Die Einführung des Euro

The Euro takes over far more than the monetary functions of the old national currencies. It creates a new collective consciousness. For the first time, the future European Federal State penetrates noticeably the everyday life of its citizens in terms of coins and notes. So far the European Union has been a distant bureaucracy that was mostly criticized by citizens and mass media alike. However, with any payment made in the future the Euro will literally show citizens that they live rather in Europe than in one of the receding national states. Yet the new presence of Europe in the public consciousness will be complemented by unpleasant topics. A uniform currency fosters an economic integration in which weaker regions will suffer losses. The monetary unification will therefore be joined by a unification of demands: Disadvantaged countries will demand redistribution at the European level. Therefore, critics of the monetary union have repeatedly claimed that the Euro will not unite Europeans but divide them in the end. It is argued that the opposite will be the case: The Euro will turn out to be the most efficient accelerator for building European institutions. Therefore, the real significance of the Euro does not lie in the standardization of monetary functions. Its impact can rather be found on a political level: in the expansion of the European citizenship. The Euro will, gradually but definitely, redirect the public attention to Brussels, Europe’s capital city.     

Borrowing trouble. Finding ways out of value systems discord for biodiversity policy-making

IPBES’ conceptual framework, and the related debates prior to its adoption, provided an interesting opportunity to witness an old and ongoing tension between two value systems, namely an “economic” and utility-based value system, and a “cultural” and comprehensive value system. Arguments for and against both value systems relate, at least partly, to criteria such as practicality, democracy, comprehensiveness and respect for various forms of worldviews. However, disputes regarding the legitimacy of these value systems mostly rest on theoretical ground since they generally focus on the potential threats and future promises of approaches related to these value systems, rather than on their actual impacts and performance. This article aims to contribute to filling this gap.

Typical instruments of the “economic” value system are cost-benefit analysis and its correlate, ecosystem services valuation. The key selling point of these instruments is their ability to support efficient, transparent and democratic policy-making processes. On the other hand, their most often denounced threat lies in paving the way to the commodification of nature. In this paper, these promises and threats are put to test in the context of Official Development Assistance and the decision-making processes of five Official Development Agencies (ODAs) such as the World Bank, the European Investment Banks and three bilateral ODAs. The paper provides for an analysis of the role of cost-benefit analysis and ecosystem services valuation for supporting decision-making in the fields related to the local environment in these ODAs. Results suggest that, however favourable the context of ODA appears for economic valuation instruments, the “economic” value system has failed to deliver both in terms of its most commonly boasted promises and its most often denounced threats. This suggests renewing our views on the tension between the value systems. All value systems give birth to languages, concepts and representations that can be used as complementary rather than conflicting resources as long as the economic analysis is no longer considered as a proxy for decision-making, but rather as a useful language to speak of material interests and of distribution, and to bring these concerns into deliberation processes.     

Rooted Cosmopolitans: Israelis with a European Passport – History,Property, Identity

Over the past decade, a new and intriguing phenomenon developed in Israel: close to 60,000 Israelis applied for citizenship in the Central and Eastern European countries from which their families immigrated. Typically, these new dual citizens have no plans to “return” to Germany or Poland, nor do they feel any identification with their countries of origin. Instead, they are mainly interested in obtaining a “European Union passport” and in gaining potential access to the European common market. The paper presents statistics on this unconventional case of dual citizenship, surveys the historical and legal circumstances that produced it and uses material from interviews to explore the meanings and uses that European‐Israeli dual citizens attribute to their European passports. Dual citizenship, the findings show, is used by Israelis in various and sometimes unexpected ways: as enhancer of economic opportunities, “insurance policy,” intergenerational gift, and even as an elitist status symbol. This modality of state belonging can be termed “passport citizenship”: Non‐resident citizenship here is stripped of its national meaning and treated as an individual piece of property, which is embodied by the passport and obtained for pragmatic reasons.     

Livelihood resilience in a hyperinflationary environment: experiences of people engaging in money-burning (kubhena mari) transactions in Harare,Zimbabwe

At the zenith of Zimbabwe’s protracted politico-economic crises around 2007, which resulted in record hyperinflation, the majority of ordinary people confronted monumental livelihood challenges and complex reconfigurations of social and economic relationships. Many people could hardly sustain themselves from their meagre salaries from formal employment. In spite of this seemingly insurmountable livelihood catastrophe, people did not remain passive victims of such economic quandary. Rather, in the midst of this economic crisis, many people demonstrated great ingenuity, resilience and displayed immense resourcefulness in terms of rationally navigating through the economic crisis. This study explores a widespread survival strategy adopted by many people in Harare as a response to economic conditions: that of “money burning” or illegally exchanging money on the black market through electronic transfers. It is argued in this study that the emergence of money “burning” was a clear manifestation of human agency directed at individual survival amid livelihood catastrophe. Research findings revealed that money burning had become the lifeblood of many urbanites’ survival and livelihood portfolio. Interestingly, people’s perceptions on the money-burning practice were rather ambivalent. In trying to dissect the money-burning practice, I adopted Giddens’s structuration thesis and more especially the “structure–agency” dichotomy as my analytical insight, showing how the structure constrains and enables simultaneously.     

Talking about money: public participation and expert knowledge in the Euro referendum

This paper uses the proposed UK referendum on the single European currency as a means of investigating the effect of democratizing science on the scrutiny of conflicting expert advice. Although the referendum has not happened yet, and may not happen at all, the campaigners for and against the Euro have none the less been working for several years to ensure that if, and when, it does happen they are in a position to win it. By exploring how campaigners on both sides of the debate understand the concerns of voters, the paper shows how they are working towards a referendum in which the political dimensions of the Euro are actively minimized in order to avoid alienating key 'floating voters'. Instead, the campaign is expected to focus on the economic costs and benefits of the Euro for individuals and households, with only limited discussion of issues relating to sovereignty. Whether or not the campaign groups, particularly those that oppose the Euro, can maintain this line remains to be seen but if there is a full and frank public debate about the economic, social and political stakes, then this will be despite the referendum rather than because of it.     

Returnees' Perspectives on Their Re‐migration Processes

The return of refugees and migrants back to their country of origin is an important topic on the agenda of Western European governments, as return is considered as the most “durable solution” for the “refugee problem”, and as an instrument with which to tackle “illegal” migration. However, these migration policies generally lack a clear evidence base, as little studies have focused on returnees' current living situations and on their perspectives on the re‐migration process. In this paper we therefore try to listen to returnees' voices, through in‐depth interviews with four Nepalese migrants both before (in Belgium) and after (in Nepal) their return, and with 16 returnees after their return to Nepal. The interviews show how most returnees start with a disadvantageous “point of departure” to realize a “successful” return: mostly, they do not really depart “voluntarily”, and they only have limited possibilities for preparing their return and setting realistic expectations. But also, back in the “home country”, most returnees judge their current economic, social and political living situation as bad, meeting little of the expectations that they set before they returned. The participants consider the support they received through the NGOs' return programmes as minimal, because they are mostly limited to a small amount of financial support, and thus of little significance in these returnees' efforts to rebuild their lives in their “home” country. If return programmes want to make a difference in returnees' lives, they should have two extensive components in the “home” and the “host” country, incorporating in both components an integral approach, including economic, political, social and psychological aspects. Viewing these findings, it is not surprising that most interviewees eventually evaluate their return as unsuccessful, and many returnees consider re‐emigration, all of which clearly questions the current basis of worldwide migration policies.     

INTERNATIONAL EFFECTS OF EURO AREA VERSUS U.S. POLICY UNCERTAINTY: A FAVAR APPROACH

Estimating a large‐scale factor‐augmented vector autoregressive model for 18 Organisation for Economic Co‐operation and Development member countries, we quantify the global effects of economic policy uncertainty shocks. More specifically, we check whether the signs, the magnitude, and the persistence profile are consistent with the literature on the real and financial sector effects of uncertainty. In that respect, we compare the impacts of a U.S. and a Euro area policy uncertainty shock. According to our results, an increase in economic policy uncertainty has a strong negative impact on economic activity (gross domestic product), consumer prices, equity prices, and interest rates. Uncertainty shocks cause deeper recessions in Continental Europe (except Germany) than in Anglo‐Saxon countries. U.S. uncertainty shocks have a bigger impact than those for the Euro area. Economic policy uncertainty does not only affect that country where the shock originates but also has large cross‐border effects. We also find a high degree of synchronization among the responses of national variables to a (foreign) uncertainty shock, indicating evidence of an international business cycle. With respect to the responses of national long‐term interest rates to an economic policy uncertainty shock, our results reveal a strong “North‐South” divide within the Euro area with rates decreasing less significantly in the South. Moreover, economic policy uncertainty shocks emerging in one region quickly raise uncertainty outside the region of origin. (JEL C32, F42, D80)     

A “capability view” on migration: some theoretical issues raised by the Southern Euro Zone highly skilled mobility

The Southern Euro Zone countries show significant delays to adapt their social and productive systems to the EU goal of creating knowledge-based societies. A signal can be the increasingly higher level of skilled labor migration from these countries, especially during the actual crisis. Recent literature on skilled migrations often rejects the concept of “brain drain” (BD) arguing that circulation and exchange of people and knowledge is expected in the era of globalization. Using both conceptual analysis and secondary data, the paper attempts to highlight proportions of the intra-EU BD phenomenon and show how they may challenge the assumptions of circular migration models. It discusses that a BD problem likely exists in the Southern Euro Zone and proposes an alternative framework for its analysis. The main hypothesis behind this review is that the phenomenon relies on substantial lack of social opportunities for high-skilled people in the countries of origin as provoked by multiple factors. In this account, the several drivers of migrants' choice will be conceptualized by adopting a “Capability Approach,” and they will be further analyzed according to its foremost hypotheses regarding rational behavior, human welfare, and development. The resulting theoretical view has to be considered as an expansion of the neoclassical economics “standard view” on high-skilled migrations.     

HOW DO VOLUNTARY ORGANIZATIONS FOSTER PROTEST? THE ROLE OF ORGANIZATIONAL INVOLVEMENT ON INDIVIDUAL PROTEST PARTICIPATION

Prior research shows that members of voluntary organizations are more likely to protest than nonmembers. But why, among members, do some protest while others do not? I explore whether organizational involvement—the extent in which members engage in the “life” of their organizations—affects protest. I identify four dimensions of involvement—time and money contributions, participation in activities, psychological attachment, and embeddedness in interpersonal communication networks. Only the first dimension has robust effects on protest, and they are nonlinear: intermediate contributors have the highest protest rates. The three other dimensions substantially increase protest only under specific “involvement profiles.”     

A FISCAL THEORY OF GOVERNMENT'S ROLE IN MONEY

As an alternative to market failure explanations, we draw on theory and historical evidence to argue that fiscal considerations explain the roles governments typically play in producing and regulating money. Public monopoly production of coins and banknotes, substitution offiat for commodity standards, and restrictions on substitutes for government money all generate revenue and especially provide means for meeting fiscal emergencies. We argue that these arrangements do not reflect conscious design so much as the evolutionary survival of the fiscally advantageous. ( JEL E5, E6, H1, N1)     

Does Circular Migration Lead to “Guest Worker” Outcomes?

At first at the level of the European Commission, and increasingly also in the European Union’s member states, it is being recognized that past labour migration management tools have more or less serious drawbacks in that they produce undesired outcomes and do not sufficiently attain the objectives for which they were designed. The welfare states of north‐western Europe are discovering that their desire of the past three decades to restrict labour immigration as much as possible is no longer “in sync” with changing labour market demands, which are growing both for the highly skilled and the unskilled. In order to satisfy the demand for unskilled labour, schemes are being proposed that would allow for circular migration. The European Commission is a forceful promoter of these schemes. Member states such as the Netherlands, which we take as a case in point, are also considering modes by which to allow temporary unskilled labour migration, but seem intent on employing regulatory tools that are not very different from those used in the “guest worker” era, which brought about large‐scale settlement. Up to the present time, the resulting ethnic minority groups are the subject of large integration efforts on the part of the receiving states. This begs the question of the extent to which “circular migration” would be different from “guest worker” schemes, in its management and its outcomes.     

THE MAKING OF MONETARY POLICY: DESCRIPTION AND ANALYSIS*

At the present time Federal Reserve policy-making may be viewed as having a two-part structure. First, based on a four to eight quarter economic forecast, the Fed selects a target rate of money growth. Second, based on a short-term money market forecast, the Fed selects a Federal funds rate range thought to be consistent with the money growth target. The procedure followed in selecting the money growth target is “state-of-the-art” but the policy implementation based on controlling the Federal funds rate has permitted an undesirable pro-cyclical behavior of the money stock.     

Convergence or divergence? A comparative analysis of CSR communication by leading firms in Asia,Europe, and North America

Through the lens of the communicative institutionalism and an extensive content analysis of corporate websites, this study compared corporate social responsibility (CSR) institutional messages by firms across three macro regions. The findings show that Asian firms do not present significant differences in how they expose their orientation to sustainability (i.e. “CSR identity” messages) than Western counterparts. However, Asian firms seem significantly less inclined to engage in CSR messages concerning “organization and management”, messages on “CSR interactivity” and those regarding “CSR as business case” compared with European firms. The difference between Asian and North American firms mostly concerns the former’s less salient use of “business case” messages for CSR. The comparative study sheds light on the pattern of CSR crossvergence across the West and East, reflecting hybridized CSR expressions across forms of CSR institutional messages.     

The UK Migrant Cap,Migrant Mobility and Employer Implications

Advocates of the “borderless world” thesis suggest that migrant workers can benefit from employment opportunities available everywhere, with workers simply migrating towards these opportunities. However, as global inequalities widen and potential global mobilities develop, states are “managing” migration. Individual migrant “agency”, its structuration, and the subsequent experiences of migrants and employers, can restrict such mobility. Consequently, there is a need to describe and problematize the new strategies. This article considers these issues with reference to the emerging impact of the migrant cap on non‐European Economic Area (EEA) migrants to the United Kingdom (UK). It explores the links between immigration and employment rights and the implications for migrant mobility. Policies of “managed migration” frequently do not take into account issues of geography and intra and inter regional competition for migrants by employers operating in sectors with skill shortages, or differential migrant “agency” in the form of their skills and attributes. This may impinge on the effectiveness of such approaches and on economic prosperity at a national, regional and local scale.     

At Home with Media Technology

ABSTRACT

People's engagement with media devices in the domestic sphere varies greatly, as do the decisions they make regarding when, where, and how the devices are utilized. How do we organize our houses for media consumption and/or creation? How do our houses' spatial configurations affect our media consumption and habits? How does time play a role in media engagement? These questions directly relate to design—our homes are both spatially and temporally designed—by us, and for us. The design issues of creating and maintaining a “home” are compounded by the various media devices we use—telephone, TV, stereo, Internet-enabled computer, and so on. We not only “design” how we use these devices, but where and when they are used. In this context, media devices are not passive objects, but rather through our engagement with them, they alter domestic space/time, and may ultimately challenge how we understand and define domesticity. Media technology simultaneously constructs new, and interrupts existing, domestic territories. We will explore the reciprocal impact of domestic space/time and media technology, with a view to revealing the ways in which this nexus becomes a question of design.     

“Coloniality of power” and racial dynamics: Notes toward a reinterpretation of Latino Caribbeans in New York City 1

The category of “Latino” collapses the differences among populations with diverse historical experiences of oppression. We establish in this article a distinction within the Latino Caribbean diaspora among “immigrants/’ “colonial immigrants,” and “colonial/racial subjects” of the U.S. empire. Using the notion of “coloniality of power” developed by Peruvian sociologist Aníbal Quijano, we argue that the social position and racialization of several different populations in the U.S. today has its roots in the racial hierarchies produced by centuries of European colonial expansion and that this essentially colonial set of relationships continues. We use this notion of coloniality to reconceptualize three social processes: (1) the construction of Puerto Ricans as colonial racialized subjects in the Euro‐American imaginary; (2) the transformation of Dominicans into colonial immigrants in the New York Metropolitan Area, that is, the way Dominicans became “Puerto Ricanized” and (3) the disassociation of pre‐1980s Cuban migrants from the “Puerto Ricanization” experienced by the Dominicans.     

Giving from the Heart or from the Ego? Motives behind Remittances of the Second Generation in Europe

The aim of this article is to investigate the remittance behavior of host country‐born children of migrants – the second generation – in various European cities. We address the following question: Are second‐generation remitters driven more by altruism or by self‐interest? Data from “The Integration of the European Second Generation” (TIES) survey are utilized and encompass individuals with at least one migrant parent from Morocco, Turkey, or former Yugoslavia. Using logistic models, we test different classical theories on microeconomic determinants of remittances and add some additional expectations for the second generation. The results show that those second‐generation Moroccans, Turks, and former Yugoslavs who send money are motivated by two main reasons: Emotional attachment to their parents' home country (altruism motive) or to pay people who look after their investments or other material assets that are likely to be part of their preparation for “returning” (self‐interest – exchange motive). These two motives are not necessarily exclusive: As part of a well‐prepared return, to integrate easily once back “home,” it is not only relevant to ensure that people take care of one's investments and other material assets, but also to strengthen social ties and be well informed about the situation in the country of origin. This interpretation fits closely with the return model, which deserves more attention in the theoretical literature on remittances.     

Doing Money Work in a Door‐to‐Door Sales Organization

Previous sociological accounts of money have focused on meanings that attach to types of money but have given insufficient attention to how these meanings arise out of and are sustained by their use in interpersonal interactions. In this case study of a door‐to‐door sales company, we use a “cultural toolkit” conception of money meanings to show how managers and salespersons draw on these meanings to get things done. We examine how money meanings are used in three settings: (1) the salesperson–sales prospect interaction, wherein the presentation of self takes center stage, (2) the managerial relationship between the salesperson and his or her manager, and (3) salespersons' time “between doors,” when they attempt to make sense of their situation and motivate themselves to continue. We show how money work is used for persuasion, worker control, decision making, and impression management.     

The Grünberg/Modigliani and Simon possibility theorem: A social psychological critique

The venerable “possibility theorem” of Grünberg and Modigliani (1954) and Simon (1954) continues to excite interest, not only in its original domainwhether or not self-altering prophecies automatically rule out accurate social and economic prediction—but, more recently, as a supposed precursor of rational expectations theory. It has survived several attacks on its logic and mathematics. The present critique focuses on the expressly stated assumption—essential for the theorem—that the “reaction function” between the predicted outcome and the actual outcome is continuous. The article argues that the theorem, while logically sound, is not empirically germane because such a continuous reaction function violates all social psychological understanding of the effects of benchmarks and related phenomena. The possibility theorem is, therefore, a logically sound analysis of a virtually empty set, and its conclusions concerning accurate prediction under conditions of self-alteration can rarely apply even as proofs of “possibility.”     

Trends in public relations roles: 1990–1995

This study reported trend data on the roles of national Public Relations Society of America members. The authors posited that roles are constantly in process and illustrated this through analyses of activities within the broad manager and technician categories. The authors argued also that professional experience as a predictor of manager enactment should be defined not as number of years in the field but by looking at the kinds of experiences received on the job.Study results suggested that for this sample of PRSA members an agency role emerged in 1995 in addition to the manager and technician roleso found in 1990. There was still cross-over in the activities performed in each of the role profiles, indicating that public relations people do an assortment of activities. The agency role could be a result of the economic downturn that occurred in this five-year period. Women still seemed to be doing “it all” for less money. They did not carry out the same activities as the male role profiles that emerged and enacted a less pronounced agency role.