The Older Sandwich Generation Across European Welfare Regimes: Demographic and Social Considerations

European Journal of Population - The lengthening of the amount of time adult children depend on their parents’ support and rising longevity have pushed scholars to devote increasing attention...     

与供应商共赢

零售商跟供应商一快速消费品公司一向来是敌手。双方会在价格上磨来磨去,促销活动上斤斤计较,市场预算上讨价还价,长期分歧上拉锯作战。结果,关系破坏了,收益减少了一次年,再重开谈判。     

Matching and Network Effects

The matching of individuals in teams is a key element in the functioning of an economy. The network of social ties can potentially transmit important information on abilities and reputations and also help mitigate matching frictions by facilitating interactions among “screened” individuals. We conjecture that the probability of two individuals forming a team falls in the distance between the two individuals in the network of existing social ties. The objective of this paper is to empirically test this conjecture. We examine the formation of coauthor relations among economists over a twenty‐year period. Our principal finding is that a new collaboration emerges faster among two researchers if they are “closer” in the existing coauthor network among economists. This proximity effect on collaboration is strong: Being at a network distance of 2 instead of 3, for instance, raises the probability of initiating a collaboration by 27%. (JEL: C78, D83, D85)     

Socio-economic status and fertility decline: Insights from historical transitions in Europe and North America

The timings of historical fertility transitions in different regions are well understood by demographers, but much less is known regarding their specific features and causes. In the study reported in this paper, we used longitudinal micro-level data for five local populations in Europe and North America to analyse the relationship between socio-economic status and fertility during the fertility transition. Using comparable analytical models and class schemes for each population, we examined the changing socio-economic differences in marital fertility and related these to common theories on fertility behaviour. Our results do not provide support for the hypothesis of universally high fertility among the upper classes in pre-transitional society, but do support the idea that the upper classes acted as forerunners by reducing their fertility before other groups. Farmers and unskilled workers were the latest to start limiting their fertility. Apart from these similarities, patterns of class differences in fertility varied significantly between populations.     

Newborns' Face Recognition: The Role of Facial Movement

This study investigates the role of dynamic information in identity face recognition at birth. More specifically we tested whether semi‐rigid motion, conveyed by a change in facial expression, facilitates identity recognition. In Experiment 1, two‐day‐old newborns, habituated to a static happy or fearful face (static condition) have been tested using a pair of novel and familiar identity static faces with a neutral expression. Results indicated that newborns manifest a preference for the familiar stimulus, independently of the facial expression. In contrast, in Experiment 2 newborns habituated to a semi‐rigid moving face (dynamic condition) manifest a preference for the novel face, independently of the facial expression. In Experiment 3, a multistatic image of a happy face with different degrees of intensity was utilized to test the role of different amount of static pictorial information in identity recognition (multistatic image condition). Results indicated that newborns were not able to recognize the face to which they have been familiarized. Overall, results clearly demonstrate that newborns' face recognition is strictly dependent on the learning conditions and that the semi‐rigid motion conveyed by facial expressions facilitates identity recognition since birth.     

Spatial politics in the digital realm: the logistics/precarity dialectics and Deliveroo’s tertiary space struggles

This paper uses the case of mobilization of delivery workers from digital platform Deliveroo in order to illustrate the production of space of resistance, which develops as a result of the tension of two emerging factors shaping the digital labour realm: logistics and precarity. On the one hand, I consider how logistics in the digital capitalist context produce precarious workers whose ICT-driven connectivity and flexibility responds to the logistical imperatives of effective commodities circulation. On the other hand, taking advantage of the tech-savvy precarious position they were hired for, Deliveroo workers display the capability to strategically cut across “abstract” and “differential” space, and therefore re-territorialize a third space dimension where digital labour can organize and antagonize digital capitalism.     

Differentiation of welfare regimes: The case of Italy

The different welfare system classifications mainly address systems on the national level, while the local levels have not been considered in any great detail. The welfare reform measures adopted in some countries have led to more autonomy on the local level. Consequently, local authorities have adopted different social policies and developed diverse welfare services. This article addresses the case of Italy and shows that classifying a welfare regime by considering only the national level can lead to important local features being missed that are indeed relevant for its classification. The units of analysis are the 20 administrative regions of Italy. The results demonstrate that the Italian welfare system is far from being a homogeneous system and that the resources available on the local level have a considerable effect on the level of the welfare services provided. These results show that more attention needs to be directed at the local level.     

Italian Adolescent Gambling Behaviour: Psychometric Evaluation of the South Oaks Gambling Screen: Revised for Adolescents (SOGS-RA) Among a Sample of Italian Students

Since no Italian validated instrument focuses specifically on the measurement of pathological gambling in very young people, with this study, we aim to adapt an international instrument (SOGS-RA) and assess its psychometric properties in a sample (n = 14.910) of young Italian students aged between 15 and 19 years. Cross-cultural adaptation of the instrument was performed through translation, synthesis of translation, back-translation, expert committee review, and pre-testing. The kappa statistic for test–retest concordance ranged from 0.53 to 0.80. Internal validity was assessed by the MCA that identified one principal component with eigenvalue equal to 3,875: the Divgi index and very simple structure analysis also pointed out one common factor, so uni-dimensionality of the SOGS-RA was accepted. Moreover the SOGS-RA was found to have acceptable internal consistency (α = 0.780). Cronbach’s alpha was also assessed separately among males and females (respectively 0.786 and 0.707). The SOGS-RA was assessed in relation to gambling frequency, alcohol and drug use: Chi squared test revealed a strong association both for males and females with gambling frequency (p value ≤ 0.0001), frequent use of illicit drugs (for each drug p value ≤ 0.0001) and having had 3 or more occasions of binge drinking in the last month (p value ≤ 0.0001). At the end we can say that, the results of our study suggest that the SOGS-RA screen may be useful to assess at-risk or problem gambling for both genders in comprehensive youth surveys.