The Top-Down/Bottom-Up Controversy from a Constructionist Approach. A Method for Measuring Top-Down Effects Applied to a Sample of Older People

Two different theories, called bottom-up and top-down, were developed to understand the determinants of an individual's satisfaction. Experimental studies didn't provide unanimous results, and confirmed, to different extents, both theories. Aside from these classic theories, a constructionist approach was developed. The purposes of this study were to examine the top-down/bottom-up controversy from a constructionist point of view and to obtain a new method for measuring the top-down effects in different satisfaction judgements. In this approach, an individual's satisfaction is viewed as constructions, evoked by the specific question in its particular context, and made by people using cognitive strategies. This view implies that the correlation between satisfaction judgements may reflect the use of the same strategies, rather than a causal effect. From this point of view, the top-down and bottom-up effects, described by the classic theories, cannot be seen as a pattern of causal links among satisfaction domains; therefore we propose a reinterpretation of these concepts in which they refer to ways used by people to construct their satisfaction judgements. On these grounds, we developed a method to extract the weight of top-down effects from correlation coefficients between satisfaction judgements. Two hypotheses concerning the different weight of top-down processes in the different satisfaction judgements were subsequently developed.These propositions were tested using the data set of 'Outdoor Mobility Survey' which was carried out in Italy on a sample of 600 people, 55--95 years of age, stratified by sex and age. We found different top-down effects in satisfaction judgements that confirm our hypothesis, even if some aspects need further investigation.     

Families of adult people with disability: Their experience in the use of services run by social cooperatives in Italy

Social cooperation has historically played a pivotal role in developing socio‐educational services for people with disability, thereby contributing to counteracting the social isolation often associated with this condition. Using a mixed‐method methodology, this study maps the diversity of perspectives on how the use of disability‐related services run by social cooperatives impacts on and becomes meaningful to family life. One hundred twenty‐nine interviews with family members of adults with different kinds of disability were studied using emotional textual analysis. It provides a multi‐dimensional model to read and map the multiplicity of emotional meanings related to disability and the use of services, shedding light on key diversities in how family members emotionally make sense of care and support. The results reveal the importance of supporting family‐carers on two main issues: accessing a less passive representation of their relative with disability; and being able to test and acknowledge limits without succumbing to a sense of powerlessness.     

Underemployment Benefit Effects on Employment and Income Distribution: What We Should Learn from the System of the Cassa Integrazione Guadagni

ABSTRACT: Two aspects distinguish the Cassa Integrazione Guadagni (CIG) from most other European under or unemployment public benefit schemes: an institutionally fixed replacement ratio and a rotation principle imposing a labour-sharing regime. Within a labour-sharing approach, the comparison between the CIG unitary subsidy proportioned to the corresponding wage rate and the European standard fixed in nominal terms, shows that, ceteris paribus, employment is lower and profits are higher in the former system. Moreover, given the indexation provided by CIG, aggregate supply is vertical in this system while it is positively sloped in the other. Consequently, employment, real profits and real wages are constant in the former case, while they are positively correlated to the good quality of the states of nature in the latter. If the tax-based financing of public benefits is not — as it is not in Italy — experience-rated, the CIG regime induces moral hazard behaviours harmful to the State: it leads firms and unions to agree on relatively high wages, thus raising the value of both working and non-working time. Without affecting the unions’average requests and the firms’profits, this attitude reduces employment and increases under or unemployment public subsidies.     

Subjective Well-Being: The Constructionist Point of View. A Longitudinal Study to Verify The Predictive Power of Top-Down Effects and Bottom-Up Processes

Based on the constructionist point of view applied to Subjective Well-Being (SWB), five hypotheses were advanced about the predictive power of the top-down effects and bottom-up processes over a five years period. The sample consisted of 297 respondents, which represent the Italian sample of a European longitudinal survey; the first phase was conducted in 1995 and the follow-up in 2000. Satisfaction judgments were collected on Overall Life Satisfaction (OLS) and on seven Life Facet Satisfaction (LFS) domains. The top-down effects were measured using a method derived from the constructionist point of view. Life conditions, which represent the bottom-up processes, were gathered by structured questionnaire and were optimized by a factor analyses. A stepwise regression was performed in each satisfaction judgment to test the five hypotheses, which were confirmedwith only few exceptions. The results revealed that the top-down effects were a significant predictor in all satisfaction judgments, especially in OLS, where it was the strongest predictor. Life conditions (bottom-up factors) were less strong predictors than the top-down effects, but they became strong predictors if they were gathered at the same time as satisfaction judgments.     

Demographic Influences on the OECD Labour Market: Is there a problem? Are there solutions?*

Abstract. This paper is concerned with the possible economic effects of the demographic movements expected to emerge in the OECD area over the next 30 years. It is argued that the labour and product market implications of the changing population size and ageing are not as worrying as conventional wisdom believes, especially if counterbalancing economic policies are implemented. The most negative effect will probably concern a potential productivity slowdown, but ageing might also have some positive side-effects; implying, for example, declining youth unemployment.