'Race', Employment, and Contract Compliance: A Way Forward for Local Authorities?

The concern of this article is with action at the local level to combat racial inequality in employment. It draws on the authors' evaluation of the 'West Midlands Common Standard', an innovative policy introduced by a consortium of West Midlands councils to ensure their contractors have, and implement, an equal opportunities in employment policy. The article assesses the impact of the initiative and its potential transferability. It is argued that the Common Standard provides a highly promising model for other local authorities to adopt.     

The rationale for an employment guarantee in South Africa

This article considers what would happen if unemployed people in South Africa had a right to a minimum level of regular work on decent terms. It looks at the example of India, where a law was passed in 2005 guaranteeing rural households up to 100 days of work a year at minimum wage rates. More than 55 million households now participate in this programme – a rare example of a policy innovation bringing about significant change in a society. India's employment guarantee has important implications for social and economic policy and gives new meaning to the concept of ‘a right to work’. The article explores how structural inequality limits South Africa's development options, and considers early lessons from South Africa's Community Work Programme to make the case for an employment guarantee in South Africa.     

Directional trends in selected aspects of rural poverty in the Eastern Cape Province: changes during the first ten years of South African democracy

This study analysed changes in demographic, gender, basic service access and agricultural production patterns in the rural black Eastern Cape Province between 1993 and 2002 in order to offer advice for future poverty alleviation strategies. It used secondary data from national surveys and the 2001 census and stratified the Eastern Cape districts into former Transkei, former Ciskei and commercial farming district sub-regions, in accordance with the pre-1994 developmental scenarios. The results showed that the demographic and basic service access changes were positive, but that pre-existing sub-regional differences had been reinforced, indicating that the populous former Transkei was being marginalised. There has been little development for rural women, agricultural production is almost negligible and employment in commercial farming has declined. Geographically targeted interventions seem to be warranted for the demographic, gender development and basic service accessibility aspects of Eastern Cape rural poverty, but improving rural production appears to be the major challenge.     

我国人口状况变化及政策应对

一个国家人口政策制定的好坏对其经济和社会发展有着极其重要的影响。特别是在当今中国这个快速发展中的国家,其人口政策的制定更应该引起政府的高度重视。本文试从婚育年龄、就业、老龄化、教育和人口流动等几个方面入手,着重分析其近年变化对政府制定人口政策的影响。     

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.     

Women's pay in British industry during the Second World War

This article reviews the evidence pertaining to changes in women's relative pay during the Second World War and presents new evidence relating to important wartime manufacturing industries. It is argued that gender pay inequality declined sharply where women were employed in industries that had previously been dominated by men, but did not occur in industries that had traditionally been important areas of female employment. The explanation for this pattern probably lies in a combination of excess demand effects and institutional factors, both of which were strongest in wartime munitions industries. Because of the importance of these industries to the war economy, the behaviour of inequality in munitions dominates the behaviour of inequality across all industries. Nearly all existing scholarship acknowledges the impact of the Second World War on reducing the employment segregation of women, but simultaneously views the war as an unimportant episode in the history of gender pay inequality. This article shows how the transition from 'female' to 'male' work also led to a significant improvement in women's relative pay.     

A colonial legacy of African gender inequality? Evidence from Christian Kampala, 1895–2011

The colonial legacy of African underdevelopment is widely debated but hard to document. In this article, occupational statistics from Protestant marriage registers of historical Kampala are used to investigate the hypothesis that African gender inequality and female disempowerment are rooted in colonial times. We find that the arrival of Europeans in Uganda ignited a century‐long transformation of Kampala involving a gender Kuznets curve. Men rapidly acquired literacy and quickly found their way into white‐collar (high‐status) employment in the wage economy built by the Europeans. Women took somewhat longer to obtain literacy and considerably longer to enter into white‐collar and waged work. This led to increased gender inequality during the first half of the colonial period. However, gender inequality gradually declined during the latter half of the colonial era, and after Uganda's independence in 1962 its level was not significantly different from that of pre‐colonial times. The data presented here also support Boserup's view that gender inequality was rooted in indigenous social norms: daughters of African men who worked in the traditional, informal economy were less well‐educated, less frequently employed in formal work, and more often subjected to marital gender inequality than daughters of men employed in the modernized, formal economy created by the Europeans.     

产业结构变迁对房地产价格的影响研究

以我国2004-2016 年的相关面板数据为样本数据,运用SYS-GMM 估计从产业结构合理化和产业结构高级化两个维度分析产业结构变迁对房价的影响,同时按房地产市场与经济发展水平指标对样本进行聚类分析,考察产业结构变迁对房价的区际差异化影响。研究表明：利用全国数据与分区域数据均得出产业结构变迁对房地产价格存在显著正向影响的结论,但各区域之间产业结构变迁对房价的影响存在一定的区域差异;产业结构合理化程度和高级化程度的变动对房价的影响强度在经济发达地区明显强于经济不发达地区。根据理论分析和实证结果从因城施策、租购并举、财税政策调整与人力资本提升四方面提出建议。     

开放二孩政策对于我国社会发展的意义研究

开放二孩政策是我国新时期背景下施行的宽松性生育政策,在计划生育基本国策的前提下放宽生育政策,追求人口长期均衡发展。本文简要论述了中华人民共和国成立以来的生育政策演变以及政策调整的背景;之后提出我国现阶段人口发展存在的问题、开放二孩政策对实现人口长期均衡发展的意义;最后指出施行开放二孩政策要因地制宜灵活变通,并不能一劳永逸地解决我国人口问题。随着社会发展生育政策也会进行调整,最终服务于社会。     

市场经济与不平等——关于社会公平与国家治理的国际与历史观点

文章剖析了后工业时代社会全球化的历史性变化，包括其如何在风险与不平等的条件下发展并影响人们的日常生活，如何在世界范围内改变社会福利保障的状况及影响公共政策的制定。随着贫富分布不均以及社会阶层化等现象的出现，整个社会的结构正在重新构建，迅速成长的自由市场带动相关经济力量的发展，并伴随着关于理性化、标准化、商品化或是世俗主义思想的扩散。在经济下滑以及劳动力市场的软化的情况下，在全球范围内寻求更完善的社会保障措施的呼声越来越高。如今，原有的20世纪的福利国家形式已被21世纪一种更有竞争力的形态所取代，即所谓“非主权权力”，其在全球范围内越来越受到关注，但在各种社会势力（例如NGOs非政府组织）中对日常生活的影响仍旧较弱。尽管在国际经济发展与社会政策制定之间存在着滞后性，国家政权在跨国公司利益主导的世界范围内还是具有重要的管理功能。在全球化已经影响了社会契约的情况下，社会福利的未来虽难以抉择，但终究是要向着商品化的社会服务方向发展。鉴于公正与治理带来的挑战，文章认为，如今市场经济的走向必须由反映人的根本价值的道德原则来指导，而社会福利保障等概念则需要重新定义和延伸。     

泛珠三角经济合作及其产业政策问题研究

区域产业协调发展是区域经济协调发展的主要问题之一,目前国家产业政策中缺乏明确的区域产业政策,因此本文从区域经济的理论基础出发,对于泛珠三角经济区域产业政策提出了总体的构想,并给予了相应的政策建议。     

电价交叉补贴阻碍绿色发展效率吗——来自中国工业的经验证据

文章以2007-2013年中国30个省、自治区和直辖市为样本,用NDDF-DEA方法评估了各地区工业绿色发展效率,运用CLAD估计方法实证分析了电价交叉补贴对工业绿色发展效率的作用机制。结果表明,从全国层面来看,电价交叉补贴通过要素投入和成本机制对中国工业绿色发展效率产生消极影响;从分地区层面来看,虽然电价交叉补贴对各地区工业绿色发展效率的影响途径一致体现于要素投入和成本机制,但其影响程度存在较大的空间差异,电价交叉补贴会显著阻碍东部地区工业绿色发展效率提高,而对中西部地区工业绿色发展效率没有显著消极影响,甚至有利于工业绿色发展效率提高。     

促进战略性新兴产业协同创新发展的公共政策研究——以江苏物联网产业为例

战略性新兴产业在协同创新发展和演进过程中需要政府建构科学的公共政策体系对其激励和规范。公共政策对物联网战略性新兴产业具有导向、统筹、激励和监管作用。以江苏物联网产业发展的公共政策为例，在分析其特点与不足的基础上，从完善国家层面政策体系、增强区域政策的可操作性、增列产业发展的专门政策，以及强化物联网产业发展的监管政策等方面提出了建议。     

FDI对湖北就业和工资水平的影响

FDI对湖北省的经济发展、就业状况及工资水平都带来了很大的影响.文章针对湖北省FDI的特点,从就业增长、就业结构和工资水平三个方面分析了FDI效应,提出了提升湖北FDI就业积极效应的建议.     

浅析宏观经济政策对金融市场的影响

近几年来,国内经济的发展可谓势头猛增,国家出台了一系列的宏观经济政策,这些宏观经济政策对我国金融市场的发展具有一定的影响。本文就国家的宏观经济政策对我国的金融市场产生的影响进行浅析评论。     

Robert Browne and Full Employment

Among the valuable contributions Robert Browne made in his career was the role he played in shaping the “Equal Opportunity and Full Employment Bill of 1974” that was introduced by Congressman Augustus Hawkins of California. Browne defined full employment as “a condition in which all persons willing and able to work, no matter what their race, gender, or national origin would be guaranteed a job”. In his view, if the private sector was unable to produce full employment, the government should act as the employer of last resort. Language in support of that view was included in the Hawkins bill. Robert Browne believed only a national policy to achieve that goal would eliminate racial disparities in employment and unemployment—a long term reality in the American labor market. The 1974 Hawkins bill was met with only tepid Congressional support, little notice from civil rights leaders, and no response from the business community. Little was done to advance full employment legislation until Senator Hubert H. Humphrey of Minnesota embraced the cause in 1975. Negotiations with Congressman Hawkins led to the development of the “Full Employment and Balanced Growth Act of 1975,” a legislative measure to replace the Employment Act of 1946. The new bill was commonly known as the Humphrey–Hawkins Full Employment Bill. Robert Browne offered far less support for the new bill than for the original full employment bill introduced by Mr. Hawkins. The Humphrey Hawkins Bill failed to provide explicitly a job guarantee for all workers, and included an inflation target to make price stability co-equal with full employment as a national policy objective. The Humphrey–Hawkins Bill was enacted into law in 1978, and remains the nation’s policy dictum on full employment to this day.     

Testing policy effectiveness during COVID-19: An NK-DSGE analysis

We examine the effectiveness of fiscal and monetary policy in mitigating the impact of COVID-19 in India using the NK-DSGE framework. In terms of policy effectiveness, our findings imply that expansionary monetary policy is effective in reviving economic growth both from the demand side and supply side. In contrast, expansionary fiscal policy is effective only from the supply side. Our findings recommend the implementation of optimal policy mix in a coordinated and staggered framework for effective mitigation of ill-effects of the COVID-19, such as reviving employment and capacity utilization to its pre-pandemic level with minimal inflationary effects.     

国家服务业综合改革试点提高区域创新能力了吗?——基于PSM-DID模型的实证分析

国家服务业综合改革试点对区域创新的溢出效应一直被学者和政策制定者忽略。文章基于2005-2016 年全国258 个城市数据,运用PSM-DID 模型对国家服务业综合改革试点政策对区域创新能力的影响展开研究,并对影响机制进行了检验。结果表明：国家服务业综合改革试点政策能够提高试点地区的区域创新能力,且主要通过发挥创新服务业的部门效应和服务业的创新要素集聚效应以及改善地区创新生态三种机制实现。研究结果对进一步发挥服务业综合改革试点政策的外溢效应,提升区域创新水平具有重要的理论和实践意义。     

More Rights but Less Gains: Relaxed Birth Control Policy and the Loss for Women

In view of its aging population, China initiated in 2012 a relaxed birth control policy after a three-decades-long implementation of the restrictive one-child policy. This paper examines how China's relaxed birth control policy leads to gender inequality. It specifically focuses on migrant workers because they account for a significant portion of the working group. Using the National Migrant Population Dynamic Monitoring Survey from 2014 to 2016, we found that China's two-child pilot policy reduced female labor force participation by 1.4 percentage points. This negative effect was more pronounced for women with higher educational levels or working in the private sector because employers foresee greater risks of productivity decline. We demonstrated that the gender pay gap increased from RMB956 to RMB1,053 during this same period. Pinpointing these unintended consequences brought about by the relaxation of the one-child policy helps provide a more complete picture of inequality and make sense of persistent relative poverty in Chinese society. To counteract gender discrimination, females are advised to work outside their home jurisdictions and take advantage of positive peer effects.     

The role of public pensions in income inequality among elderly households in China 1988–2013

Using data from the Chinese Household Income Project surveys for 1988, 1995, 2002 and 2013, we investigate the role of public pensions in income inequality among households with elderly members across two decades of pension policy reforms. We examine the distribution and role of public pensions at a national level and analyse the evolution of the contribution of public pensions to national income inequality across a much more extended time period than earlier studies, which have generally focused on regional changes over short periods. Our findings suggest that public pensions have become the most important source of income for households with elderly members on average in China, but the distribution of pension income is highly unequal, with a Gini coefficient of 0.74 in 2013. Public pension income has been the largest source of income inequality for elderly households since 2002 and contributed to more than half of total income inequality in the most recent year of the survey. This finding is robust against variations in the income inequality measures used. Additionally, our analysis suggests unequal distribution of pension benefits is the primary driver of pensioners' income inequality. Among several hypothetical policy changes, ensuring a minimum pension benefit for all existing pensioners seems to be the most fiscally effective option in reducing income inequality, with a 0.8% reduction in the Gini coefficient for a 1% increase in public pension expenditure.