scholarly journals Well-being in Alternative Economies

2016 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 206-216 ◽  
Author(s):  
Forrest Watson ◽  
Ahmet Ekici
Keyword(s):  
Well Being ◽  
Economic Relations ◽  
Course Of Action ◽  
Food Network ◽  
Alternative Economies ◽  
Commercial Markets ◽  
Alternative Food Network ◽  
Spatially Extended ◽  
Depth Study ◽  
Local Actors

Alternative economies are built on shared commitments to improve subjects’ well-being. Traditional commercial markets, premised upon growth driven by separate actors pursuing personal material gain, lead to exploitation of some actors and to negligible well-being gains for the rest. Through resocializing economic relations and expanding the recognition of interdependence among the actors in a marketing system, economic domination and exploitation can be mitigated. We define shared commitments as a choice of a course of action in common with others. We empirically demonstrate the existence of shared commitments through an in-depth study of a spatially extended alternative food network in Turkey. Finally, we offer an inductive model of how shared commitments can be developed between local and non-local actors to bring new economies into being and improve the well-being of consumers and producers, localities, markets, and society.

scholarly journals Understanding the Dark Sides of Alternative Economies to Maximize Societal Benefit

2020 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 169-184 ◽  
Author(s):  
Forrest Watson ◽  
Ahmet Ekici
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Data ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Related Literature ◽  
Societal Benefit ◽  
Food Network ◽  
Alternative Economies ◽  
Alternative Food Network ◽  
Marketing Systems ◽  
Micro Level ◽  
Systems Failure

Alternative economies can significantly contribute to societal flourishing, but the potential dark sides should also be considered. As shared commitments are the foundation of alternative economies, we draw on related literature to conceptualize various types of dark sides of an alternative economy. While less prominent than the well-being outcomes, we present qualitative data of when the participants of one alternative food network experienced disappointment, burnout, guilt, or division. Comparing with the dark sides gleaned from other studies on alternative economies, we present a framework for evaluating the dark sides in alternative economies. Dark sides can be on a continuum from the micro level to the macro level, as well as more likely to threaten the continuance of alternative economies or societal well-being. We offer recommendations to guard against the vulnerabilities of alternative economies for their continued growth and impact, as well as discuss the implications for research on marketing systems failure.

PREREQUISITES FOR THE FORMATION OF A MECHANISM FOR STATE REGULATION OF SOCIAL GUARANTEES IN THE REGION

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vitaly Lobas ◽  
◽  
Elena Petryaeva ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Social Protection ◽  
Well Being ◽  
State Regulation ◽  
The State ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Periodic Review ◽  
Cost Of Living ◽  
Economic Relations ◽  
State Management ◽  
The Cost

The article deals with modern mechanisms for managing social protection of the population by the state and the private sector. From the point of view of forms of state regulation of the sphere of social protection, system indicators usually include the state and dynamics of growth in the standard of living of the population, material goods, services and social guarantees for the poorly provided segments of the population. The main indicator among the above is the state of the consumer market, as one of the main factors in the development of the state. Priority areas of public administration with the use of various forms of social security have been identified. It should be emphasized that, despite the legislative conflicts that exist today in Ukraine, mandatory indexation of the cost of living is established, which is associated with inflation. Various scientists note that although the definition of the cost of living index has a well-established methodology, there are quite a lot of regional features in the structure of consumption. All this is due to restrictions that are included in the consumer basket of goods and different levels of socio-economic development of regions. The analysis of the establishment and periodic review of the minimum consumer budgets of the subsistence minimum and wages of the working population and the need to form state insurance funds for unforeseen circumstances is carried out. Considering in this context the levers of state management of social guarantees of the population, we drew attention to the crisis periods that are associated with the market transformation of the regional economy. In these conditions, there is a need to develop and implement new mechanisms and clusters in the system of socio-economic relations. The components of the mechanisms ofstate regulation ofsocial guarantees of the population are proposed. The deepening of market relations in the process of reforming the system of social protection of the population should be aimed at social well-being.

RESEARCH OF FEATURES OF FOREIGN ECONOMIC TRADE OF REGIONAL ECONOMY SERVICES

2019 ◽  
pp. 44-51
Author(s):  
Andrii ZAVHORODNII
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Trade ◽  
Economic Activity ◽  
Trade Balance ◽  
Well Being ◽  
General Situation ◽  
The Black Sea ◽  
Reduction Peak ◽  
Black Sea Region ◽  
Economic Relations ◽  
Export Dynamics

Abstract Introduction. Nowadays the foreign economic activity of the regions serves as a factor contributing to improving the population well-being, improving its life quality, as well as territory socio-economic development and increasing its competitiveness. The purpose of the article is to analyze the foreign trade in services at the regional level and to identify its features. Results. The comparative analysis of the services export dynamics was conducted in the studied regions for the period from 1996 to 2018: the periods of growth, reduction, peak values were identified, the leader – Odessa region was determined. At the same time, it is emphasized that due to the decrease in the indicator in Odessa region and the growth in the Mykolaiv region, the gap between them narrowed significantly for the period from 2012. The dynamics of the services import volume in the economy of the studied regions has been analyzed. Determination of the leader – Odessa region was done, the trends of dynamics for the studied period are considered. The dynamics calculation of the foreign trade balance in services in the Mykolayiv region is given. The calculation of the chain gains index of the services foreign trade balance in the Mykolaiv region is given, which indicates a considerable amplitude of fluctuations and reduction from 2014 to 2016. Results. The foreign trade balance in services in the studied areas was calculated and analyzed: the Odessa region was the leader before 2010. After in accordance with the services export dynamics in Odessa and Mykolaiv regions, their convergence to the actual equalization in 2018 is observed. The positive value of the balance in all the regions for the whole study period is noteworthy. The analysis makes it possible to confirm the significant dependence of the foreign regions economic activity of the Black Sea region on the general situation in the country with divergent tendencies of indicators changes, which allows to define it as heterogeneous. Keywords: foreign economic activity of the region, export, import, dynamics, regional foreign economic relations, foreign economic relations of the region.

Running wild in the marketplace: the articulation and negotiation of an alternative food network

2017 ◽  
Vol 33 (7-8) ◽  
pp. 502-528 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ingrid Kajzer Mitchell ◽  
Will Low ◽  
Eileen Davenport ◽  
Tim Brigham
Keyword(s):  
Alternative Food ◽  
Food Network ◽  
Alternative Food Network

scholarly journals How alternative food networks work in a metropolitan area? An analysis of Solidarity Purchase Groups in Northern Italy

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucia Baldi ◽  
Danilo Bertoni ◽  
Giuseppina Migliore ◽  
Massimo Peri
Keyword(s):  
Metropolitan Area ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Northern Italy ◽  
Alternative Food ◽  
Alternative Food Networks ◽  
Food Network ◽  
Alternative Food Network ◽  
High Motivation ◽  
Small Producers

Abstract Our paper focuses on Solidarity Purchase Group (SPG) participants located in a highly urbanized area, with the aim to investigate the main motivations underlining their participation in a SPG and provide a characterization of them. To this end, we carried out a survey of 795 participants involved in 125 SPGs in the metropolitan area of Milan (Italy). Taking advantage of a questionnaire with 39 questions, we run a factor analysis and a two-step cluster analysis to identify different profiles of SPG participants. Our results show that the system of values animating metropolitan SPG practitioners does not fully conform to that traditionally attributed to an alternative food network (AFN). In fact, considerations linked to food safety and healthiness prevail on altruistic motives such as environmental sustainability and solidarity toward small producers. Furthermore, metropolitan SPGs do not consider particularly desirable periurban and local food products. Observing the SPGs from this perspective, it emerges as such initiatives can flourish also in those places where the lack of connection with the surrounding territory is counterbalanced by the high motivation to buy products from trusted suppliers who are able to guarantee genuine and safe products, not necessarily located nearby.

scholarly journals The Small World of the Alternative Food Network

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 2921 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catherine Brinkley
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Food System ◽  
Local Food ◽  
Small World ◽  
Alternative Food ◽  
Term Survival ◽  
Food Network ◽  
Robust Network Design ◽  
Alternative Food Network

This research offers the first use of graph theory mathematics in social network analysis to explore relationships built through an alternative food network. The local food system is visualized using geo-social data from 110 farms and 224 markets around Baltimore County, Maryland, with 699 connections between them. Network behavior is explored through policy document review and interviews. The findings revealed a small-world architecture, with system resiliency built-in by diversified marketing practices at central nodes. This robust network design helps to explain the long-term survival of local food systems despite the meteoric rise of global industrial food supply chains. Modern alternative food networks are an example of a movement that seeks to reorient economic power structures in response to a variety of food system-related issues not limited to consumer health but including environmental impacts. Uncovering the underlying network architecture of this sustainability-oriented social movement helps reveal how it weaves systemic change more broadly. The methods used in this study demonstrate how social values, social networks, markets, and governance systems embed to transform both physical landscapes and human bodies. Network actors crafted informal policy reports, which were directly incorporated in state and local official land-use and economic planning documents. Community governance over land-use policy suggests a powerful mechanism for further localizing food systems.

scholarly journals Land Reform and Development Strategy in Zimbabwe: State Autonomy, Class and Agrarian Lobby

Afrika Focus ◽  
1990 ◽  
Vol 6 (3-4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sam Moyo ◽  
Tor Skalness
Keyword(s):  
Land Reform ◽  
Structural Changes ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Class Action ◽  
Policy Outcomes ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Scientist ◽  
Economic Policies ◽  
Political Pressure ◽  
Course Of Action

Much of the literature on the political determinants of African economic policies that has been produced over the last decade seems to be motivated by the need to make some sense out of the following apparent fact. Even as the characteristic policies pursued by African governments have been shown to have severely adverse consequences, sufficient internal forces are seldom mobilised to have them substituted for a more 'realistic' set of policies. Sustained external pressure from the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and other international donors seems to be necessary for such policy reorientation to occur. In other words, writers searching for the political rationality behind the typical set of African economic policies seem to assume that these policies are economically 'irrational'. If that assumption is accepted as valid, explanations of policy outcomes in terms of the dominance over the policy process of a certain coalition of special interests (for instance, Bates, 1981) attain inherent plausibility. This is so because we tend to believe that in the absence of strong political pressure to the contrary, governments would choose policies that promote growth, a sustainable balance of payments, and generally increased economic well-being for the country as a whole. It is not our intention to challenge the assumption of the economic destructiveness of past African policies here. Rather we shall concern ourselves with an issue on which there is very little consensus as to what policy direction would produce the greatest net benefit to the country as a whole, i.e., what would consitute the economically sensible course of action for a given country to pursue. This issue is land reform, and the empirical case is Zimbabwe. Since no particular course of action can simply be assumed to be economically rational as far as land reform is concerned, the task of the political scientist becomes more difficult. Simply assuming that a given decision comes about as the result of political pressure by the beneficiaries of that policy will not do. As we shall see below, proponents of land reform have been hard pressed first to show that there is indeed an economic case to be made for transformation in the ownership structure of land in Zimbabwe. Only then can the fact that no truly radical land reform has occurred in Zimbabwe plausibly be explained in terms of a particular 'disadvantageous' constellation of group and/or class forces. However, because the economic arguments against land reform have by no means been fully rebutted, there exists another possible explanation, viz. that the Zimbabwean state acts cautiously on the issue simply because it perceives radical land reform to be too risky in national economic terms. The unresolved nature of the question of the economic consequences of land reform thus forces us (1) to carefully consider the arguments made for and against structural changes, as well as (2) to consider explanations in terms of autonomous class action as well as hypotheses derived from group or class theory.

scholarly journals ANALYSIS OF THE POSSIBILITIES OF PRACTICAL IMPLEMENTATION OF THE NATIONAL PROGRAM " DIGITAL ECONOMY OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION»

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 107-118
Author(s):  
S. Popova ◽  
E. Titova
Keyword(s):  
Information And Communication Technologies ◽  
Russian Federation ◽  
Digital Technologies ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Digital Economy ◽  
Professional Activity ◽  
Practical Implementation ◽  
Economic Relations ◽  
Digital Format ◽  
The Russian Federation

The transformation of the socio-economic sphere based on the widespread use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) has allowed us to form fairly stable trends in the development of the digital economy in many countries of the world. The innovative system of economic relations in developed countries has shown its effectiveness. Digital technologies have an impact on the decision-making about what to produce and what to buy, digital markets have a short formation period, they have fewer entry barriers, they are more dynamic. The digital format of modern life leads to the development of new economic relations and to significant changes in the process of learning, professional activity, leisure activities, allows you to think differently, plan and make decisions. In Russia, in 2017, the program "Digital Economy of the Russian Federation" was approved, according to the strategic goals of which, the use of digital technologies should lead to an increase in the competitiveness and well-being of the country's population. The program provides for improving the level of management based on planning (strategic, tactical, operational), coordination, and monitoring the practical implementation of the goals set. Funding for the program is provided at the level of 100 billion rubles per year, the total budget for 2018-2024 is 1634.9 billion rubles. The article considers the target program "Digital Economy of the Russian Federation", determines the possibility of its practical implementation in the context of digital globalization and identifies the factors that hinder its development: the imperfection of the regulatory framework; low volume of digital technologies used in enterprises, insufficient level for their financing; insufficient level of digital competencies, technologies and readiness for technological breakthrough; "digital inequality" among the population of the country; insufficient targeted state funding of innovative digital companies and high cybercrime.

Brooklyn's agrarian questions

2014 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 92-102 ◽  
Author(s):  
Evan Weissman
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Urban Agriculture ◽  
Food Justice ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Food Network ◽  
Alternative Food Network ◽  
The Usa ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The City

AbstractThroughout the USA, urban agriculture is expanding as a manifestation of an emerging American food politics. Through a case study of Brooklyn, New York, I used mixed qualitative research methods to investigate the political possibilities of urban agriculture for fostering food justice. My findings build on the existing alternative food network (AFN) literature by indicating that problematic contradictions rooted in the neoliberalization of urban agriculture limit the transformative possibilities of farming the city as currently practiced in Brooklyn. I suggest that longstanding agrarian questions—concerns over the relationship between agriculture and capitalism and the politics of small-scale producers—are informative for critical interrogation of urban agriculture as a politicization of food.

Evaluation of Physical and Psychosocial Well-Being of Personnel: Employees’ Self-Feeling and Presenteeism at Work

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 14-19
Author(s):  
M. Frelih ◽  
A. Fedorova
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Data ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Assessment Method ◽  
The Self ◽  
Self Assessment ◽  
Metallurgical Enterprise ◽  
Digital Service ◽  
Depth Study ◽  
The Impact

The article is devoted to the study of factors that have a negative impact on the well-being of employees in the workplace. Special attention is paid to the problem of presenteeism on the example of a large metallurgical enterprise. A review of foreign and domestic publications allows concluding that until now specialists do not have reliable and valid tools for studying the presenteeism phenomenon in organizations. The purpose of the research presented in the paper is to examine influence of the factors of the intra-organizational environment on the personnel well-being and assess the level of presenteeism at the enterprise. Empirical data were obtained by conducting a sociological survey of various categories of workers, as well as assessing the impact of presenteeism on the economic indicators of the studied enterprise. For the subsequent in-depth study of health problems in the workplace, the authors have developed a research tool based on the use of a digital service, which allows monitoring the self-feeling of employees by the self-assessment method, which determines the level of physical and psychosocial well-being of staff.

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