178,270 research outputs found
On the notions and on the social functions of the informal economy in Eastern Europe
No full textIn State socialist countries, a blossoming informal economy helped to mend the malfunctions of the economy and to complement the livelihood of the households. Since 1990, the transformational crisis in Eastern Europe brought about mass poverty and social precariousness, which, in better-off countries like Hungary, struck only some minorities-but in low-performing countries like Romania, large groups fell into poverty, and the majority of the population suffers social insecurity. The households concerned are in need to complement informally their livelihood. In countries like Hungary, this makes rather a secondary income-in poverty regions like Romania, the informal economy has become necessary for the living or even surviving of large parts of the population, just like in many regions of the Third World, in particular like in Latin America. Four types of the informal economy are explained from empirical research: the improving informal economy, complementing formal employment and/or social transfers, and which even in low-performing countries allows for social security or well-being; criminal side activities, whose social functions are quite limited; the informal business performed by the precarious self-employed or small accumulating entrepreneurs-its development potentials are quite controversial; and the survival economy performed by subsistence farmers and casual workers, and which makes a social trap-the larger the groups concerned, the more the respective country has to deal with marginalization
On the notions and on the social functions of the informal economy in Eastern Europe
No full textIn State socialist countries, a blossoming informal economy helped to mend the malfunctions of the economy and to complement the livelihood of the households. Since 1990, the transformational crisis in Eastern Europe brought about mass poverty and social precariousness, which, in better-off countries like Hungary, struck only some minorities-but in low-performing countries like Romania, large groups fell into poverty, and the majority of the population suffers social insecurity. The households concerned are in need to complement informally their livelihood. In countries like Hungary, this makes rather a secondary income-in poverty regions like Romania, the informal economy has become necessary for the living or even surviving of large parts of the population, just like in many regions of the Third World, in particular like in Latin America. Four types of the informal economy are explained from empirical research: the improving informal economy, complementing formal employment and/or social transfers, and which even in low-performing countries allows for social security or well-being; criminal side activities, whose social functions are quite limited; the informal business performed by the precarious self-employed or small accumulating entrepreneurs-its development potentials are quite controversial; and the survival economy performed by subsistence farmers and casual workers, and which makes a social trap-the larger the groups concerned, the more the respective country has to deal with marginalization
Schriftlinguistik
No full textNeef M, Sahel S, Weingarten R, eds. Schriftlinguistik. Berlin: De Gruyter; 2024
Coastal Grabbing by Extractive Industries in the South Pacific: The Case of Fiji
No full textRecent geopolitical tensions between the world’s most powerful countries have fuelled competition for control and influence over countries and their territory within the South Pacific. One of the reasons for this is that the South Pacific is seen to be possessing an untapped potential of both terrestrial and marine mineral resources. The confluence of these environmental, geopolitical, and economic forces in the South Pacific are explored in a case study of an ongoing iron sands mining project in the province of Ba, Fiji. The area being mined is largely coastline and falls under a large local community’s qoliqoli or inshore fishing rights. The governance of these fishing rights is ambivalent, and the lack of a clear legal framework on the qoliqoli has lent itself to a process that has been coined as coastal grabbing. Drawing on the concept of ‘terraqueous territoriality’, where transnational capitalist forces attempt to transcend the distinction between land and sea in the accumulation and extraction of resources, this chapter explains how this re-territorialization of space creates tensions and conflicts between mining companies, the state and Indigenous landowners
Filling gaps in international human rights law to address global land and resource grabbing:Extraterritorial human rights law obligations of states and the rights of future generations
No full textTraditionally, human rights law (treaties in particular) applies only to the territories of states that have ratified such treaties, and only states are legally bound by these agreements. Yet, as a result of processes of globalization and the conduct of states, corporate actors and international organizations, including their involvement in land and resource grabbing, increasingly have effects beyond national borders. Does international human rights law also apply in such circumstances? This has been defined as the extraterritorial scope of international human rights law. The Maastricht Principles on the Extraterritorial Obligations of States in the Area of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (2011) have provided a sound legal framework drawn from international (human rights) law. Meanwhile, the rights of future generations remain a blind spot in international human rights law to date. Yet illegitimate appropriation and exploitation of different types of resources does not only affect the human rights of members of present generations. This chapter therefore discusses the question what the contribution of international human rights law can be in protecting the human rights of future generations. It analyses the role of the precautionary principle and the different types of domestic and extraterritorial human rights obligations states have to guarantee a sustainable and dignified life for members of future generations.Full Tex
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
No full textWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
"Closing the R&D Gap, Evaluating the Sources of R&D Spending"
No full textBoth spending and tax policies have been implemented in the United States with the goal of stimulating private sector research and development (R&D). Karier questions whether current R&D policy, especially the research and experimentation tax credit, can contribute to closing the gap between nondefense expenditures on R&D in the United States and such expenditures in other countries, such as Japan and Germany. He also explores possible changes to our current R&D policy to make it more effective.
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