Knowledge co-production with social movement networks. Redefining grassroots politics,rethinking research

Drawing on ethnographic research with social movement networks in Spain, this article explores the challenges and possibilities of research collaboration. My project focused on the emerging logics and practices of collective action, the ongoing re-definition of grassroots politics. The engagement with social movements as reflexive communities – not simply objects to be studied, but subjects actively producing their own analysis and explanations, their own ‘knowledge-practices’ – deeply transformed the in-fieldwork encounter. Through a series of co-analysis workshops, designed and implemented together with the research subjects/collaborators, this research became an open-ended dialogue of reflexivities. The shift from working on social movements to working and thinking together with social movement activists as co-researchers produced new scholarly knowledge, advancing our understanding of contemporary collective action, while simultaneously making research useful for the activists. Moreover, locating epistemic and methodological questions at the centre of the project, I addressed salient debates in social science, exploring collaborative frameworks in order to problematize traditional forms of knowledge production and validation.     

On the decomposition by sources of the Zenga 1984 point and synthetic inequality indexes

In this work we provide a decomposition by sources of the inequality index \(\zeta \) defined by Zenga (Giornale degli Economisti e Annali di economia 43(5–6):301–326, 1984). The source contributions are obtained with the method proposed in Zenga et al. (Stat Appl X(1):3–31, 2012) and Zenga (Stat Appl XI(2):133–161, 2013), that allows to compare different inequality measures. This method is based on the decomposition of inequality curves. To apply this decomposition to the index \(\zeta \) and its inequality curve, we adapt the method to the “cograduation” table. Moreover, we consider the case of linear transformation of sources and analyse the corresponding results.     

Bargaining Power and Wage Determination: The Role of Outside Options

ABSTRACT: The paper analyses the wage bargaining process between an entrepreneur and his workforce when delays in agreement intrinsically reduce the amount of returns to be shared It is shown that the outside options of the workforce and the entrepreneur can be a systematic determinant of their bargaining power in contrast to what the Rubinstein (1982) model predicts The basic model is extended to analyse: (i) bargaining under multiple unionism; (ii) the- possible relationship between bargaining and efficiency wages; and (iii) under investment in workforce training.     

An Integrated Approach to Managing Change

Complex systems often involve a huge number of variables whose interdependence must be taken into account. This makes the adoption of an integrated approach essential for the proper management of a wide range of aspects related to human life, from social matters to the environment. In particular, this paper takes into consideration three different experiences in which the use of an integrated approach represented the most effective response for managing the evolving realities we took into consideration. We focused on the issue of land management, with particular attention to the problem of monoculture in Brazil. Then we analyzed the attempted cooperation between the States of the Aral Sea area for efficient water management of the basin and, finally, we dealt with the matter of energy efficiency and how the production of home integrated systems could lead to a better rationalization of energy consumption in the near future.      

The Marital Status of Recent Mexican Immigrants in the United States in 1980 and 19901

Using Public Use Microdata Samples, we analyze the temporal marriage patterns of recent Mexican immigrants in the United States, and relate these patterns to socioeconomic and political events, such as U.S. immigration reform, increasing returns to skill, and rising incentives for unattached Mexicans to migrate during the 1980s. Our findings indicate that recent Mexican immigrants (particularly men) were less likely to be married within five years of migrating in 1990 than their counterparts had been in 1980. An empirical extension further suggests that the relative endogamy odds among Mexican immigrants who migrated to the United States by 1980 increased during the next decade. Such demographic changes may affect policies involving issues such as education, welfare and retirement.     

REGULATION AND INVESTMENT

We use newly assembled data on regulation in several sectors of many OECD countries to provide evidence that regulatory reform of product markets is associated with an increase in investment. A component of reform that plays a very important role is entry liberalization, but privatization also has a substantial effect on investment. Sensitivity analysis suggests that our results are robust. (JEL: E22, L5)     

Kinematic analysis of post office employees' workstations

This study analyzed a post office clerk's tasks, comparing two workstation models. The clerk was facing the client in one, and seated at 45 degrees to the counter in the other. We analyzed the most frequent tasks and those presenting the most critical points: 1) payment of a postal order; 2) accepting a registered letter, breaking them down into subtasks. We used an optoelectronic system for kinematic analysis, and calculated the range of motion of the trunk and arms in the three spatial planes. The 45( position required less torsion of the trunk and head when using the printer, placed to the left of the employee. A larger worktop improved the workstation, leaving more room for equipment and allowing the worker to sit frontally to the monitor. However, this solution involved a shorter distance between the worker and the client with longer extension of the shoulder and elbow and less trunk flexion. These findings suggested a modification in the layout that shortens the distance between the worker and client.     

Social norms, partnerships and children

This paper presents a social norms interpretation to explain cross-country differences in partnership formation rates. Social norms are modeled as a constraint on the allocation of household labor that diminishes the gains of entering a partnership, especially for highly educated women with a higher opportunity cost of time. Results using individual level data from 7 waves of the European Community Household Panel (1995?C2001) confirm the predictions from the theory. These results are robust to controlling for country varying factors such as childcare policies and divorce rates, and are mostly driven by marriage (as opposed to cohabitation) decisions. Given that household formation is a necessary prerequisite to having children, our results potentially shed light onto the process of below replacement fertility and the economic challenges associated with it.