Times Of Economic Decline Research Articles

Usury vulnerability: measuring and modelling the phenomenon in Italy

Usury has been predominantly studied as an economic or legal phenomenon and only recently has gotten into the spotlight of sociological research. This article aims to contribute to the current literature by operationalising usury vulnerability and analysing household factors impacting it, using the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) data for Italy. To construct usury vulnerability, we examined variables measuring a household’s financial and material well-being. As to factors impacting the phenomenon, we included those reflecting a socio-demographic position of a household (household composition and territorial position within the country, age, sex, education, and employment status of the top earner). The estimation results indicate that all micro-level factors matter in terms of usury vulnerability. Therefore, by identifying the most vulnerable social groups, the model might help develop relevant policy interventions to fight the spread of usury, especially in times of economic decline.

Race And Politics In Peruvian And Argentine Porn Under The Transition To Democracy, 1975–1985

This paper examines the articulation of race, class, gender, and politics in erotic magazines during the Argentine and Peruvian destapes in the transition from dictatorial to democratic rule at the turn to the 1980s. We argue that porn, as a genre, was not limited to a niche of readers seeking to use the magazines only for erotic purposes. In Peru, porn was one of the main agents in the opposition to military rule, and it only became a separate, autonomous genre devoid of politics with the coming of democracy. The emergence of magazines focused mostly on eroticism developed as editors attempted to lure readers among recent migrants from the Sierra who lived in the pueblos jóvenes (squatter settlements) in Lima. In this context, the audience demanded pictures of local women to replace foreign white female nudes. In Argentina porn became a crucial aspect of democratic politics, understood as a tool to overcome inhibitions, develop a self-exploration, and undermine traditional mores while fostering democracy. Driven by an impulse to emulate the alleged open-mindedness of Europe and the US, Argentine porn cemented white middle-class identity at a time of economic decline. In this context, Argentine erotic magazines praised sexual experimentation as courageous and gave voice to women, gays, and lesbians. Our approach combines social, political, and cultural history focusing on how the readership shaped magazines and at times achieved significant editorial changes. Through the study of porn we offer new insights regarding the transition to democracy in late Cold War Latin America.

Distribution effectiveness through full- and self-service channels under economic fluctuations in an emerging market

Retail distribution is one of the major challenges in emerging economies. These economies are volatile and filled with inefficiencies, and the representativeness of unstructured retail increases the complexity of distribution systems for consumer packaged-goods companies.We analyze 644 brands to extend the existing literature by modeling the retail distribution and market share in an emerging market according to the type of retail channel (full- and self-service channels), moderated by economic fluctuations and the market position of a brand (high- and low-share brands). Our model controls for endogeneity using instrumental variables (IVs) and accommodates heterogeneity across brands and categories by means of a fixed-effects robust regression. Our study highlights that the relationship between distribution and market share exhibits greater convexity in the self-service channel than in the full-service channel. Further, we contribute to the existing research in distribution effectiveness in emerging markets by showing the convex effect of distribution on market share could vary when the economy changes. Distribution gains are more effective in the self-service channel than in the full-service channel in times of economic decline. Also, the results indicate the higher degree of convexity in the relationship between distribution and market share for the self-service channel compared with the full-service channel is increased further for high-share brands than for low-share brands.

Pełne zatrudnienie – porzucona idea i jej odrodzenie

This article deals with the recovery of the idea of full employment. Its principal aim is to gather evidence that this idea has new functions in the present social context and that the main problems of the full employment policy have reasonably well founded solutions. The method of this text is to analyse the social meaning of economic theories. In every analysis of full employment, the politics of inflation pressure seems to be the main and unresolved problem. This pressure is biggest as the economy nears full employment. The first proponents of full employment policies, including W. H. Beveridge and A. P. Lerner, knew this problem very well. Contemporary followers of full employment policies also endorse the Lernerian concept of functional finance. However, they recommend an institutional change and reject the Keynesian discretionary macroeconomic policy. Their proposition is the Job Guarantee Programme: employing all of the willing people without a job in the public sector and paying them a universal decent wage. The job guarantee is an old idea in a new form and a new context. In times of economic decline, a Job Guarantee Programme delivers a more egalitarian organisation of society and a greater level of equality instead of doubtful prospects for economic growth.

Relationships Between State Community College Governance Centralization and Local Appropriations

This two-way, fixed effects analysis examines the relationship between local appropriations and community college state governance structures while examining governance’s moderating impact on state-level factors. We find that any type of state-level organization for community colleges does not impact local appropriations, and that in states with no formal coordinating authority, local appropriations are likely to be higher. Further, the absence of a state-level board, even one that includes four-year, primary, or secondary education, moderates the relationship between unemployment and appropriations. This relationship suggests that in states without a state-level board for community colleges, local governments invest in and leverage their community colleges in times of economic decline.

The Last of the Lost Generations? Formal and Non-Formal Education in Ghana during Times of Economic Decline and Recovery

AbstractUsing a cohort approach, this paper examines educational attainment in Ghana and its potential determinants considering both educational attainment in the formal education system and participation in non-formal education in the form of adult literacy programs. The results indicate an overall substitution between formal and non-formal education across the generations, with participation in adult literacy programs decreasing as the formal education system expanded its coverage across space and time in Ghana. Individuals who completed any formal education were also much less likely to participate in adult literacy programs, by about 10 percentage-points per year of formal education completed. Additionally, the generations subject to the declining education system during the 1970s were substantially disadvantaged, with the cohort that was roughly of primary school age at the time of the economic breakdown in 1983 and the first few years thereafter being the last of the disadvantaged cohorts—the “lost generations.” This is especially true for the particularly vulnerable group of individuals who never received any formal education, where the crisis cohort peaked in terms of adult literacy program participation relative to later (and earlier) cohorts, possibly in response to a decrease in the quality of the formal education system as well as increased competition from returning refugees. We perform a simple test for the declining quality of the formal education system in the 1970s and find evidence consistent with a decrease in the quality in the education system during the 1970s, followed by an increase in quality thereafter.

The Last of the Lost Generations? Formal and Non-Formal Education in Ghana During Times of Economic Decline and Recovery

Using a cohort approach, this paper examines educational attainment in Ghana and its potential determinants considering both educational attainment in the formal education system and participation in non-formal education in the form of adult literacy programs. The results indicate an overall substitution between formal and non-formal education across the generations, with participation in adult literacy programs decreasing as the formal education system expanded its coverage across space and time in Ghana. Individuals who completed any formal education were also much less likely to participate in adult literacy programs, by about 10 percentage-points per year of formal education completed. Additionally, the generations subject to the declining education system during the 1970s were substantially disadvantaged, with the cohort that was roughly of primary school age at the time of the economic breakdown in 1983 and the first few years thereafter being the last of the disadvantaged cohorts-the lost generations. This is especially true for the particularly vulnerable group of individuals who never received any formal education, where the crisis cohort peaked in terms of adult literacy program participation relative to later (and earlier) cohorts, possibly in response to a decrease in the quality of the formal education system as well as increased competition from returning refugees. We perform a simple test for the declining quality of the formal education system in the 1970s and find evidence consistent with a decrease in the quality in the education system during the 1970s, followed by an increase in quality thereafter.

Integration in times of economic decline. Migrant inclusion in Southern European societies: trends and theoretical implications

ABSTRACTDespite the large amount of literature on migrants’ integration, little is known about integration in times of economic decline. The aim of this Special Issue is to contribute to filling this research gap by exploring the nexus between the Great Recession that began in 2008 and integration processes. To this end, we regard Southern European countries as an observatory of crucial relevance because of their harsh experience of the crisis and common social and policy patterns that make their comparative analysis empirically sound and theoretically significant. In order to offer some general views on this Issue’s contributions and to highlight some of the explanatory potential of this collective work, we frame the collected articles by referring to different dimensions of integration: (i) residence status and political rights; (ii) socio-economic conditions; and (iii) perceptions of migrants and the receiving society. Contributions show that in Southern Europe the legal-political and cultural dimensions of integration, i.e. legal status and perceptions towards migrants, have apparently been more resilient to the crisis than the economic dimension, such as the socio-economic conditions of migrants.

Support for restrictive immigration policies in the European Union 2002–2013: the impact of economic strain and ethnic threat for vulnerable economic groups

ABSTRACTTesting propositions from ethnic competition theory, we examine contextual and individual determinants of support for restrictive immigration policies in 26 European Union member states between 2002 and 2013, a period characterized by enduring economic downturn. We hypothesize that natives in vulnerable economic positions, similar to many migrants, are more restrictive toward immigration, because they perceive more economic strain and more ethnic threat. We expect that natives are more restrictive in times of economic decline – when national unemployment rates and debts increase – especially those who hold similar economic positions as many migrants. We enriched European Social Survey data (2002–2013, containing more than 210,000 respondents) with cross-national data on the economic situation. We indeed find that support for immigration restrictiveness is higher among natives in more vulnerable socio-economic positions. They perceive more economic strain, which is directly related to restrictiveness. But economic strain also increases perceptions of ethnic threat, which is strongly related to restrictiveness. We do, however, not find strong empirical evidence that economic decline more strongly affects support for restrictive immigration policies among vulnerable economic groups. Stronger changes in national debts induce more restrictiveness among the full population, but especially among those who perceive more economic strain and more ethnic threat.

An Analysis of the Functional Effectiveness of the Automatic Stabilisers of Fiscal Policy in China

Granger causality Wald test and impulse response analysis were employed to test the functional effectiveness of automatic stabilisers of fiscal policy in China, which revealed that the automatic stabilisers exhibited asymmetries in fiscal revenues and expenditures. In particular, automatic fiscal stabilisers reduced economic fluctuations in fiscal revenue during economic booming and recession. With respect to fiscal expenditures, increases and decreases in central fiscal expenditures occurred during times of economic decline and growth, respectively, and thereby exerted countercyclical smoothing effects on the macro-economy; by contrast, increases and decreases in local fiscal expenditures occurred in accordance with economic developments, amplifying economic expansions or recessions. These differences in spending patterns between central and local governments caused malfunctions in automatic stabilisers that were related to fiscal expenditures. Given the premise that the relationship between central and local fiscal approaches should be rationalised, the fiscal spending policies should focus on investments in the livelihood and improvements in the autonomy of budgetary decisions by local governments.

Earnings mobility, inequality, and economic growth in Argentina, Mexico, and Venezuela

This paper examines changes in individual earnings during positive and negative growth periods in three Latin American economies: Argentina, Mexico, and Venezuela. We ask two major questions. First, do panel income changes favor the income recipients who started at the top of the income distribution (“divergent mobility”) or those who started at the bottom (“convergent mobility”)? And second, are the groups that are found to gain the most when the economy is growing those that are found to lose the most when the economy is contracting (“symmetry of mobility”) or is the pattern asymmetric in the sense that the same groups do best both in times of economic growth and in times of economic decline? We find support for the divergent mobility hypothesis only in scattered years in the cases of Mexico and Venezuela and no support at all in the case of Argentina. Rather, earnings mobility is most frequently convergent or neutral in all three countries. As for the symmetry of mobility hypothesis, we find that it is rejected in nearly all cases; rather, those groups that gain the most when the economy is growing are also the ones that gain the most or lose the least when the economy is contracting. Furthermore, we discuss how the absence of divergence reconciles with rising inequality in the countries under study.

A Challenge to Multiculturalism

At times of economic decline, such as the deep economic crisis experienced in many European countries today, vulnerable groups can clash with other vulnerable groups. These clashes can be exploited by different political movements and individuals, who point to the Other and the multicultural society as the cause of society’s problems. This can result in intensified everyday racial violations, and an increase in violent hate crimes. A case study, from a small Swedish town in which an asylum seeker from The Ivory Coast was stabbed to death by extreme right-wing youths, illustrates how racist hate crime relates to discrimination and everyday harassment. The murder became a test case for what in Sweden later became known as hate crime.

Downturn LGD: On a More Conservative LGD for Economic Decline Periods

The purpose of this paper is to identify a relevant statistical correlation between rate of default (RD) and loss given default (LGD) in a major Brazilian financial institution’s Retail Home Equity exposure rated using the IRB approach, so that we may find a causal relationship between the two risk parameters. Therefore, according to Central Bank of Brazil requirements, a methodology is applied to add conservatism to the estimation of the Loss Given Default (LGD) parameter at times of economic decline, reflected as increased rates of default.

Migrant remittances in times of economic decline: Coping with protectionist policies in Slovenia

Faced with financial crisis and recession, many countries may promote return migration as a measure to combat economic decline. This affects the transnational migration and thus likely to contribute to a decline in remittance flows. At the same time, human agency proves the resilience of the migrants’ coping strategies, since many migrant workers – though faced with heightened pressure and increased precariousness of their positions – nevertheless persevere and thus sustain the flow of remittances. Drawing on biographical narrative interviews with migrants in Slovenia, this article analyses migrants’ position in the time of financial crisis and critically evaluates the governmental measures that restrict the migrants’ access to the labour market. We argue that protectionist policies are short-sighted and, rather than combating the crisis, they force many workers into even more vulnerable positions.

Davids Still Exist among Goliaths: A Story of Modest Self-Access Centre Establishment and Survival in Times of Economic Decline

In a university setting, self-access language learning centres (SALLC)s are generally created out of the need to support students and other members of the university and extra-mural community to explore and expand their language learning horizons. The nature of SALLCs depends on the needs of each institution and its community. They range from fully self-directed to semi-guided, from virtual online-self-access centres (OSAC)s to real centres, with traditional print, and more contemporary electronic and digital materials. While much of the research so far has dealt with different aspects of SALLCs, particularly of prominent ones, this article reports on the case of a small-scale SALLC, which was designed and developed, and which has operated, during difficult circumstances. This report describes how despite the administrative and financial constraints faced during the establishment of the host university and language centre, current theories and practices in SALLC were still taken into account. Also, despite these difficulties and the economic constraints being endured by the country as a whole, a number of strategies were implemented enabling the SALLC to be accessible to all students, with a view to promoting both autonomy and lifelong learning. The data used consisted of field notes collected during the period of operation as well as results from an evaluation of the use of different learning pathways on offer. Finally, the challenges still being faced as the SALLC enters a new period in its development are outlined.

The ‘Lower Classes Are Very Hard Readers’: Kidderminster Municipal Library 1855–1856

This article looks at the library borrowing records of Kidderminster Municipal Library at a time of economic decline in the main industry of the town — carpet weaving. It illustrates the limitations of the early libraries following the 1850 Public Libraries Act through a local study. It examines how the borrowing records recorded in a surviving issue book reflect trends in the popularity of reading materials and, in particular, growing interest in migration to London and emigration abroad.

Predictors of health behaviors after the economic downturn: A longitudinal study

Economic declines and their associated stress, shortage of financial resources, and changes in available time can impair health behaviors. This study tested the association between change in working hours, change in employment status, and financial strain and health behaviors measured after the 2008 recession after controlling for pre-recession levels of the health behaviors. The moderating influences of demographic factors and pre-recession levels of the health behaviors on the association between change in working hours and employment status and financial strain and the health behaviors were also tested. Participants (N = 3984) were from a longitudinal study of a U.S. Midwestern community-based sample. Regression analyses tested the unique relations between change in hours worked per week, change in employment status, and financial strain and five health behaviors over and above demographic factors and pre-recession levels of the same behavior. Models included predictor by covariate interactions. Participants who reported higher levels of financial strain engaged in lower levels of all but one of the five health behaviors, but there were no significant main effects of a change in the number of hours worked per week or change in employment status. Significant interactions revealed moderation of these relations by demographic characteristics, but findings differed across health behaviors. Financial strain negatively affected engagement in multiple healthy behaviors. Promoting the maintenance of healthy behaviors for disease prevention is an important public health goal during times of economic decline.

Interweaving Caring and Economics in the Context of Place: Experiences of Northern and Rural Women Caregivers

While caregiving in northern, rural and remote communities takes place in the context of conditions unique to smaller communities, caregivers live with social policies that are shaped by urban norms rather than rural realities. In times of economic decline and government cuts rural issues of limited services and infrastructure as well as dependency on a single industry can lead to unemployment, community and family instability, and a decline in health and well-being. During these times caregivers face increased pressure to voluntarily fill the gaps left by service cuts. Research with women caregivers in four communities in northern British Columbia (BC), Canada explores the experiences of caring and the social, geographic, economic and political contexts within which the caregiving occurs. The discourse of economic efficiencies that speaks solely to the monetary value of care is contrasted with the human condition of connectedness and relationships. These two contradictory perspectives are uncovered during interviews with women caregivers and analyzed in the framework of Olena Hankivsky's discussion of an ethic of care.

An Ethical Theory of Corporate Governance History

The present Anglo-American system of corporate control is said to be a random result of market forces, the strong influence of which resulted from a weak state, and undefined principles in the state's economic policy until the 1930s. In contrast, in Continental Europe, strong states with a tendency to interfere with market forces were established. The events resulting in these two divergent systems must be analysed in order to understand what predominant factors catalyzed the development of the current corporate governance structures. Though values other than religious principles are likely to prevail today, this paper posits that religious foundations provide a sound explanation for the developmental path of corporate governance in Anglo-America and Continental Europe. Further, it assesses the impact of such an ethical theory of corporate governance history on contemporary convergence debate. In particular, it asserts that ethical restraints may explain path dependency, and that such an ethical path dependency is more likely in times of economic decline than in times of economic growth. Finally, it holds that, in homogeneous societies, ethics can in many respects substitute for good law.

Resolving Financial Distress: Informal Reorganization in The Netherlands as a Beacon for Policy Makers in the CIS and CEE/SEE Regions?

AbstractIn times of economic decline, increased attention is devoted to companies in financial difficulties. Partly as a result of this basic fact, many countries are currently working (under pressure) to improve existing insolvency legislation. This seems to be largely fuelled—as is the case in The Netherlands—by a strong desire to prevent bankruptcies as much as possible.Statutory legislation aimed at the deferment (or remission) of debt payments is introduced or relaxed in order to provide a fresh start for insolvent companies. An alternative possibility—in the form of informal reorganization—seems often to have been overlooked by legislators. This type of reorganization, therefore, is the focal point in this article.As far as the stimulation of rescue operations is concerned, the authors conclude that legislators must particularly focus their attention on informal reorganization. The thought is that such a policy focus for (member states in) the EU may also be of relevance (in whole or in part) for countries in the CIS/CEE/SEE regions.