Youth unemployment in South Africa revisited

One of the most pressing socio-economic problems of the South African economy is high youth unemployment. Recent studies only briefly examined how youths have fared since the transition by comparing the 1995 October Household Survey with a Labour Force Survey, and hardly investigated whether the discouraged workseekers are different from the unemployed. This paper re-examined youth unemployment trends in the 2008–12 Quarterly Labour Force Surveys, before comparing the characteristics of discouraged workseekers and narrow unemployed. Whether different policies are needed to boost youth employment in each group is also discussed.     

A call for renewal in tourism ethnographic research: the researcher as both the subject and object of knowledge

Our critique of tourism ethnographic research argues that too much existing published work tends to cite preceding studies as methodological precedents without stating how particular approaches were operationalised. Moreover, findings are often presented as individual cases with limited utility in terms of theory-building or wider understanding of contextual phenomena. We argue that closer attention first to current developments within anthropology which seek to overcome researcher naivety and, second, greater philosophical reflexivity would elevate both the rigour with which such work is undertaken and the seriousness with which it is received in the wider academy. We call for a double-reflexivity in ethnographic research in tourism that accepts both the specific situational nature of individual studies and the wider discursive frames within which they are embedded. We call for constant reflection on, and acknowledgement of, this duality in ethnographic research where, after all, the researcher is so intimately embedded in empirical and subjective terms.     

Transport policy in Australia—Evolution,learning and policy transfer

Urban transport policy in Australia has changed markedly over the period since the first generation of modern urban transport strategies were published in the 1960s. This is illustrated through a review of 43 transport strategies published for the five largest cities (Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide) in Australia between 1965 and 2010. The review is complemented with observations from a survey of public servants in the policy and strategy divisions of state and territory transport agencies. The results of this research are examined using the Dolowitz–Marsh framework, considering the need to seek policy transfer, who is involved, what is transferred, from where policy lessons are learnt, the degree of transfer, constraints to policy learning and demonstration that transfer has occurred. The evidence for policy transfer and learning is mixed. Transport policy adopted by the states of Australia for their respective capital cities has been remarkably similar between the cities and has changed in a similar way over time, indicating the almost seamless transfer of concepts. Less positively, there is little published evidence that the performance of previous strategies has been critically examined and lessons learned, and that the approaches adopted in strategies are superior to alternative approaches and are able to achieve the objectives set for them.     

Intra-organizational Volunteerism: Good Soldiers, Good Deeds and Good Politics

Despite the millions of hours donated to charity each year by employees on behalf of their employers there has been relatively little research into the motives for such pro-social behavior. The current paper extends Peterson’s (2004, Journal of Business Ethics 49, 371) study by exploring a unique form of employee volunteerism identified as intra-organizational, or employer-sanctioned volunteerism, and uniting the heretofore distinct charity support and organizational citizenship behavior literatures. Results of a preliminary study revealed that employee participation in such intra-organizational volunteer programs is motivated by charity, firm, and personal benefits. Managerial and research implications are presented.     

It's all about mechanisms – what process-tracing case studies should be tracing

ABSTRACT

Process-tracing (PT) as a distinct case-study methodology involves tracing causal mechanisms that link causes (X) with their effects (i.e. outcomes) (Y). We trace causal mechanisms whereby a cause (or set of causes) produces an outcome to both: (1) make stronger evidence-based inferences about causal relationships because the analysis produces within-case evidence of each step of the causal process (or absence thereof) in between a cause and outcome, and (2) because tracing mechanisms gives us a better understanding of how a cause produces an outcome. Yet, when we look at the methodological literature on PT, there is considerable ambiguity and discord about what causal mechanisms actually are. The result of this ambiguity and discord about what mechanisms are clearly maps onto existing applications of PT, with most PT case studies completely ignoring the underlying theoretical causal processes. In the few PT applications where mechanisms are unpacked, they are typically only developed in a very cursory fashion, with the result that there is considerable ambiguity about what theoretical process the ensuing case study actually is tracing. If we want to claim we are tracing causal mechanisms, the causal processes in between X and Y need to be unpacked theoretically. How can we claim we are tracing a causal ’process’ when we are not told what the process (i.e. mechanism) actually is? To alleviate this problem, the article attempts to develop a clearer definition of causal mechanisms to provide scholars with a framework for theorising mechanisms in a fashion that is amenable to in-depth empirical analysis using PT.     

Societal costs of multiple sclerosis in Ireland

Aims: This paper evaluates the impact of multiple sclerosis (MS) in Ireland, and estimates the associated direct, indirect, and intangible costs to society based on a large nationally representative sample.

Materials and methods: A questionnaire was developed to capture the demographics, disease characteristics, healthcare use, informal care, employment, and wellbeing. Referencing international studies, standardized survey instruments were included (e.g. CSRI, MFIS-5, EQ-5D) or adapted (EDSS) for inclusion in an online survey platform. Recruitment was directed at people with MS via the MS Society mailing list and social media platforms, as well as in traditional media. The economic costing was primarily conducted using a ‘bottom-up’ methodology, and national estimates were achieved using ‘prevalence-based’ extrapolation.

Results: A total of 594 people completed the survey in full. The sample had geographic, disease, and demographic characteristics indicating good representativeness. At an individual level, average societal cost was estimated at €47,683; the average annual costs for those with mild, moderate, and severe MS were calculated as €34,942, €57,857, and €100,554, respectively. For a total Irish MS population of 9,000, the total societal costs of MS amounted to €429m. Direct costs accounted for just 30% of the total societal costs, indirect costs amounted to 50% of the total, and intangible or QoL costs represented 20%. The societal cost associated with a relapse in the sample is estimated as €2,438.

Limitations and conclusions: The findings highlight that up to 70% of the total costs associated with MS are not routinely counted. These “hidden” costs are higher in Ireland than the rest of Europe, due in part to significantly lower levels of workforce participation, a higher likelihood of permanent workforce withdrawal, and higher levels of informal care needs. The relationship between disease progression and costs emphasize the societal importance of managing and slowing the progression of the illness.