An Olympic legacy for all? The non-infrastructural outcomes of the Olympic Games for socially excluded groups (Atlanta 1996-Beijing 2008)

The use of mega sporting events to achieve social goals for socially excluded groups is heavily contested. Comparative evidence regarding the effects of the Olympic Games for these groups is scarce, and there is an even greater dearth of studies focusing on non-infrastructural programmes (such as sport participation initiatives, volunteering opportunities, training and employment schemes). This study identifies planning principles that allow for the development of such non-infrastructural benefits for socially excluded groups in host cities, and reviews their application in recent Olympic Games.This study examines data from 7 Olympic cities (Atlanta, Nagano, Sydney, Salt Lake City, Athens, Turin and Beijing). It shows that the Olympic Games generally bring few benefits for socially excluded groups, although these benefits are often important justifications in the bidding stage. The study highlights the growing importance placed by the International Olympic Committee on environmental sustainability, and proposes a similar emphasis on social sustainability.     

Making the connections between transport disadvantage and the social exclusion of low income populations in the Tshwane Region of South Africa

To date, the majority of studies which consider transport from a social exclusion perspective have been conducted in the context of the developed world where both income poverty and lack of transport are relative rather absolute states. In a unique departure from these previous studies, this paper explores the relationship between transport and social disadvantage in the development context, the key difference being that income poverty is absolute and where there is much lower access to both private and public transportation generally. Thus, it seeks to explore whether the concept of social exclusion remains valid, when it is the majority of the population that is experiencing transport and income poverty compared with the minority who do so in advanced economies.The paper is based on a scoping study for the Republic of South Africa Department of Transport (RSA DOT), which primarily involved focus group discussions with a range of socially deprived urban and peri-urban population groups living in the Tshwane region of South Africa. In a second departure from previous studies which consider transport and social disadvantage in the development context, the study takes a primarily urban focus. The rationale for this is that theoretically low income urban settlements do not suffer from the lack of transport infrastructure and motorised transport services in the way that more remote rural areas do. The policy issue is therefore less a question of addressing a deficit in supply and more one of addressing particular aspects of public transit service failure, which are more readily amenable to relatively low cost, manageable, small-scale national and local policy interventions.A primary aim for the study was to reinvigorate cross-government debate of these issues in the hope of breaking South African government’s long-standing and persistent policy inertia in the delivery of equitable and socially sustainable urban transport systems.     

农村普惠性金融发展对中国农户收入的影响——来自1877个县(市)面板数据的实证分析

本文使用来自中国2006—2009年1877个县(市)的面板数据,实证分析了中国农村普惠性金融发展及其各个维度对农户收入的影响。研究结果表明:中国农村普惠性金融发展对农户收入具有显著的正效应,组成农村普惠性金融的地理渗透性和产品接触性与农户收入正相关,使用效用性和农户收入负相关;从区域层面看,东部地区农村普惠性金融发展和农户收入正相关,而中、西部地区农村普惠性金融发展和农户收入负相关。针对以上的结论,本文就农村普惠性金融发展促进农户收入增长提出了简要的政策建议。     

城市空间生产过程中的社会排斥

城市空间不仅是物理空间,也具有一定的社会属性。中国的社会变迁在城市空间生产过程中留下了深刻的烙印,从建国初期的较为均等的城市空间分配到改革开放后的城市空间分异,都体现了当时的社会管理体制、社会关系结构及其变迁。分析了变迁过程中存在的基于结构和个体层面的双重空间社会排斥,并指出这两方面的排斥力造成了目前城市空间分异的现象。     

Vulnerability of the unbanked: evidence from a developing country

Financial exclusion is an apparent phenomenon globally, the majority of people without bank accounts living in the developing countries. Those who lack access to financial services could experience vulnerability. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to unfold the vulnerability of the low‐income unbanked consumers in a Pakistani context. Qualitative data were gathered from low‐income unbanked consumers through in‐depth interviews. The findings suggest that unbanked consumers are vulnerable in many ways. The participants faced several negative consequences due to their financial exclusion, which resulted into their personal, economic and social detriment. Based on our study findings, we provide managerial and public policy implications for the well‐being of the low‐income unbanked consumers. Lastly, study limitations and future study guidelines are discussed.     

中国农村金融排斥：总体评价、地区差异及影响因素研究

本文基于四个维度指标的选择建立了农村金融排斥的评估指标体系。评估了从2006年到2009年的农村金融排斥综合指数的总体情况,结论是金融排斥状况与经济发展水平紧密联系,聚类分析结果也反映了地区之间大的差异。在这个基础上,本文从经验上分析了农村金融排斥和地区差异的影响因素,并提出了有效应对措施。     

Continuity and Change in Public Policy: Redistribution,Exclusion and State Rescaling in Turkey

This article discusses potential reasons for the continuities in the broader policy agendas of capitalist states, despite radical shifts in economic policies, by employing the state‐rescaling framework. Its main thrust is that, even though centrally designed policy programs mainly aim to give direction to the dynamics of the market economy, the institutional (re)structuring needed to operationalize such policy measures has been shaped around a politics of redistribution, a product both of the exclusionary results of past policies and the negative results of the newly introduced policy programs. This dialectical tension turns state rescaling into a political exercise in solving, and reproducing, ‘systemic crises’. The article examines the history of state rescaling in Turkey to develop these arguments.