Social Dividends Research Articles

The potential of public organizations in creating conditions of healthy aging for sustainable demographic development of the Russian regions

The article considers issues of potential of public organizations to develop conditions for healthy aging in order to ensure sustainable development of Russian regions differing in their socio-economic, socio-cultural and demographic characteristics. It is established that individual approach is to be applied in developing and implementing measures, since elderly Russians constitute very heterogeneous social demographic group, characterizing by differences in age, health condition, social, economic and professional status, life motivation, family/single/nursing type of residence, etc. It is indicated that work will require time, financial expenses and labor costs. The achievement of sustainable development of Russian regions depends on ability and readiness of regional and municipal authorities, public and commercial organizations and entire population. It is determined that age-related stigmatization and ageism can not be overcame through decisions made by persons of power. No less significant is public opinion, determining position of employers, physicians, teachers and other specialists on whom healthy longevity of population depends. The conclusion is made that present demographic changes are a predictor of development of position of state authorities and public opinion that needed attention is to be paid to promoting of healthy aging, to expending necessary financial, infrastructural, informational and human resources. Only in this case Russian regions can count on social dividends that will follow preliminary comprehensive investments into developing conditions for healthy aging of local residents.

ПОРІВНЯЛЬНЕ ДОСЛІДЖЕННЯ МОТИВІВ ПОПИТУ НА ОСВІТНІ ТА ДОСЛІДНИЦЬКІ ПОСЛУГИ ЗА ДОПОМОГОЮ МЕТОДУ DATA ENVELOPMENT ANALYSIS (DEA)

Education serves as the primary avenue for preparing, training, and empowering individuals, endowing them with the necessary skills for continuous innovation and creativity. It plays a pivotal role in furnishing society with the competencies required to effectively fulfill responsibilities and undertake developmental endeavors. Crucially, education enhances the cognitive capacities of individuals, enabling them to actively and competently engage in the knowledge-based society and the ongoing information revolution. This research aims to underscore the economic significance of education, highlighting that expenditures on education constitute not mere consumption but rather investments yielding substantial economic and social dividends and have a great importance in the production of knowledge. The findings of this study substantiate multiple economic benefits of education. On an individual level, a direct correlation exists between educational attainment and personal income. Moreover, education fosters heightened worker productivity, thereby contributing to a discernible upsurge in the gross national product. At the macro level, employing the method of Data Envelopment Analysis, we assessed economic efficiency across 49 countries worldwide. The study reveals that, on average, efficiency, assuming variable returns to scale (TEVRS), stood at 88.7%. Particularly noteworthy is the discovery that 14 countries, constituting 28.6% of the sample, attained maximum efficiency.

Protected areas under pressure: An online survey of protected area managers regarding social and environmental conservation target attainment and stakeholder conflicts

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) recognize the interconnectivity between a diverse set of agendas. Identifying policies and practices that can reconcile incompatibilities across goals remains a challenge. With concurrent biodiversity and climate crises, the world faces increased pressure to find effective options for building resilience in remaining intact landscapes and ecosystems, which is critical for making progress toward several SDGs. While pressures on biodiversity and ecosystems have intensified dramatically, recent studies have shown a high geographic coincidence between important ecosystems and social conflict. Considering this, it is critical to understand how to manage Protected Areas (PAs) to effectively deliver environmental and social dividends while also minimizing or effectively managing stakeholder conflict. In this study, we present the results of an online survey of PA managers administered in 2021 to explore these themes. We conduct correlational analysis to identify patterns in survey data provided by PA managers from a variety of geographies. Building upon previous studies on the interlinkages between PA governance and social conflict, our results highlight the real challenge conflict presents for conservation efforts. Our findings also indicate that broader and more inclusive involvement of a wide range stakeholders in PA management is critical for enabling better environmental and social outcomes, but many PA managers lack the resources and support needed to effectively involve a wide array of stakeholders. Future studies should undertake case studies and qualitative work to uncover the dynamics between stakeholder conflicts, exogenous shocks, and conservation in specific contexts.

Precarization Of The Us Labor Market And The Concept Of A Universal Basic Income

The author examines changes in the structure of the labor market with an increase in its composition of a complex category of workers with precarious employment, reveals the motives and options for pilot projects of a universal unconditional basic income (UBI) conducted in American cities. The article discusses whether an unconditional basic income could become an alternative to the US social security system. Evaluations of the results of the UBI projects are given; the attitudes of politicians, economists, business corporations and ordinary citizens of America to the UBI are considered. Particular attention is paid to the fundamental differences between an unconditional basic income and the existing welfare institutions, as well as factors that promote or hamper the implementation of the UBI on a national scale. The idea of a universal unconditional basic income has become part of the political debate and electoral platforms during the presidential race. UBI, if implemented, can, by modifying, integrate into the existing institutional system, although this may be an extremely complex and controversial process, which largely explains why this concept has not been implemented on a national scale by now, but limited to some U.S. states. Attention is drawn to the potential economic effect of the UBI, which consists in the fact that the budget allocations spent on social dividends are returned to the economy, as the multiplier effect is triggered - people's confidence in the future makes them save less and spend more

The Routledge Handbook of Mormonism and Gender

The Routledge Handbook of Mormonism and Gender

Tell Me What You Drink, I’ll Tell You Who You Are: Status and Fashion Effects on Consumer Conformity

ABSTRACT Consumers follow other consumers in the pursuit of social dividends through consumption, to fit in with aspiration groups, and to belong in the group. These are conformity phenomena which is the cognitive process where an individual’s thoughts, feelings, and actions are affected by other people. This study investigates the influence of fashion and status in creating consumer conformity. Two experiments and subsequent logistic regression analyses were carried out with craft beer as an empirical field. The results show that: fashion influences consumption conformity but status is partially supported. In both, the results point to a relevant and non-trivial effect on the choice of the treatment variable. The study expands the evidence of consumption conformity and the practical applicability of the conformity stimulus to create waves of consumption, with aggregation and understanding of the formation of the craft beer consumer market.

Orange is the new colour of city competitiveness: The role of local governments in promoting cultural and creative industries

Cities have the power to stimulate and harness culture, creativity and innovation for local development. Culture and creativity are invaluable assets with untapped potential to deliver spatial, economic and social dividends for both cities and local communities. Building on the Cities, Culture, and Creativity Framework jointly developed by the World Bank and UNESCO and reviewing lessons learned from cities around the world, this paper discusses how local governments can effectively leverage their decision making, convening power and financial resources to enable and support cultural and creative industries (CCIs) to flourish for city competitiveness. Specifically, the paper examines how local governments can foster the enabling environment and channel the support through their core functions and roles of: 1) public procurement; 2) service delivery; 3) regulating public and private space; and 4) facilitating enterprise support and incentives. Through strategic interventions across these domains and collaboration with key stakeholders, local governments can implement measures to address the constraints impeding the development and growth of CCIs and leverage them as a critical driver of sustainable urban development. While the degree of decentralisation of responsibilities, resources and capacities of each local government may differ, global experiences illustrate that the common denominator is visionary leadership that puts in place the policies and catalyses the enabling conditions to attract and nurture CCIs, coupled with the key creativity ingredients — local talent and the uniqueness of the place.

Labour Regulations, Growth and Employment: A South Asian Perspective

Drawing on the experience of four South Asian economies (Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka), this article argues that properly designed labour market institutions and regulations play a pivotal role in engendering desirable economic and social dividends. The alternative is a Hobbesian world of an unregulated labour market, which is likely to produce poor wages and working conditions. Policymakers in the region should acknowledge common challenges pertaining to low utilisation of the skills and talents of young people, entrenched gender disparities, high, and in many cases rising, informality, significant incidence of working poverty and vulnerability. They should focus on designing complementary interventions to tackle such shared challenges rather than being fixated on the narrowly conceived notion of deregulating labour markets.

ВОСПРИЯТИЕ ОБРАЗА СТАХАНОВКИ: ФАНАТСКИЕ ПИСЬМА ДУСЕ ВИНОГРАДОВОЙ (1935 – 1936 ГОДЫ)

The main question of the article is why Soviet citizens of different professions and ages wrote letters to Stakhanovka, who was the first Soviet celebrity. To answer it, the author relies on "celebrity studies", a new direction in the social sciences and humanities, in which historians turn to the study of "celebrity culture". In the article, a celebrity is seen not as a status assigned to an individual and providing prestige and other social dividends, but as an analytical tool for analyzing the culture of society. Therefore, to study the mechanisms of the emergence and spread of celebrities, it is important to shift the research focus from studying the personality of a public figure to fame in general. In other words, it is important to pay attention to the cultural practices of consuming the image of a public figure, as well as to the political and social mechanisms by which these practices were constructed. Referring to "celebrity culture" as a tool for analysis, the author demonstrates that in the 1930s, the Soviet Union was not an anomaly in comparison to the Western societies. The Soviet culture of celebrity was the basis of the planned economy and the authoritarian regime, but this did not exclude the presence of non-repressive, democratic phenomena among the audience of the central Soviet press.

Unconditional Basic Income: Criterial Bases, Transitional Forms and Experimental Implementation

The article summarizes and systematizes the results of the implementation of the most significant pilot projects on unconditional basic income (UBI), supported by the state. The criteria for the correspondence of a cash transfer to the concept of the UBI are substantiated by a comparative analysis of different approaches to determining the UBI essence. The positive and negative consequences of using transitional UBI forms were revealed: “social dividends”, guaranteed minimum income, “negative income tax”, support for the most vulnerable groups of the population, cash payments during the pandemic period. It is concluded that the use of the UBI will contribute to the solution of a number of significant social problems in modern societies. The problematic and unstudied areas of testing transitional forms of UBI and the need to continue research and experimentation towards the realization of the universal nature of this social payment are offered.

Supporting SMEs’ internationalisation through a deeper understanding of human and technology barriers

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate small- and medium-sized enterprises’ (SMEs) internationalisation from an emerging market perspective. It explores and applies human resource management (HRM) processes to small businesses’ internationalisation efforts in order to ascertain the extent to which human- and technology-oriented barriers to internationalisation can be better understood and their processes better managed by SMEs.Design/methodology/approachThe data collection and analysis involved a mixed method technique so as to identify the two dominant barriers faced by SMEs at the employer and employee levels. By using primary survey data obtained from 212 Bangladeshi SMEs, a partial least square based structural equation model was successfully validated and its development enhanced the comparison of processes involved in managing people and technology-type barriers.FindingsThe research results highlight the importance of HRM processes in the proper management of both human and technology-type barriers, which are equally as significant to SMEs’ internationalisation.Practical implicationsThe results highlight the urgent need for governments in emerging economies to prioritise SMEs’ internationalisation and to dedicate resources and processes in order to effectively optimise economic and social dividends. The practical, theoretical and methodological implications of the paper raise opportunities for further research in SMEs’ internationalisation and people management processes and practices as well as new policy guidelines.Originality/valueThe examination of the link between humans and technology is a much under-represented area in developing countries and the actual contribution of effective HRM processes in the context of SMEs’ internationalisation is missing. Applying HRM processes to these aspects serves to deepen the knowledge of small businesses’ internationalisation efforts and the contributed model enhances professional practice and theory development in these disciplines and in emerging economies.

Social Dividends, Entrepreneurial Discretion, and Bureaucratic Rules

The current literature on market socialism neglects the issues of social dividend payment and bureaucratization. Socialism replaces private dividends and financial markets with social dividends and central planning of investment. Socialization of dividends also leads to bureaucratization. Social dividends relate to the Principal–Principal problem of forming rational investment plans. Market Socialists address Principal–Agent problems, but do not address the Principal–Principal problem of forming investment plans.

Pathways to state property tax reform

Reforming state and local government property taxes can contribute to a fairer and more sustainable housing system as well as delivering additional economic and social dividends. This research proposed a nationally coordinated incremental strategy with clearly defined short, medium and long-term objectives, including administrative reforms; a simpler and fairer revenue neutral transfer duty; and replacing transfer duties with a broad-based recurrent property tax.

Changing Ethnic and Racial Diversity in the United States: A Review Essay

Changing Ethnic and Racial Diversity in the United States: A Review Essay

Party Youth Activists and Aggressive Political Participation in Ghana: A Qualitative Study of Party Foot-Soldiers’ Activism

This paper analyzes the factors underpinning party youth activists’ involvement in aggressive politics in Ghana. The rank and file party youths, known as party foot-soldiers play various roles in the partisan process. Formal power allows incumbent parties to monopolize state resources, control appointments and dispense patronage. And in an environment of “competitive clientelism” political parties also commit electoral fraud in order to win elections or to maintain their control over state resources. Foot-soldier activism has become a “viable career option” for many young Ghanaians. The economic and social dividends associated with the practice of free market democracy are the most sought after benefits for party activism at the foot-soldier category. However, these benefits are yet to materialize in Ghana. On the basis of data gathered through interviews and other sources, the central claim of this paper is that the institutionalization of a stable and highly competitive two-party political system and the informal logic of party politics are responsible for foot-soldiers’ involvement in aggressive political participation. The de facto two-party system with a winner takes all; zero-sum character invests enormous patronage on the winning party. Foot soldiers aggression is also linked to structural and partisan factors such as youth unemployment, unfulfilled electoral promises, survival strategies of political elites and structural weakness in the transitional process. The paper concludes that party foot-soldiers place a high premium on capturing state power for the political elites. As a result, the foot-soldier views the change of government as the right time to claim the rewards for their efforts in ensuring victory.

Социјални дивиденди на мигрантите: случајот со Украинската транснационална миграција

Социјални дивиденди на мигрантите: случајот со Украинската транснационална миграција

Evaluating the sustainability potential of a white goods refurbishment program

A sustainable national policy on waste electronic and electrical equipment reuse has to ensure an integrated environmental economic and social approach. In this paper, a quantitative model is developed that permits a comparative analysis of re-use and non-re-use scenarios from an environmental and economic perspective. The model demonstrates the importance of considering user consumption profiles and the changing national electricity generation portfolio in determining the best end-of-life strategy, whether it should be reuse or recycling. A case study of Ireland is used to demonstrate the model. From a social perspective, qualitative aspects of reuse, such as the job creation potential and the impact on prosperity for low income families, are also considered. Reuse of white goods, if conducted through social enterprises, will create more employment than an equivalent amount of recycling for those most vulnerable to unemployment. Any environmental and social dividends from re-use can be realized only in the context of an economically sustainable system. This would include such factors as a secure supply of suitable equipment, a competitive cost base and sufficient revenues from sales and other sources in order for the business to survive. In an attempt to examine whether a white goods re-use program could possibly operate in a competitive manner with new appliances, this study has examined examples of comparable businesses operating in the EU as well as interpreting data on consumer demand.

The Stimulus Effects of Employment Programs for Minnesota's Disabled Citizens: A Case Study of Merrick, Inc.

Keywords: human services; disabled adults; social dividends; economic benefitState budget negotiations around the country have focused on cuts to human services programs for people with disabilities. These include Long-Term Care (LTC) programs for disabled adults. Using an LTC day program in Vadnais Heights, Minnesota as a case study, this article provides an alternative perspective. It describes the social dividends of employment in LTC programs. These extend well beyond the services provided to clients. Other dividends include wages to program staff; avoided costs of residential supervision; taxes paid by clients and staff; state revenue from charitable gambling and grants supplementing state taxpayer dollars. Companies that employ people with disabilities through contracts with such programs do so because it makes good business sense. In sum, public investments in day service programs for people with developmental disabilities at this facility produce nearly $3.00 of economic benefit for every $1.00 spent. Apart from humanitarian concerns, government cuts to such programs are penny-wise and dollar-foolish.

Outcomes Evaluation of St. Petersburg Russia Women's Wellness Center

Researchers demonstrate that investing in women's health yields great social and economic dividends, yet the health of women often receives little attention throughout the world. Women's wellness centers (WWCs) were established in the former Soviet Union beginning in 1992 under the sponsorship of the American International Health Alliance (AIHA) in conjunction with the United States Association for International Development (USAID) to provide a women-centered approach to primary care, providing access to a wide range of clinical services and educational outreach programs. Because the St. Petersburg Womens Wellness Center (WWC) is considered one of the more advanced centers and represents a microcosm of opportunities and challenges in women's health care delivery in the Russian Federation, a descriptive qualitative outcomes evaluation of the clinic was conducted. In the spirit of continuous quality improvement, interviews were conducted with childbearing women. Findings are categorized into the dimensions of access, privacy and comfort, communication with providers, comprehensiveness of care, and follow-up care. Strengths of the clinic include the “woman friendly” environment and educational offerings. Suggestions also were made by study participants for improvement of clinic services. Qualitative research can be translated into clinical practice guidelines for WWCs in Eastern Europe.

Improving the social status of peer-rejected youth with disabilities: Extending the research on positive peer reporting.

Emotional or behavioral disabilities and peer rejection independently pose significant risks for social, emotional, and behavioral problems. These risk factors are often co-occurring, which increases the likelihood of experiencing negative outcomes. Research has shown that peer rejection is one of the strongest predictors of delinquency (Williams & Gilmour, 1994), aggressive behavior (Rabiner, Coie, Miller-Johnson, Boykin, & Lochman, 2005), adult psychopathology (Bagwell, Newcomb, & Bukowski, 1998), and other negative life course outcomes (Parker & Asher, 1987). Studies examining the prevalence of peer rejection in the school-aged population suggest that 15 to 25% of children and youth are rejected by their peers (Bierman & Montminy, 1993). For youth with disabilities, these estimates are substantially higher, reaching as high as 40% (Mishna, 2003; Nabuzoka & Smith, 1993; Unnever, & Cornell, 2003). Given the large number of youth who experience peer rejection, there is a high premium on interventions that can improve the social status and functioning of these youth. Social skills training (SST) has been the most frequently endorsed and used intervention strategy to improve the social functioning and status of peer-rejected youth. SST assumes that peerrejected youth have social skill deficits (i.e., they do not possess the skill) and these deficits prevent them from being successful in social situations. Consequently, teaching youth specific social skills to remediate their deficits will likely produce social dividends in terms of enhanced social competence and standing among their peers. SST has been shown to be an effective intervention for youth with emotional and behavioral disabilities (Cook et al., 2008; Gresham, Cook, Crews, & Kern, 2004). Unfortunately, there are several limitations associated with SST that prevent it from fully addressing the needs of peer-rejected youth with disabilities. First, the youth may not have a skill deficit at all, but rather a performance deficit. That is, he or she may know how to perform the skill, but, for some reason, does not utilize the skill when the situation calls for it. Simply retraining an already learned skill does not appear to be helpful in reducing peer rejection. Second, once the youth learns the skill, because of reputational bias, behavior momentum or lack of motivation, the skill does not often generalize to the natural environment (Gresham, 1998; Maag, 2005). In an attempt to overcome some of the limitations of SST, Ervin, Miller, and Friman (1996) developed Positive Peer Reporting (PPR). PPR is a behavior analytic intervention that uses the peer ecology to influence behavior and promote social acceptance of peer-rejected youth. PPR works by actively soliciting peers to provide positive reports or statements to a target youth identified as the Recipient. The peers, called Tellers, are provided positive reinforcement using a token economy system for making positive statements about the Recipient. The Recipient receives continual positive social attention; thereby, altering the peer ecology from one that included aggressive rejection or isolation to one that is supportive and reinforcing. There is a growing body of literature demonstrating the efficacy of PPR in several different settings, including a residential treatment center (Bowers, McGinnis, Ervin & Friman, 1999), a school within a residential treatment center (Ervin, Miller, & Friman, 1996), a public school (Moroz & Jones, 2001), and foster care placement (Van Horn, 2004). Other studies have been conducted that support the efficacy of PPR (Hofstadler, 2007; Morrison & Jones, 2007). Together, these studies have targeted a wide range of youth who were either peer rejected or ignored. Researchers have also assessed the social validity of PPR and found that it is rated by implementers as highly acceptable and likely to lead to socially important outcomes. …