Local elected officials and environmental policy: Does rural matter anymore?

A survey was mailed to elected officials (mayors and city council) from a sample of 52 rural communities in Idaho and all 7 communities with populations above 20,000 to examine whether there is a relationship between environmental policy issues and various independent variables such as economic type, age, gender, rural/ urban, political ideology, and percentage of life lived in the current community. One-hundred and fifty-five (155) out of three hundred twenty seven (327) respondents returned the survey for a response rate of 47%. The findings reveal that while the rural/urban dichotomy consistently predicted for questions on “trust of information sources,” overall economic base was a better predictor of attitudes toward environmental issues and policy.     

Sickness and disability benefit programmes: What is driving policy convergence?

In this paper we explore the reasons for the apparent convergence in sickness and disability policies across the OECD, asking whether and to what extent policy convergence should be seen as a product of policy learning. We conclude that convergence is the result of policy imitation more than policy learning and that learning (from past mistakes) is more likely within countries than across borders. Given limited evidence on what really "works", when it comes to designing policies that both provide adequate income security and still encourage labour-force participation, governments look abroad or to bodies like the OECD for possible models and ideas to underlie a reform. However, translating those ideas into workable policies requires great sensitivity to the institutional and political-economic context — especially the role of the social partners and the nature of policies in existence. When it comes to policy implementation, such contextual learning may be crucial.     

Inflation targeting and the exchange rate: Does it matter in Turkey?

This paper investigates the monetary policy reaction functions of the Central Bank of Republic of Turkey (CBRT) over the periods 1987:01–2001:12 and 2002:01–2009:05. We specifically attempt to shed light on question to what extent exchange rate developments still continue to influence monetary policy, even under inflation targeting. This study seeks to investigate how the monetary policy responded to the exchange rate shocks before and after adoption of inflation targeting regime. How large the effect of exchange rate shocks is accounted for in forecast error variances decompositions for monetary policy as compared to other shocks? Using the VAR model, this study shows that there has been strong pass-through during whole period. Moreover, in the postcrisis period, exchange rate has been the main reaction variable for the CBRT.     

Does the amount of school choice matter for student engagement?

School choice may increase student engagement by enabling students to attend schools that more closely match their needs and preferences. But this effect on engagement may depend on the characteristics of the choices available. Therefore, we consider how the amount of educational choice of different types in a local educational marketplace affects student engagement using a large, national population of 8th grade students. We find that more choice of regular public schools in the elementary and middle school years is associated with a lower likelihood that students will be severely disengaged in eighth grade, and more choices of public schools of choice has a similar effect but only in urban areas. In contrast, more private sector choice does not have such a general beneficial effect.     

Does geographical proximity matter in determining the profitability of banks?

Despite the existence of a burgeoning literature on bank profitability, yet, none of them gave due consideration to geographical proximity. I fulfill such a gap by analyzing the effects of COVID-19 on the profitability of top-rated banks. Findings confirm the prevalence of spatial dependence at both the global and sub-global with feedback effects being systematically higher than spillover effects. My study uncovers evidence of a COVID-19 induced decline in asset utilization. Findings advocate sharing economy as a potential tool to banks in combating any future pandemic risk with regionalized approach to supervision being deemed better than its globalized counterpart.     

Does culture matter for the economic performance of countries? An overview of the literature

From the point of view of economic development, the world is far from being homogeneous. Among the possible causes of such uneven evolution, culture is starting to attract the attention of a growing number of scholars. The present paper surveys some of the most important contributions on culture and economics, with a particular focus on the definition and measurement of culture and on the impact of different cultural traits on economic variables. According to this review of the literature, cultures emphasising individual effort while providing equal opportunities for everyone are more likely to encourage sustained economic growth.     

Factors of regional poverty reduction in Colombia: Do institutional conditions matter?

Colombia has a unique history, which has been heavily conditioned by armed conflict lasting more than 50 years. This study examines the institutional conditions for success and failure in reducing poverty in Colombian departments by considering changes that took place between 2003 and 2014. Fuzzy‐set qualitative comparative analysis identifies the changes in regional conditions that reduce poverty over time. The pathways for poverty reduction are multidimensional, and many involve changes in institutional attributes such as government transparency, absence of violence, and electoral turnout. The framework developed in this paper can be used to monitor necessary and sufficient pathways in regional clusters.     

Do housing regimes matter? Assessing the concept of housing regimes through configurations of housing outcomes

Based on a conceptualisation of de‐commodification as the right to decent and affordable housing, we assessed to what extent this right is realised for low‐to‐moderate‐income owners and renters across Western European housing regimes in 1995 and 2012. If differences in the social production of housing do matter (regardless of type of welfare state and the country's economic affluence), then distinct configurations of housing outcomes should exist. This was found to be indeed the case: More state intervention results in good housing conditions and low housing cost burdens across tenure‐age groups (but particularly for renters), although more so in social‐democratic than in conservative‐corporatist welfare states. A more important role for the family in housing provision is associated with higher subjective housing cost burdens and poor housing conditions. As housing regimes became more commodified between 1995 and 2012, it seems that configurations of housing outcomes have become less associated with the features of housing regimes, and more with type of welfare state and the country's economic affluence.     

Liberalization,crisis and growth in MENA region: Do institutions matter?

The main purpose of this study is to investigate the interaction between financial liberalization, banking crisis and economic growth by taking into consideration the role of institutions. Our sample covers 15 Middle East and North African observed during the period 2000–2013. Using a dynamic panel data framework, our findings reveal that financial liberalization contributed to improve economic growth in MENA countries while banking crisis had harmful effects on MENA economies. The quality of institutions did not have a clear impact except for rule and order and democratic institution. These results have important policy implications. To grow output and avoid the occurrence of banking crisis, MENA countries should reinforce their institutions quality by adopting good practice of governance and regulation.     

Neoliberalism and the reform of regulation policy in the Australian trucking sector: policy innovation or a repeat of known pitfalls?

This study explores the influences of neoliberalism on the design and operation of regulation policy in the Australian trucking sector. It examines the introduction of a programme of voluntary self-regulation and considers why despite known weaknesses, regulators persist with such policy reforms. The study draws on qualitative research involving representatives of policy and regulatory agencies as well as industry participants. The analysis examines the role of markets in directing truck operator interest towards public policy compliance objectives. This generates a diversity of responses from firms ranging from willing compliance to deceptive ritualism. The findings reveal how voluntary self-regulation appeals to some segments of industry and how in this case it also signals a shift in regulatory culture, facilitating a new and more engaging dialogue between industry and regulators around compliance and safety concerns. This study shows that advances in industry-regulator engagement help explain why neoliberal policy influences are often readily embraced by regulatory agencies. Here, we see how programmes of voluntary self-regulation present both symbolic and substantive value for key policy actors.     

Can the EU funds promote regional resilience at time of Covid-19? Insights from the Great Recession

This paper makes some contributions to the policy discussion on Covid-19. We present real-time evidence on the effects of the coronavirus crisis on regional employment in Italy, by finding that the current shock is producing major adverse consequences in the South and on female occupation. We document that both the absorption and the allocation of the EU funds can sustain the resilience of regional labour markets, by reducing the employment losses at time of Covid-19. We construct regional employment adjustment scenarios based on information and estimates observed during the Great Recession. We discuss the limits of our approach and future developments.     

Does the Euro–Mediterranean Partnership contribute to regional integration?

The paper investigates whether Southern Mediterranean and Middle Eastern markets under the Euro–Mediterranean Partnership (Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, Malta, and Turkey) have become more financially integrated with the European stock market over time. The findings suggest that the Turkish equity market is moderately integrated with the European market, while the other economies exhibit weak financial integration with Europe, supporting the idea that the partnership appears to have no effect on enhancing inter-market linkages for these economies. Therefore, these markets would be good destinations for international investors seeking attractive investment opportunities to diversify their equity portfolios. Structural changes in the cross-market integration do exist, which may be considered as a guide for international equity portfolio diversification over different subperiods. In addition, there is evidence of an increasing trend in conditional correlations for Egypt and Turkey, to varying degrees, over time, notably during the post global financial crisis of 2007–2008, thus revealing herding behavior during this period. Overall, investors should be wary of the variation of equity market integration over time before engaging in an investment at the level of portfolio management and diversification. Policymakers must be aware of the remoteness of the current achievements of the Euro–Mediterranean Partnership from the targets set in terms of financial development and economic growth.     

Lone mothers and the puzzles of daily life: do care regimes really matter?

Kröger T. Lone mothers and the puzzles of daily life: do care regimes really matter? Int J Soc Welfare 2010: 19: 390–401 © 2009 The Author, Journal compilation © 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd and the International Journal of Social Welfare. This article studies childcare patterns and day‐to‐day strategies of 111 working lone mothers from Finland, France, Italy, Portugal and the UK, and asks whether their arrangements are prescribed by care regimes. Lone mothers' arrangements are grouped into five based on the availability and use of different formal and informal childcare resources. The article argues that, even though lone mothers have a more favourable starting point in Finland and France compared with Britain, Italy and Portugal where formal childcare coverage is patchier, childcare arrangements are not very dissimilar within different care regimes. Instead, similarities across care regimes are highlighted. Formal provisions have their limitations in all the countries studied and in all cases significant expectations are placed on informal childcare. The availability of informal childcare cannot, however, be taken for granted in any country, and working lone mothers whose informal and formal resources do not adequately meet their childcare needs were located in every care regime, facing care poverty.     

Decentralization and growth: Do informal institutions and rule of law matter?

We develop a model of the interactions among decentralization, informal institutions and the rule of law. The model sheds light on the ambiguous empirical results reported in the literature regarding the growth effects of the policy of devolving fiscal responsibility to local governments. We find that the distribution of civicness within a country determines the magnitude of the effects of decentralization on its regional convergence, as well as whether decentralization fosters or dampens the country’s national growth. We perform a series of simulated “reforms” using Monte Carlo methods parameterized using OECD countries data set. We then test our findings using a panel data set of 23 OECD countries covering the period 1975–2010. We find that the short and the long run growth effect of decentralization policy depends on the size of the policy reform and can range from extremely negative to positive depending on the rule of law, the level of social capital and its regional dispersion, in line with the model predictions.     

Disability policy in Australia: a triumph of the scriptio inferior on impotence and neediness?

From the time that development of a National Disability Insurance Scheme arrived on the agenda of the Australian Labor Government's 2008 Ideas Summit, the lives of disabled Australian citizens have been widely discussed, consulted on, planned for and acted on. This discourse analysis (Fairclough 2003; 2010) critiques the ways in which disabled lives have been framed in these high profile policy debates, with detailed focus on two key policy documents. The Shut Out Report: the Experiences of People with Disabilities in Australia (2009) (2009) and Disability Care and Support (Productivity Commission 2011) are both grounded in extensive national consultations and provide significant evidence about the ways that disabled Australians talk about the problems they face and the solutions they advocate. The paper employs the well‐known recognition‐redistribution debate of Nancy Fraser and Axel Honneth (2003) to interpret the findings that narratives of suffering, burden and marginalisation predominate in current policy conversations. This tends to push out discussions concerning the non‐redistributive aspects of disability reform, potentially contributing to non‐integrationist discourse entrenched over 150 years of policies of segregation. Minority voices advocating social integration are present but muted. At this stage, their influence is undetermined.     

Ideas and actors in policy processes: where is the interaction?

Several influential frameworks in the field of policy analysis explicitly acknowledge that the role of ideas is as important as the role of actors in analyzing and understanding policy and policy change. An issue of principal interest in this body of literature concerns the interaction between ideas and actors. This article argues that, regardless of important contributions from previous research, the literature can be enriched by new analytical tools that further our understanding of the complex interplay between ideas and actors in policy-making. The article outlines a dynamic approach to policy analysis, which has proven fruitful in producing high quality empirical research in a Swedish case of policy on prostitution. Three new analytical dimensions are specified and operationalized: (1) the political institutionalization of frames, analyzing how the influence and content of ideas change over space and time in policy-making; (2) the mechanisms of institutionalization and assignment of jurisdiction through which ideas become part of the political context and work restricting and enabling for actors; and (3) risk-taking and limitation as unintended consequences of actors' involvement and strategic action in the construction of meaning.     

Do infrastructures influence the convergence of efficiency in Mexico?

The aim of this study is to identify disparities in technical efficiency and the influence of infrastructure on the convergence in efficiency for the states of Mexico. It has estimated a translog production function following the model by Battese & Coelli (1995). The results show that public investment has helped increase the efficient use of factors and reveal that there are opportunities to increase the pace of growth. The analysis of convergence allows us to determine that the catching up is more intensive among groups of states, and positively influenced by the infrastructure.     

End of double taxation: Is the policy better when announced?

This paper examines the effectiveness of the “end of double taxation” (on dividends) policy in stabilizing an economy. Both announced and unannounced policies are considered. A reduction in double taxation stimulates investment and improves welfare, but its impact on output is moderate and it has a negative effect on work hours. A temporary cut creates an investment boom but also generates an investment slump when the tax cut expires. Announcements of future tax cuts are found to have important effect on output dynamics. Agents respond to the tax policy even before it is implemented. If the tax cut is announced to be temporary, its impact on output is greatly reduced. Our study suggests that a temporary dividend tax cut is most effective in stabilizing a recession stricken economy when the policy change comes as “news” to the economy.