The credit crunch: Ideological,psychological and epistemological perspectives

Two economic interpretations of the credit crunch are outlined and the question posed whether these are incommensurate ideological positions. Psychological perspectives are then explored including insights from cognitive and social psychology. The argument is made that policy options depend on what constitutes the ‘good society’ and whether the culture of financial institutions can be changed by government intervention, social pressure and human agency. It is concluded that those interested in socio-economics have a duty to engage with alternative discourses.     

“新金融”发展态势及上海的鼓励政策研究

中国式"新金融"规模不断扩大,对中国经济发展和宏观调控产生了重要影响。它在一定程度上使得经济增长与实体经济背离,也未能完全解决中小企业融资难问题。当前政策的出发点,不应仅出于控制金融风险而对"新金融"加以限制,更多的还是应考虑如何加大力度引导资金流向中小企业等实体经济。上海"新金融"政策定位,应借助"新金融"体系,引导社会资金流向实体经济,并以金融支持科技创新和产业升级转型为重点,以活跃和繁荣金融机构和中介服务体系为抓手,构建上海"新金融"鼓励政策。     

Social policy planning in a federal structure: A social learning strategy

Current social welfare policy planning reflects an inadequate sense of the problems to be solved and an incentive structure which discourages responsible decision making. Proceeding from overly simple cause and effect models, social welfare policies are designed with detailed administrative regulations to insure uniformity and regularity of behavior across the states. When problems are not solved, policy makers focus on the failures of personnel to follow all the detailed regulations. This leads to additional efforts to enforce compliance. There is evidence that implementation personnel consistently and purposively do stretch or ignore regulations in order to service clients. An alternative to further detailed regulations then is to use the autonomy of state units in the federal structure by eliminating negative incentives to innovation and creating incentives to experiment with alternative programs. As a social learning strategy this would encourage innovation and make it possible to learn from the experience of personnel who daily confront the realities of welfare problems and the large array of administrative details.     

Irish Credit Unions: Exploring the Gender Mix

Credit unions are voluntary cooperative financial institutions. At present there are 621 credit unions in Ireland serving two million members. Credit unions espouse the principle of gender inclusiveness, which is viewed as a fundamental cooperative concept. Based on a survey of 500 Irish credit unions, this study explores the role of women in credit unions. Judged against participation rates for women in the labor market and in specific organizations such as trade unions, the study suggests that gender balance in credit unions is superior to that elsewhere in Irish society. There is, however, some evidence of gender imbalance in the composition of credit union boards with this being most visible for key decision-making positions such as Chair and Vice-Chair. It also emerges that gender imbalance becomes more pronounced for larger credit unions supporting the contention that women are found in greater numbers on small and less well-connected not-for-profit boards.     

‘We feel the responsibility that you shirk’: movement institutionalization,the politics of responsibility and the case of the Swedish environmental movement

This article provides directions for advancing the conceptualization of the relationship between social movements and institutionalization, based on a case study of the Swedish environmental movement strategies. We argue that the concepts of (de)responsibilization and (de)politicization provide tools for an improved analysis of the dynamics of how social movements interact both with established political institutions and corporations in a new context. The introduction of new regulatory frameworks in environmental politics has shaped interaction between social movements and the state in new ways, involving neoliberal responsibilization, meaning active involvement by civil society and business in political responsibilities previously associated with state agencies – a development involving an increasing emphasis on market mechanisms. We argue that this has involved a de-politicization of environmental issues in the sense that it engages political actors in a moral discourse and a technocratic practice that suppresses the (potential) articulation of social conflict through consensus building. However, we also show how movement actors resist the discourse that encourages them to take on certain responsibilities, thus engaging in a politics of responsibility. Empirically, we demonstrate how the changing strategies of the Swedish environmental movement in the 2000s need to be understood in relation to the following processes, indicating that the Swedish case has a general relevance for an understanding of the contemporary environmental movement globally: (1) the transformation of the Swedish model of welfare capitalism under the influence of neoliberal discourse; (2) international environmental policy developments, most importantly the emergence of climate change as a dominant issue globally.     

Environmental/Green Cultural Shifts: Dynamics of Social Change

The greening of society is a strong cultural wave as we enter the second decade of the century. This article considers what it means to be ‘green’, core issues that the environmental sustainability wave brings to society and the role of sociology its evolution in public culture. A key argument offered is that sociologists’ historic commitment to critical analysis and to social justice could be important in determining whether the green wave is simply a cultural trend or if it will expand to become a cultural shift. The contributions of environmental sociology, ecofeminism, deep ecology, and green economics are considered significant influences on the relationship between environmentalism and social analysis. Whether scholars and activists can link key concepts such as sustainable development, ecological sensitivity, human dignity, and social justice may prove critical for achieving the goal of societal transformation toward a greener culture.     

The impact of electronic land administration on urban housing development: The case study of the Federal Capital Territory of Nigeria

This paper evaluates the impact of electronic land administration as an e-government policy initiative in Nigeria. It analyses conceptually the differences between the expected and actual value of Abuja Geographic Information Systems (AGIS)—an e-land administration project—on urbanisation in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) of Nigeria. The AGIS case study reveals that differences between the expected and actual value of strengthening the state’s financial capacity are low. The differences are medium for enhancing access to and security of credit, and improvement of land use planning and environmental management and high for the promotion of popular participation. The elicited differences are traceable to hindrances inscribed in Land Use and National Housing Acts, to inequitable access to land, inconsistent resettlement policy, poor community participation and financial misconduct. The findings suggest the need to pay attention to provisions through which e-government can support the reduction of country specific problems, improve the quality of institutions and to promote urbanisation, thereby increasing social welfare as well as participation by the people in promoting suitable and adequate shelter for all citizens.     

Financial Intermediation Modernization in Countries with Transition Economy

During the modern phase of economic reforms directed at the establishment of market economy, many countries with transition economies face the challenge of solving the issue of formation and rational usage of internal sources of financing the real sector of the economy, as well as attracting considerable volume of direct foreign investment. In general, financial market imperfections hold back innovation and growth, and that public policy can complement financial markets. Therefore, the most relevant issue at the present time is the formation of attendant and complex supervision institutions, as well as an exigency of innovative economy governance as mainframe principles for further banking system elaboration and financial sector development in general. We have taken Armenia as a case study for transition economy as far as Armenia is currently in the stage of capital market development through integration into international financial markets.      

The Political Economy of Social Science Funding

This article examines recent economic and political trends constraining the production of social science knowledge. Particular attention is given to the Reagan Administration's attempt to contract public sector programs and curtail financial support for social science research. Trends in the private economy, especially within the publishing industry, that affect the production of social science knowledge are also discussed. Over the past few years, the market for social science knowledge has seriously eroded. The erosion of this market is examined within the larger framework of a shift in public policy from legitimation to capital accumulation, a shift that has accompanied right-wing ascendancy in American politics. This shift has created political and economic incentives encouraging the social science community to align more closely with conservatives.     

Donating-selling tradeoffs and the influence of leaders in the environmental goods game

Contributions to environmental goods are motivated by both pecuniary incentives and environmental consciousness. Public policy often uses financial incentives to encourage contributions. However, individuals often donate their time or money to the environmental cause without such incentives. The purpose of this paper is: (a) to examine the relationship between “donating” (without monetary incentives) and “selling” behavior (motivated by monetary incentives) of individuals in the context of environmental protection and (b) to analyze the influence of a leader on individual contributions to the environmental good. The major results are: (1) there is a tradeoff/substitution between donating and selling for a given level of incentives; (2) donating is much less sensitive to changes in monetary incentives and, furthermore, there is no evidence that the increase in financial incentives to sell will crowd out donations; (3) the changes in contributions by leaders have a significant impact on followers’ behavior.     

增长、就业与社会支出——关于社会政策的“常识”与反“常识”

经济发展和社会政策的关系在学界和公共平台一直争论不休。主流观点认为,社会政策汲取的税收会扭曲市场激励机制,而且通过提供慷慨的保障弱化了劳动者的工作动机,进而对就业产生负面影响。此外,社会支出具有刚性,难以控制。本文回顾了国内外现有的理论和经验研究,分析了社会政策与经济发展、社会保护与就业的关系,以及社会支出是否可控三个议题,从而否定了社会政策是短视国策的看法。历经30多年高速增长的中国,财富与矛盾都在积聚,未来的发展和稳定不可能继续依赖海量的投资和不稳定的外部需求。通过系统化的社会保护体制建设,将社会保障视为一种投资而非纯粹的耗费,中国可望走向更具韧性和更为人性的稳定状态。     

Financial Credit: Social Work's Role in Empowering Low-Income Families

Social workers interact with families and communities that financially struggle and have credit challenges. Social workers could benefit from increasing their financial literacy to knowledgeably educate, assist, and refer families in financial need. Specifically, knowledge about credit is imperative in today's economy. This article provides information about financial credit, financial literacy efforts, and the basics about credit, credit reports, and credit scores. Discussion is centered on the roles social workers could play in assisting families to build credit and make sound financial decisions. Areas for policy advocacy about financial literacy and credit are delineated.     

Fostering innovation through innovation friendly procurement practices: a case study of Danish local government procurement

Innovation has been at the forefront of procurement policy in Denmark in recent years. The policy incentives emphasize public procurement of innovation as a way to accelerate the development and application of environmental and health technologies, but also as a way to achieve a competitive advantage, growth and job creation. This paper uses a single case study to illustrate the procurement of a chemical-free cleaning system by the local government in Denmark. It describes the public procurement of innovation project in the response to an unsolicited bid from the supplier, and highlights the importance of innovation-friendly procurement practice for supporting innovation. The study identified indirect innovation effects of public procurement and number of conditions that have supported success of public procurement of innovation project such as close and early engagement with supplier; role of supplier acting as a technology champion; competence for applying functional specification; political support; sufficient resource allocation and institutional match between involved organizations. These findings lend support to the idea that public procurement of innovation may have occurred as a result of innovation-friendly procurement practice regardless of the lack of an explicit intention to promote innovation and challenge assumptions on which emerging policy initiatives are based on. These findings also suggest that the local government procurement may have a role to play in supporting innovation that goes beyond current definition of public procurement as a mission-oriented instrument to be exploited for resolving social challenges. These understandings could contribute to further policy development that may lead to a situation where public procurement of innovation is utilized to a greater extent than it is today in Denmark.     

AN ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF IDENTITY AND CAREER CHOICE*

Standard economic models tend to be more specific about pecuniary payoffs than nonpecuniary payoffs to education. Based on the ideas of Akerlof and Kranton, we consider a model of career choice and identity where individuals derive nonpecuniary identity payoffs. Using factor analysis on a range of attitude questions, we find two factors related to identity (career orientation and social orientation), which are important for planned educational choices and for observed gender differences. The implication is that policy makers and institutions of higher education need to focus on identity‐related issues rather than just improved financial incentives if they aim at attracting high‐ability youths to certain careers. (JEL I21, J24)     

The credit channel of monetary policy transmission: evidence from stock returns

This paper offers a novel test of the credit view of the monetary policy transmission mechanism using stock market returns. We identify Fed policy shocks using newspaper accounts and track daily stock prices immediately following the shocks. If the credit channel is important, then firms that are dependent on bank credit and internal funds should receive a relatively greater benefit (loss) from a Fed easing (tightening) than firms with access to nonbank credit at favorable terms. We identify ten policy shocks during the expansion of 1993-94 and the 'credit crunch' period of the 1990-91 recession and find little evidence supportive of an operative credit channel.     

Legitimating journalistic authority under the state's shadow: a case study of the Environmental Press Awards in China

This study investigated the legitimation of journalistic authority in the form of journalism awards. The Environmental Press Awards, an unofficial but highly regarded news competition among Chinese environmental reporters, was selected as a case study. The case was examined from three interconnected dimensions: the creation and maintenance of moral and pragmatic legitimacies; the strategic processes of cognitive and social legitimation; and a dual process of symbolic legitimation of the market media ideology. Research conclusions were formed based on statistical analysis of 181 award submissions and 10 in-depth interviews with key personnel in the host organizations, the journalism community, and environmental non-governmental organizations. By looking into the establishment, dynamics, and results of the awarding process, the alliance between the market media and the green civil society was seen to have created and buttressed the legitimacy of the award. Without the blessing from the party-state, such legitimacy is vulnerable but can also be enabling.     

Paradoxe Folgen finanzieller Anreize zur Arbeitsaufnahme für die Beschäftigungsstabilität

Financial incentives to work (in-work benefits) are an instrument of labour market policy to motivate the unemployed to re-enter employment. Following neoclassical economic reasoning, such financial incentives should be effective, since the unemployed are expected to maximize financial utility. However, one common empirical finding is that such wage-subsidized employment is rather unstable. Applying Boudons cognitivist model to the ending of wage-subsidized employment the hypotheses are derived that firstly the in-work benefit is interpreted by the employee as a signal for the firm’s violation of the norm of reciprocity and secondly that the employee’s resulting sanctioning behaviour can raise the probability for job terminations. Survey data on in-work benefit recipients is used to test the hypotheses, performing ordered logit and event history analysis in combination with propensity score matching. Results from the empirical analysis support the hypotheses. It is concluded that labour market policy should be based not only on the assumption of economically rational behaviour, if labour market programmes are to be effective.     

WHY DOESN'T SOCIETY MINIMIZE CENTRAL BANK SECRECY?

Societies have incentives to design institutions that allow central bank secrecy. This paper illustrates two of these incentives . First, if society tries to constrain secrecy in one way, central bankers will try to regain lost effectiveness by building up secrecy in other ways. Therefore, we may wind up accepting types of secrecy that appear preventable because reducing them would lead to higher costs . Second, if the social trade-offs between policy objectives change over time, the public may directly prefer greater central bank secrecy so that it will be surprised with expansionary policies when it most desires them.     

关于上海产业技术创新的若干思考

目前,上海已初步形成覆盖全社会各行业的多层级企业技术创新体系,呈现出研发机构的创新投入、人才资源、创新成果相对集聚的总体特征,但是对照实现“创新驱动、转型发展”的要求和承载企业作为技术创新主体的重任,还存在一定差距。上海应聚焦政策资源,支持企业建设高水平研发机构、加大研发投入、突破关键核心技术、开发重点新产品、引进培养技术领军人才等,全面提升产业自主创新能力。     

Estonian social policy: from Soviet heritage to understanding the principles of deinstitutionalization

Deinstitutionalization is a key issue in the field of social policy. The community-based services movement has challenged the role of institutions as far back as the 1950s, but it is a relatively new development in Central and Eastern Europe. EU membership and the use of structural funds have been key elements of change in many countries; however, the Soviet heritage still overshadows progress and decision-making in social policy. Though deinstitutionalization’s overall meaning and aims are generally well known, less information is available about the processes and policies underlying deinstitutionalization. In post-communist countries, deinstitutionalization is often narrowly associated with large institutions, but its embedment in the social welfare policy framework is less discussed. Nevertheless, first attempts to change the design of social services to more participatory and integrated solutions are evident. For more than 20 years, developments in the field of social-welfare policy have aimed to reduce the gap between Estonia and other developed countries. This article reviews relevant documents in Estonia’s social welfare policy reforms from re-independence to the present. The article discusses the prospects and challenges for achieving deinstitutionalization’s intended goals in Estonia.