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JEL Classifications: A13, H11, H50, I30, J52, N32, Z13 Through the lens of four recent books, this article considers the obstacles faced by those who undertake engaged or activist scholarship in the social sciences, examining professional methodological, theoretical, historical, and rhetorical challenges.

Es gibt viele Möglichkeiten, ein Land mit Gesetzen und Regulierungen zu sichern und die Lebensumstände zu verbessern. Und es gibt Bedingungen, welche die Politik nur schwerlich beeinflussen kann. Das Vertrauen in andere Menschen gehört zu dieser Kategorie und ist gleichzeitig sehr wichtig für die Entwicklung und das Gelingen gesellschaftlichen Zusammenhalts, wirtschaftlichen Fortschritts und politischer Maßnahmen. Dies gilt umso mehr vor dem Hintergrund der neuesten Vertrauenskrisen in der Automobilindustrie, aber auch der Finanzindustrie in den letzten Jahren. Diese Studie stellt die Ergebnisse des IW-Vertrauensindex 2017 vor. Insgesamt belegt Deutschland Platz 5 von 20 untersuchten europäischen Ländern im IW-Vertrauensindex 2017 und verbessert sich damit im Vergleich mit dem Jahr 2014 um zwei Rangplätze. Die gute wirtschaftliche Gesamtverfassung Deutschlands spiegelt sich in dem Vertrauen von Verbrauchern und Unternehmen in die Wirtschaft wider. Deutschland belegt den ersten Platz im Teilranking Vertrauen in das Wirtschaftssystem. Hierfür ist die historisch niedrige Arbeitslosenrate ein maßgeblicher Treiber. Hingegen verliert das Vereinigte Königreich nach den Brexit-Entscheidungen an Vertrauen und belegt nur noch Platz 6 im Vergleich zu Platz 2 im Jahr 2014. Die Ergebnisse des Teilindex Vertrauen in das politische System sind weniger heterogen im Vergleich zu den Ergebnissen aus 2014. Deutschland liegt auf Platz sechs mit einem sehr geringen Unterschied zu Platz vier und fünf. Hier haben sich die Länder einander angenähert. Die Ergebnisse des Teilindex Vertrauen in das Gesellschaftssystem betonen die Stärke des skandinavischen Modells in Bezug auf Vertrauen. Deutschland belegt hier Platz 8. ; Many approaches exist to safeguard a country with legislation and regulation and to improve living conditions. In addition, conditions exist that can hardly be controlled by the government. Trust in other people is such a condition and also eminently important for the success of social cohesion, economic development and political action. This is even more important in the light of recent trust crises of the automobile or doping industry. This study presents the results of a European comparison of trust in the economy, society and policy. The very good economic condition of Germany is reflected in the trust of consumers and entrepreneurs in the economic system. Germany leads the ranking on trust in the economic system. The main reason is the historically low unemployment rate. By contrast the United Kingdom loses trust after the Brexit bill and ranks sixth instead of second place in 2014. The results of the trust index in the political system are less heterogeneous compared to the results of 2014. Germany ranks sixth place with a minimal difference to fourth and fifth place.

The design of policies towards countries where major conflicts have ended is becoming a major issue in the development agenda partly because of the numbers of countries where such policy is relevant and partly because their situation tends to be among the most desperate. This paper is concerned with one major requirement in reconstruction policies that is often overlooked: that is to design policies which will reduce the horizontal inequalities which are often a major source of conflict. If they do not, there will be a danger of renewed mobilization around them and a further outbreak of violence. The paper reviews the range of policies which would contribute to reducing horizontal inequalities. It also considers some political issues surrounding such policies, including potential political risks which can arise in adopting these types of policy. – inequality ; conflict ; reconstruction ; culture

Am Abend des 30. Oktober 1938 löste eine Radiosendung in den USA eine Massenhysterie aus (vgl. Wells 1974: 342). Das Hörspiel "Krieg der Welten" wurde von ca. sechs Millionen Menschen verfolgt, zwei Millionen von ihnen glaubten, die Sendung basiere auf aktuellen Geschehnissen. Die darauf folgende Panik führte zu verstopften Strassen, weil die Menschen in alle Richtungen zu flüchten versuchten. Es kam zu Fehlgeburten, schweren Verletzungen und Plünderungen. In der heutigen Zeit scheint es unvorstellbar, dass eine Radiosendung derartige Reaktionen hervorrufen kann. Der Mensch des einundzwanzigsten Jahrhunderts ist daran gewöhnt, alle Informationen anhand von Bildern vermittelt zu bekommen. 1938 gab es jedoch noch keine Fernsehberichte. Aktuelle Geschehnisse wurden per Radiosendung oder Zeitungsartikel vermittelt. In Panik zu geraten gilt als Ausnahmezustand. Reaktionen, die durch Extremsituationen hervorgerufen werden, wirken oft ziellos und unlogisch. Z. B. versuchte ein Teil der Zuhörer des o. g. Hörspiels vom Land in die Stadt zu flüchten, während ein anderer Teil aus den Städten aufs Land flüchten wollte (vgl. Wells 1974: 344). An einen sicheren Ort gelangen zu wollen, scheint eine logische Reaktion zu sein. Wenn nicht bekannt ist, ob der eigene Ausgangspunkt sicherer ist als ein anderer Ort, wird es jedoch schwierig, eine Auswahl zu treffen. Die Vermeidung von Unsicherheit führt nicht zwangsläufig zu Sicherheit, trotzdem scheinen die Instinkte eine Flucht vor Gefahr höher zu bewerten als eine bewusste Entscheidung über einen sicheren Aufenthaltsort. Dadurch wird die Frage aufgeworfen, welche Mechanismen das Verhalten bei Unsicherheit steuern und ob bzw. wie viel Einfluss darauf genommen werden kann.

We consider a linguistically diversified society and examine the notion of language disenfran-chisement when some individuals are denied the full access to documents and political process in their native tongues. To calculate the disenfranchisement indices we use the Dyen percentage cognate matrix of linguistic distances between Indo-European languages and apply survey and population data on language proficiency in the European Union. We then determine optimal sets of official languages that depend on society's sensitivity against disenfranchisement and comprehensiveness of the chosen language regime. We also discuss the language situation in the European Union after its last enlargement. ; We are grateful to the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and Fundación BBVA for their financial support

This paper aims to present an important phenomenon of our world, namely the contradictory relationship between globalization and cultural identity. In this work identity is understood as a cultural practice therefore it cannot be analyzed without taking into account global communication and diversity. The multidimensional transformation of our society in the XXI century is marked by increased interconnectivity and affirmation of singular identities. These identities come in constant tension with the context in which the existing political forms that are in crisis and the restructuring processes through new projects are struggling to set up a new society. Globalization versus cultural identity it's not a zero-sum game even though the two might be perceived as opposite processes this paper argue that it globalization cultural identity can go hand in hand with globalization.

We consider a linguistically diversified society and examine the notion of language disenfran-chisement when some individuals are denied the full access to documents and political process in their native tongues. To calculate the disenfranchisement indices we use the Dyen percentage cognate matrix of linguistic distances between Indo-European languages and apply survey and population data on language proficiency in the European Union. We then determine optimal sets of official languages that depend on society's sensitivity against disenfranchisement and comprehensiveness of the chosen language regime. We also discuss the language situation in the European Union after its last enlargement. ; We are grateful to the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and Fundación BBVA for their financial support ; Publicado

Demichelis and Weibull (2008) show that adding lexicographic lying costs to coordination games with cheap talk yields a sharp prediction: only the efficient outcome is evolutionarily stable. I show that this result is caused by the discontinuity of preferences rather than by small lying costs per se. Finally, I discuss why discontinuity may not be an appealing assumption in evolutionary models. (JEL C72, C73, Z13)

Auch zum 30. Jubiläum der Deutschen Einheit ist noch viel von Ost-West-Unterschieden die Rede. Im Vordergrund stehen hierbei neben rein ökonomischen Differenzen auch Unterschiede in soziokulturellen Einstellungen und Verhaltensweisen. Dass diese Diskussionen auch nach so langer Zeit noch geführt werden, erscheint erstaunlich und wirft die Frage nach der Herkunft dieser anhaltenden Differenzen auf. Typischerweise wird diese Frage mit der Erfahrung verschiedener politischer Systeme beantwortet, die unterschiedliche gesellschaftliche Prägungen zur Folge hatten. Folglich entwickelte sich auch in den Sozial wissenschaften ein großes Interesse an der deutschen Teilung 1949 in die Deutsche Demokratische Republik und die Bundesrepublik Deutschland sowie an der Wiedervereinigung 1990. Die Bevölkerung in Ost- und Westdeutschland unterschied sich jedoch bereits vor der Teilung. Die heute verbleibenden Unterschiede müssen dennoch nicht als unveränderlich hingenommen werden. ; Even on the 30th anniversary of German unity, there is still a lot of talk about East-West differences. Typically, these differences are attributed to different political systems, which have created different impressions. As a result of the division of Germany in 1949 into the GDR and the Federal Republic as well as the reunification in 1990, a lively interest in the social sciences has developed as they offer a unique framework for analysing the effects of communism. Never before has such an unexpected introduction and abolition of a communist regime occured on the territory of a previously and subsequently united country. This paper looks into the history of East-West differences and argues that the division and reunification of Germany are nonetheless not a simple 'experiment' from which one can directly deduce the effects of communism. The paper finds that the populations of East and West Germany already differed before the division, that the GDR and FRG were unequally affected by the Second World War, and that selective East-West migration took place during the division. Nevertheless, the remaining East-West differences are not necessarily permanent.

This paper uses individual level data (the Japanese General Social Survey, 2001) to examine how government size influences generalized trust. After controlling for income inequality, population mobility, city size and various individual characteristics, I found: (1) Using all samples, government size is not associated with generalized trust, and (2) After splitting the sample into worker and non-worker samples, government size does not influence generalized trust for non-workers whereas it significantly reduces generalized trust for workers. This suggests that workers, through their work experience, might confront the greater bureaucratic red tape coming from "larger government", leading to negative externality effects on the trustful relationship in the labor market.

This paper uses the universe of cellphone records from a Chinese telecommunication provider for a northern Chinese city to examine the role of information exchange in urban labor markets. We provide the first direct evidence of increased communication among referral pairs around job changes. Information provided by social contacts mitigates information asymmetry and improves labor market performance. (JEL D82, J62, O18, P23, P25, R23, Z13)

L'articolo propone una riflessione preliminare sulle modalità attraverso le quali i disastri e le migrazioni forzate vengono descritti e rappresentati nel discorso pubblico, secondo retoriche che li concettualizzano tramite il paradigma dell'emergenza. A livello istituzionale essi vengono affrontati utilizzando lo stesso dispositivo, il quale, in forza dell'emergenza, impone, grazie al principio d'ingerenza, un sistema di potere coercitivo basato sull'assistenza, l'aiuto e il controllo. Questo approccio produce conseguenze rilevanti sia sul versante sociale che politico e culturale. Classificazione JEL: Z13, Z18, I38. Parole chiave: emergenza, disastri, migrazioni, discorso pubblico, media, istituzioni. The construction of emergency. Care, cure and control between disasters and forced migration in Italy This paper proposes a preliminary reflection on the ways in which disasters and forced migrations are described and represented in the public discourse according to rhetorics that conceptualize them through the paradigm of emergency. At the institutional level they are faced by using the same dispositif, which, in the name of emergency and urgency, imposes, thanks to the principle of intervention, a system of coercive power based on cure, care and control. This approach produces serious consequences from a social, cultural and political point of view. JEL Classification: Z13, Z18, I38. Keywords: emergency – disaster – migration – public discourse – media – institutions.

We show experimentally that whether and how communication achieves beneficial social outcomes in a hidden-information context depends crucially on whether low-talent agents can participate in a Pareto-improving outcome. Communication is effective (and pat terns of lies and truth quite systematic) when this is feasible, but otherwise completely ineffective. We examine the data in light of two potentially relevant behavioral models: cost-of-lying and guilt-from-blame. (JEL D82, D83, Z13)

Abstract. The vicious conflicts erupted between the followers of Gurmit Ram Rahim Singh, the head of Dera Sacha Sauda, and fundamentalist Sikhs reveals that the violence not only deepen social cleavages but also enhances the cleavages in Sikh dominated society in Eastern Punjab. The paper's argument is that the social cleavages in the political society of Punjab give birth to religious sects (Deras) which in turn feed on them in a vicious circle. Dera as an idea and institution is itself cleavages based which gives impetus to political articulation of a given subdued culture to come forth as a challenge to the mainstream socio-cultural and religious discourse. The Deras formed distinct religious symbols, cultural traits, daily code of conduct, rituals and prayers for their followers which dreaming them an egalitarian utopian society or social space. However, by doing so the Deras are enhancing the cleavages in the society instead the elimination of the cleavages. The Dera Sacha Sauda is taken as reference for the study.Keywords. Dera, Sacha Sauda, Cleavage, Politics, Punjab, Sikh, Society.JEL. Z12, Z13, Y40.