Die Metamorphosen des Korporatismus: Vom klassischen zum schlanken Muster

Given notable fluctuations in the relevance of corporatist practices over time, the question is whether profound transformations in the profile of corporatism have accompanied these fluctuations. Based on data from 20 OECD countries, this paper examines whether and how corporatist wage regulation changed its profile in structures and performance from 1970 to 1996. The empirical evidence obtained from this analysis runs counter to the orthodox view of superior persistence and performance of classical (i.e. encompassing and centralized) structures of corporatism: nonclassical (“lean”) structures have gained in importance and have performed no worse than their classical counterpart. The paper concludes by discussing the implications these findings have for corporatist theory.     

The political economy of the green technology sector: A study about institutions, diffusion and efficiency

This paper discusses aspects related to the green technology sector (GT sector) in Germany. In a first step institutional reforms enabling diffusion of green technologies are analyzed. Cost arguments are also taken into account. In a second step a theoretical model developed by Tanguay et al. (Public Choice 120:1–27, 2004) is modified in order to evaluate the efficiency of the institutional setting in a political economy framework. The model is able to show that command and control policies (CCPs) are accompanied by cost-inefficiencies depending on the political weight of technology related interests groups. We further come to the result that relatively high marginal production costs may generate suboptimal high diffusion of a certain GT j. For relatively low marginal production costs policy induced demand may also be too low.     

More than wishful thinking: Causes and consequences of voters’ electoral expectations about parties and coalitions

Accurate expectations about the outcome of elections play a central role in psychological and economic theories of voting. In the paper, three questions about voters’ expectations are investigated. First, we identify and test several factors that influence the overall accuracy or quality of voters’ expectations. Second, the phenomenon of “wishful thinking” is tested and confirmed for expectations about the electoral performance of individual parties and coalitions. Finally, two mechanisms how expectations might influence voting behavior are identified and tested. Based on surveys from Austria and Germany, the results suggest that voters not only rely on expectations to avoid casting “wasted” votes for parties without electoral chances, but that they are able to engage in fairly sophisticated strategic coalition voting.     

Volunteering and the state

Volunteering participation rates vary greatly across countries even when the potential volunteers’ individual characteristics are controlled. We therefore analyze the volunteers’ motives against the backdrop of the predominant political and economic environment in different countries, focusing on the state’s role in influencing an individual’s decision to volunteer. Combining individual-level data from the European and World Values Survey with macroeconomic and political variables for OECD countries, we identify three channels through which governmental activities influence voluntary labor: size of the state (i.e., amount of public social expenditure), political consensus between voters and the government, and government support for democratization.     

社会创新过程及其面临的局限

识别社会需求、解决社会问题是社会创新过程中的一个重要环节,同时也是社会创新过程面临的陷阱和局限所在。结合社区发展规划的案例以及社会需求和问题表现特征的分析发现,在需求和问题分析过程中,问题标准的不恰当性、问题主体参与不足、忽视需求和问题原因表现出的二重性、参与主体的缺失等会导致社会需求识别出现偏差,同时这些偏差将进一步影响社会创新的低效,以及易使社会创新方案局限在项目的操作层次。     

Issues in Juvenile Program Implementation: A Case Study

Both adult and juvenile justice agencies seek to offer quality programs, but implementing a new program can be a difficult and daunting task. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the issues and concerns faced by one jurisdiction as a result of attempting to implement a new curfew check program. The goal is to share specific issues with general underlying solutions that may be utilized in other jurisdictions. An examination of the records of 79 juvenile offenders assigned to the program provides the information for this discussion. Results indicate that some basic assumptions of the program designers were incorrect, and that constant monitoring and the centralization of tasks were keys to program sustainability.     

广西城市民族工作调研报告

随着经济社会的发展 ,城市中定居与流动的民族成份和少数民族人口将会越来越多 ,城市民族工作将越来越复杂 ,其地位也显得越来越重要。此调研报告总结了近年来广西城市民族工作的主要成就 ,分析了新形势下城市民族工作的特点和存在的主要问题 ,探索了做好城市民族工作的新途径。     

Population data for Y-chromosome STR haplotypes from Piedmont (Italy)

Eight Y-chromosome STR loci (DYS19, DYS389-I, DYS389-II, DYS390, DYS391, DYS392, DYS393 and DYS385) were analysed in a sample of 236 unrelated males from four towns of Piedmont (Trino, Biella, Cavaglià, Postua). One hundred and fifty six different haplotypes were observed and 55 of them were not previously observed in the Y-STR Haplotype Reference Database (http://www.ystr.org/).