Policies against human trafficking: the role of religion and political institutions

I investigate empirically the role of religion and political institutions in policies against human trafficking, using the new 3P Anti-trafficking Policy Index. The dataset contains 175 countries. The results show that governments in countries with Christian majorities implement stricter anti-trafficking policies than governments in countries with Muslim majorities. The differences between countries with Christian and Muslim majorities are pronounced in dictatorships but less so in democracies. For example, the 3P Anti-Trafficking Policy Index in a dictatorship with no Muslims was by 1.9 points higher than in an otherwise identical but purely Muslim dictatorship (on a scale from 3 to 15). The association between religion and the overall 3P Anti-trafficking Policy Index is driven by protection and prevention policies. As compared to prosecution policies that mainly target the perpetrators of human trafficking, protection and prevention policies mainly protect the victims of human trafficking, i.e. predominantly women. The conclusions are consistent with other empirical findings regarding the association between religion, political institutions, and human development.     

Misallocation,informality, and human capital: Understanding the role of institutions

The aim of this paper is to quantify the role of formal-sector institutions in shaping the demand for human capital and the level of informality. We propose a firm dynamics model where firms face capital market imperfections and costs of operating in the formal sector. Formal firms have a larger set of production opportunities and the ability to employ skilled workers, but informal firms can avoid the costs of formalization. These firm-level distortions give rise to endogenous formal and informal sectors and, more importantly, affect the demand for skilled workers. The model predicts that countries with a low degree of debt enforcement and high costs of formalization are characterized by relatively lower stocks of skilled workers, larger informal sectors, low allocative efficiency, and measured TFP. Moreover, we find that the interaction between entry costs and financial frictions (as opposed to the sum of their individual effects) is the main driver of these differences. This complementarity effect derives from the introduction of skilled workers, which prevents firms from substituting labor for capital and in turn moves them closer to the financial constraint.     

Designing awareness campaigns to counter human trafficking: An analytic approach

Human trafficking – the trade of persons for the gain of others – is a pervasive societal issue. Ongoing trafficking recruitment calls for targeted prevention strategies for individuals and communities at risk. Awareness campaigns, arguably the most common form of trafficking prevention, are intended to alert individuals to the tactics used by traffickers and provide them with practical strategies to avoid deception and exploitation. However there is a shortage of technical solutions regarding the analysis, impact assessment, and evaluation of alternatives related to implementing awareness campaigns. We present a resource allocation model that can be used to determine the allocation of funds that maximizes increases in trafficking awareness among at-risk populations. We apply this model to determine the allocation of a limited budget among different types of prevention programs in at-risk populations in Nepal. For each awareness campaign, we estimate a production function that relates the amount invested to the associated change in awareness. When allocating limited resources, decision makers must balance competing interests, and we illustrate the impact of three allocation policies on trafficking awareness. The model presented in this article is a first attempt to help decision makers evaluate how to allocate funds in the context of trafficking awareness.     

Schools and public buildings in decay: the role of political fragmentation

It is a widespread concern that schools and other public buildings are in poor conditions. A popular explanation is that maintenance is given too little priority in the budgetary process because politicians are shortsighted. In this paper we investigate this hypothesis using two novel survey data sets on school and general building conditions in Norwegian local governments. We use political fragmentation as a proxy for myopic behavior and provide strong empirical evidence that a high degree of political fragmentation is associated with poor building conditions, both for schools and for buildings in general. The finding is robust to handling of controls, outliers, and estimation method. We also provide evidence that lack of maintenance is the channel for poor building conditions.     

Sharing risk within and across countries: the role of labor market institutions

This paper studies the effect of labor market institutions on within- and cross-country risk sharing, using a model of international trade in risky assets modified to include a subset of agents, labor-owners who do not access financial markets, and employment security provisions. Labor market, institutions, by promoting within-country risk-shifting arrangements between agents with or without, access to financial markets, reduce the fluctuations of non-tradable labor incomes and amplify the, fluctuations of capital incomes. Capital flows become more volatile across countries, and if the, configuration of labor markets differs across countries, capital-owners bear the burden of systematic, undiversifiable world aggregate uncertainty.     

Globalization,political institutions,financial liberalization,and performance of the insurance industry

This paper investigates the impacts of globalization, political institutions, and financial liberalization on the performance and risk-taking of insurance firms covering 1324 individual firms in 30 selected OECD countries. We find that greater globalization and a stable political institution lead insurance companies to exhibit a better performance—i.e., insurers adjust their strategies while being aware of institutional changes. By contrast, financial liberalization has an inverse impact on insurance company performance. Thus, greater globalization and a stable political environment both drive less risk-taking for insurers. These findings are particularly important to insurance markets’ competitors and national policymakers.     

When do institutions suddenly collapse? Zones of knowledge and the likelihood of political cascades

Quality & Quantity - In this paper institutions are treated as stabilized sets of expectations, an approach that encourages investigation of how cultural formations, political regimes, global...     

A PLS path model to investigate the relations between institutions and human development

The paper studies the relations between institutions and human development, in particular the causal effects of the different types of institutions on different components of human development. We assume development to be created by aggregate demand; in particular that aggregate demand determines the material components of human development. We thus divide institutions into those that create demand and those that are determined by the whole process of development. Similarly we divide human development in its three traditional components (economic development, health, knowledge). Both human development and institutions are assumed to be multidimensional constructs; all the main components of these constructs are defined as latent variables, and the relations between them as structural relations. A partial least squares (PLS) path model is developed: it is the aggregation (and simultaneous estimation) of an outer model relating observed or manifest variables to their own latent variable and of a structural model (inner model) relating some endogenous latent variable to other latent variables. From the goodness of fit point of view, our results seem to validate our theoretical assumptions.     

Elections and selection: The role of political ideology in selection decisions

Political ideology is a central belief that drives individuals' behavior not just in the voting booth but also in other aspects of life. As political divisiveness in society has increased, the ramifications of this shift may permeate organizations ultimately affecting how individuals interact with one another. Through the lens of social cognition and person-organization fit, this paper considers the effect of political ideology of job applicants in selection decisions by discussing 1) the definition of political ideology and subsequent stereotyping, 2) the increasing divisiveness rooted in political ideology, 3) the implication in selection decisions influenced by political ideology, and 4) the consequences for firm level diversity. Further, a model is provided to illustrate the relationship of political ideology to various phases of the selection process. Propositions to foster further study of these phenomena are provided within.     

The political economy of environmental and social security policies: the role of environmental lobbying

Social security provides retirement benefits to the old at the expense of the working young, while environmental investment benefits the future of the young at the expense of the old. This paper presents a model incorporating this intergenerational conflict on public spending and considers the political determination of environmental investment and social security by focusing on the Markovian political equilibria. It is shown that (1) the political equilibria are generally inefficient, and (2) the introduction of environmental lobbying into politics may improve environmental quality but degrade lifetime utility in the long run.      

Country performance during the Covid-19 pandemic: externalities,coordination, and the role of institutions

Economics of Governance - The Covid-19 pandemic is one of the most powerful examples of negative externalities in local communities, entire countries and across the globe, calling for the...     

思想政治工作在企业发展中的作用探析

思想政治工作历来是我们党的工作的生命线,无论是过去战争年代,还是现在的社会主义现代化建设时期,思想政治工作在我们党的工作中都是处于非常重要的地位。如今随着市场经济的不断发展和完善,市场竞争愈来愈激烈,在这种情况下,加强企业的思想政治就显得尤为重要。     

中国财政政策: 面临的形势与选择

一、2002年财政形势及运行中的主要特点 2002年我国继续实行积极的财政政策和稳健的货币政策,财政预算执行情况基本正常.1-10月份,全国财政收入近1.5万亿元,同比增长12.1%,完成年度预算的83.2%;全国财政支出1.5万亿元,同比增长18.2%,完成年度预算的71.1%;收支相抵,支出大于收入18亿元.财政运行表现出以下几个特点:     

论思想政治教育与当代人的个性培养

思想政治教育在当代人个性培养中的作用就是最大限度地抑制消极个性品质的作用,激发积极个性品质的发挥。本文围绕当代人个性培养的内容,现时代思想政治教育着力于当代人的个性培养的必要性,思想政治教育在当代人个性培养中的作用进行了分析。     

论思想政治教育与当代人的个性培养

思想政治教育在当代人个性培养中的作用就是最大限度地抑制消极个性品质的作用,激发积极个性品质的发挥.本文围绕当代人个性培养的内容,现时代思想政治教育着力于当代人的个性培养的必要性,思想政治教育在当代人个性培养中的作用进行了分析.     

探究思想政治工作在企业人事行政管理中的作用

人事管理是以人为中心的管理,其根本目的是协调人与人之间的关系,达到人尽其才,才尽其用的目标。近些年来,随着电厂企业的不断发展,对人事管理有了更高的要求,在行政管理阶段涉及到多种影响因素,为了满足现有控制机制的最大化要求,必须对工作形式和控制结构进行分析,灵活应用管理机制。思想政治工作的内容比较多,在人事行政管理中有重要的作用。文章以思想政治工作在企业人事行政管理中的作用为研究点,结合实际情况,对如何在人事行政管理中开展思想政治工作进行分析。     

The role of state ownership and institutions in the innovation performance of emerging market enterprises: Evidence from China

Although it has been suggested that institutional context influences a firm's innovation performance, the role of regulatory institutions has been underexplored. Extending previous research, this study investigates whether and how regulatory institutions (i.e. state ownership, region-specific marketization and industry-specific institutional policy) affect innovation performance of emerging market enterprises (EMEs). Evidence derived from a large sample of Chinese manufacturing firms demonstrates that state ownership positively moderates the effect of R&D intensity on innovation performance. However, state ownership is not equally beneficial for all firms. Our analysis shows that region-specific marketization and industry-specific institutional policy enhance the innovation-enhancing effect of state ownership. By revealing the role of regulatory institutions, our study points to the importance of looking beyond firm boundaries to understand why EMEs are able to innovate despite their weak internal capabilities.     

Policies to support ethnic minority enterprise: the English experience

Using Global Entrepreneurship Monitor data for 29 countries this study investigates the (differential) impact of several factors on female and male entrepreneurship at the country level. These factors are derived from three streams of literature, including that on entrepreneurship in general, on female labour force participation and on female entrepreneurship. The paper deals with the methodological aspects of investigating (female) entrepreneurship by distinguishing between two measures of female entrepreneurship: the number of female entrepreneurs and the share of women in the total number of entrepreneurs. The first measure is used to investigate whether variables have an impact on entrepreneurship in general (influencing both the number of female and male entrepreneurs). The second measure is used to investigate whether factors have a differential relative impact on female and male entrepreneurship, i.e. whether they influence the diversity or gender composition of entrepreneurship. Findings indicate that – by and large – female and male entrepreneurial activity rates are influenced by the same factors and in the same direction. However, for some factors (e.g. unemployment, life satisfaction) we find a differential impact on female and male entrepreneurship. The present study also shows that the factors influencing the number of female entrepreneurs may be different from those influencing the share of female entrepreneurs. In this light it is important that governments are aware of what they want to accomplish (i.e. do they want to stimulate the number of female entrepreneurs or the gender composition of entrepreneurship) to be able to select appropriate policy measures.     

The response of decentralized health services to demand uncertainty and the role of political parties in the Spanish public health system

Decentralization of the public health system should lead to health resources being managed more in line with citizens’ preferences. A decentralized system is more flexible in that it can better adapt resources to local needs. Moreover, if regional political parties have responsibility for public health policies, citizens will be able to elect those parties whose positions are more in line with their preferences. However, the role of political parties in public health management has received little attention in the literature. Focusing on the decision to provide reserve service capacity to deal with demand uncertainty, we analyse whether there have been differences between central and decentralized health authorities in Spain and whether these can be explained to some extent by the way different political parties manage the trade-off between being able to cover demand and the economic costs involved. Using data on Spanish public hospitals for the period 1996–2006, we model the difference between observed and potential output using an output-oriented distance function. Reserve capacity is modelled as a function of demand uncertainty, economic costs and the political party in power. We find differences in the way resources are managed by central government and decentralized authorities, even within the same political party. We also find differences between the decentralized authorities themselves according to the political party in power. We conclude that decentralization of public health in Spain has provided regional political authorities with greater flexibility to manage reserve capacity in line with citizens’ needs and preferences.