A Principal Component Logistic Analysis of the Mobility Decision in Transitional Neighborhoods

This study represents an extension of the literature that examines the factors affecting a household's decision to make an intrametropoli-tan move by emphasizing the importance of neighborhood characteristics in addition to the traditional life-cycle variables on the decision to move. Because of the dichotomous nature of the dependent variable and the collinearity among the independent variables, we employ both principal component and logit analysis. The primary data base is drawn from a sample of households moving into and out of two areas in St. Louis.
The results indicate that many of the traditional life-cycle variables are significant, although some behave differently than in the usual case because of the transitional nature of the neighborhoods we examine. The results also suggest that a household's perceptions regarding the quality of the neighborhood are also important determinants of mobility. Finally, when the maximum likelihood logit analysis results are compared with the principal component logit results, we find that the principal component logit technique performs better in almost all instances.     

Do Three Trade Blocs Minimize World Welfare?

Two interesting results have emerged from research on symmetric models that make the analysis of bilateralism tractable. Krugman reported that three trade blocs minimize world welfare. Frankel, Stein, and Wei argued that the formation of continental trading blocs can reduce welfare. This paper shows that these results are not robust. In particular, it is argued that the inclusion of more realistic assumptions into a symmetric model changes the picture considerably. Specifically, if one allows for transportation costs, conventional results are obtained. The phenomenon of three welfare-minimizing blocs and "super-natural" blocs disappears.     

A ‘Legislation-Check’ based on ‘3-D Sustainability’ - Addressing global precautionary land governance

This paper aims to provide a new and practical approach called ‘Legislation-Check’ to identifying shortcomings in national legislation in terms of how well it implements sustainable development, and ways of improving the legislation. National legislation was chosen as it represents a sort of ‘skeleton of society’ and defines the status quo, as well as setting the main environmental, societal and economic directions of the population covered.The approach presented is based on a new concept called ‘3-D Sustainability’, which focuses on the precautionary principle. 3-D Sustainability provides criteria in a flexible hierarchy for solving conflicts of interest between economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainability. In this paper, these criteria and dimensions are applied to various sectors of Austrian national environmental legislation to identify the shortcomings of the legislation and ways of addressing these shortcomings.This paper shows, by way of quantitative data, a significant increase in the use of sustainability related terms in generally applicable legal instruments (both federal and provincial) in Austria since 2003. In qualitative terms the results of the paper further indicate, using national environmental legislation, several hierarchical disorders between different legal acts and opportunities for improving them. Furthermore, inadequacies in the way that the legislation handles sustainable development and a total lack of overall objectives and targets in terms of sustainability are highlighted, which can jeopardise sustainable development.The concept of ‘3-D Sustainability’ has not previously focused on national legislation, despite the practical importance of the legal implementation and enforcement on this geographic level. Hence, this paper contributes, through scientifically-based decision support, to practical pathways for the innovation of institutional, procedural and substantive arrangements in existing legislation.The approach presented in this paper is not restricted to environmental issues, but is applicable to all thematic areas. It is also not geographically limited, but could be implemented in any country and also beyond national borders. Furthermore, the approach can be easily replicated and provides systematically gained results for global governance change towards sustainable development.     

On the treatment of persons with disabilities in organizations: A review and research agenda

Human resource practitioners play a crucial role in promoting equitable treatment of persons with disabilities, and practitioner's decisions should be guided by solid evidence‐based research. We offer a systematic review of the empirical research on the treatment of persons with disabilities in organizations, using Stone and Colella's seminal theoretical model of the factors influencing the treatment of persons with disabilities in work organizations, to ask: What does the available research reveal about workplace treatment of persons with disabilities, and what remains understudied? Our review of 88 empirical studies from management, rehabilitation, psychology, and sociology research highlights seven gaps and limitations in extant research: (a) implicit definitions of workplace treatment; (b) neglect of national context variation; (c) missing differentiation between disability populations; (d) overreliance on available data sets; (e) predominance of single‐source, cross‐sectional data; (f) neglect of individual differences and identities in the presence of disability; and (g) lack of specificity on underlying stigma processes. To support the development of more inclusive workplaces, we recommend increased research collaborations between human resource researchers and practitioners on the study of specific disabilities and contexts, and efforts to define and expand notions of treatment to capture more nuanced outcomes.     

Green Finance in Europe — Strategy,Regulation and Instruments

A green transformation of nearly all parts of our economy is necessary, including but not limited to energy production and consumption, mobility, manufacturing and agriculture.

     

Rentenreform — mit welchem Fokus?

The demographic imbalance is aggravating, and by 2060 the old-age dependency ratio will double to approximately 70%. This development has consequences for the state pension system: growing contribution rates to social security coupled with lower pension levels, but at the same time a higher retirement age. The German pension scheme is mandatory for all wage and salary earners, but since 2001, no reasonable indicator for measuring the pension level exists any more. As a consequence of this, old-age pension has lost its traditional function as a replacement for earnings. The recent pension reforms have dropped the pension level sharply. Further reductions have been announced with the consequence of increasing old age poverty. Against this background it is proposed to raise the pension level so that the pensioners can maintain their standard of living. But any pension reform involves issues of distribution between and often also within generations, which cannot be addressed without explicit equity criteria. Some authors consider the past reforms as a mistake, others suggest adjustments.