Beyond Equal Rights: Equality of Opportunity in Political Participation

While it is well documented that political participation is stratified by socioeconomic characteristics, it is an open question how this finding bears on the evaluation of the democratic process with respect to its fairness. In this paper, we draw on the analytical tools developed in the equality-of-opportunity literature to answer this question. We investigate to what extent differential political participation is determined by factors that lie beyond individual control (circumstances) rather than being the result of individual effort. Using rich panel data from the United States, we indeed find a lack of political opportunity for the types with the most disadvantaged circumstances. Opportunity shortages tend to complement each other across different forms of participation and persist over time. Family characteristics and psychological conditions during childhood emanate as the strongest determinants of political opportunities.     

Individual values and household finances

We create individual cultural values measures for households and show that this is an important determinant of their financial behaviour. To date, personal cultural values have only been indirectly measured through religion and trust. But these are, at best, an approximation of true cultural values. Applying a holistic framework from the World Values Survey (WVS), we create individual measures of cultural values, and show that the self-expression values of this framework are positively associated with households’ financial decisions. Examining the individual cultural values that make up the WVS model, we further show that happiness, trust, and playing an active role in society, are individually important determinants of household financial decision-making. Our study shows that cultural values can be brought from a generalized national level to the individual level in order to improve our understanding of household financial decision-making.     

A Cross-Country Empirical Analysis of International Reserves

Using data from more than 100 economies for the period of 1975 to 2005, we conduct an extensive empirical analysis of the determinants of international reserve holdings. Four groups of determinants, namely, traditional macro variables, financial variables, institutional variables, and dummy variables that control for individual economies’ characteristics are considered. We find that the relationship between international reserves and their determinants is significantly different between developed and developing economies and is not stable over time. The estimation results indicate that, especially during the recent period, a developed economy tends to hold a lower level of international reserves than a developing one. Furthermore, there is only limited evidence that East Asian economies including China and Japan are accumulating an excessive amount of international reserves.     

Sustainable food consumption among young adults in Belgium: Theory of planned behaviour and the role of confidence and values

This study investigates determinants of sustainable food consumer behaviour in Belgium. To gain a better insight in sustainable consumption, a study was conducted in which attitudes and behaviour as well as the role of individual characteristics like confidence and values related to sustainable products are analyzed. The focus of the analysis is on exploring the influence of determinants as hypothesised by the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) - attitudes, perceived behavioural control, social norms - on sustainable consumption intention in general, and specifically depending on consumer's perceived confidence and personal values. The empirical research builds on a survey with a sample of 456 young adults using a questionnaire and showing an advertisement for hypothetical sustainable dairy products. Stepwise multiple regression models showed that 50% of the variance in intention to consume sustainable dairy was explained by the combination of personal attitudes, perceived social influences, perceived consumer effectiveness and perceived availability. In addition, different levels of confidence and value orientation yield different strengths of the determinants. The findings yield public policy and marketing recommendations for stimulating sustainable food consumption among young adults.     

Political Participation of Mobile Citizens and the Size of the Welfare State

This paper deals with the implications of personal mobilityfor political participation of citizens and for the resultingsize of the welfare state. We show that mobility of citizensmay influence the individual decision to participate in thepolitical process and thereby may change policy outcomes. Ifcitizens who prefer a larger public sector are relatively immobile,the size of the welfare state may increase with mobility. (JELD72, J61)     

Assessing the value of short-term study abroad programmes to students

For many universities, students participating in short-term faculty-led programmes make up a large portion of the total study abroad population. In this article, we report the results of a unique choice experiment in which 1255 students were asked about their personal characteristics and their preferences for study abroad programme attributes. Using a random parameters logistic regression model, we find that students attitudes towards risk, their experience with international travel and their beliefs about whether study abroad would help them professionally were major determinants of whether a student expressed interest in studying abroad. We also estimate students’ willingness to pay for various programme attributes, including destination, programme duration, course type and the number of experiential learning activities. We find that the highest value programmes give students credit towards their major rather than towards the university core or as an elective and that they are 3–4 weeks in length rather than 2 or 6 weeks. Also, while students value more experiential learning activities per week, each additional trip adds less value with no additional value beyond four activities. Results are useful for practitioners interested in maximizing student participation while effectively managing study abroad budgets.     

The role of personality traits in pension decisions: findings and policy recommendations

Many countries need to stimulate pension participation and contribution to ensure their citizens are prepared adequately for retirement. Identifying at-risk groups with tendencies of not joining pension plans will help governments target strategies to improve pension awareness and participation. This study investigates the role of personality traits in pension decision making using data from the UK Household Longitudinal Study. Our results demonstrate that Extraversion significantly correlates with non-participation in private pensions, including both employer run and personal pensions. Individuals who are high in Conscientiousness are more likely to participate and pay more into personal pensions. Openness to experience is negatively correlated with saving via personal pensions. Agreeableness and Extraversion correlate inversely with the amount contributed to personal plans. This paper discusses our findings in detail and offers policy implications which may help promote pension participation and ease the problem of old age poverty.     

An Empirical Analysis of the Political Economy of Tariffs

We seek to analyze the determinants of senatorial response to "generic" trade bills that seek to impose restrictions on the lowering of tariffs. The analysis is based on the response of senators to the trade expansion acts of 1962 and 1974. In the recent past these have been the only bills that are "generic" in nature since they are not targeted at any particular industry. Within the same framework we also examine the issue of "legislator shirking", a term used to imply the response of senators based on pure personal ideology rather than the interests of the constituents. Regression results show the growing influence of state specific factors and the diminishing role of party and personal ideology on senatorial response. Interestingly, we find that despite the similar generic nature of the two bills examined, the influence of personal ideology on the response of senators varies across the two bills examined.     

Emigration intentions in a post-conflict environment: evidence from Bosnia and Herzegovina

In this study we analyse intentions to emigrate from Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), focusing not only on typical individual and household determinants, but also on post-conflict specific influences. We investigate cross-sectional survey data collected over the period from 2002 to 2010. Our findings indicate that higher intentions for emigration are indeed linked to the typical individual and household conditions: the young, educated and low-family income respondents report the highest intentions to emigrate. In addition, the post-conflict environment characterised by economic and political instability, as well as by conflict and post-conflict related migration, increases these intentions further, both independently and in different combinations. Although determinants such as employment status, household income and perception of economic development are relevant, their effect is of second-order importance. This contradicts the conventional thinking that economic factors are the main driving forces of emigration intentions. We provide evidence that the conflict and post-conflict related migration experiences, and the political situation, may surpass individual and societal economic influences in importance.     

Who stays,who goes,who returns?

We study the determinants of East–West migration within Germany during the period 1990–2006, using administrative data, the German Microcensus and the German Socio‐Economic Panel. We find that in addition to income prospects and employment status, two well‐known determinants of migration, psychological and social factors play an important role in determining the migration decision. Men and women move from East to West in proportionate numbers, but among individuals who lived in the East in 1989 women are more likely to migrate. The migrant body in the second wave of migration, starting in the late 1990s, is increasingly composed of young, educated people. By focusing on differences between temporary and permanent migrants, we find that older and single individuals are more likely to return East than stay permanently in the West, compared with younger and married individuals. Finally, the life satisfaction of permanent migrants increases significantly after a move, while that of temporary migrants remains essentially flat.     

Exposure to corruption and political participation: Evidence from Italian municipalities

This paper aims to study the effects of exposure to corruption on all the aspects of political participation. Focusing on Italian municipalities in the period 1999–2014, we generate a daily and local measure of exposure to corruption, screening newspaper articles of the main Italian press agency. We concentrate on local elections and, in an event-study analysis, we find three main results. First, corruption exposure affects citizens' participation in election by reducing voter turnout. Second, corruption impacts on politicians’ participation: the number of candidates and electoral lists decreases after a scandal and candidates with political tenure are more likely to run. Finally, these changes affect local political outcomes as tenured politicians are more likely to be elected, while freshmen lose ground. These results suggest that exposure to corruption has general and negative effects on political participation, leading people to lose interest in politics.     

Failing and Merging as Competing Alternatives during Times of Financial Distress: Evidence from the Colombian Financial Crisis

This paper studies the determinants of individual bank failures and M&A processes in Colombia during the financial crisis of the late 1990s. Using bank-specific data we estimate competing risk hazards models and find that while profitability and capitalization are the most important determinants of the probability of failing, a bank's size, efficiency and capitalization are the main determinants of the probability of participating in an integration process. All else constant, an increase in capitalization reduces the probability of disappearing, whether due to the occurrence of bankruptcy, a merge or an acquisition. However, a marginal increase in capitalization reduces the probability of bankruptcy significantly more than the probability of integration. This study is the first to present a competing risks hazard model to identify covariates that excerpt significant influence on the probability of failing or merging for banks of an emerging economy.     

个人特质对男女创业意向影响的比较研究

本研究探讨了不同性别个体的创业意向受到个体特质因素影响过程中的系统差异。通过对560名个体的大样本施测,我们发现:对于女性个体,成就动机、追求卓越和价值取向对个体创业意向的路径系数达到了显著性水平。自主性和风险承担对个体创业意向的影响系数未达到显著性水平。在男性被试组内,风险承担和价值取向对个体创业意向的路径系数达到了显著性水平。追求卓越、自主性和成就动机对个体创业意向的影响系数未达到显著性水平。     

State ownership,political connections and entry barriers: evidence from China

Private enterprises may encounter high industrial barriers in China because of government administrative restrictions. We analyse the effect of partial state ownership on a privately controlled company’s participation in industries with state-imposed barriers. The results indicate that state ownership in privately controlled enterprises has a significantly positive effect on participation in high barrier industries. After controlling for partial state ownership, we find that personal political identity of entrepreneurs, a previously investigated dimension of political connections, becomes less important in explaining private enterprises’ participation in barrier industries. We also find the effect of state ownership on access to barrier industries will become weaker when local economy is more developed.     

‘Employability-miles’ and worker employability awareness

This article studies the use and impact of a (‘Employability-miles’) voucher scheme. These vouchers could be used for participation in a restricted number of training courses, which all aim to stimulate employees to develop a more active attitude towards their own employability. Using data from two surveys of one firm’s workforce, we find that voucher use is related to various personality traits and personal characteristics. In particular, a worker’s ambition, goal setting and education level are positively related to voucher use. In addition, workers with longer tenure spend their vouchers more often. Conversely, workers with a more positive self-image as well as those who are negatively reciprocal spend their vouchers less often. The negative relation between voucher use and negative reciprocity suggests that workers who are more negatively reciprocal perceive the voucher as an HR tool for outplacement. Further, we find that voucher use positively affects worker employability awareness and willingness to train. Remarkably, participation in non voucher training shows little relation to personality traits. From a human resources (HR) perspective, this finding suggests that by employing a voucher scheme, the firm makes training participation more dependent on employee personality and individual characteristics instead of the HR development strategy of the firm.     

中国民营企业家参政议政与企业规模—效益分析

本文检验了民营企业家参政议政与企业发展路径的关系,企业是选择做大规模还是提高效益?实证结果发现,民营企业家借助参政议政这种战略资源,企业规模首先实现快速扩张,总收入有显著增长,而反映企业变强的效益指标,则在规模扩张两年之后显著超过对比组,其中国家级政治身份样本显著.本文深化了对中国民营企业家参政议政的实证研究,发现了中国民企借助参政议政等资源,通过规模的快速扩张实现盈利能力增强的发展逻辑.     

Disentangling political and institutional determinants of budget forecast errors: A comparative approach

This paper provides a unique comparison between French and Portuguese local governments with respect to the nature and determinants of budget forecast errors. It starts by documenting and comparing their statistical properties. The results point at biased and inefficient budget forecasts, which seem to have been more cautious in French departments than in Portuguese municipalities. Second, we examine the political, institutional and economic determinants of forecast biases. Overall, we find that they are essentially driven by electoral motivations and by institutional differences across the two countries. In particular, opportunistic forecasting is more prevalent where governments enjoy greater margin of maneuver, and there is evidence of conservatism in French departments where fiscal autonomy is greater.     

Political participation and entrepreneurial initial public offerings in China

This paper examines the economic consequences of political participation by entrepreneurs in China. Using unique data on political participation and initial public offerings by entrepreneurial firms, we find that firms controlled by entrepreneurs who participate in politics exhibit superior post-IPO performance. We also find that firms characterized by political participation are subject to less underpricing. Furthermore, the superior performance is concentrated among firms that operate in an environment characterized by rich rent-seeking opportunities instead of abundant business opportunities, suggesting that political participation is facilitating rent seeking rather than serving simply as a proxy for political recognition for entrepreneurship.     

Determinants of Labor Market Participation and Wages of North Korean Female Refugees in South Korea

This paper uses data from a survey on 289 North Korean female refugees who arrived in South Korea in 2007 to understand the determinants of their economic adaption in the South Korean labor market. More specifically, we look at the effects of job finding channels and government policies on the labor market participation and wages of these women. We find that job finding through both personal contacts and public employment networks increases the probability of finding employment, but the former, especially job finding through contacts with South Koreans, is the most effective route to finding employment. In addition, jobs with higher wages are acquired in employment attained from South Korean referrals, followed by South Korean government agencies and those from North Korean refugee contacts. We further find that labor market participation is negatively affected by both public benefits and private transfers possibly because of increases in the reservation wages of job seekers.     

Vaccination under pessimistic expectations in clinical trials and immunization campaigns

We provide one of the first formalizations of a vaccination campaign in a decision-theoretic framework. We analyze a model where an ambiguity-averse individual must decide how much effort to invest into prevention in the context of a rampant disease. We study how ambiguity aversion affects the effort and the estimation of the vaccine efficacy in clinical trials and immunization campaigns. We find that the behaviors of individuals participating in a clinical trial differ from individuals not participating. Individuals who are more optimistic toward vaccination participate more in trials. Their behaviors and efforts are also affected. As a result, because vaccine efficacy depends on unobserved behaviors and efforts, the biological effect of the vaccine becomes difficult to evaluate. During the scale-up phase of a vaccination campaign, provided that vaccine efficacy is established, we show that vaccine hesitancy may still be rational.