In God we trust…and Caesar too? Evaluating the link between religiosity and trust in government

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas Creel
Keyword(s):  
European Social Survey ◽  
Trust In Government ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Aggregated Data ◽  
Complex Concept ◽  
Use Of Data ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
Developed World

PurposeThe study aims to establish that religiosity has a positive link with government trust, making the secularization trend all the more likely to further erode this already fragile resource.Design/methodology/approachThrough the use of data from the World Values Survey and European Social Survey the link between religiosity and trust in government is examined.FindingsReligiosity and trust in government are positively linked in aggregate data.Research limitations/implicationsThe analysis is based on aggregated data, not individual countries, and religiosity is a complex concept to measure.Practical implicationsSecularization will have a long-term negative effect on government trust. Low levels of trust in government in the West are likely here to stay, or even worsen, as populations continue to secularize.Social implicationsWith less trust in government, it will be more difficult to govern effectively.Originality/valueThe author has not yet seen a full test on how secularization will impact trust in government. In fact, this study makes clear that the trend goes a long way explaining why trust in government has been falling in the developed world for decades.

Religion and aggregate support for redistribution

2018 ◽  
Vol 62 (3) ◽  
pp. 251-269 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mads Meier Jæger
Keyword(s):  
Church Attendance ◽  
Religious Denomination ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
Aggregated Data ◽  
International Social Survey Programme ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
Positive Effect ◽  
High Share ◽  
International Social

Aggregated data on regions within countries have been used to analyze the effect of religion and religiosity on aggregate support for redistribution. The data are from the International Social Survey Programme and a panel data set was constructed at the level of regions that were observed several times over the period 1985–2010. Empirical analyses show that a higher share of Catholics within a region has a positive effect on aggregate support for redistribution; a higher share of Protestants has a negative effect; religiosity (measured by church attendance) has no effect; and the effect of a religious denomination is non-linear and depends on whether or not it has a weak or a strong presence in a region. It was also found that Scandinavia is unusual in combining a high share of Protestants with high aggregate support for redistribution.

Labor lawsuits and debt maturity

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Omer Unsal
Keyword(s):  
Chief Executive ◽  
Debt Maturity ◽  
Employee Relations ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
Debt Market ◽  
Legal Fees

Purpose This paper aims to investigate how firms’ relationships with employees define their debt maturity. The authors empirically test the role of employee litigations in influencing firms’ choice of short-term versus long-term debt. The authors study employee relations by analyzing the importance of the workplace environment on capital structure. Design/methodology/approach The author’s test hypotheses using a sample of US publicly traded firms between 2000 and 2017, including 3,056 unique firms with 4,256 unique chief executive officer, adopting the fixed effect panel model. Findings The authors document that employee litigations have a significant negative effect on the use of short-term debt and a significant positive affect on long-term debt. Employee litigations, along with legal fees, outcomes and charging parties, matter the most in explaining debt maturity. In addition, frequently sued firms abandon the short-term debt market and use less shareholders’ equity to finance their operations while relying more on the longer debt market. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to examine the role of employee mistreatment in debt maturity choice. The study extends the lawsuit and finance literature by examining unique, hand-collected data sets of employee lawsuits, allegations, violations, settlements, charging parties, case outcomes and case durations.

The persistent effect of banking crises on investment and the role of financial markets

2014 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 64-77 ◽  
Author(s):  
Felix Rioja ◽  
Fernando Rios-Avila ◽  
Neven Valev
Keyword(s):  
Financial Markets ◽  
Financial Development ◽  
Banking Crisis ◽  
Banking Crises ◽  
Output Growth ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Negative Effect

Purpose – While the literature studying the effect of banking crises on real output growth rates has found short-lived effects, recent work has focused on the level effects showing that banking crises can reduce output below its trend for several years. This paper aims to investigate the effect of banking crises on investment finding a prolonged negative effect. Design/methodology/approach – The authors test to see whether investment declines after a banking crisis and, if it does, for how long and by how much. The paper uses data for 148 countries from 1963 to 2007. Econometrically, the authors test how banking crises episodes affect investment in future years after controlling for other potential determinants. Findings – The authors find that the investment to GDP ratio is on average about 1.7 percent lower for about eight years following a banking crisis. These results are robust after controlling for credit availability, institutional characteristics, and a host of other factors. Furthermore, the authors find that the size and duration of this adverse effect on investment varies according to the level of financial development of a country. The largest and longer-lasting decrease in investment is found in countries in a middle region of financial development, where finance plays its most important role according to theory. Originality/value – The authors contribute by finding that banking crisis can have long-term effects on investment of up to nine years. Further, the authors contribute by finding that the level of development of the country's financial markets affects the duration of this decrease in investment.

scholarly journals Democracy belief systems in Europe: cognitive availability and attitudinal constraint

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 485-502
Author(s):  
Enrique Hernández
Keyword(s):  
Belief Systems ◽  
European Social Survey ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
Complex Concept ◽  
Country Level ◽  
Mass Publics ◽  
Low Levels ◽  
Main Components ◽  
The Empirical Analysis ◽  
Constitutive Principles

AbstractThere is a growing interest in analyzing what citizens think about democracy. However, gauging citizens’ opinions about a complex concept such as democracy might be hindered by the apparent low levels of political sophistication of mass publics. This paper contributes to the emerging literature on citizens’ views and evaluations of democracy by analyzing to what extent ordinary citizens are capable of developing structured opinions about democracy and its constitutive principles. For this purpose, the paper adapts Converse’s notion of political belief systems to analyze the articulation of individuals’ democracy belief systems (DBS). The first goal of this paper is to conceptualize and operationalize the main components of individuals’ DBS: cognitive availability, horizontal constraint, and vertical constraint. Drawing on data from the sixth round of the European Social Survey, the second goal is to describe the articulation of DBS in Europe. The third and final aim of this paper is to trace the most relevant individual- and country-level correlates of the articulation of the three components of DBS. In line with recent findings about political belief systems in other policy domains, the results indicate that most Europeans have coherently structured attitudes about democracy. However, even if the results imply that Europeans have a relatively articulated DBS, the empirical analysis also reveals some individual- and country-level variation in the articulation of specific components of DBS.

The effect of task conflict on outsourcers’ long-term orientation toward suppliers: the moderating role of formal control and Chinese guanxi

2019 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 260-269 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shuting Li ◽  
Mark H. Haney ◽  
Gukseong Lee ◽  
Mingu Kang ◽  
Changsuk Ko
Keyword(s):  
Conflict Management ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Manufacturing Firms ◽  
Task Conflict ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Formal Control ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
Moderating Role

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the antecedents of manufacturing firms’ long-term orientation towards their suppliers in the context of outsourcing relationships in China. Design/methodology/approach Based on survey data collected from 224 manufacturing firms in China, this study examines the hypothesized relationships. Findings The results show that task conflict has a negative effect on long-term orientation, both Chinese guanxi and formal control are useful governance mechanisms to enhance long-term orientation, and the negative effect of task conflict on the long-term orientation weakens as Chinese guanxi between a manufacturer and its supplier increases. Originality/value This study contributes to a better understanding of conflict management in outsourcing relationships in China.

Policy gaps to persist on regional migration in Horn

2015 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Seasonal Migration ◽  
Regional Economies ◽  
Horn Of Africa ◽  
Regional Migration ◽  
Contemporary Debate ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Developmental Progress ◽  
Developed World ◽  
Do So

Subject Population movement trends in the Horn of Africa. Significance The Horn of Africa has for decades been affected by high levels of population displacement caused by conflict, poverty and repressive governments. However, the current focus on those attempting informal passage to Europe, of whom Eritreans are the second-largest number after Syrians, overlooks that more than 50% of regional people that migrate do so within the Horn itself. The contemporary debate also overlooks the fact that mobility in the Horn has long been central to regional economies. Impacts With the continent's focus on mega infrastructure projects, including dams, the number of IDPs can be expected to increase. However, where these projects threaten agro-pastoralist livelihoods, long-term forms of seasonal migration could decrease. Skilled migrants will remain the main source of emigration to developed-world destinations, hurting developmental progress.

Het littekeneffect: de blijvende invloed van langdurige werkloosheid op welzijn

2016 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter H. van der Meer ◽  
Nick Mulder
Keyword(s):  
Social Norms ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Self Esteem ◽  
European Social Survey ◽  
Multilevel Analyses ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
Loss Of Self ◽  
The Unemployed

The scarring effect: the lasting impact of long-term unemployment on wellbeing In this article we answer the question whether the scarring effect of unemployment lasts into retirement. This is an interesting question because the answer provides insights into the explanation of this scarring effect. If pensioners are scarred by unemployment than this suggests that the scar is caused by a loss of self-esteem. If pensioners don't have the scar than this suggests that the scar among employed is explained by either a scaring effect or by not abiding social norms. Our multilevel analyses of data for 25 countries that participated in the European Social Survey showed that pensioners do have such a scar. Pensioners who have been unemployed for at least three months have a lower level of subjective well-being than pensioners who were never unemployed. This shows that unemployment coincides with a loss of self-esteem. It is an additional argument why governments should give a higher level of priority in combatting unemployment to avoid social losses, not only for the unemployed but for the pensioners as well.

scholarly journals Modeling the Evolution of Ideological Landscapes through Opinion Dynamics

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Lorenz
Keyword(s):  
Classical Model ◽  
Opinion Dynamics ◽  
European Social Survey ◽  
Model Parameters ◽  
Stylized Facts ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
Political Landscape ◽  
Bounded Confidence ◽  
Bounded Confidence Model

This paper explores the possibilities to explain the stylized facts of empirically observed ideological landscapes through the bounded confidence model of opinion dynamics. Empirically, left-right self-placements are often not normally distributed but have multiple peaks (e.g. extreme-left-center-right-extreme). Some stylized facts are extracted from histograms from the European Social Survey. In the bounded confidence model, agents repeatedly adjust their ideological position in their ideological neighborhood. As an extension of the classical model, agents sometimes completely reassesses their opinion depending on their ideological openness and their propensity for reassessment, respectively. Simulations show that this leads to the emergence of clustered ideological landscapes similar to the ones observed empirically. However, not all stylized facts of real world ideological landscapes can be reproduced with the model. Changes in the model parameters show that the ideological landscapes are susceptible to interesting slow and abrupt changes.A long term goal is to integrate models of opinion dynamics into the classical spatial model of electoral competition as a dynamic element taking into account that voters themselves shape the political landscape by adjusting their positions and preferences through interaction.

scholarly journals Whose Happiness in Which Cities? A Quantile Approach

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (20) ◽  
pp. 11290
Author(s):  
Philip S. Morrison
Keyword(s):  
Subjective Wellbeing ◽  
European Social Survey ◽  
Advanced Economy ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
Conditional Mean ◽  
Agglomeration Effect ◽  
Local Labour ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
Empirical Tests ◽  
Definition Of

The proposition that living in the largest urban agglomerations of an advanced economy reduces the average wellbeing of residents is known as the urban wellbeing paradox. Empirical tests using subjective wellbeing have produced mixed results and there are two reasons for being cautious. Firstly, the default reliance on the conditional mean can disguise uneven effects across the wellbeing distribution. Secondly, relying on respondents to define their settlement size does not ensure a consistent measure of the agglomeration. I therefore apply quantile regression to the life satisfaction and happiness measures of wellbeing as collected by the 2018 European Social Survey (ESS9) and employ a consistent local labour market-based definition of agglomeration—The Functional Urban Area (FUA). I compare three countries as proof of concept: one with a known strong negative (respondent defined) agglomeration effect (Austria), one with a slight negative effect (Czech Republic), and one where living in the main agglomeration is positively associated with average wellbeing (Slovenia). The uneven wellbeing effect of living in the largest agglomeration in each country raises questions about who benefits in which cities.

scholarly journals Career stages and occupations impacts on workers motivations

2018 ◽  
Vol 39 (5) ◽  
pp. 746-763 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henrique Duarte ◽  
Diniz Lopes
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Changes ◽  
European Social Survey ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Career Stages ◽  
Integrative Approach ◽  
Career Stage ◽  
Validity And Reliability ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Per Se

Purpose The career concept has become fuzzier due to changing work patterns, the ageing workforce and the environmental changes occurring during workers lifespans. Together this requires a renewed and broader reaching contextualization of this concept. The purpose of this paper is to set out an integrative approach arguing that the integration of career stage models with occupational groups proves more explanative of intrinsic and extrinsic worker motivations. Design/methodology/approach Secondary data from 23 European countries were drawn from the European Social Survey 2006. The construct validity and reliability of indicators was analyzed. Hypotheses were tested using discriminant analysis. Findings Results showed that neither occupations nor career stages are determinants per se of intrinsic motivations, but are better explained by their mutual integration. Career stages were shown to predict per se extrinsic motivations. Research limitations/implications The recourse to the European Social Survey pre-determined scales and the application of age ranges as proxies for careers stages suggested the usage of more specific measures in future studies. Practical implications Career management and compensation policies might be better tailored to worker motivations by considering the age ranges (as proxies of career stages) and workers’ occupations. Originality/value Findings evidenced the explanatory value of occupations for worker motivations and allowed putting into perspective the contextualization of not only boundaryless and protean career concepts, but also career stage theories. Data support the ecological validity of applying a career stages and occupations framework to a highly diversified and representative sample of European countries.

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