On the Analysis of Negative Freedom

This paper presents a non-preference-based approach to the analysis of negative freedom. It is argued that a proper understanding of (different conceptions of) negative freedom necessitates an examination of the consequences of changes in the set of feasible alternatives. For this reason the paper does not focus on freedom rankings of opportunity sets but on freedom rankings of opportunity situations, i.e., pairs consisting of a feasible set and an opportunity set. Three different freedom rankings of opportunity situations are axiomatically characterised. Each of the three rankings forms a generalisation of the purely cardinality-based freedom ranking of opportunity sets presented by Pattanaik and Xu (1990).     

Adolescents' trust and reciprocity toward friends,unknown peers,and community members

Using a newly developed version of the Trust Game among 196 adolescents aged 11–20 years, this study examined whether adolescents distinguish between trust and reciprocity to unknown peers, friends, and community members. We also tested for effects of age, gender, and individual differences in attending to others' emotions, emotional support to friends, societal contributions, and institutional and interpersonal trust beliefs. Results indicated that adolescents showed the least trust and reciprocity to unknown peers, more to a community member, and most to friends. Reciprocity increased with age, and individual differences in societal contributions and interpersonal trust were positively related to trust and reciprocity. This study was the first to show that community members are a specific target in adolescents' social world.     

Unemployment Insurance Policy and Union Wage Formation

Abstract. The paper considers the wage and employment effects of alternative social security policies. Such a policy can take the form of a fixed benefit level or linking the level of unemployment benefits to private sector wages. The latter is an important social security policy instrument to guarantee an equitable distribution of income. A fixed benefit level policy yields lower wages and larger employment than an automatic link between the level of benefits and the wage rate. Further, if the government decides to make the link conditional on the stabilization of the tax rate, wages are lower and employment is higher than in both former alternatives. By endogenizing its social security policy, the government is able to reduce the loss in employment that the link policy brings about.     

Calculating China’s Historical Economic Aggregate: A GDP-centered Overview*

Since the 1990s, thanks to the concerted efforts of domestic and international scholars, the research on China’s historical GDP that began in the 1930s has received widespread attention, and is becoming a widely discussed issue at the forefront of research on world economic history. At the same time, several scholars at home and abroad have also voiced a call for more theoretical and empirical reflection within this line of research. Diversification of methods, systematic reconstruction of historical data, and international comparisons represent three emerging trends in future research on this subject. By encouraging and leading these trends, Chinese scholars can assume a greater role in international research on economic history.     

Organic coasts? Regulatory challenges of certifying integrated shrimp–mangrove production systems in Vietnam

The Vietnamese government aims to expand the scale of Naturland certified organic production in integrated shrimp–mangrove farming systems across the coast of Ca Mau province by 2015. In doing so the division between public and private regulation has become blurred. We analyze the government's goal by examining the regulatory challenges of using organic certification as a means of linking farm-level management to the sustainability of coastal (mangrove) landscapes. The results show the importance of farmer perceptions of sustainable farm and landscape management, fair benefit sharing mechanisms in the certified value chain, and legitimate private sector-led auditing. We conclude that in order to overcome conflicts of interest and legitimate representation in organic certification, the social and economic conditions of production require regulatory intervention from provincial and local level government. To achieve benefits beyond the scale of the farm, the role of shrimp producers should be redefined as partners in rather than targets of regulation.     

Going beyond vocational rehabilitation as a training of skills: return-to-work as an identity issue

In western welfare states, labour participation is increasingly considered a vital aspect of taking part in society. Vocational rehabilitation programmes are intended to support people in the process of returning to work. These programmes pay much attention to the skills that clients need to develop in order to return to work. We argue, however, that vocational rehabilitation is more than the acquirement of skills, and that further attention should be paid to clients’ ‘identity work’ processes. Based on 45 life-stories, we present an analysis of the identity work expressed by people with a work disability in the Netherlands. We describe ‘separative’, ‘integrative’, and ‘pending’ processes of identity work. The presented typology can help vocational rehabilitation professionals become more sensitive to clients’ processes, and supports more inclusive vocational rehabilitation.