Institutional Asymmetry Research Articles

Federalism in Germany, Italy, and the European Union: History, Characteristics, and Perspectives

Abstract Federalism is always torn between the principles of subsidiarity and solidarity. Defining the federal structure of a country by finding the welfare-maximizing amount and design of government layers is challenging. Thereby, the financial endowment of different layers of government which they need to fulfill their respective tasks is an important aspect. European countries have chosen quite different federal designs to address the question of an optimal degree of fiscal decentralization. The aim of this paper is to analyze these different approaches for Germany, Italy, and the European Union. Parallels can be found in that all the three entities share a form of institutional asymmetry, a kind of fiscal bailout system, and a sort of fiscal equalization scheme.

Book review: Entrepreneurship and Institutions: The Causes and Challenges of Institutional Asymmetry

Book review: Entrepreneurship and Institutions: The Causes and Challenges of Institutional Asymmetry

Explaining informal payments for health services in Central and Eastern Europe: an institutional asymmetry perspective

ABSTRACTThe aim of this paper is to propose and evaluate a new institutional theory explanation for patients making informal payments for health services in Central and Eastern Europe. This views informal payments by patients to healthcare professionals as arising when formal institutional failures lead to an asymmetry between the laws and regulations of formal institutions and the unwritten rules of informal institutions. Reporting a 2013 Eurobarometer survey of the prevalence of informal payments by patients in Central and Eastern European countries, a strong association is revealed between the level of asymmetry between the formal and informal institutions, and the propensity to make informal payments. The association between informal payments and various formal institutional imperfections is then explored to evaluate which structural conditions might reduce this institutional asymmetry, and thus the propensity to make informal payments. The paper concludes by exploring the implications for tackling such informal practices.

Institutional Expansion and Scientific Development in the Periphery: The Structural Heterogeneity of Argentina’s Academic Field

The relationship between “marginal” and “mainstream” science has, in recent decades, become a matter of discussion. Traditional perspectives must be reexamined in the wake of transformations in the international circulation of knowledge and the subsequent diversification of scientific “peripherality”. Argentina represents an interesting case with which to explore the structure of “peripheral centres” and new forms of scientific development. While it has recently experienced an expansion in terms of institutionalization, professionalization, and internationalization, that process has been coupled with entrenchment of existing institutional asymmetries and persistent intra-national inequalities; academic prestige is distributed according to opposite principles of legitimation (local/international). Our main task is to explore the current state of research capacities pursuant to that expansion in order to analyze the diverse styles in which knowledge is produced. In our analysis, we make critical use of Bourdieu’s concept of field and the Latin American category of “structural heterogeneity,” while also focusing on the question of circulation. The paper outlines how professionalization has developed locally over time, and the historical tension between the National Council for Scientific and Technical Research and the public universities. It describes the current structure of the scientific field in terms of researchers, institutes, publishing circuits, and institutional evaluative cultures. It focuses on geographical asymmetries in order to assess the distribution of new human and material resources throughout the country. Finally, it addresses the current situation under the new government, and raises concern over recent regressive actions.

Power Asymmetry and Economic Growth of Industrial Markets: Theoretical and Empirical Analysis

The paper studies the impact of power asymmetry on economic growth of industrial markets. Meth? odologically the authors rely on the synthesis of the theory of industrial markets, new institutional eco? nomics and the theory of organisational fields. The authors hold a theoretical analysis of approaches to examining the factors behind economic growth in the industry and prove that competition is one of its drivers. The paper presents a three-step methodology for measuring the level of power asymmetry as the main characteristic of the market inequality. This methodology includes a consistent calculation of the indicators of structural, interactional and institutional asymmetries. To determine the correlation between economic growth of a market and level of power asymmetry in it the researchers build the model of multiple nonlinear regression. Its interpretation indicated that the level of structural and inter? actional asymmetry positively affects the rates of economic growth in the industrial market. The research findings are of applied nature and can provide a basis for designing a strategy of industrial enterprises’ development. In addition, the results of the work can be useful to government bodies when formulating an industrial policy.

Asimetrías en los sistemas educativos y en los patrones institucionales: hacia la construcción de un indicador global de capital humano

En este trabajo se presenta una revisión teórica y empírica sobre la relación capital humano y crecimiento económico. Se encuentra que existe una relación del capital humano con otros factores, como la calidad de la educación, la estabilidad política, la confiabilidad del sistema judicial, la corrupción y la burocracia. Igualmente, se presenta un análisis acerca de las consideraciones teóricas del capital humano, resaltando las divergencias estadísticas presentadas en los coeficientes estimados, cuando se toman distintas variables para capturar los efectos de este factor sobre el producto. Además, se hace una revisión teórica sobre la importancia del capital humano en la productividad, y se analiza las asimetrías institucionales con las estadísticas vigentes para 37 países. Por último, se propone y se calcula un Indicador Global de Capital Humano (IGCH).

Representaciones (y diseminaciones) de la sexualidad. Lea Lublin entre la censura local y la circulación internacional

This article focuses on two works by Lea Lublin that address sexuality and the restrictions for the public exhibition of erotic representations: Blanco sobre blanco (White on white, 1969) and Lecture d’une œuvre de Lea Lublin par un inspecteur de police (Reading of a Lea Lublin’s work by a police inspector, 1972). While the first was created and exhibited in Buenos Aires, the second was, by contrast, produced and presented in Paris. We argue that the censorship of Blanco sobre blanco confirmed the relevance of the artist’s interest in investigating the nature of representation as a visual device and the exploring the links of images with institutions, the imaginary and the libidinal. The esthetic connection of her trajectory as a migrant artist allowed her to strategically use the political and institutional asymmetries between both metropolises: Paris became a city where she could critically visualize and address the effects of the control of the Argentine dictatorship under General Juan Carlos Ongania (1966-1970) on sexuality and its representations.

Rethinking informal payments by patients in Europe: An institutional approach

The aim of this paper is to explain informal payments by patients to healthcare professionals for the first time through the lens of institutional theory as arising when there are formal institutional imperfections and asymmetry between norms, values and practices and the codified formal laws and regulations. Reporting a 2013 Eurobarometer survey of the prevalence of informal payments by patients in 28 European countries, a strong association is revealed between the degree to which formal and informal institutions are unaligned and the propensity to make informal payments. The association between informal payments and formal institutional imperfections is then explored to evaluate which structural conditions might reduce this institutional asymmetry, and thus the propensity to make informal payments. The paper concludes by exploring the implications for tackling such informal practices.

Regional development: new approaches to crisis management

The paper outlines the current state of the national economy’s regional development. By applying the integral indicators presented in the Methods of monitoring and evaluation of implementation of the state regional policy, the author has rated the development of regions and analyzed a gap in their levels of growth. Through the use of methods for identifying depressed areas of the European Union, the level of regional erosion is determined. On that basis, the necessity of overcoming institutional asymmetries that may arise in the process of creating conditions for dynamic and well-balanced development of Ukraine’s regions is pointed out. Based on the comparative analysis of foreign practice of crisis management, key approaches to its implementation are described. It is concluded that crisis management is rather searching for opportunities than expecting or forecasting destructive results and finding adaptive solutions.The article describes the essential determinants of regional crisis management, and sets both long-term and short-term goals for crisis management. A particular attention is paid to the necessity of upgrading of management tools and techniques for regional development. It is pointed out that a system of strategic planning of area development should not be based only “on the achieved results”, but should take into consideration crisis initiatives of all sectors of economy and forecast built-in stabilizers that will ensure balanced development. In order to stimulate structural reforms aimed at crisis development of areas, it is necessary to use internal and external financial resources. A special emphasis is placed on the potential grant support and contributions from European structural funds.The practical significance of the research lies in the growing importance of institutional framework and organizational support of crisis management of areas, which should be based on a strategic cross-sectoral partnership.The article proves that crisis management of areas should focus on establishing an enabling environment for inclusive development through support of entrepreneurial initiatives and implementation of investment projects aimed at sustainable and innovative growth of areas; creation of employment opportunities, attraction and retention of highly qualified personnel and maintenance of areas’ creative capacities.

Institutional asymmetry as a challenge in tackling the grey economy in Bulgaria

Since EU accession in 2007, Bulgaria has ranked as the member state with the largest informal economy of some 31% of GDP. Despite diverse policy measures applied to crack down on tax evasion and undeclared work, some 'grey' practices, such as under-reporting salaries and turnover have flourished recently. The aim of this paper is to critically assess the effectiveness of the dominant policy approach in Bulgaria to tackle the shadow economy. It argues that the role of low tax morale and the high level of institutional incongruence have been neglected as drivers for widespread social legitimacy of informality. The strong focus of the authorities in recent years on administrative control measures creates a vicious circle in the long term - increasing the power of the state through deterrence while failing to guarantee procedural and redistributive fairness or highlight the benefits of compliance create an even greater mistrust by economic actors. Instead, the paper calls for considering an 'indirect' approach as an alternative strategy, by promoting voluntary commitment through pursuing a change in social norms and values, but also increasing the legitimacy of institutions and the quality of public goods and services to reduce the gap between taxpayers and the state.

Institutional asymmetry as a challenge in tackling the grey economy in Bulgaria

Since EU accession in 2007, Bulgaria has ranked as the member state with the largest informal economy of some 31% of GDP. Despite diverse policy measures applied to crack down on tax evasion and undeclared work, some 'grey' practices, such as under-reporting salaries and turnover have flourished recently. The aim of this paper is to critically assess the effectiveness of the dominant policy approach in Bulgaria to tackle the shadow economy. It argues that the role of low tax morale and the high level of institutional incongruence have been neglected as drivers for widespread social legitimacy of informality. The strong focus of the authorities in recent years on administrative control measures creates a vicious circle in the long term - increasing the power of the state through deterrence while failing to guarantee procedural and redistributive fairness or highlight the benefits of compliance create an even greater mistrust by economic actors. Instead, the paper calls for considering an 'indirect' approach as an alternative strategy, by promoting voluntary commitment through pursuing a change in social norms and values, but also increasing the legitimacy of institutions and the quality of public goods and services to reduce the gap between taxpayers and the state.

Sargon Boulus and Tu Fu’s Ghost(s)

Sargon Boulus (1944–2007) is widely acclaimed as one of the pioneers of modern Arabic poetry. The trajectories of his life and work make him an appealing subject through which one may explore the dialogues his work initiated, and the horizons that it opened, between Arabic literature and world poetry. His work and the way it has been largely ignored or (mis)read can even highlight some of the problematics and limitations of the category of “world” literature and its institutional networks and asymmetries. The recent publication of his anthology of selected translations from world literature and collected interviews is an opportunity to study his work as a translator more seriously. This essay takes stock of his contributions and traces his curious affinity with the Chinese poet Tu Fu (712–770). It concludes by reading two of his late poems and links them to his own ethics and politics of translation and writing.

An institutional theory of the informal economy: some lessons from the United Kingdom

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to propose a new way of explaining participation in the informal economy as resulting from the asymmetry between the codified laws and regulations of a society’s formal institutions (government morality) and the norms, values and beliefs of the population that constitute its informal institutions (societal morality). The proposition is that the greater the asymmetry between government morality and societal morality, the greater is the propensity to participate in the informal economy.Design/methodology/approach– To evaluate this institutional asymmetry theory, the results are reported of 1,306 face-to-face interviews conducted during 2013 in the UK.Findings– The finding is a strong correlation between the degree of institutional asymmetry (measured by tax morale) and participation in the informal economy. The lower the tax morale, the greater is the propensity to participate in the informal economy. Using ordered logistic regression analysis, tax morale is not found to significantly vary by, for example, social class, employment status or wealth, but there are significant gender, age and spatial variations with men, younger age groups, rural areas and Scotland displaying significantly lower tax morale than women, older people, urban areas and London.Practical implications– Rather than continue with the current disincentives policy approach, a new policy approach that reduces the asymmetry between government morality and societal morality is advocated. This requires not only changes in societal morality regarding the acceptability of participating in the informal economy but also changes in how formal institutions operate in order for this to be achieved.Originality/value– This paper provides a new way of explaining participation in the informal economy and reviews its consequences for understanding and tackling the informal economy in the UK.

Request sequence in Chinese public service calls

This study examines the characteristics of request sequences in Chinese public service calls. The data analysis indicates that a prominent characteristic of Chinese public service calls is the frequent appearance of insert expansions and non-minimal post-expansions, with the latter occurring after both preferred response and dispreferred response. This is closely related to participants’ institutional identities and epistemic asymmetry; operators handling such service calls should pay due attention to this asymmetry to ensure mutual understanding in conversation.

Explaining Participation in the Informal Economy in Post-Socialist Societies: A Study of the Asymmetry between Formal and Informal Institutions in Croatia

This paper proposes a new way of explaining the informal economy in post-socialist societies. Drawing upon evidence from 1,000 face-to-face interviews conducted in Croatia during 2013, and using stepwise Tobit regression analysis, the finding is that after controlling for other explanatory variables, participation in the informal economy results from the asymmetry between the norms, values and beliefs of citizens (informal institutions) and the codified laws and regulations (formal institutions). Reducing such institutional asymmetry is thus required if the informal economy is to be tackled. How this can be achieved in post-socialist societies is then discussed.

Determinants of entrepreneurs' views on the acceptability of tax evasion and the informal economy in Slovakia and Ukraine: an institutional asymmetry approach

In recent years, it has been argued that citizens view tax evasion and the informal economy as socially acceptable when the codified laws and regulations (formal institutions) of a country are not aligned with the norms, values and beliefs of the population (informal institutions). Reporting a 2013 survey of 238 entrepreneurs' views on the acceptability of tax evasion and the informal economy in Slovakia and Ukraine, this paper confirms for the first time this institutional asymmetry thesis with regard to entrepreneurs, revealing that the gap between state morality and entrepreneurial morality has an impact on the acceptability of illegal behaviour. The paper concludes by discussing the theoretical and policy implications.

Explaining the Prevalence of the Informal Economy in the Baltics: an Institutional Asymmetry Perspective

Reporting a 2013 Eurobarometer survey of participation in the informal economy across eight Baltic countries, this paper tentatively explains the informal economy from an institutional perspective as associated with the asymmetry between the codified laws and regulations of the formal institutions (state morality) and the norms, values and beliefs of citizens (civic morality). Identifying that this non-alignment of civic morality with the formal rules is more acute when there is greater poverty and inequality, less effective redistribution and lower levels of state intervention in the labour market and welfare, the implications for theorising and tackling the informal economy are then discussed.

The Architecture of a Social Market Economyy

This paper traces the evolution of the nature of the EU’s internal market, from its origin in the 1950s to its current redesign in the aftermath of the Euro-crisis. It suggests that the relationship between ‘the market’ and ‘the social’ has shifted multiple times throughout the Union’s history. In the first stage, social policy was meant to complement the functioning of the internal market, and tease out potential economic asymmetries in the market. In the second stage, social policy became geared not towards levelling out conditions of competition in the market, but to explicitly protect the capacity of Member States to impose their understanding of ‘the social’ on the market. Finally, in the last decade, social policy on the Union level has started to move in the exact opposite direction. The EU’s institutions now understand social policy diversity throughout the EU no longer as a necessary complement for, but rather as inimical to, a functioning market in the EU. In doing so, however, they overlook a number of institutional asymmetries, normative biases and legal implications, which mean that any attempt to create a ‘social market economy’ – as Article 3 (3) TEU commits the EU to do – is bound to be distinctively light on ‘social’ and heavy on ‘market’.

Explaining the Prevalence of Illegitimate Wage Practices in Southern Europe: An Institutional Analysis

This paper proposes that the prevalence of illegitimate wage practices in Southern European societies results from the discord between the formal rules (formal institutions) and the socially shared unwritten rules that reflect citizens' beliefs (informal institutions). To evaluate this, a 2013 survey is reported on whether employers in five Southern European countries fraudulently evade tax and social security payments by paying employees a portion of their salary off the books. A strong association is revealed between the extent of wage under-reporting and the degree of institutional asymmetry across these societies. The implications for theorising illegitimate wage practices are then explored.

Explaining the Undeclared Economy in Bulgaria: an Institutional Asymmetry Perspective

Abstract This paper proposes a way of explaining the undeclared economy that represents participation in undeclared work as a violation of the social contract between the state and its citizens, and as arising when the informal institutions comprising the norms, values and beliefs of citizens (civic morality) do not align with the codified laws and regulations of a society’s formal institutions (state morality). Drawing upon evidence from 1,018 face-to-face interviews conducted in Bulgaria during 2013, the finding is that the greater is the asymmetry between formal and informal institutions (i.e., citizens’ civic morality and state morality), the greater is the likelihood of participation in the undeclared economy, and vice versa. The outcome is that tackling the undeclared economy requires a focus upon reducing this lack of alignment of formal and informal institutions. How this can be achieved in Bulgaria in particular and South-East Europe and beyond more generally, is then discussed.