Comment “On the role of data,statistics and decisions in a pandemic” by Jahn et al.

AStA Advances in Statistical Analysis - We comment the paper by Jahn et al. (On the role of data, statistics and decisions in a pandemic, 2022).     

Globalization,greed, and exploitation. How to break the baleful path?

During the last decades, a globalized and free market economy has become the worldwide accepted paradigm for organizing economic affairs. Indeed many positive effects of globalization have materialized and improved the wellbeing of humans, particularly in the poorer parts of the world. However, there is a dark side to globalization—negative external effects, e.g. the exploitation and destruction of natural resources—that is causing growing discontent (e.g. Stiglitz, Globalization and its discontents. Penguin, London, 2002). Different initiatives have been taken in order to deal with the deficits of globalization but have not yet resulted in a resounding success. This paper deals with the downsides of globalization and is not telling a “success story”. For this reason, it is a scholarly article and an essay at the same time, dealing with its subject sometimes from a personal point of view. After presenting some examples for negative side effects of our current economic system, it is argued that capitalism is not only promoting growth through innovation, but that it follows a path of greed and exploitation. Building on path dependence theory, self-reinforcing mechanisms are identified that lead into a lock-in of the current path and make it hard to alter its course. Against this background, three suggestions to tackle the deficits of globalization are presented and critically discussed—the Principles for Responsible Education (PRME), the attempt to restrict globalization (e.g. Steingart), and the implementation of a global governance system (e.g. Homann). Finally, a careful conclusion is drawn: A sequenced approach of education, sanction, and institution building might be the best solution to fasten up the slow moving process of fixing the shortcomings of globalization. It has to be clearly understood that this is not a contribution aimed against globalization and global competition. However, the issues raised in this article urgently need to be addressed. It logically follows that further research is needed in time.     

THE CONTRIBUTION OF CULTURAL THEORY TO UNDERSTANDING THE EMBEDDEDNESS OF ARGUMENTS IN THE IMPLEMENTATION PROCESS

The aim of this article is to explore the contribution of cultural theory to understanding the embeddedness of arguments in the implementation process. The application of cultural theory to studies of implementation entails investigating the implementation of reforms as different normative arguments pursuing different organizational solutions. Institutional theory posits that implementation of reforms in organizations depends on how well the values defending the reform match the basic values of the organization. Cultural theory contributes to institutional theory in two ways: firstly, cultural theory is an instrument for investigating the values that defend the reform; secondly, cultural theory posits that an organization consists of more than one value base. Consequently, cultural theory does not offer a fixed prediction concerning the outcome of implementation.     

Historical regional patterns of infant mortality in Austria

First an overview is given of the secular decline of infant mortality in Austria between 1820 and 1950 is given. Second the study analyses the historical regional differences of infant mortality in Austria comparing data for all 99 political districts (Politische Bezirke) for the period 1900 to 1950. The most important results are: At the turn of the 19th century infant mortality rates were generally lower in Alpine than in non-alpine regions and lower in cities than in their surrounding areas. This geographical pattern which remained constant until the 1950s was solely determined by differences in post-neonatal mortality rates. Plausible explanations for these regional differences are discussed.En premier lieu cette étude fournit une vue d'ensemble du déclin séculaire de la mortalité infantile en Autriche en 1820 et 1950. Elle analyse ensuite les différences régionales de mortalité infantile en comparant les données des 99 districts politiques (Politische Bezirke) autrichiens, de 1900 à 1950. Les principaux résultats sont les suivants: à la fin du XIX^e siècle les taux de mortalité infantile étaient en général plus faibles dans les régions alpines que dans les autres et plus faibles dans les villes que dans les aires adjacentes. Ce modèle géographique, qui est resté le même jusqu'en 1950, était uniquement déterminé par les différences entre les taux de mortalité post-néonatale. Des explications plausibles de ces différences régionales sont discutées ici.     

Kostenstruktur und Ästhetisierung?

Life style research has become an independent branch of social structure analysis, that systematically complements classical research on social inequality in the explanation of social action and of attitudes. However, there are important theoretical gaps in life style research: firstly, there is a lack of theoretical proposals to explain the statistical connection between life styles on the one hand and social action and attitudes on the other hand. Secondly, it remains unclear, why life styles sometimes are very good predictors of social action and at other times they are not. In a first step this article puts forward an action theoretic framework as foundation for life style research, that implies a conceptual shift from life styles to cultural preferences. In a second step I develop three theses, that state relatively precisely the conditions for a high or low explanatory power of cultural preferences. They are empirically tested in a secondary data analysis, that supports the applicability of the theoretical ideas developed in the paper.