Is School the Best Route to Skills? Returns to Vocational School and Vocational Skills in Egypt

This paper tests the assumption that formal education is the best route to job skills. The returns to formal vocational secondary schooling are compared to the returns to acquiring skills outside the education system, such as undertaking an apprenticeship, for male wage workers in Egypt. A unique longitudinal dataset with information on schooling and skills allows for causal inference about returns by comparing siblings. For recent cohorts, the estimated returns to formal vocational secondary education are the same as attaining no formal education. However, the returns to skills obtained outside of formal education are substantial.     

Racial attitudes and emotional responses to the 2016 Republican candidates

ABSTRACT

We argue that both Obama ‘08 and Trump ‘16 benefited from unusually high enthusiasm generated during their respective campaigns, and these emotions conditioned underlying racial attitudes – albeit in different ways – to pave the way to the White House. Racial animosity is usually studied in the context of minority candidates, but in the 2016 election, Donald Trump (a white candidate) frequently made direct attacks on immigrants and foreigners. This study examines how emotions generated during the campaigns and racial resentment, which we consider a preexisting attitude, shaped voter evaluations of the 2016 presidential candidates in the general election and Republican primaries. Drawing on original telephone survey data from the highly salient GOP Iowa caucuses and national opinion data from the Cooperative Congressional Election Study (CCES), we find that racial resentment interacted with positive emotions (enthusiasm) to increase support for Trump. The effect of racial attitudes in predicting favorable evaluations of Trump disappeared or diminished to a quarter of its original size when emotional responses to the candidate were measured. The study generalizes a framework about the interactive effect of existing racial attitudes and campaign-generated emotions to apply to both white and minority candidates.     

The role of sectarianism in the Provisional IRA campaign, 1969–1997

This article concerns the nature of political violence in an ethnonationally divided society. The article engages with the debates surrounding the discrimination employed, or not, by the PIRA when selecting their targets and waging their campaign against British rule and partition in Ireland between 1969 and 1997. The piece challenges the assertion that the PIRA discriminated with religious bias, and that they actively targeted Protestant civilians. It does so by drawing upon analysis of original data collected for the piece, corroborated with qualitative primary sources including the memoirs of former PIRA members, and the sentiments of a former PIRA member turned informer, Sean O’Callaghan, who agreed to be interviewed for the piece. It is argued that the PIRA aimed only to kill individuals whom they deemed to be in some measure actively responsible for the persistence of British control in Ireland, and the prevention of a reunion with the Republic; and did so in a fashion that was, for the most part, blind to religious diversity. It is also argued, however, that the PIRA were either unable or unwilling to recognise the gap between the actual impact of their “armed struggle” and the intentions that lay behind it.     

Institutions, Policy Innovation, and E-Government in the American States

Examining the rankings of American states in one fast‐growing policy area, e‐government, states with the most sophisticated and comprehensive policies varied over a five‐year period. What factors account for change in digital government policy innovation over time? Using time‐series analysis and 50‐state data, the authors find that state institutional capacity is important for continued innovation. They also find an association between reinvention in state governments and the institutionalization of information technology, suggesting a more general orientation toward government reform and modernization. Although state wealth and education were not significant in previous studies, they emerge as predictors of later innovation. The theoretical contribution of this study is to better understand the dynamic character of innovation over time and the role of institutions. The link between reinvention and e‐government raises the possibility that the modernization of state institutions generally facilitates innovation.     

Dr Ivy Williams: inside yet outside

ABSTRACT

Dr Ivy Williams was the first woman to be called to the Bar of England and Wales. Despite this, she never took up the practice of law and after this historic moment Dr Williams returned to her life as a legal academic. This article examines Dr Williams’ journey in legal life, aiming to uncover her motivations for becoming admitted and her subsequent turning away from life at the Bar. Prior to her admission, Dr Williams had suggested that women might practise as ‘outside lawyers’. With that in mind, this article will consider Dr Williams’ scholarship and her contribution to legal academia and seek to answer whether this path can be seen as an alternative legacy to the women in law.     

Social Context Matters: Predictors of Quality of Life among Recently Arrived Refugee Women-at-Risk Living in Australia

Abstract

Little is known about the predictors of quality of life among refugee women. 104 refugee women-at-risk were recruited within 6 months of arriving in Australia. A structured questionnaire was administered using standardized tools to assess pre-migration trauma, post-migration living difficulties, social capital, social networks, and quality of life. Hierarchical multiple and logistic regressions assessed factors predicting quality of life. Post-migration factors such as low trust in the community, and lack of support from individuals in their social networks predicted poorer quality of life. These findings have implications for community and social programs for refugee women-at-risk.     

A Group Randomized Trial of School-Based Teen Courts to Address the School to Prison Pipeline,Reduce Aggression and Violence,and Enhance School Safety in Middle and High School Students

ABSTRACT

This study evaluated the efficacy of School-Based Teen Courts (SBTCs) using a rigorous experimental trial with 24 middle- and high-schools randomly selected to receive SBTCs (n= 12) or to business-as-usual without any SBTC program (n = 12). Analyses examined school-level longitudinal growth models and individual-level pretest-posttest comparisons on school climate, student problems, and suspension rates. Longitudinal growth models revealed that SBTCs were significantly associated with positive changes in school satisfaction and reductions in delinquent friends for high school students, but showed no significant changes on other outcomes. Short-term suspensions decreased more than twice as much in SBTC schools versus comparison schools. There was a 47% reduction in bullying victimization in SBTC schools relative to a 22% reduction in comparison schools. These findings suggest that SBTCs have the potential to positively impact youth development.     

DNA Barcoding in Forensic Entomology – Establishing a DNA Reference Library of Potentially Forensic Relevant Arthropod Species,

Throughout the years, DNA barcoding has gained in importance in forensic entomology as it leads to fast and reliable species determination. High‐quality results, however, can only be achieved with a comprehensive DNA barcode reference database at hand. In collaboration with the Bavarian State Criminal Police Office, we have initiated at the Bavarian State Collection of Zoology the establishment of a reference library containing arthropods of potential forensic relevance to be used for DNA barcoding applications. CO1‐5P’ DNA barcode sequences of hundreds of arthropods were obtained via DNA extraction, PCR and Sanger Sequencing, leading to the establishment of a database containing 502 high‐quality sequences which provide coverage for 88 arthropod species. Furthermore, we demonstrate an application example of this library using it as a backbone to a high throughput sequencing analysis of arthropod bulk samples collected from human corpses, which enabled the identification of 31 different arthropod Barcode Index Numbers.     

Trust and inter‐firm relations in developing and transition economies

The role of trust in facilitating economic growth has been highlighted in previous contributions to this journal. In order to take this debate forward, this article argues (1) that more attention needs to be given to the relationship between sanctions and trust, and (2) that it is worth distinguishing between the minimal trust for making markets effective and the extended trust required for deeper kinds of inter‐firm co‐operation to work. The article goes on to ask why minimal trust is lacking and so hard to construct in the republics of the former Soviet Union. It then examines how extended trust grows or can be made to grow in industrial supply chains and clusters in developing countries.     

“Sitting on a Man: Colonialism and the Lost Political Institutions ot lgbo Women”: A Reply to Judith Van Allen

Présenté par ses promoteurs comme une initiative renouvelant l'approche du Développement en Afrique, le Nouveau Partenariat pour le Développement de l'Afrique (NEPAD) suscite dans la littérature des travaux essentiellement normatifs. Dans cet article, nous cherchons à savoir s'il introduit une innovation ou s'il perpétue des politiques préexistantes. En explorant la genèse, les idées et les stratégies du NEPAD, nous montrons que l'innovation postulée est limitée et mettons en évidence deux phénomènes explicatifs. Elle est limitée d'abord en raison de la dépendance au sentier précédemment balisé notamment par les institutions financières internationales; dépendance qui provient des phénomènes de diffusion des idées et de rigidité des structures et normes politiques institutionnalisées et implique une continuité avec les politiques antérieures. Elle est limitée ensuite en raison des stratégies instrumentales des dirigeants africains qui, répondant à l'appel des partenaires extérieurs, "jouent le jeu" en adoptant les idées, les discours et les stratégies dominantes en vue de recevoir des ressources subordonnées à cette attitude conformiste.