Responsibilisation,social work and inclusive social security in Finland

ABSTRACT

In this article responsibilisation in social work is studied by analysing two Finnish state-level policy documents (called final report and research report) which concern a current activation initiative called inclusive social security (ISS). It is asked how social workers and clients are constructed as responsible subjects in these documents. Responsibilisation refers to the advanced liberal mode of governmentality, which aims to strengthen citizens’ abilities to self-governance through various techniques that include the intertwined elements of surveillance and empowerment. It is demonstrated that the policy documents construct the social workers’ and the clients’ responsibilities partly in different ways. The final report leads activation to be based on shared responsibility and social work to be more community-based, whereas the research report strengthens more individual-based responsibility of clients and social workers. For the clients, the interpretation of ISS based on shared responsibility would probably be less stigmatising and paternalistic than the one based on individual responsibilities, i.e. approaching long-term unemployed citizens as being personally ‘at risk’ and thus a justified target group of individualised techniques for activation. For social workers and clients, future activation appears to be a wide mix of different techniques, moral expectations and possible ways of being a responsible subject.     

基于债务协商视角的债转股定量研究

针对我国政府、企业和银行等金融机构共同关注的债转股问题，基于债务协商谈判思想，建立部分债务股权互换模型，计算公司证券价格，探讨了债转股对公司价值、破产概率、破产损失成本和资本结构的影响，给出了银行等债权人愿意债转股的充分条件。结果表明：在事先破产清算协议贷款下，事后全部债转股总能提高公司股权价值，但并不一定能提高债券价值。只有其协商谈判能力满足一定条件，公司债权人才愿意事后选择债转股，实现帕累托改进、提高社会福利水平。其次，在公司股东协商谈判能力的一定范围内，部分债转股能提高公司价值，其最优转股债息比例随着公司资产风险的增大而增加。再次，债转股能降低公司破产风险和破产损失成本，但同时也提高了债券风险溢价。最后，随着股东谈判能力增强，最优协商转股债务比例、杠杆率都减少，而债券风险溢价增大。本文所得结果对我国政府、企业和银行如何实施债转股提供理论参考和实践指导。     

Does a universal non-contributory social pension make sense for rural China?

China’s pension reform during the past three decades has allowed a majority of China’s population to be covered by a pension scheme. Of particular note has been the New Rural Pension Scheme (NRPS), a voluntary programme introduced starting in 2009. One goal of our analysis is to assess that pension scheme, using a variety of sources of information including data drawn from recent (2013 and 2015) nationwide China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Surveys (CHARLS). Our analysis involves an exploration of differences between the generosity and structure of the NRPS and other pension schemes currently in place. We also explore the feasibility of reforming the current “quasi-social pension” component of the NRPS by substituting a universal non-contributory social pension pillar. In connection with our assessment of the NRPS, we note the unusually low benefit levels for rural China.     

Who Should Pay for Interdependent Risk? Policy Implications for Security Interdependence Among Airports

We study interdependent risks in security, and shed light on the economic and policy implications of increasing security interdependence in presence of reactive attackers. We investigate the impact of potential public policy arrangements on the security of a group of interdependent organizations, namely, airports. Focusing on security expenditures and costs to society, as assessed by a social planner, to individual airports and to attackers, we first develop a game-theoretic framework, and derive explicit Nash equilibrium and socially optimal solutions in the airports network. We then conduct numerical experiments mirroring real-world cyber scenarios, to assess how a change in interdependence impact the airports' security expenditures, the overall expected costs to society, and the fairness of security financing. Our study provides insights on the economic and policy implications for the United States, Europe, and Asia.     

Security Investment in Contagious Networks

Security of the systems is normally interdependent in such a way that security risks of one part affect other parts and threats spread through the vulnerable links in the network. So, the risks of the systems can be mitigated through investments in the security of interconnecting links. This article takes an innovative look at the problem of security investment of nodes on their vulnerable links in a given contagious network as a game‐theoretic model that can be applied to a variety of applications including information systems. In the proposed game model, each node computes its corresponding risk based on the value of its assets, vulnerabilities, and threats to determine the optimum level of security investments on its external links respecting its limited budget. Furthermore, direct and indirect nonlinear influences of a node's security investment on the risks of other nodes are considered. The existence and uniqueness of the game's Nash equilibrium in the proposed game are also proved. Further analysis of the model in a practical case revealed that taking advantage of the investment effects of other players, perfectly rational players (i.e., those who use the utility function of the proposed game model) make more cost‐effective decisions than selfish nonrational or semirational players.     

Urban cultivation in Accra: an examination of the nature, practices, problems, potentials and urban planning implications

The literature on urban farming in Sub-Saharan African cities reveals that most studies have been conducted in Eastern, Southern and Central African cities. A few have focused on West Africa, including Sierra Leone, Guinea Bissau, and Cameroon. In Ghana there is a paucity of information on urban farming. The purpose of this paper is to examine the status of urban cultivation in Accra, Ghana's capital, reviewing existing research, and to present new empirical findings on urban cultivation emphasizing on its history, nature, practices, problems, potentials and urban planning implications.     

人力资本投资与个人收入能力

讨论了人力资本的经济价值，通过建立教育投资模型，训练投资模型及流动投资模型，指出了正规教育投资，在职培训投资，迁移与流动投资对人力资本收入能力的影响。经分析表明，个人的人力资本现时存量与个人的未来收入能力之间存在正相关。     

人力资本产权化挑战公司治理理论

在对已有公司治理理论评述的基础上,从人力资本产权特征和公司治理效率的贡献两个方面,论述说明人力资本产权所有者将成为公司治理的核心主体。提出谈判控制理论,以资本剥夺程度的强弱作为衡量谈判控制力大小的依据。对非人力资本与人力资本,无论是谁侵蚀谁的利益都必须纳入“公司治理”范畴;应以两者是否在谈判控制的平等合约内建立作为判断是否侵权的标准;认为判断控制力大小的主要因素应该是专有性大小。提出分类治理的理念,得出对我国公司法人治理的三点启示。     

新疆与中亚跨国民族问题对我国安全的影响

近年来,随着中亚国家的独立,以及由此而引发的各民族政治、经济生活地位的起伏和民族关系的变化,使新疆与中亚跨国民族问题表现得异常突出,其表现形式主要有三:一是民族意识增长;二是以哈萨克族为主的跨国民族向境外移民问题;三是民族分立主义倾向.它对我国的军事安全、政治安全和文化安全构成了程度不同的威胁.     

“风险投资无风险”的反思——论我国风险投资组织模式再造

近两年,风险投资如雨后春笋般在全国各地建立起来.但由于这些风险投资公司几乎都是由行业部门和地方政府组建的,民营风险投资公司微乎其微,其风险投资活动也不很活跃.相反,来自IDG、高盛这类公司的海外风险投资军团却在中国风险资本市场异常活跃,但因受到种种限制,海外军团在我国的风险投资总额不到3亿美元.本文从风险投资组织模式选择的角度,分析了我国主要风险投资公司存在的问题.并且通过国际比较和借鉴,探讨了适合我国国情的组织模式再造问题.