The arbitrariness and normativity of social conventions

This paper investigates a puzzling feature of social conventions: the fact that they are both arbitrary and normative. We examine how this tension is addressed in sociological accounts of conventional phenomena. Traditional approaches tend to generate either synchronic accounts that fail to consider the arbitrariness of conventions, or diachronic accounts that miss central aspects of their normativity. As a remedy, we propose a processual conception that considers conventions as both the outcome and material cause of much human activity. This conceptualization, which borrows from the économie des conventions as well as critical realism, provides a novel perspective on how conventions are nested and defined, and on how they are established, maintained and challenged.     

基于面板数据的公务员工资溢出效应研究

为了考察中国公务员工资的增长是否会对本地其它行业工资产生溢出效应,以及这种溢出效应的大小在不同的行业类别和区域之间是否存在差异,利用中国31个省份在2003-2014年的有关面板数据,使用工具变量的方法,尽力消除公共部门工资和私人部门工资之间的逆向因果关系和影响,估计了中国公务员工资增长对本地其它非公共部门行业工资增长的溢出效应。研究发现,公务员工资每增加1%,会带来其它行业工资约0.741%的上升,其中对劳动力流动性较大以及与公共部门关联较密切行业的工资溢出效应较大。此外,中国公务员工资的溢出效应在不同的省份之间存在区域差异,东部省份公务员工资的溢出效应大于西部省份。     

对法国启蒙文学中三个基本问题的认识

18世纪法国启蒙文学史叙述中存在着一些需要重新认识和探讨的具体问题。文中围绕怎样重新评价法国启蒙文学成就、认识法国启蒙文学发生机制，以及如何认识18世纪法国启蒙文学中的公共文体问题，探讨了重构18世纪法国启蒙文学史的可能性。     

魁省保持其文化认同对我国的启示

魁北克省在北美英语文化圈包围中成功地保持其法语文化认同，一方面通过制定语言立法坚韧地保护法语纯洁性，对我国在抵制“英语热”的席卷中头脑清醒地发展文化产业启发很大；另一方面，魁省与北美文化相互影响日益密切的今天，魁省的“去殖民化”存在诸多限制因素，这对台独分子的“去中国化”的叫嚣无疑敲了一次警钟。     

MICROBEHAVIORS IN GROUP DECISION-MAKING

An exploratory field experiment sought to study the effects of three levels of task complexity on the decision-making patterns of seven long term, on-going task groups. Decision-making was identified as consisting of five behaviors; namely, organization, information exchange, alternative generation, evaluation, and non-task behaviors. The results confirmed the predictions for alternative generation and non-task behaviors: alternative generation occurred most frequently with moderate task complexity; non-task behaviors occurred the least frequently at the level of moderate complexity. The organization behavior increased with increasing task complexity, while information exchange and evaluation showed no differences in frequency of occurrence across the three levels of complexity.     

新形势下广东解决失业问题的思路

失业问题是当前我国社会和政府面临的重大问题,在一定条件下,失业问题又会直接导致贫困的产生和恶化,间接引致社会保障工作问题。文章首先通过分析广东失业带来的问题,失业对社会稳定发展的影响,探析了失业率下降的原因,然后通过对问题的分析研究,介绍广东解决失业问题的经验,提出了现阶段的应对思路。     

Moving targets: Target groups of active labour market policies and transitions to employment in Europe

This study drew on recurrent debates related to labour market mobility among the unemployed and those outside the labour force and asked to what extent active labour market policies (ALMP) increase employment in these two groups. By utilising new programme‐level data on ALMP, the study analysed the impact of core programmes directed towards registered unemployed; peripheral programmes that target the inactive part of the working age population; and mixed programmes targeting both groups. The programme data were combined with individual‐level panel data from the European Survey on Income and Living Conditions and analysed using multilevel analysis. The main results show that both resources devoted to programmes and their size were related to employment transitions. Transitions among the unemployed were mainly associated with spending on core programmes, whereas the inactive seemed to benefit from increased spending on all types of programmes, as well as increased scope of mixed programmes.     

中国失业保险制度的法制化建设

中国失业保险制度正处在进一步完善阶段.借鉴国外失业保险制度的成熟经验,建立符合我国国情的多渠道保险金筹集与双重失业保障相结合的失业保险制度,是我们努力的方向.我们要在坚持受益人权利与义务相统一、对失业者适度保险和对失业者积极保障原则的基础上,逐步构建中国失业保险法体系.     

Lessons from the American federal-state unemployment insurance system for a European unemployment benefits system

This article reviews practices in the United States (US) federal-state unemployment insurance (UI) system regarding applicant eligibility, benefit generosity, benefit financing and emergency measures with the aim of revealing lessons for a possible European unemployment benefit system (EUBS) for European Union (EU) Member States. We overview the US system for UI and examine important areas of federal leadership. While the US system offers some good ideas for setting up an EUBS, there are also lessons in some shortcomings of the US experience. We overview existing national UI systems in the EU and review the debate on an EUBS in the EU. We identify areas of risk for individual and institutional moral hazard in a multi-tiered UI system and give examples of monitoring methods and incentives to ameliorate such risks. We suggest approaches for gradual system development, encouraging lower-tier behaviour, benefit financing, and responses to regional and system-wide labour market crises.     

甘肃省“就业难”与“民工荒”问题探析

本文运用相关理论对甘肃省进行实证研究。结果表明:甘肃省经济增长对就业的拉动作用日趋减弱,就业难问题依旧严峻。此外,甘肃省三次产业结构与其对应的就业结构的发展集中体现为不协调。第一产业存在大量的隐性失业,实现农村劳动力在农业内部就业的潜力巨大;第二产业并没有因为拥有巨大的就业空间而接纳更多的劳动力;第三产业成为当前农村剩余劳动力转移的主要渠道,但在现有的状况下,未来接纳劳动力的能力有限;目前出现的就业难主要是因为劳动力技能与产业升级不相适应,造成结构性失业。民工荒并不是劳动力资源枯竭的信号,而是产业结构与劳动力就业结构存在巨大偏差造成的问题。