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Although research on European education policy has aptly focused on the role of supranational and intergovernmental actors, less attention has been devoted to its analysis as a policy arena in which legitimacy can be created and power can be exerted in sophisticated ways. Specifically, the role of non-state actors as agenda-setters for European education and employment policies is still unexplored. By combining a neo-Gramscian approach of political economy with Jochim and May's boundary spanning policy regimes' perspective, which captures activity across policy subsystems that seek to manage 'wicked' policy problems, this paper looks at the role of private and business actors, and specifically the European Round Table of Industrialists (ERT), in European education during the 1980s and 1990s. The findings show how this period can be considered a foundational period for the emergence of a BSPR in education and employment, and in which specific goals and directions were set out in the European education agenda more fine-tuned with employment goals and industry's needs. Moreover, the paper illustrates why private and non-state actors shape boundary policy spanning regimes at the nexus of education and employment, which in this case reflected the economic interests and preferences of European transnational companies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In search of a way to bring back the positive aspects of an internship into the curriculum, TU Delft identified serious games as a potential solution. The literature studied showed that games could increase motivation and understanding, leading to improve knowledge retention. This paper has brought these insights together in a framework identifying the benefits that contribute to knowledge retention but also the requirements and risks for the application of serious games to be addressed. These insights were used to explain the success of a longstanding business game course for advanced students first. Next was the development of a virtual reality practice in a first-year course to replace the lost internship. In this case, knowledge retention was improved significantly, albeit only by 5%. Furthermore, in light of the developed framework, the VR simulation is a more balanced approach with fewer risks compared to the more extensive master course. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding how to make the world a better place requires interdisciplinary knowledge. Public policy analysis helps policymakers arrive at informed policy decisions. The policy analysis process involves public problem definition and data collection, stakeholder identification, a rationale for government involvement, evaluation criteria, identification and analysis of policy alternatives, and a recommendation. Economics informs not only the identification of market failures but also how we think about public problems, evaluate relevant research, identify policy alternatives, weigh objective criteria (costs, benefits, equity), and select optimal solutions. Students of policy analysis gain experience through in-class examples of contemporary topics and an iterative policy paper, where each student selects a public problem, conducts research, and writes an analysis. Students become effective consumers and beginning producers of policy analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study reviewed papers published in the Web of Science database from 2014 to 2020 in SSCI indexed journals on learner- and instructor-related challenges for learners' engagement in MOOCs based on the Technology-Based Learning Model. The focus is on research design, instructor-related factors that foster and frustrate learner engagement, learner-related engagement hindering factors, and the foci of investigation. In terms of design, quantitative designs were implemented most, followed by mixed method designs. As for instructor-related factors that foster learners' engagement, focusing on learners' SRL skills, learner-learner interaction, intrinsic motivation, and providing timely feedback were mentioned by most studies. As for instructor-related frustrating factors, poor MOOC designs, which lack learner interaction and motivating strategies, instructors' lack of experience, and time for preparation, were identified in a number of studies. As for the learner-related factors which hinder engagement, lack of SRL skills, lack of adequate background skills, and economic barriers were identified as the hindering factors in a number of studies. As for the foci of investigation, motivation/interest, learning strategies, interactions, and engagement are the most identified foci of the studies. A proposed learner engagement MOOC framework, discussion based on the results, followed by implications for future research directions and conclusions are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Political measures during the COVID-19 pandemic forced consumers to cancel flights, resulting in significant decreases of their individual greenhouse gas emissions. This paper introduces the concept of imposed flying sufficiency and asks whether this could lead to a flying rebound. Imposed flying sufficiency describes that external factors, such as political measures during the pandemic, force consumers to reduce their flights. The term flying rebound refers to the gap between the emissions that could be potentially saved due to flying sufficiency and the actualized emissions savings due to adjusted flying behavior. A major contribution of this paper is combining the economic mechanisms with moral-psychological aspects of rebound effects in an experimental study. In a 2 (with/without economic hint) × 2 (with/without ecological hint) between-subjects experimental study, this paper analyzes how the awareness of monetary savings and the awareness of ecological consequences affect consumers' flying intentions. The study reveals an interaction effect of these two aspects: While awareness of the monetary savings will increase flying intentions, awareness of the ecological consequences will buffer this effect. Furthermore, the degree to which consumers feel flight shame, strongly moderates the economic and ecological hints' impact. Finally, the paper provides implications for managers and policymakers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Gaza Strip is dependent on external aid to deliver basic services, including water and sanitation. Such services are not sustainable due to the Israeli occupation and the limited financial and technical capacities of service providers and the state. This paper examines the incentives of stakeholders in delivering sanitation services in the Gaza Strip through a qualitative institutional economics analysis of literature supplemented with qualitative key informant interviews. External aid is crucial to deliver basic services in the Gaza Strip. However, this has created a dependency that undermines the sustainability of sanitation services. Donor agencies often prioritise capital expenditure on visible infrastructure, such as wastewater treatment, without addressing its long and short-term operational needs; hence the Gaza Strip's needs are continually addressed as an emergency response. The Palestinian Authority and Hamas de facto governments lack sovereignty over the Gaza Strip and Palestine. Therefore, they also lack the capacity and incentives to create an enabling environment for delivering safely managed sanitation. This paper contributes to development policy literature, the politics of infrastructure and wider politics of settler colonialism and siege basic services such as water and sanitation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Has a post-neoliberal policy regime emerged from the challenges to neoliberalism that have accompanied the rise of nationalism and populism in some Eastern and Central European countries? Why has the political organization of these challenges to neoliberalism endured in some countries but not in others? By drawing on a mix of primary and secondary sources culled from the institutional, political and economic realities of Hungary and Romania, this paper makes two claims. First, the article sugegsts that these transformations have amounted to a distinctive variety of neoliberalism that can be dubbed 'national-neoliberalism.' At its core one finds the slightly modified old goals of neoliberal orthodoxy embedded into a protective cocoon of orthodox and unorthodox economic policy instruments and institutions. The second claim of the paper is that the political organization of the national-neoliberal project was resilient in Hungary but not in Romania. The evidence suggests that this variation owes not only to the fact that the 'national' elements of national-neoliberalism had protections against the bond markets. While this factor was indeed critical, the resilience of Hungarian national-neoliberalism seems to have been made possible by the fact that its proponents could manage a broader social bloc and deploy techno-political capabilities that bolstered their political power relative to that of challengers. In contrast, the challengers to orthodox ("globalist") neoliberalism did not posess these characteristics in Romania. As such, the paper rejects the hypothesis of a nationalist-heterodox successor to neoliberalism and takes a first cut at a theory of policy resilience for national-neoliberalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper summarises evidence from a rapid review of international findings on the effects of cash transfers. The learnings were used to inform the design of urgent response social protection during the COVID-19 pandemic. The summary demonstrates that in response to widespread disruption, cash transfers have broad benefits for children, adults, and the wider economy. First, cash grants for child support have been shown to reduce hunger, increase dietary diversity, and reduce secondary school dropout. Transfers may also reduce child malnutrition. Second, there is some evidence that cash grants could encourage job search and economic activity. By contrast, there is little evidence that grants discourage adults from working, or increase spending on temptation goods (alcohol, tobacco). Third, for the wider economy, there is little evidence that grants will increase inflation, while some studies find that transfers create a fiscal multiplier and stimulate the local economy. Finally, we review evidence on design considerations and find that unconditional cash transfers (UCTs) are particularly well suited to rapid response when compared to conditional cash transfers (CCTs). Outside crisis settings, there is some evidence that getting recipients to enrol children in school or attend health check-ups improves these outcomes more than unconditional grants. However, the differences are small and the additional costs of implementing conditions outweigh these benefits in circumstances where response is required urgently. Comparing evidence on cash grants and food vouchers suggests both achieve similar improvements in nutrition; however, cash transfers are likely to be more cost-effective for governments, especially where a system to distribute grants is already set up. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reviews and summarizes six economics papers written as part of a project bringing together economists and anthropologists on conceptions and analyses of wealth. The project paired economists and anthropologists in order to illuminate differences in method, analytic technique, and disciplinary framings between the two fields. Anthropologists comment on the economists' papers from their discipline's point of view. The overall project was intended to increase understanding and to encourage future collaborations and learning between the two fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How do central bankers cope with the uncomfortable fact that there are significant limits to their expertise without losing authority? Drawing on Steve Rayner's concept of 'uncomfortable knowledge', this paper undertakes a historical examination of the early years of Paul Volcker's role at the head of the Federal Reserve, and then traces the ways in which the uncomfortable fact of ignorance has been dealt with in the years since then: from the reflexive and experimental approach of the 1980s, through the dismissal and displacement of the Great Moderation, to the exceptionalism and new experimentalism of the post-2008 era. In each of these eras, I argue that central banks face a visibility dilemma: their expertise must be visible enough to demonstrate their mastery but not so conspicuous that the often ad hoc and uncertain nature of their craft generates political push-back about their role and authority. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The modern history of Nepal started after the Kingdom of Nepal was formed during the 1760s through a series of military battles, which is now known as a national unification campaign, led by Prithvi Narayan Shah. The history of mass education, however, started during the 1950s when a political uprising overthrew autocratic Rana regime that had ruled the country for more than a century. This paper aims to explore Nepal's educational history by analysing key educational policy documents produced by the Government of Nepal as well as its major donor the World Bank from 1950 to 2020. The paper uses international political economy as a theoretical framework and critical policy sociology as a methodological approach. The key argument of the paper is that, since some of the problematic assumptions of modernism, nationalism, and globalism have guided Nepal's policy agendas, its education system has not addressed multifarious challenges faced by its citizens. The theoretical and methodological approaches taken for exploring the interconnections between education, economy, and politics will be helpful for future researchers to understand the significance of education not only for economic development but also for the institutionalization of democracy in both developed and developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The quality of reporting of health economic evaluations for rehabilitation services has been questioned, limiting the ability to provide accurate recommendations for health decisions. To document current overall reporting quality of the published literature for economic evaluations of rehabilitation services using the Consolidated Health Economic Evaluation Reporting Standards (CHEERS), and to identify factors that could influence the quality of reporting. Electronic literature searches were performed using MEDLINE and the NHS Economic Evaluations Database via the Cochrane Library. Prospective rehabilitation economic evaluation articles from 2013 to 2020 were selected. Data were extracted by one reviewer and independently verified by a second reviewer. Title and abstracts of 3,454 papers were reviewed. 204 papers were selected for a full text screening. From those, 129 potential papers were identified to be included in this study. Only two databases were used in data collection, and papers were selected from 2013 to 2020 only. Inconsistent reporting in health economic evaluations of rehabilitation services has continued, despite the availability of the CHEERS checklist. The methods of the analyzed studies were frequently under-reported, thereby creating challenges in determining whether the results reported were valid. Variable quality of reporting has been identified in rehabilitation research assessing cost-effectiveness. To grow as an area of expertise, the field of rehabilitation must produce research demonstrating its cost-effectiveness. Both rehabilitation clinicians and funders would benefit from full and transparent information to identify optimal solutions for effective and efficient care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of chronic problems with high housing costs, rent regulation has returned to the forefront of policy debate in several countries. This paper addresses three distinct questions related to rent regulation and the role of evidence. First, what are the drivers of policy change on rent regulation and what role does evidence play in shaping change? Second, what is the nature of the evidence base on rent regulation and the key messages that emerge from it? Third, how is this evidence base transmitted into policy debate? We take the example of the recent UK policy debate to examine this issue. The paper discusses the case of current policy development in Scotland to reflect upon policy drivers and the role of evidence. The paper combines insights from a recent evidence review and a decade-long policy ethnography. Not only does research indicate that evidence has played a limited role as a driver for policy change on rent regulation but the nature of the evidence base is such that there are limits on the guidance it can offer and the extent to which policy can in principle be rooted in evidence. The case of Scotland illustrates the forces at play in shaping rent regulation policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Taking the critical political economy approach, this paper continues Dallas Smythe's and Yuezhi Zhao's inquiries into technological development in contemporary China. It examines the trends and struggles of the "BAT" model—named after the three most influential Internet companies in the country, Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent—in China's digital expansion, which has been intimately connected to transnational financial capitalism in the past decade. Reflecting on this expansion's all-encompassing socio-political consequences, a blind spot in the successful BAT story, the paper examines whether the BAT model is sustainable for China's social development and, if not, the opportunities and alternatives lie ahead. The paper argues, in view of BAT's financial and infrastructural turn, that how China's ICT sector could move beyond a capital-driven mode of growth and reorient technologies for public and social development is a critical epistemological question. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper compares Japan's negotiations on regulatory convergence with the United States in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and with the European Union (EU) in the Japan-EU Economic Partnership Agreement (JEEPA), focusing on the motor vehicle and medical device sectors. Despite the TPP being concluded first, JEEPA moved Japan closer to EU-defined or influenced standards in both sectors. This was primarily the result of path dependence created by existing interstate institutional arrangements in motor vehicles and by transnational cooperation in medical devices, rather than of the bilateral structure of the JEEPA talks producing more focused negotiating objectives and outcomes. The case studies suggest that PTAs can play a meaningful role in advancing regulatory convergence, but mostly as locking-in mechanisms for deals reached in other forums. Therefore, simultaneous PTA negotiations provide little impetus for regulatory triadic closure in the absence of a well-established path of regulatory cooperation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The common fiscal rules in the EMU constitute one of the main economic integration pillars, with the fiscal governance framework in the eurozone having been significantly reformed over the economic crisis period. Changes focusing on creating fiscal stability conditions, such as the national Fiscal Councils, the European Semester, the national Medium-Term Budgetary Frameworks (MTBFs), the debt brake and the automatic fiscal correction mechanism (budget cutter) were adopted through the legislative measures introduced by the Six Pack, the Two Pack and the Treaty on Stability, Coordination and Governance in the EMU (TSCG). This paper examines both the formal and actual response of Greece to the eurozone fiscal governance reforms. Greece seems to promote the formal implementation of these reforms by transposing them into its national law, but the paper's conclusions confirm that there is a deviation between reaching the defined goals and actually implementing the reforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the rise of online education as part of the college curriculum, numerous business and law schools have started offering courses online. The COVID-19 pandemic will also be a catalyst for more institutions of higher learning offering online or hybrid courses as part of their menu of choices. While there is a growing literature on teaching online, there is no information on the challenges that come with teaching an undergraduate online law and economics course. This paper deals with the development and challenges of teaching an online law and economics course and makes brief comparisons to a face-to-face course. The paper reflects on what was done in a recent online course with a focus on online discussions and reflects on what could be done in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Happiness is an increasingly prominent topic across academia, with a burgeoning array of research into its different aspects. Among the most dynamic and interdisciplinary work in this arena are studies exploring the myriad factors that influence it. These span multiple topics and fields of enquiry, from physiology and identity to politics and economics, covering analyses at both individual and national levels. This paper offers a comprehensive overview of such work, identifying seven overarching 'conditions' (in themselves multifaceted) that contribute towards the complex creation of happiness: temperament; health; demographics; relationships and communities; culture; economics and equality; and governance. Theoretically, these are conceived as constituting the 'multidimensional conditionality' of happiness (i.e. conditions that contribute to its arising, which interact in complex ways). The paper also highlights issues with current scholarship, providing a stimulus for further work on this important topic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the effectiveness of liberalization policy on the intercity coach market in England and Wales and evaluates its impact in promoting competition and enhancing welfare. The paper adds to the current literature by assessing this policy focusing on natural monopolies, deriving a structural model of the industry and using web-scraped key market-level data in the study. Regression analysis and descriptive statistics suggest peripheral routes with a small market size are natural monopolies, where passengers pay higher prices. We estimate a structural model, currently absent from the literature, which shows that these routes are characterized by lower welfare levels. The model allows us to simulate a policy promoting competition on such routes showing that a regulator could generate net welfare gains by implementing a more competitive equilibrium on these routes. This paper confirms the dominant conclusion that unregulated coach industries detrimentally consolidate, as demonstrated in other European markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article identifies new arrangements between the state and non-state actors in the public sector, one that extends current understandings of education privatisation, the transformation of public services 'by substitution' and, specifically theories of the 'shadow state'. Drawing on data from the Political Economy of Teacher Education (PETE) project, the paper's context is the current situation of post-qualification teacher development in England and its point of departure the Teaching and Leadership Innovation Fund (TLIF) initiative, in the wider context of Conservative political interests in promoting 'social mobility' through enhancing 'teacher quality'. Through a political economy analysis of public records, course information, Freedom of Information (FOI) requests and interviews, the paper offers an emerging typology of enterprises to describe the organisations that won TLIF funding to provide Continuing Professional Development (CPD) for teachers in designated 'Opportunity Areas'. Further, the paper extends available theorisations of the shadow state by identifying three kinds of shadow state structure – autonomous, intermediate and co-created – in relation to CPD provision under TLIF. This provisional identification is offered for critical examination beyond the immediate context of English CPD policy. The paper argues that these different relations of power and interdependence represent a new political economy of teacher development in England. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Norway is widely accepted as a global leader in peacemaking, due to its lengthy track record of involvement in complex peace processes. Its predilection for peacemaking is usually interpreted as a form of 'status-seeking' by a smaller state, aimed at enhancing Norway's influence and reputation in the international system. However, this perception offers a limited view and obscures other motivations that drive Norway to peacemaking. Aimed at addressing this gap, this paper dissects Norwegian peacemaking efforts in Myanmar between 2011 and 2019. The paper utilises a critical political economy lens to uncover the deeper motivations underpinning Norwegian peacemaking, drawing on new interview fieldwork with diverse stakeholders in Myanmar's peace process. The paper finds that material interests, including the desire to access new markets in the Global South, have played a significant role in influencing Norwegian peacemaking, highlighting the instrumental potential of 'status-seeking' in foreign policy. Concerningly, this strategy has served the interests of dominant power groups in Myanmar, contributing to the subordination of minority actors, thus compromising their engagement and revealing an image of Norway that belies constructivist perceptions of its status as a moral or humanitarian 'great power'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a fast-changing world, this study poses a simple question: is it time to start looking at sport in a different way? Thus far, utilitarian and neoclassical economic thinking has dominated sport management scholarship; however, here it is asked: should scholars now be thinking in terms of a new geopolitical economy of sport? This is a commentary paper based upon pieces of literature drawn from sport management, geography, politics and economics. The submission contends that scholarly activity in sport needs to be reoriented towards a new perspective – the geopolitical economy of sport. Whilst not dismissing the relevance of existing utilitarian or neoclassical perspectives, it is argued in this study that how scholars conventionally view sport must change to maintain the relevance of their research and scholarship. In addition to exploring the implications of conceiving sport as a geopolitical economy, the following five areas are identified in which there are significant implications (hence further research is needed): Sport as an outcome of geography; Sport as a focus for soft power, diplomacy and trade; Sport as a networked geopolitically economic activity; Sport as the basis for achieving national competitive advantage; Sport as a means of acquiring resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Clinton administration’s drive to enact reform in Ukraine during the 1990s was viewed at the time as being necessary for the nation’s revitalization and re-integration into Western Europe. Decades later, these policies have been critiqued for antagonizing the Kremlin, causing it to seek political control over its former satellite. This paper addresses the viability of the Clinton administration’s efforts and the reasons for their ultimate failure. It finds that despite its best intentions, the administration’s economic strategy faced unanticipated resistance from the Kremlin, as long-standing ties with Kiev undermined US-led efforts for economic and political reform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wellbeing is an increasingly prominent topic across academia, including analyses of the myriad factors that influence it. Of these, perhaps the most prominent is economics, with a relatively-well substantiated link, especially at lower levels of income. However, most work has been limited to select measures (usually life evaluation) and/or populations (usually Western nations). This paper offers an expansive approach, exploring associations between income and a selection of 31 items pertaining to wellbeing in the Gallup World Poll over 3 years (2020–2022), covering 386,654 people in 142 countries. Significantly, on every single variable, participants with higher incomes fare better than those with lower incomes. However, there are also many interesting nuances when filtering the results through various demographic considerations, including comparing participants in terms of global regions, sex, age, and level of education. Together, these nuances paint a complex picture of the impact of economics on wellbeing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On-demand work applications (ODWAs), a type of digital platforms (DPs), are technology-enabled intermediaries for gig workers. In this paper, we study these platforms and their impact on women belonging to the low socio-economic section in a developing economy. These women act as primary unpaid workers while being expected to make an economic contribution. Hence, they suffer from time scarcity where they need to find mechanisms to generate economic success from the limited time they have, in a largely informal economy. We employed the theoretical lens of affordances to delineate the affordances that are provided by the various features of ODWAs and their impact on life satisfaction of women. We conducted a mixed method study using interviews of 20 female gig workers, supplemented by a survey of 927 workers on one of the largest ODWAs in India. Our analysis points to the sense of identity and individuality that these platforms provide as well as lowering the market boundaries for greater inclusion. Our research is significant from both, the information systems and inclusion research perspectives, as it contributes to the theoretical understanding of the impact of DPs on breaking societal structures and providing avenues to marginalised sections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholars have long been preoccupied with the role that capital plays in Indonesia's democratic institutions. Observers emphasize a tight overlap between the worlds of politics and business, with many describing murky connections and corrupt alliances among state officials, oligarchs, and local bosses. While such relations remain fundamental to Indonesian politics, this paper draws attention to a parallel but under-analyzed transformation of both the social and political status of business actors in contemporary Indonesia. From tech entrepreneurs to mining giants, people with established business careers are increasingly taking up the reins of government. Once considered the inferior political and policy actor during Suharto's New Order, businesspersons now exercise direct political power and entrepreneurial success is valued, even revered, within political and policymaking circles. While evidence of such changes can be identified at different moments in Indonesia's recent history, during the presidency of businessperson politician, Joko Widodo, there has been a marked intensification of these trends. Today there is a far broader acceptance of business elites as stewards of state institutions. The result is a fusing of private power and public office in a form, and to a degree, that is unprecedented in Indonesia's political history. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Capitalist globalisation has shown the need to define the semi-periphery as a new category that transcends the traditional core–periphery division. This paper aims to characterise this new category and understand the role it plays in the reorganisation of the production process, in addition to the effects this specific participation has on the global economy. Building on previous theoretical developments, this paper aims to analyse and identify these specific features, examining them through a set of economic, social and technological variables by applying principal component and cluster analyses. In doing so, the empirical analysis identifies a group of countries that have not been able to turn their current or recent economic dynamism into higher levels of socio-economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the Department of Digital, Culture, Media & Sport committee's inquiry into the economics of music streaming. The scrutiny of the committee's oral and written evidence, and final report is placed within the context of the music industry's significance to UK cultural policy since the late 1990s. The perspectives of the UK's musicians and song-writers are a focal point of the analysis of the inquiry's published documentation, as they are when discussing the committee's recommendations released in July 2021. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The proportion of international students in Chinese higher education is increasing, however, there remains little research that explores their motivations and how their learning of Chinese influences their identities and imagined futures. In this paper, we address the need for research on South-South migration—specifically Sino-African relations—and draw on the concept of linguistic capital to explore what it means for 15 self-funded international students from six different African countries. The findings highlight African youths' negotiation of power matrices in different fields and their desire for Chinese linguistic capital. The acquisition of such capital would position themselves advantageously in terms of employability and social prestige within the geopolitical and geo-economic context of China-Africa relations. In documenting their investment in Chinese language learning, the study compels us to reflect on the intersection of identity, ideology and capital within the language acquisition process and what Chinese language learning has come to mean for those from the peripheral nation-states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper will first describe some of the unique features of blockchain technology and 'smart contracts' used in NFTs. Next, we discuss four ways in which the economic and social potential of NFTs can be derailed, leading to 'digital enclosures' whereby large institutional copyright holders reap most of these benefits for themselves through illegitimate – and sometimes unlawful – rent-seeking, as well as the very real potential for fraudulent activities by malicious actors. Finally, we offer some initial suggestions on how to regulate NFTs and blockchain technology to prevent these illegitimate forms of rent-seeking and the 'digital enclosures' to which they give rise. Future governance in this area should be directed toward protecting individual artists, content creators, and small businesses over large institutional copyright holders, as do many current laws and regulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper adds to the literature on the relationship between procrastination and academic performance. We measure procrastination as the speed with which students do an online math course on the ALEKS learning platform. This pre-admission course is mandatory for students that are weak in math. Using a large dataset of undergraduate students at a Dutch school of economics, we estimate linear probability models for dropout and graduation rates. Controlling for students' background characteristics, we find that procrastination increases dropout rates and decreases graduation rates. The coefficient estimates indicate that the influence of procrastination on dropout and graduation rates is sizable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agency-based approaches represent a fundamental advance in how researchers and policymakers can address questions of place-based industrial strategy, including issues of governance, leadership, new technology and regional assets. However, these approaches can be advanced further by recognizing the centrality of discourse in regional change. This paper does this by synthesizing two conceptual frameworks: Grillitsch and Sotarauta's trinity of change agency and Moulaert et al.'s framework of Agency Structure Institutions Discourse (ASID). Deploying two Australian case studies to shed light on drivers of change at the local scale, this paper demonstrates that discourse is a necessary component of transformative regional processes. Furthermore, it contends that successful transformation is presupposed by the extent to which local discourse overlaps with local opportunity spaces and forms of agency. Successful place-based industrial strategies need to mobilize these multiple elements of regional change in order to maximize their potential for success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses irregular Afghan migrants in Turkey based on a qualitative field research study conducted in the cities of Ankara, Bursa, Malatya, Kayseri and Istanbul (see Note 1 on use of the term 'Afghan'). It focuses on their migration journey, the factors driving migration and post-migration challenges. This research seeks to answer why Afghan irregular migrants are mainly male adults and how the employers in Turkey treat them. Afghan migrants in Turkey are mainly unskilled members of the labour force, typically working in construction, in supermarkets, as shepherds and in kitchens. This study argues that Afghan migration motives are mainly driven by humanitarian and economic deprivation. However, when they arrive in Turkey, migrants have no legal protection and are thrown into despair by their employers' mistreatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Externalities, as both a pervasive phenomenon and a concept, lie at the centre of ecological thought and policy debates. This paper questions the adequacy of deeming of pervasive phenomena as externalities including by some authors in the (eco)socialist tradition. It critically reflects on the epistemological underpinnings of what is seen as internal and what as external, and reveals the role of methods used in economics as well as real social and economic processes characterising capitalism in configuring these so-called externalities. The roots of said externalities are traced beyond Marshall and Pigou, to whom the concept is usually attributed, and associated with political economists, especially Mill and Sidgwick. Despite all the metamorphoses in the content and implications of the concept of externalities since its birth, the constitutive role of methodological individualism as a common ground of all particular uses of externalities is demonstrated. However, externalities as a concept do not owe their existence solely to the individualistic method of mainstream economics. Real and practical processes defining capitalism are at least as important in understanding the content and function of externalities in both theoretical economics and political debates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the wider political economy surrounding the opening of Capitol Records' first Canadian record pressing plant in 1976. This celebrated facility encapsulates much of the optimism for Canadian music during this period. As a site of research it reveals a great deal of the complex relationship between a multinational corporation and an evolving national record industry. Further, this paper explores the materiality of popular music and places it within the context of national industrial and cultural policy. This material history brings forth a different account of the role of government policy in the development of this industry, with a greater emphasis on Canadian trade policy than on broadcast regulation. The plant began operation a few years after Canada's broadcasting regulator, the Canadian Radio-Television Commission, implemented Canadian Content regulations in 1971 for the programming of music created by Canadians on Canadian radio stations. 'Beyond the branch plant' draws from archival materials from the EMI Music Canada Archive, housed at the University of Calgary, to offer primary accounts of the development of this plant as well as the economic externalities beyond the music industry that were shaped by this new facility. The conclusions of this study call into question long standing positions regarding the place of national broadcasting content quotas and the growth of cultural industries. It highlights an industrial logic that was largely American in structure and one that indicates that the legacy of these content regulations is more complicated than it is often assumed to be. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reflects on compulsory school self-evaluation in Ireland. It sets important historical and contemporary context by documenting the development of a culture of evaluation in Ireland throughout the 1990s and into the new millennium before charting the rise of school self-evaluation during the austere economic conditions of post-2008 Ireland. Three key reasons are proposed for the rise of school self-evaluation: the influence of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the perceived need for more accountability, and the drive towards self-managing schools. In debating the purpose of school self-evaluation in Ireland it is put forward that it is not underpinned by any single logic, but an assemblage of overlapping logics interwoven by complements and contradictions. It is concluded that while improvement is predominantly promoted in official discourse, it is accountability and economic logics that dominate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we report on a Learning Study (LS) focused on the teaching and learning of the economic concept of price. Cycles of action research informed by the variation theory of learning were undertaken by a group of secondary school teachers facilitated by the authors over a period of nine weeks. As researchers and facilitators, we were interested to see what effect this form of professional development would have on the teachers' pedagogical content knowledge. We are able to report that for a majority of the teachers, the experience of the study provided them with an opportunity to gain insights into the ways their students became able to experience price in a more powerful way as a result of the patterns of variation incorporated in the research lesson designs, and that this in turn led the teachers to reflect on the ways in which they had experienced teaching before the LS and on the possibility of changing their approach to teaching in the future. In other words, participation in LS does have the potential develop teachers' pedagogical content knowledge. In this paper, we report the context of the study, review the concepts involved, report the process and discuss the findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews the IUFRO lecture series, Forest Roads: regional perspectives from around the world. In reviewing the presentations in this series, we found that regional factors such as geology, historic climate (glaciation), current climate, topography, and ownership strongly affect forest road networks. In addition to these regional factors, it appears that historic land use affects road design and construction. We define three road classifications: pioneer, mature, and plantation. In a pioneer road network, there is an existing forest resource and no established road network. A pioneer road network strongly reflects the current regulatory environment, current harvesting systems, and regional factors. A plantation road network occurs where there is a land use change, often from agriculture to forestry, and often growing non-native species. Plantation road networks evolve from existing rudimentary roads to road networks planned specifically for a well-defined forest resource. The plantation road network does reflect the existing regulations and harvesting systems; however, it does exist in a more constrained system that is defined by the existing roads and the boundaries of the planted forest. Mature forest road networks have evolved over centuries and incorporate historic and current land use, evolving regulations and technology, and are often interconnected with public roads. Responses specific to these road classes include a pioneer road network using brush mats to help support the subgrade, a plantation road network applying an optimized design, and a mature road network using pavement as the road surface. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the main determinants of salaries for economics students in their year-long industrial placements. Using three different sources of data on three cohorts of economics placement students, including demographic characteristics, academic performance, programme of studies and employability-related characteristics, we find that academic performance, job location and industry type are the main determinants of placement salaries. We show not only that students' academic performance can increase the returns of the placement year due to the possibility of high salaries, but such returns significantly increase at the top of the salary distribution. Students' previous job experience also matters for high-paying placements. Conversely, demographic characteristics, such as age, nationality and ethnic background, do not appear to determine placement salaries. Finally, we find no evidence of gender differences in wages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While economic growth is still at the centre of politics around the world, driven by economic crises and ecological breakdown critiques of growth as well as calls for post-growth or degrowth are on the rise. This paper advances a systematization of various currents of growth critiques in historical perspective. Going beyond standard accounts, it demonstrates that next to a narrow and mainly ecological critique of growth, which emerged starting in the 1950s and criticized GDP accounting and growth as a policy goal, there were also broader critiques of the phenomenon of growth itself, which emerged already since at least the eighteenth century and criticize the phenomenon of economic growth itself. To substantiate this argument, eight currents of growth critiques are analysed by focusing on their core arguments and historical trajectories: ecological, socio-economic, feminist, South–North, cultural, anti-capitalist, critique of industrialization, as well as reactionary growth criticism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyses the economic impact of inbound student mobility in Hungary. The research is based on an innovative approach not only showing the geoeconomic impact based on expenditures of the different groups of incoming students (Erasmus+, degree mobility of self-funded or scholarship holder students), but also links the data to specific sectors of the national and local economies. Thus, the paper reveals that international student mobility affects not only the internationalization of the higher education institutions or even the entire higher education sector, but also the wider macro environment, carrying geopolitical considerations. Based on the findings, a new aspect or "side effect" of the global and/or governmental "soft power" initiatives (e.g. Erasmus+, Belt and Road Initiative, Stipendium Hungaricum) can be identified in economic development. With the Hungarian case, the article intends to contribute to a better understanding of the changing geopolitics of higher education in the twenty-first century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to explore the accessibility of library resources and support services by distance learners at the Open University of Tanzania (OUT). The study utilized a survey approach in soliciting information from distance learners. A total of 33 learners from OUT responded to the survey. The study revealed that OUT offered several library services as well as library resources to distance learners. The resources identified as accessible to distance learners were books, journals, internet services, past examination papers, dissertations and theses, research guides, computers, and electronic resources. The study found out that there were challenges that hindered effective use of the library resources and services including high data cost, information overload, inadequate skills to evaluate information sources, password and login frustrations, lack of comprehensive online tutorials from OUT library, lack of information search skills, lack of distance librarian assigned to support remote students, lack of free, full text, lack of instructional resources and lack of university's account to access digital library resources from home. The study, therefore, put up recommendations to increase resource and service accessibility at OUT library. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the link between culture, history, government policies and the development of economic institutions. Specifically, the paper discusses the impact that history and culture, including the influence of Confucianism, have played in shaping the economic institutions of South Korea and the People's Republic of China. Research results indicate that culture, history and government policies all played a role in shaping the organizational structure of these two East Asian nations. However, China's economic landscape is dominated by small and medium-sized, family-oriented firms, particularly in the rural parts of the country. The South Korean economic landscape, on the other hand, is dominated by large conglomerate firms called Chaebols which are also dominated by one family. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the impact of the Spanish housing movement on policies regarding residential squatting of municipalist coalitions in Madrid and Barcelona. Combining literatures on social movement outcomes, new municipalism, and the importance of capitalism for social movement studies, we address the following research questions: How has the Spanish housing movement framed its claims regarding residential squatting? How have these claims impacted policies in Madrid and Barcelona between 2015 and 2019? What explains the differences—if any—in these outcomes? We conclude that—following the 2008 global financial crisis—activists have reframed squatting as a legitimate response to unjust evictions and foreclosures in neoliberal political economies. While this has prompted support from municipalist councilors in both cities, gains have been more substantial in Barcelona. We explain this from variations in political alliances and urban political economies. Our analysis underscores the importance of capitalism in urban and housing movement studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With its long coastline, vast exclusive economic zone (EEZ), skilled labor force, advanced technology, and one of the largest seafood markets in the world, the United States could be a major marine aquaculture producer of fish, mollusks, crustaceans, and marine algae. Despite all its promise, U.S. marine aquaculture production is tiny relative to its potential. The constraints often cited are lack of social license, an inefficient and uncoordinated permitting system, and the absence of supportive government programs similar to those enjoyed by terrestrial agriculture. National commissions have noted these constraints for more than 30 years. The paper first outlines key policy drivers prompting a reevaluation of US marine aquaculture policy (human health and nutrition, climate change, and market disruptions caused by the coronavirus) and then focuses on three critical policy goals that could contribute to expanding U.S. seafood farming: improve public understanding and acceptance, enhance the efficiency and timeliness of the aquaculture permitting process, and expand economic incentives to foster aquaculture development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How do states pursue industrial policies in the context of China's rise? Examining Indonesia and Malaysia's mineral processing sectors, we argue that these countries illustrate two different pathways that states take to bolster their industrial policies. Indonesia has followed the leading sector strategy to increase domestic nickel processing capacity and decrease reliance on resource exports. Chinese firms and the Indonesian government built the Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park to house nickel smelters, fostering a new leading sector. Chinese capital in smelting follows what Albert Hirschman has called 'intermediate investments', maximising forward and backward linkages across the Indonesian economy. In contrast, Malaysia has followed the dual economy strategy, where semi-finished goods are imported and assembled into finished ones to be exported abroad. Chinese firms and the Malaysian government established the Malaysia–China Kuantan Industrial Park to import, process and export steel products. However, due to the dual economy strategy, the industrial park impairs the activities of domestic steelmaking companies and inhibits the potential build-up of smelting capacity. In sum, through an examination of an industrial park in each country, our paper connects the literatures on industrial policy and Chinese capital. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Size effects such as economies of scale and economies of scope can be utilised to achieve cost savings in local government systems. Numerous municipal reform policies in Australia and elsewhere have historically been premised on size effects. In this paper, we investigate whether an interaction effect exists between scale economies and scope economies in New South Wales local government using a 2011 sample of local councils. We estimate the effects of scale and specialisation on efficiency by way of a multiple regression, using a novel approach to measure specialisation. We find empirical evidence that indicates economies of scale and economies of scope are both likely to be present across a broad range of scales. However, we find no evidence of any interaction effect between scale and scope economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

FitzGerald and Arar (2018. "The Sociology of Refugee Migration." Annual Review of Sociology 44 (1): 387–406) suggest that adapting the New Economics of Labour Migration Theory (NELM) to include the risk of violence as another risk managed through migration could provide a framework to analyze refugee and 'mixed migration' decision-making. I use original data from a case study to evaluate this proposed theoretical extension. Drawing on interviews with 21 middle-class Iraqis who settled in the Greater Toronto area following the 2003 US-led invasion, I find that participants who entered Canada as both refugee and non-refugee migrants self-insured against risks to physical and socio-economic safety through migration. I argue that foregrounding state policies, which delineate the legal statuses available to potential migrants and their associated rights and obligations, improves NELM's utility for explaining migration from conflict. By sampling on the country of origin, rather than destination country entry category, I show that host-state policies structure the risks of migration and, consequently, family risk-management decisions and mobility patterns. Additionally, those motivated to migrate due to violence can self-insure against these risks by negotiating legal status as a means to safety if they have the resources to meet restrictive policy requirements. Thus, this paper suggests that better-resourced migrants may be at an advantage when fleeing conflict. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gilboa, Postlewaite, Samuelson and Schmeidler (2022, Economic theories and their dueling interpretations. Journal of Economic Methodology, 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1080/1350178X.2022.2142270; henceforth GPSS) give a ‘sociological’ account of various ways in which economists claim to find value in ‘analytical’ models – i.e. models that investigate formal relationships between concepts without deriving substantive empirical or normative conclusions. In this paper, I argue that some of the claims that GPSS report economists as making are defensible, but that others are used in support of modelling strategies that have little or no scientific value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]