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Beyond bricks and mortar: building homes, communities, and neighbourhoods
No full textSocial housing continues to decline as existing tenanted homes are sold to their occupiers and run-down council estates are demolished. Demonstrating the value of the 'Housing Plus' approach -investment beyond "bricks and mortar" - this book outlines the role social landlords can play in tackling community problems. By investing in estate renewal, helping to house the vulnerable, offering a wide range of tenures and encouraging community housing, this approach builds links between housing design and a wider social value agenda. With the voices of tenants and frontline staff at the forefront, Anne Power demonstrates how policy and practice can shift the bias against social housing in favour of its re-expansion
Exact exploratory bi-factor analysis: a constraint-based optimization approach
No full textBi-factor analysis is a form of confirmatory factor analysis widely used in psychological and educational measurement. The use of a bi-factor model requires specifying an explicit bi-factor structure on the relationship between the observed variables and the group factors. In practice, the bi-factor structure is sometimes unknown, in which case, an exploratory form of bi-factor analysis is needed. Unfortunately, there are few methods for exploratory bi-factor analysis, with the exception of a rotation-based method proposed in Jennrich and Bentler ([2011, Psychometrika 76, pp. 537-549], [2012, Psychometrika 77, pp. 442-454]). However, the rotation method does not yield an exact bi-factor loading structure, even after hard thresholding. In this article, we propose a constraint-based optimization method that learns an exact bi-factor loading structure from data, overcoming the issue with the rotation-based method. The key to the proposed method is a mathematical characterization of the bi-factor loading structure as a set of equality constraints, which allows us to formulate the exploratory bi-factor analysis problem as a constrained optimization problem in a continuous domain and solve the optimization problem with an augmented Lagrangian method. The power of the proposed method is shown via simulation studies and a real data example
The effect of China's Integrated Medical and Social Care Policy on functional dependency and care deficits in older adults: a nationwide quasi-experimental study
No full textBACKGROUND: With population ageing, the development and implementation of pragmatic care strategies for older people with functional dependencies have become critical issues. In alliance with WHO's Integrated Care for Older People framework, China implemented the Integrated Medical and Social Care Policy (IMSCP) in several cities in 2016. This study aims to evaluate whether and to what extent the IMSCP has achieved its primary objectives of reducing functional dependency and addressing care needs in Chinese older adults aged 65 years and older. METHODS: The IMSCP was initiated in 2016 in several pilot cities from various provinces. We did a quasi-experimental study with a difference-in-differences analysis by using the data collected in the 2014 and 2018 waves of the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey. Participants from pilot cities constituted the intervention group, whereas participants from non-pilot cities were assigned into the control group. Functional dependency was measured based on activities of daily living and instrumental activities of daily living. Care deficits were recorded for those who were functionally dependent, and for whom care needs were unmet. We used fixed-effects models to examine between-group differences in functional dependency and care deficits. FINDINGS: 3080 individuals who participated in both the 2014 and 2018 surveys were included (mean age 81·7 years [SD 9·1] in 2014; 1621 [52·6%] were female and 1459 [47·4%] were male). Of these, 1146 (37·2%) were in the intervention group and 1934 (62·8%) were in the control group. Implementing the IMSCP was associated with a reduced risk of functional dependency (odds ratio [OR] 0·72 [95% CI 0·58-0·89], p=0·0024). Among those who were functionally dependent, the IMSCP was also associated with less care deficits (0·62 [0·41-0·95], p=0·029). We also examined the relatively long-term impact of the IMSCP with duration from 2014 to 2021; the influence of the IMSCP on mitigating functional dependency remained in male participants (OR 0·45 [95% CI 0·23-0·87], p=0·017) but not in female participants (0·85 [0·52-1·39], p=0·524); while its association with bridging care deficits remained among the total participants. INTERPRETATION: Implementing integrated medical and social care policy could reduce the risk of both functional dependency in older adults and care deficits in those who need care. These findings support the continued and expanded implementation of the IMSCP to address the growing care needs of China's ageing population. FUNDING: National Natural Science Foundation of China, National Key Research and Development Project of China, and National Science and Technology Major Project of China
From labor market dualization to inclusive growth? Trade unions and the politics of labor market reform in South Korea
No full textThe landslide victory of the center-left Moon Jae-In in the 2017 presidential election opened a window of opportunity for progressive reform in South Korea. Elected on a platform of social inclusion and fairness and with support from organized labor, the Moon Jae-In government (2017–22) made at first considerable progress in advancing inclusive labor market reform and an alternative growth model against opposition from business, but the administration quickly lost momentum when facing political headwinds. We show that the government's capacity for progressive reform and social concertation was constrained not only by business interests but also by divisions on the left. Opening up the black box of organized labor, we provide a nuanced analysis of tensions on the left and demonstrate how a counterintuitive coalition of labor market insiders and radical outsiders on the movement's left undermined social dialogue and more inclusive unionism
Selection by ability: a comparison of admissions to grammar schools in England and in Germany
No full textThis working paper focuses on admissions to grammar schools in Germany and the UK (England). Although there are academically selective schools in England (grammar schools) and Germany (Gymnasien) there is a paucity of comparative research addressing the legislative provision, policy and approaches used to select pupils. This working paper seeks to shine a light on the institutional rules that apply to the selection and admission of children to grammar schools and Gymnasien and the characteristics of the main beneficiaries of selective schooling. We find clear differences between the two countries, with legislation being the responsibility of the Land in Germany and the national government in the case of England. A key distinguishing feature is that admission to a Gymnasium in Germany is based on the recommendation of the child’s primary school; this may or may not be binding on parents. In England, admission to grammar school is based on the 11-plus test, which varies between schools / academy trusts / local authority areas. Notwithstanding the differences in policy and approaches used to selection, the evidence indicates that those who attend selective schools in both countries tend to be from more rather than less advantaged families
Mapping relational structures in culture
No full textCulture is a relational concept, and the empirical manifestations of culture are worth being analysed in a structural vein to unveil the patterns of relations constituting them. Critical to exploring the intersections of culture and structure are relational methodologies, especially geometric data analysis (GDA) and social network analysis (SNA). Over the years, these two perspectives – as distinct strategies or in combination with one another – have been proved well-suited to understand the inherent relationality of cultural phenomena. The present editorial takes stock of the development of such analytical frameworks to look at the recent progress in the study of cultural structures, in continuity with a tradition of sociological research most especially disseminated through Poetics. It develops three core elements in the sociological study of culture: the relational theory mobilised in such study, its relational focus in terms of the cultural entities studied, and its relational methodologies. This special issue gathers ten empirical papers that span cultural consumption, artistic and scientific fields, media usage, and knowledge production, employing various empirical tools available in GDA and SNA to map relational structures in culture. It thus offers new insights into the interplay between culture and structure and provides valuable tools and perspectives for future research in cultural sociology
Generative-discriminative machine learning models for high-frequency financial regime classification
No full textWe combine a hidden Markov model (HMM) and a kernel machine (SVM/MKL) into a hybrid HMM-SVM/MKL generative-discriminative learning approach to accurately classify high-frequency financial regimes and predict the direction of trades. We capture temporal dependencies and key stylized facts in high-frequency financial time series by integrating the HMM to produce model-based generative feature embeddings from microstructure time series data. These generative embeddings then serve as inputs to a SVM with single- and multi-kernel (MKL) formulations for predictive discrimination. Our methodology, which does not require manual feature engineering, improves classification accuracy compared to single-kernel SVMs and kernel target alignment methods. It also outperforms both logistic classifier and feed-forward networks. This hybrid HMM-SVM-MKL approach shows high-frequency time-series classification improvements that can significantly benefit applications in finance
The political consequences of Africa's mobile revolution
No full textWhat are the political consequences of rising domestic connectivity? I study this question in Sub-Saharan Africa, asking how mobile technology shapes public opinion in geographically isolated communities. For remote rural populations, mobile devices increase contact with physically distant social networks, through regular phone calls with urban relatives. These interactions provide personalized information about the economic challenges of city life, which reduce rural trust in government. I offer continent-wide evidence of this effect, leveraging geocoded survey data and the expansion of mobile coverage across Africa in a difference-in-differences setting. I then use a household panel, an original survey, and focus group discussions from Ghana to shed light on mechanisms. The paper advances literature on social networks, migration, and technological change, painting a nuanced picture of Africa's mobile revolution and its multifaceted political effects
Labour’s commitment to 1.5 million new homes; housing delivery as an orchestrator - intermediary challenge
No full textIn the UK, the new government has linked the intention to deliver more homes to reform of the planning system which is seen as a key barrier. Two assumptions inform reform. First, that the system is sound but that there are problems with its administration. Second, that there are problems with how the system itself is engineered, for example by overly constraining land supply. The first we consider as a Principal-Agent (P-A) challenge where local government must be managed to create the foundations to meet housing targets. The second as an Orchestrator-Intermediary challenge, where developers are intermediaries who must be persuaded to deliver more housing while meeting a broad set of planning objectives. We look at changes already made by the government to green belt policy. We argue that these are overly focused on the P-A challenge and are unlikely to be sufficient to change the behaviour of developers
New venture creation: innovativeness, speed-to-breakeven, and revenue tradeoffs
No full textWe present a Schumpeterian model of new venture creation, under uncertainty, which explains the tradeoff between speed-to-breakeven and revenue-at-breakeven and relates this to the level of innovation. We then explore the tradeoffs between these outcomes empirically in a sample of 331 information and communication technology (ICT) ventures using a multi-input, multi-output stochastic frontier model. We estimate the contribution of financial capital and labor to the outcomes and the tradeoffs between them, as well as address heterogeneity across ventures. We find that more innovative (and therefore more uncertain) ventures have lower speed-to-breakeven and/or lower revenue-at-breakeven. Moreover, for all innovativeness levels, new ventures face a tradeoff between speed-to-breakeven and revenue-at-breakeven. Our results suggest that it is the availability of proprietary resources (founder equity and founder labor) that helps ventures overcome bottlenecks in the venture creation process, and we propose a line of research to explain the variation in venture creation efficiency