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.     

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。     

Driven by politics: agenda setting and policy-making in Hungary 2010–2014

Studies on media and politics generally find an effect of the media on the symbolic policy agenda. Analysing data from the Hungarian Comparative Agendas Project, we demonstrate that this effect is extremely weak in the Hungarian policy-making process. We identified those issues that received greater than average coverage in the media. However, we found that in the majority of cases governmental initiatives or decisions preceded the media coverage – that is, instead of the media agenda pulling the policy agenda, the general logic is the opposite: the media are talking about the policy initiatives of the government. The ambition of the paper is twofold. First, our findings reinforce those claims in the literature that point to the many institutional and political factors affecting the media-politics nexus. This suggests that policy-making might be very different in new(er) democracies. Second, our research analyses the policy-making side of Viktor Orbán’s governance. Changes in the polity, democratic backlash and illiberal tendencies are usually the focus concerning the political changes in Hungary since 2010, but no attention has been devoted to how this type of governance is reflected in policy-making. Our paper seeks to make a contribution also in this respect.     

Large,But Adaptable? A Successful Population Policy and Its Long Term Effects

A restrictive population policy led to almost doubling the number of newborns from one year to another in Romania in the 1960s. Twenty years later, this large generation (of women) enters a marriage market with few eligible older mates, in a society where marriage is a must. In this article, I analyze this social experiment within the broader frame of the marriage squeeze/two sex models. Using various data from censuses and surveys, I argue that the marriage market is flexible even when is confronted with disproportionately large cohorts. If the social pressure toward marriage is strong, the marriage rates do not necessarily fall, but the mating age patterns change.

Quality_Family Deployment: A New Perspective in Determining Priority Importance for Improving Work Performance in Organization

Determining priority importance is a matter of concerns among the organization to improve their performance. One of the important aspects that should be considered by the organization is management of human resources, comprising of members who have their own family life. In this paper, we deliver a new perspective for organization to provide priority importance for their members with respect to family matters in order to inculcate the sense of belonging in the organization. To be effective in considering family matters in the organizational policy making, closer look of family characteristics are required. The idea of translating several family characteristics as quality variables and applying the quality function deployment (QFD) method to these variables could present a new way of improving the decision making in the organization by considering the process of decision in the family. Quality function deployment for family (QFDF) produces a friendly interpretation of a highly complex and intangible matters around family life; thus, making the assessment of a family easier. QFD is applied on the data gathered from a questionnaire survey based on 1,213 families in West Malaysia, Malaysia. Twelve variables are identified as voice of family, where seven of them are found to have the highest priority of importance. These variables could also be translated into quality variables in the context of organization, the strategy of improvement for the family could be interpreted as strategy for improvement in the organization. Furthermore, the results of this study provide suggestion to improve actions for managing human resource. In the discussion, three most high ranked variables from both perspectives of family and organization are considered.     

外来工子女留守与流动的教育状况比较

在教育公共政策转型的社会背景下,经济因素和外来工家庭凶素是影响其子女在城乡之间进行就读选择的重要原因。外来工子女进入城市上学的成本是留守在农村的两到三倍;外来工子女流入城市就读的主要因素并非是农村的教育质量问题;外来工子女流入城市比留守在农村老家更容易失学。     

我国失地农民的养老保险制度

在中国大力推进城市化的进程中,可耕土地逐年减少,导致一些地区农民种田无地、就业无岗、低保无份,成为新的社会问题群体。因此,落实失地农民的一次性征地补偿费、解决失地农民的养老问题、免除他们的后顾之忧已成为十分必要而且迫切的课题。在分析当前失地农民现状的基础上,对失地农民养老保险提出初步设想,并就具体操作中的相关问题提出建议。     

刑事政策与管制刑改革

刑事政策对刑事司法实践具有极强的指导性和影响力。经过近半个世纪的发展沿革,我国形成了内涵特定的“宽严相济”刑事政策。结合倡导非监禁刑的刑罚轻缓化的时代背景看,这种刑事政策给有着社会化、家庭化、人道化等特点的管制刑营造了难得的改革契机。在下一步的修改完善中,不但需要根据“宽严相济”刑事政策要求来设置管制刑,而且还应当在非监禁刑改革中依法适当扩大适用管制刑。     

碳交易市场的监管机制研究

应对气候变化、控制温室气体的政策催生了碳交易,也诞生了碳交易市场。碳交易市场作为一种特殊的新兴市场,兼具环保市场、能源市场和金融市场的特点,这些特性导致各国政府需要对该市场进行严格的监管,以防止市场滥用、价格操纵、市场欺骗等现象,保障温室气体减排行为和市场行为健康发展。我国目前已经建立了若干可从事碳交易的交易所,部分省份正在进行碳交易试点,碳交易市场机制及监管机制必须同时建立及完善。碳交易市场的监管体制和制度是综合的,监管主体包括综合经济管理、环保、能源和金融管理等部门。