Rectifying an unconstitutional dispensation? A consideration of proposed reforms relating to no income no asset debtors in South Africa

The South African natural person debt relief system remains heavily procreditor and consequently excludes many deserving debtors from any form of relief. This is despite the fact that such marginalisation amounts to unjustifiable, unfair discrimination on the basis of debtors' financial status. The main aim of this article is to establish whether proposed reforms, and specifically the debt intervention procedure, will rectify the current unconstitutional dispensation and particularly the unreasonable unfair discrimination against “no income no asset” (NINA) debtors, who undoubtedly constitutes the largest part of relegated debtors. The article may benefit developing countries seeking to introduce debt relief measures curtailed to the needs of their ever‐escalating NINA debtors.     

Employer responses to union organising: patterns and effects

This article presents original research on employer responses to trade union organising campaigns in the United Kingdom. The evidence indicates that there is no single response, with employers in some cases seeking to block and in others support union activity. These different patterns are strongly path dependent and reflect the prior degree of exposure to trade unionism of workplaces targeted for organising. Another finding is that employer responses co-vary with union approaches to organising, such that when the employer adopts adversarial tactics so does the union. The militancy of both parties, it seems, is mutually reinforcing. Finally, the evidence points to substantial influence of employer responses over the outcomes of organising. When employers are supportive then campaigns tend to be more successful, measured on a range of criteria. When the employer is hostile unions find it difficult to make progress and encounter particular difficulties in securing recognition.     

Heilende Düfte

Aroma?le in der Kinderkrankenpflege - S?uglinge und Aromapflege – geht das zusammen? Inwieweit lassen sich ?therische ?le auch bei Babys und Kindern anwenden? Melanie Ullrich und Ulrike Landschütz zeigen M?glichkeiten auf.     

Parametric Lorenz Curves and the Modality of the Income Density Function

Similar looking Lorenz curves can imply very different income density functions and potentially lead to wrong policy implications regarding inequality. This paper derives a relation between a Lorenz curve and the modality of its underlying income density: given a parametric Lorenz curve, it is the sign of its third derivative which indicates whether the density is unimodal or zeromodal (i.e., downward‐sloping). The density modality of several important Lorenz curves such as the Pareto, Weibull, Singh–Maddala parametrizations and hierarchical families of Lorenz curves are discussed. A Lorenz curve performance comparison with Monte Carlo simulations and data from the UNU–WIDER World Income Inequality Database underlines the relevance of the theoretical result: curve‐fitting based on criteria such as mean squared error or the Gini difference might lead to a Lorenz curve implying an incorrectly‐shaped density function. It is therefore important to take into account the modality when selecting a parametric Lorenz curve.     

Mediale Geschlechterstereotype

News represent gender in a manner that continues the process of the symbolic, social, and cultural construction of gender. In Western countries, masculinity and femininity have traditionally been conceptualized as being polar opposites. Although this dichotomous conception still influences all areas of life, nowadays masculinity and femininity are represented in mass media in a more multifaceted way—despite some stable patterns of construction. Moreover, national cultures differ with respect to single attributes of masculinity and femininity as well as to the degree of stereotyping. To identify national differences as well as transculturally shared patterns of gender stereotypes, we analysed gender representations in three countries: Austria, Germany, and Switzerland. In order to gain representative results, a quantitative content analysis was conducted. The study tries to approach gender representations in an innovative way—not only by considering different national cultures and different types of newspapers, but also by avoiding, due to theoretical considerations of deconstruction, to measure gender attributes in dichotomized form. All in all, the results are ambiguous. On the one hand, gender representation is still in line with traditional gender stereotypes—even in times when role models actually change. On the other hand, some aspects depicted new patterns in press coverage and more multifaceted gender representations. To explain these differences, studies should investigate journalistic patterns of selection regarding gender representations, in particular in a comparative longitudinal perspective.     

IPO市场的解药

次贷危机爆发后，很多原本计划在纽交所、伦交所或是NASDAQ上市的企业都纷纷停止了脚步。