Managers of Transition—Leadership in Post-Communist Romanian Companies

The article presents the perspectives of managers as part of the Romanian organisational elite on the communist regime and on the transition period, and the values and principles that informed their behaviour as managers in each period. For the first decade after the end of communist rule, managers were drawn mainly from the second level of management of the state-owned enterprises of communist times. As a group they had been selected and formed in late communism. Among the main advantages of this social group were that they demonstrated considerable survival capacity, ideological neutrality and an ability to manoeuvre in a turbulent environment. On the other hand they had to adapt to their new environment drawing on the skills and mentality they had developed under the old regime. The research employed a qualitative method based on the interpretation of conversations between managers and students.     

二十年后的总结（二）

社会层面也是我们的探讨中不可缺少的，社会制度要为人民带来更多福祉。对于我们这一代中的很多人而言，共产主义意味着在某种程度上享有受教育和参与文化活动的权利。在一个国家中，受教育及享受医疗服务等公共服务权利的扩大有助于推动精英阶层的发展。但是如果我们考虑到这种制度整体的表现，这一制度在社会方面的结果不过是催生了贫困和有限的公民福利。     

二十年后的总结(一)

1989年，用一种概括性的表达方式来讲，是一个“短暂世纪”末期的巨大冲击。我和其他的当事人亲身经历了这一不仅对罗马尼亚历史而言，更对整个国际社会而言的高峰期。1989年的革命最终以苏联在1991年的颠覆作为终结，影响了整个当代历史。     

The potential and limitations of mortgage innovation in fostering homeownership in the United States

Abstract

This article presents an empirical analysis of mortgage innovation as a vehicle to enable renters, especially those from traditionally underserved populations, to realize home‐ownership. It examines the financial and underwriting criteria of a typology of mortgage products, from those adhering to historical standards to some of today's most liberal loans, and develops synthetic models to account for all direct purchase costs. These models are calibrated using 1995 data on renter demographic and financial characteristics from the Survey of Income and Program Participation.

Compared with historical mortgages, today's more innovative loans increase the number of renters who could hypothetically qualify for homeownership by at least a million and expand potential home‐buying capacity by $300 billion. Certain policies could greatly expand the potential gains. Nevertheless, even the most aggressive innovations can play only a limited role in efforts to deliver the material benefits of homeownership to underserved populations.     

Party systems in Latin America: institutionalization,decay, and collapse,edited by Scott Mainwaring

Although coming of age under a totalitarian regime drastically reduces the chances of acquiring democratic values or supporting democracy, factors other than the formal nature of the political regime shape political values as well. The informal structure of the political regime, which consists of rules developed in political practice and economic and human development, may shape individual values and attitudes and produce different attitudes towards democracy in different totalitarian regimes. This article focuses on the effect of early socialization on the support for democracy among citizens who have been ruled under two different non-democratic regimes. We compare the dynamics in Spain and Romania during the post-totalitarian period with the aim of identifying how coming of age operated in these two different totalitarian regimes and how each type of non-democratic regime affected the legitimacy of the new democratic rule. Using survey data from various sources (Standard Eurobarometer, Central and Eastern Eurobarometer and Candidate Countries Eurobarometer) that allow both longitudinal and cross-sectional comparisons, we decompose the social change in support for democracy over the post-totalitarian period in both countries using cross-classified fixed effects models. The analyses demonstrate the different effects of socialization on support for democracy in these two different totalitarian contexts.