Broader Temporal Perspective Research Articles

The productivity effects of labor market deregulation: evidence from German firms during 2010–2019

Abstract In the early 2000s, the German government introduced the Hartz reforms, which deregulated German labor markets. These reforms were praised internationally as striking a balance between job growth and productivity growth. While macroeconomic research has shown that the reforms have indeed lowered German unemployment, their effects on labor productivity need to be better understood. This paper addresses the impact of temporary agency work (TAW) on German labor productivity during 2010–2019, based on data from a firm-level panel of the German Institute for Employment Research (IAB). It contributes to the rising number of firm-level studies by extending their results in a broader temporal perspective, during which TAW intensities have increased substantially, especially in TAW-using firms. The system generalized method of moment (GMM) estimations based on a firm-level data set with 13,197 observations for the period 2010–2019 show that a robust hump-shaped relationship exists between the extent of TAW and the firms’ labor productivity. We find that the increase in the use of TAWs following the Hartz reforms has, on average, positively contributed to labor productivity growth in German firms. However, the findings also show that if numerical flexibility is increased too much, productivity growth in Germany will suffer. This is particularly the case for several industrial sectors that are important in the German economy. These results are important given recent calls for more labor market flexibility to help firms grow in an increasingly turbulent global economy.

Stepping from College Classrooms to the Political Front. The Emergence of Feminism in the Norwegian Maoist Movement before 1973

The aim of this article is to investigate the origins of the Women’s Front, a women’s movement co-founded by Norwegian Maoists in the 1970s. The analysis seeks to capture the dynamics of women’s activism in relation to the broader political landscape and, concurrently, to understand the Women’s Front in a broader temporal perspective. The sources used were newspapers and publications issued by different branches of the Norwegian Maoist movement. Women’s politics are analysed both as a grassroots phenomenon and a part of agitation which emerged under the 1972 anti-EEC campaign. This makes it possible to show how women’s politics found a place on the agenda of Norwegian Maoism and what kind of obstacles it had to face on its way to gaining autonomy. The patterns of feminist mobilisation demonstrated by this analysis can make a contribution to the broader debate on the role and place of feminism in traditional political structures.

Взаимосвязь предикторов иррационального поведения с индивидуально-типологическими и личностными особенностями

A number of studies in cognitive psychology indicate that human behavior is largely governed by irrational factors (heuristics, cognitive biases, attitudes). These factors influence vital decisions, which can subsequently affect a person’s life and behavior in a broad temporal perspective. There is a lack of research on identifying the individual-typological and personal characteristics that make the irrational behavior more likely to occur. Our research is aimed at revealing the interrelation of predictors of irrational behavior (superstitiousness, “prelogical” defense, unconstructive, categorical, personally superstitious and esoteric thinking, naive optimism), individual-typological and personality characteristics of respondents. We used I. R. Abitov’s questionnaire, J. Tobacyk’s Paranormal Belief Scale adapted by D. S. Grigoriev, I. Y. Stoyanova’s Beliefs and Superstitions Questionnaire, and S. Epstein’s Constructive Thinking Inventory (adapted by S. N. Enikolopov and S. V. Lebedev) to reveal the expression of irrational behavior predictors. The individual-typological characteristics were identified using the Temperament Accentuation Test and the Individual-Typological Questionnaire, while the personal characteristics were identified using the G. V. Zalewski Psychological Rigidity Questionnaire and the C. Scheyer and M. Carver Test for Optimism. It was found that a decrease in the constructive thinking is associated with the expression of such characteristics as shyness, aggression, neuroticism (anxiety), sensitivity to external influences, various manifestations of rigidity, emotional instability and pessimism. It was also found that the expression of these characteristics, as well as pessimism and aversion to changes in self-esteem and personal position, is associated with a tendency to show categorical (“black and white”) thinking. Naive optimism is more often shown by respondents with such characteristics as hyperthymia and increased social activity. The relationship of personality-superstitious thinking with pessimism, fear of new situations, shyness, neuroticism (anxiety), and a tendency to exaggerate one’s difficulties were found. The novelty of our study lies in the discovery of complexes of characteristics that can increase the likelihood of irrational behavior. Reviewing the literature on the topic of the research, we did not find any works made in the mainstream of such an approach. The complexes of individual-typological and personal characteristics revealed in the given research can be considered as “targets” of psychological correction and prevention to decrease the risk of socially dangerous behavior.

Increasing psychological distress among Californians from 2013 to 2020: Race/ethnic differences

The influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health is of mounting concern to population-health researchers. While early reports indicated increases in mental health problems, noticeably absent from these studies is how mental health has changed in 2020 compared to previous years (2013–2019) and whether such trends vary by race/ethnicity. The present study used repeated cross-sectional data from the California Health Interview Survey (n ​= ​168,216) to systematically document trends in psychological distress scores (Kessler-6 scale; K6) and severe psychological distress scores (K6; 13+) from 2013 to 2020 and by race/ethnicity over the same period. Among all Californians we find that the reported average psychological distress scores increased by 22% between 2013 and 2020. Reported severe psychological distress scores increased 61% from 2013 to 2020. These increases were largely concentrated in the years 2017–2020. Increases in psychological distress were also especially pronounced among non-Latino/a White Californians (29% increase in K6 from 2013 to 2020), Latino/a Californians (14% increase in K6 from 2013 to 2020), and Asian Californians (35% increase in K6 from 2013 to 2020). Multiple and logistic regression models that accounted for sociodemographic and behavioral health covariates echoed these findings. Future research should continue to investigate secular trends in mental health that coincided with the COVID-19 pandemic and carefully situate the shifts into broader temporal perspective.

The mobilities and immobilities of rural gentrification: Staying put or moving on?

AbstractThis paper analyses census data for England and Wales to explore the ties between processes of rural gentrification and recent internal migration. Internal migrants are defined as individuals who moved subnationally to their current address in the previous 12 months, as indicated by the replies to the 2001 and 2011 census question about usual address 1 year ago. Our analysis reveals declining rural in‐migration rates between 2001 and 2011, in parallel with other recent studies of internal migration. At the same time, uneven geographies of rural in‐migration are identified. In rural places with declining in‐migration rates, we emphasise the immobilities of settled gentrifiers that are caused by predilections to ‘stay put’ within prized, rural places for age‐related personal/emotional, social/support and economic reasons. This is limiting the supply pipeline of housing for latent in‐migrants and slowing flows of migration per se in saturated rural housing markets. By contrast, rural places with increasing in‐migration rates may signify new frontiers of gentrification, providing channels of entry for recent migrants that are not able to buy into exclusive high‐cost gentrified markets. Our novel argument is that despite gentrification being inherently a process of migration, when viewed in a broader temporal perspective, mature and exclusive forms of gentrification can also stifle migration and be the catalyst for immobilities.

Temporal distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic: Letter writing with future self can mitigate negative affect.

Novel coronavirus disease (COVID‐19) is spreading across the world, threatening not only physical health but also psychological well‐being. We reasoned that a broadened temporal perspective may attenuate current mental distress and tested a letter‐writing manipulation designed to connect people to their post‐COVID‐19 future selves. We conducted an online experiment with 738 Japanese participants recruited from two common survey platforms. They were randomly assigned to either send a letter to their future self (letter‐to‐future) condition, send a letter to present self from the perspective of future self (letter‐from‐future) condition, or a control condition. Participants in both letter‐writing conditions showed immediate decrease in negative affect and increase in positive affect relative to the control condition. These effects were mediated by temporal distancing from the current situation. These findings suggest that taking a broader temporal perspective can be achieved by letter writing with a future self and may offer an effective means of regulating negative affect in a stressful present time such as the COVID‐19 pandemic.

Modernization, Tourism Economics, and Interethnicity in Rapa Nui (1966-2017)

In this article, we study the modernization of Rapa Nui during the last half century and addresses some of its consequences to date, when environmental and demographic pressures reveal the limits of this process. We analyze demographic changes from a broad temporal perspective, focusing especially on the period 1966-2017, when the island experienced rapid population growth. This is explained by the considerable flow of continental people that settle in the island and find jobs in State services, public investments and particularly in the development of infrastructure and tourism services. We demonstrate that the Rapa Nui people have substantial presence in public employment and in tourism as well as considerable influence and control of the place’s two main sources of income, respectively.

Spreading recruitment over time to cope with environmental variability

Seedling establishment is one of the most vulnerable life cycle stages, and a key component for the population dynamics in short-lived plants. In unpredictable environments, timing of emergence is critical for the success of plant performance, and different adaptive bet-hedging strategies have evolved to reduce the risk of failure in recruitment. In this study we describe the spatio-temporal pattern of seedling emergence (overall rate and timing) and survival in four contrasting Mediterranean habitats for Plantago coronopus, a small herb with dimorphic seeds. We then explore the importance of spreading germination within years, as well as the role of the two types of seeds from a broader temporal perspective. Populations strongly differed for all recruitment components analyzed in a given year, but this spatial differentiation diluted when a longer period was considered. Apical (smaller) seeds germinated later and in a significantly lower proportion than basal (larger) seeds. Both late emergents and seedlings from apical seeds had lower survival probability in a rainy year. However, our results suggest that in a population having the lowest production of apical seeds, late emergents coming from apical seeds may constitute a large fraction of yearly recruitment and that their performance was non-significantly different from that of early emergents over the 4-year study period. This study provides evidence of the importance of two related traits (spreading seedling emergence through time by producing dimorphic seeds) as bet-hedging strategies to cope with environmental unpredictability. This is at least partly accomplished by increasing the potential of recruitment in favourable years, instead of buffering such important process in extremely bad years.

International Money and Common Currencies in Historical Perspective

Abstract: The authors review the history of international monies and the theory related to their adoption and use. There are four key characteristics of these currencies: high unitary value; relatively low inflation rates for long periods; issuance by major economic and trading powers; and spontaneous, as opposed to planned, adoption internationally. The economic theory of the demand for money provides support for the importance of these characteristics. The value of a unit is arbitrary for a fiat money, but the other characteristics are likely to be important for determining any fiat money that will be the international money in the future. If the euro continues to exist for the next half century or so and has a relatively stable value, the authors conclude that the euro is likely to be serious competition for the dollar as the international money. JEL classification: E42, F33, N10 Key words: euro, international money, fiat money, dollar, search theory 1. Introduction Is the euro likely to supplant the dollar as an international money? Such a question might seem premature, especially since the euro physically has been in existence only for a few months. We are inclined to think that it is not too early to start to think about this issue seriously since the implications are large for the world's monetary landscape. The move to a circulating euro on January 1, 2002 has been followed by little or no difficulty in the twelve countries involved. By most prognostications, moreover, the future for the new currency looks very good. That was not the case at all a decade ago, as devaluations and widened currency bands shook the Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM). Skepticism with regard to the future of a single currency abounded among both economists and financial professionals. A major reason for this shift in opinion has doubtless been the change in the underlying economic environment in the countries involved, in particular the greater convergence in monetary policies that took place during the intervening period. The purpose of this paper is to review the historical evidence on the question of international monies. In contrast to other studies, we adopt a very broad temporal perspective, beginning with a discussion of the Byzantine gold solidus or bezant that was introduced by the Emperor Constantine and that served as a world currency for the next seven centuries. We continue with a review of medieval monetary history and the international currencies of the Italian city states. (1) We then turn to a discussion of the various international monies that have existed from the early modern period to the present. Using this review of the historical evidence as a background, we go on to discuss the theory surrounding this issue. The underlying questions of interest are with the factors affecting the establishment of common currencies and, more important, their longevity. Here we return to the earlier analyses of Carl Menger (1892) and a century later Friedrich A. Hayek (1978). In both analyses, the key distinction using some terminology borrowed from Hayek (1967) is between monetary institutions that are the result of human action but not human design and institutions that are planned and orchestrated from on high. 2. Historical Overview 2.1. The Early Middle Ages International monies, monies that circulate for use in transactions across national boundaries, begin with the silver drachma first coined in ancient Athens in the fifth century B.C. (Chown, 1994). Judged on the basis of the hoards that have been uncovered, not just within the Mediterranean region but throughout Europe and well into Asia, the coinage of Rome--first the gold aureus and the silver denarius after the currency reforms of Augustus--became the drachma's successor. (2) Beginning with Nero (A.D. 54-68) and continuing into the early fourth century, currency debasement and inflation became the rule. …

Extending the temporal and spatial limits of gentrification: a research agenda for population geographers

AbstractHow processes of gentrification unfold, at what rate, and with what effects, can all differ substantially in different places. Although pre‐existing theories have sought to encapsulate this diversity, the temporal and spatial limits of gentrification processes have yet to be fully explored. This paper postulates that population geographers have a role to play here. Firstly, researchers are urged to study gentrification within a broader temporal perspective, and to unravel connections between migration dynamics and population transitions over the course of the process. Secondly, it is contended that processes and effects of gentrification should be examined within wider spatial frameworks, whereby migration flows of relatively affluent households are evaluated within the context of (re)urbanisation, suburbanisation and counterurbanisation. This may pose important questions about the understandings of demographic links between gentrification and in‐migrants at particular stages of their life‐course. It is argued that this research agenda will require the adoption of more inclusive definitions of gentrification, embracing wider spatial and temporal criteria. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Teachers' professional lives: The state of the art

Research on teachers' life cycles combines a broad temporal perspective with attempts to capture teachers' own perspectives. Researchers hope that such studies will benefit teachers and schools. Research to date has found that many teachers follow a common sequence of career engagement phases (stabilization, stock-taking, and, finally, disengagement), but the field is still immature. Because large longitudinal studies require substantial time and money, most research must rely on self-reports from small samples of teachers. Advancing this line of research requires more differentiated, conceptually crisper work.

The Past, Present and Future of Veterinary Education and of the Profession in Russia

The influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health is of mounting concern to population-health researchers. While early reports indicated increases in mental health problems, noticeably absent from these studies is how mental health has changed in 2020 compared to previous years (2013–2019) and whether such trends vary by race/ethnicity. The present study used repeated cross-sectional data from the California Health Interview Survey (n ​= ​168,216) to systematically document trends in psychological distress scores (Kessler-6 scale; K6) and severe psychological distress scores (K6; 13+) from 2013 to 2020 and by race/ethnicity over the same period. Among all Californians we find that the reported average psychological distress scores increased by 22% between 2013 and 2020. Reported severe psychological distress scores increased 61% from 2013 to 2020. These increases were largely concentrated in the years 2017–2020. Increases in psychological distress were also especially pronounced among non-Latino/a White Californians (29% increase in K6 from 2013 to 2020), Latino/a Californians (14% increase in K6 from 2013 to 2020), and Asian Californians (35% increase in K6 from 2013 to 2020). Multiple and logistic regression models that accounted for sociodemographic and behavioral health covariates echoed these findings. Future research should continue to investigate secular trends in mental health that coincided with the COVID-19 pandemic and carefully situate the shifts into broader temporal perspective.