SOCIAL COOPERATIVES AND WORK INTEGRATION IN ITALY

ABSTRACT * : The paper presents and analyses the birth and evolution of social cooperatives for work integration in Italy. Born spontaneously in response to the failure of policies for the employment of disadvantaged workers, this particular entrepreneurial form was recognized and regulated in 1991 by enactment of a special law. The paper sets out the main results of recent research studies, results which enable quantification of the phenomenon and illustration of its principal features, as well as providing preliminary information on the effectiveness of this type of cooperative in the integration of disadvantaged workers into the internal or open labour market and on the variables that influence their results. The paper therefore highlights both the advantages and the drawbacks of these initiatives. Overcoming these drawbacks seems to be conditional on recognition of social cooperatives for work integration as instruments of employment policy.     

HYSTERESIS AND THE REGIONAL NAIRUs IN ITALY

This paper investigates the determinants of regional unemployment disparities in Italy. Relying on panel unit root tests and data over the 1977–2003 years, we reject the hysteresis hypothesis and then proceed to estimate the non‐accelerating inflation rate of unemployment (NAIRU) for each of the 20 Italian regions. Our estimates of the regional NAIRUs turn out to be fairly precise and allow us to draw two interesting conclusions. First, the hypothesis of constant regional NAIRUs between 1977 and 2003 is supported by the data. Second, we find that there is a significant degree of heterogeneity among the regional NAIRUs.     

结构负利：流通业比重与地区经济增长*

作为国民经济中的基础性和先导性产业,流通业在国民经济中的比重呈现先下降后上升的U型演变趋势。本文利用扩展的索罗模型和中国省际地区面板数据探讨流通业比重变化对地区总体生产率和经济增长的影响。研究结果表明,首先,地区总体生产率与流通业比重呈显著的负相关关系。其次,地区人均产出增长率与当期流通业比重呈负相关关系,而与上期流通业比重呈正相关关系。流通业比重对地区人均产出增长率的净效应既受到地区总体生产率与流通业比重之间负向关系的影响,也受到地区经济增长收敛性的影响。根据模拟实验,2009-2014年中国流通业比重上升导致人均产出增长率约下降136个百分点。最后,地区流通效率在“流通业比重-总体生产率-经济增长”关系中发挥着明显的调节作用。在流通效率越高的地区,流通业比重上升对地区总体生产率和地区人均产出增长率的负向作用越弱。因此,地方政府可以通过提高本地区流通效率来缓解流通业比重上升带来的“结构负利”。     

HEALTH INVESTMENT AND ECONOMIC OUTPUT IN REGIONAL CHINA

Using a 29‐year (1978–2006) panel of provincial‐level data from China, this article investigates the role of health capital in a human capital model of economic output. Robust evidence is found through panel cointegration analysis that health capital has a significant and positive effect on the Gross Regional Product in China; the effect being stronger in the inland regions compared to the coastal areas based on estimates that account for regional heterogeneity. This article highlights and discusses the potential role of diminishing returns to health investment in this globally important area. (JEL I15, R11, C23)     

SOCIAL CHALLENGES TO ECONOMIC ACCOUNTING AND ECONOMIC CHALLENGES TO SOCIAL ACCOUNTING

The question addressed in this paper is: Why can't we have a good measuring rod of the economic and social performance of our society? The answers are basically positive but lie mostly in the direction of (1) avoiding simplistic solutions such as turning the national income accounts into a measure of social welfare and (2) providing the elements of an information strategy to obtain such a measure or more accurately such a set of measures. The proposed information strategy highlights five activities: (1) the presentation and analysis of welfare outcomes, an activity which is analogous to but broader than “social indicators”; (2) social accounting which includes economic accounting, demographic accounting, and time-use accounting; (3) model building and operation which, unlike accounting, are concerned with behavioral or causal relationships used to explain and project welfare outcomes; (4) hypothesis testing to develop new insights into economic and social behavior; and finally (5) the building and maintenance of a data base required for carrying on the aforementioned four activities.     

SOCIAL CAPITAL,GOVERNANCE AND PERFORMANCE OF ETHIOPIAN COFFEE COOPERATIVES

ABSTRACT: The performance of agrarian cooperatives strongly depends on the interaction between internal cohesion and external exchange. Empirical assessments of social capital and trust within cooperatives suggest that market involvement could enhance collective action. This relationship may not hold, however, under circumstances of heterogeneous membership and strong state control. We use field data from a comparative sample of 500 coffee farmers belonging to five cooperatives of Sidama Cooperative Union, Ethiopia to outline how differences in economic performance are related to the structure of social networks. We identify clear trade‐offs between bonding and bridging social capital that favour remotely located cooperatives.     

中国社会福利和收入再分配：1988-2007年

基于中国居民收入分配课题组（CHIPs）1988-2007年的住户调查数据,本文分析了中国福利体系的大小、结构及其再分配性质。本文发现,中国的福利体系仍然存在巨大的城乡分割,城市居民的社会福利更全面,福利收入更丰厚,其福利水平接近于一些西方发达国家;而农村的福利制度则不完善,福利收入非常微薄。同时,城市的福利收入体系尽管近几年的再分配作用有所减弱,但总体而言是累进的,有效降低了收入不平等。而农村的福利体系几乎对收入差距的缩小没有影响,但从2007年的结果来看,农村累退的福利体系开始向累进的方向转变。农民工的社会福利收入在2002-2007年间大幅度增加,并发挥了巨大的再分配作用。     

技术引进与地区经济收敛

基于后发优势理论,本文利用收敛分析框架研究技术引进对地区经济收敛的影响。本文认为由于地区间技术水平存在差异,经济较落后地区技术引进的技术外溢作用更强,技术引进有助于实现地区经济收敛。基于30个省市大中型工业企业数据实证分析的结论证实,技术引进不仅对经济增长产生显著正向作用,对地区经济收敛也产生显著影响。技术引进是缩小地区经济差距、实现地区均衡发展的重要途径。     

山东省区域经济差异分析与协调发展研究

文章定性、定量分析了20世纪90年代以来山东省区域经济差异的动态变化特征，探讨了区域经济差异与区域整体经济增长的关系及省域经济差异警戒水平。认为当前山东省发展经济应坚持效率优先，同时要正视地域差异，跟踪省域经济差异警戒水平，采取适度的倾斜与均衡发展政策，实施点轴系统空间开发模式，在发展中逐渐缩小差异，促进省域经济可持续发展。     

REINVENTING THE WHEEL? AFRICAN COOPERATIVES IN A LIBERALIZED ECONOMIC ENVIRONMENT

ABSTRACT ** :  Cooperative development in Africa can be said to have traversed two main eras: the era of state control and that of liberalization. The first era lasted up to the early 1990s and saw the origin and substantial growth of cooperatives on the continent. During that period, different models of cooperative development were introduced on the continent. We distinguish a unified cooperative model, a social economy model, a social movement model, a producers' model and an indigenous model. But in all cases, cooperatives were engulfed into state politics. However, little is known about the impact of liberalization measures on these models. Our research in 11 African countries reveals that cooperatives in Africa have survived the market forces and continued to grow in number and membership. We see a slow but sure erosion of the unified model and the adoption of a social economy model. Cooperatives in Africa are re-examining their organizational forms and diversifying their activities in response to members' interests and needs.     

SOCIAL ACCOUNTS AND THE DISTRIBUTION OF INCOME: THE MALAYSIAN ECONOMY IN 1970

Although the functional and institutional distributions of income are integrally connected to individual living standards and other development policy objectives, these dimensions are rarely given prominence or even accommodated within standard national accounting frameworks. This paper summarizes research on the estimation of a social accounting matrix (SAM) for Malaysia for 1970 in which the distribution of income between different factors and socio-economic groups is identified. It is the latest of a series of case studies involving some of the authors and is, perhaps, the most detailed of its kind. The study departs from the United Nations SNA guidelines at various points. The SNA basically proposes a commodity balance approach to national income accounting. In giving equal emphasis to income/outlay accounts as to the production accounts, the present study has brought together data from two major primary sources: a household expenditure survey and a production survey. Their combination poses several problems which are discussed in the paper. It leads to an integrated picture, in matrix form, of the interrelationships between income distribution and production structure in the Malaysian economy. Both the factor and household accounts in our SAM are disaggregated according to race and the geographic distinction between Peninsular and East Malaysia, with an urban/rural split within Peninsula Malaysia. The Peninsula labor force is further disaggregated by education level, while its households are then subdivided according to the employment status of main income earners. Arguments for and against these choices are presented. Some other aspects of the study can be noted. First, the distinction drawn between East and Peninsular Malaysia is desirable not only because of the inherent interest of the regions but also because of large differences in data availability and hence in estimation methods. Secondly, to complete our SAM it was necessary to estimate inter-household transfers, being the institutional analogue of inter-industry commodity flow. And finally an attempt has been made to impute the labor component of unincorporated business income. These, then, are the major problems which had to be overcome in our attempt to quantify the generation, distribution, and redistribution of income within Malaysia in a SAM framework.     

我国经济增长动能转换的区域差异及其分布演进*#br#

本文构建经济增长动能指数评价指标体系,测算2009—2018年我国30个省份的经济增长动能指数,考察其地区差距及分布动态演进趋势。研究发现：（1）各省份的经济增长动能转换水平整体呈现波动上升态势,东西差距显著。（2）总体地区差距呈现缩小趋势,从地区内差距来看,东部地区内差距最大,中部地区内差距最小;从地区间差距来看,东西部地区间差距最大,中西部地区间差距最小;从差距贡献率来看,地区间差距为主要来源,地区内差距和超变密度的贡献率较小。（3）我国整体经济增长动能转换地区差距出现波动式下降,三大地区均存在两极或多极化现象,中部地区尤为显著。     

区域经济发展差距:新经济地理、要素流动与经济政策

改革开放后,中国区域经济发展差距主要表现为区域间差距的扩大,而非区域内部差距的扩大。这一现象的发生是多方面原因共同作用的结果:在新经济地理因素的影响下,具有区位优势的东部沿海地区吸引了中西部地区大量的生产要素进行跨区域流动,加上中央政府的政策导向作用,使得中国经济发展差距呈现出逐步扩大的趋势。因此,中央政府应该采取有力措施,以便在全国形成合理的区域分工,进而达到缩小区域经济发展差距的目标。     

SELF‐REPORTED ECONOMIC CONDITION AND HOME PRODUCTION: INTRA‐HOUSEHOLD ALLOCATION IN ITALY

This paper applies a collective model of intra‐household welfare distribution using individual self‐reported data. The model accounts for household production, and self‐reported information on economic condition is used to identify the sharing rule governing the bargaining process in the family. The theoretical framework implies a broad concept of full income, which includes household production as time allocated to domestic activities. We find that self‐reported data on economic status are useful in recovering individual shares of household income and that both wages and non‐strictly‐economic individual variables play an important role in the bargaining process determining the sharing rule in Italy.