The Cultural Logic of Work: Explaining Labour Deployment and Piece-Rate Contracts in Matar Taluka,Gujarat - Parts 1 and 2

This two-part essay seeks to explain why group-based and individual piecework arrangements have become the modal form of payment for a variety of agricultural tasks in central Gujarat, India. Part 1 of the essay reviews New Institutional Economics (NIE) and Marxist Political Economy (MPE) approaches to the labour process, and claims that while the 'efficiency' and 'disciplinary' considerations emphasized by NIE and MPE in their explanations of contractual change are important influences on the labour process, specific institutional outcomes depend heavily on the cultural realities of actors' practices. Part 2 challenges the epistemological assumptions of NIE and MPE narratives, specifically that agents with stable identities perform actions with fixed meanings. Instead, the recent surge in piecework employment must be viewed as part of an ongoing tussle between the dominant Lewa Patel caste and the subordinate Baraiya/Koli caste to alter their relative standings in the social order. Their unceasing attempts to reinvent their group identities have involved shifting understandings of 'work' - with direct implications for labour contracts. As a corrective to NIE and MPE, the essay proposes a semiotic approach to the labour process that bundles the notions of 'social regulation' and 'self-regulation' into the concept of 'work governmentality'.     

Admitting a Bad Influence: Contracting the Public Service

Abstract

Emulation of the private sector is a longstanding controversy in public administration, but could it constitute a bad influence, of the kind that parents seek to guard against by scrutinizing their children's peers? Effectiveness provides a perspective on how helpful or harmful private sector influence has been for the public service. The practice of contracting-out under the A-76 process receives particular scrutiny relative to maintaining the effectiveness of public agencies. A second perspective on private sector influence examines, through the theoretical perspective of transaction-cost economics, the promise of cost savings that justified recent acceleration of contracting-out. The author, himself a government contractor, also bases his analysis on personal experience.     

Anti-Immigrant Parties,Local Presence and Electoral Success

Abstract

Does the local organisational presence of anti-immigrant parties affect their chances for electoral success? In order to answer this question, the article explores the potential of a supply-oriented explanation to anti-immigrant party success by examining the electoral advancements the Sweden Democrats (SD) made in the 2006 and 2010 elections. Our results indicate that traditional demand-side explanations to anti-immigrant party success can be successfully complemented by an ‘internal supply-side argument’ to make the electoral fates of these parties more intelligible. Whether the SD had a local organisational presence had a substantial effect on its results in the national election and on the probability of gaining representation in local councils. Thus, the party’s fate in the national as well as local elections was largely determined by whether or not it had a local organisational presence in Swedish municipalities.     

Citizenship,enclaves and earnings: comparing two cool countries

This paper uses the Canadian 2006 Census and the Swedish 2006 register data to analyse the citizenship effect on the relative earnings of immigrants, using instrumental variable regression to control for citizenship acquisition. We ask: ‘Is there a citizenship effect and if any, in which country is it that we find the largest effect and for which immigrant groups?’ We add one further dimension, asking if the size of the co-immigrant population in the municipality has an effect on earnings. We find that the impact of citizenship acquisition is substantial in both Canada and Sweden. However, the place of birth of immigrants is important. In most cases, immigrant women in Sweden enjoy a higher citizenship premium than is the case for immigrant women in Canada. Amongst men the picture is more mixed. Most European groups receive a larger citizenship premium in Canada as compared to Sweden. Being in a city with more immigrants of the same background is better for earnings in Sweden than in Canada. However, being in a city with a lot of immigrants (regardless of origin) is better in Canada as compared to Sweden.     

Towards the Law &; Economics of development: Ragnar Nurkse (1907–1959)

The purpose of this essay is, first, to suggest Ragnar Nurkse as a Law & Economics thinker, and second, yet more importantly, to demonstrate the possibility and desirability of a Law & Economics of Development along Nurksean lines. Ragnar Nurkse (1907–1959), whose 100th birthday is celebrated in 2007, is one of the founding fathers of classic development economics. Given the recent interest in the Law & Economics of development, showing how a classic figure in the field successfully used such an approach might be of considerable interest, especially as development economics is a very emotional field which may well profit from the ‘objectivizing’ function of Law & Economics. Nurkse’s economics-based realism, his focus on what effect a program really has, rather than what it is supposed to have, and on what a policy can steer or change and what not, based on a typically Stiglerian attention to aggregate welfare, seem especially productive. Finally, the essay suggests a set of Nurkse-based principles or theses for a Law & Economics of Development.

恐怖犯罪的犯罪经济学分析

犯罪经济学的理论认为,人的犯罪行为同其他行为一样。是在理性的指导下进行的,都是得失关系和效用理性选择的结果,恐怖犯罪的犯罪嫌疑人也是在综合分析该行为的成本收益之后才实施恐怖犯罪的。恐怖犯罪的成本包括：时间机会成本;惩罚成本;物质成本。恐怖犯罪收益是指从犯罪活动中所获得的利益,可以是精神的。也可以是物质的。在恐怖犯罪中,一般是为了获取经济收益以达到其政治目的。犯罪人之所以选择恐怖．其根本原因就是恐怖主义可以得到经济以及政治上的“暴利”。     

完善我国反腐败立法的经济学解说

从经济学角度看,理性经济人的假设和寻租理论的制度揭示,说明了腐败产生的可能性,而当腐败收益大于成本时,腐败便成为现实。因此,要成功治理腐败,必须通过弱化人的自利本性、遏止寻租行为、大幅度提高腐败成本等来完善我国的反腐败立法。     

A Selection of Empirical Socio-Economic Research with Respect to the Functioning of Legal Rules and Institutions in Belgium and the Netherlands

In this paper some studies with respect to empirical socio-economic research which has been undertaken in Belgium and the Netherlands concerning the functioning of legal rules and institutions are discussed. The paper focuses on the domains of criminal law, civil procedure, liability and insurance. The paper argues that contrary to the overwhelming economic literature on liability and insurance, the empirical results in that domain are poor. More research is undertaken in the area of criminal law and apparently it is overwhelming in the area of civil procedure. The latter studies are, however, mainly undertaken by socio-legal scholars and less by economists. The general conclusion of the empirical studies discussed seems to be that while the empirical literature on the effect of changes in the decision making environment on rational actions in the legal system is rich and provocative, there is much less empirical testing of the effects of legal rules as such on allocational outcomes. The paper argues that much more effort should be devoted to the latter issue.     

The Multifaceted Balance of the Concept of Staatswissenschaften in the Tradition of the Historical School

The article critcizes recent contributions which argue that the historical school was neither German, nor historical, nor a school. Instead, the historical school has a pronounced multifaceted basis which is mostly ignored in the recent literature. Some of these multifaceted dimensions are briefly highlighted. Finally, the practical relevance of the approach is discussed by referring to some recent economic policy issues.     

“菲佣”背后的国家教育支撑 ——兼议对我国家政教育及家庭劳动教育的启示

当下我国社会对家政职业的认可度仍然较低,严重制约着家政行业职业化、规模化发展。菲律宾的家政教育经过60多年的发展,已形成了广泛而良好的社会基础,不仅使家政劳动意识得到启蒙传播,国民树立起了公平职业观念,更助力培养家政专业化人才,满足市场需求,造就了世界品牌"菲佣"。菲律宾完备的家政教育体系为"菲佣"职业化提供了有力的教育支撑。借鉴菲律宾经验,为推动我国家政教育和家庭劳动教育建设,研究建议:加快构建覆盖教育全过程的家政教育体系,大力传播家政劳动意识,提高家政服务行业的社会认同;充分发挥高校的主体作用,完善高等家政教育体系,吸纳更多人力资源进入家政行业;创新人才培养机制,建设职业教育、职业培训与资格认证一体化的家政人才培育体系,切实保障和提高家政行业服务质量。