The Cost of Selling Public Rental Housing: Victoria and South Australia Compared

A comparison of the cost of selling public rental housing is made between two state housing authorities which have similar sized rental stocks but which have sold different percentages of total constructions. Using data from annual reports, it is found that Victoria's policy of selling to sitting tenants has resulted in higher per unit costs on the unsold rental stock than in South Australia where very few houses have been sold to sitting tenants. It is argued that tenants who do not buy necessarily subsidize those who do buy, and that if governments wish to encourage sales then they, and not the bulk of public tenants, should pay for the cost of sales.     

The Hidden Housing Policy: Management of Public Housing Estates in Australia

Management of public rental housing is out of public view because most of the rules, regulations, and management policy directions arise from within the housing authorities themselves. As such, the policies can be vague, contradictory, and unrelated to the actual social and economic situations of the residents of public housing. The housing estate manager must translate these policies into a workable day-by-day relationship with tenants. The quality of housing estates is the result. We must be concerned, for on this quality rests the success or failure of our public housing policy.     

日、韩公共住宅制度的改革与发展

为低收入阶层供给公共住宅是政府的职责。公共住宅制度包括供给租赁住宅、供给出售住宅以及提供政策性金融支持。本文通过分析日本和韩国的公共住宅制度,指出,日、韩两国以政府为主导,设立了专门的住宅管理机构和租赁住宅供应制度等特点,在实施过程中也取得了较好的社会效果。中国正处于房价快速上涨阶段,建立完善的公共住宅制度具有很强的现实意义。     

日本公共住宅制度改革及发展趋势研究

日本最初的公共住宅制度是以公库、公营以及公团为核心,主要致力于解决公共住宅不足的问题.公共住宅政策采用的是以政府为主导、以住宅规划为目标、以公库为资金支持、以公团为建设主体的模式.随着日本住房问题的改变,日本针对公库、公营、公团等公共住宅制度进行了较大幅度的改革,公共住宅制度的未来发展趋势也相应的作出了调整.通过对日本公共住宅制度改革和发展趋势的研究,可为现阶段中国公共住宅制度的发展和改革提供借鉴经验.     

中国与南亚地区主义:以南亚区域合作联盟为例

本文主要解读南亚在中国地区战略中的地位,包括中国在南亚的利益和目标,分析中国成为南亚区域合作联盟观察员国的背景和意义,探讨中国与南亚区域合作联盟关系中未来可能遇到的挑战和加强合作的途径和方法.     

南海仲裁案:美菲联手打舆论战

南海仲裁案从表面看是菲律宾向仲裁庭提交的,但真正的幕后推手是美国。美国将之作为制衡中国的一步妙棋,妄图以此来化解中国对南海的主权要求。我们从2015年7月8日至13日仲裁庭举行的第一轮口头辩论中就可以看出,美国才是这场仲裁案的主角,无论从文件起草,还是法庭辩论,都是由华盛顿律师一手代理。美菲为了使南海仲裁案引起国际上的重视,还广泛制造舆论,极力渲染南海的紧张气氛,将南海问题说成是全球关注的焦点,藉此向仲裁庭施压。菲律宾大法官甚至以"扩充军备竞赛"为由,对仲裁庭进行威胁和恫吓。然而,由于领土主权问题不属于该仲裁庭的管辖范围,即使仲裁庭未来做出裁决,南海领土争议问题依然存在,最终还是要通过当事国双方直接谈判来解决。     

(Re) Shaping Social Work: An Australian Case Study

Contemporary policy development via various nationally contingentprocesses of welfare reform poses significant challenges tosocial work. This paper explores the initial impact on one groupof generalist social workers in working in the Australian incomesupport agency—Centrelink. Positioning welfare reformwithin a theoretical framework of institutional change, theauthors suggest that the associated policy developments havethe capacity to seriously destabilize social work, particularlyin that they promote values and rationalities at odds with thoseassumed by the profession. These assumptions are explored throughexploratory empirical engagement with the Centrelink socialworkers, the results of which suggest that all social workersin those national contexts experiencing the same policy orientationhave significant reason to be concerned.     

The Ecology of Suicide in an Australian Metropolis: The Case of Sydney

The ecological patterns of suicide in metropolitan Sydney are described and policy recommendations made. Some inferences about the association of urbanization with suicide are suggested.     

Exploring the Relationship Between Trust in Government and the Provision of Social Services in Countries of the Global South: The Case of Palestine

ABSTRACT

Using a data set combining two surveys that were conducted by Birzeit University in Palestine, the study investigates the role that trust in government plays in the provision of social services in Palestine (N= 1,314). The relationship between trust in government and selected sociodemographic characteristics is also explored. Results from the bivariate and regression analyses performed reveal that perceived trust in government is significantly related to government performance and a respondent's gender, income, education, and political affiliation. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.     

信任溃败与圈子解散:田园茶叶公司的集体离职事件研究

以田园茶叶公司为例,本文运用集因素论和互动论优势于一体的圈子理论分析集体离职事件。研究表明,在以领导为核心的圈子中的网络结构位置决定了员工的去留、职级,集体离职源于组织中圈子内信任关系的受损、溃败所导致的圈子解散和替换。本文提出了五个研究推论：第一,职务结构和圈子关系的重合或分离会影响离职;第二,领导的圈外人最可能离职;第三,与小领导不和的大领导班底不会离职且会晋升;第四,圈间“桥”缺失会导致集体离职;第五,组织变革中的“幸存者”是大领导班底或圈间“桥”。本文有三个研究贡献：为离职研究提供了圈子理论的分析视角,拓展了圈子理论的解释范围;圈间“桥”关系协调作用的研究发现具有理论和现实的双重意义;有助于辨析圈间“桥”和结构洞概念。     

西部干旱区生态公益林法律制度创新机制研究——基于对兰州南北两山生态绿化的实证分析

由于西部干旱区特殊的自然和地理环境,生态公益林法律制度的设立和发展具有特殊的运行机制,确立了生态价值优先、统一机构领导、市场机制引入、林权流转灵活并以地方立法加以固定的正式制度安排.地方生态公益林法律制度的发展既要通过法律改革适应新形势以确立正式制度,也要在坚持法律继承的基础上尊重地方性本土资源的合理性并积极加以吸纳,或可构建更高效的制度创新机制.     

The Informal Economy: A Case Study in Unrestrained Competition

The New Labour government in Britain is the first post-deregulation regime in Europe and the first to attempt to re-regulate the labour market. In particular, its welfare-to-work programme and New Deal for Lone Parents are aimed at shifting activities from the informal to the formal economy, and at enlarging labour market participation. Its commitment to social justice and inclusion is closely linked to increased employment opportunities and a responsibility for contributing to national prosperity. The new programmes must also reconcile these aims with the retention of the flexibility that it sees as giving Britain a competitive edge over other European economies. In order to combine efficiency and equity, increased participation must not involve excessive transaction and enforcement costs. The problem is that those at present engaged in the informal economy (and especially in undeclared cash work while claiming) do not have strong incentives to cooperate with the new schemes. This paper uses the example of the informal relations of taxi-driving in a small town to illustrate the paradoxes of this situation. It is a case study in the rational strategies of individual actors, which collectively frustrate each other; and in the difficulties of starting collective action for mutual restraint of competition. The New Labour government must solve many such problems if its policies are to succeed.     

The Self-Fulfilling Property of Trust: An Experimental Study

A person is said to be ‘trust responsive’ if she fulfils trust because she believes the truster trusts her. The experiment we report was designed to test for trust responsiveness and its robustness across payoff structures, and to discriminate it from other possible factors making for trustworthiness, including perceived kindness, perceived need and inequality aversion. We elicit the truster’s confidence that the trustee will fulfil, and the trustee’s belief about the truster’s confidence after the trustee receives evidence relevant to this. We find evidence of strong trust responsiveness. We also find that perceptions of kindness and of need increase trust responsiveness, and that they do so only in conjunction with trust responsiveness.      

Uncertainty, Trust and Pensions: The Case of the Current UK Reforms

Trust is valuable in facilitating social cooperation and is often thought to be helpful in the running of a complex modern welfare state. However, a number of sociologists, psychologists and political scientists have recently argued that trust in social institutions is in decline. One approach argues that the issue is compounded by a shift towards a more active and discriminating trust as part of a social transition towards a more reflexive society, and goes on to suggest that people often choose to place their active trust in non‐state provision. This paper examines recent quantitative and qualitative evidence on trust in state and non‐state pensions in the UK, as a context where current policy developments throw the general issues into sharp relief. It shows that patterns of trust in this setting can be understood in active terms, but that social divisions remain important in determining how active trust operates in practice. More vulnerable groups put their trust in the state, through lack of an alternative, while more confident and better‐off groups tend to pursue investment strategies which they believe will give them more individual control over their money. Social divisions remain important during current social transitions, and often receive less attention than they merit in theoretical writing.