Evaluating contemporary social exclusion in Europe: a hierarchical latent class approach

In recent years, the concept of social exclusion has received a renewed attention in scientific research, as well as in politics. In this contribution we propose a hierarchical Latent Class (LC) model for the analysis of differences and similarities about experiences and perceptions of social exclusion among European regions. Social exclusion is a situation that affects individuals, and derives from a multidimensional deprivation in several domains of life. In particular, we identify and define an economic, a social and an institutional dimension. The LCs, which structure the individuals with respect to a set of observed indicators, represent different typologies of social exclusion at individual level according to the three identified dimensions. The regional differences in the latent variable distribution are modeled following a nonparametric approach for the random effects. This multilevel extension leads to the identification of a typology of regions, allowing different social exclusion structures to stand out for different European areas. The hierarchical latent class approach proves to be profitable in investigating the relevance of different risk factors of social exclusion and their relationships, and in verifying whether, and to what extent, the same risks and disadvantages determine the same perception of marginalization and exclusion in different political, economic, social and cultural contexts. The analysis is carried out using the 56.1-2001 Eurobarometer Survey, which focused on poverty and social exclusion situations, from both a subjective and an objective point of view.     

Does Italy's plight threaten European Monetary Union?

The Italian economy is in a mess. GDP is expected to contract by 0.6% this year and the budget deficit is heading towards 4% of GDP – it is hard to see a way out of the mire. And after the rejection of the European constitution in France and the Netherlands, questions are being asked about the very future of the European project. With Italy fundamentally uncompetitive across a whole range of both price and non‐prices measures, and with an industrial structure ill‐equipped to deal with the challenges of globalisation, Italy's long‐term membership of the Euro is being debated. This article by Keith Church sets out Italy's problems and argues that, if the economy stagnates for a prolonged period, pressure to leave EMU will become irresistible. This can be avoided if the government finally implements structural reforms instead of continually ‘muddling through’. At the same time, the ECB needs to realise the urgency of the current situation and start to show greater flexibility.     

The Ambiguous Terrain of Rights: Civic Stratification in Italy's Emergent Immigration Regime

In a period marked by heightened interest in the domain of rights, this article focuses on the delivery of rights with respect to cross‐national migrants and, in particular, on the position of non‐EU migrants in Italy. Italy is chosen as a special case, having moved quickly and recently to establish a regime of both rights and controls with respect to migration, culminating in its 1998 legislation. The article considers the emerging picture of rights, alongside impediments to their realization, and a set of associated ambiguities related to delivery and implementation. The outcome is viewed as a pattern of stratified rights – or ‘civic stratification’– which operates along both formal and informal dimensions. Underpinning this picture is a hybrid system whose chief characteristics are: a bureaucratized framework of rights and controls; the permeation of this formal system with informal practices; and the continuing presence of irregular migrants. For them, reasonable chances of clandestine employment and last‐resort provisions are the basis of a survival existence not rooted in formal rights, but subject to minimal formal control. Dans une période marquée par un regain d'intér? t dans le domaine des droits, cet article s'attache à la signification de ceux‐ci auprès des migrants transnationaux et, notamment, à la situation des migrants non‐ressortissants de l'UE en Italie. Ce pays est choisi comme cas particulier puisqu'il est passé rapidement et récemment à un régime de droits et de contrôles vis‐à‐vis de la migration, aboutissant à la législation de 1998. L'article examine le tableau des droits qui se dessine, parallèlement aux obstacles à leur concrétisation, tout en étudiant un ensemble d'ambiguïtés connexes liées à leur signification et leur mise en application. Il dépeint les droits comme un motif en couches – ou ‘stratification civique’– fonctionnant à la fois dans le sens officiel et officieux. Etayant cette représentation, se trouve un système hybride dont les principales caractéristiques sont un cadre bureaucratisé de droits et de contrôles, l'infiltration dans ce système officiel de pratiques officieuses, et la présence persistante de migrants irréguliers. Ces derniers se fondent sur des chances raisonnables de trouver un travail clandestin et de bénéficier de dispositions de dernier recours pour une survie qui ne s'appuie pas alors sur la légalité, mais dépend d'un contrôle officiel minimal.     

意大利债务危机影响因素的实证分析

经济总量占欧元区17%的意大利深陷债务危机的泥潭,其引以为荣的高福利体制所暴露出的弊端不应被忽视。本文构建了各要素对债务增长的统计学模型,运用Bloomberg和Reuters的半年度时间序列数据,采用多元线性回归模型解析了各种因素对意大利债务水平的影响,并单独测算了福利支出对欧债危机的影响。     

An Analysis of Consumer Response to Corruption: Italy's Calciopoli Scandal

The Calciopoli episode affecting Italian football in the 2005–6 season serves as an opportunity for an empirical investigation into consumer (fan) behavior, following league‐imposed punishments on clubs whose officials were found guilty of corrupt practices. Using a difference‐in‐differences estimation method, we find that home attendances for convicted teams fell by around 16%, relative to those clubs not subject to punishment. We show further that the fall in attendances resulted in non‐trivial gate revenue reductions. Our results suggest that a sizeable number of fans of the punished clubs were subsequently deterred from supporting their teams inside the stadium.     

Innovation policy in contemporary Queensland

This paper is about the how rather than the what of innovation policy in a contemporary setting. Most published research to date is concerned with the what: and the how of administrative reality appears to have been ignored by researchers.Political will (how public servants manage their commitment) to innovation policy creates a dilemma for scientists in politics. This dilemma is compounded by the bounded rationality of their training and cognitive processes, and their capacity to handle the administrative reality of innovation policy management.The significance of science-technology talk, and cognitive and occupational differentiation for appropriate management of innovation policy's “three-legged stool”—industry, government, and academia—is considered in relation to a learning rather than an administering bureaucracy.To illustrate this line of reasoning, a participant-observer approach using qualitative data from diary notes is used. Data reveal the patterning of a complex policy process. The importance in this process of carefully-constructed coalition networks and administrative reality is recognized.The most illuminating findings are that, for innovation policy, implementation is evolution through getting bits and pieces of the theme out at different places, at different times, with different people. Development of innovation policy requires multi-skilled professionals who possess varying experiential backgrounds. They have political nous, and are flexible and adaptable. They also understand that the patterning of process is beyond the reach of deliberate intervention by top-down views. In addition, mechanisms employed in attention directing, situation defining and evoking are significant for developing innovation policy.     

The Unintended Consequences of Italy's Labour Laws: How Extensive Labour Regulation Distorts the Italian Economy

Simple solutions to complex problems often have unintended and undesirable consequences. An example is Italy's approach to combating unemployment. Rigid laws designed to protect the employed perversely discourage businesses from hiring and people from working. They also encourage precarious temporary employment among young people, informal work, and under‐the‐table deals that compromise worker benefits. The numbers of Italy's unemployed and of those outside the workforce are much higher than official estimates suggest. Italy's employment protection legislation – arguably the most restrictive in Europe – creates that which it seeks to prevent: the insecurity of unemployment.     

Multiplicity and complexity issues in contemporary production scheduling

High multiplicity scheduling problems arise naturally in contemporary production settings where manufacturers combine economies of scale with high product variety. Despite their frequent occurrence in practice, the complexity of high multiplicity problems – as opposed to classical, single multiplicity problems – is in many cases not well understood. In this paper, we discuss various concepts and results that enable a better understanding of the nature and complexity of high multiplicity scheduling problems. The paper extends the framework presented in Brauner et al. [ Journal of Combinatorial Optimization (2005 ) Vol. 9, pp. 313–323] for single machine, non-preemptive high multiplicity scheduling problems, to more general classes of problems.     

走向开放的当代行政中心建设模式--当代行政中心建设批判研究

总结了当前行政中心建设中存在的现象和问题,并分析产生这些现象的深层原因.结合对当前时代环境的重新认识和理解,建立新的行政中心价值观和行政中心的功能属性,并在此基础上提出开放性行政中心的建设思维,阐述其特征和宏观、中观、微观的三个研究层次.     

From classical to contemporary leadership challenges

This article explored the Aeneid, Virgil's foundation epic of the Latin canon, from a values‐based leadership perspective, which is defined as the moral foundation underlying stewardship decisions and actions of leaders. Specifically, we juxtaposed the resonant leadership elements of vision, culture, and values—and their corresponding equivalent Roman themes of fatum, pietas, and virtus. Using a thematic analysis approach, we coded the following eight values: integrity, good judgment, leadership by example, decision making, trust, justice/fairness, humility, and sense of urgency. We found that while the Aeneid extols prototypical values, the epic instructs that truly effective leadership is not about being a monochromatic prototype. Rather, the epic reveals that the essence and privilege of effective leadership demands reflection on the dynamic relationship between the leader and the led toward a better, envisioned future.     

Worker participation in Barbados: contemporary practice and prospects

This paper explores the impact of several factors on current participation practice and the willingness of employers to introduce participation at work. Data were obtained from a cross-section of 93 organisations, obtained from a stratified sample of 200 organisations from various industries in Barbados.

Organisational size, industrial origin and union presence were not significant determinants of current participation practice. However, a cost reduction strategy was negatively associated with current participation governing management of people. Innovation-based strategies were positively related to willingness to introduce participation regarding the management of people. Perceived participation outcomes such as job satisfaction, increased joint benefits and reduced absenteeism were associated with current participation regarding the management of people as well as willingness to extend participation in the same area.     

Employee participation and contemporary labor law in the US

Employee participation has commonly been seen, in US conditions, as in potential conflict with the maintenance and development of collective bargaining. Since labor law seeks to protect the collective bargaining rights of employees, an important current debate is concerned with to what extent, if at all, the law needs to be changed to encourage employee participation schemes without weakening this protection.     

中国当代城市经济理论研究的沿革与发展

城市经济是国民经济的重要领域,对城市经济理论的研究,中国当代学者始终没有停下脚步,尤其是改革开放以来,开展了精彩而深刻的探索,取得了大量的成果。本文旨在梳理、揭示和反映中国当代城市经济理论研究的波澜壮阔的历程。     

Heterophily in social groups formation: a social network analysis

Quality & Quantity - Research on heterophily as a relational phenomenon is mostly limited to specific professional contexts which do not include knowledge about status or value heterophily as a...