The 2015 welfare reform of the National Basic Livelihood Security System in South Korea: Effects on economic outcomes

In July 2015, South Korea’s National Basic Livelihood Security System (NBLSS) was reformed for the purposes of eliminating welfare blind spots and reducing poverty. The reform is expected to affect the recipients’ economic behaviours and choices. In this study, we used changes in benefits and eligibility for the NBLSS under the customised benefit system to identify the effects of the change in the NBLSS on a proposed set of economic outcomes – income, labour supply, consumption, savings, poverty reduction. To estimate the effects, we used data from the 10th–12th waves of the Korea Welfare Panel Study and employed a difference‐in‐differences framework integrated with the propensity scores. We found that the NBLSS helps the poor to reduce financial and material hardships through income and consumption increments, but that it does not provide disincentives to the recipients from participating in the labour market or from saving.     

Social investment effects of public education,health care,and welfare service expenditures on economic growth

The purpose of this study is to theoretically and empirically examine whether public spending in education, health care, and welfare service operates as a fruitful investment in welfare states, which has been implied in the literature of social investment arguments. Based on comprehensive review of existing literature, this study suggested a tripartite mechanism of social investment effect of such spending, that is “enhancement of human capital,” “support for labor force participation,” and “job creation.” To find the empirical evidence, a pooled time‐series cross‐section analysis was conducted with the data of 15 advanced welfare states from 1980 to 2015 using estimation technique of fixed‐effect model. The results confirmed that public spending in education, health care, and welfare service had a positive medium‐term as well as long‐term effect on economic performance, while cash‐type welfare spending had an obscure or no visible effect on economy. Government consumption that is a proxy and control variable of size of the welfare state showed a positive effect on real GDP in the medium term but a negative effect in the long run. In conclusion, this study suggests that reinforcing social services should be recognized and dealt with as essence of social investment strategy.     

黑格尔法哲学中的“等级”概念

通过黑格尔在《法哲学原理》中对“等级”的相关论述阐明了“等级”概念的具体含义。黑格尔在精神发展内在逻辑的结构框架下论述了等级理论，展现出理性的机巧。市民社会孕育分化出来的殊多等级由于在理念和现实上的缺陷，必须被纳入政治国家这一更高阶段，实现现实的自由。逻辑和现实的距离终未使伟大人物黑格尔的社会政治理想现实化。     

国家治理体系与政府购买公共服务

政府购买公共服务关系到政府职能的转变和政府治理水平的提升,关系到政府与市场之间功能与地位的调整与理顺,因而是国家治理体系的重要一环。政府购买公共服务背后体现的是国家治理体系现代化的取向,那么在理论逻辑上是要以新公共管理理论、政府治理、第三方治理和多中心治理理论为理论基石。目前,我国政府购买公共服务还存在着范围不清、关系不顺、法律不健全的制度现实,因而必须构建科学规范的现代化的政府购买服务制度和配套制度体系,以进一步推进国家治理体系的制度现代化。     

The context of employment discrimination: interpreting the findings of a field experiment

Although field experiments have documented the contemporary relevance of discrimination in employment, theories developed to explain the dynamics of differential treatment cannot account for differences across organizational and institutional contexts. In this article, I address this shortcoming by presenting the main empirical findings from a multi‐method research project, in which a field experiment of ethnic discrimination in the Norwegian labour market was complemented with forty‐two in‐depth interviews with employers who were observed in the first stage of the study. While the experimental data support earlier findings in documenting that ethnic discrimination indeed takes place, the qualitative material suggests that theorizing in the field experiment literature have been too concerned with individual and intra‐psychic explanations. Discriminatory outcomes in employment processes seems to be more dependent on contextual factors such as the number of applications received, whether requirements are specified, and the degree to which recruitment procedures are formalized. I argue that different contexts of employment provide different opportunity structures for discrimination, a finding with important theoretical and methodological implications.     

弱势群体公法保护视野下的社会帮扶问题

弱势群体保护问题是当今社会，尤其是公法学界所面临的严峻课题。为了有效应对这一问题，应采用比较研究、实证研究、文献研究的方法，在继续完善传统公法意义上的相关保障性制度的基础上，积极构建弱势群体的社会帮扶制度。弱势群体的社会帮扶制度一方面以服务行政理论为理论依据，要求弱势群体保护由当下的“政治负责”向“社会负责”过渡；另一方面，社会帮扶制度又以公共服务理论为理论支撑，要求政府由高权强制型向怀柔服务型转变。在实践中，弱势群体的社会帮扶制度应遵循政府与社会“两条腿走路”的基本逻辑，而该制度的构建应秉承若干基本思路：破除观念束缚，培育和构建公民社会；丰富社会主体形式，弥补行政保障不足；完善其他社会帮扶途径。     

城市公共艺术与文化软实力的对接关系研究——以广州为例

文化软实力是一个国家除军事经济之外让别人主动接近的吸引力,城市公共艺术也是一种与大众有亲缘关系的艺术形态。某种程度上说,城市公共艺术是文化软实力在艺术领域的一种显象。广州城市公共艺术在器物层、行为层、制度层诠释了文化软实力的静态和动态的维度。     

论反垄断私人诉讼原告资格的二元化

我国当前民事诉讼立法对适格原告的要求过于严格,无法契合反垄断私人诉讼的特殊需求,导致此类纠纷中私人利益和公共利益得不到有效的司法救济。借鉴域外经验,结合自身国情,构建我国反垄断私人诉讼原告资格制度至关重要。私人提起反垄断诉讼因其利益指向的不同有着反垄断私人诉讼之“公益诉讼”和“私益诉讼”的分化。在起诉者利益指向分化下,二者面临着截然不同的困境和需求,由此在原告资格的确立上也应有所差异,即反垄断私人诉讼适格原告二元化。     

Do information,price, or morals influence ethical consumption? A natural field experiment and customer survey on the purchase of Fair Trade coffee

We address ethical consumption using a natural field experiment on the actual purchase of Fair Trade (FT) coffee in three supermarkets in Germany. Based on a quasi-experimental before-and-after design the effects of three different treatments – information, 20% price reduction, and a moral appeal – are analyzed. Sales data cover actual ethical purchase behavior and avoid problems of social desirability. But they offer only limited insights into the motivations of individual consumers. We therefore complemented the field experiment with a customer survey that allows us to contrast observed (ethical) buying behavior with self-reported FT consumption. Results from the experiment suggest that only the price reduction had the expected positive and statistically significant effect on FT consumption.