Estimation of Vulnerability to Poverty Using a Multilevel Longitudinal Model: Evidence from the Philippines

Using the panel data for the Philippines in 2003–2009, we estimate a three-level random coefficient model to measure household vulnerability and to decompose it into idiosyncratic and covariate components. We correct heterogeneity bias using Bell and Jones’s ‘within-between’ formulation. A majority of the poor and 18 per cent of the non-poor are found to be vulnerable to unobservable shocks, while both groups of households are more susceptible to idiosyncratic shocks than to covariate shocks. Adequate safety nets should be provided for vulnerable households that lack access to infrastructure, or are larger in size with more dependents and less-educated heads.     

Infant and child mortality in Mexico,estimated using the 1980 and 1990 censuses and projections to 2000

Using indirect methods based on information about live births and surviving children, the author reviews estimates of infant and child mortality in Mexico. Data are from the 1980 and 1990 censuses.     

Population-territory: 100 years of evolution, 1895-1990

The authors "describe population distribution trends [in Mexico] from 1895 to 1990 as they relate to a division of political and administrative factors. The study provides an estimate of population dispersion throughout time by analyzing the behavior of state populations with respect to the distance between state capitals and the Federal District. It also provides 100-year curves describing time variations of population dispersion and explaining the process of decentralization of displacement from the country's main population center to its peripheral areas." (SUMMARY IN ENG)     

Basel III, the Devil and Global Banking

The 2008 financial crisis started on Wall Street, but rapidly spread to the entire world. The response of the G20, international regulators and central bankers was the design and issuance of a new set of regulatory capital, liquidity and corporate governance standards—known as Basel III. As much as Basel III has gained the support of depositors and politicians, it has triggered a wave of stern opposition from bankers. In his widely distributed book—Basel III, the Devil and Global Banking—Dimitris Chorafas includes a detailed analysis of the concerns and anticipations of bankers, domestic supervisory agents and global regulators. This book review gives an appraisal of the book. Other than stressing the need for a total cultural transformation, embracing the ethos of risk management, Chorafas introduces a comprehensive restructuring program including efficient fiscal and monetary policies, enhanced governance procedures, improved risk management practices and the total separation between monetary authorities and politicians.     

Changing the paradigm of disability from stigma to equity in university social work education in Kyrgyzstan

The main aim of this paper is to tease out the historical and deeply rooted ethical standards, spirituality, and social values that have long supported the social service system in Kyrgyzstan, which, today, faces pressure to align with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The data are based on an intervention conducted as part of the European Union-Social Protection Systems programme in Kyrgyzstan between 2017 and 2018 where 30 university lecturers were part of. Interviews both to the Kyrgyz trainers with disabilities and to the trainees of the university lecturers as well as follow-up survey conducted in 2019 form important part of data for this paper. We first investigate the conventional ethical standards, spiritual explanations, and social values related to disabilities within the Kyrgyz social protection system and social services. We elaborate on the Kyrgyz context of the societal ethics, spirituality, and values around disability in the Kyrgyz university education for social workers. Second, we analyse the transformation of the perception of disability among the university lecturers. We conclude this paper with a discussion on the negotiation between a charity-based approach that reinforces the stigmatization of disability and a human rights-based approach that promotes paradigm change, to contribute to global discourse of social change towards disability inclusion.     

The religious experience as affecting ambivalence: the case of democratic performance evaluation in Israel

Religiosity increases both criticism and instability in democratic performance evaluations, and accordingly decreases reliance on these assessments in the construction of political self-efficacy, trust in institutions, and patriotism. This is due to the conflicting experiences that religious citizens of democracies live through; while their personal religious environment often adheres to many undemocratic characteristics, their experience as citizens contains assorted democratic attributes. These results, from heteroskedastic maximum likelihood models using data from a 2006 representative survey among Israeli Jews, augment the exclusive focus of the literature of democratic attitudes on the strength of attitudes, and shift attention from policy attitudes to other evaluative judgements.     

the injunctions of the spectre of slavery: affective memory and the counterwriting of community

This essay explores the symbiotic relationship between European modernity, its vision of woman and water. The union of these three metaconcepts is consecrated by the Ovidian story of Narcissus and his other, Echo. The West finally found itself completely through Hegel, the Ur-narcissist, who explains the immutable link between that European monopoly, history (by which he means the potential for becoming modern), and the sea. The narcissism of modernity is the great theme of Marx and Engels in the Communist Manifesto, which shows how the bourgeoisie seeks to remake the entire world in its own image. Psychoanalysis, through the writings of Ferenczi, joined in cementing the connection, likening woman to the primal sea to which the male ever yearns to return. And Foucault suggests a potential conclusion from this metaconceptual constellation: that Man, a Western creation, may well disappear like a face drawn on a sandy beach.     

Passing on the history of ‘comfort women’: the experiences of a women’s museum in Japan

This article explores the activities and experiences of a women’s peace museum in Japan which especially tries to pass on the history of Japan’s military sexual slavery, or the ‘comfort women’ issue. The system of Japan’s military sexual slavery had not been written as a part of history until courageous survivors testified and documentary evidence was unearthed in the 1990s. With few material exhibits of sexual violence, testimonies play a significant role in the exhibitions. Panels displaying the testimony of both survivors and former soldiers try to represent the person as a whole, situating sexual enslavement or crimes as part of their overall life, rather than extracting the harsh experience in an isolated way. The concrete and detailed activities of this privately run museum show the challenges faced by museums dealing with the dark history of their own country.     

Looking Forward to Cuts: A Simulation Decision Tool for Cutback Management

This study addresses managerial strategies to adapt public spending in anticipation of fiscal stress. It simulates a cutback to a federal agency, providing a decision tool that applies normative recommendations from the cutback management literature. Using agency data, we develop a menu of options that illustrate how different distributions of budget reductions affect organizational goals. We show five alternatives that consider the political, legal, and fiscal implications of the agency's responses to anticipated budgetary pressure. This simulation demonstrates that public agencies can apply existing data to generate rational and viable strategic plans for weathering fiscal stress.