International responses to homelessness: Lessons for the City of Tshwane

ABSTRACT

Reports of increases in the numbers of homeless people are pouring in from all over the world yet many governments still do not consider homelessness worthy of a policy response in its own right and relegate it to the periphery of either housing or social (welfare) policy arenas and interventions. In the introductory sections of this article, reference is made to the current extent of homelessness in the world and the rise to prominence of a rights-based approach to homelessness. This is followed by a brief overview of responses to homelessness in Australia, the USA and some European countries. A few of the key components of these responses and their relevance for homelessness policies in South Africa and the City of Tshwane are identified.     

Unshackling the chains of homelessness in the City of Tshwane: A critical appraisal of the current policy in the light of national and local policies and strategies

ABSTRACT

This article provides a critical appraisal of the current Homelessness Policy for the City of Tshwane in the light of national and local policies and strategies. Both a literature review and policy analysis were conducted to attain the main aim of this article. Documents consulted and used in this process included the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, the Freedom Charter, the National Development Plan 2030 and the Tshwane Vision 2055. The study was prompted by the need to find a lasting solution towards the challenge of homelessness in the City of Tshwane through governmental and non-governmental interventions. Recommendations for the appraisal of the current policy document will be directed to the City Council which is empowered by the provision of the Municipal Systems Act, Act 32 of 2000, Section 11(3) to revise the current policy document.     

(Finding) Pathways out of homelessness: An engaged,trans-disciplinary collaborative in the City of Tshwane

ABSTRACT

Street homelessness in the City of Tshwane was brought to public attention in the winter of 2014. This led to a composite research project involving different constituencies, including homeless people, to reflect on ways of addressing street homelessness in the city. This article serves as a conceptual and epistemological introduction to this collaborative research project entitled Pathways Out of Homelessness. The article argues for the use of a broad working definition of street homelessness that allows for complexities of homelessness to emerge, in order to discern diverse and appropriate alternatives.     

A synthesis of homelessness in South Africa: A rapid critical appraisal

Homelessness in South Africa requires collaborative research. Social, political, cultural and economic factors that cause homelessness must be considered to develop a common definition and understanding of homelessness. South Africa’s social complexity and diversity make it challenging to construct available results into one conceptual framework, and this in turn complicates national policy implementation and role allocation. By means of a rapid critical appraisal of literature on homelessness in South Africa, researchers provide evidence to direct and structure contextual research pertaining to homelessness. Four themes transpire: conceptualisation; demography; roles and responsibilities of key stakeholders; and strategic policy and research issues. Researchers caution that the findings are not generalisable, because of the rapid nature of the appraisal and possible selection bias of the literature. Measures of validity were used to ensure that the study accomplished its purpose through the key results and to ensure that the results are a true reflection of available evidence.     

Measuring impact and contributions of South African universities in communities: The case of the North-West University

Using the North-West University (NWU) as a case study, this article argues for and demonstrates the value of empirically assessing the impact of universities on their communities. A cross-sectional survey design (n?=?984) was used to investigate the NWUs impact on three different communities, as well as to empirically assess the needs of these communities. Results suggest that community-based projects and services, work-integrated learning activities, and, to a lesser extent, the quantity and quality of a university's graduate students, as well as initiatives such as science and engineering weeks, open days, sports weeks, and botanical gardens likely represent the most powerful and viable avenues for universities to achieve impact in their communities, especially when such endeavours are specifically tailored to community needs. The findings also suggest that universities’ outputs do not necessarily equate with or guarantee impact, and that impact is optimised when outreach activities are based on the actual needs of communities.     

Poverty and inequality in South Africa: critical reflections

ABSTRACT

South Africa is a paradox; on the one hand, it is one of the most unequal countries in the world. Half of all South Africans continue to live in poverty, economic growth has stagnated and inflation remains high, while the unemployment rate continues to climb towards 30%. On the other hand, it has one of the most progressive constitutions in the world, with a bill of rights that foregrounds expanded socioeconomic rights. We provide an overview of the latest statistics on poverty and inequality in light of overarching economic policies, and the socioeconomic guarantees of the Constitution. We argue that South Africa’s inability to meaningfully address the high levels of inequality is due to insufficient attention to the way power reproduces inequality. We present a definition of power that includes social and market power, and emphasise the importance of a theory of power in understanding the reproduction of inequality.     

产业结构、政策与区域经济发展——基于山东省的实证研究

通过对山东省产业结构和经济发展的实证分析发现,第二产业是经济发展的最重要推动力,尤其是工业,其次是第三产业,但这两个产业都表现为比重高,但是效率低。第一产业对经济的相对贡献力高,比重稍低。同时通过考察1992年政策节点前后对产出弹性的影响发现,市场经济竞争机制的引入对第一产业的产出弹性产生负的效应,同时增加了第三产业产出弹性,但是对第二产业没有明显的影响。     

日本的"新产工特"制度分析

日本的“新产工特”制度是为实现倍增计划和据点开发构想而实行的区域开发政策。通过基础设施建设,培育新的大中型重化工业基地,实现产业在空间的聚集,解决大城市产业和人口过密问题,缩小地区间的差距。高速增长时期,在一定程度上实现了基本目标;但在社会经济环境发生转变的情况下,继续长期实行该政策就不合时宜了。     

Effect of place-based policies on the digital economy: Evidence from the Smart City Program in China

Although place-based policies have already been extensively evaluated in the literature, in this study, we focus on a novel type of place-based policy, the Smart City Program (SCP), which aims to foster the development of the local digital economy. Using the data of China Family Panel Studies, we evaluate the effects of SCP on employment, income, and social security. We reveal that SCP substantially promotes employment and wages, especially in urban areas and information industries rather than rural areas and traditional industries. These results indicate that despite the substantial economic benefits of SCP, the potential inequality it causes should also be considered by policymakers.     

城市文化软实力构建中的政府行为研究

文化是城市的灵魂,是一个城市“软实力”的集中体现,在城市发展历史进程中发挥着凝聚和辐射作用。通常,城市政府都十分重视硬实力的打造,而对以文化为主的软实力缺乏足够的重视,致使城市文化资源严重浪费,文化遗产保护乏力,文化软实力构建缺乏整体性、规划性。当前,我国正面临产业化、信息化、城镇化、市场化和国际化的新挑战,城市作为文明的象征和财富的聚集地,在中国和平崛起中有着极其重要的作用,充分研究城市政府在构建文化软实力中的行为和职能作用具有很强的现实意义。本文运用文献调查法,比较全面地分析了城市文化软实力的内涵和构成因素,阐释了城市文化软实力与政府行为的关系,探讨了城市政府在文化软实力构建中存在的问题和原因,提出了相应的措施。这将有助于强化政府在构建文化软实力中的执政理念、执政行为,用文化软实力来提升城市的综合实力,促使城市的可持续发展,赢得未来城市竞争的主动权。     

巴基斯坦风电发展现状及其政策研究

巴基斯坦政府十分重视可再生能源的利用与开发,制定了多种优惠政策,鼓励私人投资风电,促进风电产业的发展。尽管巴基斯坦目前还没有成规模的风电场,但其风电政策优惠,电价透明合理,内部收益率高,对独立发电商有较大吸引力。本文介绍了当前巴基斯坦发展风电的现状、政策,其电价政策对我国的风电市场具有一定的参考意义。     

Regional Development Agencies and Cluster Strategies: Engaging the Knowledge-base in the North of England

The Government's White Paper on Enterprise, Skills and Innovation (DTI and DfEE, 2001) requires Regional Development Agencies to develop their cluster strategies further, to include partnerships involving higher education. This paper examines these policy intentions in relation to northern England, and incorporates the results of in-depth interviews with policy-makers from RDAs, DTI, DfES and northern Government Offices. Early cluster development has evidently been influenced by existing sector development strategies and the need for inclusivity in regional partnerships. Clusters have been defined broadly, but engagement with universities has required greater focus on specific regional expertise. The authors question the merit of pursuing specialised clusters in isolation at a regional scale; more effective engagement at inter-regional level is suggested for developing effective cluster strategies.     

新型研发机构培育对策研究——以山东省济宁市为例

作为一种区别于传统研发机构的组织,新型研发机构以产业需求为导向、以技术创新为手段,符合地方创新驱动发展和产业转型升级的需要,受到中央和地方政府的重视和支持。归纳总结地方支持新型研发机构发展的政策要点及典型做法,在此基础上,结合济宁市新型研发机构发展现状及问题分析,从加强组织领导和顶层设计、制定专项扶持政策、给予财政资金支持、打造创新创业生态体系、强化考核评价等5个方面提出济宁市加快培育新型研发机构的对策建议,为当地政策制定提供决策参考,并为其他城市提供借鉴。     

Monetary and Fiscal Policy Interaction in the Euro Area with Different Assumptions on the Phillips Curve

In this paper we apply a static version of a New Keynesian macromodel to a monetary union (see Bofinger et al., J Econ Educ, 37:98–117 (2006), Walsh, J Econ Educ, 33:333–346 (2002)). We show in particular that a harmonious functioning of a monetary union critically depends on the correlation of shocks that hit the currency area. Additionally a high degree of integration in product markets is advantageous for the ECB as it prevents national interest rates from driving a wedge between macroeconomic outcomes across member states. In particular small countries are in need for fiscal policy as an independent stabilization agent with room to breath.

霸权异化与贸易政策的选择

2018年以来美国联合欧盟和日本强力推动“高标准”贸易规则,使其贸易政策呈现出显著的修正主义特征和偏执性。对此,霸权周期理论、国内经济周期变化、权势集团的操控和国际经济体系的特征等分析视角难以就其贸易政策倾向和风格的选择进行有效解释。资本和霸权的关系是影响美国贸易政策的核心因素,其主线是资本向霸权渗透并利用霸权力量寻租,以此为理论基础可以构建霸权异化与贸易政策选择的分析框架。霸权异化包括两个维度,即资本向霸权渗透的结构性或制度性路径和霸权国家的经济集中或分散嵌入国际生产体系的方式。其中,渗透路径影响贸易政策的风格,嵌入方式影响贸易政策的倾向。制度性渗透带来灵活性,而结构性渗透带来偏执性政策。集中式嵌入带来维护现状政策,而分散式嵌入则会刺激修正主义政策。从现实经验看,1986年至今美国对待跨国投资保护规则和“高标准”贸易规则的政策,经历了从灵活地修正到偏执地修正国际经济秩序的转变。霸权异化的分析框架揭示了美国在霸权优势动摇时期贸易政策选择的复杂性,有助于新兴大国有针对性地应对美国贸易政策调整带来的挑战。     

商洛农村社区贫困成因及扶贫模式研究——以陕西商州国家扶贫开发重点区为例

农村建设包括农村社区和个体农户发展两个层面,二者必须统筹兼顾.以陕西商洛国家扶贫开发重点区商州为例,探寻乡村社区贫困成因及治理模式.农村社区贫困是多因素长期共同作用的产物,包括自然条件恶劣,交通落后,贫困文化影响,产业结构不合理和森林资源利用政策制约等.乡村社区扶贫应以整村推进、移民搬迁和特色产业开发为主,辅以劳务输出和教育扶贫.     

House Prices and the Stance of Monetary Policy: The Case of Korea

Abstract

This paper is an empirical investigation on whether the Bank of Korea should respond to the housing price developments in conducting monetary policy. For that aim, we construct a small scale empirical model of the Korean economy, simulate the estimated model with a set of alternative monetary policy rules, and compare the stabilization performances of those rules. There turns out to be ample room for further stabilization of inflation and output, if the central bank shifts from the historically conducted monetary policy rule to the optimal rule. The stabilization gains under the optimal rule, however, are not attributable to additional policy indicators (such as housing price inflation) the optimal rule involves. Rather, the optimal rule improves upon the historical one because the former takes a quite different reaction scheme toward the historical policy indicators. Moreover, as long as the Bank of Korea maintains appropriate reactions to the historical policy indicators, housing price inflation does not contain much extra information for further stabilization     

基于共同生态利益的城乡一体化发展政策与法律分析

城乡之间的生态联系在于,城市享受着乡村所提供的生态利益,同时也受到来自农村发展可能带来的生态影响。当前经济形势下城乡共同发展生态型经济是城乡统筹发展的长远之计。在总结我国城乡一体化发展经验教训的基础上,文章提出以生态联系为纽带,在发展生态农业的环境与资源政策、城乡共同发展体设想以及扩大城乡生态型内需的途径等方面提出了城乡统筹发展的政策与法律主张。     

The impact of differential power pricing policy on firm productivity in China: Evidence from iron and steel firms

The differential power pricing (DPP) policy is implemented as an important measure to curb the unrestrained development of high-energy-consuming industries, optimize industrial structure, and promote the upgrading of industrial technology. However, it is unclear how the DPP policy affects the productivity of regulated firms. Using the difference-in-differences approach, this study is the first to investigate empirically the DPP policy’s impact on the productivity of China’s iron and steel firms—a top carbon emitter. The results show that the DPP policy has a significant negative effect on the productivity of iron and steel firms, leading to a 1.20% per annum decrease in the total factor productivity growth of these firms, primarily because the policy significantly hinders firms’ scale efficiency. Considering the heterogeneity of firms, the impeding impact on large-scale and state-owned firms is less than that on the firms of full sample. To curb the irrational expansion of energy-intensive industries and eliminate backward production capacity, the government should implement the DPP policy more precisely according to the heterogeneity of firms, and other auxiliary measures, such as cost compensation for innovation, are also recommended.     

促进宁波市科技投入的实证分析与财政政策工具研究

从实证分析的角度出发,分析了宁波市科技投入的基本情况与存在的一些问题,并通过对财政政策工具的分析,提出了促进宁波科技投入的相应对策与建议.