Suchergebnisse

Disabled people together with other vulnerable groups in the Lithuanian labor market face multiple barriers to employment. Inclusive employment is part of a social integration policy for people with disabilities. The paper presents two main instruments for promoting inclusive employment in Lithuania: social enterprises and active labor market policies (ALMP). The aim of the analysis is to answer the question whether social enterprises and active labor market policies improve the transition of vulnerable groups, especially the disabled, to the open labor market. The article examines the changes in state-supported labor market integration mechanisms using retrospective comparison and secondary data analysis methods. The work is based on the findings from the research "Labor market policies for employment in various conditions of the economic development cycle" (DSTI, 2012), and opensource data provided by the responsible state institutions and international organizations. The analysis of the normative construction and implementation of measures for the integration of vulnerable groups of the population, including the disabled, into the labor market performed from inclusive employment approach showed that the participation of the disabled in the open labor market is less promoted than participation in sheltered employment. The structure of funding for the integration of the disabled into the labor market creates particularly favorable conditions for social enterprises in comparison with other market participants who may intend to employ a disabled person as well but do not have an appropriate status. Even if the rules on the financing of social enterprises were slightly changed during the time, the control of their social integration activities was partially tightened with no means to influence the content of these activities. Previous research on active labor market policies have generally shown positive longterm integration of people with disabilities into the labor market, however, participation of people with ...

In response to the global crisis a number of new institutional measures have been introduced in the fiscal framework, both on the UE and on the member states' level, and the question is: have these measures provided better fiscal sustainability outcomes? We approach this question by looking at the evolution of fiscal sustainability in Poland, which is an interesting case of a member state that without significant market pressure (the only EU country without recession during the crisis) actively promoted several changes in the EU fiscal framework (e.g. 6-pack) and effectively internalized some of these key changes in its domestic fiscal policy, including a domestic expenditure fiscal rule. Our analysis reveals that the fiscal sustainability in Poland has significantly improved in the post-crisis period of 2009-2017: we detect both improvement of the fiscal sustainability parameters and structural breaks in the fiscal outcomes after the crisis. Namely, in comparison to the whole sample of 2004-2017 the strength of reaction of the primary deficit to a change of the public debt increased in the post-crisis time by nearly 50%. Importantly, these results are robust with respect to the pension fund reform which led to a one-off redemption of T-bonds in amount of 8.5% of GDP. The analysis also reveals a cycle of structural breaks of 2-and 4 years lags: for the output gap in 2008 Q4, for the primary deficit in 2010 Q4 and for the public debt in 2014 Q1. The case of Poland seems to suggest that the post-crisis EU fiscal measures can be effectively used to increase fiscal sustainability, if properly approached and internalized into the domestic fiscal framework. More research should be devoted to understanding the political and economic conditions under which such positive outcomes were possible. ; 7230 ; 1-26

The politics of aid from the perspective of international relations theories / Bernabé Malacalza -- Foreign aid's motivations : theoretical arguments and empirical evidence / Gino N. Pauselli -- The U.S. elite consensus on aid / Henry de Cazotte -- The UK : an aid superpower at a crossroads / Myles Wickstead -- The Scandinavians : aid policy determinants and performances / Olav Stokke -- Japanese development assistance : economic and political win-win proposals / Marie Söderberg -- Spain : the rise and fall of a compliant donor / Iliana Olivié and Aitor Pérez -- While the cat's away, will the mice play? : government-NGO relations and the politics of aid in Hungary / Krisztina Szabó, Balázs Szent-Iványi and András Tétényi -- Brazilian cooperation policy : promotion of development and global projection / Guillermo Santander -- Solidarity and security in the EU discourse on aid / Iliana Olivié and Aitor Pérez -- Donorship in a state of flux / Nilima Gulrajani, and Liam Swiss -- The international politics of aid : "good governance" and democracy promotion / David Williams -- Gender inequality, aid agencies, and global norms / Lars Engberg-Pedersen -- Old and new powers in development assistance in health / Eduardo Missoni and Fabrizio Tediosi -- "We first" and the anti-foreign aid narratives of populist radical-right parties in Europe / Margarita Gómez-Reino.

AbstractIn the urbanisation stage of bilateral urban–rural interaction, China is adopting various policies to achieve rural revitalisation and provide diverse destinations to which farmers can migrate. Most previous studies have focused on urban destinations; thus, new countryside locations are not as well understood in this context. This study focused on first migration practices to examine new countryside destinations for farmers in China. This study established a conceptual framework to explain the diverse migration destination options based on three aspects: human capital, economic characteristics, and social characteristics. Based on survey data from farming households in a traditional agriculture area in Xinxiang, a multiple logit model was used to examine why new countryside destinations were adaptive first migration destinations. The results indicated that farmers were influenced by land capital and low initial household incomes. Specifically, many farmers were attracted to new countryside locations close to their original villages because of the need for cultivated land and farming, thus providing a logical first move in the rural–urban migration process. Poorer households were willing to first improve their living conditions in this way. This suggests that new countryside construction can help achieve rural revitalisation.

AbstractAn extensive economic growth mode leads to resource depletion and environmental degradation. Green development is the best way to solve this problem. We analyzed the sample data of 41 cities in the Yangtze River Delta of China from 2007 to 2019. We used the spatial Durbin model and interaction term model to study the effects of regional financial agglomeration (FA) on green development and the moderating role of green technology innovation. The results show that FA promotes local green development but inhibits the green development of neighboring areas. Because the polarization effect of the growth pole is greater than its dispersion effect, cities with high levels of FA have a strong "siphon effect" on the surrounding areas. Green technology innovation positively moderates the promoting effect of FA on green development; the higher the level of green technology innovation and the degree of emphasis on it, the stronger the promoting effect. The government should encourage green finance to promote green technology innovation and promote the green development of the regional economy. These findings provide new insights for developing countries to achieve sustainable development under environmental constraints.

AbstractUnder the system of political centralization and economic decentralization, the expanding scale of land finance and the increasingly severe environmental pressure have jointly become crucial features of China's urban development. Therefore, it is of great practical significance to study the intrinsic mechanism of land finance on haze pollution for China's economy to achieve kinetic energy transformation and green development. This paper empirically analyzes the impact of land finance on haze pollution using a dynamic spatial Durbin model based on panel data of 269 prefecture‐level cities in China from 2004 to 2017. The statistical results show that haze pollution has a significant "snowball effect" and space spillover effect. Land finance has a significant positive effect on haze pollution. Land transfer both by agreement and by bid invitation, auction, and listing have significant positive effect on haze pollution. However, the promoting effect of land transfer by agreement on haze pollution is significantly higher than that of land sale by bid invitation, auction, and listing. Furthermore, regional heterogeneity implies that for cities in the eastern region, land finance is conducive to alleviating haze pollution. In contrast, for cities in the central and western regions, land finance significantly promotes haze pollution.

AbstractPost‐reform China has experienced rapid urbanization and received much academic attention. However, few studies have focused on the overall characteristics of urban governance from both institutional and practical perspectives. This paper discusses the results of a content analysis of 79 cases collected during the first Awards for Best Urban Governance Practice in the Yangtze River Delta. This region is a pioneer of urban governance practice in China. The coding for the content analysis focused on four variables, including domains, actors, digitality, and duration, which were applied to the application forms for the award selection process. The statistical results demonstrate the characteristics of China's urban governance practices. (1) The government continues to dominate in China's urban governance, but the role of social organizations has become increasingly significant. (2) The content of China's urban affairs has transformed from economic growth to citizen‐oriented issues of livelihoods and livability. (3) New technology and digitality of new opportunities are leading China's urban governance transformation. (4) China's urban governance practices are a durable process for adaptation accumulation of experiences. This paper presents the characteristics and distribution of China's urban governance practices to lay the groundwork for future comparative urban studies.

AbstractWhether regional integration can promote the urban agglomeration to attract foreign direct investment and expand the opening‐up is a question worthy of in‐depth discussion. This paper constructs a quasi‐natural experiment from the perspective of regional integration expansion in the Yangtze River Delta, using the panel data of 208 cities in China from 2005 to 2017. The main purposes are to examine and analyze the common trends and regional differences regarding the influences of regional integration on FDI in entire cities, incumbent cities, and new cities. Next, the internal mechanisms of expansion on FDI are explored. The results show that the regional integration exerted a significant positive effect on the FDI of the entire Yangtze River Delta. For different regions, the effect of regional integration on FDI in the incumbent cities was higher than that in the new cities. In terms of mechanisms, regional integration could affect FDI through industrial division mechanism and market unification mechanism, yet the role of economic connection mechanism exhibited regional differences. The conclusions of this paper bear important enlightenment for promoting the construction of regional integration in China and the high‐quality growth of FDI in the Yangtze River Delta.

AbstractDespite the considerable constraints of karst rocky desertification on the production and life of the locals and the regional economy, few studies have been conducted on areas with karst rocky desertification with the aim of exploring the balance between ecological governance and industrial development. In light of the promotion of featured advantageous industries to ecological governance and industrial development, this study aims to explore the mechanism of industrial revitalization in areas with karst rocky desertification to provide theoretical support for their industrial revitalization. Based on actor‐network theory, this paper presents a case study of Bashan village, a typical area in Guizhou province, China, with karst rocky desertification, to clarify the course of development of itsZanthoxylum bungeanumindustry and propose a mechanism for its revitalization. The findings identify the main actors of the revitalization of theZ. bungeanumindustry and reveal the driving forces behind it. Moreover, the study found that the industrial revitalization model is a bottom‐up process, which suggests strong endogenous dynamics. Through the revitalization of the featured industries, the results of the management of rocky desertification are transformed into economic output, which improved the livelihood of farmers and consolidated the effectiveness of management.

AbstractChina has experienced great economic transition and structural changes since reform and opening‐up, accompanying an unprecedented urban transformation under dramatic (de)industrialization. Previous studies have addressed the roles of state and market and their interaction in (de)industrialization and urban transformation of post‐reform China. However, few studies have given attention to the huge variations across regions and cities in their (de)industrialization stages, their main functions in urban systems of the country, and the critical issues facing them. This study examines the transformation process of different types of cities by employing the perspective of urban function evolution. Specifically, we analyze the spatial pattern of urban functional structure of China and its evolutionary features based on census employment data. Then, we focus on three major concerns of urban transformation in China, namely the multi‐stage and spatial gradient of (de)industrialization, the hierarchy and dynamics of central cities, and the transformation of resource‐dependent cities. Results indicate that the synergy of state and market forces promotes urban transformation in China and that their relative importance and mode of action vary across cities in different regions, stages, and functions. This research highlights an urban functional scope to understand the constant urban transformations in developing countries.

AbstractTaking the Yangtze River Delta in China as an example, this paper analyzes the spatial characteristics of passenger rail service in different stages, discusses the evolution of regional multi‐level spatial organization structure under the guidance of passenger rail, and explores the ways to realize efficient and well‐organized regional integration through modern railway infrastructure configuration. Rail transport leads to the formation of several urban subgroups within the Yangtze River Delta. The regional spatial structure is a multi‐level "core‐periphery" nested structure coupled with the internal spatial organization of subgroups and their mutual spatial correlation structure. The organization of intra‐subgroup and inter‐subgroup determine the evolution direction of the whole spatial structure. The development model of constructing a high‐speed railway network with the regional political and economic center cities as hubs has led to each subgroup that starts to rely on these cities to form clusters and achieve spatial reconstruction. In this process, the connection between the "core" areas and the "periphery" areas, as well as among the "periphery" areas within the spatial scope of each level has been strengthened. However, although the gap between the "core" areas and the "periphery" areas has narrowed, it still persists.

AbstractEcological footprint (EF) focuses on exploring regional sustainable development, thereby making the evaluation of sustainability an important part of academic research. However, few efforts have been made into investigating EF's influencing factors. This study explores the changes of EF and its influencing factors in Rizhao, a coastal city in China, and verifies the changes of EF through EKC. The results are as follows: (a) The rapid growth of EF is an important cause of ecological deficit. The evolution of EF shows obvious stage characteristics. (b) In terms of composition, the EF of fossil fuel‐rich land contributes greatly to the growth of EF; the EFs of cultivated land and water area also always account for a large proportion. (c) The EF is driven by the proportion of the secondary and tertiary industries, which has an inhibitory effect. Moreover, different influencing factors determine the stage change of EF. (d) EF is used to indicate the degradation of the environment. EKC shows that Rizhao City is in a negative correlation between economic development and environmental quality, confirming the change of EF. Based on the empirical results, suggestions have, hence, been made in this study to achieve sustainable development targets.

AbstractUrban expansion and the demand for sustainable regional economic development make rural land a resource base for spatial regeneration, transformation, and upgrading. From the perspective of land development rights, this paper analyzes the rural spatial transformation mechanism and rural governance logic in Fenghe village, Guangzhou. The results show that: (1) Fenghe village has experienced three stages of rural forming development, "hollowing" and space transformation. The subject of land development rights has shifted from rural collectives and villagers to external capital enterprises. Rural development pathways and land‐use patterns have changed from single to diversified. The space presents trends of community, commercialization and modernization. (2) Changes in the subjects of land development rights have caused the diversification and transformation of rural space. Homesteads, idle agricultural land, industrial formats, and infrastructure have gradually become standardized, market‐oriented, diversified, agglomerated, and systemized. With the diversification, complexity and consumerization of rural living groups, social relations, subject connections and rural spaces tend to be modern development models. (3) The reconstruction of rural space contains the logic of capital games and negotiated governance. Urban capital reaches a benefit balance between rural collective and villagers, obtains the right to rural land development, and forms multi‐subject collaborative governance.

AbstractIn this study based on evolutionary game theory and data on conditions in China, we determine the main factors affecting business entrepreneurship and innovation entrepreneurship. We consider internal and external perspectives regarding entrepreneurship–institutional quality and foreign direct investment (FDI). Accordingly, we find that institutional quality has a positive effect on nurturing entrepreneurship, especially business entrepreneurship, and FDI does not effectively stimulate entrepreneurship, particularly innovation entrepreneurship. With regard to spatial heterogeneity, in different regions, institutional quality and FDI have diverse effects on fostering entrepreneurship. According to the trend analysis, we find that the relationship between FDI and entrepreneurship takes an inverted‐U shape, in contrast to the relationship between most types of institutional quality and entrepreneurship. When FDI and institutional quality jointly cultivate entrepreneurship, the interaction between them is not effective. Moreover, we find that institutional quality affects entrepreneurship mostly through the channels of economic growth, the scale of the home market, and industrial upgrading. By contrast, FDI does not effectively affect these channels to further foster entrepreneurship. These conclusions not only enrich the literature on entrepreneurship but also offer insights into how entrepreneurship can be stimulated in China and the rest of the world.

AbstractAs the floating population has become a vital issue influencing China's economic and social development and aroused broad concern, many scholars have paid attention to the factors that influence settlement intentions of the floating population, while their spatial differences are usually neglected in extant studies. To rectify this situation, this study employs a multi‐scale geographically weighted regression model to investigate the spatial pattern of determinants on hukou transfer intentions of the floating population, based on the data of the China Migrants Dynamic Survey in 2016. The results demonstrate that the effects of various determinants present different spatial patterns: part of significance pattern (the average residence time in destination cities, the ratio of rural hukou holders, the number of flows, the ratio of family income to family expenditure, the geographical location), the "East‐West" pattern (the ratio of self‐employed migrants, the average wage of employed workers), the "Southwest‐Northeast" pattern (the ratio of migrants in the secondary industry, the ratio of sharing town employees' social insurance, the ratio of floating population accompanied by children in destination cities, and the population density of municipal districts). Cities of different conditions should formulate different policies that are sensitive to their contexts.