Poverty and social conditions in Poland during the transformation to a market economy

The social welfare system in Poland was changed during the 1990s. The full employment policy, as a guarantee for social security, was abandoned and the institutions through which social resources were distributed were replaced. State-owned enterprises previously fulfilled certain social functions; the necessary resources came from state subsidies and from obligatory funds: housing and social funds as well as a proportion of wage costs. Thus, the prices of many types of important consumption goods (such as food and housing) were fixed at a relatively low level. The elimination of subsidies resulted in the bankruptcy of many state-owned enterprises which, in turn, led to the diminished importance of the social security function of industrial enterprises. Their role in the newly created social welfare system was taken over by social welfare centers, through which assistance was distributed to those in need. Besides the traditional recipients of social assistance, a growing number of unemployed people, who comprise approximately 14% of the productively active citizens, have also begun collecting assistance.     

Unemployment and mental health: evidence from research in the Nordic countries

In this article we examine research on effects of unemployment on mental health in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. We describe studies that use cross-sectional, longitudinal and time-series data, and we discuss studies that investigated the duration-dependence issue in exit rates out of unemployment. Not surprisingly, cross-sectional studies reveal that unemployed persons have worse mental health than do others. Most longitudinal studies suggest that unemployment is associated with deteriorating mental health, even though it is somewhat unclear how long such an effect persists. Most duration-dependence studies were done using Swedish data. It turns out that unemployment benefits and labour-market policies affect the pattern of exit rates out of unemployment.     

试论保证合同的保证期间与诉讼时效

保证期间是债权人应当积极行使权利 ,使保证权利从期待权利变为现实权利的期间 ,其性质既不是诉讼时效 ,也不是除斥期间 ,是一特殊的权利行使期间。保证期间与诉讼时效性质不同 ,可以同时适用于保证合同 ,但在规范上不能存在冲突。     

Structural reforms and labor markets in Argentina

Argentina is considered to be one of the most successful cases of structural reforms in Latin America, because of the extent and rapid pace of the reforms after the hyperinflationary process of 1989–1990. At the beginning of 1991, the convertible plan was launched and inflation fell sharply. However, even when the economy is growing fast, the problems in the labor market seem to worsen. Unemployment and underemployment have risen, and an increasing number of people have fallen out of normal work. The article analyzes how changes in labor markets are closely related to the transformation process in the economic system. After a summary of the situation before the crisis of the 1980s, the article analyzes the stabilization plans applied and then discusses the current dynamics of labor markets and the policies implemented to change labor regulations. Finally, some hypotheses about future scenarios are presented.     

浅析我国的知识失业问题

党的十七大报告把扩大就业作为我国的一项长期战略。知识失业是我们面临的又一新的就业问题,如何认识我国的知识失业的现状、影响和原因,寻找其解决的对策是当前劳动经济学术界研究的一个重点。运用新理论、新资料,从新的视角对知识失业进行梳理,分析其中的问题,提出解决我国知识失业问题的对策具有重要现实意义。     

大学生就业的结构性矛盾分析

大学生就业问题是一个社会问题,当前大学生就业不仅是供过于求的问题,还有结构性问题及岗位的供给相对不足问题。解决大学生就业矛盾,首先必须解决劳动力技能培养与社会需求不匹配之间的矛盾。     

关于完善我国失业保险制度促进就业功能的思考

在当前社会转型期,失业保险是我国面临的非常重要的问题之一。我国目前的失业保险制度在促进就业方面存在着不足。应该借鉴国外的成功经验并结合我国的具体实际,在调整失业保险制度理念、适时提高统筹层次、完善就业服务机制等方面进行改进,不断完善我国失业保险制度,发挥它在促进就业中的作用。     

Mixture inverse Gaussian for unobserved heterogeneity in the autoregressive conditional duration model

In this paper, we assume that the duration of a process has two different intrinsic components or phases which are independent. The first is the time it takes for a trade to be initiated in the market (for example, the time during which agents obtain knowledge about the market in which they are operating and accumulate information, which is coherent with Brownian motion) and the second is the subsequent time required for the trade to develop into a complete duration. Of course, if the first time is zero then the trade is initiated immediately and no initial knowledge is required. If we assume a specific compound Bernoulli distribution for the first time and an inverse Gaussian distribution for the second, the resulting convolution model has a mixture of an inverse Gaussian distribution with its reciprocal, which allows us to specify and test the unobserved heterogeneity in the autoregressive conditional duration (ACD) model.

Our proposals make it possible not only to capture various density shapes of the durations but also easily to accommodate the behaviour of the tail of the distribution and the non monotonic hazard function. The proposed model is easy to fit and characterizes the behaviour of the conditional durations reasonably well in terms of statistical criteria based on point and density forecasts.     

Helping mothers to combine paid and unpaid work–or fighting unemployment? the ambiguities of french family policy

The Family Law' passed by the French Parliament in July 1994 introduced important changes in family policy. Because the number of publicly subsidised childcare places is still very limited, and to encourage families to create employment (by employing childcare workers), the government has chosen to encourage the development of a variety of childcare provisions by increasing the financial incentives payable to parents employing a private nanny or child-minder. The same rationale of reducing unemployment has also prompted the decision to extend existing child rearing benefit to families having a second child. This measure has been very successful in encouraging women to retire from the labour market. The high cost of these changes has been shared by Social Security and the State. However, the changes have contributed to the increased polarisation between higher and lower wages families, with highly qualified mothers, who can afford childcare costs, remaining in paid employment after giving birth, and lower qualified mothers leaving the labour market.     

失业保险金给付博弈分析及其优化设计

我国现行失业保险制度运行中存在失业保险金的给付两难,给付双方是一种博弈关系。通过构建政府与失业人员的失业保险金给付静态博弈和完全而不完美信息动态博弈并进行解析,需要从缩短失业保险金的给付期限、充分发挥失业保险金的促进就业功能等方面对现行失业保险制度进行优化设计。