Making ends meet: perceptions of poverty in Sweden

During the era after the Second World War, Sweden has built a welfare system based on labor market participation and income maintenance. Low unemployment and decent wages are supposed to guarantee people a labor market income or income maintenance, which in turn should provide a proper standard for everyone. However, a rapid increase in unemployment and economic problems have made the future of the Swedish welfare state more uncertain than ever. These circumstances have, among other things, led to the suggestion that Sweden should abandon the income maintenance policy and create a social policy system with the more limited ambition of guaranteeing everyone a minimum income. In that case, one central question must be answered: what constitutes a decent minimum income in today's Sweden? Where should we draw the poverty line under which people will not be forced to live? These questions are central in the current debate. The consensual poverty line method is used in this article to derive a poverty line relevant for today's Sweden. The results shows that more than every fifth household has an income below the consensual poverty line. That is, they have an income that most Swedes would argue is too low to make ends meet. The level of the consensual poverty line was compared with the National Board of Health and Welfare's guidelines for social assistance. The consensual poverty line was shown to be more generous to small households and the norm for social assistance was more generous to larger households. Finally, the expenditure for guaranteeing all Swedish household a minimum income equal to the consensual poverty line was estimated: more than SEK 25 billion per year. The results in the article casts serious doubt on the ability of the Swedish welfare state to secure a decent income to all citizens.     

Some Notes on Workplace Equality Renewal in the Swedish Labour Market

In 2001, Swedish authorities imposed a new obligation upon all firms with ten or more employees to undertake annual wage surveys, ‘workplace equality audits’ in which it is possible to ascertain, remedy and prevent unwarranted wage differentials and other unfair employment terms between men and women. An important implication of the new system, called ‘workplace equality renewal’ (självsanering), is that, at the level of the firm all Swedish employers must explain what they mean by work of ‘equal value’ as opposed to ‘different value’. This article discusses the practical pros and cons of the new system, and considers how the surveys can be used in research into the present state of gendered work division. A main finding is that the introduction of this new legislation in the long run might change the Swedish industrial relations system as well as the preconditions for many companies’ human resource management policies. Yet, neither the governmental agencies involved nor the parties’ confederate organizations have been able to clarify what the issue is really about to the single, small business employer or to the local trade union branches. Many employers find any interference, whatever it may be, threatening and trade unions have not realized the potentialities of the system from an employee perspective, potentialities connected to the fact that companies are now more or less forced to make transparent their wage policies at large.     

现代企业新工资制度探讨

探讨适合现代企业工资制度要求的新工资分配形式,对现代企业工资制度进行了阐述,列举了现代企业工资制度存在的问题,提出了工资制度改革的必要性、改革的条件、改革的原则,初步构建了企业工资结构的模式。在定性研究的基础上,对基本工资、岗位工资、特种工资及奖金等工资的基本构成进行了定量的研究。同时,对在工资改革中应注意问题的解决,提出了新的观点。     

基于复杂网络的投资组合优化研究

本文基于复杂网络的局部聚类系数改进了传统的全局最小方差投资组合模型。首先通过股票对数收益率的相关系数矩阵构造股票关联网络,然后计算股票关联网络的局部聚类系数,最后通过全局最小方差模型确定最佳投资组合。将改进后的模型应用于A股市场,经过夏普比率、信息比率和欧米茄比率的对比分析得出改进后的投资组合模型在样本外的表现优于传统的全局最小方差投资组合模型。     

Computation of an efficient and robust estimator in a semiparametric mixture model

In this article, we propose an efficient and robust estimation for the semiparametric mixture model that is a mixture of unknown location-shifted symmetric distributions. Our estimation is derived by minimizing the profile Hellinger distance (MPHD) between the model and a nonparametric density estimate. We propose a simple and efficient algorithm to find the proposed MPHD estimation. Monte Carlo simulation study is conducted to examine the finite sample performance of the proposed procedure and to compare it with other existing methods. Based on our empirical studies, the newly proposed procedure works very competitively compared to the existing methods for normal component cases and much better for non-normal component cases. More importantly, the proposed procedure is robust when the data are contaminated with outlying observations. A real data application is also provided to illustrate the proposed estimation procedure.     

区域碳锁定的判定研究--以云南省为例

通过建立包括陆地、湿地和海洋的碳承载力、碳超载率的计算模型，采用供需平衡法建立了区域碳锁定时间和趋势的判定模型。以有着“植物王国”和“基因宝库”之称以及水电资源相对丰富的云南省为例，对该省的碳锁定时间、趋势进行了实证研究。实证分析结果显示，云南省自2002年后开始出现了碳锁定现象且趋势越来越严重，若不进行强有力的外界干扰，这种趋势将一直延续下去。结合即使“十一·五”低碳目标的完成也没能减轻云南省碳锁定加剧的趋势，提出把减轻碳超载、控制能源消费总量、提升碳承载力纳入低碳经济发展的目标管理。     

Robust sparse regression and tuning parameter selection via the efficient bootstrap information criteria

There is currently much discussion about lasso-type regularized regression which is a useful tool for simultaneous estimation and variable selection. Although the lasso-type regularization has several advantages in regression modelling, owing to its sparsity, it suffers from outliers because of using penalized least-squares methods. To overcome this issue, we propose a robust lasso-type estimation procedure that uses the robust criteria as the loss function, imposing L₁-type penalty called the elastic net. We also introduce to use the efficient bootstrap information criteria for choosing optimal regularization parameters and a constant in outlier detection. Simulation studies and real data analysis are given to examine the efficiency of the proposed robust sparse regression modelling. We observe that our modelling strategy performs well in the presence of outliers.     

Multicriteria decision support in local energy planning: An evaluation of alternative scenarios for the Sustainable Energy Action Plan

One of the major challenges for the implementation of local energy planning is the successful development of a Sustainable Energy Action Plan (SEAP) by the local authorities (especially within the framework of their participation to the Covenant of Mayors’ initiative). This aspect constitutes a decision making problem, since the local authorities have to identify the best fields of actions and opportunities for reaching their long-term CO₂ reduction target. However, the already available methods and tools do not offer an integrated framework for the SEAPs’ development and especially the selection of sustainable Renewable Energy Sources (RES) and Rational Use of Energy (RUE) technologies. In this context, the aim of this paper is to present a participatory supportive framework for the implementation of local energy planning. At the first level, the proposed approach incorporates the development of alternative Scenarios of Actions (using knowledge-based process, participatory approach and aspiration level). At the second level, a direct and transparent multicriteria decision support is introduced, in order to evaluate the feasible Scenarios. It includes the application of a multicriteria ordinal regression approach and an extreme ranking analysis method for the estimation of the best and worst possible ranking position of each Scenario. The results from the pilot appraisal of the methodological approach to a “real” problem are presented and discussed. The adopted approach contributes to the selection of the most appropriate combination of RES/RUE actions, supporting in this way the local authorities to the development of their SEAP.     

From industrial restructuring to the financial crisis: Mainstream nationalism and minimum income in the Basque Country

The uneven development of minimum incomes in Spain is one of the factors that explain the significant differences in the poverty indicators that characterize the Spanish regions, generally in favour of the territories most committed to these policies (Basque Country, Navarra and Asturias). However, there are other aspects that deserve some consideration when interpreting the specific method of developing minimum incomes in southern Europe. One aspect has to do with the differing dynamics of countries, such as Spain and Italy, which have opted for a decentralized regional model. In this regard, the regional autonomous initiative of the Basque Country played a decisive role in promoting minimum income programs in the late 1980s. Without its leadership in the launch of the regional minimum income policy, Spanish trade unions would probably not have opted for this method as a mechanism for combating poverty in the 1990s. No Italian region went on to play this driving role at that time. This article analyses the ideological foundations of the Basque minimum income policy introduced in the late 1980s and which grew significantly before and during the crisis that started in 2007-2008. It examines the dominant political narrative on this issue by analysing the discourse of some of the key nationalist leaders involved in the birth and development of the minimum income scheme. The approach shows that the experience of social decline linked to industrial restructuring processes was instrumental in the construction of the nationalist narrative.     

初次收入分配对我国居民旅游消费影响研究

文章选取初次分配工资分配率、城镇居民基尼系数、各收入阶层旅游消费占比作为分析指标，经分析研究所得结论为：低、中收入阶层旅游消费占比与分配率负相关，分配率所代表的初次收入分配总量性影响对中收入阶层旅游消费影响较大，中、高收入阶层旅游消费占比都与城镇居民基尼系数正相关，其中城镇居民基尼系数代表的初次收入分配结构性影响对高收入阶层旅游消费影响较大；并针对各阶层的特殊性对各收入阶层旅游消费发展提出相应政策建议.