收入差距测度及分解方法述评(英文)

本文按研究对象将收入差距划分为总体收入差距和组群收入差距两大类,从收入不平等、极化和组群收入差距三个层面梳理了收入差距的测度及其分解方法。其中,收入不平等侧重于对总体收入差距的刻画;极化着眼于收入分布中的“聚集”或“扎堆”现象,其衡量指标大体上可分为两极分化测度指标和多极分化测度指标。在收入差距的分解上,Shapley分解和组群收入差距的分布分解方法都是较为前沿的研究领域。文章还强调了各种收入差距衡量指标或分解方法的适用性和针对性,以便有的放矢地选用合适的相关指标和方法,更精准地探寻收入差距的成因。     

Make-or-break during production: shedding light on change-orders,rework and contractors margin in construction

A considerable amount of research has examined the cost performance of construction projects, yet there has been a paucity of studies that have examined the impact that client initiated change-orders and rework have on contractors. This paper seeks to add further clarity to this issue by replicating previous empirically-based research to establish the validity and reliability of the key issues influencing a contractor's cost performance. A total of 98 projects were used to examine the value of rework and change-orders and their influence on a contractor's margin. Only 65% of projects experienced a cost increase, though a mean rework cost of 0.39% of the contracted value was incurred. The difference between approved client change-orders and those by the contractor for subcontractors was 0.5% of the total costs incurred, which adversely impacted the organisation's profit. Margin losses may well have been higher as rework is seldom formally documented and reported.     

Grandparents in the blues. The effect of childcare on grandparents’ depression

Review of Economics of the Household - We estimate the effect of grandchild care on the depression of grandmothers and grandfathers, using data from the Survey on Health, Ageing and Retirement in...     

Labeling albinism: language and discourse surrounding people with albinism in Tanzania

This article is based on a qualitative study that set out to analyze the labels and terms attached to 28 people affected by albinism in villages in Kilolo district, Tanzania. Even though national and international attention to killings of people with albinism has attempted to improve general knowledge of albinism and reduce discrimination, most of the community members within the study had little knowledge of the (bio)medical explanations for albinism and tended to marginalize people with albinism. Framed within a wider moral discourse on illness, disability and socially appropriate behavior, albinism is mostly considered to be God’s will or the consequence of past misdeeds within the family, and many of the existing labels for people with albinism express such ideas.     

Children in dual-residence arrangements: Exploring discourses of fairness and children's best interest in Norway

In many countries, dual residence is increasingly common for children when parents separate. This works well for many children, but opinions differ on whether or not it should be the norm. In analysing interviews with 35 nine- to 19-year-olds with dual-residence experience in Norway, undertaken in 2018, we find clear traces of prevailing discourses in society. Claims of equality and fairness and claims of children's rights both emerge, the latter being particularly visible in the participants' recommendations to other children. Children value spending much time with both parents, but may still want more flexibility than their parents realise.     

How To Prepare the EU Integration: Banking System, Monetary Policy, and Exchange Rate in Macedonia

The significant progress in the reform of the financial sector, including the amendments to the banking law and the reinforcement of the deposit insurance scheme, has been reflected in increased confidence in the Macedonia banking sector. Monetary policy and exchange rates represent a crucial aspect for the countries of Southeast Europe which would like to position themselves on the threshold of negotiations on their accession to the European Union. In the case of Macedonia, which has already formally applied for EU membership, a very cautious approach has to be taken in order to facilitate the stability of the economic system as a whole. Such a policy will make an important contribution to the stabilization of the whole West Balkan area and in particular to the quadrangle of Albania, Kosovo, Montenegro, and Serbia. The preparation of a favourable ground for EU membership negotiations leads first and foremost through a strict monetary and exchange rate policy, which the National Bank is pursuing firmly. Macedonia is now facing optimal conditions for creating the prerequisites for a faster negotiation with less rigorous internal repercussions of the pre-adhesion period. One should not forget the indirect impact of the shadow economy in the general context of efficiency of the instruments of economic and monetary policy. Finally, there is the question to be answered on the interrelation existing between transmission mechanisms linking productivity to the real exchange rate in Macedonia. At first glance, the stylized facts – low labor productivity growth and a trend of real depreciation – could even suggest that a Balassa–Samuelson effect is in play. But the depreciation of the real exchange rate could reflect mainly the behaviour of prices in the tradable sector and a prolonged transition associated with slow technological growth and the low quality of the country's tradable-goods basket.     

Pierre Bourdieu: Economic models against economism

The use of economic analogies by Bourdieu has often been the object of much criticism. For some scholars, it reveals an “economistic” vision of the social world too much inspired by neoclassical economics. For others, it is a kind of mechanical metaphor transposed to cultural phenomena in a determinist way, as in the holistic (Marxist) tradition. To understand this usage and to refute these contradictory criticisms, we return to and focus on the very first occurrences in the 1958–1966 period – the focus of our article – of what Bourdieu would call a “general economy of practices” in his book Esquisse d’une théorie de la pratique. Two central aspects, often forgotten by critics, are presented here: first, the close but very particular link between his work and economics as a growing scientific discipline during these years; second, the criticisms Bourdieu makes of the economic model as a general scientific tool for the social sciences. If one insists only on one of the two sides of the coin, one risks misunderstanding Bourdieu’s original scientific habitusand intellectual project. By contrast, this “double” position opens the possibility of an “integrated” vision of social and economic factors of practices, thanks to the introduction of the “cultural” and above all the “symbolic” dimensions of social life.