AN EMPIRICAL TEST OF THE MEDIAN VOTER MODEL

This paper uses data at the school district level for 257 Michigan school districts to estimate the Bowen equilibrium level of expenditures in each district. The estimation uses a theoretical model of millage referenda that is developed in the paper. Then, the estimated Bowen equilibrium level of expenditures in each district is compared with the actual level. In the average district, the actual level of expenditures is less than 3 percent away from the estimated Bowen equilibrium. This evidence strongly suggests that, for educational expenditures at least, the theoretical median voter model provides a good explanation of empirical reality.     

Optimal nonlinear income tax and nonlinear pricing: optimality conditions and comparative static properties

Using the Mirrlees optimal income tax model, with no income effects on labour supply, this article shows that the discrete population approach provides new insights into the characterization of the optimal tax system, which complements the previous findings. The analysis is based on the “Spence-Mirrlees wedge” which corresponds, at each observed gross income level, to a ratio between the marginal tax rate of the individual for whom the bundle is designed and that of his nearest more productive neighbour if he chooses to mimic. Using this wedge, a necessary and sufficient condition for bunching to be optimal is obtained in terms of the primitives of the model, separating optima are characterized geometrically, and comparative statics properties derived, notably with respect to skill levels and individual social weights. It is then shown that the analysis extends to adverse-selection problems where participation constraints replace the tax revenue constraint.     

Service robotics: do you know your new companion? Framing an interdisciplinary technology assessment

Service-Robotic—mainly defined as “non-industrial robotics”—is identified as the next economical success story to be expected after robots have been ubiquitously implemented into industrial production lines. Under the heading of service-robotic, we found a widespread area of applications reaching from robotics in agriculture and in the public transportation system to service robots applied in private homes. We propose for our interdisciplinary perspective of technology assessment to take the human user/worker as common focus. In some cases, the user/worker is the effective subject acting by means of and in cooperation with a service robot; in other cases, the user/worker might become a pure object of the respective robotic system, for example, as a patient in a hospital. In this paper, we present a comprehensive interdisciplinary framework, which allows us to scrutinize some of the most relevant applications of service robotics; we propose to combine technical, economical, legal, philosophical/ethical, and psychological perspectives in order to design a thorough and comprehensive expert-based technology assessment. This allows us to understand the potentials as well as the limits and even the threats connected with the ongoing and the planned implementation of service robots into human lifeworld—particularly of those technical systems displaying increasing grades of autonomy.     

Notes on the evolution and organization of the urban ecosystem

The continual spread of human settlements over the world’s surface has transformed the natural environment on a global scale. Human’s intervention has changed primary ecosystems (protoecosystems or euecosystems) into anthropoecosystems. The spread of urban ecosystems, cultivated surfaces (agroecosystems), and various areas differentiated by their level of anthropization has facilitated the progressive reduction of euecosystems. The evolution of urban areas over the course of history with transformations of cities and surrounding territory, has created very complex mosaics. A proper study of the city, drawing together historical, cultural, social, and other factors, as well as abiotic ones (urban climate, soil, water, air), requires appropriate, uniform terminology for expressing the complex relationships existing among these factors. We therefore propose that the city (or metropolis) be considered as a set of ecosystems, a “synecosystem”. The entire urban area should be termed a “synbiotope”. It is divided into numerous partial biotopes (macro-, meso- and microbiotopes), the result of modifications wrought through the historical and cultural vicissitudes of the human population. Urban biotopes host not only humans, but also a characteristic vegetable and animal component, the “biosyncoenosis”, formed of numerous plant and animal communities, selected on the basis of the environmental conditions of the individual biotopes, which differ from each other in structure, dynamics, age, and position in the urban space. This terminology should facilitate study of the biotic component and its connection to the urban territory, as well as interpretation of results obtained in the different disciplines in terms of the human population’s quality of life.     

High level manpower movements in Northwest Europe and the role of careers: an explanatory framework

"This article works towards a theoretical explanatory framework for analyzing the geographical patterns of labor flows between the industrial countries of Western Europe. The framework proposed is based on the disaggregated nature of the modern labor market, in which specialist skills and training result in a workforce segmented into self-contained noncompeting groups. It is applied to the migration within Northwest Europe of high level manpower, especially those moving within multinational organizations."     

An empirical analysis of valence in electoral competition

Spatial models of voting have dominated mathematical political theory since the seminal work of Downs. The Downsian model assumes that each elector votes on the basis of his utility function which depends only on the distance between his preferred policy platform and the ones proposed by candidates. A succession of papers introduces valence issues into the model, i.e., candidates’ characteristics which are independent of the platforms they propose. So far, little is known about which of the existing utility functions used in valence models is the most empirically founded. Using a large survey run prior to the 2007 French presidential election, we evaluate and compare several spatial voting models with valence. Existing models perform poorly in fitting the data. However, strong empirical regularities emerge. This leads us to a new model of valence that we call the intensity valence model. This new model makes sense theoretically and is grounded empirically.     

Union activity and the decline in American trade union membership

This paper extends recent research on the determinants of the decline in union membership in the United States. Using biennial state-level data for a set of years between 1958 and 1982, my model tests “union organizing,” “structural,” “management opposition,” and “public policy” hypotheses concerning union membership and suggests improved specifications of each of these hypotheses. The paper also examines the relative importance of each factor in explaining the decline in unionization. The results support each of the hypotheses and confirm previous findings that changes in the structure of the labor force are most important in explaining union membership decline.     

Union membership,economic rents,and migration behavior

This study represents an extension of the human capital paradigm as it relates to an individual’s decision to migrate. It differs from previous studies by incorporating union membership, a labor market variable, into the model. In effect, the National Labor Relations Act of 1935 granted a monopoly bargaining position to unions. The theoretical implication of a union’s monopoly bargaining position is that union wage levels will increase relative to nonunion wages. The increase of relative wages results in union membership granting a property right that possesses positive net present value and hence reduces an employed union member’s probability of migrating. Additionally, the supra-competitive remuneration of union members results in a surplus of labor supplied to union firms. Employers respond by using quality screening to hire workers from the larger labor pool. As a result, unemployed union members will on average possess higher levels of human capital, which will increase their probability of migrating above that of their unemployed nonunion cohorts.     

A simultaneous equation model of economic development and income inequality

The paper extends existing work on inequality and economic development by estimating a cross-country structural model that identifies bi-directional relationships between income inequality and other indicators of social and economic development. Overall, lower inequality is associated with improvements in other development indicators, but this is the result of several complex interactions. The most striking feature of the structural model is the insight it provides into the reasons behind the negative ‘Africa dummy’ in previous cross-country growth studies.     

The impact of liquidity constraints and imperfect commitment on migration decisions of offspring of rural households

This paper presents a non-cooperative model of intra-household decision-making regarding investment in migration. It is shown that the combination of liquidity constraints and imperfect commitment are a source of underinvestment in migration. More precisely, we highlight that, if remittances are unenforceable as a repayment for the parent’s contribution in migration transaction costs, then both the migrant and the parent’s liquidity constraints, rather than the household’s liquidity constraint as a whole, matter in determining the investment decision. Besides, the insurance motive for remittances is shown to generate divergence of interest over the characteristics of migration. This result calls for a theoretical approach that properly takes account of potential internalization problems, which the paper intends to offer. Plausibility checks of the model are provided by comparative statics whose outcomes are consistent with previous research on migration and remittances.     

The role of social entrepreneurship in leveraging exaptation in locked-in industrial districts: the case of Idrogenet in the industrial district of Lumezzane

The objective of this paper is to investigate the role of social entrepreneurship as driver of exaptation. Exaptation is defined as the redeployment of an existing body of knowledge into a new and previously unrelated domain of application and as major source of disruptive innovation and firms' dynamic capabilities. Exaptation takes place in two phases. In the first phase, the accumulation of knowledge takes place without any anticipation of its future use. In the second phase, the knowledge accumulated is explicitly and consciously leveraged and exploited to build up and take advantage of the opportunity in an emerging market niche. We contribute to extant literature by showing how social entrepreneurship may help firms to discover new potential and innovative field of application for their existing know-how and exploiting it into such a field. Our results are based on a case study of exaptation led by social entrepreneurship in the industrial district of Lumezzane.     

Investing in Turbulent Times: The Investment Behavior of Polish Firms in the Early Transition

We examine the investment behavior of a sample of Polish industrial firms over the period 1991–1993 by means of a model that views investment flows as part of the firm’s effort to adjust its assets and liabilities so as to maximize the returns to the firm. We argue that the application of neoclassical models of investment is more appropriate in cases where net investment is positive and where the returns to other assets and costs of liabilities are stable. If firms are seeking to reduce their capital stock, then the major constraints are not financial but rather set by the speed of physical depreciation. If the returns to other assets or the costs of liabilities change, then the firm will be forced to reconfigure its balance sheet in a way that may be inconsistent with the neoclassical model of investment. This paper examines the adjustments undertaken by Polish firms and shows that firms that did make positive net investments in this period were influenced by their capital intensity, profitability and by their costs of and returns to financial assets. The explanatory power of the model is relatively high when compared to previous studies of the investment behavior of firms in the early years of transition.     

Das Weltsystem des Erdöls

This is an attempt at formulating, on a theoretical and empirical basis, construction principles and patterns of change of the “world economy of oil”. This term refers to a loose and variable configuration of nation states, multinational corporations, the “Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries” (OPEC) and a set of market regulations related to the production, distribution and consumption of oil on a worldwide scale. The main argument links together four interrelated and partially overlapping functional processes: (1) capitalism as a profit-oriented, innovative and expansive economic principle; (2) incorporation of the external oil deposits by the governments and corporations of the central industrial nations; (3) the emergence of countervailing power within the peripheral, oil-exporting countries in order to gain control over their oil resources and to change the unequal exchange relations with the capitalist centers; (4) change of the integration mode of the “world-economy of oil” based on a new balance of interests between centers and peripheries following severe economical and political crises. The analysis is concluded with a functional-cyclical model of the world economy of oil.     

Comparing Thistles and Roses: The Application of Governmental–Voluntary Sector Relations Theory to Scotland and England

Typologies of government–voluntary sector relations mostly categorize nation-level situations, and omit consideration of intra-national differences. They are also rarely subject to empirical testing and subsequent theoretical development. This paper reports on research to apply Kuhnle and Selle's (2002) relational typology, which characterizes the experience of “Britain,” to a study of Scottish and English voluntary organizations' relations with government. Contrary to Kuhnle and Selle, the paper demonstrates — through survey data — a divergence between Scotland and England, within the “British” context, and advances the case for further testing of such conceptual typologies. The methodological challenges in moving from a theoretical framework to a research design capable of field application, using survey methods, are illustrated and discussed. Further directions for theoretically led work are suggested.     

The impact of organized labor on public employment: A comparative analysis

This paper examines the political economy of public employment, specifically the impact of labor unions on public employment across 20 OECD nations during the 1965–1983 period. A theoretical paradigm based on exchange theory is used to explain the rationale for organized labor’s role in public employment. A model is then presented and tested to explain variation in public employment levels across the 20 nations. The results of the analyses support the central hypothesis that labor union power is positively correlated with public employment. Following the data analysis, the conclusions and implications of the findings are discussed as they pertain to the political economy in advanced industrial democracies.     

The power of the intelligentsia: The Rywin Affair and the challenge of applying the concept of cultural capital to analyze Poland’s elites

This article aims at integrating the phenomenon of the Central and Eastern European intelligentsia into the application of the theory of cultural capital of Pierre Bourdieu to the analysis of societies of that region. This is done by critically reevaluating the model of evolution of the post-communist countries of Central Europe proposed by Gil Eyal, Ivan Szelényi, and Eleanor Townsley, in their “Making Capitalism without Capitalists.” The present article argues for supplementing their approach with an analytical distinction between the concepts of intellectuals (as masters of the critical discourse culture) and the intelligentsia, which in countries like Poland have an important component of post-gentry culture. The identity and images of the intelligentsia are analyzed as important though highly contested aspects of cultural capital in Poland. Wide implications of discursive battles on the status of intelligentsia in contemporary Poland are exemplified in the case of the debates over the so-called Rywin Affair in Poland and the role played in that affair by the major Polish intellectual Adam Michnik. The political discourse related to the affair and to the status of Michnik are studied in context of the structure of the Polish political scene and related to the academic debates on the intelligentsia, whether it is a “really existing” and significant social group or merely a marginal one and “outdated discourse.”     

Toward an Alternative Analytic Approach to the Internal Politics of Unions

Abstract  This paper discusses theoretical issues in analyzing the internal politics of unions in Japan. The main argument is that the autonomy of unions' internal political processes from management should not be assumed and that the very development of internal politics of unions may be influenced by the actors with which the unions interact. The paper first reviews previous research on the internal politics of unions in Western countries and discusses a model of internal union politics based on these studies. Second, it reviews previous studies of enterprise unions in Japan and considers why these studies have been indifferent to the internal politics. Third, the paper proposes an alternative approach to internal union politics by synthesizing insights from previous studies of unions and union politics in Western countries and Japan. The approach is based on the concept of the "political space" of unions. Fourth, application of the alternative approach to the development of internal politics of the enterprise union of Yahata Steel (from 1970, Nippon Steel), the largest steel firm in Japan, shows how the union's political space has become more narrow over time. Finally, the paper concludes by noting the relevance of the proposed approach to studies of union-management relations in other industrialized countries.     

Variétés de capitalisme ou entrepreneurs institutionnels? Une application aux cas de la sous‐traitance et de la formation de la main‐d'œuvre au Québec

Based on the theory of institutional entrepreneurs, this article examines the coexistence of different forms of governance within a given economic space. Since the approach based on models of capitalism does not make it possible to account for this institutional diversity on the same territory, a theoretical perspective centred on the innovative action of social actors has been used to explain such a phenomenon. Our demonstration is based on a comparative analysis of two recent cases of transformation of public labour policies in Quebec: outsourcing and labour force training. These two major contemporary employment relations issues which are part of the same environment, have brought into play the same social actors in very similar institutional frameworks and have nevertheless led to contrasting dynamics and results. The actor's autonomy, more than a model, allows us to understand the different institutional trajectories that have thus been adopted.     

Nonwage benefits as a limited-dependent variable: Implications for the impact of unions

To better delineate the role of unionism in influencing the provision of nonwage benefits, this article argues that benefits should be viewed as a limited-dependent variable. Employing such an approach, the study finds that previous OLS estimates of the union effect embody substantial biases, which vary by industrial and employee-group classification. Moreover, the role of unionism — plan initiation versus ability to augment benefit levels at established plans — varies according to employee group, industrial classification, and the type of benefits.