Automation’s extensive impact on the labor market and economy is well recognized, but the underlying motivations for its adoption remain understudied. To address this gap, we analyze an original dataset covering 1276 cities across 148 countries, using event history analysis to examine the adoption of automated metro systems. Our research suggests that city governments are driven by status competition in their decisions to automate subway systems. We find that high-status cities are more likely to adopt automation. However, this trend diminishes when cities are preparing to host a mega-event such as the Olympics, indicating that lower-status cities use these events as opportunities to adopt automation technologies. Our finding reveals that status-driven aspirations, manifesting in the spectacle of automation, are a significant motivator for adopting automated technologies, prompting further investigation into the socio-economic factors influencing automation and the symbolic importance of technological advancement across various economic sectors.
{"title":"The spectacle of automation and status aspirations: adoption of automated metro systems around the world, 2000–2020","authors":"Youbin Kang, Jungmyung Kim","doi":"10.1093/ser/mwae016","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/ser/mwae016","url":null,"abstract":"Automation’s extensive impact on the labor market and economy is well recognized, but the underlying motivations for its adoption remain understudied. To address this gap, we analyze an original dataset covering 1276 cities across 148 countries, using event history analysis to examine the adoption of automated metro systems. Our research suggests that city governments are driven by status competition in their decisions to automate subway systems. We find that high-status cities are more likely to adopt automation. However, this trend diminishes when cities are preparing to host a mega-event such as the Olympics, indicating that lower-status cities use these events as opportunities to adopt automation technologies. Our finding reveals that status-driven aspirations, manifesting in the spectacle of automation, are a significant motivator for adopting automated technologies, prompting further investigation into the socio-economic factors influencing automation and the symbolic importance of technological advancement across various economic sectors.","PeriodicalId":47947,"journal":{"name":"Socio-Economic Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2024-03-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140154405","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Arianna Tassinari, Demetrio Panarello, Giorgio Tassinari, Fabrizio Alboni, Ignazio Drudi, Francesco Bagnardi
How do organized economic interests affect the governance of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic? We investigate whether the structural and instrumental power of employer organizations and unions impact upon the stringency of containment measures implemented by governing authorities to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic, focusing on Italy during the first Covid-19 wave of early 2020 as a crucial case. Using Hausman–Taylor panel regression models and original indicators of regional stringency and of unions and employers’ organizations’ efforts to exercise instrumental power via public pressure on social media, we find that the intensity of public pressure by employer organizations is negatively correlated with the stringency of the policy responses implemented by regional authorities to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic, whilst union pressures only show a limited effect. Our findings demonstrate that business pressure and the interplay of economic and class interests are constitutive of the governance of a crucial social and public health phenomenon such as the Covid-19 pandemic.
{"title":"Business, as usual? The impact of organized economic interests on the stringency of Covid-19 containment policies: insights from the Italian case","authors":"Arianna Tassinari, Demetrio Panarello, Giorgio Tassinari, Fabrizio Alboni, Ignazio Drudi, Francesco Bagnardi","doi":"10.1093/ser/mwae013","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/ser/mwae013","url":null,"abstract":"How do organized economic interests affect the governance of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic? We investigate whether the structural and instrumental power of employer organizations and unions impact upon the stringency of containment measures implemented by governing authorities to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic, focusing on Italy during the first Covid-19 wave of early 2020 as a crucial case. Using Hausman–Taylor panel regression models and original indicators of regional stringency and of unions and employers’ organizations’ efforts to exercise instrumental power via public pressure on social media, we find that the intensity of public pressure by employer organizations is negatively correlated with the stringency of the policy responses implemented by regional authorities to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic, whilst union pressures only show a limited effect. Our findings demonstrate that business pressure and the interplay of economic and class interests are constitutive of the governance of a crucial social and public health phenomenon such as the Covid-19 pandemic.","PeriodicalId":47947,"journal":{"name":"Socio-Economic Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2024-03-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140071176","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Over the past decades, many European welfare states failed to reduce poverty. We examine two coinciding trends: the inability to lower poverty rates, and the growth of immigrant populations. Immigrants have become the main contributor to population growth in Europe and have higher poverty risks than natives. This contribution quantifies to what extent national poverty rates were driven by population change. We present a Kitagawa–Blinder–Oaxaca decomposition of national poverty rates in 17 western European countries between 2005 and 2019 using EU-SILC data. The effect of shifting EU and non-EU immigrant populations on poverty rates is heterogeneous: while poverty in some countries increased substantially due to compositional changes, for the majority the effect was small or negligible, including in countries with above-average growth of foreign-born populations. Overall, in two-thirds of country–years changes in the population composition were not the main driver of national poverty rates.
{"title":"How much does immigration contribute to national poverty rates? A decomposition analysis for 17 European welfare states","authors":"David de Smalen, Jan Van Bavel, Wim Van Lancker","doi":"10.1093/ser/mwae012","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/ser/mwae012","url":null,"abstract":"Over the past decades, many European welfare states failed to reduce poverty. We examine two coinciding trends: the inability to lower poverty rates, and the growth of immigrant populations. Immigrants have become the main contributor to population growth in Europe and have higher poverty risks than natives. This contribution quantifies to what extent national poverty rates were driven by population change. We present a Kitagawa–Blinder–Oaxaca decomposition of national poverty rates in 17 western European countries between 2005 and 2019 using EU-SILC data. The effect of shifting EU and non-EU immigrant populations on poverty rates is heterogeneous: while poverty in some countries increased substantially due to compositional changes, for the majority the effect was small or negligible, including in countries with above-average growth of foreign-born populations. Overall, in two-thirds of country–years changes in the population composition were not the main driver of national poverty rates.","PeriodicalId":47947,"journal":{"name":"Socio-Economic Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2024-03-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140071174","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This article analyzes the effects of sanctions for unemployed recipients of the social assistance benefit in Germany. I conduct an analysis using administrative data from 2012 to 2018, applying a dynamic entropy balancing approach. In contrast to most previous analyses of benefit sanction effects, I analyse outcomes over a longer period and assess effects on various dimensions of employment quality, including education (mis)match. The results show, in line with previous research, that benefit sanctions increase the employment probability in the first months after treatment. In the long run, the employment probability and employment quality of sanctioned benefit recipients are lower than those for the comparison group of non-sanctioned benefit recipients, indicating long-lasting negative effects. The negative consequences of benefit sanctions for employment quality are hence not temporary, but persistent.
{"title":"Persistent or temporary? Effects of social assistance benefit sanctions on employment quality","authors":"Markus A Wolf","doi":"10.1093/ser/mwad073","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/ser/mwad073","url":null,"abstract":"This article analyzes the effects of sanctions for unemployed recipients of the social assistance benefit in Germany. I conduct an analysis using administrative data from 2012 to 2018, applying a dynamic entropy balancing approach. In contrast to most previous analyses of benefit sanction effects, I analyse outcomes over a longer period and assess effects on various dimensions of employment quality, including education (mis)match. The results show, in line with previous research, that benefit sanctions increase the employment probability in the first months after treatment. In the long run, the employment probability and employment quality of sanctioned benefit recipients are lower than those for the comparison group of non-sanctioned benefit recipients, indicating long-lasting negative effects. The negative consequences of benefit sanctions for employment quality are hence not temporary, but persistent.","PeriodicalId":47947,"journal":{"name":"Socio-Economic Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2024-03-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140071296","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
We tested the theory of relative deprivation in the context of the Polish labour market during the post-crisis period from 2009 to 2015. This period witnessed the highest incidence of temporary contracts in the European Union, providing novel evidence on the causal relationship between the type of employment contract and political attitudes. Our findings suggest that temporary workers are more supportive of income redistribution but less supportive of democracy. Additionally, a shift from permanent to temporary contracts among prime-aged employees leads to a decrease in their support for democracy. Although this effect is modest in magnitude, the article points to an important mechanism influencing shifts in political attitudes. Our findings suggest that the effect of temporary employment on political attitudes is more pronounced among socio-demographic groups less accustomed to unstable employment.
{"title":"Feeling disadvantaged? Type of employment contract and political attitudes","authors":"Kseniia Gatskova, Michał Pilc, Maciej Beręsewicz","doi":"10.1093/ser/mwae011","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/ser/mwae011","url":null,"abstract":"We tested the theory of relative deprivation in the context of the Polish labour market during the post-crisis period from 2009 to 2015. This period witnessed the highest incidence of temporary contracts in the European Union, providing novel evidence on the causal relationship between the type of employment contract and political attitudes. Our findings suggest that temporary workers are more supportive of income redistribution but less supportive of democracy. Additionally, a shift from permanent to temporary contracts among prime-aged employees leads to a decrease in their support for democracy. Although this effect is modest in magnitude, the article points to an important mechanism influencing shifts in political attitudes. Our findings suggest that the effect of temporary employment on political attitudes is more pronounced among socio-demographic groups less accustomed to unstable employment.","PeriodicalId":47947,"journal":{"name":"Socio-Economic Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2024-03-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140071339","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The association between flexible work arrangements (FWA) and worker well-being has been extensively investigated. However, the Covid-19 pandemic has generated a new phenomenon where workers return to inflexible workstyles after experiencing FWA. This article examines the consequence of this ‘flexibility loss’ with attention to telework and job satisfaction (JS). Using panel data collected by the Japanese government in 2020–2021, regressions and generalized structural equation modeling reveal (a) workers who frequently telework exhibit higher JS in both years; (b) on average, losing telework does not affect JS; and (c) workers who experienced telework-related challenges in 2020 and continue to work remotely next year report lower JS, whereas those who lost telework opportunities possess higher JS. These results suggest that a new type of labor stratification emerges based on the compound of workers’ FWA experience (upsides or downsides) and their FWA usage (continuation or withdrawal), which affects well-being either functionally or adversely.
{"title":"Flexibility loss and worker well-being: what happens to job satisfaction when workers lose their telework usage?","authors":"Satoshi Araki, Jeremy Rappleye","doi":"10.1093/ser/mwae009","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/ser/mwae009","url":null,"abstract":"The association between flexible work arrangements (FWA) and worker well-being has been extensively investigated. However, the Covid-19 pandemic has generated a new phenomenon where workers return to inflexible workstyles after experiencing FWA. This article examines the consequence of this ‘flexibility loss’ with attention to telework and job satisfaction (JS). Using panel data collected by the Japanese government in 2020–2021, regressions and generalized structural equation modeling reveal (a) workers who frequently telework exhibit higher JS in both years; (b) on average, losing telework does not affect JS; and (c) workers who experienced telework-related challenges in 2020 and continue to work remotely next year report lower JS, whereas those who lost telework opportunities possess higher JS. These results suggest that a new type of labor stratification emerges based on the compound of workers’ FWA experience (upsides or downsides) and their FWA usage (continuation or withdrawal), which affects well-being either functionally or adversely.","PeriodicalId":47947,"journal":{"name":"Socio-Economic Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2024-03-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140046015","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Previous literature on the nexus between land, finance and business power has not systematically analysed the role of the liquidity of businesses’ assets. Combining process tracing with a comparative design, this study contributes a perspective on the role of standardized assets for business power. It investigates land acquisition tax reforms asking why institutional landowners’ structural and instrumental power was successful in Sweden but not in Germany. In Germany, a reform was passed in 2021 which disadvantages the private market institutional landowners compared to their public counterparts. This study argues that the standardization of landed property as liquid stock enabled publicly listed property companies to unite with other stock market actors, increasing their power resources and allowing them to successfully promote their interests due to the liquidity demands of their assets. This stands in contrast to the poorer reception of the liquidity of private market actors in their land-related transactions.
{"title":"Losing ground: business power, standardized assets and the regulation of land acquisition taxes in Germany and Sweden","authors":"Hanna Doose","doi":"10.1093/ser/mwae003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/ser/mwae003","url":null,"abstract":"Previous literature on the nexus between land, finance and business power has not systematically analysed the role of the liquidity of businesses’ assets. Combining process tracing with a comparative design, this study contributes a perspective on the role of standardized assets for business power. It investigates land acquisition tax reforms asking why institutional landowners’ structural and instrumental power was successful in Sweden but not in Germany. In Germany, a reform was passed in 2021 which disadvantages the private market institutional landowners compared to their public counterparts. This study argues that the standardization of landed property as liquid stock enabled publicly listed property companies to unite with other stock market actors, increasing their power resources and allowing them to successfully promote their interests due to the liquidity demands of their assets. This stands in contrast to the poorer reception of the liquidity of private market actors in their land-related transactions.","PeriodicalId":47947,"journal":{"name":"Socio-Economic Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2024-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140036237","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This article investigates how the type of elite to which a person belongs and their intergenerational contextual experiences are associated with attitudes towards inequality among elite individuals. We propose that membership of the economic elite and access to private schools, higher education business schools and affluent residential areas may contribute to the development of views that favour inequality. Using unique survey data collected in 2018 from a sample of 416 individuals belonging to Chile’s economic, political and cultural elites, we construct an additive score to measure attitudes towards inequality. Results of our regression analyses indicate that individuals belonging to the economic and political elite are more tolerant of inequality than members of the cultural elite. Moreover, intergenerational experiences at both private schools and higher education business schools significantly contribute to the formation of attitudes that favour inequality. These contextual experiences also relate to significant attitudinal variations within all elite groups.
{"title":"What makes elites more or less egalitarian? Variations in attitudes towards inequality within the economic, political and cultural elites in Chile","authors":"Rafael Carranza, Dante Contreras, Gabriel Otero","doi":"10.1093/ser/mwae008","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/ser/mwae008","url":null,"abstract":"This article investigates how the type of elite to which a person belongs and their intergenerational contextual experiences are associated with attitudes towards inequality among elite individuals. We propose that membership of the economic elite and access to private schools, higher education business schools and affluent residential areas may contribute to the development of views that favour inequality. Using unique survey data collected in 2018 from a sample of 416 individuals belonging to Chile’s economic, political and cultural elites, we construct an additive score to measure attitudes towards inequality. Results of our regression analyses indicate that individuals belonging to the economic and political elite are more tolerant of inequality than members of the cultural elite. Moreover, intergenerational experiences at both private schools and higher education business schools significantly contribute to the formation of attitudes that favour inequality. These contextual experiences also relate to significant attitudinal variations within all elite groups.","PeriodicalId":47947,"journal":{"name":"Socio-Economic Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2024-02-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140045969","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Significant efforts have been made to promote competition in public service sectors, expanding the reach of competition into non-economic fields. Surprisingly little is, however, known about the process by which competition is introduced into such settings. We examine this process, focusing on a Swedish municipality’s efforts to implement competition for students among its schools. By incorporating recent theoretical advancements regarding competition as an organized relationship, and utilizing a combination of qualitative and quantitative data, we shed light on the organizational efforts undertaken by politicians and bureaucrats to teach their schools to compete. We find that introducing competition can be complex, time-consuming and that it requires substantial organizational commitment. We highlight the existence of varying perceptions of competition among different stakeholders following its introduction. These findings suggest the need for future research that addresses questions about the costs of, and interests behind, introducing competition, as well as questions about responsibility for the subsequent effects of competition.
{"title":"Teaching schools to compete: the case of Swedish upper secondary education","authors":"Stefan Arora-Jonsson, Peter Edlund","doi":"10.1093/ser/mwad074","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/ser/mwad074","url":null,"abstract":"Significant efforts have been made to promote competition in public service sectors, expanding the reach of competition into non-economic fields. Surprisingly little is, however, known about the process by which competition is introduced into such settings. We examine this process, focusing on a Swedish municipality’s efforts to implement competition for students among its schools. By incorporating recent theoretical advancements regarding competition as an organized relationship, and utilizing a combination of qualitative and quantitative data, we shed light on the organizational efforts undertaken by politicians and bureaucrats to teach their schools to compete. We find that introducing competition can be complex, time-consuming and that it requires substantial organizational commitment. We highlight the existence of varying perceptions of competition among different stakeholders following its introduction. These findings suggest the need for future research that addresses questions about the costs of, and interests behind, introducing competition, as well as questions about responsibility for the subsequent effects of competition.","PeriodicalId":47947,"journal":{"name":"Socio-Economic Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2024-02-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139765452","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Generating momentum for activist campaigns on complicated economic issues is difficult, especially in a transnational context. So, how did activists get action on tax justice and create a movement that has changed global tax policy? Drawing on 20 years of para-ethnographic fieldwork with the Tax Justice Network, we suggest that activists initially engaged in ‘identity switching’ tactics to access professional or policy arenas from a footing in one identity, to then switch identities to activate policy shifts. A first-generation leveraged multiple professional identities to access forums, build credibility and introduce a tax lexicon to activists and policymakers. These tactics were not, however, replicable, leading a second generation to concentrate on ‘identity fixing’, including professionalization and a tightening of organizational strategy over access and activation points. Here we theorize identity switching and fixing as underappreciated micro-foundations of transnational activism and demonstrate their importance for global economic justice.
{"title":"Getting action for global economic justice: the micro-foundations of transnational activism","authors":"Leonard Seabrooke, Duncan Wigan","doi":"10.1093/ser/mwad077","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/ser/mwad077","url":null,"abstract":"Generating momentum for activist campaigns on complicated economic issues is difficult, especially in a transnational context. So, how did activists get action on tax justice and create a movement that has changed global tax policy? Drawing on 20 years of para-ethnographic fieldwork with the Tax Justice Network, we suggest that activists initially engaged in ‘identity switching’ tactics to access professional or policy arenas from a footing in one identity, to then switch identities to activate policy shifts. A first-generation leveraged multiple professional identities to access forums, build credibility and introduce a tax lexicon to activists and policymakers. These tactics were not, however, replicable, leading a second generation to concentrate on ‘identity fixing’, including professionalization and a tightening of organizational strategy over access and activation points. Here we theorize identity switching and fixing as underappreciated micro-foundations of transnational activism and demonstrate their importance for global economic justice.","PeriodicalId":47947,"journal":{"name":"Socio-Economic Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2024-01-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139645829","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
京公网安备 11010802042870号
京ICP备2023020795号-1
扫码关注我们
求助内容：
应助结果提醒方式：