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.     

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.     

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 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.     

Managing transformational change: the role of human resource professionals

In the past decade human resource management issues featured prominently in debates over the competitiveness and human resource professionals were expected to ascend to positions of greater influence in corporate strategy making and implementation. Despite numerous calls for a paradigm shift towards a more ‘strategic’ focus for human resource management research, developments in both practice and research fell far short of expectations. Thus, the process of transforming human resource policy into a strategic asset for employees, individual firms or the American economy is not yet complete. The paper suggests that the ‘strategic’ human resource management models of the 1980s were too limited and reactive in character because they depended so heavily on the values, strategies and support of top executives and line managers. A model capable of achieving sustained and transformational change needs to incorporate more active roles of other stakeholders in the employment relationship, including government, employes and union representatives as well as line managers and top executives. The paper starts by reviewing the evidence on innovations in human resource management in the past decade and then outlines the implications of the change model for human resource management and industrial relations theory, policy and practice. Special emphasis is given to the role of human resource professionals as potential change agents or facilitators of the transformational process.     

我国城市发展方针政策对城市化的影响和作用

文章系统分析了新中国各个历史时期城市发展方针政策及其对城市化进程的影响和作用.指出,在国家发展的不同历史阶段,根据国民经济和社会发展的实际情况和需要,制定不同的城市发展方针政策并适时进行调整,对于指导城市科学有序的发展,积极稳妥地推进城市化进程是十分必要的.     

当前货币政策的目标定位和政策选择

目前,我国正处于金融业对外开放、金融机构健全性改革,以及汇率、利率和资本市场等市场化改革齐头并进的特殊历史时期,金融经济运行的总体态势是好的,但有一些不良因素和倾向也值得警惕,包括国际热钱大量流入、人民币升值预期强烈、流动性过剩、贷款增长偏快,以及房地产价格居高不下等.货币政策面临着巨大挑战和严峻考验.