Advanced Industrial Countries Research Articles

When people shed religious identity in Ireland and Austria: Evidence from censuses.

BACKGROUNDDisaffiliation from religion is an important factor behind the rapid rise in persons claiming no religious affiliation in many advanced industrial countries. Scholars typically think of disaffiliation as a life course process that is confined to young adults, with little change occurring among older adults, yet few studies have examined this assumption outside the United States and Great Britain.OBJECTIVEWe evaluate whether the young-adult model of disaffiliation from religion applies in Ireland and Austria, two historically Catholic-majority countries with different levels of non-affiliation growth.METHODSWe use census data on religious affiliation in Ireland (1971–2011) and Austria (1971–2001) to track aggregate changes in the percentage reporting no religious affiliation over the life course for successive birth cohorts.RESULTSWe find support for the young-adult model in Ireland. However, recent cohorts in Austria exhibit a distinct pattern of disaffiliation that continues into middle adulthood. Our analysis suggests that mid-life disaffiliation in Austria is connected to a religious tax, which we argue spurs nominally affiliated adults to disaffiliate themselves, as their income rises and the costs of religious affiliation increase.CONCLUSIONOur findings offer insight into some of the social factors behind recent religious change across Europe and highlight the need for more cross-national research on the age and cohort dimensions of this change.

Inequality, Labor Market Segmentation, and Preferences for Redistribution

We formalize and examine two overlapping models that show how rising inequality combined with ethnic and racial heterogeneity can explain why many advanced industrial countries have experienced a drop in support for redistribution as inequality has risen. One model, based on altruism and homophily, focuses on the effect of increasing “social distance” between the poor and the middle class, especially when minorities are increasingly overrepresented among the very poor. The other, based on self-interest, combines an “insurance” model of preferences for redistribution with increasingly segmented labor markets, in which immigration of workers without recognized skills leaves most native workers better off but intensifies competition for low-end jobs. Empirically, when we estimate parameters from the two models using data from multiple waves of ISSP surveys, we find that labor market segmentation, previously omitted in this literature, has more consistent effects than social distance.

Globalization, Democracy and State Autonomy: An Empirical Exploration of the Domestic Consequences of Globalization

Other SectionsAbstractTHE CAUSAL NEXUS BETWEEN ECONOMIC OPENNESS AND PUBLIC FINANCEHOW DOES DEMOCRACY AFFECT GOVERNMENT PROVISION OF PUBLIC SERVICES?DEMOCRACY AND GOVERNMENT PROVISION OF PUBLIC SERVICESEMPERICAL ANALYSISCONCLUSIONFigureTableFootnoteReference

The politics of networked learning in an age of austerity

Networked learning has always had a connection to a set of pedagogic values and it has defined itself as linked to the development of information and communication technologies. These values and the technologies which allow for the development of contemporary networked learning mean that the field has an implicit politics. In an age of austerity what are the implications for networked learning? The development of networked learning largely coincided with the development of neo-liberal politics in advanced industrial countries and the technologies deployed to enable networked learning are largely the outcome of design and development carried out by large multi-national US based corporations. This backdrop of neo-liberal corporatism was called into question by the banking crisis of 2008 and the conversion of a private debt crisis into a sovereign debt crisis. In this process public austerity has become a dominant consideration in policy for higher education. Government has changed its relationship to higher education, most notably in the UK (focused on England), and is generally trying to both reduce overall expenditure and at the same time ensure either equivalent outputs or improved levels of output. The drive for productivity gains, a motivation for ‘more for less', informs the hype and policy drive behind xMOOCs because they seem to offer a way to enable cheaper and wider access to higher education. This paper takes a critical look at the way austerity politics are revising the values and affecting the development of technologies for networked learning and suggests ways that researchers will need to engage with resistance to aspects of austerity politics.

Policy Issues Regarding the Overrepresentation of Incarcerated Aboriginal Young Offenders in a Canadian Context

Over-representation of visible minority youth in youth prisons is evident in most advanced industrial and liberal democratic countries. In Canada, federal and provincial governments have initiated policy strategies to counteract the over-representation of Aboriginal offenders. One critical national initiative, the 2003 Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA), explicitly acknowledges the special status of Aboriginal youth. The current study examines (1) whether the YCJA has reduced the over-representation of Aboriginal young offenders in prison, and (2) whether the risk factor and offence profiles of incarcerated Aboriginal young offenders differ from Caucasian young offenders. Policy implications for Canada and other countries are discussed.

The size and shape of government: preferences over redistributive tax policy

Why do some people support government redistribution more than others? This article addresses this question with reference to attitudes towards redistributive tax policy. In doing so, it identifies an important distinction between preferences over the level of taxation and preferences over its structure. Using individual-level survey data from 17 advanced industrial countries, I find ‘decoupling’ of pro-redistributive attitudes over the size versus the shape of government. The modal respondent prefers higher progressivity (more redistribution) but lower tax levels (less redistribution). Further, this decoupling varies across countries: preferences over tax levels have a greater effect on progressivity preferences in less progressive tax systems. I examine how theories of redistribution preferences help understand this disconnect, and show that income and risk affect progressivity preferences as they do attitudes towards redistribution. In contrast, trust affects preferences over tax levels in the same way as it affects redistribution preferences.

A MACROECONOMIC PERSPECTIVE ON CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION: MEETING THE FINANCING CHALLENGE

Transitioning to a low-carbon economy will require significant investment to transform energy systems, alter the built environment and adapt infrastructure. A strategy to finance this investment is needed if the limit of a 2°C increase in global mean temperatures is to be respected. Also, high-income countries have pledged to pay the "agreed full incremental costs" of climate-change mitigation by developing countries, which are not necessarily the same as incremental investment costs. Building on simulations using Integrated Assessment Models and historical evidence, this paper explores some of the issues posed by this dual financing challenge. We discuss the "fiscal self-reliance" of the energy sector, finding that carbon pricing would generate sufficient fiscal revenues within each region to finance total investment in energy supply. Even when allowing for trade in emission permits, regional carbon fiscal revenues should still suffice to cover both their own investment in energy supply and permit purchases from abroad. We show that incremental energy-supply investment (and saving) needs are well within the range of past variation of aggregate investment, and argue that the challenge is rather to ensure that revenues from carbon pricing and other sources are complemented by investment in the appropriate sectors. But fairness and equity are likely to warrant transfers from advanced industrial countries to developing nations.

Avoiding the High Debt ‒ Low Growth Trap: Lessons for the New Member States

Despite relatively low starting level, public debt has been rising quickly in the post-socialist New Member States (NMS) of the European Union. The rising international literature on the effects of debt on economic development provides several lessons, although it mostly deals with the advanced industrial countries. The aim of this paper is twofold. Firstly, the authors of this paper survey the existing literature and draw possible conclusions for the NMS. The main argument here is that there are good reasons for the NMS to avoid high debt levels for reasons, such as negative impact on economic growth and related difficulties with deleveraging. Secondly, the authors inspect the data for the whole European Union from 2000 until 2013 and compare the impact of the indebtedness on Western versus Post-Communist economies. Empirical findings are in line with the previous research and show that high levels of indebtedness are more damaging to the post-communist countries. Therefore, in the conclusion, the theoretical and empirical arguments in favour of avoiding high debt levels are summarized.

What Terms for Middle East Peace Would Actually Work?

What Terms for Middle East Peace Would Actually Work?

You Can Help Stop America’s March to the Right

You Can Help Stop America’s March to the Right

The systemic financial importance of emerging powers

Economic turmoil in advanced industrial economies since the 2008–9 crisis has intensified perceptions of rising global multipolarity. Several indices of the relative material capabilities of countries exist, yet few address a state's potential for financial influence abroad. We analyze indicators of a country's importance as a financial asset owner and participant in globalized financial markets, examining 180 countries during 1995–2010. The United States displays a high and stable systemic importance. An increase in the share of the BRICS countries, especially China, mirrors a strong decline in the global weight of Japan (still a senior financial power), and to a lesser extent, most other advanced industrial countries, with the exception of Germany.

Alexander Bogdanov’s Conception of Proletarian Culture

The article deals with Bogdanov's thought in the period of the First World War and the Russian revolution, in particular with the evolution of his views on ‘proletarian culture.’ In contrast to Lenin and others who believed that modern capitalism had created the prerequisites for socialism, Bogdanov thought that the anarchy of the capitalist system remained and that a socialist society would have to be consciously created over a lengthy period of time. A related difference of opinion concerned the reasons why the Second International had collapsed on the outbreak of the war. Lenin's explanation was that the resolve of the socialist movement had been undermined by the presence in the advanced industrial countries of a ‘workers’ aristocracy' which participated in the profits of imperialist exploitation. Bogdanov believed that the capitulation of the socialist movement to war fever reflected the fact that bourgeois modes of thought had permeated the attitudes of the working class. In order to remedy this situation it was essential to strengthen the proletarian outlook and values, to develop a ‘proletarian culture’, which would be a total transformation of the way people related to each other in society.

Letter to the Editors: Lighting for Different Healthcare Settings

According to Michael White, Light should be interpreted as an architectural material. Mr. White made his pronouncement at the Annual Conference of the Academy of Neurosci- ence for Architecture in September 2012, and went on to say that in addition to being economically sound and aesthetically pleasing, the specification of light should address the biology of human health and well being.Mr. White, an EDAC-certified senior lighting design consultant for the firm Shuler Shook in Minneapolis, Minnesota, was a guest speaker in a panel session titled That Informs Light- ing Design in Healthcare Settings. The other pan- elists were Sanchin Panda, PhD, a neuroscientist at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, California, where the conference was being held; Eve Edelstein, PhD, a neuroscientist and associate professor at the University of Arizona College of Architecture, Planning, and Landscape Architec- ture; and Mark Rea, PhD, a biophysicist and direc- tor of the Lighting Research Center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Like his colleagues, White was concerned with the use of indoor electrical lighting.People living and working today in the most advanced industrial countries spend the majority of their daylight hours and an average of six hours after nightfall under artificial light. Research has shown that in the absence of full-spectrum sun- light, individuals are susceptible to detrimental effects (Veitch et al., 2008). Conventional candes- cent and/or fluorescent lamps have been implicated in aggravating fatigue, depression, aggression, eye strain, dyslexia, tooth decay, reduced muscle strength, obesity, and diabetes. The lack of exposure to ultraviolet radiation impairs the body's ability to absorb calcium, produce vitamin D3, and stimulate the neuroendocrine system to destroy a wide range of microorganisms that might otherwise lead to hospital-acquired infections (Braun, 2008). In the 1960s, fluorescent lamps were engineered to simulate the natural outdoor environment in both the visible and non-visible UV wavelengths. How- ever, because of legal concerns and the cost of pro- duction, this type of fixture never became widely available in the United States.Sunlight deficiency and the typical measures taken to compensate this deficiency may negatively affect one's sleep/wake cycles, which in turn may cause cardiovascular disorders (Edelstein et al., 2007) and cancer (Stevens et al., 2001). Electrical light- ing codes and standards with an emphasis on ener- gy efficiency often require insufficient footcandles during the day and too much light intensity at night for normal circadian function. Nurses and doctors assigned to shift work and patients who are continually exposed to illumination are unable to entrain (or align) with their 24-hour natural rhythms (Schernhammer et al., 2001). Our under- standing of sleep disorders was greatly enhanced by the 1998 discovery of melanopsin retinal ganglion cells, a type of photoreceptor in front of the eye's retina that provide signals to the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), the brain's master clock (Hatori et al., 2010). These newfound cells project to many other brain regions as well, influencing countless aspects of human physiology.There is currently enough evidence to assist design- ers, architects, and engineers in selecting the prop- er type and sufficient quantity of light for different healthcare settings. It is critical in preventing errors such as misreading charts and medication labels, or a patient's vital signs. Knowing that a cool color temperature as in blueish white suppresses mel- atonin in humans and activates the brain means that this type of lighting should not be specified above a hospital patient's bed at night, but that it may benefit those with dementia in long-term care facilities by boosting their activity levels during daytime hours (Holtzman, 2010). …

The second wave of digital-era governance: a quasi-paradigm for government on the Web

Widespread use of the Internet and the Web has transformed the public management 'quasi-paradigm' in advanced industrial countries. The toolkit for public management reform has shifted away from a 'new public management' (NPM) approach stressing fragmentation, competition and incentivization and towards a 'digital-era governance' (DEG) one, focusing on reintegrating services, providing holistic services for citizens and implementing thoroughgoing digital changes in administration. We review the current status of NPM and DEG approaches, showing how the development of the social Web has already helped trigger a 'second wave' of DEG(2) changes. Web science and organizational studies are converging swiftly in public management and public services, opening up an extensive agenda for future redesign of state organization and interventions. So far, DEG changes have survived austerity pressures well, whereas key NPM elements have been rolled back.

Politics and Income Inequality: Does Politics Still Matter in New Democracies

Does politics still matter for reducing income inequality in new democracies? The standard explanation is that political institutions, in particular the left government and proportional representation, are negatively associated with income inequality among advanced industrial countries, but there have been so few studies attempting to explain the variation of distributional outcomes across new democracies. This article tests the hypotheses about the effects of political institutions on income inequality with unbalanced pooled time-series cross-sectional data that cover 26 fledgling democracies for 1975–2006. The evidence presented here suggests that, other things being equal, a parliamentary system and PR are substantially more likely to be associated with lower levels of income inequality, but a left government and more years of democracy do not appear to be related to lower income inequality.

Human Rights and Globalization

Let me begin by reviewing some things that may have been discussed earlier, and that is the concept of human rights, which I think, in some ways, has broadened since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights right after World War II. That focused not only on the political rights but also on economic rights. Let me just try to emphasize that I do think that economic rights are very important, one cannot meaningfully exercise political rights if one is starving. Since then there been elaboration and nuancing of the notion of these rights, particularly, for instance, South Africa in its constitution has reflected, adopted a number of notions of economic rights and trying to define more precisely what they mean is not easy, but I think it is an important step forward. The other area where it has been obviously broadened is environmental rights: rights to clean air, you might say rights to survive. Global warming has shown that those rights are at risk. Countries like the Maldives, you might say that the basic human rights of their citizens have been put in jeopardy by the pollution coming from the advanced industrial countries. The life expectancy of their country is 75 years or less and I met with the Prime Ministers and heads of government of many of the South Pacific island states and they too have a very limited life expectancy because of the rising sea level. There are other elaborations or extensions of basic political rights, for instance the citizens’ right to know what their government is doing has become a very important human right both directly and as part of the mechanism by which we insure that governments behave in ways that correspond to the wellbeing of their citizens.

Aging in France: Population Trends, Policy Issues, and Research Institutions

Like in other advanced industrial countries, in France, demographic aging has become a widely debated research and policy topic. This article offers a brief overview of major aging-related trends in France. The article describes France's demographics of aging, explores key policy matters, maps the institutional field of French social gerontology research, and, finally, points to several emerging issues about aging. In France, these issues include active and healthy aging, the improvement of knowledge on specific vulnerable segments of the elderly population, and the adaptation of the urban landscape and infrastructure to an aging population. At the broadest level, one of the key points formulated in this article is that in France, aging research is dominated by the state, yet it is scattered and compartmentalized, posing a crucial challenge in an era dominated by European and other international networks and coordination efforts in aging policy and knowledge.

Preferences in Context

Political economists have increasingly looked to understand social welfare policy as a product of individual-level demand for social spending. This work hypothesizes that individuals with riskier jobs demand more social spending and that large welfare states emerge where there are more of such individuals. In this article we build on the “policy feedback” literature to argue that existing welfare institutions condition how individual-level factors affect social policy preferences. Specifically, we argue that institutions directly altering the risk of unemployment (employment protection legislation) and those that delink benefits from the labor market create a more uniform system of social risk that reduces the importance of individual-level risk in shaping policy preferences. We test these propositions using multilevel analysis of 19 advanced industrial countries in 2006. We find that individual risk matters for social policy preferences only where employment protection is low and welfare benefits are dependent on employment.

The future of young women's economic role in a globalized economy: New opportunities, persisting constraints

Young women in advanced industrial countries have been outperforming young men in educational attainment at the same time that their labor market outcomes are still lagging. Sex segregation in education and the labor market is identified as an important source of this imbalance.

Support for the Welfare State Over Time: The Two Dimensions of Redistributive Preferences

Most political economy models start from the assumption that economic self-interest is a key predictor of support for income redistribution. A growing literature, in contrast, emphasizes the role of “other-oriented” concerns, such as social solidarity or affinity for the poor. These frameworks generate distinct, often conflicting predictions about variation in mass attitudes toward redistribution. We argue that this tension is in part an artifact of conceptualizing demand for redistribution as unidimensional, and propose distinguishing between redistribution conceived as taking from the “rich” and redistribution conceived as giving to the “poor”. These two facets of redistribution prime different individual motives: self-oriented income-maximization on the one hand, and other-oriented social affinity with welfare beneficiaries on the other. We find strong evidence for this framework using British longitudinal survey data and cross-sectional data from four advanced industrial countries. We discuss the implications for studying changes in mass support for redistributive social policies.