Farm Animal Enclosure Requirements, Industry Concentration, and Supply Chain Dynamics

In this paper, we draw on microeconomic theory to show that farm animal enclosure regulations can and have lead to increased farm-level concentration in affected industries in the U.S. The desirability of this increased concentration is a function of modern industry structures. Farm animal enclosure requirements can push traditional “short” supply chains like eggs toward vertical integration. However, vertically integrated systems (e.g., broiler chickens and hogs) may benefit from the induced farm-level concentration by increasing bargaining power among contract farmers. In all systems, the increased farm-level concentration induced by enclosure requirements may lead to greater ability to solve future collective action problems like wastewater pollution and antimicrobial resistance.

EXPRESS: The Ties that Bind us: Networks, Projects and Careers in British TV

The dominant view of careers is that they have been transformed by the emergence of ‘post-bureaucratic’ organizations. ‘Neo-bureaucratic’ structures have emerged, retaining centralized control over strategy and finance while outsourcing production, creating employment precarity. British television epitomises a sector that has experienced long-run deregulation. Producing television content is risky highly competitive. How do broadcasters minimise the risks of television production? Broadcasting neo-bureaucracies avoid relying on fragmented labour markets to hire technically self-disciplining crews. Control regimes are enacted through activating social networks by broadcast commissioners, green-lit to trusted creative teams who recruit key crew, through social networks which complement diffuse forms of normative control. Social networks and the self-discipline of crews are mutually constitutive, (re)producing patterns of labour market advantage/disadvantage. Younger freelancers prove vulnerable, exposed to precariousness inherent in freelance employment; to build a career they must access and sustain their social network membership. We locate individual decisions around career narratives in the context of specific social networks and industry structures. Careers are not boundaryless, individual constructs. We introduce the concept of ‘mosaic-career’, capturing the complexity of individual work histories, composed of fragmented employment in organisations/projects. How do neo-bureaucracies, then, intervene in labour markets? What are the consequences of those interventions?

The Knife Edge Election of 2020: American Politics Between Washington, Kabul, and Weimar

This paper analyzes the 2020 election, focusing on voters, not political money, and emphasizing the importance of economic geography. Drawing extensively on county election returns, it analyzes how spatial factors combined with industrial structures to shape the outcome. It treats COVID 19’s role at length. The paper reviews studies suggesting that COVID 19 did not matter much, but then sets out a new approach indicating it mattered a great deal. The study analyzes the impact on the vote not only of unemployment but differences in income and industry structures, along with demographic factors, including religion, ethnicity, and race. It also studies how the waves of wildcat strikes and social protests that punctuated 2020 affected the vote in specific areas. Trump’s very controversial trade policies and his little discussed farm policies receive detailed attention. The paper concludes with a look at how political money helped make the results of the Congressional election different from the Presidential race. It also highlights the continuing importance of private equity and energy sectors opposed to government action to reverse climate change as conservative forces in (especially) the Republican Party, together with agricultural interests.

Criminogenic Dynamics of the Construction Industry: A State-Corporate Crime Perspective

Construction industries provide significant opportunities for criminal and harmful processes to occur, including fraud, tax evasion, poor health and safety, and underpayment of workers. Building on previous work from the state-corporate crime agenda, this article places industry at the forefront of discussion, by examining how “criminogenic industry structures” emerge in construction work. The article refers to the key instances of worker blacklisting and “umbrella company” tax fraud, situating them within broader discussions on systemic processes that enable state-corporate harm to develop. This paper contributes to the state-corporate crime agenda by demonstrating how discussions on criminogenic industry structures provide critical links between organizational processes and broader political-economic dynamics, which is crucial for developing a criminological discourse.

How to Bail Out a Defense Contractor: Cases on Securing a Supply Chain in extremis

How can governments effectively bail out faltering defense contractors? While the idea may seem politically distasteful, any defense ministry with domestic suppliers may view the problem as supplier management in extremis. Reviewing nine prominent bailouts of defense contractors from the past 50 years, the author draws two conclusions. Providing long-term demand is very likely necessary and sufficient to maintain industry structures. Providing short-term infusions of cash may be necessary to maintain programs, but it is not always sufficient. If legislators and defense officials wish to consider either approach for short-term or long-term objectives, they should also consider the historical lessons of the financial and information asymmetries between government and industry, and the general uncertainty over how technologies will evolve.

How to Bail Out a Defense Contractor: Cases on Securing a Supply Chain in extremis

How can governments effectively bail out faltering defense contractors? While the idea may seem politically distasteful, any defense ministry with domestic suppliers may view the problem as supplier management in extremis. Reviewing nine prominent bailouts of defense contractors from the past 50 years, the author draws two conclusions. Providing long-term demand is very likely necessary and sufficient to maintain industry structures. Providing short-term infusions of cash may be necessary to maintain programs, but it is not always sufficient. If legislators and defense officials wish to consider either approach for short-term or long-term objectives, they should also consider the historical lessons of the financial and information asymmetries between government and industry, and the general uncertainty over how technologies will evolve.

Digitalization features of integration associations (on the example of the EU and the EAEU)

The article provides and analyzes the theoretical foundations and practices of digitalization of integration associations on the example of the European Union and the Eurasian Economic Union. Studying the program documents on digitalization (digital agendas), the authors identified the features and risks of the digital transformation of various integration associations. The article describes the digitalization of integration associations as a concept and logic of interaction between citizens, business entities, industry structures, government bodies of countries participating in an integration association in a common information space. These ideas are expressed in the form of explicit algorithms, specifications, and standards unified for each participating country and implemented in the form of integrated information systems of B2B, B2G, G2G formats with a single coordination and monitoring center.