In pursuit of happiness: Life satisfaction drives political support

It is argued in this article that citizens in democracies use their subjective well-being (SWB) as an evaluative criterion when deciding how willing they are to support and comply with government dictates (political system support). When life is satisfactory, government authorities are rewarded with support, when it is not, citizens punish authorities by withholding their support. To make sense of the relationship, it is suggested that citizens act as if they have signed a happiness contract with ‘those in power’. In support of this argument, comparative survey data shows that SWB predicts attitudes on political system support across country contexts and under strong control conditions. Establishing that the relationship is causal, panel data documents that attitudes on political system support can be undermined following the termination of a close personal relationship, and that the causal effect is mediated via changes in SWB. Finally, as predicted, the happiness-support relationship is weaker among individuals who are high on spirituality/religiousness and attribute blame for external events to both worldly and non-worldly powers.     

提升女性就业和生育兼容性的路径选择——基于对国外家庭支持政策制度设计的分析

家庭支持政策是影响女性就业和生育兼容性的关键因素。公共托育服务的普及、托育成本的下降、托育开放时间的延长以及生育假期制度有利于提高女性就业和生育的兼容性。因此,应对托育制度、生育假期和生育津贴制度进行完善,并对贫困生育女性提供托育支持和技能培训,以提高我国女性就业和生育的兼容性,优化“全面二孩”政策的实施效果。     

丝绸之路经济带建设中金融支持与保障研究

丝绸之路经济带建设坚持“政策沟通、道路联通、贸易畅通、货币流通、民心相通”的五通原则中,货币流通是基础和先导。开展金融合作不仅是经贸合作的基础,而且也是顺应金融市场全球化和金融监管国际化的内在要求。从微观、中观和宏观三个角度阐述金融在丝绸之路经济带建设中的支持作用,分析丝绸之路经济带建设中的金融支持面临的各种挑战,建议从开发性金融为先导引领区域金融支持;拓展人民币结算和扩大互换规模,推进区域性金融支持;推进国内金融机构的国际化水平;发展互联网金融,创新金融支持模式;建立丝路区域性国际金融中心;加强国际金融治理以及金融监管协调合作。     

Regime type versus patronal politics: a comparison of “ardent democrats” in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan

Kazakhstan is home to the longest serving ruler in post-Soviet Eurasia while Kyrgyzstan is among the region’s most competitive polities. Do these regime differences correspond to divergence in political attitudes, as an extensive body of literature posits? Are Kyrgyzstanis more likely to strongly support democratic ideals? Are Kazakhstanis less likely? Contrary to expectations, data reveal the two populations to be attitudinally indistinguishable when it comes to strong support for practices associated with democracy. Whatever country differences we find are minor or statistically insignificant. We explain this convergence by shifting focus away from the political features that distinguish the two nascent democracy versus consolidated authoritarianism to those that they hold in common. Notwithstanding major constitutional reform in Kyrgyzstan in 2010, politics there, as in Kazakhstan, remains fundamentally patronal, or patronage- based. Mass attitudes, we argue, align in many ways with the countries’ shared patronal politics, rather than with their contrasting regime types.     

The Catalytic Effect of IMF Lending: Evidence from Sectoral FDI Data

Our study contributes to the search for the elusive catalytic effect of International Monetary Fund (IMF) lending on inflows of foreign direct investment (FDI). Recent scholarship has found that the catalytic effect is conditional on political regime and program stringency. We contribute to this literature by developing and testing a theory which describes how the catalytic effect also varies by economic sector. This is a departure from existing studies, which have tended to focus on aggregate FDI flows after crises. Our findings corroborate previous research, which finds that in general IMF lending has a substantial and negative effect on FDI. However, we find that the negative effect is concentrated in sectors that are highly dependent on external capital and have low sunk costs in the host country. Our findings are robust to several alternative explanations common in IMF literature, namely the importance of IMF program design and the ability of governments to make credible commitments to reform. Substantively, our findings suggest that investors are more likely to use IMF lending as an escape hatch in countries where FDI is dependent on external capital and has low sunk costs.     

论“套路贷”犯罪的刑事规制及其完善

“套路贷”犯罪是以非法占有为目的,假借民间借贷之名、行非法侵占他人财物之实的新型犯罪,具有犯罪意图的侵财性、犯罪手段的隐蔽性、犯罪团伙的组织性和犯罪后果的严重性等特征。我国对“套路贷”犯罪的立法规制,总体上契合惩处“套路贷”犯罪的情势与实际需要,但也存在一些问题。当前,对“套路贷”犯罪的司法规制呈现民多刑少的格局,规制的主要罪名是诈骗罪、敲诈勒索罪,规制的核心标准是划清“套路贷”犯罪与高利贷、非法讨债行为的界限。改进“套路贷”犯罪的刑事规制,应确立“重重轻轻,以重为主”的刑事政策,在《刑法》中增设套路贷诈骗罪,健全“套路贷”案件的刑民衔接机制,探索“套路贷”犯罪案件专业化办理机制,积极推行“套路贷”犯罪案例指导制度。     

支持理论下民事诉讼当事人法律意识的实证研究

传统研究重视“法的供给”视角,致力于创设“良法良制”。通过转向“对法的需求”视角,本研究基于支持理论和法律意识理论,访谈了142名四类常见民事诉讼案件的当事人。本研究发现,当事人对司法的信赖分为“特定支持”和“普遍支持”两个维度。负面的诉讼经历仅会降低当事人对主审法官(法院)的评价(特定支持),尚未削弱他们对法院系统及司法制度的评价(普遍支持)。此外,当事人可以被进一步分为“门外汉”和“入门者”。前者不信赖法院的根本原因在于其法律意识与司法制度间存在巨大的冲突和矛盾;“入门者”的意识则限定于法律体系内,只在意法官的审判质量。随着司法系统的日渐完善,“入门者”对司法的信赖有望逐步提升。但“门外汉”则需要通过“知情(法)受益”这一过程先转化为“入门者”。     

信贷歧视、产能过剩与中国经济波动：基于金融冲击的视角

通过建立民营企业与国有企业间存在信贷歧视的动态随机一般均衡模型，考察金融冲击的宏观经济效应。研究结果表明，尽管积极性金融冲击有助于实现宏观经济稳定，但信贷歧视削弱了积极性金融冲击的宏观经济效应，忽略信贷歧视评价金融冲击的影响将导致结论偏误。在此基础上，进一步考虑了由信贷歧视引致的产能过剩问题的影响。结果显示，产能过剩进一步削弱了积极性金融冲击的实际效应，并扩大了其对通胀等名义变量的影响。而二阶矩分析的结果则表明，信贷歧视以及由信贷歧视引致的产能过剩加剧了宏观经济波动，降低了实际变量的持续性，同时提高了通胀惯性的影响。因此，为有效发挥积极性金融冲击的作用，稳定宏观经济，需要采用相关政策有效缓解信贷歧视以及产能过剩问题。     

There’s an app for that: Modernizing domestic violence support through the creation of new technologies,tools, and services

With domestic violence (DV) at an all-time high, police departments are drastically underutilizing technology to combat DV. Currently, New York police departments complete a “Domestic Incident Report” at the scene of domestic incidents but fail to adequately facilitate support services. New York State should mandate a services component into police DV protocols, specifically by commissioning: (1) an application linked to DV organizations presented at the scene of domestic incidents; and (2) a gateway application to refer victims to the correct services. Such tools would allow for the rendering of more efficient support to DV victims in times of immediate crisis.     

Innovative work behaviour in the public sector: The roles of task characteristics,social support,and proactivity

This study examines the roles of task characteristics, organisational social support, and individual proactivity on innovative work behaviour (IWB) in the public sector. Analysing empirical data from 154 employees from a government agency in Australia, we found that task characteristics, organisational social support, and proactive personality have a positive impact on IWB. Proactive personality is also found to be a moderator in the relationship between task characteristics and IWB. The findings suggest the need to design human resource practices that better identify proactive and innovative job applicants in the recruitment and selection process. Further, we highlight the requirement to organise and design work that recognises the need to develop social support to improve IWB. The implications of the study for further research on IWB are discussed.