Survey investigations of the hidden economy: Some methodological results

In 1982 the Netherlands Central Bureau of Statistics started large-scale survey research on the supply of hidden labour. As it was not known what type of survey would yield the best results, eight survey variants were tried out. They differed in the medium of communication between the researcher and respondent (face-to-face, mail and telephone) and in interview design (direct approach, gradual approach and ‘free-form’ conversation). Several criteria were used to assess the survey variants on their suitability for obtaining statistical information on the magnitude and structure of the hidden labour market. With respect to non-response and item non-response, face-to-face methods yielded the best results. In combating incorrect responses, a gradual introduction of the topic ‘hidden income’ is to be preferred.     

Hot times,hot places. Youths’ risk perceptions and risk management in Chicago and Rotterdam

Many young people in low-income neighbourhoods are considered to be at risk of poor social outcomes and of becoming victims of violence and crime. This exploratory study focuses on how young people perceive risk and navigate their environment in two low-income, multi-ethnic neighbourhoods, one in Rotterdam and one in Chicago. We conducted in-depth interviews and mental mapping exercises with young people aged 14–19 in both sites. We found that neighbourhoods matter because they expose young people to certain kinds of risks, but also that their responses were shaped by their perceptions and interpretations of these risks. Moreover, we illustrate the dynamic and interactive nature of these processes of risk perception and management by discussing the ways in which different groups occupy and use, or travel through, public space at different times of the day. We argue that risk in disadvantaged neighbourhoods is not a static dimension in young people’s lives but rather emerges from an ongoing and complex interaction between perception, interpretation and response that can be seen as a kind of boundary work.     

Were UK Culture, Sport and Recreation Charities Prepared for the 2008 Economic Downturn? An Application of Tuckman and Chang’s Measures of Financial Vulnerability

UK charities experienced rapid growth during the middle years of the first decade of the new millennium. The issue investigated in this study is whether the charities took the opportunity to strengthen their financial positions before the economic recession of 2008–2009. Having evaluated, and established the empirical robustness of, Tuckman and Chang’s measures of financial vulnerability, they are used as the basis for constructing a Charities Financial Exposure Index (CFEI). Variants of the index are applied to a panel of more than 300 large UK charities in the Culture, Sport and Recreation sector for the period 2002–2007. The findings are that by 2008 these charities were in a stronger financial position than they had been in 2002 and were therefore better prepared to face the onset of the so-called credit crunch recession.     

Bayesian Analysis of an Unobserved-Component Time Series Model of GDP With Markov-Switching and Time-Varying Growths

We propose an unobserved-component time series model of gross domestic product that includes Markov switching as an unobserved component. In addition to a trend component, the model has two time-varying drift components. One drift represents the expected rate of growth during recession; the other drift represents the expected rate during expansion. Estimates indicate a substantial decline in the latter annual rate for the United States from 6.4% in 1950 to 3.6% by 1990. We have employed weak priors based on prewar data. The estimation makes use of the Gibbs sampler and the Metropolis algorithm.     

The Role of Access Groups in Facilitating Accessible Environments for Disabled People

This paper considers the contrasting ways in which disabled people seek to overturn socio-attitudinal, political and physical barriers to their mobility and access requirements in the built environment. In particular, the paper documents how disabled people are attempting to influence the form and content of local authority access practices and policies in the UK, through the context and contours of access groups. I begin by briefly outlining some of the key factors inhibiting and facilitating disabled people organising as effective political groupings, relating the material to access issues in the built environment. Then, using case studies of two contrasting access groups, the paper explores some of the practical barriers, problems and opportunities connected to disabled people's activities in seeking to influence local authority access policies and practices. I conclude by discussing how some of the wider structural and agency-level constraints on disabled people's political and policy interventions in access issues might be removed.