A note on generalized stable sets

A solution concept is introduced that is able to deal with cyclic relations. The concept is a generalization of the Von Neumann-Morgenstern solution concept of stable set and is therefore called the concept of generalized stable set. Its point of departure is the transitive closure of an asymmetric relation. A characterization theorem and an existence theorem are presented.The author would like to thank Thom Bezembinder, Maurice Salles and Harrie de Swart for their useful comments.     

Balancing work and welfare: activation and flexicurity policies in The Netherlands, 1980–2000

As a result of the flexibilisation of labour and the trend towards the 'activating welfare state', social policies show an increasing interconnection of work and welfare issues. The Netherlands is no exception. It is generally believed that the Dutch welfare state is successfully activating its unemployed labour potential (often referred to as the 'Dutch Miracle'), and that flexible and part-time work is protected by adequate 'flexicurity'. This article critically reviews Dutch activation and flexicurity policies. It concludes that there is still more unemployment than the miracle-story suggests; that important target groups of activation policies have not profited from 'the miracle'; that part-time workers have sufficient social protection but that social security for flex-workers still needs major improvements, despite favourable adjustments of labour law.     

Taxation and tax resistance

In recent years social and behavioral sciences have extended their interest to topics not normally thought to be within their province. One of these topics of current interest is tax resistance, an old problem indeed that continues to plague the modern welfare state. People are perfectly willing to benefit from government services but increasingly restive about paying for them. How to cope with this tax-welfare backlash is a crucial problem for all democratic governments. Growing government deficits, for example, may in part be due to the erosion of the tax base which results from a shift to unobserved activities. The main purpose of this article is to offer a theoretical framework for the definition and explanation of tax resistance. To this end, research findings about tax compliance and tax mentality as well as theoretical work on free-riding, exchanging and gift-giving will be presented and discussed.     

Individual and contextual risks of death among race and ethnic groups in the United States

An emerging area of social science research focuses on individual-level and contextual-level determinants of black-white adult mortality differentials in the United States. However, no research on adult mortality differentials has distinguished multiple Hispanic subgroups and explored the role of nativity at both the individual and contextual levels for small geographic areas. Using the 1986-1997 National Health Interview Survey-National Death Index linked file, we examine the effects of individual and contextual factors on black-white and multiple Hispanic subgroups (Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans, and "other" Hispanic) differentials in adult mortality. In addition, we use a new, innovative geographic area--the very small area--as our contextual unit of analysis. We find that excess mortality risks for all race-ethnic groups considered are associated with not only individual characteristics, but also neighborhood characteristics. In addition, percent foreign born in a neighborhood is protective of Hispanic subgroup mortality for Puerto Rican, Mexican American, and "other" Hispanic adults in the 45-64 age category. These findings indicate a need for future research to examine more throughly the pathways through which neighborhood factors affect multiple Hispanic subgroup mortality and the role of nativity as a protective factor for older adult Hispanic mortality.     

Strategic control: meshing critical success factors with the balanced scorecard

Companies operating in a fast-paced business climate must pay careful attention to non-financial performance indicators, which can be determined by both the Balanced Scorecard and Critical Success Factors. This paper analyses the relationship between the Balanced Scorecard and Critical Success Factors and devises a framework to bridge the two systems. The paper is based on a six-year research project of 15 companies in the Netherlands and some of the case studies illustrate how the integrated method can be employed across a variety of industries to provide a more adequate performance management system.     

Specific relationships between psychosocial job conditions and job-related stress: A three-level analytic approach

This cross-sectional questionnaire study presents a multi-level analysis on 2565 workers in 188 departments in 36 organizations in the Netherlands. A three-level model is used in which individual workers are nested within departments, which in turn are nested within organizations. Research questions concern (1) the amount and distribution of variance in job-related stress explained for the three levels in the study (individuals, departments, organizations), and (2) the specificity of relationships between psychosocial job demands and job-related stress in the three-level model. Well-being showed slightly more raw variance to be explained at supra-individual levels than strain. The full regression model explained about 35% of the total variance in both work-related strain and well-being. Psychosocial job conditions did not exceed the expected amount of 10 to 15% contribution to this explained variance. These results do not differ from comparable studies that do not use multi-level analysis. The variance distribution in the full model, however, showed unexplained variance to be located at the individual level for both strain and well-being, and at the departmental level only for well-being. This last finding shows a direction for possible improvement of work stress models. Specificity of relationships was also shown: psychological job demands were more strongly related to strain, whereas job content variables (i.e. job variety, job control) were more strongly related to well-being. Results also suggested that social support was more strongly associated with well-being than with strain. Well-being appeared to have a more widely varying range of predictors than strain.     

Theories on homosexuality among professional therapists

Current viewpoints on homosexuality among Dutch psychiatrists and psychologists in the period of 1945 to 1980 are discussed. In a detailed examination of these differing theories, a change in the approach to therapy with homosexual clients unfolds, incorporating more of a sociodynamic focus as compared to the psychodynamic concepts of earlier theorists.     

Social networks of old people in India: research and policy

This article presents a comparative analysis of the available research on the social networks of older persons in India. Most of this research has been done in North Indian cities. The research foci of the available studies include network size, core networks and beyond, life course changes in networks, impacts of residency in old-age homes, gender differences, and joint and nuclear family residence. This research is discussed in terms of its policy implications. Because the research demonstrates that social networks are important for the welfare of older Indians, one can conclude that social policy that encourages the maintenance of robust networks throughout the life course may be worth pursuing. One aspect of policy is discussed. The analysis of the relationship between social network and gender suggests that current policies that can be seen as supporting gender inequality in terms of property may have a negative impact on the networks of older women.