Rawls's Difference Principle as Compensation for Social Immobility

Outside academia, John Rawls's theory of justice—justice as fairness—has had little impact. This article is part of a broader project to rectify this. I offer a distinctive, second‐best, argument for Rawls's difference principle. The difference principle requires that inequalities in income and wealth are justified only if they benefit society's least‐advantaged citizens. My paper argues that, slightly‐modified, the difference principle is an excellent principle of redress in light of the UK's continued failure to give all citizens fair career chances. I show how we might realize the difference principle at the level of policy through tax rate reductions or negative tax rates. I conclude that if you don't want to accept the second‐best argument for the difference principle you must get serious about giving all citizens fair career chances. As I suggest, this task is extremely difficult.     

从比较的视角看海外移民的流动性对中国的影响

在经济全球化发展日趋增强的今天,移民活动的状况或本质正越来越表现为流动性而非定居性。移民的流动性,是“人权高于主权”这一国际政治思潮的反映,是全球化发展所产生的一种“跨国逃避”趋势,也是国际政治经济多元化、不平衡发展和各国综合国力竞争的必然产物。本文试图通过对移民流动性的探讨,揭示中印两国海外移民的流动性对两国发展和综合国力提升所共同具有的有益影响,以及中印两国因其海外移民流动性在国际社会中所面临的不同处境。     

台湾工业化过程中劳工流动模式初探

台湾地区在20世纪后半期的工业化进程中创造了劳工＂持续向上流动＂的成功模式。其主要原因在于：（1）特殊的历史背景与工业化起点为其奠定了基础;（2）快速的工业化进程为其提供了动力;（3）中小企业为主的企业形态与分散的工业布局是其重要路径。然而,步入21世纪以后,台湾社会劳工流动虽然总体上仍延续其向上流动的模式,但却呈现出减缓的趋势。其中岛内外经济不景气,岛内产业结构趋于稳定与政府的积极作为在其中发挥了不同的作用。     

房价上涨的途径——财政、人口与预期的再验证

在国家“六稳”、“六保”的政策目标下,稳定房价具有较大现实意义。基于中国267个地级市2006-2018年的面板数据,通过联立方程模型实证研究地方财政支出、人口迁移以及预期对房价的影响。结果显示,市场对房价上涨的预期是推升房价上涨的主要因素,此外,全国层面的房价受到地方财政支出资本化的正向作用,东、中部地区房价受到人口迁移数量的显著影响,西部地区房价受到第三产业占比的支撑。因此,稳定房价的关键途径是维持购房者的市场信心,确保人口流入有助稳定东、中部地区房价?确保第三产业发展则是 稳定西部房价的重要途径。     

Organised property crimes in Belgium: the case of the ‘itinerant crime groups’

The phenomenon of the so-called ‘itinerant crime groups’ is receiving increasing attention within Belgian and Western European law enforcement agencies. This interest stems from a variety of perceptions about these groups, and has led to a number of definitions about who and what they are, and policy measures in response to them. In this paper, the phenomenon and the characteristics ascribed to it in Belgium are empirically tested. This research finds that the features of mobility and nationality emerge as useful characteristics by which to study these crime groups. There are no indications that the special character of these groups is the consequence of policy-related attention, but rather it functions as a catalyst for this interest.     

Assemblages of mobility: the marshrutkas of Central Asia

ABSTRACT

This article addresses reconfigurations of urban space in Central Asia through the lens of marshrutka mobility. Marshrutka-based transport is – together with the bazaar trade – a major sector of Central Asian economy. Although precise data are not available, estimates propose that one family in ten gains its income through it. In spite of its economic and social importance, there has barely been any research on marshrutka mobility so far. The marshrutka mobility phenomenon appears at once wide-ranging and elusive. In order to grasp its complexity, we propose a theory framework based on John Law's concept of fluidity and assemblage. Providing empirical insights from Khujand, in northern Tajikistan, the article addresses marshrutka mobility from a local perspective, notably with regard to regulatory processes of marshrutka-based transport. It also covers the trans-local perspective, with particular attention to global flows of ideas, vehicles, and people.     

Driving Development? The Problems and Promises of the Car in Vietnam

The private car comes with promises of modernity and comfortable mobility for the growing middle class in Vietnam. Vietnam’s government has also targeted the domestic automobile industry as a “spearhead industry” in an attempt to achieve industrial upgrading. Paradoxically, the government is simultaneously restraining the market for this industry through imposing high taxes and fees on cars, making them available only to a limited number of people. This article discusses the promises and problems of the automobile in Vietnam. It analyses policies related to the development of the automobile industry, and discusses the reasons for the relative failure of the project. The article argues that the failure is linked to weaknesses in Vietnamese development strategies, but also to the potential problems an expansion in car ownership in Vietnam would lead to. The article contends that the car represents a development dilemma between industrialisation and urban mobility, and that environmental, energy and social concerns add to the rationale for limiting car ownership. Furthermore, although forces promoting car-driven industrialisation appear to be gaining ground, the requirements for regional economic integration may challenge the future of the infant automobile industry.     

Urbanization,Rural Mobility,and New Class Relations in Darjeeling,India

Throughout the developing world, rapid urbanization is leading to new social relations and new conflicts between urban and (formerly) rural populations. This paper examines this process of change through a detailed examination of changing rural–urban relations in the town of Darjeeling, in the Himalayan foothills in Eastern India. In Darjeeling, increased rural mobility, accelerated rural-to-urban migration and the increased participation of rural people in local politics have led to major changes in the town. We demonstrate that the upward trajectory of rural classes who were previously subordinate is leading the more established urban residents to feel threatened, resulting in a redrawing of local political issues along rural–urban lines and a reconfiguration of class consciousness and social relations. The urban middle class, whose opportunities in the town have stagnated or declined, see rural migrants as a source of competition for increasingly scarce resources and blame them for the overall decline in the quality of urban life. They mobilize their (predominantly cultural) capital to reinforce markers of cultural distinction between them and the rural migrants and to delegitimize the political gains they have made. We argue that rural–urban conflict is emerging as the chief source of tension in the town and that this tension is largely grounded in class issues.     

Permanence of the Family Farm Questioned: Rural Mobility in the Nineteenth-Century Estonia and Sweden

The family farm has symbolic significance in many parts of the world. In this paper we argue that the “rooted” identity of the farmer emerged as a reaction to rapid modernization in society and that, in actual fact, the nineteenth century rural communities were both geographically and socially mobile. We examine how kinship ties were expressed in spatial terms with the help of two examples from Harjumaa in north Estonia and Västergötland in south Sweden. These micro-histories are taken both to illuminate and subvert some of the key ideas about identity, belonging, and mobility of the nineteenth-century farmer.     

A SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY TO CRIME: EFFECTS OF RESIDENTIAL HISTORY ON CRIME LOCATION CHOICE*

Many offenses take place close to where the offender lives. Anecdotal evidence suggests that offenders also might commit crimes near their former homes. Building on crime pattern theory and combining information from police records and other sources, this study confirms that offenders who commit robberies, residential burglaries, thefts from vehicles, and assaults are more likely to target their current and former residential areas than similar areas they never lived in. In support of the argument that spatial awareness mediates the effects of past and current residence, it also is shown that areas of past and present residence are more likely to be targeted if the offender lived in the area for a long time instead of briefly and if the offender has moved away from the area only recently rather than a long time ago. The theoretical implications of these findings and their use for investigative purposes are discussed, and suggestions for future inquiry are made.