The development of interindividual differences in sympathy: The role of child personality and adults’ responsiveness to distress

In a three‐wave longitudinal study of 85 children (43 girls) at 5, 6, and 7 years of age, the role played by child personality (inhibition, aggressiveness) and adults’ responsiveness to distress in children's sympathy was examined. At all three times, sympathy was measured via standardized observations as well as children's self‐reports. Child inhibition and aggressiveness were assessed with reports by teachers at T1 and T2. Parents’ and teachers’ responsiveness to distress were inferred from interviews with the children at T1 and T2. Longitudinal analyses via latent regression using structural equation models showed that earlier sympathy explained most of the variance in later sympathy. Additionally, higher inhibition at T1 predicted less sympathy at T2. Higher sympathy at T1 predicted more adult responsiveness at T2. Higher aggressiveness at T2 predicted less sympathy at T3. Within time, at T1, sympathy was positively related to adults’ responsiveness. At T2, inhibition and sympathy were negatively related. The discussion focuses on the question of how child personality as well as parental and non‐parental socialization experiences work in concert to explain interindividual differences in sympathy.     

北京的城市化与社会关系整合

作为中国的首都 ,北京的城市化能否顺利进行至关重要。城市化不只是实现经济指标与达到具体数据的过程 ,它实际上反映的是城市与人的社会关系。发展中国家的城市化过程比发达国家城市化存在更多的不利因素 ,主要表现在追求城市化的速度给城市社会关系体系带来的影响。北京在进行城市化过程中应当重视社会关系调整     

The ostrich effect: Selective attention to information

We develop and test a model which links information acquisition decisions to the hedonic utility of information. Acquiring and attending to information increases the psychological impact of information (an impact effect), increases the speed of adjustment for a utility reference-point (a reference-point updating effect), and affects the degree of risk aversion towards randomness in news (a risk aversion effect). Given plausible parameter values, the model predicts asymmetric preferences for the timing of resolution of uncertainty: Individuals should monitor and attend to information more actively given preliminary good news but “put their heads in the sand” by avoiding additional information given adverse prior news. We test for such an “ostrich effect” in a finance context, examining the account monitoring behavior of Scandinavian and American investors in two datasets. In both datasets, investors monitor their portfolios more frequently in rising markets than when markets are flat or falling.

城市化战略与城市经济再认识

城市化是区域经济的重要组成部分。近年来 ,城市化进程的加速促进了中国经济的持续增长。值得注意的是 ,我们在城市化发展方面的理论研究和工作实践的许多方面还远远不能适应国民经济发展的客观要求。本文结合中国城市发展的实际 ,阐述了作者对于城市化战略与城市经济发展的深层次思考     

The Impact of Affirmative Action: Black Employment in Six Southern Cities

Objectives. There have been numerous claims about the current role and impact of affirmative action, one of the most controversial public policies. The purpose of this research is to examine data on affirmative action and black employment in six representative Florida cities. Methods. Data were gathered on 167 randomly selected businesses through personal interviews with employers. OLS regression analysis was performed to explore the independent effects of affirmative action in a multivariate path model of employment–related predictors. Results. Employer support for affirmative action has a significant and positive influence on black employment, particularly at higher job levels. Conclusions. Affirmative action has developed a constituency among employers who value diversity in employment due to demographic changes that have altered labor and consumer markets.     

The wealth effect: A contemporary update to the age of affluence

At the end of World War II there was a great interest in estimation of reconversion prospects for the United States economy. A main question was: Would be the United States return to the conditions of the Great Depression of the 1930s or maintain a high level of employment and grow without inflation? Franco Modigliani and James Duesenberry independently proposed dynamic versions of the macroeconomic consumption function, and A.C. Pigou had recently suggested that the consumption function should include a term for real cash balances, a wealth effect which was relevant, given the accumulation of liquid assets during the austere consumer environment of the War. Also, from the original discussions of the mathematical models of the Keynesian system, there was consideration about the effects of the distribution of income on aggregate consumer spending. Those various lines of thought were discussed in a memorial conference for Franco Modigliani at the New School University in 2005. The present paper was on the memorial program, and examines the statistical content of the questions about reconversion prospects in the mid 1940s. It also extend the analysis through the rest of the 20th Century, with consideration of the macrodynamics of the early postwar period into the age of affluent consumer.     

The politics of safety net reform in Southern Europe during the Great Recession: Introduction to the regional issue

Southern European welfare states have developed relatively solid social insurance income maintenance programs, but have lacked effective means-tested benefit systems to address poverty and protect outsiders. Spain and Portugal are usually considered the two first countries to depart from the traditional path with the creation of minimum income schemes between 1988 and 1995. In the Spanish case, minimum income programs were established at the regional level and are very heterogeneous despite their institutional stability. The limited extent of these programs in most Spanish regions must be put in the context of national means-tested income support schemes in the fields of pensions and unemployment. The introduction of these programs in the 1980s was also a significant path departure. The combination of these programs has offered some income support to low income groups left unprotected by traditional insurance benefits, although in a patchy and limited way, especially as regards the working-age population. The social effects of the Great Recession, especially in terms of long-term unemployment, evictions and impoverishment, have reopened the debate on how to combat monetary poverty, which has been on the general election agenda since 2014–2015. Most regions have reformed their programs in different directions since 2008, under the contradictory pressures of growing demand and financial constraints. Such debate, however, has not been able yet to set a clear basis for a new development of anti-poverty income support policy.     

Work Accident Insurance and Prevention in Southern Africa: The Case of Zimbabwe

The paper uses Zimbabwe as a case study to depict the situation in southern Africa with respect to work accident insurance and prevention, provided by workers' compensation schemes which are among the earliest forms of social security to be introduced in the region. There has been an unfortunate tendency to concentrate on compensation issues at the expense of prevention initiatives. Zimbabwe, however, has attempted to integrate the two, notwithstanding the fact that the coverage of the scheme is narrow and the benefits inadequate.     

Wired to mobilize: The effect of social networking messages on voter turnout

Recent scholarship has documented the effect of online social networking on political participation, a relationship hypothesized to be due to the generation of social capital. This paper tests the hypothesis that impersonal get-out-the-vote messages delivered via an online social network can increase voter turnout. Specifically, this study uses a field experiment of randomly assigned students from a large southern public university to test the effect of exposure to political messages via Facebook on the likelihood of them voting in the November 2010 election. The results indicate that encouragements to vote delivered through a social networking site can have substantively large effects on political behavior.     

北京城南的唐代古河道

2006年3月,在北京外城南护城河和西护城河底的管道工程中发现唐代河道,出土木船遗迹和石筑河岸遗迹,为我们了解隋唐时期蓟城的河道和隋朝永济渠北端位置,提供了重要参照物。     

The vicious layering of multilevel governance in Southern Europe: The case of elderly care in Italy and Spain

Aging and changes in family arrangements and female employment have brought about important policy developments in long‐term care (LTC). Southern European countries have relied for a long time on family care and residual social care for the dependent elderly. Two paradigmatic cases, Italy and Spain, have shown two apparently different trends during the last 15 years: while in Italy, reforms seem to have been persistently blocked, in Spain, an ambitious reform has fallen short of expectations. Based on data on services and institutional arrangements, the article shows that a complex and inconsistent allocation of responsibilities across government levels, a sort of “vicious layering” of multilevel governance, may be playing a key role in this situation. The article discusses the dysfunctional effects of such arrangements, namely territorial inequalities, cost‐shifting between government levels and towards users, and misallocation of resources. We suggest that the development and reform of LTC in Southern European countries must address these problems if they want to avoid getting marooned by a complex network of vetoes and resource allocation problems.