Origins and consequences of long ties in social networks

Social networks play a predominant role in determining how information spreads between individuals. Previous works suggest that long ties, which connect people who do not share any mutual contact, provide access to valuable information on economic opportunities. However, no population-scale study has determined how long ties relate to economic outcomes and how such ties are formed. Using a novel dataset from Facebook, we reconstruct the network of interactions between users and we uncover a strong relationship between the share of long ties and economic outcomes at the local level in the United States and in Mexico. Administrative units with a higher proportion of long ties have higher incomes, higher economic mobility, lower unemployment rates and higher wealth, even after adjusting for potential confounders of these outcomes. In contrast to the weak tie theory, we find that having stronger long ties is associated with better economic outcomes. Furthermore, we discover that users with a higher proportion of long ties are more likely to have migrated between US states, to have transferred to a different high school, and to have attended college outside of their home state. Taken together, these results suggest that long ties contribute to economic prosperity and highlight the role played by disruptive life events in the formation of these ties.

Macroeconomic Policy Changes and Its Impact on Trade Unions, an Empirical Study on OECD Countries for the Period 2001-2020

This study examines the macroeconomic variables affecting trade union rate membership in OECD nations from 2001 to 2020. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has 38 of the most industrialized countries globally, which counts more than 80% of the global GDP; analyzing the macroeconomic movements of these countries means that we most likely know the variance of the global macroeconomic changes. We target the effect of employability, expenditure on education, unemployment, inflation, FDI, economic growth, wages, and salaries on trade union participation of employers. To conduct this research, we used data from World Bank, ILO, and OECD for 38 countries during the period 2001-2020, conducting a panel data Fixed Effect non-linear regression model with robust effect considering the non-normality and the possibility of heteroscedasticity of some of the variables. The results show that employers in the industry, the productivity in the service sector, and wages will increase the enrolment in a trade union, but on the other side, an increase of FDI and unemployment rates will decrease the association of employers to be in a trade union.

The Implications of Covid-19 Pandemic on Consumer Burden in Malaysia: An Analysis

The effects of Covid-19 are continuing to increase around the world as the pandemic claims millions of lives. Malaysia is no exception and has been remarkably affected by the pandemic. Apart from the number of people who are or have been infected with this virus, millions of people are directly or indirectly facing many challenges to their living. The challenges include increased cost of living, income reduction or losses, decreased purchasing power, and unemployment, along with other societal issues created by the pandemic. This study contextualised the implications of the pandemic on consumers’ burden in Malaysia, focusing on the cost of living and unemployment. Observations on prices, inflation, and unemployment rates were conducted to provide meaningful evidence. Major findings revealed that the cost of living has risen, contributed by the increase in prices, especially for food items, healthcare, and education. The unemployment rate also expanded due to the lockdown measures, which led to income losses and reduction. The Covid-19 pandemic has brought challenges to the consumers as measures taken to curb the pandemic have altered many aspects of life and increased the consumers’ burden. Although the inflation rate remains manageable, a major concern lies in many people’s income reduction or income losses. This study implies that the government, together with private institutions and NGOs, needs to work hand in hand to minimise the consumers’ financial burden, especially during this pandemic. It is hoped that the discussion presented in this paper would shed light on the impact of the pandemic on consumers’ burden in Malaysia.

The Asymmetric Impact of Oil Prices on Unemployment in the MENA Region

We examine the effects of oil prices on unemployment rates in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) over the period of 1991–2017. Using the panel nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag (panel NARDL) model, the results show that in the long run, positive changes of oil prices exert a positive (increasing) impact on the unemployment rate. However, negative changes in oil prices have a significant decreasing effect on the unemployment rate in the MENA region. We also find that the short run changes in oil prices do not show a significant effect on unemployment rates. Our findings are robust to an alternative measure of oil rents per capita and in line with predictions of the resource curse hypothesis. Countries with higher dependency on natural resource rents experience, on average, a slower long run economic growth rate (and thus higher unemployment rates), compared with countries with lower dependency.

PENGARUH HARAPAN LAMA SEKOLAH, RATA – RATA LAMA SEKOLAH TERHADAP TINGKAT PENGANGGURAN TERBUKA DI KABUPATEN / KOTA PROVINSI RIAU

This study aims to determine how many the effect of Expected Years of Schooling and Average Length of Schooling on Open Unemployment Rates in the District/City of Riau Province, from 2017 to 2020 with a total of 44 samples. The data taken is sourced from secondary data, namely from the Central Statistics Agency of Indragiri Hilir Regency. The data analysis technique used is Multiple Linear Regression Analysis. The final result can be concluded that the variables of Average Length of School and Expected Length simultaneously or together have an influence on the open unemployment rate even though in a small percentage. Penelitian ini bertujuan mengetahui seberapa besar pengaruh dari Harapan Lama Sekolah dan Rata - Rata Lama Sekolah terhadap Tingkat Pengangguran Terbuka di Kabupaten/Kota Provisinsi Riau, mulai tahun 2017 sampai tahun 2020 dengan jumlah 44 sampel . Data yang diambil bersumber dari data sekunder yaitu dari Badan Pusat Statistik Kabupaten Indragiri Hilir. Teknik Analisis Data yang digunakan adalah Analisis Regresi Linear Berganda. Hasil akhir dapat di simpulkan bahwa variabel Rata- Rata Lama sekolah dan harapan Lama secara simultan atau secara bersama-sama memiliki pengaruh terhadap tingkat pengangguran terbuka walaupun dalam persentase yang sedikit.

Anti-immigrant Attitudes in the European Union: What Role for Values?

This paper aims to analyse the connection between values individuals hold and perception whether immigration is bad or good for economy in the European Union. It applies the multilevel modelling approach on the European Social Survey rounds 1–7 and a set of the OECD economic measures. The method allows for an examination of personal (values, socioecomic and demographic) and contextual (GDP, inequality and unemployment rates) drivers of anti-immigrant tendencies. The results show that individual values are connected to how people perceive immigrants in the EU.

PREDICTING NPLs FOR CROATIA WITH MACROECONOMIC VARIABLES

This paper aims to examine some of the macroeconomic drivers of nonperforming loans (NPL) in Croatia. Unemployment rate, industrial production index, construction works volume and the number of tourist arrivals were evaluated as the drivers on a quarterly data sample from 2008q4 to 2020q4. Following quantile regression approach, unemployment rates and construction works volume appeared as significant drivers of NPL in Croatia. Furthermore, empirical findings from this paper suggest asymmetric effects on NPL from its drivers. While decrease in construction works volume and increase in unemployment rates were found to correspond with increase in NPL, an increase in construction works volume and decrease in unemployment rates were not correlated with decrease in NPL. Consequently, the paper brings implications for credit institutions in Croatia within the context of COVID-19 pandemic crises.

Structural Racism is Associated with Assisted Living Location

Our objective was to measure the association between structural racism, a previously unmeasured but theoretically causal factor, and assisted living communities (ALCs) location as fewer ALCs are located in counties with a greater percentage of the population reported as Black (PPB). We used a recently developed measure of structural racism—the racial opportunity gap (ROG), which compares the economic mobility of Black and White people who grew up in the same area with parents who had similar incomes. We estimated a multilevel mixed-effects bivariate regression model to examine the factors contributing to the presence of ALC. We relied on state and county random effects. The likelihood of an assisted living being located in a census tract in 2019 was significantly positively associated with the percent of the population over the age of 65 (OR=150.1573, p=<0.001), the PPB (OR=2.9916, p=0.004), and higher median incomes (OR=1.0, p=<0.001). In contrast, rurality (OR=0.5656, p=<0.001), unemployment rates (OR=0.0288, p=<0.001), and census tracts that have a high PPB in addition to a high county ROG (OR=.0058, p=0.0137) are all associated with a lesser likelihood of an ALC. The interaction coefficient between the ROG and PPB reverses the previously documented negative association between the PPB and ALC presence. This result empirically supports the premise that structural racism, not population race alone, is a negative determinant of where an ALC is located within a county.

Bridging Troubled Times

The current labor market has produced manifold crises with high unemployment rates and increasing worklife dynamics. Adaptability and identity are metaskills that enable the learning process necessary to overcome obstacles on the career path. The contribution of this review lies in its focus on the question of whether the metaskills of career adaptability and identity can serve to bridge troubled times for everyone in the working population. This review provides a conceptual model of a “decent career” that acknowledges challenging circumstances based on demographic differences (e. g., age, ethnicity, sex) or structural conditions (e. g., economic crisis) and the antecedents necessary to foster individual skills that serve various beneficial outcomes.