On the origin of the WTA–WTP divergence in public good valuation

This paper tests whether individual perceptions of markets as good or bad for a public good is correlated with the propensity to report gaps in willingness to pay and willingness to accept revealed within an incentive compatible mechanism. Identifying people based on a notion of market affinity, we find a substantial part of the gap can be explained by controlling for some variables that were not controlled for before. This result suggests the valuation gap for public goods can be reduced through well-defined variables.     

Urban–rural disparity in the satisfaction with public sports services: Survey-based evidence in China

As part of the national project of advancing citizens’ fitness and developing mass sports in China, public sports services (PSS) have been implemented rapidly throughout the country. However, how citizens of different social backgrounds evaluate PSS is still an open question. Drawing on the survey data from the Study of Community Sports in China collected in 2012, this article detects a significant urban–rural disparity in the satisfaction with PSS. Relative to urbanites, rural residents show a significantly lower level of satisfaction with PSS. This urban–rural difference primarily concentrates on the provision of supporting services such as sports consulting, but least on the availability and price. In terms of regional variations, the rural–urban gap in the satisfaction of PSS is less severe in eastern provinces, relative to either middle or western provinces. Implications of the urban–rural differential in the appraisal of PSS are discussed.     

Are there monetary clusters in the Eurozone? The impact of ECB policy

This paper analyses what effects the monetary policy of the European Central Bank have on the economic activity of Eurozone countries. We identify groups of countries which exhibit different economic responses to monetary policy and the factors driving such spatial differences. We distinguish three periods, spanning from 2001 to 2017 and examine conventional as well as unconventional monetary policies in different economic backgrounds of expansion and crisis. We find problems of spatially asymmetric transmission of monetary policy in the period 2008M10–2014M12 and note that different spatial responses might operate in favour of monetary policy or be indifferent to this policy.     

How long is the queuing for public childcare facilities in Korea? An empirical analysis of Korean households' childcare mode choice with the limited availability of public childcare facilities

This paper empirically investigates Korean households' choice of childcare mode using the Korean Childcare Users Survey (2012). A multivariate logit model with partial observability (hereafter, PO‐logit model) is employed to address the issue of Korean households' demand for public childcare facilities exceeding capacity limits. Our estimation result rejects the hypothesis of no queueing at conventional significance levels to advocate use of the PO‐logit model in explaining Korean households' childcare choices. We decompose choice probabilities of public childcare facilities to estimate the size of queuing. Our results imply that 31.8% of parents preferring public childcare facility are forced to choose other childcare modes due to capacity limit.     

The awakening of the sleeping giant? An examination of the role of Ethnicity in the 2006 immigrant rights protests

Since the 1960s many have referred to the Latino community in the U.S. as a “Sleeping Giant.” Recent events including the 2012 presidential election demonstrate that Hispanics are engaged in social and political activism and we posit that this activism can be traced back to the 2006 immigrant rights demonstrations. However, this activism has yielded little success in terms of policy change. Using survey data gathered during a symposium on political activism and civic engagement in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex we employ regression models to examine the factors that influence the perceptions of Latino political activism and its impact. Our results demonstrate that ethnicity played a key role in how the marches were perceived. Further, we find that different variables drive perceptions about the marches for Hispanics and Caucasians, respectively. We conclude the study by discussing the impact of ethnicity in perceptions of political activism.     

Do social allowance transfers crowd out private transfers? An analysis of responses among elderly households in Taiwan

Chuang JCC. Do social allowance transfers crowd out private transfers? An analysis of responses among elderly households in Taiwan This article examines whether public transfers ‘crowd out’ private inter‐household transfers in Taiwan, focusing on two old age social allowance schemes (old age allowance and old age farmer allowance) during the 2002–2008 period. This study used a data set from the Survey of Family Income and Expenditure in Taiwan. Empirical evidence suggests that Taiwanese donors are strongly motivated by altruism, and that the increase of public transfers will crowd out private transfers, and vice versa. Besides, altruism is more likely to dominate among poorer elderly recipients, whereas the exchange motive would dominate among richer recipients. Thus, the response of Taiwanese donors is likely to neutralise the distributional impact of public transfers. Finally, the elderly are not a homogenous group, and the effect of public transfers on private transfers varies significantly by household characteristics, in particular depending on age, marital status and living arrangements.     

How to get evidence? The role of government–business interaction in evidence-based policy-making for the development of Internet of Things industry in China

This paper provides theoretical bases and a framework to describe the incremental process of macro-level innovation policy-making for emerging industry in China and the role of government–business (G–B) interactions in generating policy-making evidence. By analyzing the decision-making processes of three macro-level innovation policies for the Internet of Things as a mode of industry development, the paper finds that the macro-level innovation policy-making resulted from a gradual sub-issue solving in each of several sub-processes. The specific micro-level policy tools are formed and implemented through G–B interactions to generate evidence, and these processes are gradual and incremental, helping policy-makers to overcome the high levels of uncertainties in emerging industry development. Five interactive approaches in this research are identified: inspections, investigations, soft lobbying, conferences, and cooperation. The patterns of interactions vary with the nature of the innovation policies. Our findings contribute to the evidence-based policy-making perspective, by clarifying the innovation policy-making sub-process and the evidence-generating mechanism of G–B interactions in dealing with emerging industry development uncertainties.     

Class politics in the sandbox? An analysis of the socio‐economic determinants of preferences towards public spending and parental fees for childcare

This article analyses the socio‐economic determinants of public preferences towards public spending and parental fees for childcare and how they are conditioned by institutional contexts. Previous studies of childcare policy preferences have focused on attitudes regarding the provision of care. However, when it comes to questions of financing, we know astonishingly little about how supportive individuals actually are of expanding pre‐school early childhood education and care, and how support varies across different socio‐economic groups in society. This is an important research gap because childcare provision and how it is financed have redistributive implications, which vary depending on the institutional design of childcare policy. Using novel and unique survey data on childcare preferences from eight European countries, we argue and show that preferences towards expanding childcare are more contested than it is often assumed. The institutional structure of childcare shapes how income matters for preferences towards how much should be spent and how provision should be financed. Where access to childcare is socially stratified, the poor and the rich develop different preferences towards either increasing public spending or reducing parental fees in order to improve their access to childcare. The findings in this article suggest that expanding childcare in systems characterised by unequal access can be politically contested due to diverging policy priorities of individuals from different social backgrounds.     

Multigenerational care or parental care? Familial care types,social–emotional development and mediation of parent–child relationship of single-parent children in mainland China

Children from single-parent families are at risk for problems related to social–emotional development (SED). This study investigated the associations between familial care types and single-parent children's SED, and the possible pathways through the mediation of parent–child relationship. This study analysed 431 single-parent children (50.0% girls) drawn from a local database with a total of 2507 children studying in Grades 4 to 8. We compared the SED of single-parent children in multigenerational care and those in parental care. We then tested the possible mediating effect of parent–child relationship between familial care types and children's SED. The study found that there were no deficits in the SED of single-parent children in multigenerational care compared with those in parental care. Multigenerational care had no direct relationship with the SED of single-parent children after the mediator of the parent–child relationship was entered. The parent–child relationship mediated the associations between familial care types and four dimensions of the single-parent children's SED. These findings provided support for multigenerational and parental care, and also directions for family care strategies and developing social service programmes to promote the SED of single-parent children in China.     

How effective do families of non–English‐speaking background (NESB) and child protection caseworkers in Australia see the use of interpreters? A qualitative study to help inform good practice principles

Little empirical research has been conducted in Australia on what constitutes as effective practice with interpreters in child protection matters. This study aimed to address this gap. Qualitative interviews were conducted with 29 non–English‐speaking background (NESB) client families and 17 child protection caseworkers (as part of a larger study). Four examples of good practice (e.g. accurate translation) and 14 examples of ineffective practice emerged. The examples of poor practice were consequently grouped as issues with: (i) interpreters (e.g. inaccurate translation); (ii) caseworkers (e.g. insufficient time); (iii) NESB families (e.g. refusing to use an interpreter); and (iv) resources (e.g. insufficient face‐to‐face interpreters). As expected, the results largely replicate the (scant) national and international literature, indicating that features of good practice, and barriers to them, are similar across multicultural countries. This paper does however argue that training for interpreters dealing in such sensitive matters and training for caseworkers on working effectively with interpreters seem to be at the heart of good practice. This study is significant because it draws on the richness of data that qualitative methods offer to identify the full range of relevant variables and provide empirical support for principles of good practice.