Unemployment, Wage Pressure and Sectoral Shifts: Permanent and Temporary Consequences of Intersectoral Shocks

The main purpose of this study is to examine the effect of allocative disturbances using Italian labour market data and a VECM (vector error correction model). In order to measure sectoral shifts in labour demand, we use Neumann-Topel's [Neumann, G.R., & Topel, R.H. (1991). Employment risk, diversification, and unemployment. Quarterly Journal of Economics 106:1341–1365] employment-based dispersion index. In searching for a restricted cointegration space, we set down, and identify a stylized version of the battle of the mark-ups model. Lilien [Lilien, D. (1982). Sectoral shifts and cyclical unemployment. Journal of Political Economy 90:777–793] argued that an important part of cyclical unemployment comes from permanent shifts in the composition of labour demand. Our findings emphasize that an important source of the persistence of unemployment comes from sectoral shifts.     

Risk Perception and Personality Facets

The present study examined the relationship between personality facets and risk perception using the Big Five model. A broad range of hazards was considered: energy production, pollutants, sex, deviance, addictions, weapons, common individual hazards, outdoor activities, medical care, and psychotropic drugs. Key personality facets that were most predictive of risk perception compared to (or in association with) age, gender, educational level, and personality factors were identified. They were moderation and tranquility (associated with energy production or pollutants), rationality and efficiency (associated with pollutants, sex, deviance, addictions, or weapons), creativity, imagination, and reflection (associated with energy production, pollutants, or common individual hazards), self-disclosure (associated with outdoor activities), and nurturance and tenderness (associated with sex, deviance, addictions, or medical care). These facets may be recommended for use in future studies on risk perception.     

Criminal Victimization and the Quality of Life

The aim of this investigation was to explain theimpact of crime-related issues on satisfaction withthe quality of life, satisfaction with life as a wholeand happiness in the city of Prince George, BritishColumbia. As explanatory variables, we had measures ofrespondent fears of and actual cases of victimization, Indexes of Neighbourhood Problems, PolicePerformance, Neighbourhood Worries, DefensiveBehaviour, beliefs about increases in local crime,satisfaction with personal and family safety, andsatisfaction with a variety of domains of life (e.g.,friendships, financial security, health). Collectivelysuch variables could explain only 5% of the variationin happiness scores, 7% of the variation in lifesatisfaction scores and 9% of the variation insatisfaction with the quality of life scores. However,they could explain 38% of the variation in overallneighbourhood satisfaction scores. When measures ofsatisfaction with family life, health, self-esteem,etc. were added, we found that crime related issueswere simply displaced by the other measures and thatwe could explain 31% of the variation in overallhappiness scores, 58% of the variation in lifesatisfaction scores and 59% of the variation insatisfaction with the overall quality of life scores. We conclude, therefore, that crime-related issues haverelatively little impact on peoples satisfaction withthe quality of their lives, with life satisfaction orhappiness here.     

Identifying and using critical success factors

This article focuses on defining and discussing the concept of critical success factors as input into the environment analysis, resource analysis, and strategy evaluation steps in the strategic planning/strategy development process. The reader is provided with eight possible sources of critical success factors including environmental analysis, analysis of industry structure, industry/business experts, analysis of competition, analysis of dominant firm in the industry, company assessment, temporal/intuitive factors and PIMS results. Examples of CSF's from various sources are provided and a scheme by which the reader can assess the relative importance of identified CSF's is presented.     

Public Services and the Quality of Life

This is a report of the results of a survey of citizen beliefs and attitudes about public services and the quality of life in Prince George, British Columbia, Canada in the summer of 1997. Information is provided about the perceived frequency with which various services were used, the perceived satisfaction and value for tax dollars spent on the services as well as on levels of government officials generally, preferences for the provision of more or fewer services and for spending relatively more or less revenue on different services, views about user-fees, and views about smoke-free public places and the likely impact of bylaw changes on people's behaviour. Using such information, we examined correlations among perceived satisfaction, perceived value for money, use, spending preferences and demand, and, using multiple regression analysis, explained 66% of the variance in life satisfaction scores, 57% of the variance in satisfaction with the quality of life scores and 37% of the variance in happiness scores. Applying LISREL 8.14, it was shown that a model in which our three global indicators were explained by 13 domain indicators was superior to a model in which the latter indicators were explained by the former, i.e., a Bottom-Up model was superior to a Top-Down model. A simple linear model was also used to explain 32%, 20% and 19%, respectively, of the variance in satisfaction with municipal, provincial and federal government officials.     

Covid and Public Funds: More Opportunities for a Misuse? The Case of the Intermediate Governments of Galicia

Public Organization Review - Corruption and inefficiency of public funds pose a risk in public administrations. This paper analyses the corruption risk at the local level by analysing indicators of...     

Bayesian non-parametric modeling for integro-difference equations

Integro-difference equations (IDEs) provide a flexible framework for dynamic modeling of spatio-temporal data. The choice of kernel in an IDE model relates directly to the underlying physical process modeled, and it can affect model fit and predictive accuracy. We introduce Bayesian non-parametric methods to the IDE literature as a means to allow flexibility in modeling the kernel. We propose a mixture of normal distributions for the IDE kernel, built from a spatial Dirichlet process for the mixing distribution, which can model kernels with shapes that change with location. This allows the IDE model to capture non-stationarity with respect to location and to reflect a changing physical process across the domain. We address computational concerns for inference that leverage the use of Hermite polynomials as a basis for the representation of the process and the IDE kernel, and incorporate Hamiltonian Markov chain Monte Carlo steps in the posterior simulation method. An example with synthetic data demonstrates that the model can successfully capture location-dependent dynamics. Moreover, using a data set of ozone pressure, we show that the spatial Dirichlet process mixture model outperforms several alternative models for the IDE kernel, including the state of the art in the IDE literature, that is, a Gaussian kernel with location-dependent parameters.     

The Management of Redundancies in Europe: The Case of Denmark

The paper presents the findings of comparative and interdisciplinary legal and economic study on managing labour redundancies in seven EU member countries. It is structured for comparability between the systems examined. The introductory section contains an account of the evolution of the Danish labour market, with special reference to redundancy trends, of the features of the programmes for managing redundancies, of the roles of firms and the ‘external environment’ in handling workforce adjustments. The second section presents a map of policies that work to prevent labour redundancies (preventive measures) such as flexibility, training etc. Next, the instruments for handling temporary labour redundancies (retentive measures) are examined (e.g. short-time working, temporary layoffs etc.). The following section is devoted to instruments and programmes involved in the management of permanent labour redundancies (expulsive measures), e.g. collective dismissals, severance pay etc. The final section provides an overall assessment of the Danish system for managing labour redundancies, and briefly discusses the national debate on the prospects for reform, in light of the principles and policies of convergence set forth by the European Union.