Fictitious Issues Revisited: Political Interest, Knowledge and the Generation of Nonattitudes

It has long been suspected that, when asked to provide opinions on matters of public policy, significant numbers of those surveyed do so with only the vaguest understanding of the issues in question. In this article, we present the results of a study which demonstrates that a significant minority of the British public are, in fact, willing to provide evaluations of non-existent policy issues. In contrast to previous American research, which has found such responses to be most prevalent among the less educated, we find that the tendency to provide 'pseudo-opinions' is positively correlated with self-reported interest in politics. This effect is itself moderated by the context in which the political interest item is administered; when this question precedes the fictitious issue item, its effect is greater than when this order is reversed. Political knowledge, on the other hand, is associated with a lower probability of providing pseudo-opinions, though this effect is weaker than that observed for political interest. Our results support the view that responses to fictitious issue items are not generated at random, via some 'mental coin flip'. Instead, respondents actively seek out what they consider to be the likely meaning of the question and then respond in their own terms, through the filter of partisan loyalties and current political discourses.     

The Long Road to Flexicurity: The Development of Job Security Regulations in Denmark and Sweden

Flexicurity has become a prominent policy recommendation in recent years. However, little is known about the actual development of flexicurity in the country most often associated with it – namely Denmark. This is particularly the case for one of the three ‘pillars’ of flexicurity: low levels of job security regulations. This article fills this gap in the scholarly literature. It demonstrates that regime attributes are often not the result of policy making by wise policy designers, but unintended consequences of contingent choices made with the purpose of winning short‐term political gains. Comparing the development of job security regulations in Denmark and Sweden, the article shows that the two countries followed a similar path until the late 1960s. In both, job regulations were part of collective agreements. However, in the 1960s the labour movement started to demand more restrictions, which resulted in the 1974 Employment Protection Act in Sweden. No such change happened in Denmark. Two crucial differences can explain this unequal development. First, societal pressure for regulation was larger in Sweden than in Denmark. And second, the Swedish labour movement was stronger and more unified. When the Danish trade union movement could have turned to the political arena, the 1973 ‘earthquake’ election and the resulting fragmentation of the party system closed the window for all‐left majority governments in Denmark. Without reliable partners to the left and no majority of their own, Danish Social Democrats were not able to pass restrictive job security regulations against the will of employers' associations.     

对共有专利权问题的思考

已修正的中国<专利法>规定了共有专利权这个十分重要的概念.在分析共有专利权条款的基础上,介绍了分配利益的几种方法.通过对比不同国家对共有专利权的规定,提出协商和起草共同研发协议或者共同合作协议时必须予以考虑的问题.     

RegData 2.2: a panel dataset on US federal regulations

Public Choice - How much regulation exists? Can short- and long-term growth trends in regulation be identified? Which agencies produce the most regulation? Are some sectors of the economy more...     

Life Satisfaction and Student Engagement in Adolescents

Situated within a positive psychology perspective, this study explored linkages between adolescent students’ positive subjective well-being and their levels of engagement in schooling. Specifically, using structural equation modeling techniques, we evaluated the nature and directionality of longitudinal relationships between life satisfaction and student engagement variables. It was hypothesized that adolescents’ life satisfaction and student engagement variables would show bidirectional relationships. To test this hypothesis, 779 students (53% female, 62% Caucasian) in a Southeastern US middle school completed a measure of global life satisfaction and measures of cognitive, emotional, and behavioral engagement at two time points, 5 months apart. A statistically significant bidirectional relationship between life satisfaction and cognitive engagement was found; however, non-significant relationships were found between life satisfaction and emotional and behavioral student engagement. The findings provide important evidence of the role of early adolescents’ life satisfaction in their engagement in schooling during the important transition grades between elementary and high school. The findings also help extend the positive psychology perspective to the relatively neglected context of education.