Inflation projections for monetary policy decision making

Many central banks set inflation targets over the medium term and inflation projections are a key input for monetary policy decision making. In this paper, we present the procedures used by the Spanish Central Bank staff to project consumer price inflation. We also provide some illustrations of their policy uses, such as fan charts, deflation probabilities and the monitoring of inflation targets.     

Getting low educated and older people into work: The role of fiscal policy

Raising employment, in particular employment among older individuals and low educated individuals, stands high on the agenda of policy makers in many OECD countries. Increased sensitivity in recent years to rising inequality has made the challenge only larger. In this paper we evaluate alternative fiscal policy scenarios to face this challenge. We construct and use an overlapping generations model for an open economy where individuals differ not only by age, but also by innate ability and human capital. The model allows us to study effects on aggregate employment, per capita income and welfare, as well as effects for specific age and ability groups. We show that well-considered fiscal policy changes can significantly improve macroeconomic productive efficiency, without increasing intergenerational or intragenerational welfare inequality. Our results strongly prefer a reduction in the labor tax rate on older workers and on all low-wage earners, financed by an overall reduction in non-employment benefits. An alternative financing option is to raise the consumption tax rate. These results are to be seen as long-run effects for economies at potential output.     

Expediting youth's entry into employment whilst overlooking precariousness: Flexi‐employability and disciplinary activation in Hong Kong

With an emphasis placed on supply‐side interventions such as skills training and incentives enhancement, active labor market polices (ALMPs) are strongly promoted by international organizations and widely adopted across different welfare regimes to boost employment rates. This article first presents the under‐examined relationship between ALMPs and employment precariousness, which has posed a challenge to the neoliberal notion of employability and activation. Youth‐focused employment policies tend to speed up employment entry whilst downplaying the risk of precariousness and the importance of job quality, and thus further reinforcing the belief that engaging in precarious employment is tolerable if not inevitable. The article then examines the case of Hong Kong, which illustrates that its relatively low rate of youth unemployment may conceal the unfavorable employment conditions confronted by youth. It is argued that the service‐led employment policies and short‐term vocational training define the employability of young workers in terms of labor flexibilities. The coined phase of “flexi‐employability” is characterized by promoting youth's readiness for, and adaptability to, the volatilities and changing demands of the labor market. Arguably, the disciplinary approach to youth activation would only strengthen the work‐first principle by enforcing young people to take up jobs available and leave welfare as soon as possible, but without thoroughly addressing the risks and insecurities generated by the labor market in undermining their well‐being.     

The role of the welfare state in supporting economic transitions following family bereavement: Comparing Britain and Israel

Despite its centrality to the experience of death and grief, it is only in recent years that the economic burden following family bereavement has been recognized by social care professionals and scholars. Based on the realization that death and bereavement are grounded in social context, and assuming this economic burden is a multifaceted phenomenon, the present study compares the British and Israeli welfare systems in three policy settings: social security, funeral services, and bereavement leave. The findings suggest that while in both systems bereavement and especially widowhood is considered a deserving category, recent pressures for restructuring the British welfare state have been successful in shifting provision from the state to the market. The findings also show that in both cases, albeit to a lesser extent in Israel, current policy measures are not fully aligned with critical scholarship on bereavement and its financial consequences, nor with socio‐economic and demographic trends. These disparities are addressed using the notion of disenfranchised grief and by emphasizing the pivotal, although often overlooked role of the welfare state in constituting it. Lastly, the differences between the two cases are discussed in terms of the powerful role of Judaism in shaping Israeli policy.     

English proficiency in Australia, 1981 to 2016

Using Australian census data, the paper examines the incidence of poor English competency in Australia from 1981 onwards. The paper examines English competency in relation to various characteristics such as sex, age, language spoken, visa type, citizenship, duration of residence and location. It finds that there was a sharp rise in the numbers of people not speaking English well between the 2011 and 2016 Censuses and special attention is given to this rise in the paper. Recently, the Australian Government unsuccessfully legislated for the introduction of a requirement of English competency at the level of IELTS 6 (the commonly used university entrance level) as a condition for the award of Australian citizenship. The paper argues that this test would have led to a very large number of disenfranchised Australian permanent residents and this would be a highly undesirable result. Nevertheless, employment and social participation are strongly influenced by English competency and residents with poor English are disadvantaged. The policy suggestion is made that participation in a course of English language training for those without functional English skills could be made a precondition of the award of permanent residence—without the application of a passing grade.     

现行就业政策的支点管窥

"积极就业政策"应该有五大支点,每个支点都有相应的基础.文章从劳动密集型产业、第三产业、民营经济、中小企业及灵活就业五个支点出发,指出只有找准支点,夯实基础,才能把"积极就业政策"落到实处,从而进一步缓解"十一五"时期的就业压力.     

理论与实践关系的复杂性思考 --兼评惟实践主义倾向

本文认为在我国理论界和实际工作者中存在着一种片面强调实践的重要性、忽视或不能全面理解理论对实践的能动作用的惟实践主义倾向,从理论与实践关系复杂性的角度并列举了其四种表现:( 1)只承认实践检验理论,不承认理论检验实践;( 2 )对理论来源于实践作简单片面的理解;( 3 )把理论创新简单化、庸俗化;( 4)把理论联系实际简单化、庸俗化。作者还探讨了一些深层理论问题。     

我国中性财政政策选择解析

从一国经济的可持续发展来看,积极财政政策的实施只能是阶段性、暂时性的,随着一国经济形势的发展变化应适时适度做出相应调整,才能更加科学地调控宏观经济布局和结构,使其沿着健康、稳定的发展运行轨道前进。伴随着我国积极财政政策的连续实行,经济增长加速效应突出,国民经济领域产生了许多结构性的问题和矛盾,这迫使我国财政政策的选择有必要由扩张性向中性转移。把握积极财政政策向中性的财政政策逐步过渡的“火候”,就要充分适应经济形势的不断变化,在调控目标、调控方式、调控手段和方法组合上进行适时调整,采用更为适合我国国情的科学的宏观调控财政手段。     

大学发展连贯性研究的构想：历史、逻辑与实践相结合

鉴于以往有关大学发展“历史”的、“逻辑”的和“实践”的研究显得零碎、散落,从而导致研究结论的孤立和脱节,倡议开展一种旨在立足中国实际、结合时代特征、面向未来的关于大学发展“历史”“逻辑”“实践”的连贯性、系统性、完整性研究方案。在分析大学发展逻辑的历史方法与比较方法、实地调研与典型剖析方法以及逻辑分析与理论建构的多学科方法基础上,提出大学发展是大学这一组织体从简单到复杂、从低级到高级、既有量变又有质变的动态演进过程;“大学发展”应包涵“本原逻辑”和“支撑逻辑”两个方面;其动力机制主要包括行政机制、市场机制和志愿机制。     

高等院校物流专业人才培养模式探讨——以琼州学院为例

物流业是一个朝阳产业,随着社会经济发展对各层次物流人才需求的急速增长,我国物流教育得到了快速发展,从20世纪90年代以来,全国绝大多数高等院校开始开设了物流管理和物流工程专业,目前教育部备案和批准设置物流本科专业的高等院校已达500所以上,为社会输出大量的各层次物流管理操作人才。根据三亚的区位特点和物流产业的现状,以琼州学院为例,对物流专业人才培养模式进行探讨。