Suchergebnisse

This article proposes a Marxist political economy (MPE) of youth to explain the material conditions of young people in developed economies. Central concepts of capitalist accumulation, labour-power and value are utilised to historicise and situate young people in relation to wage labour under capitalism. The article conceptualises how contradictory processes of capitalist accumulation impact young people through an analysis of the actions of private capital, labour and the state. The theoretical approach is supported with UK data which illustrates how young people have experienced challenges in education, labour market transitions, and work and employment conditions. The article reveals how a combination of structural economic change, state regulation and low-road employer business strategies which generate poor quality work have all contributed to the decline in the value of youth labour-power in the UK. The article also provides methodological insights for using the MPE approach in future youth studies research.

This study examines two inter-connected issues: the local economic governance strategies pursued by English local authorities in the post-2007 Crisis austerity period, and the impact of these strategies on local work and employment conditions. The study draws on interview data, policy documents and statistical datasets from an analysis of two English localities to understand how local authorities responded to the economic pressures resulting from the 2007 Crisis and subsequent imposition of austerity policies. The study finds local authorities engaged in various forms of entrepreneurial and austerity urbanist policies under conditions of tight budgetary constraints, resulting in an increased role for the private sector as a vehicle to generate jobs and increase tax revenue. This process has increased the influence of private sector actors within local government, part of a longer term trend. This study presents evidence to illustrate why this scenario is problematic for improving work and employment conditions, chiefly due to an unwillingness to progressively regulate work, and a prioritising of job quantity in terms of total employment, rather than favouring the creation of sustainable, high-quality local employment.

Abstract. Within the framework of the European Interreg IIIb Medocc program, the HYDROPTIMET project aims at the optimization of the hydrometeorological forecasting tools in the context of intense precipitation within complex topography. Therefore, some meteorological forecast models and hydrological models were tested on four Mediterranean flash-flood events. One of them occured in France where the South-eastern ridge of the French "Massif Central", the Gard region, experienced a devastating flood on 8 and 9 September 2002. 24 people were killed during this event and the economic damage was estimated at 1.2 billion euros. To built the next generation of the hydrometeorological forecasting chain that will be able to capture such localized and fast events and the resulting discharges, the forecasted rain fields might be improved to be relevant for hydrological purposes. In such context, this paper presents the results of the evaluation methodology proposed by Yates et al. (2005) that highlights the relevant hydrological scales of a simulated rain field. Simulated rain fields of 7 meteorological model runs concerning with the French event are therefore evaluated for different accumulation times. The dynamics of these models are either based on non-hydrostatic or hydrostatic equation systems. Moreover, these models were run under different configurations (resolution, initial conditions). The classical score analysis and the areal evaluation of the simulated rain fields are then performed in order to put forward the main simulation characteristics that improve the quantitative precipitation forecast. The conclusions draw some recommendations on the value of the quantitative precipitation forecasts and way to use it for quantitative discharge forecasts within mountainous areas.