The disembedded digital economy: Social protection for new economy employment in China

This research focuses upon employment in the new economy, exploring labour protection and social protection in the digital age in China. Through an empirical survey conducted in three Chinese cities, social insurance and the labour rights of employees in the digital economic sector, such as gig employment, e-commerce, and various other forms of online employment, have been examined in-depth. This study reveals new regulatory loopholes in the digital labour market, which have substantially eroded the basis of social policy arrangements in China, “softening” participation in social insurance branches and compliance with labour regulations remarkably. Drawing upon the theoretical concepts of Polanyi on embeddedness and disembeddedness, we argue that the digital employment sector in China has been increasingly disembedded from social institutions and social control. The new configuration in the digital field of social policy requires novel conceptual models and institutional settings to cope with increasing social risks in virtual spaces.     

Issues in applying recent CPMP ‘Points to Consider’ and FDA guidance documents with biostatistical implications

The International Conference on Harmonisation guideline ‘Statistical Principles for Clinical Trials’ was adopted by the Committee for Proprietary Medicinal Products (CPMP) in March 1998, and consequently is operational in Europe. Since then more detailed guidance on selected topics has been issued by the CPMP in the form of ‘Points to Consider’ documents. The intent of these was to give guidance particularly to non‐statistical reviewers within regulatory authorities, although of course they also provide a good source of information for pharmaceutical industry statisticians. In addition, the Food and Drug Administration has recently issued a draft guideline on data monitoring committees. In November 2002 a one‐day discussion forum was held in London by Statisticians in the Pharmaceutical Industry (PSI). The aim of the meeting was to discuss how statisticians were responding to some of the issues covered in these new guidelines, and to document consensus views where they existed. The forum was attended by industry, academic and regulatory statisticians. This paper outlines the questions raised, resulting discussions and consensus views reached. It is clear from the guidelines and discussions at the workshop that the statistical analysis strategy must be planned during the design phase of a clinical trial and carefully documented. Once the study is complete the analysis strategy should be thoughtfully executed and the findings reported. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

论中国证券市场监管低效的制度性因素

分析了作为政府强制性的制度安排,中国证券市场在发展过程中产生的市场不规范问题,认为证券市场监管制度的低效运行是问题产生的主要原因。而监管困境的背后则是制度的缺陷,主要表现为两个方面:一是监管当局政策目标与监管目标的冲突;二是以个人和企业信用为核心的信用管理体系的缺失。     

Inclusion of persons with disabilities in mainstream employment: is it really all about the money? A case study of four large companies in Norway and Sweden

This study investigates how large companies respond to public policy measures to ensure the inclusion of persons with disabilities in mainstream employment based on a case study of four companies in Norway and Sweden. The qualitative interviews, which were conducted with company managers, government representatives in Norway, and non-governmental organisations in Sweden, revealed three overarching themes: (1) ‘legitimacy’, (2) ‘financial interests’ and (3) ‘non-financial support’. The results indicate a more proactive response from the Swedish companies, especially regarding persons with intellectual and learning difficulties. The Norwegian companies reveal a high commitment to their own employees. These findings cannot be explained solely using neo-institutional theory, which holds that organisations demonstrate ‘conformity with powerful institutional myths to strengthen support and secure survival'. The results indicate that inclusive targeted corporate policies and programmes, advisory support, and the agency and value choices of the management might matter more.     

Vagal modulation of 1‐month‐old infants to auditory stimuli is associated with self‐regulatory behavior

During infancy, cardiac vagal modulation has been associated with attentional and social engagement behaviors. While studies have shown that infants display a behavioral repertoire that enables them to interact with others by being able to regulate themselves in order to attend to and to discriminate emotional and social cues, vagal modulation to sensory stimuli and its association with behavioral outcomes at early ages remains to be addressed. In this study, we analyzed the cardiac vagal response of 1‐month‐old infants to two auditory stimuli intensities and whether vagal response was associated with social interactive and self‐regulatory abilities. Therefore, we recorded cardiac and respiratory physiological responses in 28 infants using a Biopac System. Neurobehavioral assessment was performed using the Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale. We observed increased respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) amplitude to both auditory stimuli intensities when compared to baseline. No intensity effect was found for the RSA response. Additionally, we observed that higher RSA amplitude to both auditory stimuli was positively correlated with adjusted self‐regulatory behaviors, suggesting a convergence between multiple measures assessing infants' state regulation. Results are discussed in light of 1‐month‐old infants' auditory stimuli processing and its implications for regulatory behaviors and the emergent social‐like behaviors.     

Migration decision-making and migration industry in the Indonesia–Malaysia corridor

ABSTRACT

This paper explores the involvement of migration industry (MI) in the migration system of Indonesia and Malaysia. The two countries share an extensive border and have much in common in culture and history but they are very different in geographical size, population and economic development, the latter being a main cause for labour migration from Indonesia to Malaysia. The changing context of government policies generates new niches for migration services taken up by formal and informal intermediaries, thereby confronting migrants with a varied migration-decision field and thresholds during their migration process. Much of the migration is legal, but a large part of it also takes place outside the control of the national governments. While taking mental processes in migration decision-making as starting point, we analyse how the MI, by way of fostering, facilitating and controlling geographic mobility and localised employment, connects to the production and negotiating of three migration decision thresholds faced by migrants.     

Shadow Insurance

Life insurers use reinsurance to move liabilities from regulated and rated companies that sell policies to shadow reinsurers, which are less regulated and unrated off‐balance‐sheet entities within the same insurance group. U.S. life insurance and annuity liabilities ceded to shadow reinsurers grew from $11 billion in 2002 to $364 billion in 2012. Life insurers using shadow insurance, which capture half of the market share, ceded 25 cents of every dollar insured to shadow reinsurers in 2012, up from 2 cents in 2002. By relaxing capital requirements, shadow insurance could reduce the marginal cost of issuing policies and thereby improve retail market efficiency. However, shadow insurance could also reduce risk‐based capital and increase expected loss for the industry. We model and quantify these effects based on publicly available data and plausible assumptions.     

中国及TTIP国家贸易便利化水平测评

准确测度中国与TTIP主要成员国之间的贸易便利化差异,便于深刻把握TIP催生的国际贸易便利化新趋势,应对全球贸易规则变迁的挑战.文章首先构建了贸易便利化测评指标体系,采用《全球竞争力报告》《腐败指数》以及《世界竞争力年鉴》的相关数据,对2008-2014年TTIP主要成员国及中国的贸易便利化水平进行了对比测评.研究发现,虽然中国的贸易便利化水平整体上升了,但与TTIP发达成员国的差距依然较大,在口岸效率、海关环境、规制环境和电子商务方面均低于其平均水平.为此,中国应进一步简化海关程序和手续,改善海关环境,提升政策制定的透明度,加大对电子商务中的新信息技术的应用力度,防范TTIP区域内贸易转移效应对我国的影响.     

西方金融创新理论述评

西方对金融创新首先提出理论解释的是约束引致假说和管制理论。约束引致假说认为金融创新是银行试图降低与特定资产负债表约束关联的成本。管制理论认为金融创新是管制者和被管制者之间持续的斗争。不完全市场理论认为新金融产品仅仅是金融工具特定因素组合的变化。证券设计和不完全市场模型是以一般均衡理论对金融创新过程模型化。目前尚无金融创新普遍认可和统一的理论。     

数字化发展、制度环境与政府舆情治理质量

基于2016—2020年我国31个省级行政区的面板数据,考察数字化发展、制度环境与政府舆情治理质量之间的关系。研究发现,数字化发展对政府舆情治理质量具有改善效应;相比制度环境较差的省份,数字化发展对舆情治理质量的改善效应在制度环境较好的省份更为显著。异质性检验表明,数字化发展对政府舆情治理质量的改善效应在数字化水平高的省份、制度环境较好但数字化水平低的省份显著,在制度环境较好的省份、制度环境较差的东部省份显著。研究结论为借助数字化发展改善政府舆情治理质量提供了理论依据。