。研究表明,我国现今的养老保险制度中存在“去商品化”程度较低和“去商品化”程度逐渐下降等问题,其根本原因是受到了体制身份不平等和收入分配不公平等因素的影响。鉴于此．我国亟待建立更加公平的社会保障体系。     

DEFINING SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT

A management construct cannot be used effectively by practitioners and researchers if a common agreement on its definition is lacking. Such is the case with the term “supply chain management”—so many definitions are used that there is little consensus on what it means. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to examine the existing research in an effort to understand the concept of “supply chain management.” Various definitions of SCM and “supply chain” are reviewed, categorized, and synthesized. Definitions of supporting constructs of SCM and a framework are then offered to establish a consistent means to conceptualize SCM. Antecedents and consequences of SCM are identified, and the boundaries of SCM in terms of business functions and organizations are proposed. A conceptual model and unified definition of SCM are then presented that indicate the nature, antecedents, and consequences of the phenomena.     

信贷配给对农村地区贫困的门槛效应研究

基于信贷配给对农村贫困作用的内在逻辑,运用面板门槛模型剖析了信贷配给对农村地区贫困的非线性作用及其地区差异。研究发现：降低信贷配给程度是减缓农村地区贫困的有效途径,且具有显著的门槛特征;随着农业信贷配给程度由高水平区间向低水平区间的转换,农村地区贫困与信贷配给程度的关系呈“U”型变化;信贷配给对农村地区贫困的门槛效应具有明显的区域特征,东部农村地区随着信贷配给程度的降低,增加信贷有效供给的减贫效应逐渐变弱,中西部农村地区随着农业信贷配给程度由高水平区间向低水平区间的转换,农村贫困与信贷配给程度的关系呈倒“U”型变化。     

Consumer Comprehension of Environmental Advertising and Labeling Claims

Two national surveys, with a total of 2,004 respondents, were conducted to examine comprehension of the terms “recycled” and “recyclable.” Only about five percent of respondents exhibited a thorough understanding of “recycled” and “recyclable” consistent with EPA and FTC definitions. Moreover, respondents displayed a limited understanding of “pre-consumer waste,” assumed a high percentage of recycled content in products labeled “recycled,” and inferred widespread availability of recycling facilities whenever a “recyclable” claim was made. Less educated and lower income respondents displayed higher levels of miscomprehension than more advantaged respondents. These results suggest the need for regulation of environmental advertising and labeling claims and for consumer education.     

On the Middle Income Trap,the Industrialization Process and Appropriate Industrial Policy

In the 1960s, Kaldor defined the manufacturing sector as the engine of growth, suggesting that industrialization might help accelerate growth rates in low income economies. This is still relevant in today’s world, where growth rates in countries in the middle income trap slow down, extending their time in the trap. In some of these economies, industrialization slows down while others face “premature deindustrialization.” Adding to this scenario, this paper describes, in Kaldorian fashion, the streamlined features of industrialization, technical capabilities and technical progress, which offer explanations as to why sectoral industrial policies are necessary in releasing countries from the trap. It presents a taxonomy of industrial policies and discusses how industrial policy and science, technology and innovation policies should be sequenced along the process of industrialization. Finally, the paper develops a methodology to identify the “strategic” sectors on which industrial policy could focus.     

Aus Hartz IV wird Bürgergeld — nur alter Wein in neuen Schläuchen?

In this article, we discuss reform elements of “Hartz IV”. This includes, on the one hand, merging unemployment benefits with housing benefits and the additional child benefits (Kinderzuschlag) and, on the other hand, reducing disincentives which prevent the recipients from earning higher incomes. Employment incentives can be improved if the effective marginal transfer withdrawal rate is reduced and, at the same time, the preferential treatment of “mini jobs” is reduced. In addition, the eligibility criteria should be simplified. This could reduce the rate of non-takeup and thus hidden poverty. One criticism of such a reform of Hartz IV is that it would increase the number of transfer recipients. However, this is not an economically sensible outcome in a reform effort. What is important is the disposable income of transfer recipients affected and that the design of the transfer withdrawal does not create lock-in effects.

     

The concept of integrated rural development

The resolution convening the World Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development which was held in Rome on July 12–20, 1979 called for a “frontal attack on poverty... by a deliberate policy of integrated rural development”. The aims and implications of the concept of integrated rural development are analyzed in the following article.     

Saving,Selling, Earning,and Negotiating: How Adolescents Acquire Monetary Lump Sums and Who Considers Saving

This study examines the importance of saving during adolescence as one way of obtaining larger sums of money, and investigates differences between adolescents who choose to save and those who do not. To this end, the strategies “saving,” “negotiating,” “selling,” and “earning” are taken into account in designing a questionnaire. Two measures of saving behaviors are used: “general tendency to save” and “saving by adjusting expenditure” when faced with an income constraint. The sample consists of 470 British school students from age 11 to 18. Results show that up to age 15, the strategies “saving” and “negotiating” are equally important and more important than “selling” or “earning.” When 15 or older, adolescents prefer “saving” above “negotiating.” Regression analyses reveal that adolescents who favor “saving” when confronted with a short‐term income constraint report a general tendency to save. Findings demonstrate the importance of developing positive financial habits early in life.     

Rethinking managership,leadership, followership,and partnership

Organizations underperform, or fail, when members avoid partnering with managers—whether through subtle resistance, disagreement, protest, or walkout—to achieve common purpose. Managers should boost partnering not by affecting a pretense of leadership but through a nuanced balance of managerial authority and understanding of members’ points of view. The objective of this article is to sharpen attention on the concept of partnership with organization members and how it relates to some of the important previous literature. We also argue that some of the previous scholarly work contributes to misconceptions related to these concepts. Our work is forward-looking in that it is motivated by the dangerous societal and cultural differences evident in the world, differences that surround management’s decisions and that may induce an overuse of authority to quash disquiet. Using our experiences in both industry and academia, we argue that the crucial link between managers and members is leadership—not leadership thought of as directional and inspirational, but leadership as building a relationship toward common purpose through partnership. “Lead” and “leader” are sorely misused terms, and worse, substituting “leader” for “manager” is just plain wrong. We believe that managers become leaders only when followers agree to follow, not when the managers simply step forward energetically with direction. Managers are cheated by mistaken definitions. Reviewing past perspectives about what makes good leaders and managers, we rethink ways to enhance organizational harmony through a clearer understanding of managership, leadership, followership, and partnership. Only by thinking and acting as partners in common purpose can managers and members form the core of success in organizational endeavors.     

Editorial

The concept of an excellent company is complex and multidimensional. Most studies of “excellence” have focused on one, or sometimes two, dimensions with profitability and growth being the most common. Companies that have performed exceptionally well on such criteria have, however, proved far from robust. It is shown how the objectives of the firm partly conflict with one another and these conflicts are exacerbated when the firm seeks exceptional performance along one specific measure. Performance in the long run depends upon satisfying several stakeholder groups. A concept of a “tolerance zone” of performance is defined which is bounded by zones of disequilibrium. Within this tolerance zone the firm is likely to be in a position to satisfy its key stakeholder groups. Paradoxically, the financial performance of companies operating successfully within this tolerance zone will often be regarded as mediocre by students of “excellence” but in the long run such companies are more likely to prosper.     

Das Rentenpaket 2014 — eine ökonomische Beurteilung

The 2014 pension reform has three main components. First disability pensions have been increased by about two earnings points, an average monthly gain of 40 euros. In addition low wages in the four years preceding disability-related retirement will now be disregarded. However, since these new rules only apply to retirement after July 2014 they fail to fight poverty among current disability-related retirees. Second an additional credit for all births before 1992 (“mothers’ pension”) is extremely costly and unnecessary. Poverty prevention is weak due to a strict income test in the welfare system for the elderly. Third early retirement at age 63 without actuarial adjustment has been reintroduced This is a costly measure with negative effects on both equality and efficiency. The additional child credit and early retirement provisions reduce the financial and social sustainability of the German public pension system.     

地方政府财政压力与企业精准扶贫投入

地方政府为如期完成精准扶贫任务,在财政压力较大的情况下,是否会将其压力转移到企业?基于2016-2018年上市公司手工收集的精准扶贫数据,本文考察了地方政府财政压力对企业精准扶贫投入的影响。研究发现:(1)地方政府财政压力对企业精准扶贫投入具有"促进"作用,在政府财政压力较大的地区,企业精准扶贫投入越多,且在控制了地区农村贫困人口数后依然成立;(2)政府财政压力的影响作用在不同性质企业中存在明显差异,较于国有企业,政府财政压力对非国有企业的精准扶贫投入影响更大;(3)良好的市场化环境削弱了政府财政压力的影响作用,在市场化程度越高的地区,政府财政压力对企业精准扶贫投入的影响越小;(4)进一步分组检验发现,政府财政压力对企业精准扶贫投入的影响作用主要体现在享受政府财政补贴、税收优惠或银行贷款较多的企业中。本研究的政策启示在于,地方政府需注意企业承担精准扶贫任务的"适当性"。     

外国直接投资对我国城镇贫困的影响——基于1985-2005年家户调查数据的协整分析

外国直接投资(FDI)一般能够促进东道国的经济增长,但对于收入分配以致对于贫困的影响却是不确定的。本文运用协整理论和自向量回归模型实证研究了外国直接投资与我国城镇贫困之间的关系。结果表明,外国直接投资显著地提高了贫困人口在总人口中的收入份额,因此会产生有利于穷人的经济增长,具有积极的减贫效果。但是外国直接投资同时也加重了贫困人口内部收入的不平等。     

Gesetzliche Rente: Bedeutet Teilhabeäquivalenz Verteilungsneutralität? — Ein weiterer Irrtum

A basic principle of statutory retirement insurance in Germany is the proportionality between earnings and retirement benefits called “Teilhabeäquivalenz”. Advocates of the system defend this principle, arguing that it ensures distributive neutrality. However, this assertion is wrong because the principle combines two concepts with different time dimensions: lifetime contributions and monthly retirement benefits. If clearly defined population groups differ in their life expectancy, then this very principle achieves income redistribution, in the German case from low earners to high earners. We propose a simple change in the rules which would avoid this undesirable redistribution.     

Social entrepreneurship: A critical review of the concept

This paper undertakes an analytical, critical and synthetic examination of “social entrepreneurship” in its common use, considering both the “social” and the “entrepreneurship” elements in the concept. On both points, there is a range of use with significant differences marked by such things as the prominence of social goals and what are thought of as the salient features of entrepreneurship. The paper concludes with the proposal of a suitably flexible explication of the concept: social entrepreneurship is exercised where some person or persons (1) aim either exclusively or in some prominent way to create social value of some kind, and pursue that goal through some combination of (2) recognizing and exploiting opportunities to create this value, (3) employing innovation, (4) tolerating risk and (5) declining to accept limitations in available resources.